Author: Ophelia Benson

  • Atheist bashing at the Evolution meetings

    A 2 hours symposium was devoted to accommodationism; someone from AAAS said atheists are extremists.

  • No, rape is not “cultural”

    The European aid worker who dismissed the violence as “cultural” implied that Congolese women should expect to be raped.

  • Crispian Jago: Skeptic Park with Evan Harris

    Ben, Dickie and Simon ask questions.

  • David Colquhoun on herbal medicine

    It need not be mystical nonsense, but it usually is.

  • Study finds fetus can’t feel pain before 24 weeks

    Nerve connections in the brain are not sufficiently formed to register pain.

  • Sholto Byrnes: Rethinking Islamism IV

    It’s much much much nicer than you think. Really.

  • Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

    “The people who believe themselves to be on the left, and who defend the agents of Islam in the name of tolerance and culture, are being right-wing.”

  • Reporter has opinions, resigns

    Is it possible to report accurately despite opinions?

  • Bangladesh: girl given 101 lashes for being raped

    The village elders pardoned the rapist.

  • Ratzinger v Belgium

    The pope is pissed off because Belgian police are investigating Belgian citizens over allegations of crimes against other Belgian citizens (who were underage at the time) along with concealment and perpetuation of those crimes. What business, exactly, does the pope have being pissed off about this? He is the head of the organization the suspects work for, but so what?

    The Vatican has expressed shock at raids, including the “violation” of a cathedral crypt, by Belgian police investigating alleged child sex abuse.

    Well that’s typical, isn’t it – they’re “shocked” about the “violation” of a crypt – an inanimate object – when they were never all that shocked about the repeated violation of living breathing feeling human beings at their hands. They have a sick, disgusting sense of priorities, and they can’t seem to unlearn it, even with the help of relentless public scrutiny and opprobrium. They seem to be unteachable.

    The Vatican has summoned the Belgian ambassador to the Holy See to voice anger over Thursday’s raids.

    Summoned? Summoned? Who does he think he is? Okay he’s the notional head of the notional state to which the Belgian ambassador is the notional ambassador. But all the same – who does he think he is? What right does he think he has to “voice anger” over police investigation of crimes committed and concealed by his loathsome festering rot-riddled gang of theocrats?

    The answer is probably sealed up in some crypt or other.

  • Helping

    Hey – want to do something? Want to make a difference? Want to make all the horrid oil in the gulf turn into nice healthy salt water and plankton and plastic water bottles? You can do all that. Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston and all those people will show you the way.

    First step is tomorrow, 10 a.m. where I am, whatever time it is where you are. That’s Setting Our Sacred Intention time.

    We begin by setting our collective intention. Join Deepak Chopra to set our powerful vision and participate in a worldwide Intention Experiment with renowned author and journalist Lynne McTaggart. Explore how our collective intention, our voice and our commitment can impact the cleanup of the oil spill. And then we will be graced by Jean Houston who will share with us why this time matters and why we matter.

    Next step is July 6, 5:30 p.m. where I am, you figure it out where you are. This is The Power of Sacred Prayer. (Not to be confused with The Power of Mundane Prayer.)

    Our collective prayers and thoughts have the power to cause a profound shift on the planet. Pray with some of the most powerful spiritual thought leaders – Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith, Joan Borysenko, James O’Dea and more. Together we discover that we have the power to change the world.

    So at about 6:30 p.m. my time on Tuesday July 6th (frankly I don’t care what time it is where you are) all the oil in and around the Gulf will suddenly crinkle up like tissue paper and then kind of dry out like an old orange peel and then it will just evaporate, in a non-toxic way, and that will be the end of that. All everybody has to do is re-stock the fish and other fauna, and everything is made whole. Just by all praying together at the same time. Way easier than trying to engineer a way to seal off the oil, and trying to mop up millions of barrels of the fucking stuff. Also prettier, nicer, more spirichal, and with fluffier hair.

    See you tomorrow at 10 a.m. my time! Bring pastries.

  • Join The Gulf Call to Sacred Action

    Our collective prayers and thoughts have the power to cause a profound shift on the planet. Srsly.

  • Frontline on vaccine alarmism

    Bad thinking, pseudoscience, batshit craziness.

  • That Rolling Stone article

    General seems unaware that the US has civilian government.

  • Supreme Court versus anti-corruption law

    Ruled that the concept of committing fraud through depriving an employer of “honest services” was not adequately defined in the law.

  • Mayor of Leicester stands by prayer decision

    “Saying prayers for a particular religion before council meetings was not inclusive.”

  • Ratzinger “indignant” about Belgian law enforcement

    “The Vatican has summoned the Belgian ambassador to the Holy See to voice anger over Thursday’s raids.”

  • Saudis sentenced to lashes, prison for “mingling”

    4 women, 11 men got lashes and one to two years in prison for attending a party.

  • Put your hands out where I can see them

    Belgian authorities heightened pressure on the Roman Catholic Church in a sex-abuse scandal on Thursday, raiding the Belgian church headquarters, the home of a former archbishop and the offices of a commission established by the church to handle abuse complaints.

    Police arrived at the church headquarters, the palace of the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, on Thursday morning while the monthly bishops meeting was in progress, a church spokesman said, questioning all of those present, from bishops down to staff members such as cooks and drivers.

    Now that’s more like it. That sounds as if someone actually realizes that raping children is a crime, and not a little foible that can be gently discouraged by one’s colleagues without anyone’s hair having to get mussed.

    The authorities’ decision to search church property, question bishops and seize documents and other potential evidence represented a major departure in such investigations and a sign that in criminal matters the church will not be afforded special treatment here. This sort of activity “Is extremely rare, very rare, especially in the house of a cardinal,” said Andrea Tornielli, a Vatican expert at the Italian daily Il Giornale. “It’s enormous.”

    …Barbara Dorris, outreach director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement that the raid was “precisely what’s needed, not just in Belgium but in other church offices across the globe.”

    “Law enforcement officials must stop giving the Catholic hierarchy a ‘free pass’ when it comes to clergy sex crimes and cover-ups,” Ms. Dorris said. “Police and prosecutors need to step up, and promptly and thoroughly investigate allegations against predator priests and corrupt bishops, and use their full powers to gain access to and control over church records that likely document the crimes and cover-ups.”

    No more special treatment. That’s all. Not an unreasonable expectation.

  • More on Belgian police raid on bishops

    Cops arrived at headquarters during the monthly bishops’ meeting and started questioning everyone. Everyone.