Catholic official says there is no problem at all, cites “respect for each and every life in our care.”… Read the rest
All entries by this author
NY Times: the Vatican is bullshitting 
Jan 20th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rome officials insist that the letter from Rome is outdated, misinterpreted, and superseded by tougher church rules. It’s not.… Read the rest
Baroness Warsi to talk crap
Jan 20th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Will say stupid things about “Islamophobia” in a future speech.… Read the rest
Ratzinger’s finest hour
Jan 19th, 2011 4:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonBrothers and sisters, join with me once again in reading the holy and most sanctified letter of the bishop of Rome to his beloved members of The Church in Ireland, and see with your own weeping eyes how he places all the blame gently but firmly on them, pretending with all the oiliness of a can of sardines and all the unction of a tube of BenGay that the higher ups in Rome knew nothing whatever about it and were going about their business in innocent piety and pious innocence while those Celtic ruffians were making a dog’s breakfast of things over there on the edge of the known world. We have read it before, my dear siblings, we … Read the rest
Russian cleric to women: it’s your fault
Jan 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If she wears a miniskirt and gets drunk and seeks contact with people “and is then surprised when that contact ends in rape she is wrong.”… Read the rest
RTÉ Would You Believe on the Vatican letter
Jan 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Bishops should be fathers to their priests, not policemen.”… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre talking very fast at Nerdstock
Jan 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How the nocebo works and why it’s so interesting.… Read the rest
Vatican says the letter is misunderstood
Jan 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It was actually a coded recipe for eggplant Parmigiana.… Read the rest
Alabama: new governor separates sheep from goats
Jan 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister.”… Read the rest
Russell Blackford reviews The Moral Landscape
Jan 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Unfortunately, Harris sees it as necessary to defend a naïve metaethical position.… Read the rest
The debut of Sans [Swedish]
Jan 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A magazine that highlights philosophy, reason, and critical thinking, from Fri Tanke. Includes an interview with me.… Read the rest
The smoking gun
Jan 18th, 2011 12:04 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe jig is up, Ratzo. You’re busted. The lawyers are compiling their briefs as we speak. You haven’t got so much as a toenail to stand on. The pretty gold baubles and the sumptuous embroideries are going to be turned into cash to pay the damages. You’re not going to have the fund to go swanning around the globe telling us all what to do.
… Read the restA newly revealed 1997 letter from the Vatican warned Ireland’s Catholic bishops not to report all suspected child-abuse cases to police…
The letter undermines persistent Vatican claims, particularly when seeking to defend itself in U.S. lawsuits, that the church in Rome never instructed local bishops to withhold evidence or suspicion of crimes from police.
Bishop: “a mandate to conceal the crimes of a priest
Jan 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A 1997 Vatican directive rejected a recommendation by the Irish church that priests who abused children should be reported to the civil authorities.… Read the rest
Vatican told Irish bishops not to report abuse
Jan 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
1997 letter found. Smoking gun. “The letter undermines persistent Vatican claims” – to put it mildly.… Read the rest
Joseph Hoffmann on Jesus legends on tv
Jan 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The obliging scholars know better, but they perform on cue.… Read the rest
Review of Habermas, An Intellectual Biography
Jan 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Much of what Habermas has written as a philosopher first took shape in the rough-and-tumble context of post-war West German ideological and legal debate.… Read the rest
Standing outside
Jan 17th, 2011 5:13 pm | By Ophelia BensonAbout that struggle that James Croft was having (and perhaps still is).
I feel a similar ambivalence regarding the religious elements of Obama’s beautiful speech…Yet I recognize, too, that I cannot join the ranks of Americans bending knee to pray while remaining true to my beliefs, to myself. I must express my shock and sadness in another way. I’m standing outside the church, my face pressed against the stained-glass windows, longing for solidarity with those inside, but unable to cross the threshold.
This is one major reason Obama should not have used religious elements in his beautiful speech. It is because doing so excludes a large part of the population, which it shouldn’t do. It’s not the business of a … Read the rest
Johann Hari interviews Kenneth Tong
Jan 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He says that being a sociopath is a good thing – it “can make you highly successful in business, and I am going to make a fortune with my Size Zero pill.”… Read the rest
Steven Novella on CBC Marketplace on homeopathy
Jan 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Marketplace took the consumer protection angle, so there was no need for nonsensical “balance.” The pills have no active ingredient. Period.… Read the rest
Why BioLogos—and accommodationism—can’t win
Jan 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because fundamentalists simply aren’t going to swallow a metaphorical approach to scripture; they’ll tell you so themselves.… Read the rest
