‘Libraries could hardly not be about books,’ but they can damn well give it their best shot.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Fleischacker on the Israel-Palestine Conflict 7
Oct 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNationalists are frequently contemptuous of the individual rights beloved of liberals.… Read the rest
Jane Mayer on the Choice of Sarah Palin
Oct 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPalin has positioned herself as an insurgent but has routinely turned to Washington’s Old Guard for help.… Read the rest
Ronald Aronson on Undercounting Secularists
Oct 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhen will they demand that the spirit of multiculturalism be extended to those who do not pray?… Read the rest
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed on Jewel of Medina
Oct 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOutdated Orientalist reading; marriage for girls in early teens normal; offended; hurt; empathy; respect.… Read the rest
Just Fancy: the Soul is the Brain
Oct 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonYour mental life is a product of your brain. If you want to call that a soul…whatever.… Read the rest
Religious Grievances on the Increase
Oct 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMuslims want prayer breaks, non-Muslims don’t want to do their work; impasse.… Read the rest
Girl, 11, Set on Fire for Wearing Lipstick
Oct 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHer great-uncle, a conservative Muslim, told police he was enraged at the girl for being ‘scantily dressed.’… Read the rest
Hindus to Christians: Convert or We Will Kill You
Oct 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘If you go on being Christians, we will burn your houses and your children in front of you.’… Read the rest
Chet Raymo on Miracles
Oct 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOnce we let some miracles in the door, there is no consistent way to exclude others.… Read the rest
The miracle of prayer
Oct 19th, 2008 9:39 am | By Ophelia BensonChet Raymo quotes Kenneth Miller on prayer:
Finally, any traditional believer must agree that God is able to influence the thoughts and actions of individual human beings. We pray for strength, we pray for patience, and we pray for understanding. Prayer is an element of faith, and bound within it is the conviction that God can affect us and those we pray for in positive ways.
Wait. If we pray for strength, patience and understanding and find (or believe we find) that we have more strength, patience and understanding, that could simply be because praying is a way we get ourselves to have more strength, patience and understanding. It’s true that in that sense ‘faith’ may well work – … Read the rest
Escape? Of course you can’t escape!
Oct 18th, 2008 1:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonI was flicking through tv stations the other evening and happened on Martin Sheen looking earnest, so I paused to hear what he had to say – expecting pleasant murmurs about Obama or urbane skepticism about McCain, I suppose. But no – what I got was some irritating Catholic boilerplate about Washington state’s Initiative 1000, which allows doctors, under certain very limited careful circumstances, to give terminal patients drugs with which to end the misery. Martin Sheen’s against it. This makes me angry. It makes me angry because it shouldn’t be anyone else’s business. No one is offering to force assisted suicide on anyone. The point of the initiative is to make it available (with level upon level of … Read the rest
States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal
Oct 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFor every voter added in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two.… Read the rest
Catholics Oppose Assisted Suicide Bill
Oct 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOpponents say Washington State Initiative 1000 is ‘against God’s will.’ So suffering is God’s will.… Read the rest
Herding Atheists is Like Herding Cats
Oct 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne problem with turning out the atheist vote is finding it.… Read the rest
The Guardian’s Crush on the Koran
Oct 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonZia Sardar has spent years trying to square the circle of his Islamic beliefs with his right-on radicalism.… Read the rest
Radio Netherlands on Women in Iran
Oct 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJonathan Groubert talks to Farnaz Seifi and Fataneh Farahani about hijab and protest. … Read the rest
A Planetarium is not ‘Foolishness’
Oct 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPlanetaria educate and inspire people; they are worth spending money on.… Read the rest
At the Ex-Muslims Conference
Oct 17th, 2008 1:46 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnthony Grayling spoke at the Ex-Muslims conference and tells us how it went.
… Read the restThe conference was opened by the head of the Iranian Secular Society, Fariborz Pooya, and addressed by the extraordinary and courageous Maryam Namazie, spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, who subjected Islamism – political Islam – to scrutiny, arguing that it serves as an agency of Islamic states with serious implications for the lives, rights and freedoms of individuals, many of whom have left their countries of origin precisely to escape the repressive political and social climates there…A source of frustration for many is that they are lumped into “the Muslim community” whose self-elected spokespeople are more representative of the Islamic states that many
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain Conference
Oct 17th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNearly 300 people met to discuss apostasy, the freedom to criticise religion, Sharia and civil society.… Read the rest