Accuses it of ‘serving the interests of the pro-Israeli lobby.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
The Observer on the Muslim Council of Britain
Aug 14th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFar from representing more progressive traditions, MCB leaders have links to Islamist movements.… Read the rest
Different Rules for Different Religions
Aug 14th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNick Cohen says we pay a high price for defining people primarily by their religions.… Read the rest
Website Offers Training in Urban Warfare
Aug 14th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonInstructor implores Allah to grant his mujaheddin victory over Jews, Americans, apostates.… Read the rest
Religious Right’s Weird Science
Aug 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCondoms fulla holes, remote prayer makes stuff happen, Satan makes birth control.… Read the rest
Survey of Religious Beliefs of US Scientists
Aug 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNatural scientists less likely to believe in deity – but not much less.… Read the rest
Ziauddin Sardar on Confronting a Violent Mindset
Aug 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe must acknowledge that the terrorists are products of Islamic history.… Read the rest
Three Women Speak Out Against Sharia
Aug 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAyaan Hirsi Ali, Homa Arjomand and Irshad Manji spoke at Toronto conference.… Read the rest
Where Women Risk Their Lives to Run for Office
Aug 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSince 2001 four women councillors have been killed in Frontier province. … Read the rest
Cheap Labour Necessary to Heathrow
Aug 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Without them the airport cannot function.’… Read the rest
Pavan K Varma Reviews The Argumentative Indian
Aug 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFreedom to interrogate has congealed into unquestioning acceptance of orthodoxy.… Read the rest
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Killed
Aug 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAssassination blamed on Tamil Tigers, threatens cease fire.… Read the rest
Tradition and Honour
Aug 13th, 2005 4:03 am | By Ophelia BensonYou want tradition? Here’s some tradition.
In this quiet northern valley, tucked into the Himalayan foothills, tradition and threats have forced Shad into an electoral profile so low it is almost invisible. She will never leave this high-walled compound to canvass votes, never knock on a single door…And even if Shad wins a seat in Lower Dir, an arch-conservative corner of North West Frontier Province, there is no guarantee the local Pashtun men will allow her to occupy it.
They don’t like the idea, you see. It’s not the tradition.
… Read the restSince 2001 four women councillors have been killed in Frontier province. The latest victim died in June. Zubeida Begum, a veteran women’s rights campaigner, was shot nine times at
Roy Hattersley
Aug 12th, 2005 8:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonRoy Hattersley in the Guardian.
At one level, the attack on multiculturalism is no more than a refined, middle-class version of “Paki-bashing”. Yet people who ought to know better have joined in the chorus of intolerance. To demand that Muslims abandon their way of life – what they eat, how they dress, which way they choose their husbands and wives – is to make a frontal assault upon their faith. Islam is a total religion. People who go to church on Christmas Eve and think that makes them Christians may not realise that devout Muslims believe that the Qur’an should inform their whole lives.
Well, I don’t go to church on Christmas eve and I don’t aspire either to … Read the rest
Ehsan Masood on Hizb-ut-Tahrir
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMany parents, asked about the ban, are likely to wonder what took Blair so long.… Read the rest
Olivier Roy on the Confusion of Issues
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe real goal of Islamist terrorism is destruction of political integration.… Read the rest
Starry Booker Prize Longlist
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBarnes, McEwan, Rushdie, Ishiguro, Smith A, Smith Z, Coetzee, Mantel, Banville.… Read the rest
Richard Dawkins Urges: Start Shouting
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMillions of atheists out there are too frightened to come out and admit it.… Read the rest
Sam Harris on the Politics of Ignorance
Aug 12th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTrojan Horse of ID has entered the city, scary religious imbeciles are now spilling out.… Read the rest