All entries by this author

Oxford Wins Extension to Animal Rights Injunction *

Nov 10th, 2004 | Filed by

Order grants ‘no harassment’ zone around all its buildings in the city. … Read the rest



‘Slaughterhouses’ Found in Fallujah *

Nov 10th, 2004 | Filed by

Iraqi troops have found houses where hostages were held and killed by the ‘resistance’.… Read the rest



Arundhati Roy Speaks to Australia *

Nov 10th, 2004 | Filed by

‘Why should people allow a novelist to influence their political views?’… Read the rest



Arundhati Roy Defends Views on Iraqi ‘Resistance’ *

Nov 10th, 2004 | Filed by

‘Several critics said Roy’s views on Iraq should have disqualified her.’… Read the rest



Kristallnacht March in Oslo Forbids ‘Jewish Symbols’ *

Nov 10th, 2004 | Filed by

Commemoration ended without a single representative from Norway’s Jews.… Read the rest



Calls For End to Violence at van Gogh Funeral *

Nov 10th, 2004 | Filed by

Anger, hatred, sorrow, fear, remorse, all mix it up in aftermath of murder.… Read the rest



Court Rules Vlaams Blok Party is Racist *

Nov 10th, 2004 | Filed by

Belgium’s highest court has ruled Flemish far-right Vlaams Blok is racist. … Read the rest



A Word from George Eliot

Nov 9th, 2004 9:34 pm | By

A bit of old business I’ve been meaning to get to for several days. This question of religion and the focus of its public rhetoric and exhortation on a narrow view of sexual morality with a comparable neglect of social justice – of, if you prefer, poverty, oppression, exploitation, bad working conditions, injustice, and the like. One of our readers took issue with that view of the matter, and I thought I would offer one or two more places where I’d seen the idea discussed.

One is this piece by Ishtiaq Ahmed in the ‘Daily Times’ of Pakistan.

The Islamic position on life on earth was that Muslims should enjoy the good things of life within limits prescribed by Sharia…What

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Does Affirmative Action Hurt Black Law Students? *

Nov 9th, 2004 | Filed by

Study suggests some counter-productive effects; critics respond.… Read the rest



Elaine Showalter on Tom Wolfe’s New Novel *

Nov 9th, 2004 | Filed by

Not a satiric view of the university but a leering exposé of undergraduate sexual behaviour.… Read the rest



Index on What?

Nov 9th, 2004 2:21 am | By

The comments by Juan Golblado on the ‘Paying Too Much Attention’ Comment have prompted me to hurry up and do what I’ve been meaning to do, which is to say a word or two about this bizarre article at Index on Censorship. It is, as Mr Golblado says, a striking case of the fox being invited into the henhouse. Unless of course the Index on Censorship is supposed to be an organization that sings the virtues of censorship, but I kind of thought it wasn’t supposed to be that kind of organization.

Van Gogh’s juvenile shock-horror art finally led him to build an exploitative working relationship with Somalia-born Dutch MP Ayann Hirsi Ali, whose terrible personal experience of abuse

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Panda’s Thumb on Georgia Case *

Nov 8th, 2004 | Filed by

Debate over Cobb school district decision taken to courtroom.… Read the rest



Here We Go Again – Scopes Trial #7293 *

Nov 8th, 2004 | Filed by

Biology textbooks, Georgia, evolution, petition, only a theory, ID, law suit.… Read the rest



Why Is the EU Not Talking About van Gogh? *

Nov 8th, 2004 | Filed by

Anything for a quiet life?… Read the rest



Dutch Muslim School Damaged in Explosion *

Nov 8th, 2004 | Filed by

Latest attack against Muslim institutions since murder of Theo van Gogh.… Read the rest



The Nation Reviews Books on Islam *

Nov 8th, 2004 | Filed by

And has reservations about atheism.… Read the rest



Access Without Quotas for Universities *

Nov 8th, 2004 | Filed by

The goal is equality of opportunity.… Read the rest



Leon de Winter on Theo van Gogh *

Nov 8th, 2004 | Filed by

In multicultural utopia, the Dutch believed radical Muslims and libertarians could co-exist peacefully.… Read the rest



Between God and Gibson: German Mystical and Romantic Sources of The Passion of the Christ

Nov 8th, 2004 | By Andrew Weeks

The Passion held the No. 1 position at the box office for three weeks, then dipped when Dawn of the Dead knocked it out of first position. Now in its seventh week, The Passion beat out last weekend’s No. 1 movie, [the] comic-book action-adventure Hellboy, which dropped 52 percent to $11.1 million . . ” Anne Thompson, New York Times, April 11, 2004.

The German Romantics revolted against the Enlightenment by inventing a poeticized Christianity in literature and art and by incarnating their reinvented religion in a spiritualized poetry, love, and nature. Since their spiritualization of art effected its transformations in an autonomous poetic realm, their political impact was slight. For the same reason, even the deeply … Read the rest



Patience and Absurdity: How to Deal with Intelligent Design Creationism

Nov 8th, 2004 | By Paul R. Gross

Physicists Matt Young and Taner Edis are the editors of a new volume whose contributors are working scholars in the sciences touched by the newest expression of “creation science”: Intelligent Design (ID) Theory. Why Intelligent Design Fails is a patient assessment of all the scientific claims made in connection with ID. The half dozen science-enabled spokesmen for ID are the indispensable core group of an international neo-creationist big tent. Goals of the American movement are sweeping: they begin with a highly visible, well-funded, nationwide effort to demean evolutionary science in American school (K-12) curricula. ID is offered as a better alternative. The hoped-for result is the addition of ID to, or even its substitution for, the teaching of evolution. Which … Read the rest