All entries by this author

Nesrine Malik on Death for Apostasy *

Oct 23rd, 2008 | Filed by

Death penalty not gratuitously applied; scholars differ; death threat evoked rarely; all okay then.… Read the rest



Center for Inquiry Joins Debate at UN HRC *

Oct 23rd, 2008 | Filed by

CFI and IHEU sponsored a discussion on restrictions to free inquiry into religious matters at the HRC.… Read the rest



At the Seminar *

Oct 23rd, 2008 | Filed by

Diene: Freedom of Expression is politically instrumantalised to propagate racist platforms.… Read the rest



UN Seminar to Discuss Limits to Free Speech *

Oct 23rd, 2008 | Filed by

Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia and the OIC representative called for tighter restrictions.… Read the rest



Apostates are seldom killed; whew

Oct 23rd, 2008 11:02 am | By

Nesrine Malik lets us know that all this fuss about death for apostasy is silly.

Reading AC Grayling’s latest article and listening to the protestations of the Council of Ex-Muslims, you would think that the death penalty is being gratuitously and frequently applied to those who renounce Islam or harbour thoughts of apostasy.

Oh. So if the death penalty is being purposefully and seldom applied to those who renounce Islam, there would be no reason for a Council of Ex-Muslims to exist and no article for Anthony Grayling to write? The death penalty for renouncing Islam is a bad thing only if it’s applied gratuitously and frequently? A rare and cautious execution for renouncing Islam is all right?

I

Read the rest


Thrasymachus and the Baptist ethicist

Oct 22nd, 2008 12:25 pm | By

Ronald Aronson answers Baptist Center for Ethics Executive Director Robert Parham who wrote an essay criticizing ‘the new atheists.’ He first addresses the fact that some atheists are blunter than believers have become used to expecting (and that irritation with this is at least understandable).

Why are these so harsh? Above all, each sees himself as breaking a taboo: Thou shalt not criticize religion…I for one am grateful for the space for discussion these writers, along with Dennett (certainly no angry professor) have opened up, and forgive them for not being calmer and more measured.

Same here. I think we badly need the space – and that the taboo in many (or perhaps most) circles, at least in the US, … Read the rest



Susan Neiman on Morality and Religion *

Oct 22nd, 2008 | Filed by

Whatever the source of moral judgment is, it isn’t divine authority.… Read the rest



The Atheist Bus Campaign *

Oct 22nd, 2008 | Filed by

There’s probably no God; now stop worrying and enjoy your life. Any more fares please.… Read the rest



Higher Education in the US *

Oct 22nd, 2008 | Filed by

A majority of the students whom colleges admit are grossly underprepared.… Read the rest



Review of ‘Philosophy and Real Politics’ *

Oct 22nd, 2008 | Filed by

To introduce a note of realism into philosophical debates about justice, by force if necessary.… Read the rest



Ronald Aronson Replies to ‘The New Atheists’ *

Oct 22nd, 2008 | Filed by

Let’s all oppose claims of absolute knowledge, and those who would impose their claims on others.… Read the rest



Michael Walzer on Possible Foreign Policy *

Oct 22nd, 2008 | Filed by

If Obama is elected, how will American foreign policy change?… Read the rest



We’re here

Oct 21st, 2008 12:38 pm | By

Ron Aronson points out that atheists and secularists get undercounted in the US.

Surveys regularly receive front-page coverage for reporting, as the 2008 Pew U.S. Religious Landscape Survey did, that nearly all Americans believe in God. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life concluded that 92% of Americans are believers and that only 5% of Americans don’t believe in God…But something is wrong with this picture. It erases vast numbers of Americans…It encourages the sense that there are two kinds of Americans, the overwhelming majority who believe and belong, and those few do not believe, and are outsiders. But the conventional wisdom that nearly all Americans believe in God is wrong.

A senior fellow at Pew says the … Read the rest



Saudi: Executions Target Foreign Nationals *

Oct 21st, 2008 | Filed by

Saudi executed at least 158 in 2007; almost half were foreign nationals from poor and developing countries.… Read the rest



Poverty and the Death Penalty in Nigeria *

Oct 21st, 2008 | Filed by

‘Nigeria: Waiting for the Hangman’ says those sentenced to death are poor; most confessed under torture.… Read the rest



Humanitarian Workers are Targeted *

Oct 21st, 2008 | Filed by

Deliberately killing humanitarian workers is an outrage which we don’t denounce enough.… Read the rest



UN Engineer Killed in Somalia *

Oct 21st, 2008 | Filed by

Intelligence sources say the assassination of aid workers by trained killers has become the norm.… Read the rest



Charity Worker Killed in Afghanistan *

Oct 21st, 2008 | Filed by

Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP that they killed Gayle Williams.… Read the rest



Kambaksh Death Sentence Commuted *

Oct 21st, 2008 | Filed by

To 20 years in prison for downloading material from the internet on women’s rights in Islam.… Read the rest



Choosing to Know

Oct 21st, 2008 | By Ronald Aronson

The fact that nearly half of all Americans reject evolution is depressing enough, but the opinions of college graduates may cause despair. One in three holders of bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees deny that “Darwin’s theory of evolution [is] proved by fossil evidence.” Even more dismal, only about one-third of U.S. college graduates and postgraduates admit to a “belief in evolution”—while about sixty percent accept Creationism or its Trojan Horse, Intelligent Design.[1] In over thirty countries, including every other advanced society, a higher percentage of the general population accepts evolution: in pious Ireland, for example, the number accepting evolution is sixty percent higher than in the U.S.! Americans are just as likely to choose to believe in ghosts and UFOs as … Read the rest