Pope Won’t Be ‘Intimidated’ by ‘Petty Gossip’ *

Mar 29th, 2010 | Filed by

Cited ‘the courage of not allowing oneself to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion.’… Read the rest



Paul Fidalgo on Why Atheists Should Speak Up *

Mar 29th, 2010 | Filed by

Reason, science, freedom from oppressive myth, equality for those who have opted out of supernatural belief. … Read the rest



A Very Young Activist’s Reply

Mar 29th, 2010 | By Alaina Podmorow

I need help. I need help to understand how and why someone would write a story about how Canadian Women are forcing their beliefs upon Muslim Women. I pasted this chunk below:

At the heart of the relationship between feminism and imperialism is an Orientalist logic that posits Western women as exemplary and emancipated in relation to “Other” (Afro-Asian/colonized) women, thereby charging the former with the responsibility of saving the latter from their backwards (i.e. Muslim), uncivilized cultures.

And even though I don’t understand at all the words Orientalist or feminism theory, I do understand what this chunk means, and now I want to speak my truth.

I am the founder of Little Women for Little Women in AfghanistanRead the rest



Not possible to stick with the programme

Mar 28th, 2010 1:07 pm | By

India Knight on the other hand is not accepting the bluster. She’s not interested.

It is simply not possible, having read the papers or watched the news over the past couple of weeks, to stick with the programme. Like many of my generation, I could hardly be described as a good, or even decent, Catholic, but I’d managed to hang on in there, in the vaguest way imaginable.

Vague because it’s hard to pay lip-service to a faith that you feel hates you; a faith that would rather let you die in childbirth than have an abortion, won’t let you take the contraception necessary to prevent said abortion, hates gay people despite having many homosexual priests; a faith that

Read the rest


Liberals are stitching up the pope

Mar 28th, 2010 1:00 pm | By

Damian Thompson is still at it – still insisting that it’s all a diabolical plot against that nice man Joe Ratzinger.

There is still no good evidence that Pope Benedict XVI is seriously implicated in the atrocious child abuse scandals that are – rightly – blackening the reputation of the institutions of the Catholic Church. But still the attempts to join the dots continue.

But even if it were true – and there is apparently a lot of evidence that it isn’t – that Ratzinger wasn’t personally ‘seriously implicated’ (what would non-seriously implicated be?) in the church’s furtive way with crimes against children, he still wouldn’t be radiantly blameless, because he is the head of the organization, and one who … Read the rest



Cloyne Diocese Kept Secret Archive on Abuse *

Mar 28th, 2010 | Filed by

Achive contains stunning data – recorded in meticulous detail – on abuse allegations over several years.… Read the rest



Vatican Faces Test of ‘Moral Credibility’ *

Mar 28th, 2010 | Filed by

It’s failing the test in spectacular fashion.… Read the rest



Lessons in Morality From People Who Disgust You *

Mar 28th, 2010 | Filed by

It’s hard to pay lip-service to a faith that you feel hates you, that would rather let you die in childbirth than have an abortion.… Read the rest



More Religious Bullying *

Mar 28th, 2010 | Filed by

Bishop this, Rector that, Muslim Council of the other, issuing instructions.… Read the rest



Damian Thompson Blames ‘Liberal Catholics” *

Mar 28th, 2010 | Filed by

It’s all their fault, they’re out to get Ratzinger, mutter mutter rave.… Read the rest



Turn the other what?

Mar 27th, 2010 1:34 pm | By

The LA Times notices that the pope has a problem. The problem is that instead of just saying ‘We did a terrible terrible terrible thing, and we did it for decade upon decade,’ the Vatican is lashing out at 1) news outlets that report the terrible things the church has been doing and 2) other institutions that do terrible things. This is infantile and disgusting, and it is unworthy of an institution that (to repeat a point I’ve made a few hundred times) purports to have a higher and better morality than anyone else. It is unworthy because it persists in caring more about the self than the object of the terrible actions. This fact all by itself shows … Read the rest



Why Tom Flynn Doesn’t Believe in New Atheism *

Mar 27th, 2010 | Filed by

Because it doesn’t exist; atheism is not new.… Read the rest



Marieme Helie Lucas on AI and Gita Sahgal *

Mar 27th, 2010 | Filed by

Fundamentalists were privileged as victims of the state while women, victims of the fundamentalists, disappeared.… Read the rest



The Pope Did Know; He Got the Memo *

Mar 27th, 2010 | Filed by

Saying a priest would be returned to pastoral work within days of beginning therapy for molesting children.… Read the rest



Archbishop of NY Says: Blame Those Others! *

Mar 27th, 2010 | Filed by

Blame the doctor. Blame public schools. Blame judges, police, district attorneys, parole officers.… Read the rest



Vatican’s Blame-shifting Shows It Hasn’t Learned *

Mar 27th, 2010 | Filed by

It’s all utterly squalid.… Read the rest



‘How Could Catholics Do Such a Thing?’ *

Mar 27th, 2010 | Filed by

Communion is Love; you have to be in a State of Grace; surely child rape is a sin.… Read the rest



Sinead O’Connor Knows Irish Catholicism *

Mar 27th, 2010 | Filed by

‘We Irish endured a brutal brand of Catholicism that revolved around the humiliation of children.’… Read the rest



Bishop: Pope’s Critics Are Satan *

Mar 27th, 2010 | Filed by

Emeritus bishop of Acerra sees a war ‘between the church and the world; between Satan and God.’… Read the rest



Knock the corners off

Mar 26th, 2010 5:37 pm | By

Michael De Dora has replied to his critics. He’s much more responsive than Mooney, but I still disagree with him. I disagree with the underlying ideas.

I see that we are right, philosophically speaking — but I also care about collective, democratic, evidence-based discourse and progress (just as, say, Chris Mooney cares about scientific literacy). To that end, I think rallying around atheism presents problems both inherently (the word doesn’t say much) and in presentation and interaction with the 95 percent of the public who are not atheists.

One, ‘rallying around atheism’ isn’t really the issue, or an issue. I don’t know of any atheists who are atheists to the exclusion of everything else. I suppose attending conferences could … Read the rest