Several governments on the list of 15 ‘Internet Enemies’ pressured the office of the UNESCO director.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Journalist to be Executed in Iran
Mar 12th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonYaghub Mehrnehad is a journalist for the reformist newspaper Mardomsalari (Democracy).… Read the rest
John Allen Paulos on Order and God
Mar 12th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow can order arise out of nothing? It can’t, so God. How can God arise out of nothing? Because God.… Read the rest
Mehdi Kazemi Loses Asylum Plea
Mar 12th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSays his life will be in danger if he is sent back to Iran, because he has been named as a homosexual.… Read the rest
Catholic MPs to Rebel Over Embryo Bill
Mar 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCite their religious beliefs.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Discuss Vatican’s New Sins
Mar 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonListen, paedophilia was cool in those days.… Read the rest
On the Media on Libel Tourism
Mar 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUK libel law gets books withdrawn at the mere threat of a suit.… Read the rest
Let’s Just Ban Everything Offensive!
Mar 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThink of all the time we could save.… Read the rest
BBC Raises Eyebrow at ‘Anti-Islam Film’
Mar 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPoints censoriously at Kurt Westergaard for dissing ‘Islam’s holiest prophet.’… Read the rest
Nicolaus Mills on Samantha Power
Mar 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGenocide is alive and well in the world—but of secondary interest to the nations that might actually stop it.… Read the rest
Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus
Mar 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJesus’ disciples were convinced they had seen the resurrected Jesus. That’s the evidence.… Read the rest
Antony Flew at Westminster Chapel
Mar 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFlew will join Bishop of Durham in ‘giving evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.’… Read the rest
The BBC’s holiest prophet
Mar 11th, 2008 11:47 am | By Ophelia BensonDoes the BBC call in someone from the MCB to write some of its news articles, or what?
The Danish cartoonist behind drawings satirising the Prophet Muhammad has urged a Dutch lawmaker to air an anti-Islam film despite Muslim outrage…Mr Westergaard’s cartoons in a Danish paper triggered riots by Muslims in many countries in 2006.
Where to begin? Kurt Westergaard wasn’t ‘behind’ all the Motoons; he drew one of them, that’s all. And there’s the unqualifed censoriousness of ‘anti-Islam film’ – the silent but obtrusive assumption that Islam should be immune from opposition. And then the usual, indeed obligatory, distortion in which the cartoons ‘triggered riots’ as if the cartoons were to blame, along with the repetition of the claim … Read the rest
So long, and thanks for all the
Mar 10th, 2008 6:21 pm | By Ophelia BensonChristian Jago (potentilla) died this morning. I’ve been missing her steadily since she got too ill to talk with us any more. Her brisk clarity and bluntness were a regular tonic (as the saying goes). Jean has a post at Talking Philosophy with several quotes. Here’s one that I found over here. (The database has 139, which seems like a kind of wealth.)
Connections between Rod Liddle’s opinions and logically defensible positions are largely random, IMHO. So saying he got this one right is very charitable of you, Ophelia! As TG points out above, he is a kind of auto-contrarian. (Also a churchgoer, if that’s relevant).
And here’s another…which is very apt. I did an uncharacteristic (soppy) post when Hansa, … Read the rest
Ugly work
Mar 10th, 2008 12:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Vatican is a nasty piece of work. Let’s not ever lose sight of that fact.
A senior member of the Vatican has drawn up a new list of mortal sins…Along with drug use and social injustice he listed genetic manipulation and experiments on humans.
First of all, how does he know? How do they know? How does anyone know? Do they have a private phone line to the deity so that they can get updates on what sins are mortal and what are venial? Who the hell are they to decide which ‘sins’ are relatively minor and which ones deserve eternal torture by way of punishment? But second, what hateful sadistic shits they are, threatening people with eternal … Read the rest
Vatican Increases the Stakes
Mar 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMakes certain kinds of research mortal rather than venial sin. Why mess around? … Read the rest
Brain Enhancement – Useful or a Cheat?
Mar 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat if your boss tells you to take speed?… Read the rest
Vatican Consigns More People to Hell
Mar 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAdds seven new ‘mortal sins,’ for which hell is the punishment; scientific research among the seven.… Read the rest
R Joseph Hoffmann on Letting Go of Jesus
Mar 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe failure not to believe in miracles has had consequences that are not merely theological or philosophical.… Read the rest
Grayling on Smolin on Physics
Mar 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt is the fact that string theory makes no testable predictions that gives Smolin his greatest concern.… Read the rest