TOP Q: Where Are The Lines Between Peaceable Death Penalty Advocacy And Criminal Incitement?

January 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Last week a heinous, conscience-shocking injustice occurred when the brave, openly gay, Ugandan gay rights campaigner David Kato (pictured above) was murdered shortly after a Ugandan newspaper featured him on the cover with the headline: “100 PIctures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak” and the words “Hang Them” next to it.  The AP photo of the newspaper [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Bible, Bible, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Hitchens, Civil Liberties, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Free Speech, Free Speech, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Islam, Islam, Law, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Today's Open Philosophical Question (TOP Q) Tagged With: , Leave a Comment

Denouncing Political Rhetoric Which Is Indistinguishable From The Manifestos Of Paranoid Madmen

January 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jon Stewart’s remarks about Tucson two nights ago were poignant, conciliatory, honest, humble, and insightful: The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook Here he hits the nail on the head: I do think it is a worthwhile goal not to conflate our political [...]

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The Pope’s Weaselly Excuses For Church Child Abuse In The ’70s

January 11, 2011 By 18 Comments

On Christmas, the Pope Benedict XVI tried, pathetically, to minimize the Church’s responsibility for the pedophilia scandals: Victims of clerical sex abuse have reacted furiously to Pope Benedict’s claim yesterday that paedophilia wasn’t considered an “absolute evil” as recently as the 1970s. In his traditional Christmas address yesterday to cardinals and officials working in Rome, [...]

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On The Uses And Abuses Of Religion In Art: The Lines Between Expression, Tolerance, Respect, Fear, and Torture

December 30, 2010 By 1 Comment

Gary Bauer thinks Christians aren’t treated as well as Muslims in America because there are greater quantities of art works which use Christian symbols in ways that offend Bauer’s sensibilities than there are ones that use Muslim symbols in ways that would offend Muslim sensibilities: in a variety of contexts, American Muslims are treated better [...]

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Projecting US Pathologies Onto Muslims

October 29, 2010 By 1 Comment

Glenn Greenwald offers a mirror for those of us who worry about the elements of theocratic expansionism which are enough a part of the Koran and early Islamic history to be considered potentially dangerous forms of the religion itself on its own terms (and not just of its appropriation by political agents): I’m always amazed [...]

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True Religion?

August 17, 2010 By 4 Comments

Many a religious person defending her own religious beliefs will argue that a given politically, morally, or intellectually unflattering interpretation of her faith is simply not a true representation of her faith.  While the question of who has the right or the adequate means to decisively determine with any rational clarity which competing interpretation of any [...]

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