By seeking to criminalize free speech, the resolution stands in breach of the UDHR.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Short answers
Apr 6th, 2008 4:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonI mentioned that believers can resort to a quick and easy way with difficult questions that secular thinkers and atheists can’t, and that this lack is perhaps one reason students are always moral relativists. We can offer reasons for thinking X is better than Y, or for thinking Z is entirely unacceptable in any moral universe we can think of (executing gays for being gay, genocide, murdering women for talking to an unrelated man), but we can’t hand out anything as brisk and simple and conversation-stopping as ‘God said so.’ Believers* have a short cut which unbelievers don’t have. Believers have an answer that is both quick and easy, while unbelievers have to spend time and effort if … Read the rest
Two Men Get Months in Prison for Killing Woman
Apr 6th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTribunal reduced the murder charge to a misdemeanour: defendant was defending ‘family honour.’… Read the rest
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Report
Apr 6th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson2007 proved to be one of the worst years for human rights in Pakistan’s history… Read the rest
Grayling on ‘Explaining Religion’
Apr 6th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe concept of religiosity will need clarification before a computational model of its dynamics is possible.… Read the rest
‘Psychics’ Fight New Consumer Laws
Apr 6th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPromises to raise the dead, secure good fortune or heal via laying on of hands all at risk of legal action.… Read the rest
Matthew Parris Corrects Blair’s Homework
Apr 6th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDefine your terms. What’s your evidence for this? How do you square this with para 2? What does this mean?… Read the rest
The truth about Islam…and where to find it
Apr 6th, 2008 | By Adrian ReddyIt is a matter of increasing importance that non-Muslims should be able to get a clear idea of Islam’s true attitude towards them. The questions are simple enough: Does Islam teach violence, or peace? Does it wish to coexist with other religions, or to dominate them? Do the jihadis represent Islam, or are they just a lunatic fringe? It should be a simple matter to get definitive, authoritative answers to such questions but, in fact, it is far from simple.
For those in politics and the media, the solution appears to be obvious: ask a Muslim theologian. This has been the approach taken, for example, by Ken Livingstone, the present Mayor of London, in his meetings with Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi: … Read the rest
It’s all so unfair
Apr 6th, 2008 10:42 am | By Ophelia BensonOh dear, the poor psychics are worried.
[N]ow psychics must add a few riders before they invoke the voices of the dead, thanks to new consumer laws due to come into force…Promises to raise the dead, secure good fortune or heal through the laying on of hands are all at risk of legal action from disgruntled customers. Spiritualists say they will be forced to issue disclaimers, such as ‘this is a scientific experiment, the results of which cannot be guaranteed’. They claim the new regulations will leave them open to malicious civil action by sceptics.
Uh…yeah; and? If you promise to raise the dead or secure good fortune or heal via magic, why shouldn’t you be at risk of … Read the rest
The secular conscience
Apr 5th, 2008 4:01 pm | By Ophelia BensonI went to a talk by Austin Dacey yesterday to the Secular Students’ Union at the University of Washington. He’s a philosopher, he has a new book out, The Secular Conscience, and he’s a United Nations representative for the Center for Inquiry. It seems quite a good thing that CFI should have a UN representative, especially now. I’m looking forward to reading The Secular Conscience. Austin mentioned during his talk how reliably predictable it was that new students would be moral relativists, and the secular students lived up to the advance billing: all their questions were about how to ground morality. After about the fifth or sixth such question Austin wondered why people expect the answers to such … Read the rest
That which is special about religion
Apr 5th, 2008 12:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonWhat’s Blair talking about?
“For religion to be a force for good, it must be rescued not simply from extremism, faith as a means of exclusion; but also from irrelevance, an interesting part of our history but not of our future.” Too many people saw religious faith as stark dogmatism and empty ritual, he added. “Faith is reduced to a system of strange convictions and actions that, to some, can appear far removed from the necessities and anxieties of ordinary life,” Blair said. “It is this face that gives militant secularism an easy target.”
Militant secularism yourself. We’re not the ones who resort to violence when people don’t agree with us, so don’t be so free with your adjectives, not … Read the rest
Unprecedented April 1 Victory for Rationalism
Apr 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCatholic priests in Gateshead will be required to read out a disclaimer prior to Communion. … Read the rest
Steinbeck’s Reputation
Apr 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRequired reading in US schools, ignored everywhere else.… Read the rest
Zadie Smith the Dream, Naipaul the Nightmare
Apr 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFor a successful immigrant writer to take the positions he did was seen as a special kind of treason.… Read the rest
Blair Says How Useful Religion Is
Apr 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Faith is reduced to a system of strange convictions.’ But without strange convictions, what is ‘faith’?… Read the rest
‘Abortion’ Search Term Blocked on Website
Apr 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUnder Bush policy, USAID denies funding to NGOs that promote abortion. … Read the rest
Vatican Hoping to Build Church in Saudi
Apr 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAuthorities cite a tradition of the Prophet M that only Islam can be practised in the Arabian Peninsula. … Read the rest
Part 2 of Rise of the Lifestyle Nutritionists
Apr 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMaybe later in the year there will be a series on big pharma. Tell the BBC yes please.… Read the rest
Austin Dacey Reviews Charles Taylor
Apr 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere are plenty of naturalistic explanations for the transcendent urge. … Read the rest
Farish Noor on ‘Heftier Penalties’ in Malaysia
Apr 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLet the cameras of the international media film Malaysians being whipped by the morality police.… Read the rest