There is an increasing move away from respecting the scientific method in US schools.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Persecution of Baha’is of Iran
Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReport finds more persecution since election of Ahmadinejad and resurgence of other conservatives.… Read the rest
President Jammeh of Gambia Undertakes Cures
Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘I can treat asthma and HIV/Aids and the cure is a day’s treatment.’… Read the rest
After Village Gang-rape, Mukhtar Fought Back
Jan 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSuch was her sense of outrage and injustice that she refused to commit suicide.… Read the rest
Hitchens Reviews Cohen
Jan 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCohen started out trying to defend the honour of the left, and attempting to appeal to its better traditions. … Read the rest
Cardinal Tries to Explain – but What is ‘Conscience’?
Jan 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘This is about the rights of the government to legislate, but is also about the rights of conscience.’… Read the rest
Church Now Plans to Create ‘Gay Rights Martyrs’
Jan 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWill break law rather than close adoption agencies, then cite HR Act on freedom of religious expression. … Read the rest
Doctor Urges Muslims to Avoid ‘un-Islamic’ Vaccines
Jan 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBreast-feed as the Koran says, eat Koranic food like olives, do ablution; you will have a strong defence system.… Read the rest
The church’s tender concern for children
Jan 28th, 2007 11:47 am | By Ophelia BensonWell damn. As Andy Gilmour reminds us in a comment on the last post, the Archbishop’s record on concern for children isn’t what it might be. Isn’t so flawless that he is really the ideal person to be saying what kind of person should be ruled out in advance from eligibility to adopt children. Maybe he really ought to worry about gay couples less given that he did such a bad job of worrying about a priest before.
… Read the restOne of the most senior figures in the Catholic Church in England and Wales has defended his decision to allow a known paedophile to continue working as a priest, despite warnings he would re-offend. A BBC investigation found evidence suggesting Archbishop Cormac
Principle, conscience, beliefs
Jan 28th, 2007 10:25 am | By Ophelia BensonWell, it’s difficult for nice Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, clearly, but – but he does fall back on a lot of emotive but undefined terms, doesn’t he. As do Sentamu and Williams. They all do – because they have to, because they have nothing else to say. What else are they going to do? Just say ‘we hate poofters, they’re icky!’? Say they just can’t stand the thought of men humping each other, it makes them come over all trembly, so they have to dig their little episcopal heels in and say No? Apparently not. So instead of that they just say resounding nothings, that don’t mean anything until the meaning is specified, which it never is. It’s all conscience, … Read the rest
Crunch
Jan 28th, 2007 9:49 am | By Ophelia BensonRight. This is where two principles slam right into each other. They are frankly irreconcilable. They can’t both be fully accommodated, any more than two bodies can occupy the same space.
… Read the restThe Catholic Church is to go to war over new legislation on rights for homosexuals, vowing to create “gay rights martyrs” if the laws are passed. In a change of tactics, Church officials now say they will not close down adoption agencies as a result of new laws forcing them to deal with applications from gay couples. Instead, they will deliberately break the law in order to bring a case to court. The Church believes it could then challenge a guilty verdict through Article 9 of the Human Rights
And hurry up about it
Jan 27th, 2007 1:08 pm | By Ophelia BensonPeople will get aggrieved and resentful and angry and irritated about anything, have you noticed?
Senior leaders within the Muslim Council of Britain tried to reverse the controversial decision to stay away from Holocaust memorial day, the Guardian has learned…It is understood that Daud Abdullah, the deputy secretary general, and affiliate members from the Muslim Association of Britain joined forces to oppose the lifting of the ban at the meeting last November. They were aided by irritation at the way the government has sought to bring the MCB into line. Last October, Ms Kelly appeared to criticise the MCB and suggested that organisations that snubbed the holocaust event might be starved of funds.
Irritation ‘at the way the government … Read the rest
Adopted children of God
Jan 27th, 2007 12:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis is one time when I find a religious argument rather attractive – although in fact it’s not really a religious argument as such, in the sense that it doesn’t depend on any supernatural truth claims. The claims are in fact ethical and secular, but they are made more persuasive, emotive, convincing to believers because they are attributed to Jesus. And this version of Jesus is indeed vastly more attractive and moving than the usual one, and it’s certainly more attractive than the threatening demands of the established churches to be allowed to continue to exclude a despised group. As Simon Barrow points out. The churches seem to have lost the plot, if they think excluding despised groups was Jesus’s … Read the rest
The Moral Maze on ‘Conscience’ and the Law
Jan 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJohann Hari rocks.… Read the rest
Dublin Imam Talks Sense, Gets Death Threats
Jan 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnti-apartheid activist fled Islamist death threats in South Africa, was shocked to find MB in Dublin.… Read the rest
Call it Primitive Multi-culturalism
Jan 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We grant the greatest respect, in fact a moral privilege, to conscience.’ But what is ‘conscience’?… Read the rest
MCB Divided Over Holocaust Day
Jan 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOrganisations such as the Islamic Foundation and the British Muslim Forum will be represented.… Read the rest
Church Appears Profoundly Un-Christian
Jan 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Catholic Church, like many historic religious bodies, is not at the bottom of the heap.… Read the rest
Nasty
Jan 26th, 2007 12:01 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo now it’s time for threats.
Senior Cabinet ministers including Gordon Brown and John Reid have been warned that Catholic church leaders will campaign against Labour candidates…Mario Conti, the Catholic archbishop of Glasgow, has written to five Scottish Cabinet members – the chancellor, the home secretary, trade secretary Alistair Darling, transport and Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander, and defence secretary Des Browne – repeating his warning to Tony Blair that preventing Catholic agencies from discriminating will be a “betrayal”…Last night, the church said it planned to defy the new equality law…[A] Catholic spokesman made clear the sense of rancour within the church.
That last bit really staggers me. The sense of rancour within the church – they feel aggrieved, they … Read the rest
Catholic Church Resorts to Threats
Jan 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonArchbish of Glasgow warns that preventing Catholic agencies from discriminating will be a ‘betrayal.’… Read the rest