‘We are ever more favourably received – doctors are increasingly sympathetic to needs of the community.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Woman Dies After Refusing Blood Transfusion 
Nov 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God has forbidden blood transfusions in the Bible.… Read the rest
What Do Atheists Have to be Angry About?
Nov 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sit down, this will take a minute.… Read the rest
Homeopath Says Don’t Sneer at Homeopathy
Nov 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mr Cohen’s piece has ‘offensive overtones.’… Read the rest
Afghanistan: Protests at New Translation of Koran
Nov 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Religious scholars say translation is un-Islamic; senators call for translator to be punished.. … Read the rest
Hijacking Anthony Flew
Nov 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He changed his mind. Then he changed it back. Then he changed it back again.… Read the rest
Stories
Nov 4th, 2007 11:17 am | By Ophelia BensonPeter Cave has an entertaining new book of philosophical puzzles, Can a Robot be Human?. The pieces are cross-referenced; one interesting pairing is of a chapter (2) on the way we feel real emotion about fictional characters and their situations, and another (8) on love, what selves are, what stories we tell ourselves about people we love.
It is very odd, and even somewhat mysterious, what powerful emotions we can feel about fictional characters. The oddity becomes more obvious if you try to imagine animals doing it. The idea is absurd – yet we’re so used to doing it ourselves that we forget how odd it is. What’s that about, do you suppose? Other minds, probably. Right? Must be. … Read the rest
Theocracy Now
Nov 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Reporting from the ‘Value Voters Summit.’… Read the rest
Baptist Seminary on the Godly Woman
Nov 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Lecturer Ashley Smith laid out the biblical basis for what she calls ‘the glorious inequalities of life.’… Read the rest
No Constitution, No Law
Nov 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Soon after independent tv stations went blank, dozens of cops surrounded the Supreme Court building.… Read the rest
Telephone Services Cut in Islamabad
Nov 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Musharraf declared a state of emergency just before a crucial Supreme Court ruling on his election.… Read the rest
Musharraf Imposes Emergency Rule
Nov 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Troops in radio and tv stations; Supreme Court held; detention orders served; constitution suspended. … Read the rest
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Nov 3rd, 2007 | By Tim Goot-BrennanAt universities today, the most popular potential US presidential candidate is smart, young, black, good-looking, likeable. His events draw frenzied crowds (a bad sign); pundits say he’s a rock-star (another bad sign).
Why is Senator Barack Obama so popular? His healthcare plan is pedestrian; his foreign policy outlook is interchangeable with Hillary Clinton’s, or Mitt Romney’s for that matter. It’s partly to do with his image as a young charmer and partly because he opposed the Iraq War “from the beginning”, as he likes to remind people. But his position on Iraq is not as hardline as Bill Richardson’s, for example. And laying claim to being the most charismatic Congressmen is really only like claiming to be the most open-minded … Read the rest
Submit, and what’s for dinner?
Nov 3rd, 2007 10:55 am | By Ophelia BensonOh the joy of learning at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. How the world opens up before the eager student, how the riches of human knowledge spill out before her excited gaze.
It offers for instance ‘classes in homemaking.’
The academic program, open only to women, includes lectures on laundering stubborn stains and a lab in baking chocolate-chip cookies. Philosophical courses such as “Biblical Model for the Home and Family” teach that God expects wives to submit graciously to their husbands’ leadership.
So that all female students will realize they mustn’t get married? Does it work? What are the stats?
… Read the restSeminary President Paige Patterson and his wife, Dorothy – who goes by Mrs. Paige Patterson – view the homemaking curriculum
Aznar and Bush, February 2003
Nov 2nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bush: I am an optimist, because I believe that I’m right. I’m at peace with myself.… Read the rest
Evidence for Nonhuman Primate Language
Nov 2nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The point here is not to deny Kanzi’s achievements but to quantify them correctly. … Read the rest
What is Debate Really For?
Nov 2nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Plato, Rousseau, Mill, Arendt and Habermas discuss with Cmdr Taco.… Read the rest
Murder of Uzbek Reporter Condemned
Nov 2nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
CPJ urges a thorough inquiry into the murder of outspoken journalist Alisher Saipov.… Read the rest
Katha Pollitt Skeptical of Horowitz’s Feminism
Nov 2nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ayaan Hirsi Ali gets bad press on the left. Why?… Read the rest
The Eye of the Storm is in sub-Saharan Africa
Nov 2nd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The largely unnoticed collision of HIV and TB has exploded to create a deadly co-epidemic.… Read the rest
