‘Every child stuck in every “faith school” should be bought a copy.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Do me a favour
Jun 14th, 2007 2:23 pm | By Ophelia BensonGood old Vatican. Not that there’s anything surprising about it, but good old Vatican all the same. Grown women, who cares; pre-conscious insentient fetuses, all-important. So the woman was raped, so what; she has to have that baby!
A thought experiment. Not the kidney one, a different (though similar) one. A woman is newly pregnant against her will; she doesn’t approve of abortion and isn’t going to have one. She discovers the fetus has a very rare disease which is quickly fatal unless the fetus can be removed and implanted in a compatible host; such hosts are very rare but can be found via a computer search of a medical database. A compatible host is found. Is it murder … Read the rest
John Holbo on Rorty’s Anticipatory Retrospective 
Jun 14th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Lenin didn’t write an essay: ‘What is to have been done?’… Read the rest
Damon Linker on Rorty
Jun 14th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The end of philosophy culminates in the universal affirmation of pragmatic American liberalism. … Read the rest
Thinking About Happiness
Jun 14th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When we ask how we are to live, we want to know what kind of a world we live in, and what’s really right.… Read the rest
Vatican Tells Catholics to Boycott Amnesty
Jun 14th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because of AI’s decision to support access to abortion for women who had been raped.… Read the rest
Sharia in the UK
Jun 14th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sharia ‘has another face’ – but ‘not all councils are committed to liberal interpretations.’… Read the rest
Family values
Jun 14th, 2007 10:56 am | By Ophelia BensonBrian Whitaker on ‘family values’.
I always find it strange that when President Bush talks about spreading freedom in the Middle East he automatically focuses on authoritarian regimes…Yes, the regimes are a problem but families are the most basic unit of government in the region; at a day-to-day level, they are also the main instrument of tyranny and the biggest obstacle to personal liberty. I have lost count of the times I have sat in cafes – in Cairo, Beirut, Damascus and similar places – listening to complaints about the suffocating influence, not of the government, but of fathers, uncles, brothers and cousins.
Whitaker notes that Bush skips lightly over authoritarian regimes that are US-friendly, though he doesn’t actually … Read the rest
Roger Scruton on Rorty’s Legacy
Jun 13th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was less concerned to present valid arguments than to offer a subversive perspective.… Read the rest
Nothing Merely Routine or Contrarian to Rorty
Jun 13th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rorty continued to challenge the frontier between theoretical discussion and public conversation. … Read the rest
Two From MCB Say Rename ‘Honour’ Killings
Jun 13th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘We should be saying, “Any honour you once had, you’ve now lost”.’… Read the rest
US Public TV Cozies Up to Theocracy
Jun 13th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Project smacks of covert Religious Right propaganda, not a forthright contribution to the national dialogue.’… Read the rest
‘Honour’ Killing Used to Threaten Other Women
Jun 13th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The murder of Banaz Mahmod is being used to intimidate women accused of ‘shaming’ their families.… Read the rest
The Case for Humanity: Hitchens on Religion
Jun 13th, 2007 | By Max Dunbar“I have been writing this book all my life,” Hitchens says, “and intend to keep on writing it.” Indeed, from his critical biography of Mother Theresa onwards the case against religion is always an underlying theme in Hitchens’s work, and I’m surprised that it has taken him so long to devote a whole book to this subject. It’s worth the wait, though.
This is partly because of Hitchens’s style: erudite but never pretentious, furious without hysteria, serious and laugh-out-loud funny. The breadth of scholarship and learning, and the ease and wit with which he communicates it to the reader, means that you could read Hitchens on any subject regardless of whether you agree with him. To use a cliché in … Read the rest
Egypt Has a Fatwa Problem
Jun 12th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The problem created is confusion in thought, confusion about what is right and what is wrong, religiously.’… Read the rest
New Supermarket Owner Trashes Secularism
Jun 12th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I believe that in a Jewish state in which there is a large Muslim minority, selling pork is a provocation.’… Read the rest
Banaz Mahmod Warned the Police Four Times
Jun 12th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mahmod tried to kill his daughter first on New Year’s Eve 2005…… Read the rest
Malaysia Worked Up Over Religious Law
Jun 12th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Widespread disquiet as people realize the court failed to uphold the supremacy of the secular constitution.… Read the rest
A C Grayling on Offended Believers
Jun 12th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hundreds of religious books, no problem; a mere six anti-religious books, fury and outrage.… Read the rest
Inspector Plod
Jun 12th, 2007 10:10 am | By Ophelia BensonOh dear – they messed that up.
Banaz Mahmod made no secret of her belief that her father wanted to kill her. She was in hospital, nursing wounds incurred in an escape from him, when her boyfriend recorded a video of her…Ms Mahmod also told police, four times, that she feared for her life and produced a list of three men she believed would murder her – but all to no avail…It emerged during the trial that a female police officer concluded Ms Mahmod had made up her story to get her boyfriend’s attention.
Oh well, we all make mistakes.
… Read the restThe campaign of intimidation against Ms Mahmod began when she met the man who was to become her boyfriend,
