Dismantling Prejudice and Misconceptions

January 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
sightseer-371747_1280

I've often seen Islam treated as an odd case when it comes to willingness to engage in acts of terror or vigilante "justice". I think it's easy to view the West as having somehow moved beyond this, and our society as being wholly and completely different. It's true that non-Muslims in the West don't tend to carry out honor killings or call for the death penalty for apostates. There are definitely differences. But is it true that non-Muslims in Western countries are immune carrying out acts of ter … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , Leave a Comment

Charlie Hebdo and Freedom of Speech

January 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Charlie Hebdo

The world is abuzz with talk of this week's deadly terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, a French satirist newspaper. That anyone could be willing to kill someone else over cartoons---no matter how offensive they find them---is unthinkable to me. Both newspapers and private individuals should be able to be offensive without fearing for their lives. What happened this week at Charlie Hebdo is wrong, and tragic, and horrifying in the extreme.Supporting a person or organization's freedom of speech … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Politics Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment

HSLDA’s Core Agenda: Abolishing Compulsory Education

December 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Founding-Fathers-Americans-for-Prosperity

Prominent HSLDA attorney Chris Klicka elucidated on HSLDA's agenda in a 2001 book, and frankly, when I read it I found even myself slightly surprised, not so much by what their agenda is as by how willing they are to publicly admit it. The framers of the Constitution, unfortunately, never specifically mentioned in the Constitution the right of parents to educate their children. They took it for granted that parents alone had this right and could choose whatever form of education they saw fit. S … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool, Politics Tagged With: Leave a Comment

Then What Makes Us Different? Torture Edition

December 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment
1417747867cia-torture

The Senate Intelligence Committee recently released a report on the CIA's torture program. You can read their summary here. The report, which covered 2001 to 2009, told of water-boarding, sleep deprivation, rectal rehydration, and even of trying to get detainees to talk by threatening their children. But as horrifying as I have found the report itself (if sadly unsurprising), I have been perhaps more horrified by some of the responses I have seen, especially on the Right.Perhaps the most comm … [Read more...]

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Duggar Actions Have Real World Consequences

December 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Michelle Duggar Signs Copies Of "A Love That Multiplies"

Over the years I've seen a variety of reactions to Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's TLC show, a show they landed as a result of their unusually large number of children. I knew of the show when I was a teen, growing up in a large Duggar-like family myself. At the time I saw the Duggars as powerful witnesses for Christ, using their platform to promote their---our---beliefs. As an adult, it seems to me that the general public either thinks the Duggars this beautiful, loving, quaint family that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism, Politics Tagged With: Leave a Comment

On the Duggars and the Locus of Outrage

November 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
dfamily

I recently received the following email:Hi Libby Anne, I’m a long-time reader of your blog, so I know you occasionally write about the Duggar family. Well, recently I heard about a fairly popular petition to get the show “19 Kids and Counting” cancelled. Maybe you have also heard this, but if not, here is one news story about it: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/thousands-petition-against-19-kids-and-counting-for-lgbtq-fear-mongering/ Supposedly, this was due to comments they made against gay m … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism, Patriarchy, Politics Tagged With: , Leave a Comment

We Prosecute People for Actions, Not Beliefs

November 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
sam_harris

About a month ago, a blog post by Terry Firma titled "The Dishonesty of Some of Sam Harris’ Foes (Who Clearly Know Better But Smear Him Anyway)" went up on the Friendly Atheist. In it, Terry explained that some of Harris's opponents had been tweeting a specific quote from one of Harris's books and labeling him a "genocidal fascist maniac." Here is the quote: “Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.” According to Terry, Harris's opponen … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Politics Tagged With: Leave a Comment

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