All entries by this author

Abortion Rights Slide Away *

Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by

‘Gonzales v Carhart is basically saying that a woman’s health is no longer relevant.’… Read the rest



Who Says Science and Religion Don’t Conflict? *

Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by

Only some false ideas are sufficiently coherent and evidence-based to justify their entry into the debate. … Read the rest



Another Woman Sentenced to Stoning *

Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by

To death, for extramarital sex.… Read the rest



Girls’ Schools Bombed in Pakistan *

Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by

Students are in a state of fear; some parents have stopped sending their daughters to schools.… Read the rest



Rooting out obscenity

Oct 7th, 2007 11:34 am | By

Women women women – gotta keep them down, you know. If you don’t – sooner or later, they get up, and that won’t do.

Make sure they don’t go to school, and do it by threatening or killing them.

Buildings of two girls schools in the Kabal area of Swat were damaged by a powerful blast on the night of September 29th. Witnesses told Dawn that militants, who have been targeting women’s educational institutions for a couple of weeks, had planted an explosive device in the Government Girls’ High School…Recently, a string of explosions damaged some schools, including the Government Girls’ High School in Matta and the Government Girls Primary School in the Bedara area. An explosive device planted

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Little Recourse for Abused Palestinian Women *

Oct 6th, 2007 | Filed by

They face a prevailing attitude that places blame on the victim, women’s rights experts said.… Read the rest



Rizwanur Rehman: Suicide or Murder? *

Oct 6th, 2007 | Filed by

Rehman was a poor Muslim, Priyanka Todi is a rich Hindu; their marriage was seen as a crime.… Read the rest



Mo on the Endorphin Rush of Religion *

Oct 6th, 2007 | Filed by

Like football only without the feelings of metaphysical certainty.… Read the rest



Halloween ‘Offensive’ to Religious Parents? *

Oct 6th, 2007 | Filed by

Maybe, maybe not; let’s re-name it Pumpkin Night, just to be safe.… Read the rest



Dentist Misunderstood ‘Islamic Law and Practice’ *

Oct 6th, 2007 | Filed by

‘Islam does judge actions. It tells Muslims that homosexuality is wrong’ – but gays are still human. … Read the rest



Do what you’re told

Oct 6th, 2007 11:28 am | By

How very liberal.

Islam does judge actions. It tells Muslims that homosexuality is wrong, that stealing is wrong, that killing is wrong and that judging others is also wrong. But nowhere does it say that a homosexual or a thief or a murderer should be treated as anything less than a human being. What Muslims have done is mix the Islamic condemnation of actions with the person who has carried them out. This creates hatred and animosity – two feelings that Islam condemns.

Homosexuality is ‘wrong’ the way stealing is wrong and killing is wrong, because Islam ‘tells Muslims’ so. If Islam ‘tells Muslims’ that eating peaches, watching sunsets, sneezing, and reading poetry are wrong, will that mean they … Read the rest



J Carter Wood Recommends Some Reading *

Oct 5th, 2007 | Filed by

How about a TV series that puts the stars of Theory on a desert island and gives them survival problems.… Read the rest



A Fabulous New Party Game *

Oct 5th, 2007 | Filed by

Take a Chinese propaganda poster, find a postmodernist aphorism, use the latter as a caption for the former. Fun!… Read the rest



The Barmaid Asks a Pointed Question *

Oct 5th, 2007 | Filed by

We all agree that believing in things that aren’t true is a very common phenomenon, don’t we?… Read the rest



Ben Goldacre on Acupuncture and Back Pain *

Oct 5th, 2007 | Filed by

In conditions like back pain or fatigue, information alone can make a difference to the suffering of millions.… Read the rest



Creationism Has No Place in Science Curriculum *

Oct 5th, 2007 | Filed by

Science teachers should not need to delicately handle controversy between a scientific theory and a belief.… Read the rest



Teaching ‘Respect’ for Creationism *

Oct 5th, 2007 | Filed by

‘The days have long gone when science teachers could ignore creationism when teaching about origins.’… Read the rest



Petition Against Lawrence Summers at UC Davis *

Oct 5th, 2007 | Filed by

Summers ‘has come to symbolize gender and racial prejudice’ because people keep saying so.… Read the rest



Flemming Rose

Oct 4th, 2007 12:06 pm | By

Reason talks to Flemming Rose.

I am going to write a book about the cartoon crisis and I am going to compare the experience of the dissidents in the Soviet Union to what has happened to people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ibn Warraq, Salman Rushdie and Irshad Manji.

Threat threat threat threat threat – that’s what’s happened to them, and to a lot of other people. Often the threat has been carried out.

reason: Were you surprised by the reaction of those who argued not for unfettered free speech, but “responsible speech?”

Rose: Well, no. I think many people betrayed their own ideals. The history of the left, for instance, is a history of confronting authority – be it

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Scruton Reviews Grayling *

Oct 4th, 2007 | Filed by

Rebukes him for discussing human rights while overlooking the ‘right to hunt.’… Read the rest