Fashionable nonsense has been with us since the time that prehistoric man first transcribed Of Grammatology on to the walls of the Lascaux caves. Here we cast an eye back at some historical highlights.


Muslim-born woman detained for ‘rehabilitation’ from Hinduism *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Islamic officials seized her 15-month-old daughter from her Hindu husband, Suresh Veerappan, last month and handed the child to Revathi’s Muslim mother.… Read the rest



Marieme Helie Lucas on the fundamentalist political agenda. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Fundamentalists want to impose a religious identity on all citizens, by virtue of their birth place rather than by choice, thus denying freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of consciousness.… Read the rest



Fauziya Kassindja fled Togo to escape FGM *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

She was to be mutilated at the behest of a man who wanted to make her his fourth wife.… Read the rest



Friendly Feudalism: the Tibet Myth *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Young Tibetan boys were regularly taken from their peasant families and brought into the monasteries to be trained as monks. Once there, they were bonded for life. … Read the rest



Swimming in Saudi Arabia *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Foreign woman demands to use pool in international hotel, succeeds.… Read the rest



Religious police prevented schoolgirls from escaping fire *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Saudi Arabia’s religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress; fifteen died.… Read the rest



A Conversation with Akbar Ganji and Martha Nussbaum [audio] *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Iran’s most prominent political dissident talks to the philosopher.… Read the rest



Spanish women’s groups sue imam *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

His book gives advice on wife-beating. Not too hard, not on the tender bits; do it right.… Read the rest



Aids Denialists [pdf] *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

AIDS denial plays a corrosive role in the health policies of many countries, but nowhere has the damage been as extreme or as enduring as in South Africa.… Read the rest



Syed Soharwardy’s complaint to AHRC *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

against the publishers of Jewish Free Press and the Western Standards for sighting [sic]hate against Muslims… Read the rest



Hanan Dover notes that homosexuality is haram in Islam. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘The acceptance of one’s God-given sex is a form of surrender to God or sumission to Allah.’… Read the rest



Saudi Arabia: more female graduates, no more jobs. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Only 16% of Saudi women work, mostly teaching in segregated classrooms.… Read the rest



George Scialabba on Jacoby, Bernstein and Multiculturalism *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Books by a superb (albeit incorrigibly centrist) reporter and a radical social critic.… Read the rest



The new Taliban codex *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime. Teachers must recieve a warning; next time, a beating; next, death.… Read the rest



Young Afghan women turn to suicide *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Driven to desperation by forced marriages and abusive husbands, more and more are seeking release through self-immolation.… Read the rest



AIDS Denial is Pseudoscience *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

The scientific evidence is overwhelming and has been published in peer-reviewed medical journals, the way science is supposed to be done. … Read the rest



A chat with Rome’s Exorcist *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘If the pupils are looking up, the demons in possession are scorpions. If looking down, they are serpents.’… Read the rest



Pragna Patel: Failed by religious law *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

The sentiments expressed by the archbishop are indicative of those who call themselves “progressive” or “liberal” but who are often the most insidious. … Read the rest



Dick Taverne rebukes Prince Charles *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

A democratic country cannot tolerate a monarch whose views command notice not because of expertise, but because of his birth.… Read the rest



Chomsky and Foucault *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Debate human nature.… Read the rest