Fashionable nonsense has been with us since the time that prehistoric man first transcribed Of Grammatology on to the walls of the Lascaux caves. Here we cast an eye back at some historical highlights.


Deeyah on making the documentary “Banaz: a love story” *

Oct 9th, 2013 | Filed by

This collective sense of honour and shame has for centuries confined our movement and freedom of choice, and restricted our autonomy.… Read the rest



Alabama senator says slavery was good for black people *

Oct 8th, 2012 | Filed by

The bible says slavery is ok and the Southern slave plantations were fabulous for the slaves says State Senator Charles Davidson.… Read the rest



Saudi cleric tells women to wear one-eye niqab *

Oct 7th, 2012 | Filed by

Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive.… Read the rest



Tarek Fatah on death threats over free speech *

May 12th, 2012 | Filed by

The celebrated and controversial Canadian author Irshad Manji received the first “Mansoor Hallaj Freedom of Speech Award” by the Muslim Canadian Congress.… Read the rest



The victimization of moderate Muslims *

May 7th, 2012 | Filed by

There has been a concerted campaign by many Muslims to remove Usama Hasan from his post as Imam of Masjid al-Tawhid in Leyton because he is too liberal.… Read the rest



TED talk: Tony Porter: a call to men *

Apr 23rd, 2012 | Filed by

If a 12-year-old boy says it would destroy him to be called a girl, what are we then teaching him about girls?… Read the rest



Jim Wright on Ayn Rand *

Dec 18th, 2011 | Filed by

I’d rather be forced to sit with a hemorrhoidal badger in my lap through every single George W. Bush and/or Al Gore speech ever recorded than to have to read Atlas Shrugged ever again.… Read the rest



Kathryn Joyce on biblical battered wife syndrome *

Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by

According to Rick Warren’s Saddleback church, divorce is permitted only in cases of adultery or abandonment, and never for abuse. … Read the rest



Jonathan Danilowitz on Israel’s enemy within *

Jul 24th, 2011 | Filed by

“Today’s Judaism as dictated by rabbis of various religious streams is vicious, divisive, discriminatory, cruel, oppressive, sexist, and anti-democratic.”

 

 … Read the rest



Naturalism v theology *

Jul 5th, 2011 | Filed by

Tom Clark explores the subject, so you don’t have to.… Read the rest



Ajita Kamal on women’s rights in India *

May 8th, 2011 | Filed by

Superstitions such as goddess worship are cultural impediments to realizing true gender equality.… Read the rest



Stalemate on ‘mahram’ condition continues *

May 7th, 2011 | Filed by

Saudi women who win scholarships to study abroad can’t use them unless their male “guardian” goes with them for the duration.… Read the rest



Radio Sweden on “Hatar Gud Kvinnor?” *

Apr 15th, 2011 | Filed by

Talks to OB and to Christer Sturmark.… Read the rest



David Koepsell on atheism and civil rights *

Apr 13th, 2011 | Filed by

As recently as the 1960s, in about a dozen states in the US, if you didn’t believe in a divine system of reward and punishment or if you denied the existence of a deity, you were actually denied civil rights.… Read the rest



Howard Jacobson on the revolutions *

Mar 31st, 2011 | Filed by

The Godly are always there in the wings, waiting for the hour in which they can claim the victory as theirs and restore tyranny, only in their image.… Read the rest



Making “Lessons in Hate and Violence” for Dispatches *

Mar 17th, 2011 | Filed by

“You’re not like the non-Muslims out there,” the teacher says. “All that evil you see in the streets, people not wearing the hijab properly, people smoking… you should hate it, you should hate walking down that street.”… Read the rest



Mohammed Hanif on Pakistan’s celebrity maulanas *

Mar 7th, 2011 | Filed by

They are there on prime time TV, they thunder on FM radios between adverts for Pepsi and hair removing cream.… Read the rest



Child “witches” in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria *

Jan 25th, 2011 | Filed by

“We had to leave the children where we found them.”… Read the rest



Sikivu Hutchinson on black infidels *

Jan 22nd, 2011 | Filed by

As a pioneer of the African American freethought and Humanist traditions, Frederick Douglass actively challenged the moral hypocrisy of white Christianity.… Read the rest



Secret Service blamed Palin for spike in death threats *

Jan 15th, 2011 | Filed by

There was a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling “terrorist” and “kill him.”… Read the rest