Also…

Here’s how the left margin of their Twitter account looks.

Oh really? My and our resource center for international policy? Really?

What makes it that? Who says it’s that? How can it possibly be that?

There’s not a trace of internationalism in their lineup. Not a whiff. There’s not one person who’s not pale, when internationally and globally, a lot more people are not pale than are pale. This joke of a “Global” council looks as if some twenty or thirty conceited Yanks and Brits have gotten together to reinvent the East India Company. I suppose Shermer wants to play the John Stuart Mill part, since Mill used to take his trousers off every day when he got to … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Oh I see the “Global” Secular Council (populated exclusively by Anglophones from the US and the UK plus one Swedish guy) has a Twitter account. I just replied to its “We’re live!” tweet by asking what makes them “Global”. I don’t suppose they’ll reply but I would really like to know.

But also interesting is that in that tweet they included the original of the front page masthead photo that we’ve been talking about. It’s different, and different in an interesting way.

See there? On the opposite end from the Shermer-Rogers end, there’s Bill Nye – but apparently they like the Shermer grab so much that they feel it’s worth the price of not showing Bill Nye on the masthead. … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Lots of people are talking about Laura Hudson’s article in Wired on how to curb online abuse. I liked this bit in particular:

Really, freedom of speech is beside the point. Facebook and Twitter want to be the locus of communities, but they seem to blanch at the notion that such communities would want to enforce norms—which, of course, are defined by shared values rather than by the outer limits of the law. Social networks could take a strong and meaningful stand against harassment simply by applying the same sort of standards in their online spaces that we already apply in our public and professional lives. That’s not a radical step; indeed, it’s literally a normal one. Wishing rape

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Right Wing Watch tells us how the American Center for Law and Justice – which was founded by Pat Robertson to be the opposite of the ACLU – likes religious freedom in the dear US but not so much outside that cozy god-loving gun-toting country.

Both the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) and the Slavic Center for Law and Justice (SCLJ) affiliates voiced support for Russia’s 2013 gag order on gay-rights advocacy. In addition, following the 2012 Pussy Riot protest, the SCLJ called for a law criminalizing religious blasphemy. One of its leading attorneys then helped draft one proposed version of the law. 

Religious freedom for me but not for thee.

Shortly after the feminist punk band

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Author of Jesus and Mo explains why it’s a good idea to support J and M via Patreon.

Early in 2014, Jesus & Mo began to cost more money than it made. It has never made much money, as that was never the intention – but the sudden increase in the number and intensity of attacks on the website meant that, without financial help, Jesus & Mo would no longer be a viable enterprise. I love making the comic, but I am not willing to pay $250 plus per month just for the privilege of showing it to the world!

The high cost of hosting is largely down to the advanced Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection which is

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

The Catholic church’s rules on abortion, mandated by US bishops via the ERD (Ethical and Religious Directives) are so twisted and vile that even people who are reporting on them can get them wrong.

This from an article on the church takeover of healthcare institutions in Washington state:

Sheila Reynertson, advocacy coordinator at MergerWatch, which tracks hospital mergers, called the rapid expansion of Catholic-sponsored or -affiliated health care systems in our state an anomaly. A MergerWatch/ACLU study found that in 2011, one in nine acute-care hospital beds across the country had a Catholic affiliation. At the same time in Washington state, 28 percent of acute-care hospital beds were Catholic. That study is based on the most recent information released

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

This is something I was unaware of. There are some things it’s good to be unaware of. I became aware of this example because of a random headline that made me curious. The thing I was unaware of is “coyote ugly.” Urban dictionary explains:

1. coyote ugly A situation encountered after a night of consuming alcohol whereby a person, usually male, wakes the next morning in a strange bed with a sexual partner from the previous evening who is completely physically undesirable (see ugly, nasty, two bagger) and sleeping on the man’s arm. The hapless male would rather gnaw off his own arm than wake the woman and have to face the ills of his intoxicated choices the previous

