Butterflies and Wheels double update
Ophelia Benson
New in "Latest News"
Ireland: Fine Gael wrangles over re-opening Vatican embassy
One of the most surreal moments saw TD Peter Mathews brandish a set of rosary beads at the "secularist members of the party".
Filed: February 6, 2012
Damian Thompson on the delusions of bishops
Senior churchmen speak of the “spiritual hunger” of the young. That’s wishful thinking.
Filed: February 6, 2012
Rebecca Watson on seeing the patriarchy
There may always be something big and obvious about the way the world works, that we may be missing.
Filed: February 6, 2012
Shrinking secular spaces in the UK
Identity anti-racists such as the Stop the War Coalition have dismissed and continue to dismiss secular activist voices like those of Gita Sahgal or secular organisations such as Just Peace.
Filed: February 6, 2012
Vatican meeting could possibly be PR exercise
Ya think?
Filed: February 6, 2012
Court rules California Prop 8 unconstitutional
The 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that Proposition 8 violated the U.S. Constitution. The architects of Prop. 8 have vowed to appeal.
Filed: February 7, 2012
Pope accidentally exorcized two demons
It's because he's magic, and the devil knows it.
Filed: February 7, 2012
US Catholic bishops attempt to control legislation
They want to impose their religion on the entire population, and call the refusal to do so a violation of their religious liberty.
Filed: February 7, 2012
Bunglawala demands friendlier reporting on Islam
Appearing before the Leveson Inquiry on January 24, he said the amount of negative stories about Muslims in Britain is "demonizing" Islam and fuelling a "false narrative."
Filed: February 8, 2012
Maryam declines the request to self-censor
It’s Islamism that’s demonizing Islam more than anything else.
Filed: February 8, 2012
Obama admin trembles at rage of Catholic bishops
Tries to placate them despite their lack of popular support. Tiny number of Catholic bishops have veto power over US legislation.
Filed: February 8, 2012
Catholic cardinal withdraws sex abuse apology
In an interview, Cardinal Edward Egan withdrew his 2002 apology for the Church’s handling of the sex-abuse scandal, which was once read in all New York parishes.
Filed: February 8, 2012
Woman escapes Hasidic community
In her memoir, “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots,” Deborah Feldman chronicles her oppressive upbringing and arranged marriage.
Filed: February 9, 2012
Jesus and Mo protest the free expression rally
We just don't think people should be allowed to laugh at our freely expressed message.
Filed: February 9, 2012
Egypt: presidential candidate says no freedom in Islam
"If you claim that Allah considers it your personal freedom, show me your reference? Nobody has ever said that - except for people [who] have no understanding of Sharia."
Filed: February 9, 2012
Lawrence Krauss on the tension between science and religion
A willingness to question even one's most fervently held beliefs – the hallmark of science – is a trait that should be respected, not reviled.
Filed: February 9, 2012
Worries that DSM-5 could define disorders into existence
A serial rapist could be classified as mentally ill, given a diagnosis of paraphilic coercive disorder.
Filed: February 9, 2012
Bideford Town Council prayers ruled unlawful
Filed: February 10, 2012
Obama surrenders to Catholic bishops
Administration officials called the expected announcement an “accommodation” that they said sought to demonstrate respect for religious beliefs.
Filed: February 10, 2012
Bishops see “religious liberty” as good advertising
They think the Catholic church gets less deference than it once did and that that's an outrage.
Filed: February 10, 2012
Shunning at Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill church
Driscoll has preached against “sinning through questioning” and once said publicly he would like to “go Old Testament” on dissenters.
Filed: February 10, 2012
Community responses to the mistreatment of women are the problem
Is it possible that the difference between Asian and non-Asian men is the level of tolerance that their communities have for abusive and violent behaviour towards women?
Filed: February 11, 2012
Vigilantism in Pakistan
On Samaa TV Maya Khan led a group of women in harassing couples in a Karachi park.
Filed: February 11, 2012
Maya Khan fired over “moral crusade”
She led a group of women that chased young couples through a Karachi park accusing them of bad behavior. To many Pakistanis, the images evoked comparisons with the Taliban.
Filed: February 11, 2012
Mixed reaction to Bideford ruling
Filed: February 11, 2012
Virginia to deny gay adoption on religious grounds
The ones hurt the most by this bill are the children whose only wish is to have parents that love and care for them.
