Spencer was the greatest of philosophical hedgehogs: his popularity stemmed from one big idea.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Michael Ignatieff on the Catstrophe in Iraq
Aug 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPoliticians live by ideas, but they can’t afford the luxury of entertaining ideas that are merely interesting.… Read the rest
Melanie Phillips: Science is the Enemy of Reason
Aug 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The Bible provides a picture of a rational Creator and an orderly universe.’ And?… Read the rest
Not So Fast, Christian Soldiers
Aug 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDOD Inspector General report says generals ‘conferred approval of and support to Christian Embassy.’… Read the rest
New Death Sentence on Journalists in Iran
Aug 7th, 2007 | By Jahanshah RashidianThe Islamic Republic of Iranian’s execution wave has reached the media in Iran. On 16 July 2007, two Kurdish journalists, Mr. Adnan Hassanpour and Mr.Hiva Boutimar were sentenced to death by an Islamic tribunal in Marivan, a Kurdish city in the north-west Iran. They are supposed to be brought to the scaffold in the coming days. Judiciary spokesman, Mr. Ali Reza Jamshidi, confirmed that these two journalists have been sentenced to death, state media reported Tuesday, 31 0f July.
At a trial behind closed doors, the journalists were found guilty of “activities subverting national security, spying, and interviews for foreign news media including Voice of America”. These “accusations” were cited by the prosecution and, amazingly, confirmed by the journalists’ lawyer, … Read the rest
What’s my motivation in this scene?
Aug 6th, 2007 5:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonHave you read Allen’s article on PBS and Einstein’s wife? PBS is extremely irritating. It’s doing a bad thing. It’s ignoring its plain duty and responsibility. It’s not doing its job properly. It’s sneaking around. First it was stalling and delaying and making excuses, and now it’s sneaking around. It’s being bad. It has not only failed to take down the Einstein’s Wife website, despite the advice of its own ombudsman and despite telling Allen ‘We are looking for additional scholarly review to help us know how to proceed in making sure that the web site content is as accurate as possible,’ it has now commissioned Andrea Gabor to rewrite it. That’s like commissioning Michael Behe to rewrite … Read the rest
Ken MacLeod on 21st Century Atheism
Aug 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHumanist philosophers in Britain had become Guardian columnists: Baggini, Blackburn, Grayling.… Read the rest
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
Aug 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBy Carol Tavris and Elliott Aronson – sounds like a must-read.… Read the rest
Review of Catriona McKinnon’s ‘Toleration’
Aug 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Liberals tend to take for granted that everyone agrees on the value of toleration.’… Read the rest
Ian Birchall Notes: Sartre Was no Nihilist
Aug 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSartre takes those of us who see no evidence of a creator through the problem of how we should act in this world.… Read the rest
MPs Reading The God Delusion
Aug 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAlong with Hague on Wilberforce, and Harry Potter.… Read the rest
Alain Finkielkraut Appalled by Jogging Sarkozy
Aug 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt is the surrender of the mind to the body that AF cannot stand: mere body management, devoid of spirituality.… Read the rest
Review of ‘The Enemies of Reason’
Aug 5th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe new age caravanserai: astrologers, spirit mediums, faith healers, homeopathic medicine. … Read the rest
Dawkins on ‘The Enemies of Reason’
Aug 5th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAngel therapy, psychic energy, clearing energy blockages in the meridian system, and the like.… Read the rest
Members of Hizb ut-Tahrir Run 2 UK Schools
Aug 5th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘At age 9-10 children should be taught: “There must be one khali-fah”.’… Read the rest
Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall
Aug 4th, 2007 5:30 pm | By Ophelia BensonBest of luck, Haluk Ertan.
“Turkey is now the headquarters of creationism in the Islamic World. This is no longer only Turkey’s problem, it is now the problem of the whole civilized world,” says Haluk Ertan, a professor of molecular biology at Istanbul University. He’s one of a handful of Turkish scientists who have been working to counter creationism’s spread in the country.
But if you package pseudoscience nicely enough, it will win.
… Read the restIn the past year, BAV has blanketed several European countries and the US with its glossy “Atlas of Creation,” a lavish 768-page tome weighing more than 13 pounds, sending it to scientists, professors, journalists, and schoolteachers…”Every Islamic bookshop I know of stocks Harun Yahya’s material. It
Islamic Creationist Group Goes Global
Aug 4th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA handful of Turkish scientists have been working to counter creationism’s spread in the country. … Read the rest
Sunny Hundal on the Forced Marriage Bill
Aug 4th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRather than a huge leap forward all we have is a small step.… Read the rest
Drivel
Aug 4th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHarvard drivel, but drivel nonetheless.… Read the rest
Spam spam and spam
Aug 4th, 2007 9:47 am | By Ophelia BensonSorry I’m a little quiet. You can thank the spambot, for one thing – it deposits comments (porn ads) on an old N&C, and I have to remove them. The number of comments has been steadily rising; it doubled between yesterday and today. Yesterday I had 8 pages to delete, today it’s 18. It’s a slow process – click ‘check all,’ click ‘delete,’ then wait, then click yes, then wait; repeat. 17 times. It’s slow, because I don’t have broadband. I can do other things at the same time, but it’s jerky and interrupted. Deleting 18 pages takes a very long time.
Anyway, it’s just as well for me to be quieter. I’ve learned that JS has to pay more … Read the rest