All entries by this author

Imperial College Bans Veil Over Face *

Jan 20th, 2006 | Filed by

Federation of Student Islamic Societies says ban is ‘unacceptable’.… Read the rest



Dutch MPs Consider Burqa Ban *

Jan 20th, 2006 | Filed by

‘It’s a medieval symbol, a symbol against women,’ says MP Geert Wilders.… Read the rest



Scott McLemee: Academic Bloggers do Lunch *

Jan 20th, 2006 | Filed by

Continuing discussions that hadn’t started at the restaurant and wouldn’t end any time soon.… Read the rest



Revenge of the Monitors *

Jan 20th, 2006 | Filed by

Conservative group is offering students at UCLA money to tape lectures by professors.… Read the rest



Eve Garrard on a Motes and Beams Problem *

Jan 20th, 2006 | Filed by

The hunt for the real reasons for singling out Israel continues.… Read the rest



Eve Garrard on Singling Out Israel *

Jan 20th, 2006 | Filed by

Why punish hypocrisy while ignoring tyranny and mass murder?… Read the rest



Purpose

Jan 19th, 2006 9:20 pm | By

One or two more thoughts on theistic thinking, and the strange places it leads to.

There are a number of metaphysical ‘why’ questions one can ask. Why something rather than nothing, why this instead of something else, why order instead of chaos, why life instead of no life, why consciousness, why ‘intelligence,’ why humans. There are also a number of ways one can answer, including ‘unknown’. The kind of answer favoured by theists has to do with purpose – design, and therefore purpose. That may be the most basic point of all, at least for some of them – not the personal god, but purpose. Which is understandable. We don’t want to be like mould or dirt or Jehovah’s witnesses … Read the rest



‘We Are All One’ is Sentimental Eyewash *

Jan 19th, 2006 | Filed by

Many important concepts are subject to problems of vagueness between one and many.… Read the rest



Open Letter to Congress on NSA Spying *

Jan 19th, 2006 | Filed by

Dworkin, Tribe, Sullivan, Nolan, Lederman et al.… Read the rest



Jesus Invented Everything *

Jan 19th, 2006 | Filed by

Everything, Rodney Stark insists. Nobody else invented anything. Jesus did it all.… Read the rest



Spot the Orientalist *

Jan 19th, 2006 | Filed by

When Afary and Anderson deconstruct the follies of Foucault, they disconcert many on the left.… Read the rest



Iris Young on Blame v Responsibility After Katrina *

Jan 19th, 2006 | Filed by

Arguably, more harm and injustice result from thoughtless negligence than from malevolence.… Read the rest



Think Again

Jan 19th, 2006 2:40 am | By

An old thought for the day from Philip Johnson, from a 1990 essay in Robert Pennock’s anthology Intelligent Design Creationism and its Critics – ‘Evolution as Dogma: the Establishment of Naturalism’.

If some powerful conscious being exists outside the natural order, it might use its power to intervene in nature to accomplish some purpose, such as the production of beings having consciousness and free will.

Such as. Such as the production of beings having consciousness and free will – beings like us, I daresay he means. Well, yes, it might. But – is it likely? I mean, seriously. Think about it. Is it likely? At all? Does it seem even remotely plausible? That ‘some powerful conscious being’ (but who? … Read the rest



The Pope Has a Dream Today

Jan 18th, 2006 7:54 pm | By

The Pope, not for the first time, seems to be a little confused. A trifle misguided. At least according to one of his interpreters.

John Allen, a columnist with the National Catholic Reporter and one of the most respected Vatican watchers, said: “The Pope wants to make sure that everything he does is grounded in fundamentals in terms of objective truth.”

Does he? Well he’s in the wrong line of work, isn’t he. Precisely the wrong line of work. He happens to have chosen for himself an avocation that is as distant from fundamentals in terms of objective truth as an avocation could be. It’s funny how muddled people can get, isn’t it? Trying to walk up the down … Read the rest



What’s All This Then? *

Jan 18th, 2006 | Filed by

Excess of zeal allows tabloid right to yell weariest of cliches: political correctness gone mad.… Read the rest



New Orleans Mayor Says God is Angry at US *

Jan 18th, 2006 | Filed by

So he throws hurricanes at it.… Read the rest



Celibate Priest Lectures World on Lust *

Jan 18th, 2006 | Filed by

Pope thinks ‘you can’t really be free and happy unless you accept God’s plan for human life.’… Read the rest



Hollywood on a Mission to Homosexualize America *

Jan 18th, 2006 | Filed by

‘If America isn’t watching these films, why are they winning the awards?’ asks loony.… Read the rest



Gazette des Femmes Names Woman of the Year *

Jan 18th, 2006 | Filed by

Ontario came within a hair of passing Sharia; Homa Arjomand is an incredible campaigner.… Read the rest



Meera Nanda on Vedic Creationism in America *

Jan 18th, 2006 | Filed by

ID-ers have enthusiastic allies among Hare Krishnas propagating their theory of ‘Vedic creationism.’… Read the rest