Filed: February 11, 2012
The Pod Delusion: the Rally to Defend Free Expression
One Law for All's rally, featuring Richard Dawkins, Nick Cohen, AC Grayling, Joan Smith and many others. Listen and enjoy.
Filed: February 12, 2012
RDF on One Law for All rally for free expression
Richard Dawkins reports, "a large crowd gathered round and some of them, from Muslim families, told me chilling stories."
Filed: February 12, 2012
Newt Gingrich calls subway riders “elitist”
"Those who, you know, live in high-rise apartment buildings writing for fancy newspapers in the middle of town after they ride the metro."
Filed: February 12, 2012
Interpol criticized for arresting a “blasphemer”
Saudi Arabia used Interpol's system to get a journalist arrested in Kuala Lumpur for insulting Muhammad on Twitter.
Filed: February 12, 2012
Over 8000 sexual abuse victims in Milwaukee archdiocese
The charges cover a span of 60 years and implicate a group of 100 alleged offenders, including nuns, church workers and some 75 priests.
Filed: February 12, 2012
Republicans vote against Domestic Violence bill
"Family Values" in action.
Filed: February 12, 2012
Malaysia has deported Hamza Kashgari to Saudi Arabia
"Insulting the prophet" is considered blasphemous in Islam and is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
Filed: February 12, 2012
PEN International fears for the safety of Hamza Kashgari
Filed: February 13, 2012
Malaysia defends extradition of Hamza Kashgari
Allegations that Kashgari could be tortured and killed if he were sent back home are "ridiculous" because Saudi Arabia is a respectable country, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
Filed: February 13, 2012
BBC apologizes for broadcasting promotional material
The Malaysian PM’s office had paid FBC to promote BN and Malaysia’s oil palm industry on news shows that it was producing for the BBC.
Filed: February 13, 2012
BJP ministers found watching porn during meeting
They claimed to have been watching the clip as part of their homework on an upcoming debate on rave parties in the assembly. Riiight.
Filed: February 13, 2012
The gap between rhetoric and reality in the Karnataka BJP
The hypocrisy in Karnataka is almost Victorian in its intense public sanctimony and its private flouting of those norms.
Filed: February 13, 2012
Denis MacShane MP rebukes Interpol
Interpol is meant to tackle serious crime, not act as the little helper for régimes that want to kill journalists.
Filed: February 13, 2012
The real agenda behind Kashgari’s arrest
Fostering a climate of fear and oppression is the best guarantee of compliance and Islam is a traditional rallying cry for the masses.
Filed: February 13, 2012
India: Former RSS activist held for train bombing
Many members of the group were long-serving RSS activists who became disillusioned with the Hindu right-wing's refusal to replicate the 2002 communal killings in Gujarat nationwide.
Filed: February 13, 2012
Sayeeda Warsi will tell the pope of need for religion
And how evil "militant secularism" is. Telegraph wets itself with joy.
Filed: February 13, 2012
Mukund Padmanabhan on the republic of hurt sentiments
"We have allowed hurt sentiment in this country to become a cover for aggressive moral vigilantism, an excuse to perpetrate violence in the name of emotional victimhood."
Filed: February 13, 2012
Jason Rosenhouse on the trouble with theistic evolution
Too often the defender of reconciliation acts as though a logically possible scenario that includes both God and evolution is all that's needed.
Filed: February 14, 2012
Catholic cardinal says leaks damage church’s image
It's a question of dignity.
Filed: February 14, 2012
The purpose of a university: to learn to question
Not to shut ourselves off from ideas we find threatening.
Filed: February 14, 2012
Derby: 3 men jailed for distributing gay death call leaflets
The leaflets showed an image of a wooden mannequin hanging from a noose, quoted Islamic texts, and said capital punishment was the only way to rid society of homosexuality.
Filed: February 14, 2012
The barmaid praises Jesus and Mo for ingenuity
They are grateful.
Filed: February 15, 2012
Eric MacDonald on Michael Ruse on Darwin Day
Ruse wants us to leave a little protected reserve for otherworldly thoughts that can be shielded from the deep quest for knowledge on which science is founded.
Filed: February 15, 2012
Carl Elliott on ghostwriting and plagiarism
University administrators sometimes compare themselves to corporate executives, who are not generally criticized for having ghostwriters on staff.
Filed: February 15, 2012
Virginia House passes fetal personhood bill
The House of Delegates voted 66-32 in favor of defining the word person under state law to include unborn children "from the moment of conception."
