Will accept some, but only if channelled through neighbours. Meanwhile 2 million people suffer.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Edward Blyth: Creationist or Just Another Misinterpreted Scientist?
May 19th, 2008 | By James K. WillmotIn early December, 2007, my hometown newspaper, the Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal, published my opinion piece concerning the newly opened creation museum in northern Kentucky.[1] I’m a former science teacher with a particular interest in the understanding and advancement of science in society, so the article expressed my extreme concern that this $27 million monument to the acceptance of blind faith over science and reason is exceeding attendance expectations and gaining momentum in their mission to cast doubt, in whatever way they can, on evolutionary biology and the multitude of scientific theories that support it. I went to the museum and toured it twice during their opening weekend in late May of 2007. While no one can argue with the high … Read the rest
The church this, the church that
May 19th, 2008 11:47 am | By Ophelia BensonThe effort to ban hybrid embryos failed.
The Roman Catholic Church has branded the use of hybrid embryos as “monstrous” and says tinkering with life in this way is immoral.
So what? Who cares what the Roman Catholic Church says? The Roman Catholic church says a lot of things, and many of them are morally execrable. The Roman Catholic Church also does a lot of things, and many of those stink too. The Roman Catholic Church worries far too much about cells in dishes and far too little about existing, thinking people. The Roman Catholic Church gets too much respectful attention, and it gets this respectful attention by staging moral panics about things that are not morally significant. That’s … Read the rest
Foul beliefs no barrier
May 18th, 2008 5:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonNick Cohen looks at what happened with ‘Undercover Mosque,’ specifically the interesting question of why the police and the Crown Prosecution service saw fit to accused channel 4 of making stuff up.
Its undercover journalists infiltrated radical mosques. They recorded assorted preachers calling for the subjugation of women, the murder of homosexuals and Jews, the replacement of the ‘man-made’ laws of a democracy with the religious edicts of a theocratic state and the eternal damnation of Muslims who did not follow Wahhabi doctrine and infidels who did not accept the true faith.
Well…that’s racist stuff, right? That must be why the cops got involved.
… Read the restHaras Rafiq of the Sufi Muslim Council, said: ‘Wahhabis and their offshoots are teaching Muslim youngsters
NSS Calls for Inquiry 
May 18th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Debate was derailed by zeal of the WMP and the CPS whose action appeared to signal no-go areas of inquiry.… Read the rest
Cartoonist Arrested for ‘Insulting’ Cartoons
May 18th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Many of Gregorius Nekschot’s cartoons make fun of Islam. And that’s illegal?… Read the rest
Why Did the Police Accuse Channel 4?
May 18th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The best explanation for now lies in Patani’s title: assistant chief constable (security and cohesion).… Read the rest
Kambakhsh Tells Appeals Court of Torture
May 18th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh was convicted in January of ‘insulting Islam.’… Read the rest
Kambakhsh Appeals Death Sentence
May 18th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He hopes to write a book about his experience in Afghan prisons — if he gets out alive.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on Why Meta-analysis Matters
May 18th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ideas like cumulative meta-analysis from the world of evidence have saved countless lives.… Read the rest
Creationists Launch ‘God Lab’
May 18th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Set up to search for scientific evidence for intelligent design. Same old ID people, Barbara Forrest notes.… Read the rest
Village Proud After Double Murder
May 17th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘From society’s point of view, this is a very good thing. We have removed the blot.’… Read the rest
Family Showed No Remorse Over Murders
May 17th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I have no regrets,’ Sunita’s mother Roshni Devi said; her husband and the family had saved its reputation. … Read the rest
A Horrible Day in Haryana
May 17th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The bodies of Sunita Devi, 21, and Jasbir Singh, 22, lie on the ground after they were killed by villagers … Read the rest
Couple Murdered as Village Applauds
May 17th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Going against the wishes of the community and the family will not be tolerated.… Read the rest
John Wood Dismantles Some David Brooks
May 17th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Brooks has no idea what he’s talking about yet he flaunts his ignorance in a respected newspaper.… Read the rest
Cowboys and Palestindians: what the Kaiser thought about Israel
May 17th, 2008 | By 'Benedict Gardiner'The first time I went to Israel, in 1983, when everyone could still drive freely around the West Bank, I got into an argument with a distant cousin, a social worker. Like many Israelis (and many social workers) she is Leftish and secular and regrets that proportional representation gives such disproportionate influence to Israel’s religious and expansionist parties. She and her husband are peaceniks, demonstrated against Israel’s 1982 involvement in Lebanon, and want the settlers out of the West Bank.
Like many Israelis, she also lost family members to the Nazis and came as a teenager to Mandate Palestine. She isn’t the sort who won’t listen to Wagner or Richard Strauss, though she still doesn’t like visiting Germany. We were … Read the rest
Community, inclusive, commitment, all who
May 16th, 2008 4:50 pm | By Ophelia BensonI suppose university administrators are simply legally barred from talking sense? I suppose they’re contractually bound to talk formulaic soothing dribbling beside-the-point feel-good bullshit? They can do no other?
I suppose when they take the job they are issued with a box full of the correct words, and when they have to write a statement about something, they are strictly forbidden to do it without relying on the box for at least 60% of the content? The rest being taken up with neutral and necessary words like ‘is’ and ‘you’?
What’s in the box? Oh come on, you know.
… Read the rest…fully support the rights of our students and others within this community to express their concerns on this issue…many in
Chancellor Defends Schlafly Honorary Degree
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Community. Anguish. Diversity. Inclusiveness. All corners. Dialogue. Committed. Damaged. Open. Community.… Read the rest
Foreign Policy’s List of Top 100 Intellectuals
May 16th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The pope? Qaradawi? Intellectuals?… Read the rest
