It’s all about female subservience, one escapee says.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Manifesto Seeks an End to Communalist Politics
Nov 21st, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe want to be treated not as homogenous blocks but as free-thinking citizens with diverse views.… Read the rest
Sunny Hundal on Self-appointed Leaders
Nov 21st, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt is in everyone’s interests to challenge those who claim to speak for entire groups.… Read the rest
Fifth Column
Nov 21st, 2006 12:01 am | By Ophelia BensonAnother interesting discussion here and later here. It starts from the idea that I contradict myself by “saying that disgust is worthless as a moral compass” and yet using the word “disgusting” to express strong disapprobation quite often and consistently. I argue that it’s not inconsistent because my claim is only that disgust is worthless as a guide to morals on its own, not that disgust itself is morally worthless. On the contrary – I think it’s often called for, and that’s why I resort to the word. (I had noticed that I use it fairly often, when I’m feeling particularly…outraged, vehement…disgusted.) Brandon doesn’t agree, so the discussion has continued. I think he’s underestimating the degree to which … Read the rest
Ritual and art
Nov 20th, 2006 11:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo now we’re talking about ritual, partly via what Julian said in that interview (‘And also you have rituals of gratitude. A religious person can say grace, they can pray. Now, you can try to create these little rituals in atheist settings if you like, but I tend to think they wouldn’t work.’) and partly via what JS said in that other interview (‘You have the thought that the rituals that go along with religious practice are desirable, and so on. However, there’s a lot of research that suggests that people get seduced by ritual…’). This is connected, it seems to me, with a post of Nigel Warburton’s the other day, which is also about something I ponder sometimes.… Read the rest
Instrumentalist theology
Nov 20th, 2006 7:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo yesterday I asked, with reference to Theo Hobson’s argument, ‘how do you go about seeing god as the source of all goodness, all life if you don’t believe god exists? How can god’s existence be a non-question if you’re going to have gratitude to that god for being the source of all goodness, all life?’ and Jerry S answered ‘A lot of people in the non-realist tradition think something like this. I think Robin LaPoidevin makes this kind of argument, for example (check out my interview with him in New British Philosophy)’ – so I did. He asked an interesting question in that interview.
Robin Le Poidevin had said this about instrumentalist theology as opposed to the realist … Read the rest
BBC Reporter Dilawar Khan Wazir Missing
Nov 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWas reporting on pro-Taleban militants in Waziristan; has received threats.… Read the rest
The Wrong Sort of Petition
Nov 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAsking LSE to condemn unpopular research without regard for its academic merit. … Read the rest
Review of Kingsley Amis Biography
Nov 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonKA spent a good deal of time making sure his whole personality was more or less continually on view.… Read the rest
Robert Pirsig Interview
Nov 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘There are crackpots with crazy ideas all over the world, and what evidence was I giving that I was not one of them?’… Read the rest
Attitudes
Nov 19th, 2006 8:58 pm | By Ophelia BensonTom Freeman at Fisking Central also disputed with Theo Hobson and his rather idiosyncratic account of what atheism is. He points out that Hobson isn’t altogether consistent.
… Read the restThis atheist, believing that religious claims are factually untrue, is naturally likely to prefer others to reject these untruths. It is also possible, though, for an atheist to believe that (some) religion can (in some circumstances) have (some) social or cultural benefits. And Hobson knows this: less than a week ago, he wrote about the atheist philosopher Julian Baggini, who “agrees that dogmatic atheism is unattractive: ‘to think there is nothing to be learned from religion is extremely arrogant,’ he says. And he acknowledges the appeal of religion, even to a hardened atheist.”
It depends
Nov 19th, 2006 7:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonCanada’s talking about it too.
In recent weeks, the debate in Britain over the wearing of the niqab or face veil has crossed the north Atlantic to Canada. It came on the heels of claims that the leaders of the large Indo-Canadian population in British Columbia were turning a blind eye to widespread domestic violence. Last year saw an acrimonious dispute in Ontario over whether Muslims could use Islamic sharia courts to settle family disputes.
Notice what all three of those examples have in common.
… Read the restIn themselves, fights over cultural practices and symbols are nothing new in Canada…What is new about the latest arguments is an underlying tension between some cultural practices of recent immigrants and the mainstream values
Tariq Ramadan Explains About Allah
Nov 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHumphrys will keep asking about stoning to death.… Read the rest
Jonathan Sacks Explains About God
Nov 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTalks what sounds to a nonbeliever like condescending evasive noise.… Read the rest
Michael Ignatieff as Philosopher King
Nov 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere is ‘a hunger for political engagement, a need for inspiration.’… Read the rest
Chaotic Religious Blather Makes a Comeback
Nov 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIncompatible claims whiz around, theists nag, secularists wince, archbishops scold.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on the Housing Bubble
Nov 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonInflated housing prices are not an unmixed blessing.… Read the rest
Al-Jazeera International Covers Developing World
Nov 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBut at the price of ignoring other news.… Read the rest
Multiculturalism Questioned in Canada
Nov 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMaintenance of cultural and religious practices clashes with women’s rights.… Read the rest
No fundamentalist optimists here
Nov 18th, 2006 8:21 pm | By Ophelia BensonAn excellent look at the Theo Hobson-Mark Vernon school of argument from Obscene Desserts.
… Read the restHe then suddenly changes direction and – accompanied by the wrenching sounds of screeching, overloaded gears and, moreover, ignoring Grayling’s definition of atheism – alleges that atheism
entails a certain narrative about historical progress: we can move to a new and better age once we have dispensed with superstition. Atheism is more than the rejection of religion as false: it is the belief that religion is an evil that holds back human history. (Empahsis added)
Huh? Really? Atheism entails (‘to have, impose, or require as a necessary accompaniment or consequence’) a certain narrative about historical progress? All atheists have the same view of history without