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

I see Nicholas Wade has a new book out. I reviewed a book of his, The Faith Instinct, for Free Inquiry in 2010; I disliked it quite a lot. It was full of windy speculation about the putative evolutionary advantages of religion, which I had zero confidence in because he’s a journalist rather than a biologist and also because his speculation was so speculative. Also his claim didn’t even make much sense – the idea was that religion is good for group cohesion, so people who do religion have an advantage so they win all the wars. Huh. Really? What about the way group cohesion can lead to fights with those outside the group? Maybe they’d all have been … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

The more I look at that picture, the more I’m just…amazed and repulsed.

This isn’t at a party, or even a banquet or a reception. It’s for a group photo of Very Important People in the Global Secular Conference; it’s for the home page, the front page, of this Important new organization. Six adults and one frat boy. Yeesh.… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

The US is sending support personnel to Chad to help look for the Nigerian schoolgirls.

“These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area,” [the administration] said in a letter.

“The force will remain in Chad until its support in resolving the kidnapping situation is no longer required.”

Also, the UN angle.

Also Wednesday, Nigeria asked the United Nations to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organization as its escalating attacks spread alarm nationwide.

If approved, it will enable countries to impose arms embargoes, travel bans and asset freezes.

A United Nations al Qaeda committee is expected to decide when it meets Thursday. Nigeria’s request lists the terror

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Oops. There’s a thing called the “Global Secular Council.”

First? It’s not so global. They’re nearly all American or Ukanian, and the whole thing is clearly Anglophone.

Last? Its team of experts – 23 of them. Five women. Five.

Look at the glam picture at the top of the front page – what do you see? Four men and three women – not parity, not more women than men, but close to parity. Funny how the conspicuous glam photo on the front page looks as if there are almost as many women as men when in fact, there are not.

That’s not all you see, but I won’t go into that.

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

The decision is here.

Page 17

The parties to this action certainly do not dispute that the Due Process
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees individuals the fundamental right
to marry. They stridently part company, however, over whether the fundamental
right to marry encompasses the right to marry a person of the same sex. Plaintiffs
contend that the fundamental right to marry belongs to the individual and protects
each individual’s choice of whom to marry. In stark contrast, Defendants contend
that, because “[t]he United States Supreme Court has never recognized that the
fundamental right to marry includes the right to marry a person of one’s choice,”
the Marriage Laws do not violate Plaintiffs’ due process rights. (Doc. 117, p. 20)

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

At Songdhammakalyani monastery in Thailand…

The unassuming monastery in Nakhon Pathom, an hour west of Bangkok, is the only temple in Thailand exclusively devoted to female monks, known as Bhikkhunis. In 2003, its abbess, the Venerable Dhammananda became the first Thai woman to ordain as a Bhikkhuni in Theravada Buddhism – defying tradition by travelling to Sri Lanka for the ceremony. Her decision sent shockwaves through the deeply conservative Thai Sangha Council, which explicitly banned the ordination of women in 1928.

But now it’s all ok? No. The Sangha continues to be against it.

According to the abbess, the challenges reflect decades of institutionalised patriarchy, rooted in the belief that being born female is a manifestation of bad karma

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Jesus and Mo is now on Patreon.

This was my idea. [smug]

So if you want to help Jesus and Mo thrive and prosper, and get a reward, you can do that.

Here is the new Jesus and Mo:

 … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

A federal judge in Pennsylvania today ruled a state ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:

“By virtue of this ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognized as such in the Commonwealth,” wrote U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III.

The ruling comes in a case filed in July by 11 gay couples, two teenage children of one of the pairs and a widow. The couples include Deb and Susan Whitewood of South Fayette, Diana Polson and Dawn Plummer of Point Breeze, and Lynn and Fredia Hurdle, of Crafton Heights.

It overturns, <<unambiguously>> and with rhetorical flourish, the 18-year-old state Defense of Marriage Act.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)