So suck it up, atheists, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, deists, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, secularists.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
ECHR rules: no secularism for public schools 
Mar 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Friday that crucifixes are acceptable in public school classrooms; its decision will be binding in 47 countries.… Read the rest
Between different communities
Mar 17th, 2011 4:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonI don’t see the benefit of interfaith whatsits. I don’t see why it’s Obama’s job to encourage them.
Since his inauguration, President Obama has emphasized interfaith cooperation and community service – “interfaith service” for short – as an important way to build understanding between different communities and contribute to the common good.
But if you don’t sort people into “different communities” in the first place, then you don’t need to build understanding between different communities, because people won’t be constantly seeing everyone as part of a different community. If you don’t keep insisting on this community-sorting project, you won’t entrench people in their communities and make them all prickly and defensive about their everlasting precious communities. That is, of … Read the rest
Marc Alan Di Martino on bogus Judeo-Christian roots
Mar 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Judeo-Christian” lets the pope sound ecumenical to the uninitiated. Don’t be fooled.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo on taking the Koran out of context
Mar 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And on putting it in context. Both can be bad – it depends on the context.… Read the rest
Darul Uloom Islamic High School in Birmingham
Mar 17th, 2011 11:33 am | By Ophelia BensonA “faith school” in Birmingham.
Holding the children’s attention is a man in Islamic dress wearing a skullcap and stroking his long dark beard as he talks.’You’re not like the non-Muslims out there,’ the teacher says, gesturing towards the window. ‘All that evil you see in the streets, people not wearing the hijab properly, people smoking… you should hate it, you should hate walking down that street.’
He refers to the ‘non-Muslims’ as the ‘Kafir’, an often derogatory term that means disbeliever or infidel.
A snapshot of the worst kind of schooling imaginable – training in hatred of all people who are outside the favored group.
… Read the restThis school is required by its inspectors to teach tolerance and respect for
CFI and IHEU collaborate to oppose blasphemy laws
Mar 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
This week the Center for Inquiry joined the International Humanist and Ethical Union in opposing blasphemy laws at a meeting of the UN HCR.… Read the rest
In a loblolly pine far away
Mar 17th, 2011 10:07 am | By Ophelia BensonYou do know about the EagleCam, right?
It’s a camera high in a tree at Norfolk Botanical Garden in Virginia, trained on an eagle’s nest 8o to 90 feet up a loblolly pine tree. There were three eggs; one chick hatched Saturday, another hatched Monday, the third is due to hatch any moment.
It’s enthralling. You can see whichever adult is on the nest get up, a fuzzy bobblehead appear, then the other fuzzy bobblehead join it, then the adult rip bits off a fish (fly-covered, at this point) or a squirrel (caught yesterday) and offer them to one or the other fuzzy bobblehead, who will eat it. You can also see the older bobblehead attack the younger one. … Read the rest
Imam sues Telegraph over “extremist” claim
Mar 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Yahya Ibrahim says he is a moderate teacher committed to religious tolerance, denies he holds radical views, and is opposed to violence.… Read the rest
Malaysia: Xian lawyer barred from sharia courts
Mar 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She wanted to appear for non-Muslim clients fighting in such courts. An increasing number of cases involve both Muslims and non-Muslims.… Read the rest
Making “Lessons in Hate and Violence” for Dispatches
Mar 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“You’re not like the non-Muslims out there,” the teacher says. “All that evil you see in the streets, people not wearing the hijab properly, people smoking… you should hate it, you should hate walking down that street.”… Read the rest
Guardian interviews Tim Flannery
Mar 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“For 20 years after his return from the Beagle voyage, [Darwin] sat on what he knew were astonishing discoveries.” That’s a myth.… Read the rest
Can we be Good without believing in God?
Mar 16th, 2011 | By Leo IgweCan human beings be good without leaning on a god or dogma? Can we be moral without being religious? The answer to these questions is an unequivocal “Yes”. Human beings indeed do not need to believe in a deity or to belong to any religion in order to be good or to do good. The whole idea of the good-of doing good-preceded the idea of a god and religion. In fact the entity called god is alien to the equation of human goodness and morality.
We, humans, do not need to belong to any religion in order to have a sense of moral right or wrong. Moral rectitude is natural, and not predicated on supernatural faith. Morality is a product … Read the rest
It does no work because it purportedly does all work
Mar 16th, 2011 1:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnthony Grayling said more about this possibility of evidence for god question.
I don’t think that every effort has been made to look for evidence and none has turned up…You and Richard think it’s an empirical matter whether there are deities (or fairies? goblins? consider why you think the latter are zoological non-starters) and I think it’s a matter of coherence of the concept…
And, I find, so do I. The more I think about it the more I think that.
… Read the restThe point is that ‘god’ is not like ‘ether’ – it is not amenable to empirical investigation, and does not occupy a slot in some systematic framework of thinking about the world that might be improved on in
“The Evolution and Theology of Cooperation”
Mar 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And other treats.… Read the rest
Can the brain explain your mind?
Mar 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Is thinking what the brain does in the way that walking is what the body does? Colin McGinn asks.… Read the rest
Defamation Bill intended to end libel tourism
Mar 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The draft Defamation Bill will propose a new defence of “honest opinion.” It’s about time!… Read the rest
Pakistan: Xian convicted of “blasphemy” dies in prison
Mar 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Qamar David was serving a life sentence for insulting the Koran and Muhammad.… Read the rest
Cairo: the army is above the nation, especially women
Mar 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
11 women arrested in Tahrir square were stripped and forcibly examined to determine whether they were virgins.… Read the rest
The Italian government swears the cross is neutral
Mar 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A gathering place for Jew and Gentile, believer and non-believer. The most ecumenical goddamn thing you ever saw. How can you not just love it?… Read the rest
