All entries by this author

Hecklers Cry ‘Torture Lite’ at Michael Ignatieff *

Jan 14th, 2006 | Filed by

Canadians dislike his endorsement of interrogation techniques such as sleep deprivation.… Read the rest



The Rapture of Waiting for the Mahdi *

Jan 14th, 2006 | Filed by

Is Ahmadinejad motivated by expectation of the final battle between good and evil?… Read the rest



Police Not to Blame for Hajj Stampede *

Jan 14th, 2006 | Filed by

Trying to stop massive crowds could have caused more deaths.… Read the rest



Theory’s Empire

Jan 14th, 2006 | By Daphne Patai and Will H. Corral

Our anthology, Theory’s Empire, appears at a moment when not only have theoretical discussions of literature become stagnant but articles and books are published in defense of the conceptual stalemates that have led to this very immobility. In the early years of the new millennium, theorists are busily writing about the impasse in which theory finds itself, discoursing on the alternatives as portentously as they once wrote about the death of the novel and of the author. But there is one revealing difference between the predictably cyclical revisions of theoretical notions before structuralism and those present developments that can today be referred to simply as Theory, emblazoned with a capital T: the proponents of the latter tend to avoid … Read the rest



Lucretius Knew

Jan 14th, 2006 4:15 am | By

‘Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum,’ Lucretius remarked* (that’s one of my few Latin tags. I failed Latin one year. You didn’t fail things in my school, it wasn’t done, but I managed it. I was quite good at failing things when I was fifteen) about what Agamemnon did to his daughter at the behest of a god (he killed her, that’s what, just to get a wind for sailing to Troy). What evil religion can persuade us to. He was right, old Lukers.

There’s this hajj business for instance. Brilliant. Make it a pillar of your religion that if you can make the trip to Mecca, you have to, once in your life. Keep that rule in place when … Read the rest



Johann Hari in Praise of Richard Dawkins *

Jan 13th, 2006 | Filed by

Only as you watch the film do you realise how rare it is to hear arguments against organised superstition.… Read the rest



Eyebrows Raised at Public Order Act *

Jan 13th, 2006 | Filed by

And investigation of Sacranie for merely stating an opinion.… Read the rest



Pastor Arrested Over ‘Child Witchcraft’ Cruelty *

Jan 13th, 2006 | Filed by

Allegedly advised parents to beat devil out of them or send them to DRC so that he could pray for them to be killed.… Read the rest



Oxford Police Horse Homophobia Case Dropped *

Jan 13th, 2006 | Filed by

Student said to officer, ‘Excuse me, do you realise your horse is gay?’ Bystanders were offended.… Read the rest



Maori Community and Fire Brigade Community *

Jan 13th, 2006 | Filed by

‘Memorandum will help the Maori community and the fire brigade understand each other’s cultures.’… Read the rest



Another Guardian Angel

Jan 13th, 2006 2:06 am | By

Now you knew I would have to pitch a fit about this. So here, have a fit.

Western liberal democracy owes much to the Christian view that all have equal worth before God, which in our political system reads as democracy and equality before the law; and those ideals have often been applied because of religious faith, not in spite of it.

No it doesn’t. Or at least no one knows if it does or not. That’s just that confusion of correlation with causation again. The ‘Christian’ (and not exclusively Christian, and not thoroughly Christian either, given how many exceptions Xianity always managed to find to its supposed ‘view’ over the years) view that all have equal worth before … Read the rest



Distress?

Jan 12th, 2006 7:48 pm | By

I listened to the replay of Iqbal Sacranie’s interview on PM yesterday, and it was just as silly and irritating as I expected. He so obviously had nothing relevant to say, he so obviously was simply expressing unthinking dislike, he so obviously was just floundering around looking for rationalizations, it was so obvious how empty they were. Er, they’re harmful, uh, stability, um, society, er, stable, you know, ooh, ah, um – they get diseases! That’s it. They get diseases – that’s scientific, that is. So you see what I mean. It’s obvious. But, er, we have to put up with it, because this is a democracy. But I sure don’t want to! And of course you can see why. … Read the rest



Rochdale Council Sued Over ‘Satanic Abuse’ Case *

Jan 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Social services thought they had uncovered a group of ritual devil worshippers.… Read the rest



Sacranie Under Investigation *

Jan 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Perhaps he said something in the hearing of someone who might be distressed thereby.… Read the rest



Yet More Guardian Mush About ‘Faith’ *

Jan 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Familiar, woolly, starry-eyed.… Read the rest



Hundreds Killed in Hajj Stampede *

Jan 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Bottleneck happened near stone walls representing the devil that are pelted with stones.… Read the rest



Criticism of ‘Academic Bill of Rights’ *

Jan 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Call for ‘other viewpoints’ could invite Holocaust deniers or creationists to demand equal time.… Read the rest



Horowitz Admits Not Having Evidence *

Jan 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Says criticism is nit-picking, and that ‘everybody knows’.… Read the rest



Autonomy v Respect

Jan 12th, 2006 2:33 am | By

Some more on this question of comprehensive v political liberalism, and respect, and what is meant by it. G has been arguing for a more limited reading in comments, but I’m not convinced that the quoted passages fit such a reading.

One may sympathize…without feeling that he understands the type of mutual respect that is required in a pluralistic society. I agree with Rawls: such respect requires (in the public sphere at least) not showing up the claims of religion as damaging, and not adopting a public conception of truth and objectivity according to which such claims are false.

That seems pretty clear to me. Surely she’s not talking about leaving ‘our private differences over comprehensive conceptions of the good … Read the rest



A Couple of Reviews

Jan 11th, 2006 9:45 pm | By

PZ comments on ‘The Root of All Evil’ at Pharyngula.

Nobody should ever call Dawkins arrogant. On the scale established by American televangelists, by Christians in general, he is a timid model of bashful humility. Pit a man who works for his knowledge, who willingly tests and reviews it continually, against a mob who trusts in revealed knowledge dogmatically, and I’ll tell you who the arrogant ones are.

Well exactly. How it did irritate me, listening to that smug unctuous man telling Dawkins he is arrogant. What a joke! But it works, you know. It works all the time. The Limbaughs and O’Reillys never get enough of that (well they wouldn’t, would they – it works) ploy, calling any … Read the rest