Religion

17Jul05 — 21

Normal Service Resumed

On Tuesday evening I was pleasantly surprised (as were a couple of commenters) by RESPECT candidate Salma Yaqoob’s responses in a BBC Radio 4 interview about the London bombers. Given enough rope by “Mad Dog” Milne of The Guardian‘s opinion pages, however, she happily climbed the scaffold: “This cycle of violence has to be broken. […]

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12Jul05 — 9

Worldview Shaken

The RESPECT candidate Salma Yaqoob has just been interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight about the revelation that the London Transport “bombers” were British-born Muslims. She didn’t talk complete cobblers. I am going to lie down now.

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15May05 — 1

Roadkill

I once put it to Norm jokingly that one reason he has the patience to pick through the foul-smelling giblets of articles like Madeleine Bunting’s in yesterday’s Guardian is that he has spent years marking terrible student essays. The truth is it’s because he is a top bloke. Rather him than me though.

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14May05 — 0

A Beautiful Moment

Fareena Alam, editor of British Muslim magazine Q-News is on Any Questions. I enjoyed a delicious frisson listening to the campaigner against racism and for the right of young women in the West to wear the hijab (er, even on passport photos) complain that young people wear hooded tops in order to commit crimes without […]

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11May05 — 10

My Son The Midfielder

Further to my discovering that the last Pope was Jewish, were you aware that Wikipedia helpfully furnishes its users with both a list of partial Jews and a list of Jewish superheroes? Bill and Hillary, David Beckham, Elvis, Muriel Gray, The Thing, we hardly knew you. Jewish sportstar (allegedly)

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08May05 — 3

Worse Than I Thought

I knew that in Turkey Mein Kampf is a bestseller. I didn’t know that the theory of evolution was widely rejected there. Thanks to Mick Hartley and this in The Panda’s Thumb I have another reason to fear for civilization: “As a result of the BAV campaign and other efforts to denounce evolution, he adds, […]

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07Apr05 — 5

Madder Than Qaddafi

After reading Anthony’s piece about Google bombs, I couldn’t resist a peek at “Jew Watch”, the anti-Semitic conspiracy site that came so high in searches for the word “Jew” that the civilized world had to displace it with a Google bomb. Their front page story (complete with photo of the recently deceased) is—I kid you […]

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28Mar05 — 3

The New Bigotry

Cambridge University* has banned all uniforms or national costume (including kilts) from its graduation ceremonies. According to a ranting politician this is of course “elitist“. Actually it’s the opposite: everyone is expected to dress in exactly the same way, regardless of accidents of birth. Besides, Cambridge is an elite university. Get over it. At least […]

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16Mar05 — 2

Writ

Cardinal declares, “The book is everywhere. There is a very real risk that many people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true”, says, “It astonishes and worries me that so many people believe these lies”. Scientist comments, “It amuses and disappoints me that the cardinal is talking about The Da […]

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27Jan05 — 12

Credo

And now for some distinctions that will be lost on our new visitors, particularly Sisyphus who believes all Muslims are Islamists so anyone, like me, who thinks Islamism is dangerous therefore hates all Muslims. That’s an interesting thread to follow and one which, by its lumping together of all adherents to a particular faith according […]

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24Jan05 — 52

If He Existed He’d Be Laughing

“THREE Muslim pilgrims were killed and 500 others suffered light injuries as they jostled to perform the ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual near Mecca, Saudi newspapers reported today. The crush was triggered by the arrival of ‘a large number of African pilgrims carrying their personal belongings’ at the site of the stoning in Mina called […]

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20Jan05 — 3

Watch Out For Those Feeble-Minded Tavern Girls

Following on from my James D. Watson link, yesterday a colleague of mine lobbed me a review copy of DNA and the Criminal Justice System by David Lazer. Click the smaller image below to see an interesting diagram it reproduces from a textbook in use in the early half of the twentieth century (unfortunately it’s […]

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18Jan05 — 1

Theodicy

And now it’s time for Thought For The Day. Over in our Manchester studio we welcome the Reverend Nimmo Platitude of St Gavin’s Church Of The Lost Apostle, Bamber Bridge: “Thank you, James. “This morning I toasted a bagel for my breakfast and, as I lifted one half of the deliciously warm, crispy-soft bun off […]

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10Jan05 — 4

Duck

Shockingly, according to the BBC, fears of exposure to over 3 000 “fuck”s didn’t seem to reduce people’s willingness to watch the big broadcast: “More than 1.7 million viewers watched Jerry Springer – The Opera on BBC Two on Saturday, despite the objections of protesters. At least 45,000 people had contacted the BBC to complain about […]

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28Dec04 — 0

Hello! Tackles The Big Issues

The online version of Hello! magazine covers the persecution of Sikh playwrite [sic] Gurpreet Kaur. Why? Because some celebs are supporting her. I wonder how Samuel West will take to having his appearance as Dr Frankenstein in Van Helsing cited as his most noteworthy contribution to the dramatic arts. Meanwhile, over at the Fox News Website, […]

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17Dec04 — 9

No

It takes a professional philosopher to choose, of all the arguments for the existence of some kind of god, the most exquisitely wrong: “A philosophy professor who has been a leading proponent of atheism for more than 50 years has decided that God may exist after all. “Antony Flew, 81, now believes scientific evidence supports […]

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25Nov04 — 2

Still No Cure For Stupidity

As the International Herald Tribune reports, modern medical science has finally succeeded in curing an unvaccinated rabies victim of the disease—albeit using a pretty extreme approach: “[D]octors at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin put the critically ill teenager into a drug-induced coma and gave her anti-viral drugs, although it is not clear which if any […]

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