All entries by this author

John Patrick Diggins Reviews Charles Taylor *

Feb 28th, 2008 | Filed by

Taylor seeks to prove that God is still very much present in the world, if only we look at the right places.… Read the rest



‘Undercover Mosque’ Makers to Sue Police for Libel *

Feb 28th, 2008 | Filed by

Police said the programme misrepresented the mosques and might ‘undermine community cohesion.’… Read the rest



Seyla Benhabib on Turkey’s Hijab Legislation *

Feb 27th, 2008 | Filed by

Unfortunate that reform of Article 301 (on ‘insulting Turkishness’) was dropped.… Read the rest



Biologists Join Philosophers in Moral Thinking *

Feb 27th, 2008 | Filed by

Marc Hauser, David Sloan Wilson, Samuel Bowles look at trolleyology, altruism, and moral behavior.… Read the rest



Cultural Sensitivity Puts Rights at Risk *

Feb 27th, 2008 | Filed by

Prevents police, teachers, social services from protecting basic human rights for fear of upsetting ‘communities.’… Read the rest



Tom Flynn: Why the A Word Won’t Go Away *

Feb 27th, 2008 | Filed by

Mainstreamers have powerfully negative, largely noncognitive responses to atheism. … Read the rest



Paul Gross on Florida’s New Science Standards *

Feb 27th, 2008 | Filed by

The compromise is a sop to voters who think some other way of knowing is equal or superior to science.… Read the rest



Open Letter from American Feminists *

Feb 26th, 2008 | Filed by

Katha Pollitt notes: ‘Women’s rights are human rights’ was not a slogan dreamed up by David Horowitz.… Read the rest



Multi-secularism: The New Agenda *

Feb 26th, 2008 | Filed by

Multi-secularism seems to be the best strategy: adapting secular values to the societies in which they arise. … Read the rest



Steve Jones Disses Creationism *

Feb 26th, 2008 | Filed by

‘Creationism is boring and empty, and I usually ignore it, but this week at UCL it’s hard to do so.’… Read the rest



The War Against Women Never Ends *

Feb 26th, 2008 | Filed by

In West Africa, as in so many places where rape was used as a weapon of war, it has become a habit.… Read the rest



Turkey Begins Radical Revision of Hadith *

Feb 26th, 2008 | Filed by

Dept of Religious Affairs has commissioned theologians at Ankara University to revise the Hadith.… Read the rest



Lookin’ Good for Jesus *

Feb 26th, 2008 | Filed by

The products included a “Virtuous vanilla” lip balm and a “Get Tight with Christ” hand and body cream.… Read the rest



Measles Cases at Record High in Britain *

Feb 26th, 2008 | Filed by

The only way to reduce impact of such outbreaks is to ensure uptake of MMR vaccine increases.… Read the rest



The uses of polemic

Feb 26th, 2008 10:27 am | By

Some further thoughts on ‘offensive’ writing and cartoons and such. One issue is whether or not we know in advance that people will be outraged. I claimed, sweepingly, in comments, that we can’t know, and Jerry S prodded me into acknowledging that sometimes we can. Fair point. It’s easy (he demonstrated!) to come up with something we can be quite confident will outrage some people. True; and I also agreed that I don’t like or value mere abuse, and feel no need to make a principled defense of it. But I do value polemic, including polemic that can be considered harsh or mocking and that thus can be considered very likely to outrage at least some people. The further thoughts … Read the rest



Podsnappery

Feb 25th, 2008 5:05 pm | By

Our Mutual Friend, Book 1 Chapter 11: ‘Podsnappery’.

A certain institution in Mr Podsnap’s mind which he called ‘the young person’ may be considered to have been embodied in Miss Podsnap, his daughter. It was an inconvenient and exacting institution, as requiring everything in the universe to be filed down and fitted to it. The question about everything was, would it bring a blush into the cheek of the young person? And the inconvenience of the young person was, that, according to Mr Podsnap, she seemed always liable to burst into blushes when there was no need at all. There appeared to be no line of demarcation between the young person’s excessive innocence, and another person’s guiltiest knowledge.

Read the rest


How to Interpret Evidence *

Feb 25th, 2008 | Filed by

Atheists have a disease that makes them unable to see Angels of the Lord.… Read the rest



The Indy Talks to Sayed Pervez Kambaksh *

Feb 25th, 2008 | Filed by

‘What they call my trial lasted just four minutes in a closed court.’… Read the rest



Hamas Bunny on Motoon Cartoonists *

Feb 25th, 2008 | Filed by

‘Assud: If they do it again, Saraa, we will kill them, right?’ Aww, how cute.… Read the rest



Nigeria: Human Rights Group Condemns Stoning *

Feb 25th, 2008 | Filed by

The group called for compulsory education of all sharia judges on the provisions of the UDHR.… Read the rest