It doesn’t matter that you don’t call yourself an atheist. Sam, they’re going to call you an atheist anyway.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
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 Benson
Only 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 Benson
To death, for extramarital sex.… Read the rest
Girls’ Schools Bombed in Pakistan
Oct 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Students 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 Benson
They 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 Benson
Rehman 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 Benson
Like football only without the feelings of metaphysical certainty.… Read the rest
Halloween ‘Offensive’ to Religious Parents?
Oct 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Maybe, maybe not; let’s re-name it Pumpkin Night, just to be safe.… Read the rest
Dentist Misunderstood ‘Islamic Law and Practice’
Oct 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Islam does judge actions. It tells Muslims that homosexuality is wrong’ – but gays are still human. … Read the rest
Do what you’re told
Oct 6th, 2007 11:28 am | By Ophelia BensonHow very liberal.
Islam does judge actions. It tells Muslims that homosexuality is wrong, that stealing is wrong, that killing is wrong and that judging others is also wrong. But nowhere does it say that a homosexual or a thief or a murderer should be treated as anything less than a human being. What Muslims have done is mix the Islamic condemnation of actions with the person who has carried them out. This creates hatred and animosity – two feelings that Islam condemns.
Homosexuality is ‘wrong’ the way stealing is wrong and killing is wrong, because Islam ‘tells Muslims’ so. If Islam ‘tells Muslims’ that eating peaches, watching sunsets, sneezing, and reading poetry are wrong, will that mean they … Read the rest
J Carter Wood Recommends Some Reading
Oct 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How about a TV series that puts the stars of Theory on a desert island and gives them survival problems.… Read the rest
A Fabulous New Party Game
Oct 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Take a Chinese propaganda poster, find a postmodernist aphorism, use the latter as a caption for the former. Fun!… Read the rest
The Barmaid Asks a Pointed Question
Oct 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We all agree that believing in things that aren’t true is a very common phenomenon, don’t we?… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on Acupuncture and Back Pain
Oct 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In conditions like back pain or fatigue, information alone can make a difference to the suffering of millions.… Read the rest
Creationism Has No Place in Science Curriculum
Oct 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Science teachers should not need to delicately handle controversy between a scientific theory and a belief.… Read the rest
Teaching ‘Respect’ for Creationism
Oct 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The days have long gone when science teachers could ignore creationism when teaching about origins.’… Read the rest
Petition Against Lawrence Summers at UC Davis
Oct 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Summers ‘has come to symbolize gender and racial prejudice’ because people keep saying so.… Read the rest
Flemming Rose
Oct 4th, 2007 12:06 pm | By Ophelia BensonReason talks to Flemming Rose.
I am going to write a book about the cartoon crisis and I am going to compare the experience of the dissidents in the Soviet Union to what has happened to people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ibn Warraq, Salman Rushdie and Irshad Manji.
Threat threat threat threat threat – that’s what’s happened to them, and to a lot of other people. Often the threat has been carried out.
… Read the restreason: Were you surprised by the reaction of those who argued not for unfettered free speech, but “responsible speech?”
Rose: Well, no. I think many people betrayed their own ideals. The history of the left, for instance, is a history of confronting authority – be it