Butterflies and Wheels update
Ophelia Benson
New in "Latest News"
More on arrest of Indonesian atheist
Official said that he had yet to decide whether Alexander would be dismissed from his post. “I told him that there was no place in this country for his beliefs,” he said.
Filed: January 23, 2012
Karen Armstrong says how great Islam is
"The ancient rituals of the hajj...have helped pilgrims to form habits of heart and mind that – pace the western stereotype – are non-violent and inclusive."
Filed: January 23, 2012
Skeptic lawyer on the two sorts of limits to law
The first concerns what one ought to do (with law). The second concerns what it is possible to do (with law). Principled v means-end.
Filed: January 23, 2012
Nigeria: police find bomb-filled cars in Kano
Police said they found cars and vans filled with explosives in Kano three days after Boko Haram carried out a deadly attack there.
Filed: January 23, 2012
LSE Students’ Union issues statement on ASH
"The offensive nature of the content on the Facebook page is not in accordance with our values of tolerance, diversity, and respect for all students."
Filed: January 23, 2012
Bruce Gorton on bad times for free expression
Filed: January 24, 2012
Islamist misogyny on the rise in the Maldives
Shadiya Ibrahim, a long-time campaigner for women's rights, said the society was growing steadily more oppressive of women.
Filed: January 24, 2012
Jaipur: Islamist bullies block Rushdie video talk
Filed: January 24, 2012
Ministry of Truth on manipulations of LSE Students’ Union
A motion to limit voting rights at general meetings looks like another cynical ploy designed to head off any possibility of LSESU ASH rallying support.
Filed: January 25, 2012
Jesus and Mo on how not to offend
We must ensure that everyone's beliefs are protected. Well not quite everyone's.
Filed: January 25, 2012
NSS on LSE Student Union v principle of free speech
"These statements by the Student Union are deeply shocking. They appear to be prepared to sacrifice the primary principle of free speech on the altar of claimed offence."
Filed: January 25, 2012
Erdogan calls French bill on Armenian genocide “racist”
Filed: January 25, 2012
Popehat on shut-uppery at LSE
The LSE Student Union's statement on the matter is a master class in the mindset of censorious bureaucrats.
Filed: January 25, 2012
Threats stop even video appearance by Rushdie
Muslim groups attending the festival threatened violence if Rushdie appeared via video.
Filed: January 25, 2012
Human rights groups monitor trial of Baltasar Garzón
AI, HRW, and IJC have all sent observers amid concerns that Garzón is being targeted because of his innovative use of international human rights laws.
Filed: January 26, 2012
Women stripped and assaulted in Tahrir Square
They get grabbed, knocked down, stripped, beaten up, finger-raped - then told not to say anything because “it would hurt the image of the revolution.”
Filed: January 26, 2012
Audio of LSE SU debate on Islamophobia
"It's deeply insulting to ridicule a faith."
Filed: January 26, 2012
New Hampshire Republicans propose bills that prevent…
...police from protecting victims of domestic violence. That's family values.
Filed: January 26, 2012
Giant ugly Jesus statue for Primrose Hill
Something to do with the Olympics and Rio de Janeiro, but the people of North London are not delighted.
Filed: January 27, 2012
Kentucky cuts education, funds creationism
Kentucky Governor is suggesting over $50 million in cuts to education – while preserving $43 million in tax breaks for Answers in Genesis Ark Encounter theme park.
Filed: January 27, 2012
The Muslim Brotherhood
Maybe they won't be so bad, people say nervously. Maybe they'll be only a little bit bad. We hope so.
Filed: January 27, 2012
The Pod Delusion with Jesus and Mo at LSE
James O'Malley talks to Chris Moos of LSE ASH.
Filed: January 27, 2012
William Dalrymple on last Tuesday afternoon in Jaipur
"Then they sought out our producer, Sanjoy Roy, and told him that they were prepared to use any amount of violence in order to stop Rushdie's voice being heard."
Filed: January 28, 2012
Alain de Botton wants to build atheist “temple”
To celebrate a "new atheism" as an antidote to what he describes as Professor Richard Dawkins's "aggressive" and "destructive" approach to non-belief.
Filed: January 28, 2012
Jessica Ahlquist faces Cranston’s rage
New York Times asks, bullyingly, "Does she empathize in any way with members of her community who want the prayer to stay?"
Filed: January 28, 2012
University bows to Hindutva student group fatwa on film
Symbiosis University cancelled screening of documentary on Kashmir after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad raised objections to its ‘separatist' nature.
Filed: January 29, 2012
Mark Vernon says the materialist world view must go
Science an act of faith? Science a belief system? But then how else to explain the grip of the mechanistic, physicalist, purposeless cosmology?
Filed: January 29, 2012
Filed: January 29, 2012
Death threats for Dutch satirist’s burqa song
Johan Vlemmix has stopped performing the song onstage and cancelled the option to order the shirts via his website.
Filed: January 29, 2012
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
New in "Notes and Comment Blog"
- Too much conflation of being offended and being intimidated
Filed: January 23, 2012 - That’s how it’s done
Filed: January 23, 2012 - Seeing what you want to see
Filed: January 23, 2012 - It has come to our attention that you are wicked
Filed: January 23, 2012 - Say more good things about Islam please
Filed: January 24, 2012 - Spot the agenda
Filed: January 24, 2012 - Emergency! Everybody to get from street
Filed: January 24, 2012 - One stop shopping
Filed: January 25, 2012 - It’s a boy it’s a frog it’s a plane it’s WEIRD
Filed: January 25, 2012 - If we want to live together peacefully
Filed: January 25, 2012 - A protection racket
Filed: January 25, 2012 - The art of persuasion
Filed: January 25, 2012 - Shouty shout shout
Filed: January 25, 2012 - You in the plaid shirt: more rage please
Filed: January 25, 2012 - Oh no you don’t
Filed: January 26, 2012 - Garzón on trial for investigating crimes against humanity
Filed: January 26, 2012 - Not “a safe space” for women
Filed: January 26, 2012 - “New atheists” are privileged racist homophobic imperialists
Filed: January 26, 2012 - LSESU passes its first blasphemy law
Filed: January 27, 2012 - What did Primrose Hill do to deserve that?
Filed: January 27, 2012 - The real privilege
Filed: January 28, 2012 - The last afternoon at Jaipur
Filed: January 28, 2012 -
One question too many
Filed: January 28, 2012 - Welcome to Atheist Towers
Filed: January 28, 2012 - In an elevator
Filed: January 29, 2012 - Play up and play the game
Filed: January 29, 2012 - Pour rire
Filed: January 29, 2012 - Second-guessing subjective experiences
Filed: January 29, 2012 - Shafia family guilty in ‘honourless’ murders
Filed: January 29, 2012 - Like so much garbage
Filed: January 29, 2012 - 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