For those of you who can get Ontario TV – Homa Arjomand of the campaign against Sharia courts in Canada is going to be on the interview show Person2Person today at 8:30 p.m. (20:30) Ontario time. The show repeats at midnight, then again tomorrow Wednesday at 3 p.m. (15:00).… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Well Done, Bladders
Dec 7th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRowan Atkinson and others criticise religious hatred clause.… Read the rest
Wot’s Proactive Translatology?
Dec 7th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDiscoursal practice implies social commitment. Etc. [link fixed]… Read the rest
Were Enlightenment Deists Paper Tigers?
Dec 7th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWas deism a mere bogey invented by bishops to frighten waverers?… Read the rest
New Offense of ‘Inciting Religious Hatred’
Dec 7th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVia words that are abusive, insulting, likely to stir up racial hatred.… Read the rest
When Diversity Meets Islamism
Dec 7th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd when tolerance meets violence against women.… Read the rest
Yet More Words
Dec 6th, 2004 9:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’ve been thinking about one particular idea in the argument over that recurring (or ‘really tedious’) subject of the conflation of race and religion and how that conflation works to head off and prevent criticism. This idea:
whilst attacks on religions can be merely the stuff of enlightenment rationalism, they can also be the cover for nasty attempts to marginalise whole groups of people.
Well, yes, they can be, but then ‘attacks on’ or criticisms of pretty much anything can be that. Including, for example, attacks on atheism and secularism. I would in fact say that there is a concerted effort under way in the US right now to do just exactly that – to criticise or attack atheism and … Read the rest
‘The Delusional is no Longer Marginal’
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBill Moyers on the environment and the ‘rapture index.’… Read the rest
Death Threats Against Mimount Bousakla
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSocialist senator Mimount Bousakla in Belgium under police protection after death threats. … Read the rest
Between Right-wing Extremists and Islamic Fundamentalists
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘If you are a girl…It is always fear and fear and fear.’… Read the rest
Forthright Editorial on Prevention of Female Sport
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBangladesh Independent rebukes ‘a few bigoted elements.’ [scroll down]… Read the rest
Women Kept Out of Sport by Islamic Group
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnother victory for the confinement and frustration of women.… Read the rest
Critical Whiteness Studies – the Introduction
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHigh ratio of words to anything said. Repetition augments word count.… Read the rest
Researcher Removes Name From Prayer Study
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSpecialist takes name off controversial study of prayer’s effect on fertility.… Read the rest
George Kateb on Courage as Virtue
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWar, fear, shame; delight in seeing, comradeship, destruction.… Read the rest
Alan Ryan on Intellectual Courage
Dec 6th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAristotle, self-reliance, Hobbes, the problem of certainty.… Read the rest
Only Be Sure Always to Call it Please ‘Research’
Dec 5th, 2004 9:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonEver read any books about angels? No? No, I hadn’t either, but I’ve read bits of one now, and I must say, if you’re looking for a good laugh, books about angels (if this one is anything to go by, at least) are pretty damn funny. Books about Wicca are quite mirth-inducing, too.
With the angel book, I keep opening it at random, and the first thing I read is so absurd I find myself cackling before I’ve read ten words. I’m beginning to think that every single line of the book is packed full of unintentional humour. Shall I give you a taste? These are just random, mind – I haven’t actually searched out the most risible stuff.
The … Read the rest
Mbeki Lashes Out at Tutu
Dec 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPersonal attack on Tutu, an icon second only to Mandela, showed how hostile to criticism Mbeki has become. … Read the rest
Iran Concerned About Human Rights in Europe
Dec 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEU protested arrest and harassment of journalists, staff of NGOs, religious minorities.… Read the rest
Reformist Journalists in Iran Cite ‘Brainwashing’
Dec 5th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGo to prison, come out, issue retraction. Hmm.… Read the rest