JAMA article on fetal pain awareness irritates anti-abortionists.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Academics With Asperger’s
Sep 12th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When does eccentricity become mental illness?… Read the rest
The Academic Novel and its Addressivity
Sep 12th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Its wot? English teachers writing about each other, that’s what.… Read the rest
Rushdie: Let the Enlightenment Begin
Sep 12th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Nine thoughts on reform.… Read the rest
Simon Schama: Bush as Archbishop of Washington
Sep 12th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Comparisons with 9/11 only reinforce differences between what the two calamities said about America.… Read the rest
Gender Equality, Gay Rights a ‘Charade’
Sep 12th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Madeleine Bunting says concern for gay rights and gender equality is ‘moral grandstanding.’… Read the rest
Atwood, Barlow, Callwood Join Protest
Sep 12th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In open letter the group said protest is about keeping religious matters separate from state.… Read the rest
Newsflash – No Sharia in Ontario!
Sep 12th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“There will be no Shariah law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians.” … Read the rest
It’s Over!
Sep 12th, 2005 1:48 am | By Ophelia BensonGolly. It’s over. I’m a bit choked. I told you I was looking forward to congratulating Homa – but she got there first. I tell you what, honey, when I clicked onto my email page and saw that subject line in an email from Homa – ‘congratulations to you all for a battle well fought’ – I must have jumped a foot.
I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t be all that elated, it’s just the prevention of something that never should have been suggested in the first place. But I don’t care. It was suggested, and it has been prevented, and that will make a difference, so I am elated.
And so is Homa. It says so right here.… Read the rest
Is the Tide Beginning to Turn?
Sep 11th, 2005 7:33 pm | By Ophelia BensonSeyran Ates has very interesting things to say.
… Read the restWhy are a few particularly estimable, highly intelligent women and men in very prominent positions, blind in one eye when it comes to the protection of minorities? Why are they blind in that eye with which they have otherwise promoted equal rights for the sexes, and still do? The so-called minority protection with respect to Islam and religious freedom can only be had at the cost of the equal rights of women, and ultimately only serves to perpetuate and reinforce obsolete, archaic, patriarchal structures. The situation of Muslim girls and women in Germany has been played down to an extreme…I want to know, and many thousands of Muslim girls and women
Nick Cohen on Suckers for Fashionable Nonsense
Sep 11th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Homeopathic dowser healers, coffee enemas, feng-shui, expensive water.… Read the rest
Shorter Books
Sep 11th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Books too long, too hard; make them shorter, easier. Good plan.… Read the rest
Cornel West: It’s Not Just Katrina, It’s Povertina
Sep 11th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Conservative social policy towards the poor: you’re on your own.… Read the rest
Blair Advised to Ditch Holocaust Day
Sep 11th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Muslims feel hurt and excluded that their lives are not equally valuable’ says Sacranie.… Read the rest
‘Shinaz’ and her Experience With Sharia
Sep 11th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hint: it wasn’t good.… Read the rest
Open Letter: Don’t ghettoize women’s rights
Sep 11th, 2005 | By Margaret Atwood, Maud Barlow et al.In support of the “No Religious Arbitration Coalition”
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Dear Mr. McGuinty:
An important tenet of Canadian democracy hangs in the balance of your response to the matter of religious arbitration in the province of Ontario. While many Canadians may assume that we are all governed by one system of laws, created by publicly elected officials who are accountable to the electorate, your government is poised to shift the ground under this cornerstone of liberal democracy.
While our public system of law is not always perfect, it is designed to recognize the realities of all citizens and is open to public scrutiny and improvement. Such is not the case with private systems of law, such as religious … Read the rest
Michael Ruse on Religion and Science
Sep 10th, 2005 | By Ophelia BensonMichael Ruse has a new book out: The Evolution-Creation Struggle. He has written a number of articles and reviews and given a few interviews on related subjects in the past year or two.
There was for instance this review of Richard Dawkins’ A Devil’s Chaplain in December 2003. In it he took strong issue with Dawkins, despite, as he says, their friendship: ‘Richard Dawkins once called me a “creep.” He did so very publicly but meant no personal offense, and I took none: We were, and still are, friends.’ He disagreed (and disagrees still) with Dawkins’ criticism of religion, which he calls a ‘crusade of nonbelief’. It is his view (at least in some of his recent articles and … Read the rest
Ontario Urged to Spurn Sharia
Sep 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Toronto protest was one of 12 in cities across Canada and Europe.… Read the rest
Sharia Protests in Düsseldorf, the Hague
Sep 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women’s rights are not negotiable, Homa Arjomand said.… Read the rest
Ontario AG’s Statement on Arbitration Act
Sep 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘We have heard loud and clear from those who are seeking greater
protections for women.’… Read the rest