Author: Ophelia Benson

  • Points for accuracy

    What is it with Massimo Pigliucci and the dreaded Dawkins-Coyne Phalanx or whatever it is? Why does he keep…pinging at them? And saying things that are exaggerated at best?

    …my problem with Dawkins and Coyne is different, but stems from the same root: their position on morality is indeed distinct from Harris’ (at least Dawkins’, I don’t recall having read anything by Coyne on morality), but they insist in applying science to the supernatural, which is simply another form of the same malady that strikes Harris: scientism, the idea that science can do everything and provides us with all the answers that are worth having.

    Dawkins and Coyne don’t think or say or write that science can do everything and provides us with all the answers that are worth having. They say lots of things that are not compatible with that idea.

    As for the Dawkins/Coyne stuff, I’m really baffled by so many smart people having such a difficult time wrapping their heads around it. I don’t want them to shout that philosophy is the greatest, I just want them to stop shouting that science is the ultimate arbiter of everything. That would be very decent of them, and then we could all get along nicely.

    They don’t shout that. They don’t shout that at all, or anything resembling it. What is it with Massimo?

    His new colleague is joining in the fun. Ew.

  • Journalistic ethics

    The Times is shameless. (Wait – why do I even bother to say that? It’s a Murdoch paper. Murdoch is the genius behind Fox “News” – for which the word “shameless” would be gross flattery.) Its headline is untrue, yet it won’t even post a letter from the subject saying so.

    The Times ran the headline: Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI. It went on to say he was planning a legal ambush, he’d asked lawyers to do things, and so on. He says that’s not how it went. He posted a comment on the Times (and his own site) saying how it went.

    Needless to say, I did NOT say “I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI” or anything so personally grandiloquent. So all the vicious attacks on me for seeking publicity etc are misplaced…

    Marc Horne, the Sunday Times reporter, telephoned me out of the blue and asked whether I was aware of the initiative by Geoffrey Robertson and Mark Stephens to mount a legal challenge to the Pope’s visit. Yes, I said. He asked me if I was in favour of their initiative. Yes, I said, I am strongly in favour of it. Beyond that, I declined to comment to Marc Horne, other than to refer him to my ‘Ratzinger is the Perfect Pope’ article. How the headline writer could go from there to “Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI” is obscure to me.

    It is a remarkably large and brazen jump, you must admit. Are you aware of, do you support, becomes total initiative for and responsibility for. Are you aware of the Obama administration’s attempts to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians? Yes. Do you support those efforts? Yes. Headline: I will make peace between Israel and Palestine says random person.

    Richard reported an hour or so ago that five hours after he posted the comment, it still hadn’t appeared. Bill O’Reilly must be beaming with pride. Glen Beck must be sobbing with joy.

  • Vatican Can No Longer Ignore International Law

    Which now counts the widespread or systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity.

  • Even Ruse is Disgusted by the Vatican

    There is no concern whatsoever for the victims. Simply fear of the story getting out and advice for how to prevent it happening.

  • Official Body Tries to Hide Scientific Ignorance

    National Science Board Survey removed survey sections on evolution and cosmology.

  • Nicholas Lezard Reviews Baggini on Spin

    The book that started life here as ‘Bad Moves’ column.

  • Meera Nanda on God and Globalization Gospel

    India is not the only country where markets are supposed to be exorcising the demons of religious fanaticism.

  • The Tragic Human Cost of Political Idiocy and AIDS Pseudoscience

    The desperate consequences of delusional thinking about medicine…when the deluded are the people running the country.

  • Nepotistic succession in the political class

    Nepotism diminishes the role of merit and the need for democratic persuasion in how elected leaders are chosen.

  • IHEU against OIC censorship at the UN

    EU will not accept that the notion of defamation of religion be integrated into the framework of human rights

  • IHEU and CFI defend the rights of women

    IHEU also attacked the culture of censorship that now prevails in the UN HRC.

  • Prince of Wales joins ‘detox’ fraud

    The word detox has no agreed meaning. It is a marketing word, designed to separate the gullible from their money

  • Gerald Weissmann on Homeopathy and the Prince of Wales

    When Prince Charles uses terms such as ‘integrated therapy’ he is following the lead of creationists who hide under the term ‘intelligent design.’

  • Colorado senator opposes AIDS testing.

    If the baby has AIDS, the mother will feel guilty, and that will be good.

  • Scalia on the death penalty

    For the believing Christian, death is no big deal.

  • BBC boss says Islam should be treated differently

    Also says his Christian beliefs guide his judgments.

  • Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl

    3 January: I am afraid. 14 January: I may not go to school again.

  • Pitcairn Island: 6 Found Guilty Of Sex Abuse

    Six men were convicted of charges including rape and indecent assault in trials that exposed a culture of sexual abuse on Pitcairn.

  • Submission in advance

    A gigantic taboo zone has been created, repeatedly reiterated and expanded with the well-intentioned collaboration of Western intellectuals.

  • Escaping the Amish

    Rape, incest, sexual abuse; physical and verbal abuse; women have no rights; rudimentary education; animal abuse.