‘Public statements of non-belief are treated as threatening, an affront to the religious, while the reverse is not true.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
A C Grayling on Secularist Students
Feb 20th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘This critical, evidence-based, enquiring mindset also thinks afresh about the good for human lives and societies.’… Read the rest
Mental Torture and Bullying in an Indian Convent
Feb 20th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘There are many nuns undergoing ill-treatment from the order, but they are afraid of challenging it.’… Read the rest
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Protests
Feb 20th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘A journalist has become the first victim after the peace deal in Swat, which is most alarming.’… Read the rest
Pakistan: 32 Bullets in Murdered Reporter
Feb 20th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hundreds of journalists protested the murder of Musa Khan Khel in Swat.… Read the rest
Volunteers needed
Feb 20th, 2009 10:39 am | By Ophelia BensonYou know how you’re always wondering how you can help B&W? I have a way. I need volunteers. I have a big job, and doing it all myself is 1) massively tedious and 2) an impediment to doing anything else, like updating B&W and going for long health-giving walks and eating chocolate.
The job is just backing up B&W. I need to archive it, and there are a lot of pages. Nearly 400 articles, about 75 months of Notes and Comment, lots of In Focus, In the Library, Bad Moves, Quotations, the Guide to Rhetoric – and so on. If we divide it up it won’t be so bad. If lots and lots of you step forward it will be … Read the rest
When God says jump
Feb 20th, 2009 10:31 am | By Ophelia BensonWhat’s the problem with theocratic law? Why shouldn’t we clap our hands and dance around the room when archbishops and imams suggest or insist that we should or must make our pesky secular system of law conform to God’s will or a Holy Book or ‘divine justice’? Why would we not want to do that and why is it illegitimate to try to force us to?
Because, whatever they may tell you, nobody knows what God’s will is, nobody knows that there is such a thing as a Holy Book, nobody knows what the divine will is. There is no reason to think there is a ‘God’ – even if there is a ‘God’ there still is no reason to … Read the rest
It is a sin to brush crumbs onto the floor
Feb 19th, 2009 12:30 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh the vacancy of the religious mind.
Women are prouder than men, but men are more lustful, according to a Vatican report which states that the two sexes sin differently…”Men and women sin in different ways,” Msgr Wojciech Giertych, theologian to the papal household, wrote in L’Osservatore Romano…Msgr Giertych said the most difficult sin for men to face was lust, followed by gluttony, sloth, anger, pride, envy and greed. For women, the most dangerous sins were pride, envy, anger, lust, and sloth, he added.
Oh for godsake, who cares. Gluttony, sloth, lust, pride – mind your own business, why don’t you, and while you’re at it, why don’t you worry about moral failings that actually matter? How’s that … Read the rest
UK Home Secretary Bans Westboro Preachers
Feb 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Peter Tatchell disagrees with the decision to ban the Phelpses and Geert Wilders… Read the rest
More Vatican Wisdom on ‘Sin’
Feb 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How each sex scores on ‘the seven deadly sins.’ Does the Vatican have nothing better to do?… Read the rest
HRW on Censhorship and Repression in Sudan
Feb 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is unsafe to criticize the Khartoum government or call for justice for victims of horrific crimes in Darfur.… Read the rest
Dawkins, Dennett, Coyne, Myers to New Scientist
Feb 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What on earth were you thinking when you produced a garish cover proclaiming that ‘Darwin was wrong’?… Read the rest
Andrew Brown Notes That Differences Matter
Feb 19th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The difference between a theocracy and a secular state with bits of religious ornament is important.… Read the rest
Richard Wilson on Alison Des Forges
Feb 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A personal connection.… Read the rest
A Unique Psychic Force
Feb 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘It is a proven scientific fact that thinking about something often causes it to happen. Some call this quantum physics.’… Read the rest
Salil Tripathi on Disturbing the Universe
Feb 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Satanic Verses destabilizes the moral certainties of a universe set in stone; it celebrates imagination. … Read the rest
Cleric Says Islam Abhors Domestic Violence
Feb 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘We categorically denounce it in all forms.’ Sura 4:34 not mentioned.… Read the rest
Another Stereotype Defeated
Feb 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Man who founded tv station to fight Muslim stereotypes is charged with decapitating his wife.… Read the rest
Taliban and Fazlullah Stalk Swat Valley
Feb 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Little reason to hope Fazlullah and Taliban will be satisfied with agreement for limited application of sharia.… Read the rest
March for ‘Peace’ in Mingora
Feb 18th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Thousands of men marched for peace in Swat, led by the cleric who signed a deal to enforce Sharia.… Read the rest