Easy for them.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
The Debate About Watson is Too Predictable 
Oct 23rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We have to unpick exactly what was objectionable in what he said and what was acceptable debate.… Read the rest
Bettina Aptheker’s Memoir and Memory
Oct 22nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It raises questions about ‘recovered memory’ and how to evaluate it.… Read the rest
Anthony Kenny on his History of Philosophy
Oct 22nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Some interesting insights into the figures that have shaped the subject ranging from Plato to Derrida.… Read the rest
Nigel Warburton Interviews Tim Crane
Oct 22nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How the mind relates to the body: how could a piece of soft tissue think and feel?… Read the rest
Prisoners’ Rights Activist Imprisoned
Oct 22nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Emadeddin Baghi was charged with ‘propaganda against the Islamic Republic.’… Read the rest
Public Executions in Iran: Dominance via Fear
Oct 22nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Almost all the executions have been public hangings. Videos of the process are then broadcast over the Net.… Read the rest
Wrested from the bitter reactionary grip of religion
Oct 21st, 2007 4:49 pm | By Ophelia BensonWe had a good time (I did anyway) with Roger Scruton’s review of Anthony Grayling’s new book, so now let’s have a different but related kind of good time with another look at Anthony Grayling’s review of John Gray’s latest book. I flagged it up here last month but it’s so relevant to the Scruton review that I feel like flagging it up again.
… Read the restNow let us ask whether secular Enlightenment values of pluralism, democracy, the rule of independently and impartially administered law, freedom of thought, enquiry and expression, and liberty of the individual conform to the model of a monolithic ideology such as Catholicism, Islam or Stalinism. Let us further ask how Gray imagines that these values
Mina Ahadi is Secularist of the Year
Oct 21st, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Undeterred by the inevitable death threats, Mina has pressed on, determined as ever to protect women from the ravages of Islam.… Read the rest
Anthony McIntyre on Maryam Namazie
Oct 21st, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is this idea of political Islam as a voice for the oppressed and voiceless which annoys her most.… Read the rest
Religious Marriage Settlement Not Binding
Oct 21st, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The more you can make the whole concept secular, the better off you’re going to be in a civil court.’… Read the rest
Atheism in America
Oct 21st, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Atheism may have made its way into the public discourse but it remains verboten in our politics.… Read the rest
Archbish Wants Women to Agonize More
Oct 21st, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They treat their bodies as their own; it’s an outrage.… Read the rest
Atheism in Australia
Oct 21st, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Phillip Adams, Pamela Bone, David Nicholls, Tamas Pataki, Emily Maguire do without a deity.… Read the rest
Seyla Benhabib on Mosque and State
Oct 21st, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
On some very deep level, there is more symbolic religious politics in the US than anywhere else in the world.… Read the rest
Mina Ahadi Named Secularist of the Year
Oct 21st, 2007 | By Terry SandersonRichard Dawkins says that it is “the awakening of women” that will solve the problem of “the worldwide menace of Islamic terrorism and oppression”.
His remarks came while praising the winner of this year’s “Secularist of the Year” award from the National Secular Society. The £5,000 prize went to Mina Ahadi, an Iranian woman who was forced to flee her native country after leading a campaign against the compulsory veiling of women. Because of her resistance to the clerical regime, her husband and four of her colleagues were executed, and she only narrowly escaped the same fate.
She now lives in Germany and has founded the Committee of Ex-Muslims, a movement that is rapidly spreading across Europe. She has also … Read the rest
Atheist propagandists?
Oct 20th, 2007 3:57 pm | By Ophelia BensonI don’t think this is quite right. I think it misses the mark.
… Read the restI’d like to say his heart is in the right place, unlike the current crop of atheist propagandists, but the trouble is that, as with many Episcopalians, it is more mind than heart…I have no use for anti-Darwinian campaigners, but I do have a lot of respect for popular skepticism. The people do not trust those who present themselves as elite…[R]ead any of the self-indulgent, virulent atheists in circulation today – Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens being just two. Contrary to their professed intentions, such writers buttress the faithful; their loathsome arrogance shields evangelical churches from doubt. That part of the American population that believes God made
Libel Laws Silence Critics
Oct 20th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Did the Society of Homeopaths engage with these criticisms? No. They sent a threatening legal letter.… Read the rest
The Psychology of Believing News Reports
Oct 20th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
People are more likely to discount information if they are suspicious of the motives behind its dissemination.… Read the rest
Why not Find bin Laden, and Lord Lucan Too?
Oct 20th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Since there’s a magic box that can find anyone with just a bit of DNA…… Read the rest
