Brings people together, shows God is looking over the people, bow your heads and pray.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
C of E Pitches a Fit About Human Rights Act 
Jan 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Church bosses say there is an overemphasis on equality legislation at the expense of ‘faith groups.’… Read the rest
Darwin Wondered if His Children Were Too Inbred
Jan 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was right, yet they have produced dozens of descendants eminent in science, medicine and the professions.… Read the rest
Girls’ Education Ended in Swat Valley
Jan 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
School administrators have announced that more than 900 private schools will remain closed.… Read the rest
David Pilgrim Reviews ‘Try to Remember’
Jan 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Psychiatry’s Clash over Meaning, Memory and Mind.’ See Allen Esterson’s comment at the end.… Read the rest
Personal Experience Makes Ethical Issue Vivid
Jan 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A moral philosopher has a brain tumour, may lose her memory and self, is furious that euthanasia is not an option.… Read the rest
X marks the whatsit
Jan 18th, 2009 5:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonHeresy Corner quotes David Deutsch, a theoretical physicist and computer scientist at Oxford, on the ‘anthropic principle’ as an argument for the existence of god.
… Read the restI do not believe that the ‘fine-tuning’ of physical constants provides any sort of argument for the existence of God or anything else supernatural. That is because if the constants had been set intentionally by supernatural entities, then the intentions of those entities must themselves have been at least as ‘fine-tuned’ when they set the constants, and that fine-tuning would remain unexplained. Hence that supernatural hypothesis does not even address the fine-tuning problem, let alone solve it.
More generally arguing for supernatural explanations on the grounds that the current scientific explanation for something or
CPJ Concerned About Zimbabwean Photojournalist
Jan 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Anderson Shadreck Manyere was denied bail despite allegations that he was tortured in police detention.… Read the rest
The Mess in Zimbabwe
Jan 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Trillion-dollar notes; 80% unemployment; cholera. Tsvangirai appeals for release of Mukoko.… Read the rest
Jestina Mukoko’s Affidavit [pdf]
Jan 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The punishment for heading a human rights organization.… Read the rest
Opponents of Mugabe Tell Court of Torture
Jan 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jestina Mukoko was forced to kneel on gravel for hours; she wept on the stand as she recounted her ordeal.… Read the rest
John Holbo Revisits ‘Theory’
Jan 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Many literary scholars feel obscurely obliged to find Theory to be, somehow, necessary.… Read the rest
Rocks, Hard Places and Jesus Fatigue
Jan 18th, 2009 | By R. Joseph HoffmannThe following comments are not a direct response to Bruce Chilton’s very helpful article on the Jesus Project but in many ways anticipate and respond to some of his observations. I offer it as further commentary on the pros and cons of undertaking yet another “quest,” at a time when New Testament scholarship, in the eyes of some, is a mission without a guiding purpose. JH
Crouching somewhere between aesthetic sound byte and historical detail is Michelangelo’s famous statement about sculpture. “The job of the sculptor,” Vasari attributes to il Divino, “is to set free the forms that are within the stone.” It’s a lovely thought—poetic, in fact. If you accept the theory of Renaissance Platonism, as Michelangelo embodies … Read the rest
Rick Warren creepeth upon his belly
Jan 17th, 2009 12:04 pm | By Ophelia BensonWendy Kaminer has some thoughts on ‘vain and unctuous right-wing pastor Rick Warren’ (what an elegant way of putting it).
Obama justified appointing Warren as his inaugural invocator-in-chief as a gesture of inclusiveness. Warren’s own notion of inclusion has its limits, considering his belief that millions of his heretical fellow citizens are going to hell.
Quite, and that’s certainly one reason I find the man rebarbative.
[D]espite Warren’s extreme social and religious conservatism – reflected in his denouncement of stem cell research, reproductive choice and homosexuality, and his belief that only good Christians are bound for glory…- he is widely regarded as a moderate evangelical by the mainstream press and centrist intellectuals.
And that’s the problem – he defines rabid … Read the rest
Women Flee the Taliban in NWFP
Jan 17th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The bullet-riddled body sent a message: ‘un-Islamic vices’ will not be tolerated.… Read the rest
Andrew Brown Scolds the Atheists Again
Jan 17th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Christian ‘fire and brimstone’ messages on buses are fine, atheist ‘don’t worry’ is so very tiresome.… Read the rest
Another Protest About the Atheist Bus Campaign
Jan 17th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It just gets funnier.… Read the rest
Hunger and Genetically Modified Organisms
Jan 17th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A scientist and an MP clashed over whether Kenya should adopt GM crops to counter the rising food shortage.… Read the rest
Wendy Kaminer Does Not Love Rick Warren
Jan 17th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Warren is like a benevolent deity, who loves us all, despite our sins and failings.… Read the rest
Israel Disqualifies Two Arab Parties from Elections
Jan 17th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Regulations prohibit parties that oppose ‘the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state.’… Read the rest
