Notes, journal, diary, blog, arguments, beliefs, cogitations, comments, considerations, contemplations, criticisms, daydreams, deliberations, engrossments, musings, opinions, phlogs, poems, points, rantings (occasional), reflections, ruminations, satire, wit, and pensiveness of a thinking man.
Posted in Censorship, Education, Isolation, Religion, Science, Technology on Feb 8th, 2008
There have been repeated threats in the US to limit the teaching of evolution in state schools. Three leading Florida state legislators are preparing to challenge new state science education standards that will make the teaching of evolution compulsory for the first time in Florida’s history.
Posted in Censorship, Human Rights, Humanity, Morality, Religion on Jan 31st, 2008
A young man, a student of journalism, is sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading a report from the internet. Kim Sengupta of The Independent reports:
The sentence is then upheld by the country’s rulers. This is Afghanistan – not in Taliban times but [...]
Posted in Faith, Law, Religion, Technology on Jan 22nd, 2008
I was initially amused and then slightly concerned to read about what a team artificial intelligence (AI) scientists based in France are doing in support of Islam. If successful, the work could freeze the religion and make development within it even more difficult than it is at the present.
According to an article in [...]
Posted in Faith, Human Rights, Humanity, Morality, Relationships, Religion on Jan 21st, 2008
In a country where unmarried couples who have sex, or who even date and hold hands can be arrested, fined, and flogged, Maryam (a hairdresser) and Karim (a salesman) managed to carry on a relationship for five years. The reason this was possible is that they were able to produce the correct documents whenever [...]
Posted in Education, Law, Relationships, Uncategorized on Jan 18th, 2008
Would you do it today? I suspect you probably wouldn’t.
Around 25 years ago I left a small, sleepy village in mid-Norfolk, UK, just after midnight, with 45 young teenagers and two other colleagues, and headed for Gatwick airport. We tried to sleep on the journey, and failed miserably. At some point in [...]
Posted in Health, Human Rights, Morality, Religion, Society on Jan 10th, 2008
I confess I have never been to Oxford, and have no personal interest in the city. However, I find myself writing about it for the fourth time in the past few months. It certainly seems to be hitting the news recently (see here and here and here).
The latest row has been caused by [...]
Posted in Faith, Human Rights, Philosophy, Religion, Society on Jan 2nd, 2008
There is an outcry going on in Oxford, UK, at the moment over Muslim plans to broadcast a loudspeaker call to prayer from a city centre mosque. A spokesman for the Central Mosque said that Muslim’s have the right to summon worshippers. They want to issue two minute calls, three times a day.
From [...]
Posted in Faith, Human Rights, Morality, Religion on Dec 22nd, 2007
The situation for women in Iran is likely to get even worse.
A top Muslim cleric in Iran, Hojatolislam Gholam Reza Hassani (who is the representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in eastern Azerbaijan) said on Wednesday that women in the country who do not wear the hijab should be killed.
Posted in Isolation, Morality, Psychology, Religion, Society on Dec 4th, 2007
‘Shunning’ is a good word. I like ’shunning’. It has something solid about it and sounds like what it does.
There was a lot of shunning this week in a very interesting article about morality in Time Magazine. Jeffrey Kluger argues that there are one or more of three main factors operating behind [...]
Posted in Censorship, Human Rights, Humanity, Morality, Philosophy, Religion, Terrorism on Dec 1st, 2007
By now some of you have doubtless heard the one about the teddy bear who was called “Paddington” because his owners didn’t want to end up being beheaded for calling him “St. Pancras”. (You probably have to be a Brit. to get that joke, so don’t worry if its cultural references pass you by. [...]
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