‘I don’t know who does more damage, you and your kind or Phillip Johnson and his kind.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Islamist Meeting Ejected Over Sex Segregation
Jun 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
‘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 Ophelia Benson
She plans to hire a voice coach.… Read the rest
Turn Off That Light!
Jun 17th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 KhanGina 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 Ophelia BensonImagine 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 Ophelia BensonTime 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 Ophelia BensonMadeleine 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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
‘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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
Homeopaths have been promoting homeopathic sugar pills to treat or prevent malaria and HIV in Africa.… Read the rest