What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Francophobia Cool in US
Jan 4th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Don’t speak French, don’t have French relatives, don’t eat or drink French, don’t think French.… Read the rest
Kenan Malik on Islamophobia
Jan 4th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And religious hatred law, on Start the Week. audio… Read the rest
How to Be the World’s Largest Corporation
Jan 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Underpay, overwork, bully, spy on, and discriminate against your work force.… Read the rest
Dawkins on the Murderous God
Jan 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It could be more consoling to realize that no malicious being slaughtered 125,000 people in South Asia.… Read the rest
Geography Lesson and Girl, 10, Save 100
Jan 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Knowing what the start of a tsunami looks like can save lives.… Read the rest
Consolation?
Jan 3rd, 2005 3:43 am | By Ophelia BensonMuch as I hate to, I have to disagree with Norm on this one. I think he’s misrepresenting what Dawkins said, with the annotation about the depth and finesse of the adolescent secularist. I don’t think Dawkins is making a shallow point at all, or that he’s expressing a flip certitude, or that he’s being callous about the deaths and griefs of others. On the contrary. (I say that partly because I remember his reaction to September 11 – there was certainly plenty of emotion behind that contribution.) The deaths and griefs are precisely the point. It cuts two ways, this business of clutching at God after a tragedy: yes some people get consolation from the thought of … Read the rest
A Grim Report
Jan 3rd, 2005 12:01 am | By Ophelia BensonThis is a depressing and disturbing article. And of course it’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s not just France, obviously, it’s women all over the world, who have miserable coerced restricted cramped threatened lives. A thought we don’t like to dwell on, since there’s not a lot we can do about it. But a thought all the same.
… Read the restHorror stories of what happened to girls who tried to fight their families circulated in the projects. Yildiz knew of girls who had been tricked by their parents into going on a vacation to Turkey or Algeria, only to find themselves being turned over to the families of their new husbands…The French press, with its need to reconcile political
The Conflict Between Religion and Free Speech
Jan 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Murder in the Community Centre’ – it doesn’t sound quite right, somehow.… Read the rest
Westboro Baptist Church Thanks God for Tsunami
Jan 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because some of the Swedes who died may have been gay. … Read the rest
Good Things and Bad Things in Book World
Jan 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Richard and Judy, Foyles cheers; Random House, supermarkets boos.… Read the rest
The Independent: Year’s Best Books
Jan 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A list of three or four thousand to choose from.… Read the rest
Royal Society Plans to Put Archive on Display
Jan 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘a unique collection charting the history of science.’… Read the rest
Be Careful Not to Get Too Much Education
Jan 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Uncensored exposure to science, philosophy, literature ruins ‘values.’… Read the rest
SBS
Jan 1st, 2005 1:59 am | By Ophelia BensonIt can be very difficult to discuss these issues of ‘community’ and cherished beliefs, ‘offense’ and rights, fundamentalism and fuzzy language, without prompting impassioned if inarticulate yells about Robespierre and stigmatization and the like. It can also be very difficult to get a clear statment of why that is – but the thought bubbling away at the bottom appears to be that all this kind of thing is merely more or less covert racism. So it is heartening to read the letter to the Guardian from Pragna Patel, one of the founders of Southall Black Sisters.
… Read the restAs Asian women of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu backgrounds, we have been struggling for many years against attempts to silence our voices in
Florida Medical Professors Resist Chiropractic School
Dec 31st, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And create parody map with Bigfoot Institute, Tarot Studies and similar.… Read the rest
Newsflash: Believers a Minority in UK
Dec 31st, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Fully 35% ‘admits’ it does not believe in god.… Read the rest
Richard Dawkins Points Out that Science Saves
Dec 31st, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Not only does science know why the tsunami happened, it can give precious hours of warning.… Read the rest
Southall Black Sisters Support Behzti
Dec 31st, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘As Asian women of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu backgrounds, we have been struggling for many years against attempts to silence our voices’… Read the rest
How Could a Benevolent Omnipotent God Do This?
Dec 31st, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A reminder from god that he created the world and can destroy the world. … Read the rest