Being offended by cartoons discussed on #BBCTBQ

The question came up today on the BBCs Big Question, and so in response to that I’ve written this up to add a few additional observations. Offensive Images The idea that an image of a specific human is offensive is a specifically religious idea, and while popular within Islam today, it was not always the case, … Read more

#JeSuisCharlie #CharlieHebdo ‪#‎IllJokeWithYou

The phrase “Terrorist Attack” suddenly makes the headlines, and yet what happened was not a terrorist attack in the more traditional sense of the word. The word “Terrorism” is utilised to describe the deployment of violence in order to achieve a specific political goal, but there is nothing political about an attack on a satirical … Read more

Catholic Church refuses to divest schools or respect human rights in Ireland

Atheist Ireland reports on the latest developments … It is increasingly clear that the Catholic Church will not divest any schools to other patron bodies unless they are forced to do so. In fact they have reinforced their position of opposing human rights standards in education, by rejecting the Toledo Guiding Principles. Even Prof John Coolahan … Read more

Claim: “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God.”

Much to the surprise of many, there was a recent article over on the Wall Street Journal entitled. “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God.” (sorry, but the WSJ article is behind a paywall, but a summary of it can be found here). This of course is not the only instance of such a claim, but rather is … Read more

Letting go of religious hatred – escaping into a better world

At a deep psychological level people tend to flow with the cultural tide, and so we have the observation that the religious belief people embrace tells us a great deal about their geographical location and the micro-cultures they inhabit, and not much else. Those born into a Sunni family will generally tend to be Sunni … Read more