Butterflies and Wheels update
Ophelia Benson
New in "Latest News"
Fox News “investigates” Rock Beyond Belief
Quotemine quotemine quotemine. I really appreciate you giving us a call.
Filed: January 30, 2012
Afghan woman killed for giving birth to a girl
Filed: January 30, 2012
Gideon Levy says God rules all in 2012 Israel
It can no longer be claimed that the secular majority has acquiesced to the religious minority; there is no secular majority, only a negligible minority.
Filed: January 30, 2012
Turkey: man, 25, impregnates girl, 11; they are “married”
Turkish feminists warn that under the three AKP administrations, long-controversial patriarchal habits have once again become the norm.
Filed: January 30, 2012
Windsor Muslim women react to Shafia verdict
Reem Khan and Miriam Issa are speaking out against so-called honour killings.
Filed: January 30, 2012
Sunil D’Monte on victim blaming in action
Where the “spotlight” of discussion and the “burden of change” are placed on the victim instead of the perpetrator.
Filed: January 30, 2012
Oslo: Motoon terrorists found guilty
Two of the three had - in liaison with al-Qaida - planned to use explosives against the offices of Jyllands-Posten and to murder Kurt Westergaard.
Filed: January 31, 2012
Bowing further, Symbiosis U dumps seminar on Kashmir
After several right-wing organisations opposed the event, alleging it was “separatist,” Symbiosis University has postponed its seminar, ‘Voices of Kashmir', indefinitely.
Filed: January 31, 2012
Nick’s lunch with Salman
Rushdie did not become like his enemies. He never replicated the fanaticism they directed against him.
Filed: January 31, 2012
Hanif Kureishi reviews Nick Cohen’s You Can’t Read This Book
What is crucial is that the quarrel is not closed; and to see that closing quarrels is what lifeless ideologies do.
Filed: January 31, 2012
Theocracy flexing its muscles in Indiana
First a bill allowing creationism to be taught in public schools; now a bill to allow public schools to start the day with a Christian prayer.
Filed: February 1, 2012
ASA Adjudication on Healing on the Streets-Bath
ASA told HOTS not to make claims which stated or implied that, by receiving prayer from their volunteers, people could be healed of medical conditions.
Filed: February 1, 2012
Jesus boils down the Koran
It turns out to be quite short.
Filed: February 1, 2012
The ethics of offence at LSE
We firmly believe that the LSESU has no right to ban freedom of expression, and if anything is deserving of ridicule, satire, and contempt religion is a sure candidate.
Filed: February 1, 2012
Skeptic lawyer on equal marriage in Scotland
Labour’s Johann Lamont, Ruth Davidson of the Conservatives, Willie Rennie of the Lib Dems and the Greens’ Patrick Harvie signed a pledge expressing their backing for gay marriage.
Filed: February 1, 2012
Indian cartoonist charged with treason for mocking the state
His accusers argue that while it is permissible to make fun of politicians, you cannot make fun of the state.
Filed: February 1, 2012
Protests mar Taslima Nasreen book launch in Calcutta
Filed: February 1, 2012
Richard Dawkins on reading Nick Cohen after Jaipur
Not only do the affronted themselves kick up an almighty fuss; they are abetted and encouraged by influential figures from other religions and the liberal establishment.
Filed: February 2, 2012
Philip Kitcher on Derek Parfit on what matters
Asking how we might make sense of ethical truth and ethical knowledge can be a valuable initial step toward discovering what ought to be done or what is worth cherishing.
Filed: February 2, 2012
The Economist talks to Nick Cohen
Nick mentions Does God Hate Women?
Filed: February 2, 2012
Ridiculous dispute over Koran exhibition
Kirklees Muslim Action Committee says Ahmadiyya Muslim Association has "no right to put on an exhibition about the Qur’an" because blah blah blah.
Filed: February 3, 2012
Heavenly beings and astral forces: the real meaning of ‘social pedagogy’
'Social pedagogy' has its roots in anthroposophy, which holds that children – and adults with learning and developmental disabilities – exist partly in the spirit world.
