Cinderella and Rapunzel may not be best characters to identify with.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Pope Talks Nonsense
May 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAbout ‘natural death.’ Natural death in hospital with feeding tubes, that is.… Read the rest
New Labour, Education, and Educationalists
May 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOn black under-achievement in school, special needs, the continuing inequities of the state/private divide.… Read the rest
Southall Case and Difficulties With Evidence
May 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow does one evaluate evidence, expertise, experience, probability, and the like?… Read the rest
John Bayley is not a Cute Old Dodderer
May 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe’s one of the sharpest, shrewdest, funniest critics around, and he has claws.… Read the rest
‘New Scientist’ Reads Fashionable Dictionary
May 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSarcastic? Us? Never!… Read the rest
Galloway Defeats King
May 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRespect candidate accused government of being part of ‘war on Muslims.’… Read the rest
Labour to Win With Reduced Majority
May 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHistoric third term.… Read the rest
Further Ruseana
May 6th, 2005 2:14 am | By Ophelia BensonMore Michael Ruse, I promised you. Very well then. I never forget a promise. There is
this review of Dawkins’ A Devil’s Chaplain from December 2003. I remember being rude about it at the time, though I can’t find the N&C I was rude in. I remember because my colleague was tiresome enough to disagree with something I said, and to say that Ruse had a point in one of the places I disagreed with him. Well I ask you – that can’t be right. Anyway, Ruse does say some odd things in this review.
… Read the restBut how then does Dawkins respond to the obvious retort of the religious, who have always stressed mystery? Some of the fundamental problems of philosophy
Evans and Wolpert Chat About Atheism
May 5th, 2005 8:46 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo did you listen to Dylan Evans and Lewis Wolpert argue on ‘Today’ this morning? It was quite entertaining at first, but then they got off onto a not very rewarding tangent about religious art, and ran out of time, so the more interesting issues were left unexplored. Pity.
But there were some interesting things said before the tangent.
… Read the restDE: I think many atheists behave in a rather adolescent manner, and I think that while emancipating themselves from the older religious culture that surrounds them, they insist on rather sort of showy gestures of aggression towards religion; I think it’s just time the atheists moved on and gave a more balanced view of the older religious culture that surrounds
Petition for Referendum on Iran’s Constitution
May 5th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson35,000 people have signed despite regime’s efforts to silence them.… Read the rest
Altruistic Punishment May Explain Political Behavior
May 5th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Acting the moralist’ stimulates the reward center in the brain.… Read the rest
Hitchens Against Shallow, Demagogic Sectarians
May 5th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBarry Goldwater vowed to ‘kick Jerry Fallwell in the ass.’… Read the rest
Jonathan Miller Replies to Dylan Evans
May 5th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMiller and Dawkins do not regard science as a means to an end but as an end itself.… Read the rest
The Crudest Form of Identity Politics
May 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIdea that questioning views is tantamount to discriminating against an identity group.… Read the rest
Emergency? Sorry, Homeopaths Can’t Help
May 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSometimes we need medicine that actually works, Julian Baggini notes.… Read the rest
Letters Reply to Evans Article
May 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFew religions are represented by their leaders or sacred texts as allegories… Read the rest
Breakaway Mormon Sect Buys Texas Ranch
May 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChild brides, rabid racism, multiple wives, and a secretive, religious dictator. … Read the rest
‘Stay Muslim, Don’t Vote’
May 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAl Ghurabaa says according to Koran, voting is not allowed.… Read the rest