Filed: February 15, 2012
Saudi religious cops arrest over 140 for Valentine’s Day
The Organisation for Promoting Virtue and Discouraging Evil says officers have punished those caught so far.
Filed: February 15, 2012
Egypt: FGM is rife despite ban
"Of course we fear this new parliament won't tackle issues like FGM because already there are extremists who want FGM unlike the previous regime."
Filed: February 15, 2012
Nick Cohen at the Rally for Free Expression
In 1936 no newspaper would publish news of Wallis Simpson; now no newspaper will publish the Danish cartoons. This is not progress.
Filed: February 16, 2012
The control-freaky ways of Mars Hill Church
To seal the deal, the prospective member must formally agree to submit to the "authority" of the Mars Hill leadership.
Filed: February 16, 2012
School tells children not to threaten each other with hell
Result is uproar about failure to "respect" religious beliefs.
Filed: February 16, 2012
Why we have moral rules but don’t follow them
A twist on a classic psychology experiment suggests that our minds have two parallel moral systems, and they don't always agree.
Filed: February 16, 2012
Afghan girls are punished for the misdeeds of men
Shakila, 8, was grabbed and held for a year because her uncle ran off with a married woman. This is a traditional Afghan form of justice. Well not so much justice...
Filed: February 16, 2012
Cranston school committee votes not to appeal
The atmosphere in the auditorium was raucous at times. People pressing for the legal fight to continue wore signs around their necks that said "Appeal."
Filed: February 17, 2012
Archbish Dolan threatens secularism
Timothy Dolan told a meeting of the pope and his fellow cardinals that they must spread the faith with joy, love — and blood if necessary.
Filed: February 17, 2012
Can one adviser explain women to David Cameron?
No, says a Guardian panel. What infuriates Pragna Patel is that the issue of gender equality should already be at the heart of policymaking in government.
Filed: February 17, 2012
BHA responds to Warsi’s attack on secularism
"It is not secular organisations which lobby to maintain privilege and have exemption from laws - like equality laws - that should affect everyone equally."
Filed: February 17, 2012
NSS on Warsi’s theocratic nonsense
Why is the British Government courting the Holy See in this way? Why should the last absolute theocracy in Europe be invited to participate in the affairs of the British Government?
Filed: February 17, 2012
Will Dawkins roooooin the Reason Rally?
Because he's so mean and all? Barbara J King at NPR says he will.
Filed: February 17, 2012
Nick Cohen on the attack of the militant secularists
An established church that uses the force of law to insist on a privileged position seems slightly more authoritarian than those of us who want a level playing field.
Filed: February 18, 2012
Santorum says Dems will introduce the guillotine
War on faith: French Revolution: guillotine.
Filed: February 18, 2012
Councils given “rights” to impose prayers on everyone
Communities secretary says he is effectively reversing the High Court's "illiberal ruling" that a Devon council's prayers were unlawful. Mandatory theism is so liberal.
Filed: February 18, 2012
Nothing extreme about separating church and state
Aggressive? You should see this week's "burn in hell" messages to the BHA attacking "that spastic Hawking who denies God", and many more obscene unprintables.
Filed: February 18, 2012
Telegraph hit piece on Dawkins
A new low in sleaze.
Filed: February 19, 2012
Canadian government accused of “muzzling” its scientists
Speakers at a major science meeting in Canada said communication of vital research on health and environment issues is being suppressed.
Filed: February 19, 2012
Yemen: Tawakkul Karman gets death threat
The Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy activist received the threat in a short text message sent to her mobile phone demanding that she repent or face death.
Filed: February 19, 2012
Richard Dawkins in ‘single-celled ancestor’ shock
Prominent atheist Richard Dawkins has been hit by fresh scandal today after it emerged that his ancestors were single-celled organisms who metabolised sulphur.
Filed: February 20, 2012
Indy spits its share of disgusting venom at Dawkins
"Puffed-up, self-regarding, vain, prickly and militant, he displays exactly the character traits that could do with some Christian mellowing."
Filed: February 20, 2012
MP apologises for failing to mention interest in health firm
I'm tho thorry, I forgot.
Filed: February 20, 2012
Download the universe
A new website devoted to reviewing ebooks about science, with Carl Zimmer and a team of leading new-media science journalists.
Filed: February 21, 2012
Former archbish of Canterbury opposes gay marriage
Calls the proposal to change the status of marriage ''one of the greatest political power grabs in history.'' Rich comeing from a theocrat.
