Libel law balks responsible reporting; the public is deprived of knowledge they need to make informed decisions.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
‘Evidence’: Scientific Word or Legal One?
May 17th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Bogus’ is a word with many appealing applications when commenting on business and politics.… Read the rest
Chilling Warning From Top Neuroscientist
May 17th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe use of neurosciencey language can make a circular argument appear more plausible to a lay audience. … Read the rest
Guardian Hosts Reactionary Catholic Tirade
May 17th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHorrors: Obama ‘seeks to pass a raft of laws that baldly contradict magisterial Catholic teaching.’… Read the rest
Catholic Priest Disses Blair’s ‘Faith Foundation’
May 17th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCites religious freedom and imposition of a ‘politically correct’ interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures. … Read the rest
Other Inmates of Evin Prison
May 17th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe allegations against the Baha’is are as nonsensical as they are unjust.… Read the rest
Can Reform Save Saudi Arabia?
May 17th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWahhabism is, in its essentials, the totalitarian creed espoused by Osama Bin Laden to justify his murderous jihad.… Read the rest
Schools have their job, churches have theirs
May 16th, 2009 5:33 pm | By Ophelia BensonAbout the ‘Good News Club’…
… Read the restThe afterschool world at Cold Spring had hitherto consisted of basketball, karate, dance, and other physical fitness activities. In this context, a sectarian religious group that seeks to recruit the very young stuck out like a barstool in a bunny cage…The CEF labels the Good News Club program as “Bible Study,” but the term “study” in this context is a euphemism for indoctrination in and practice of a particular religion. Once class begins, there is no pretense of analyzing the bible as a literary, cultural, or historical document. The program moves directly to the CEF’s stated purpose, which is “to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, disciple them
Whither the university
May 16th, 2009 1:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonPeople who oppose abortion rights are making a big fuss about Obama’s invitation to Notre Dame, the Catholic university in Indiana.
The vast majority of faculty and students support the invitation. However, a few academics have come out against and are planning a commencement-day protest. Most of the noise, though, is coming from outside the university. Over 60 bishops have publicly opposed the invitation…
But that’s not the best bit. This is:
… Read the restThe ability of Notre Dame to stir Catholic hearts speaks to the role it plays among “subway” alumni – immigrants and their descendants who in many cases have never visited the university but whose devotion to it and its American football team forms part of their Catholic identity.
Credo, non credo, whatever
May 16th, 2009 12:52 pm | By Ophelia BensonWatch out for beliefs.
[Judge] Rodenberg found Daniel has only a “rudimentary understanding at best of the risks and benefits of chemotherapy. … he does not believe he is ill currently. The fact is that he is very ill currently.”…Johnson, the parents’ attorney, said everyone should be able to get medical care that follows their beliefs. “The Hausers believe that the injection of chemotherapy into Danny Hauser amounts to an assault upon his body”…The Hausers, who have eight children, are Roman Catholic and also believe in the “do no harm” philosophy of the Nemenhah Band. The Missouri-based religious group believes in natural healing methods advocated by some American Indians.
But what the Hausers ‘believe’ is beside the point here … Read the rest
Daniel Hauser, at 13, Can’t Read
May 16th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDaniel says he is a Nemenhah medicine man but can’t say what teachings he has had to become one. … Read the rest
Notre Dame, Obama, Abortion, Football, Identity
May 16th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s Catholic, it has a football team, so it’s part of the ‘Catholic identity’ of people who’ve never seen it.… Read the rest
Cambridge Announces Universal Respect
May 16th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUniversity amended its equal opportunities policy to say it ‘respects religious or philosophical beliefs of all kinds.’… Read the rest
Being Shouted At in Iran
May 16th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe can only hope the spirit of beauty will one day crush the plodding literal-mindedness of the misogynists in charge.… Read the rest
Judge Rules Child ‘Neglected’ by Parents
May 16th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDaniel Hauser stopped chemo; he and his parents opted for ‘alternative medicines’ based on religious beliefs. … Read the rest
What they believe
May 15th, 2009 4:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonLet’s find out what the Child Evangelism Fellowship believes and presumably teaches to very young children immediately after school, on school property.
That the whole entire bible ‘is given by inspiration of God’ and ‘that it is inerrant in the original writing and that its teaching and authority are absolute, supreme and final.’ So if something is in the bible (the translation of the bible into English, that is, though of course they don’t bother to say that) then it is absolute, supreme and final – so no matter what it is, no matter how harsh, no matter how unjust, cruel, tyrannical, interfering, none of anyone’s business, pointless, reactionary, stupid – it cannot be changed or rejected or refused. What … Read the rest
The Banking World’s Responsibility
May 15th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFT journalist Gillian Tett is a cultural anthropologist, and she saw the wheels coming off.… Read the rest
Pew Forum on the Establishment Clause
May 15th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCase law on government funding of religion has shifted away from separationism in recent years.… Read the rest
Journalist Talks to Children of the Taliban
May 15th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLike the teenage boy who asks why women are wandering around outside.… Read the rest
Cleric Says Prayer is Part of Medicine
May 15th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Every doctor, every nurse needs to be easy and familiar with the language of the spirit in order to express the almost inexpressible.’… Read the rest