Humanistic education could teach when to distrust certainty.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Judge Mesmerized in ‘Healer’ Case 
Oct 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Healer’ had escaped conviction after saying he could not give blood ‘for spiritual reasons’.… Read the rest
Some Tensions in the Religious Test
Oct 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Conversion is not actually such a conservative idea. Uh oh.… Read the rest
Religious School Can Interview Parents on ‘Faith’
Oct 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
London Oratory School says it uses interviews to check parents’ commitment to their ‘faith’.… Read the rest
Bernard Crick Urges Secularists to Be Less Fussy
Oct 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Says we should not confuse the pinpricks of religiosity with the real threats to freedom.… Read the rest
We’re Doomed
Oct 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Starbucks plans to put religious messages on its coffee cups.… Read the rest
Be Relevant: Teach Only What They Already Know
Oct 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But what if people want to learn things they don’t already know?… Read the rest
To Silence the Blasphemer
Oct 21st, 2005 4:55 pm | By Ophelia BensonKenan Malik remembers the beginning. He was in Bradford to interview Sher Azam, president of the Bradford Council of Mosques and the guy who burned The Satanic Verses at a demonstration, and he encountered an old friend.
… Read the rest“I’ve been up here a few months, helping in the campaign to silence the blasphemer…No need to look so shocked. I’ve had it with the white left. I’d lost my sense of who I was and where I came from. So I came back to Bradford to rediscover it. We need to defend our dignity as Muslims, to defend our values and beliefs, and not allow anyone – ”racist or Rushdie” – to trample over them.” I was astonished. The Hassan I
Behe Contradicts Self, Lawyer Points Out
Oct 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Behe compares ID to big bang, which was also not accepted at first. Therefore…… Read the rest
Le Monde on Homa Arjomand and Sharia
Oct 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She who made the provincial government of Ontario fold.… Read the rest
Abducted Guardian Journalist Freed
Oct 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rory Carroll phoned Guardian to say his captors had released him to Iraqi government.… Read the rest
Shalom Lappin on The Teflon Chomsky
Oct 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was wrong about the Khmer Rouge; why is that not a problem for his fans?… Read the rest
From Law and Order to Just Plain Order
Oct 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
As in Joseph de Maistre’s rhapsody over the hangman’s role as cornerstone of civilization.… Read the rest
Kenan Malik Saw the Birth of Multiculturalism
Oct 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When the left, shamefully, swapped secular universalism for ethnic particularism… Read the rest
Slavoj Has Some Fun
Oct 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Other, Others, walls, lies, fantasies, the Unconscious knows no negation.… Read the rest
Dogmatism
Oct 20th, 2005 9:41 pm | By Ophelia BensonConsider dogmatism.
For instance consider Sign and Sight’s acid comment on Prospect’s list of Topp famous public intellectuals.
Who is on “top” has been decided purely by how famous they are. No one in their right mind can take this list seriously, not even the people who drew it up…Even those who are prepared to see in the Pope – a professional dogmatic – an intellectual, would have trouble getting him on the list. Benedict XVI has not got his intellectual status to thank for his number one spot, but his public office…
That’s exactly the question – can a professional dogmatic be an intellectual? I wondered the same thing in the teaser when I first posted the Prospect list, … Read the rest
Lawsuit Over Hijab Requirement
Oct 20th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hijabs banned in Tunisia, required by The Islamic College in Amsterdam.… Read the rest
Edward Larson on Why Evolution is Threatening
Oct 20th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What sort of God would create living things through a hateful struggle for existence?… Read the rest
Florida, Where The Living Is Contradictory
Oct 20th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jeb embraces biotech and hires a creationist to run the school system.… Read the rest
Behe Has Own Special Definition of ‘Theory’
Oct 20th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Under which, he concedes, astrology would be a scientific theory.… Read the rest
