The attacks on researchers have been escalating.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Firebombs Target Santa Cruz Biologists 
Aug 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jerry Vlasak said, idiotically, ‘the bombers likely were not trying to hurt’ the researcher whose house they hit.… Read the rest
Mark Bauerlein on 42 Years of ‘Theory’
Aug 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The putative need to be theory-savvy was harmful to the humanities.… Read the rest
Efforts to End Child Marriage in Yemen
Aug 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Religious ‘leaders’ oppose legal minimum marriage age, saying it would contradict Islamic precepts.… Read the rest
Secularism and Equality
Aug 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Special exemptions for religion are the opposite of equality before the law.… Read the rest
Part-time Evangelist Charged With Wife’s Murder
Aug 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Body of mother of 8 kept in freezer for four years, ‘Rev’ also accused of rape and incest.… Read the rest
Chief Justice Dissents in Texas Exorcism Ruling
Aug 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘This sweeping immunity extends far beyond the protections our Constitution affords religious conduct.’… Read the rest
India: At Least 120 Killed in Temple Stampede
Aug 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There have been at least three fatal stampedes in the country so far this year.… Read the rest
Daniel Dennett Autobiography Part One
Aug 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A pleasant surprise that not all the delicious thoughts of my childhood had to be kept private.… Read the rest
Free Exercise Clause Protects ‘Exorcism’
Aug 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Texas Supreme Court ruled it would be unconstitutional for court to get involved.… Read the rest
Whether Citizens Have a Right not to be Offended
Aug 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Denmark protects its cartoonists. We arrest them.’… Read the rest
Cognitive Science Meets Moral Philosophy
Aug 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When subjects form deontological judgments, emotional processes override controlled cognitive processes.… Read the rest
Workers’ ‘Religious Freedom’ v Patients’ Rights
Aug 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bush administration proposal aims to protect health-care workers who object to abortion.… Read the rest
Investment in the Placebo Effect
Aug 3rd, 2008 | By Stewart JustmanAdvised Daniel Cathell in a much-consulted manual for physicians published in 1922, “It is often very satisfying to the sick to be allowed to tell, in their own way, whatever they deem important for you to know. Give to all a fair, courteous hearing, and, even though Mrs. Chatterbox, Mr. Borum, and Mrs. Lengthy’s statements are tedious, do not abruptly cut them short, but endure and listen with respectful attention, even though you are ready to drop exhausted.”[1] The physician doomed to such recitations would have been that much more exhausted if instead of sitting in the comfort of his own quarters he made house calls one after another. In its own way, even medicine was a laborious trade. “It … Read the rest
Don’t let us interrupt you
Aug 3rd, 2008 10:53 am | By Ophelia BensonI keep saying the Free Exercise clause is like an unexploded bomb.
Laura Schubert Pearson’s lawsuit accusing members of the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God Church of subjecting her to a two-day exorcism ordeal in 1996 that left her so distressed she attempted suicide was dismissed by the Texas Supreme Court last month. The judges overturned a lower court’s decision awarding her damages and ruled that because Mrs Schubert Pearson’s claims of injury amounted to a religious dispute over church doctrine it would be “unconstitutional” for the court to get involved.
Interesting. So if you’re tortured within the walls of a church it’s all copacetic because that there’s your free exercise of religion? And that’s the case even if you’re … Read the rest
Shocking win for Stephen Green
Aug 2nd, 2008 5:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonDo we want ‘Christian Voice’ telling newspapers what they can publish? No, we damn well don’t. We don’t trust ‘Christian Voice’ to choose wisely; we prefer to take our chances with competent newspaper editors rather than with puffed-up publicity-seeking tiny-minded religious zealots.
See the South Wales Echo grovel:
It has come to our attention that in an article on Wednesday, July 16, headlined ‘If God considers gays and abomination why did he create them?’, our columnist Dan O’Neill offended a number of Christians. We would like to apologise for any offence caused to those people who believe the article insulted the Christian faith, Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible.
Well how sickening. Why would they like to apologize? Any … Read the rest
South Wales Echo Petition
Aug 2nd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why would a newspaper want ‘Christian Voice’ deciding what it can publish?… Read the rest
South Wales Echo Capitulates to ‘Christian Voice’
Aug 2nd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Apologizes for and withdraws column on Jesus and homosexuality. Jesus.… Read the rest
Chief Rabbi Wants Return to Sunday Schools
Aug 2nd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
To put an end to knife crime. Or something.… Read the rest
Islamists Threaten to Murder Defense Lawyer
Aug 2nd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Afzal Nooristani is defending Sayed Pervez Kambaksh on blasphemy charge, hence death threats.… Read the rest
