Butterflies and Wheels update

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Ophelia Benson

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Mar 29, 2012, 2:52:05 PM3/29/12
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Hello. Have another B&W update.
 

New in "Latest News"

Trayvon Martin shooting case goes to State Attorney’s Office
George Zimmerman told police he acted in self defense when he fatally shot Trayvon Martin Feb. 26 in a gated community.
Filed: March 20, 2012

The New Scientist lectures atheists on god
"Religion is deeply etched in human nature and cannot be dismissed as a product of ignorance, indoctrination or stupidity. Until secularists recognise that, they are fighting a losing battle."
Filed: March 20, 2012

Helen Lewis pays tribute to Peter Cook
Equity wanted him to change his name. Fine, replied Cook. I will instead be known as Xavier Blancmange. Or Wardrobe Gruber. Or Sting Thundercock.
Filed: March 20, 2012

Ireland: Vatican expresses “dismay” at priestly child abuse
"The Visitators also encountered a certain tendency...to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the Magisterium, this serious situation requires particular attention."
Filed: March 20, 2012

Pastor on trial for encouraging corporal punishment of children
The prosecution argued Phil Caminiti influenced church members on how to discipline their infant and toddler children, using rods, dowels and other spanking methods.
Filed: March 20, 2012

Columnist shocked that Rapture Pet insurance was a joke
Has anyone told him that the Colbert Report is also a joke? And warned him about the Onion?
Filed: March 21, 2012

Texas school officials ordered to apologize in prayer case
Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery issued a “non-Kumbaya” order after officials allegedly made comments considered disparaging by the family that sued the district over school prayer.
Filed: March 21, 2012

Cancer conference barred from using council’s meeting hall
Italian oncologist Tullio Simoncini, who says he was struck off for using sodium bicarbonate in place of chemotherapy, was due to attend.
Filed: March 21, 2012

Minors castrated in Catholic-run psychiatric institutions
One boy reported being sexually abused by priests to the police in 1956. He was placed in a Catholic-run psychiatric institution and castrated because of his 'homosexual behaviour'.
Filed: March 21, 2012

NPR reports on the Reason Rally
The main point of the rally, Dave Silverman says, is not to tweak the faithful. It's to encourage closeted atheists to take heart.
Filed: March 23, 2012

Madrid bans atheist demonstration
After all, it's Holy Thursday.
Filed: March 23, 2012

Tennessee representative proposes a new theocratic bill
“I do believe in the freedom of religion," says Republican rep Andy Holt, "but I do not believe in the freedom from religion.”
Filed: March 23, 2012

Paula Kirby on Christians with a persecution complex
Not being exempted from laws that apply to everyone else too is not persecution.
Filed: March 23, 2012

Washington Post: Reason Rally is a milestone event
The days of consent by silence are over.
Filed: March 24, 2012

Washington Post: Hemant Mehta on Reason Rally
Their “true stories” are now easily debunked on Snopes, their critiques against gay rights and women’s rights are quickly rebutted across the blogosphere...
Filed: March 24, 2012

Elisabeth Cornwell on why women need secularism
Some politicians and activists believe it is their ‘God-given-right’ to interfere in the most private of decisions of both women and men.
Filed: March 24, 2012

Bangladesh will block Facebook pages for “blasphemy”
"These pages hurt the sentiments of the country's majority Muslim population and the followers of other religions."
Filed: March 24, 2012

Washington Post on the Reason Rally
“We have the numbers to be taken seriously,” said Paul Fidalgo, spokesman for CFI, one of the organizations sponsoring the rally. “We’re not just a tiny fringe group.”
Filed: March 24, 2012

Mexican activists protest pope’s visit
And they do a good job of it, too!
Filed: March 24, 2012

Islamist preacher barred from university talk
A Muslim preacher who said homosexuality was ‘unnatural’ and gays needed to be ‘treated’ has been barred from speaking at an event for the Islamic Society at U of Hertfordshire.
Filed: March 25, 2012

MCB opposes marriage equality for gays
Farooq Murad, Secretary General of the MCB, said, "marriage in Islam is defined as a union between a man and a woman." Or a man and two women, or three, or four.
Filed: March 25, 2012

What Jason Rosenhouse learned from talking to creationists
On many occasions I asked people the blunt question, "What do you find so objectionable about evolution?" Never once did anyone reply, "It is contrary to the Bible."
Filed: March 26, 2012

Big Reason Rally roundup
Everything.
Filed: March 26, 2012

CNN talks to Dave Silverman
“We want people to know we are huge, we’re everywhere, and we are growing.”
Filed: March 26, 2012

Amnesty: sharp rise in executions in Middle East
There were at least 360 judicial killings in Iran (up from 252+ in 2010), at least 82 in Saudi Arabia (up from 27+), and at least 68 in Iraq (up from 1+).
Filed: March 26, 2012

Pennsylvania church kidnaps teenagers for a giggle
A shaken 14-year-old told police two men came in with guns, pulled pillow cases over some of their heads, and pushed them into a van. Whee, training exercise!
Filed: March 27, 2012

Woman murdered for refusing to withdraw rape accusation
Six weeks after a schoolgirl was reportedly raped in Betul, India, her mother was allegedly shot dead by the accused and his friends in front of the family.
Filed: March 27, 2012

3 MPs to ASA: let ads say that prayer works, or else
"We write to express our concern at this decision...It appears to cut across two thousand years of Christian tradition and the very clear teaching in the Bible."
Filed: March 27, 2012

Egypt: man throws daughter into Nile for divorcing
She had refused to marry the much older man, but submitted to family pressure; he abused her, she left, her father tied her up and dumped her in the river.
Filed: March 28, 2012

HRW: Afghanistan: women and girls jailed for being victims
These “crimes” usually involve flight from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence. Some women and girls have been convicted of zina after being raped or forced into prostitution.
Filed: March 28, 2012

New in "Articles"

Islam and the Problem of Street Children in Mali
By Leo Igwe
Below the thin layer of Mali’s moderate and tolerant Islam are some deep, enthrenched and festering social problems.
Filed: March 23, 2012

New in "Notes and Comment Blog"

There you go - until next week.
 
OB
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