All entries by this author

Michael Ruse Drops Jerry Coyne a Line *

Jun 18th, 2009 | Filed by

‘I don’t know who does more damage, you and your kind or Phillip Johnson and his kind.’… Read the rest



Islamist Meeting Ejected Over Sex Segregation *

Jun 18th, 2009 | Filed by

Ordered to leave Conway Hall when it emerged that Al-Muhajiroun were not letting women into the main hall.… Read the rest



Imprisoned by Light Sensors *

Jun 17th, 2009 | Filed by

‘Religious code’ bans electricity on the Sabbath, so they are helpless. It’s tragic.… Read the rest



Jesus and Mo Find the Barmaid Too Shrill *

Jun 17th, 2009 | Filed by

She plans to hire a voice coach.… Read the rest



Turn Off That Light! *

Jun 17th, 2009 | Filed by

Motion sensors turn on lights in hallway, so Orthodox couple are imprisoned in their flat over the sabbath.… Read the rest



Russell Blackford: There is Only One World *

Jun 17th, 2009 | Filed by

There is no good reason to think a ‘transcendent world’ exists, or that religion can inform us about one.… Read the rest



Jerry Coyne on Science v Theism *

Jun 17th, 2009 | Filed by

Offering a god of the gaps promotes public confusion about what science does and does not tell us about the universe.… Read the rest



Gina Khan’s Diary

Jun 17th, 2009 | By Gina Khan

Gina Khan will be reporting regularly on the busy life of an anti-jihadist activist in Birmingham.

June 17 2009

Extracts from Reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Birmingham at Democratiya.

Ayaan’s books break the silence about Muslim women’s plight. I was a victim of domestic violence. I thought I had married a modern thinking British Muslim. My brother had warned me not to marry into a particular group of Muslims, mostly from Mirpur or Kashmir, saying to me ‘They will never change. They are controlled by their extended families. They will always be backward in their mindset.’ At the time, I dismissed his advice as discrimination, but it turned out to be true in many ways. Firstly, my husband hid … Read the rest



If only it were Lyme Regis

Jun 17th, 2009 9:54 am | By

Imagine being confined to a flat in Bournemouth for 24 hours.

Gordon and Dena Coleman said they cannot leave or enter their Bournemouth flat on the Sabbath because the hallway sensors automatically switch on lights. The couple’s religious code bans lights and other electrical equipment being switched on during Jewish holidays. They have now issued a county court writ claiming religious discrimination. They also claim breach of their rights under the Equality Act 2006 and Human Rights Act 1998 and the case is due to be heard at Bournemouth County Court next month.

Religious discrimination – how does that work? People trying to live in a reasonably efficient way (using light sensors instead of having the lights on 24 … Read the rest



Piety in action

Jun 17th, 2009 9:40 am | By

Time has passed. Clocks have ticked. The sun has set and then risen again. Meals have been eaten and digested, tv shows have been watched, teeth have been brushed, dogs have scratched, water has flowed under the bridge. Time has passed and people have urged Madeleine Bunting to answer the many criticisms her article has received. No answer has been forthcoming.

All this really is quite interesting. I knew Bunting was a determined apologist for religion and that she was not very good at making her case – but that was all I knew. It has now been forced on my attention that she’s really a fairly unpleasant character. She is, at least, willing to call someone a long string … Read the rest



Bunting expands on her point

Jun 16th, 2009 12:25 pm | By

Madeleine Bunting returns to her claim that I am strident, adding a good deal more abuse for good measure.

But the kind of strident atheism which Benson epitomises intrigues me. It’s driven by a curious intensity which is really peculiar.

No, it isn’t. It isn’t peculiar at all. I think theism and theistic ways of thinking do real and terrible harm. I think it’s Bunting’s blindness or indifference to that which is really peculiar. In order to be so mystified by my intensity, she has to simply ignore or disbelieve the horrors in the book which are explicitly and avowedly done in the name of a god. She has read the book, apparently, since she quotes some bits that … Read the rest



Improbable Science on Charles’s Foundation *

Jun 16th, 2009 | Filed by

A one-sided affair devoted to misrepresentation of evidence and the promotion of magic medicine.… Read the rest



Toadying and Sycophancy *

Jun 16th, 2009 | Filed by

The greatest exponent of alternative medicine is the future monarch. A little royal patronage can be powerful.… Read the rest



Chiropractors Told to Take Down Their Websites *

Jun 16th, 2009 | Filed by

Because of a ‘witch hunt against chiropractors…if you have a website, take it down NOW.’… Read the rest



It’s Not Religion, I Tell You! *

Jun 16th, 2009 | Filed by

Just because people say it’s religion when they kill you, that doesn’t make it so!… Read the rest



Bunting on the Woman Who Hates God *

Jun 16th, 2009 | Filed by

‘The kind of strident atheism which Benson epitomises intrigues me. It’s driven by a curious intensity…’… Read the rest



The Real ‘Islamophobia’ *

Jun 15th, 2009 | Filed by

The explosion rocked the complex, which includes a mosque, library, classrooms, offices and student accommodation.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on the Holocaust Museum Killer *

Jun 15th, 2009 | Filed by

He hated Bill O’Reilly of Fox News and neocons as much as the New York Times and Obama.… Read the rest



Homeopathy Awareness: Gloria Thomas *

Jun 15th, 2009 | Filed by

Judge ruled most of the pictures cannot be made public, because they are too horrible.… Read the rest



Homeopathy Awareness Week *

Jun 15th, 2009 | Filed by

Homeopaths have been promoting homeopathic sugar pills to treat or prevent malaria and HIV in Africa.… Read the rest