All entries by this author

Preventing Witchcraft Accusations and Child Rights Abuses in Akwa Ibom State, part 2

Mar 22nd, 2011 | By Leo Igwe

The Prevent the Abuse of Children Today (PACT) campaign team has concluded its school outreach program in Eket senatorial district in Akwa Ibom state. The outreach targeted schools because we believe they are places where we could ‘catch them young’ in terms of preventing the abuse of children today – and tomorrow – in Akwa Ibom state. The schools are places that we can empower children and young people to defend themselves. In the first leg of the tour (February 28 to March 4), the PACT team visited schools in Oron, Okobo, Urue Offong Oruko, Udung Uko, and Mbo .  And the second leg of the tour (March 7- 11) the team was at Esit Eket, Eket, Ibeno, Onna, Eastern Read the rest



Stephen Budiansky reviews The Moral Lives of Animals *

Mar 22nd, 2011 | Filed by

Peterson simply ignores several decades worth of recent studies in cognitive science by researchers, especially on theory of mind.… Read the rest



Book launch canceled because of gay rights protest *

Mar 22nd, 2011 | Filed by

“It’s an attack on free speech. It’s a novel, it’s fiction and it isn’t offensive because a lot of these men have been corrupted and led astray into their lifestyle.”… Read the rest



BHA survey: 65% say they are not religious *

Mar 22nd, 2011 | Filed by

While 61% of the poll’s respondents said they did belong to a religion, 65% of those surveyed answered “no” to the further question: “Are you religious?”… Read the rest



“Vilifying Gaddafi externalises evil” *

Mar 22nd, 2011 | Filed by

The people of Libya will be so relieved to hear it.… Read the rest



Veena Malik hands a mufti his head *

Mar 22nd, 2011 | Filed by

He tries hard to bully and shame her, and she fights back.… Read the rest



Carla Corsetti of Democrazia Atea on the crucifix *

Mar 21st, 2011 | Filed by

After this ruling no Catholic will be able to calmly assert that the crucifix is a symbol which “unites”, or that is it shared peacefully.… Read the rest



Hardly a disaster

Mar 21st, 2011 4:38 pm | By

So now poor Michael Ruse has to write a petulant article (for Comment is Free this time? we don’t want to get out of sequence) saying that that horrid new atheist David Barash is mad at him, that he doesn’t care a bit, that he’s a brave contrarian who pisses off campus feminists and other bores who believe in equal rights, that he likes a good dust up, that he was in Arkansas testifying when everyone else was in nursery school, and that new atheists are a danger to the wellbeing of America comparable to the al Qaeda and the Westboro Baptist Church combined. That should take him at least ten minutes.

Barash was gobsmacked by Ruse’s

assertion that

Read the rest


David Barash on Ruse’s new atheist:Tea Party comparison *

Mar 21st, 2011 | Filed by

The New Atheists do not propose to make the rich richer while withdrawing government assistance from the poor; the Tea Party does.… Read the rest



Germany: legal penalties for forced marriage *

Mar 21st, 2011 | Filed by

Those who force women and girls into marriage can now face up to five years in prison, under a new law passed by the German parliament.… Read the rest



Students suspended for wearing pro-choice stickers *

Mar 21st, 2011 | Filed by

Students at a Catholic high school in Thunder Bay were not suspended for wearing anti-choice stickers.… Read the rest



Forced marriage in Germany *

Mar 21st, 2011 | Filed by

“That’s just the way it is in our world: a family can restore its honor by killing the runaway daughter.”… Read the rest



RAWA on Malalai Joya *

Mar 20th, 2011 | Filed by

In 2012 Jaya was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world and in 2005 at the age of 27 she was elected to Afghanistan’s parliament.… Read the rest



Malalai Joya denied visa to US *

Mar 20th, 2011 | Filed by

Because she is “unemployed and living underground.” What?!?!… Read the rest



Johann Hari on the myth of the panicking disaster victim *

Mar 20th, 2011 | Filed by

The evidence gathered over centuries is overwhelming. The vast majority of people, when a disaster hits, behave in the aftermath as altruists.… Read the rest



You people are so amusing, and a danger to the wellbeing of America

Mar 20th, 2011 12:01 pm | By

What, again? Yes, again. Yes, for the 14 thousandth time, Michael Ruse is telling us how angry with him “the new atheists” are, how right he is in spite of their anger, how wrong and bad and dangerous and immoral they are, how brave he is, and how right and brave and amusing and important he Michael Ruse is.

Oh dear, I am in trouble again with the New Atheists… I am being called all sorts of nasty things…Even I sometimes wonder why I am in such bad odor, apart from the fact that whenever I am confronted with people for whom disagreement is considered not just wrong but morally offensive my first tendency is to laugh and tease.

No … Read the rest



Irish bishops promise more support to abuse victims *

Mar 20th, 2011 | Filed by

Last year the pope wrote a letter.… Read the rest



Secular activists resist ultra-Orthodox takeover *

Mar 20th, 2011 | Filed by

The secular residents say they fear their communities will become overwhelmingly Haredi over the years.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on Midsomer and class segregation *

Mar 20th, 2011 | Filed by

At the heart of Tory England lies a determination to use state controls they would normally condemn as “socialist” to protect property values.… Read the rest



Michael Ruse on “the new atheists” #6429 *

Mar 20th, 2011 | Filed by

They’re mad at me, which is baffling when I’m so swell; I will continue to carp no matter what they say about me, I’m that brave; they are immoral.… Read the rest