Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Thomas Friedman writes in the New York Times about the rising tide of disbelief within islamic communities … THE Islamic State has visibly attracted young Muslims from all over the world to its violent movement to build a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. But here’s what’s less visible — the online backlash against the Islamic … Read more
As I’m sure you are aware, right wing evangelical billionaire David Green, the owner of Hobby Lobby, initiated a “religious freedom” lawsuit against Sylvia Burwell, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The final result was that this Burwell v. Hobby Lobby became a landmark legal case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby last year was finally decided by the United … Read more
The more religious people are, the more upset they will often be about the availability of porn, and yet surprisingly enough (to some), that degree of religiosity also correlates with a voracious consumption of porn, so what is going on here? Valerie Tarico, a psychologist and writer in Seattle, has a great article over on AlterNet that … Read more
Back in 2012 there was an apparently utterly absurd decision by an Italian court to convict six scientists and a government official for failing to give an adequate warning of a 2009 Earthquake and sentenced them all to six years in prison. That 2012 judgement has now been overturned. As explained in Wired … An appeals court in … Read more
I wrote a couple of days ago about the utterly absurd case in Iran of a British citizen Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, being found guilty of spreading anti-regime propaganda and in fact all she had actually done was to attempt to go a watch a game of Volleyball, a sport that is apparently the exclusive preserve of men. … Read more
A very brave Saudi Arabian blogger, Raif Badawi (pictured above), was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes for the (from the viewpoint of the Saudi authorities) hideous crime of starting a progressive website. It contained ideas that truly frightened and terrified them, for example religious tolerance and women’s rights, and so they came down hard on … Read more