Modern retailers are only just getting to grips with the fragmentation of narratives.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Paola Cavalieri on Animals and Justice 
Dec 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Does extending rights to animals weaken rights for humans?… Read the rest
Theo Hobson Attempts a Joke
Dec 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He probably thinks women aren’t funny.… Read the rest
Teacher Threatens Students With Hell
Dec 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong. If you reject that, you belong in hell.’… Read the rest
Satan is Hot
Dec 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Over the past half-century, the Devil has rarely been out of fashion.… Read the rest
France’s Best-selling Philosopher [link fixed]
Dec 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Against the rabbis, the preachers, the imams, ayatollahs and mullahs, I persist in preferring the philosopher.’… Read the rest
You belong in hell, the teacher said
Dec 19th, 2006 12:05 am | By Ophelia BensonAnd people wonder why atheists get shirty. Or ‘arrogant’ as apparently Rod Liddle repeatedly said we are on his channel 4 encounter with Dawkins. Well maybe we don’t much want people saying everyone but Their Team is going to hell. Could that be it? We really just don’t want to hear from people who get their rocks off imagining their religious enemies being tortured to death forever. I don’t like people like that. In fact, I hate them. I think they’re disgusting, I think they’re rock bottom, I think they’re bad. Not as bad as people who make toddlers sleep in their own shit, not as bad as people who imprison small children in industrial schools and tell … Read the rest
Evangelical atheism
Dec 18th, 2006 7:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonMore strange reaction to atheism, more bizarre confusion and surprise where no surprise should be.
And herein lies one of the central paradoxes of Richard Dawkins. Fervent atheist he may be, but he’s also a curiously evangelical figure. It requires no great leap of the imagination to envisage him declaiming from a pulpit, lambasting sinners for their moral laxity.
That’s not a paradox at all. It’s silly to think it is. Atheism is one thing and moral indifference is quite quite another. It’s simply a blank and rather stupid misconception to think that atheism entails lack of moral energy or that passion requires religion. It’s getting increasingly depressing to discover what inane ideas many people have of what atheism … Read the rest
The Financial Times Does Lunch with Dawkins
Dec 18th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I don’t want just to annoy people – I want to change people’s minds.’… Read the rest
Two Books of Philosophy That Aren’t Really
Dec 18th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Colin McGinn on Shakespeare’s philosophy and a Critique of Criminal Reason.… Read the rest
David Thompson on Art Bollocks Revisited
Dec 18th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Art bollocks has become institutionalised and normalised, is now almost the default way of writing.… Read the rest
Anti-Ahmadinejad Students Flee for their Lives
Dec 18th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
His supporters have threatened them with revenge.… Read the rest
Religion’s Role in the Expansion of AIDS
Dec 18th, 2006 | By Arash SorxNote: this article was published for the first time in Persian by “Sekoolar” (the Secular), a publication of Anti-Religion Society. Hereby we translate it to English and publish it again in the event of AIDS day 2006. The final two paragraphs, which were specific about Anti-religion society, have been omitted from the text.
Among the numerous burdens of capitalism that are taking away human lives everyday, some are seemingly “natural” burdens, the result of the tension between nature and human; in some theories these are even nature’s reaction to human violence against it.
Of these burdens we can name deadly diseases in general and AIDS in particular.
AIDS has put its shadow on the entire world like a spectre. … Read the rest
They were shivering and were all colours of the rainbow as they stood there waiting to be cleaned
Dec 17th, 2006 11:10 pm | By Ophelia Benson[OB] You may remember that last month I did a brief comment on Goldenbridge, which I knew little about until I saw some comments Marie-Therese O’Loughlin had recently left on a comment from 2005 on industrial schools in Ireland. I asked Marie-Therese to tell me more, and she has; we’re working on an article which will be on B&W soon. Yesterday I asked Marie-Therese for a little basic detail about daily life – and she sent some. I don’t feel like waiting to publish it.
Warning: the following contains material which some readers may find disturbing. I know I do. Marie-Therese finds it very disturbing to recall it.
Morning at Goldenbridge
The children got up at six o’clock each … Read the rest
Dictionary of Atheism
Dec 17th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Atheist prose tends to be clear, unadorned by allegory and utterly characterless.’ Oh yeah?… Read the rest
Dawkins Interviewed
Dec 17th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Journalist seems to find atheism deeply mystifying.… Read the rest
Johann Hari on Feminism in Gaza
Dec 17th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Palestinian women were trapped between Israeli occupation and patriarchal Palestinian tradition.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo on the War on Christmas
Dec 17th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They want people to remember it’s Jesus’s pretend birthday.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Quiz the Barmaid
Dec 17th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why are atheists so angry at the religious?… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo on the Efficacy of Prayer
Dec 17th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
God is amazing.… Read the rest
