Lord Justice Laws said legislation for the protection of views held purely on religious grounds cannot be justified.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Ex-archbish pitches fit at ‘secular’ judges 
Apr 30th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Lord Justice Laws: “The law of a theocracy is dictated without option to the people, not made by their judges and governments.”… Read the rest
Mojave cross ruling a blow to First Amendment
Apr 30th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Supreme Court sends message: the government can treat a Christian symbol as a national emblem and display it on public property.… Read the rest
No separation of church and state for you!
Apr 30th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Majority on Supreme Court rules that a cross is not a Christian symbol.… Read the rest
Westboro Baptist will picket McMillen graduation
Apr 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“[We] will picket the graduation of Itawamba Agricultural High School to remind the parents, teachers and students of this nation that God” you know the rest.… Read the rest
Women’s Rights Are Called ‘Cultural Imperialism’
Apr 29th, 2010 | By Lauryn OatesA few weeks ago, I sat in a meeting in Vancouver. During a boring bit, I was fooling around with Google, and I stumbled upon a paper entitled, “The (Re)production of Afghan Women” by one Melanie Butler. I recognized the name as I had been interviewed by Butler for this paper, which was published in 2008. Melanie had not really explained the actual topic of what became her graduate thesis in political science at the University of British Columbia, nor sent me a final copy of her paper, nor used any of my statements from the interview in her final paper, which might have interfered inconveniently with the narrative she was weaving. She knew what she would say before she … Read the rest
“I consider God’s law and that of his prophet above any other law”
Apr 29th, 2010 11:41 am | By Ophelia BensonNigeria’s Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima assures us that he has done nothing wrong. What a relief.
Ahmad Sani Yerima, 49, told the BBC that his fourth wife was not 13, but would not say how old she was.
He denied breaking the law but said he would not respect any law that contradicted his religious beliefs.
Ah good; how noble, how pious, how devout, how holy. If any pesky law contradicts his “religious belief” that he is allowed to fuck a girl who is too young to give her life away and too small through the pelvis to bear a child safely, why then he will bravely and nobly ignore that law in favour of the “religious belief” that … Read the rest
Nigeria: Senator Sani says girl is not 13
Apr 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Refuses to say how old she is, says he does not care what women’s groups think.… Read the rest
Mediawatchwatch on a bad week for free expression
Apr 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Harry Taylor was sentenced, Molly Norris got scared, Kurt Westergaard and Lars Vilks got more of the usual.… Read the rest
Teasing the pope is much worse than raping children
Apr 29th, 2010 9:15 am | By Ophelia BensonOmigod omigod omigod somebody insulted the Catholic church!! And even the pope!!! Omigod omigod.
The memorandum, apparently written by staff planning events for the four-day visit by Pope Benedict XVI, suggested he might like to start a helpline for abused children, sack “dodgy” bishops, open an abortion ward, launch his own brand of condoms, preside at a civil partnership, perform forward rolls with children, apologise for the Spanish armada and sing a song with the Queen.
But it’s all right, the somebody’s bosses apologized and apologized and apologized.
… Read the restJim Murphy, the cabinet minister overseeing the visit and a practising Catholic, failed to see the funny side of it, describing the memo as “absolutely despicable. It’s vile, it’s insulting, it’s
UK: formal government apology to Vatican
Apr 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jim Murphy, cabinet minister overseeing pope’s visit and practising Catholic, called the memo absolutely despicable, vile, insulting, an embarrassment.… Read the rest
Not so much crawling to the pope
Apr 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The obsequious apology of this government to the pope is wrong.”… Read the rest
Nigeria: Senator allegedly marries 13-year-old girl
Apr 28th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women’s groups staged a protest outside parliament Tuesday urging the senate to investigate the matter.… Read the rest
Scientism on stilts
Apr 28th, 2010 3:58 pm | By Ophelia BensonCarlin Romano goes after the annoying scientistic arrogant smug Galileo-wannabe whatsits that get on everyone’s nerves so much.
A brave champion of beleaguered science in the modern age of pseudoscience, this Ayn Rand protagonist sarcastically derides the benighted irrationalists and glows with a self-anointed superiority. Who wouldn’t want to feel that sense of power and rightness?
You hear the voice regularly—along with far more sensible stuff—in the latest of a now common genre of science patriotism, Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science From Bunk (University of Chicago Press), by
By…one of the new atheists it must be? This should be good. By?
by Massimo Pigliucci, a philosophy professor at the City University of New York.
Yes! Massimo, the scourge … Read the rest
Paul Sims on the Harry Taylor question
Apr 28th, 2010 2:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonI don’t disagree with Paul Sims on all points, but I do on some.
If Taylor had been convicted for publishing the images in a magazine, or on a website, where members of the public have the choice not to buy or visit, I would strongly oppose his conviction. But this isn’t what Taylor did – he placed the images in a room provided for the religious to quietly practise their faith, away from public space.
But why is a room provided in an airport for the religious to quietly practise their faith? Rooms aren’t provided for the religious to quietly practise their faith in supermarkets and bookshops and bus terminals and parks, so why in airports? And if … Read the rest
Carlin Romano doesn’t like Massimo Pigliucci’s tone
Apr 28th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He’s so ferocious, so sarcastic, so scientistic.… Read the rest
Global population of Catholics growing
Apr 28th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Declining in Europe but rising everywhere else.… Read the rest
National Prayer Day – everyone should be disinvited
Apr 28th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why should Franklin Graham have all the fun?… Read the rest
Atheists and Asbos
Apr 28th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Paul Sims and I consider the punishment of Harry Taylor.… Read the rest
Why feminism must embrace reason and shun religion
Apr 28th, 2010 | By Amy ClareWhen I was four, I was an angel in the school nativity play. I had wanted to be the angel Gabriel, but my teacher had gently informed me that Gabriel was a boy. Mary had already been cast, so the only parts left for other girls were generic angels. I was disappointed but then I realised, what did Mary do exactly? It seemed to my young mind that all she did was have a baby; it was the baby that everyone was interested in, and the baby was a boy. I soon learned that all the good parts to play in this story belonged to the boys, and with every passing school year and corresponding nativity play, I felt more … Read the rest
