Because they’re so cool and heroic, and Abdulmutallab is cool and heroic now too.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes
Jan 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational today, so it’s time to kick it in the slats.… Read the rest
Phil Plait on Mumps Outbreak in Brooklyn
Dec 31st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Religious beliefs’ strike again.… Read the rest
Iran: a Crowd Disarms the Police
Dec 31st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe protesters are losing their fear of the repressive forces, and are no longer easily intimidated by them. … Read the rest
Being a Woman
Dec 31st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe works in the market while he plays cards, but in exchange, she has to wait on him. That’s fair!… Read the rest
Make UN More Effective for Women’s Rights
Dec 31st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe UN agencies exclusively dedicated to women’s issues lack the necessary status and funding.… Read the rest
Caspar Melville Changed His Mind on Religion
Dec 31st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s not a harmless anachronism.… Read the rest
Nepal: Dalits, Minorities Tagged as ‘Witches’
Dec 31st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘An educated woman from higher-income family and higher caste never gets accused of practicing witchcraft.’… Read the rest
Well whaddya know
Dec 31st, 2009 11:50 am | By Ophelia BensonOh look, I’m back. That is to say, the database is fixed, thanks to its owner, who fixed it, but prefers to remain anonymous, which makes thanking rather abstract, but you get the idea.
Apologies for the dry spell. Never mind. What with folding up the turkey to re-use next year and making wrapping paper hash, you’ve been too busy to read B&W anyway.
But those days are over – it’s shoulders to the wheel now, and no slacking. New Year’s Eve nothing – that kind of thing is for shallow worldly frivolous flower-sniffers, and I don’t hold with it. I expect a ten-page report on my desk by the end of the day.… Read the rest
Leo Igwe on Fundamentalism in Nigeria
Dec 25th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChristian and Islamic fanatics show total disregard for human rights and basic freedoms.… Read the rest
Roy Brown on the OIC as the New Caliphate
Dec 25th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf threats to the universality of human rights cannot be addressed at the UN HRC, where can they be discussed?… Read the rest
Acid Attacks Increase in Britain
Dec 25th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOften a woman is attacked when she rejects a marriage proposal or declines her husband’s sexual advance.… Read the rest
Liu Xiaobo Sentenced to 12 Years for ‘Subversion’
Dec 25th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe co-wrote a document urging political reform.… Read the rest
Ireland: Two More Bishops Resign
Dec 25th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFour out of five bishops criticised in the Murphy report have now resigned. … Read the rest
It is unethical to exploit an advantage
Dec 25th, 2009 11:18 am | By Ophelia BensonA bit more on indoctrination. What is wrong with indoctrination?
Guardian readers were upset, David Shariatmadari says, by ‘the idea that a religious group should set about “indoctrinating” children who were intellectually defenceless.’ But just how damaging is this, he asks.
There are a few arguments I can think of, but I’m not completely convinced by them (as always, I’m open to persuasion). The main one is that children do not yet have the capacity to evaluate the worth of religious ideas.
No not quite – that puts it too mildly. Children do not yet have the capacity to evaluate the worth of any ideas, and that’s why adults should be very economical about imposing ideas on them. Children … Read the rest
More travelogue
Dec 24th, 2009 4:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonStill pretty clear and bright today, so I did the next item on the ‘don’t waste the ideal weather’ list and walked the golf course at Pebble Beach. It must be a closely-guarded secret that one can do this, because walkers are there in the single digits rather than the thousands. (But then there weren’t all that many people at Point Lobos, either. Carmel is always packed to the rafters while Point Lobos is blissfully underpopulated. Funny.) I encountered a guy on my dawn walk this morning, who stopped to greet the dog who was with me; the guy asked if where we were was the Pebble Beach course and I said no, it’s at the far end of … Read the rest
Sumerians Confused as God Creates World
Dec 24th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBut we already have all this, they said crossly; what’s he making a whole new batch for?… Read the rest
Oh Noes! Mary Might Have Aborted Baby Jesus
Dec 24th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd God would have been completely flummoxed. Close call!… Read the rest
Ireland: One Bishop Resigns, Three Remain
Dec 24th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The leadership of the archdiocese failed over many decades to respond properly to criminal acts against children.’… Read the rest
Deconstructing Indoctrination
Dec 24th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDavid Shariatmadari notes that not all indoctrination is bad. True, but some is.… Read the rest