They have a winna.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Liars don’t know when they’re lying to themselves 
Mar 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
This tells us a little about the mindset of people who fake their research, who build careers on plagiarised work or who wave around spurious credentials.… Read the rest
Building bridges
Mar 7th, 2011 11:42 am | By Ophelia BensonWally Smith wrote an article on a forthcoming book in October 2009. In fact it’s dated October 26, 2009, which happens to be the date of Chris Mooney’s “My Thanks to ‘Tom Johnson'” post. The opening paragraph of Mooney’s article, given all that we know now, is so richly ironic that one feels dizzy reading it.
Last week, the New Atheist comment machine targeted the following post, in which I republished a preexisting blog comment from a scientist named “Tom Johnson” (a psuedonym). In the comment, Johnson had related how some of his New Atheist-inspired scientist colleagues had behaved toward religious folks at bridge-building conservation events.
You see what I mean, I’m sure. Mooney insults us for being … Read the rest
The difference between journalism and churnalism
Mar 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Publishing other people’s press releases is not journalism.… Read the rest
Hitchens on 60 Minutes
Mar 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“But don’t let the word ‘intellectual’ scare you off.” I wasn’t going to.… Read the rest
Mohammed Hanif on Pakistan’s celebrity maulanas
Mar 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They are there on prime time TV, they thunder on FM radios between adverts for Pepsi and hair removing cream.… Read the rest
Alberta: parents fight for secular education
Mar 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They say they want what other Canadians have: freedom of religion, or, in this case, freedom from religion.… Read the rest
Aikin and Talisse on atheism and accommodationism 2
Mar 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The aim of determining the truth of a statement is distinct from that of assigning epistemic blame or praise to a cognitive agent.… Read the rest
Yoga is not as old as you think
Mar 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Nor very Hindu, either. Meera Nanda takes on some nationalist myths.… Read the rest
Orlando
Mar 6th, 2011 11:42 am | By Ophelia BensonRemember Orlando Figes? Remember what he got up to?
The future of one of Britain’s leading historians was looking increasingly uncertain tonight after he admitted that he was the author of anonymous reviews that praised his own work as “fascinating” and “uplifting” while rubbishing that of his rivals.
Oh that. He used a pseudonym to trash people. This was considered a bad thing. Not an excusable little lapse in manners, but a seriously bad thing.
… Read the restJohn Sutherland, professor of English at University College London, suggested Figes’s position at Birkbeck could be under threat. “On the whole academics are pretty tolerant,” he said. “Clearly in the present climate he’s a star, and Birkbeck needs stars because of the upcoming research
Pakistan becomes a country at war with its minorities
Mar 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is becoming a country at war with its individuals, with itself, with you and with me, with the human desire to be allowed to believe what we believe.… Read the rest
“Pro-life” Republicans cut funding for poison control
Mar 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Poison control centers actually save far more money than they cost.… Read the rest
Jahanshah Rashidian on International Women’s Day
Mar 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The world practically ignores the fate of hundreds of millions of Muslim women, who are victims of Islamic states or dominant Islamic traditions of misogyny.… Read the rest
Iran appointed to UN commission for status of women
Mar 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A nation where we can be arrested for getting a suntan, or wearing too much makeup, will opine on ways to safeguard our rights.… Read the rest
Muslim physicist threatened for evolution lecture
Mar 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“I seek Allah’s forgiveness for my mistakes and apologise for any offence caused,” physics lecturer Dr Usama Hasan said.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on the assassinations in Pakistan
Mar 6th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Western writers who want to criticize religious misogyny, homophobia, racism and censorship must also live with accusations of “Islamophobia.”… Read the rest
Kamila Shamsie on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
Mar 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
From the first, the new and expanded blasphemy laws were used as tools of persecution.… Read the rest
Ahmed Rashid on the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti
Mar 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
As leaders worldwide strongly condemn Bhatti’s murder, the reaction of the Pakistani government has been vapid.… Read the rest
Worship is immoral
Mar 5th, 2011 4:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonAikin and Talisse (potentially startling many readers of 3 Quarks Daily) argue that religious belief is morally wrong.
The thought is frequently associated with Bertrand Russell: The worship of anything is beneath the dignity of a rational creature. That is, we argue that worship is immoral. Consequently, for any type of religious belief, if it requires one to worship anything, then it is intrinsically immoral. The argument turns on the claim that any conception of worship that’s worth its salt will involve the voluntary and irrevocable submission of one’s rational faculties to those of another.
That idea resonates with me, whether I know how to defend it or not. It addresses what I dislike about “faith,” even (or … Read the rest
Joseph Hoffmann on a secular ethics
Mar 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A secular ethic will always require that religion enjoy no privileged status based on assertions of authority that are widely regarded as untrue.… Read the rest
