One of the things that strikes me about reading Dan’s books is how much science I learn from them.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
The ‘Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act
Oct 9th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Texas law is a salvo in a long-running battle over the place of religion in US public schools.… Read the rest
Sam Harris and Salman Rushdie on Hirsi Ali
Oct 9th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAn indispensable witness to the splendor of open society and to the boundless energy of its antagonists.… Read the rest
Hitchens on Protection for Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Oct 9th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA symbol of the resistance, by many women from the Muslim world, to the horrors of clerical repression. … Read the rest
‘Militant Atheists are Wrong’
Oct 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘You cannot prove the existence of truth, beauty, goodness and decency.’ No, really?!… Read the rest
Turkish Hackers Hit Swedish Websites
Oct 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWebsite of a children’s cartoon was replaced by a message saying Islam’s prophet had been insulted. … Read the rest
Sainsbury’s Policy on Muslims Selling Alcohol
Oct 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt creates a space the religious fanatics will use to bully their mostly female fellow workers.… Read the rest
The Crisis in North Pakistan
Oct 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonKhatoon Bibi was murdered near a security check post while attempting to reach the school where she taught.… Read the rest
Medical Students Have ‘Religious Objections’
Oct 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSome Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures that ‘offend their religious beliefs.’… Read the rest
Paul Gross Reviews Michael Behe
Oct 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Edge of Evolution represents the best ID can do today in its effort to overcome ‘Darwinism’ with science.… Read the rest
Creeping theocracy
Oct 8th, 2007 11:31 am | By Ophelia BensonThis sounds like a fun moment, doesn’t it? An East End Sainsbury’s, staffed mostly by Bangladeshis.
… Read the restA young Asian checkout operator, with pious beard and a crocheted Kufi Muslim skullcap, made a big deal out of serving a middle-aged white man who had included a bottle of vodka in his groceries. His wasn’t a discreet arm wave for the attention of a supervisor, it was a full-on hissy fit. At the sight of the vodka bottle he reared from his seat as if the conveyer had presented a freshly slaughtered pig’s head….The customer…was having none of it though. “What the bleedin’ ‘ell are you working in a supermarket for if you won’t handle booze?” he shouted, setting the queue
Letter to a non-atheist New Atheist
Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt doesn’t matter that you don’t call yourself an atheist. Sam, they’re going to call you an atheist anyway.… Read the rest
Abortion Rights Slide Away
Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Gonzales v Carhart is basically saying that a woman’s health is no longer relevant.’… Read the rest
Who Says Science and Religion Don’t Conflict?
Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOnly some false ideas are sufficiently coherent and evidence-based to justify their entry into the debate. … Read the rest
Another Woman Sentenced to Stoning
Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTo death, for extramarital sex.… Read the rest
Girls’ Schools Bombed in Pakistan
Oct 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStudents are in a state of fear; some parents have stopped sending their daughters to schools.… Read the rest
Rooting out obscenity
Oct 7th, 2007 11:34 am | By Ophelia BensonWomen women women – gotta keep them down, you know. If you don’t – sooner or later, they get up, and that won’t do.
Make sure they don’t go to school, and do it by threatening or killing them.
… Read the restBuildings of two girls schools in the Kabal area of Swat were damaged by a powerful blast on the night of September 29th. Witnesses told Dawn that militants, who have been targeting women’s educational institutions for a couple of weeks, had planted an explosive device in the Government Girls’ High School…Recently, a string of explosions damaged some schools, including the Government Girls’ High School in Matta and the Government Girls Primary School in the Bedara area. An explosive device planted
Little Recourse for Abused Palestinian Women
Oct 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey face a prevailing attitude that places blame on the victim, women’s rights experts said.… Read the rest
Rizwanur Rehman: Suicide or Murder?
Oct 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRehman was a poor Muslim, Priyanka Todi is a rich Hindu; their marriage was seen as a crime.… Read the rest
Mo on the Endorphin Rush of Religion
Oct 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLike football only without the feelings of metaphysical certainty.… Read the rest