Filed: February 21, 2012
HRW on how al-Shabaab treats children
“Al-Shabaab rebels have abducted children from their homes and schools to fight, for rape, and for forced marriage,” said HRW deputy children’s rights director.
Filed: February 21, 2012
New in "Notes and Comment Blog"
- How not to marginalize women
Filed: February 6, 2012 - Standing up the better to fall down
Filed: February 6, 2012 - None so blind as those who will not see
Filed: February 6, 2012 - Comrade
Filed: February 7, 2012 - Prop 8 ruled unconstitutional
Filed: February 7, 2012 - Falangists in Fleet Street
Filed: February 7, 2012 - That would come in handy
Filed: February 7, 2012 - Oh no, the bishops are livid, we must give in!
Filed: February 7, 2012 - Why the Supremes are unlikely to overturn the Prop 8 ruling
Filed: February 8, 2012 - Obama goes belly-up to angry bishops
Filed: February 8, 2012 - Disagreement is life
Filed: February 8, 2012 - This god certainly hates women
Filed: February 9, 2012 - Your personal freedom? You must be joking
Filed: February 9, 2012 - The sleep of reason
Filed: February 9, 2012 - Grovel for the sake of it
Filed: February 10, 2012 - Freedom of secularism
Filed: February 10, 2012 - Incomplete nostalgia
Filed: February 10, 2012 - And more stupid
Filed: February 10, 2012 - Real vigilantes of Karachi
Filed: February 11, 2012 - Councillor Imran Khan understands religious freedom
Filed: February 11, 2012 - However unwise
Filed: February 12, 2012 - Malaysia extradites Kashgari
Filed: February 12, 2012 - At Maryam’s place
Filed: February 12, 2012 - Free Hamza Kashgari
Filed: February 12, 2012 - Moderation and tolerance
Filed: February 12, 2012 - Those who are wanted by their countries of origin
Filed: February 13, 2012 - Known for his reformist views
Filed: February 13, 2012 - Interpol as theocracies’ little helper
Filed: February 13, 2012 - Warsi stands with pope in fighting for faith
Filed: February 13, 2012 - Roberto Malini: Poetry Before the Law
Filed: February 13, 2012 - Lawyers for Liberty are pissed
Filed: February 13, 2012 -
More than one valence
Filed: February 14, 2012 - The Women’s Ministry should exist to improve the lives of women
Filed: February 14, 2012 - Valerie Tarico on Plan B and motivated beliefs
Filed: February 14, 2012 - Sahara TV on Helen Ukpabio
Filed: February 14, 2012 - Less mealy-mouthed about their beliefs
Filed: February 15, 2012 - The non-skeptical “Skeptiko”
Filed: February 15, 2012 - First order of business
Filed: February 15, 2012 - Another nightmare
Filed: February 15, 2012 - Nick Cohen on a culture that pretends to be brave
Filed: February 16, 2012 - God gonna torture you so ha
Filed: February 16, 2012 - In Cranston right now
Filed: February 16, 2012 - They kept beating us with sticks
Filed: February 16, 2012 - Underpants bomber is proud to kill in the name of god
Filed: February 16, 2012 - What does contraception have to do with women?!
Filed: February 16, 2012 - What could possibly go wrong?
Filed: February 17, 2012 -
Allies
Filed: February 17, 2012 - Next up for Cranston
Filed: February 17, 2012 - NPR throws mud at Dawkins
Filed: February 17, 2012 - Last night in Cranston
Filed: February 17, 2012 - So long
Filed: February 18, 2012 - Beware the frumious bandersnatch
Filed: February 18, 2012 - Telegraph does research, discovers that Dawkins has ancestors
Filed: February 18, 2012 - And another one, and more, and more
Filed: February 18, 2012 - The disgraceful Telegraph article on Dawkins
Filed: February 19, 2012 - Argumentum ad haircut
Filed: February 19, 2012 - Look out, he’s got a whip
Filed: February 19, 2012 - And now for some good Twitter jokes
Filed: February 19, 2012 - In a couple of weeks
Filed: February 19, 2012 - Up for a prize
Filed: February 20, 2012 - It’s only 50 thousand pounds
Filed: February 20, 2012 - Justin finds another consignment of atheist-bashing
Filed: February 20, 2012 - Because Afghans have nothing more important to fret about
Filed: February 21, 2012 - Former archbishop (ret’d) in Daily Mail
Filed: February 21, 2012 - What we talk about when we talk about blogging
Filed: February 21, 2012