‘It looked to have been an ordinary fingertip injury with quite unremarkable healing. This is junk science.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Ben Goldacre on ‘Pixie Dust’ Nonsense
May 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere is no missing finger, so pixie dust not needed.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on Manufacturing Doubt
May 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNote similarities between dissembling of food supplement industry and tobacco lobby’s war with epidemiology.… Read the rest
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Irshad Manji
May 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne rejects Islam, the other wants to reform it.… Read the rest
Meet Hanan Dover
May 3rd, 2008 6:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonCheck out Hanan Dover, who made lots of comments on that ‘Muslim Village’ discussion of Habib. She’s not rabid enough for some of the commenters there, but she’s rabid enough for (I hope) most people.
… Read the restSo, what do Islamic Scriptures say about homosexuality…just from these verses we can deduce that Islam forbids any sexual relationship other than between man and woman, and even then, it must be within a marriage. In a hadith, Abu Hurairah (ra) reported Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) said: ‘Four types of people awake under Allah’s anger and go to bed under Allah’s displeasure.’ Those who were listening asked: Who are they, Messenger of Allah?’ He replied: ‘Men who imitate women, women who imitate men, those who
The imams say
May 3rd, 2008 1:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd there’s the statement of the Australian National Council of Imams.
The Australian National Imams Council is a body that represents the Muslim Imams of Australia and through them the community of Muslims in Australia. Currently there are 94 Imams in the Council and they are drawn from all the States and Territories of Australia. We are responsible for a variety of matters including the Appointment of the Mufti of Australia and the issuance of legal rulings for the benefit of Muslim Australians.
Oh yes? But we always hear that Islam is not like religions that have official centralized clergy who can speak as authorities – so in what sense is the ANIC ‘responsible for’ the issuance of legal … Read the rest
The diabolical kuffar
May 3rd, 2008 12:58 pm | By Ophelia Benson‘Communities’ demanding a veto on the content of university courses. Not just ‘communities’ of course; religious ‘communities.’
Students, community members and the Australian National Imams Council have complained about the content of the course, Women in Arabic and Islamic Literature, being taught at the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies. They say it gives a negative view of women in Islam.
‘Community members’ have complained. Yeah, and other ‘community members’ haven’t complained, so what are we supposed to conclude from that? Who knows.
… Read the restHomosexuality is forbidden in the Koran for both sexes. Dr Habib has also been accused by Muslims for Peace of teaching that it is not obligatory to wear the hijab, that the Hadiths (sayings of the
Attenborough Urges Better TV
May 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFewer celebrity chefs, more science.… Read the rest
How Can We Stamp Out All This Kufr?
May 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLots and lots of ‘community’ pressure.… Read the rest
Religious Questioning of Secular Public Space
May 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIslamic conservatives try to dictate the content of curriculum at USW’s Centre for Islamic Studies.… Read the rest
‘Muslims for Peace’ Speak Up
May 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Muslims should fear Almighty Allah and break all connections with this diabolical Centre of Kufr.’… Read the rest
Imams Angry About Literature Course
May 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Muslims for Peace’ has demanded lecturer Samar Habib be dismissed and the course abolished. … Read the rest
Vatican Happy About Snub to Pope
May 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTime magazine left pope off ‘100 most influential’ list; Vatican claims to be pleased.… Read the rest
The Koran Predicted the Big Bang and DNA
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSo what’s the next big thing? Be patient; the Koran will predict it after it’s happened.… Read the rest
Imran Ahmad Joined the BMSD
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe believe government should be driven by reason and common values, not theology or cultural traditions.… Read the rest
Brian Whitaker on BMSD Launch
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBaroness Kishwer Falkner said Catholics and Muslims ‘want a very special level of exceptionalism.’… Read the rest
British Muslims for Secular Democracy
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAlibhai-Brown asks ‘How is it that the Sikhs and Hindus can live in democracy but not Muslims?’… Read the rest
The Humanities Might Nurture Moral Seriousness
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe aesthetic disposition is less quietist than dispositions which see everything as ‘always already” inscribed’… Read the rest
Against Taylorism in Education
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf teachers are to be visible embodiments of intelligence, skill, and scholarship, they must first be visible.… Read the rest
It was a very invective sort of tone
May 1st, 2008 12:13 pm | By Ophelia BensonI hope you’re not bored with Priya Venkatesan yet, because I’m not. She’s the mother lode, so to speak.
Tyler Brace asked her if it was true that she called the students fascist demagogues, and she said no never, not true.
… Read the restI went into class after that whole clapping incident, and I said. ‘What you did was horrific. What you did was really bad.’ Not bad, I didn’t accuse them of being bad, I said what you did was unacceptable. They started arguing with me. I said fine. You think you know everything. You think you know everything without the knowledge base to boot, without the training, you think you have a command of all the knowledge in the world