Filed: February 3, 2012
BBC on Justin Griffith and Rock Beyond Belief
Filed: February 3, 2012
Marc Stephens threatens Popehat some more
Out of the blue, Stephens sends Popehat a message saying, "I see you're obsessed with me."
Filed: February 3, 2012
US: one town’s war on gay teenagers
"LGBTQ students don't feel safe at school. They're made to feel ashamed of who they are. They're bullied. And there's no one to stand up for them, because teachers are afraid of being fired."
Filed: February 3, 2012
Bath Christian group’s ‘God can heal’ adverts banned
Advertising Standards Authority said leaflet that says "Need Healing? God can heal today!" is misleading. Group said it's just normal Christian belief.
Filed: February 4, 2012
Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?
Members of UCLASH were not reposting the cartoon to reoffend, but to reaffirm that if the freedom to speak means anything, it means the freedom to say things that people do not like.
Filed: February 4, 2012
Julian Baggini notes it’s not easy being atheist in the US
In a nation that celebrates freedom of religion like no other, freedom not to be religious at all can be as hard to exercise as the right to swim the Atlantic.
Filed: February 4, 2012
Vancouver Sun talks to Pat Churchland
She considers neuroscience more reliable than folk psychology.
Filed: February 4, 2012
McLean’s on the Shafia murders
The father on the tape: "They betrayed kindness, they betrayed Islam, they betrayed our religion and creed, they betrayed our tradition, they betrayed everything."
Filed: February 5, 2012
Iran accused of intimidating BBC Persian staff
Mark Thompson wrote in his blog that for BBC Persian staff, "interference and harassment from the Iranian authorities has become a challenging fact of life".
Filed: February 5, 2012
Bullies protest hiring of Ellen DeGeneres
Group calling itself "One Million Moms" accuses JC Penney of "jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon" and rants about "traditional values."
Filed: February 5, 2012
Maryam Namazie’s talk in Stockholm
Video in 5 parts.
Filed: February 5, 2012
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
New in "Notes and Comment Blog"
- It wasn’t like that
Filed: January 30, 2012 - The believer’s inner needs
Filed: January 30, 2012 - Trots fight back
Filed: January 30, 2012 - Too Westernized, secular and progressive to be authentic
Filed: January 30, 2012 - Some women have a hell of a nerve
Filed: January 30, 2012 - Not acceptable to all those who believe in respect for all religions
Filed: January 31, 2012 - “Unwise and untimely”
Filed: January 31, 2012 - There’s an explanation
Filed: January 31, 2012 - An affront to principles of human rights
Filed: January 31, 2012 - We are all Jay Leno, or at least Craig Ferguson
Filed: January 31, 2012 - “Evil in one of its purest forms”
Filed: February 1, 2012 - Ideas that undermine received wisdom
Filed: February 1, 2012 - This is really true
Filed: February 1, 2012 - Why the Theodosian Code is so hysterically bad
Filed: February 1, 2012 - Richard, Nick, Salman, Ayaan
Filed: February 2, 2012 - Treason and offending
Filed: February 2, 2012 - More publications that will uphold love for truth
Filed: February 2, 2012 - Taslima’s readers and fans
Filed: February 2, 2012 - Why a book about censorship?
Filed: February 2, 2012 - Unhand that banker, you filthy cad
Filed: February 2, 2012 - “Open to all” does not mean “pleasing to all”
Filed: February 3, 2012 - Tragic failure of education
Filed: February 3, 2012 - Don’t protest the thing you are protesting
Filed: February 3, 2012 - Justin gets a megaphone!
Filed: February 3, 2012 - Cardboard Khomeini tours Tehran
Filed: February 3, 2012 - Atheism in America
Filed: February 4, 2012 - Standup in Tehran
Filed: February 4, 2012 - Oh if only
Filed: February 4, 2012 - Thou shalt not bear false witness
Filed: February 4, 2012 - Why god is a problem
Filed: February 5, 2012 - Rituals not detachable
Filed: February 5, 2012 - 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