But can the tension between religion and state always and at any time be resolved with a bias in favour of the law?… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Sean Carroll on modal logic and the ontological proof 
Mar 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The OP is perfectly logical — that is, the conclusions follow inevitably from the premises. It’s the premises that are a bit loopy.… Read the rest
CFI’s Living Without Religion campaign
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Too many people think atheists are miserable or savage or both.… Read the rest
The opposite of engaging
Mar 9th, 2011 3:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonPaul Sims did an interview for the Catholic Herald, and wants to know what people think. (At least he did; the post is a couple of weeks old now.)
Ed West sets the scene for Herald readers.
Last month two groups of people met in a church in central London to discuss gay adoption, abortion and religious schools. On one side were representatives of Catholic Voices, on the other a group from the Central London Humanist Group.
The point, says Paul Sims of New Humanist magazine, was “to experiment with the idea of Humanists and Catholics sitting down and engaging with each other on contentious issues in a cordial manner”.
Yes but (I’ve said this before, … Read the rest
Theocrats come to Harvard
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The April 1-2 Social Transformation Conference ostensibly aims to employ “faith-based principles to better our society.”… Read the rest
Campaign Against Witchcraft Accusations in Akwa Ibom State
Mar 9th, 2011 | By Leo Igwe
A campaign to Prevent the Abuse of Children Today (PACT) in Akwa Ibom, also known as Operation Enlightenment, is underway in Eket Senatorial distirict in Akwa Ibom state. The program sponsored by Stepping Stones Nigeria aims at enlightening the people and getting them to know that child witchcraft is a myth and a form of superstition, and that the prophets and apostles who claim to cure or deliver people from witchcraft are fraudsters and criminals. The campaign team will tour all the local government areas under the senatorial zone. In each LGA a drama will be staged in two schools. 130 t-shirts, 1000 stickers, 500 posters, 800 calendars are to be distributed across the district. So far we have toured … Read the rest
This is totally alien to the spirit of Tahrir
Mar 9th, 2011 12:14 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell how sodding depressing.
… Read the restWomen hoping to extend their rights in post-revolutionary Egypt were faced with a harsh reality Tuesday when a mob of angry men beat and sexually assaulted marchers calling for political and social equality, witnesses said.
…
The demonstration on International Women’s Day drew a crowd only in the hundreds to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the popular revolt that drove President Hosni Mubarak from power. Gone, organizers said, was the spirit of equality and cooperation between the sexes that marked most of the historic mass gatherings in the square.
As upwards of 300 marchers assembled late Tuesday afternoon, men began taunting them, insisting that a woman could never be president and objecting to women’s demands
Cairo: women’s rights marchers report attacks
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A mob of angry men beat and sexually assaulted women marching for political and social equality, witnesses said.… Read the rest
Sally Feldman on shiny new anti-feminism
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Catherine Hakim of LSE recently caused a furore with her “Feminist Myths and Magic Medicine,” in which she condemns moves towards gender equality.… Read the rest
The Catholic Herald interviews Paul Sims
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
CH: “Not only did most people warm to the Holy Father but his opponents often seemed shrill and intolerant.” Discuss.… Read the rest
Soldiers punished for not attending Xian concert
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Two soldiers said they felt pressured to attend the Christian rock concert as part of what was billed as the “Commanding General’s Spiritual Fitness Concerts.”… Read the rest
NPR head resigns in wake of sting video
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A different executive told people “posing as Muslim philanthropists” that Tea Party supporters were racist.… Read the rest
His hand slipped
Mar 8th, 2011 5:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonJen Phillips pointed out another item from Wally in October 2009. A spot of quote-mining.
What PZ wrote:
“I have zero sympathy for intelligent people who stand before a grandiose monument to lies, an institution that is anti-scientific, anti-rational, and ultimately anti-human, in a place where children are being actively miseducated, an edifice dedicated to an abiding intellectual evil, and choose to complain about how those ghastly atheists are ruining everything.
Those people can just fuck off.”
What Tom Johnson chose to quote:
“I have zero sympathy for intelligent people who stand before (religion)…Those people can just fuck off.”
(Yes, we saw that quote again a few days ago, in another “oh sweet jesus the new atheists” jeremiad.) … Read the rest
Waving the saffron flag
Mar 8th, 2011 4:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonMeera Nanda is critical of myths about the timeless Hindu nature of yoga.
By and large, the US yoga industry does not hide the origins of what it teaches. On the contrary, in a country that is so young and so constantly in flux, yoga’s presumed antiquity (‘the 5,000-year-old exercise system’, etcetera.) and its connections with Eastern spirituality have become part of the sales pitch. Thus, doing namastes, intoning ‘om’ and chanting Sanskrit mantras have become a part of the experience of doing yoga in America.
I’m reminded of Kelly on The Office, dressing up in a sari and piously saying “namaste” when she was applying for a Minority Training Program, which was funny precisely because the … Read the rest
Wendy Doniger on the real roots of yoga
Mar 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Yoga is a rich, multi-cultural, constantly changing interdisciplinary construction, far from the pure line that its adherents often claim for it.… Read the rest
BHA census campaign ads deemed too “offensive”
Mar 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
For railway stations, on the grounds that they could “cause widespread and serious offence.”… Read the rest
Desk chair tourism
Mar 8th, 2011 11:55 am | By Ophelia BensonDo you play with Google Earth enough? I’m not sure it’s possible to play with Google Earth enough. I’d forgotten to install it until fairly recently, so I’m still excited about it…Then again I doubt that I’ll get less excited about it as time goes on.
Check out the Amalfi coast some time. Or Capri. Or Norway and those notorious fjords. Or Vancouver. Or Stockholm. Or Paris. Or Edinburgh. Or Cornwall.
At the moment I’m working on the Yorkshire Dales. I took a little break there about an hour ago. I went to Gunnerside, in Swaledale; found a very local but blue-lined road partway up a moor to the west of Gunnerside, and just traveled along it pausing to do … Read the rest
12,000-year-old fishing tackle found off California
Mar 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“This pushes back the chronology of New World seafaring to 12,000, maybe 13,000 years ago.”… Read the rest
Maryam Namazie on International Women’s Day
Mar 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women in Iran and in many other countries today continue to be deprived of many very basic human rights.… Read the rest
International Women’s Day
Mar 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We need to understand and tackle social institutions, such as discriminatory family codes, son bias, and limited resource rights and entitlements.… Read the rest
