The story of the Stop the War coalition fills just half of one chapter in a 13-chapter book. … Read the rest
All entries by this author
Steven Pinker on the Mystery of Consciousness 
Jan 31st, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Some of our deepest convictions about what it means to be human have been shaken.… Read the rest
Global Warming, Intelligent Design and the Re-Ascendancy of the Pro-Scientific Political Left
Jan 31st, 2007 | By Steven GimbelIn his State of the Union address, President Bush said something that was sadly remarkable:
America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. These technologies will help us become better stewards of the environment – and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change.
In a major speech, the President of the United States openly acknowledged global warming, the fact that human activity is having an effect, and that we face a challenge in dealing with it. This should not be news, but that this President has done so, in light of his previous tap dancing around the scientific consensus around the issue, … Read the rest
Secular Hospitals Recommended
Jan 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Panel recommends that France adopt a charter to keep religious traditions out of hospitals.… Read the rest
Norm Geras on Having a Tree in Your Eye
Jan 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Who is giving out blanket condemnations of whom?… Read the rest
Mark Vernon on Christianity and Science
Jan 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Essentially theological ideas’ underpin science, e.g. that the universe is coherent. … Read the rest
A Visit to the Scary People
Jan 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The scary people are scary.… Read the rest
Peter Singer Says Activists Have Had an Impact
Jan 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
McDonald’s asked questions, Smithfield slightly improved conditions for its sows.… Read the rest
Nostalgia for mud
Jan 29th, 2007 5:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonBunting is at the old stand again.
… Read the restBut it is [A C Grayling’s] claim of the west’s steady march of progress to the happy lands of a universal ideal of rationality and freedom that strikes so hollow. The more vehemently one hears liberal progressives claim progress, the more one wonders who they are trying to convince. Increasingly, the stridency with which the non-religious attack the religious belies their own profound insecurity – that the progress they like to attribute to western or enlightenment values is a much-compromised property. It is challenged by almost everything we see around us: climate change, rising levels of mental ill-health, growing economic inequality fuelled by debt and hyper-consumerism. As Oliver James’s new book, Affluenza,
RCC the Representative of Liberty as Such
Jan 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
William Rees-Mogg notes how English Mill seems, how un-English Kant was.… Read the rest
Blair Rules Out Exemption for Catholics
Jan 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Kelly cites both sides’ ‘passionately held views, expressed with real conviction.’… Read the rest
Grayling Replies to Bunting
Jan 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If this were 1950s Ireland, Bunting might not be writing anything.… Read the rest
Poll Shows Some Interesting Views
Jan 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
74% of young Muslims think women should wear the hijab. 31% think apostates should be killed.… Read the rest
Lawrence Summers Notes That Science Matters
Jan 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There is an increasing move away from respecting the scientific method in US schools.… Read the rest
Persecution of Baha’is of Iran
Jan 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Report 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 Benson
Such 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 Benson
Cohen 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 Benson
Will break law rather than close adoption agencies, then cite HR Act on freedom of religious expression. … Read the rest
