Criticizing Islam is turned into “hate speech” on Facebook
Obviously, this isn’t happening to everyone who criticizes Islam. But someone like Abdullah Sameer is getting popular, and he’s a pretty attractive face for apostasy from Islam. He was until recently a rather conservative Muslim himself. He’s the person you need to shut up if you want to retain Muslims. As he notes manipulating Facebook […]
On the semiotics of secularism and nakedness of village atheism in the culture war
Listening to the lovely bells of Winchester, one of our great mediaeval cathedrals. So much nicer than the aggressive-sounding “Allahu Akhbar.” Or is that just my cultural upbringing? pic.twitter.com/TpCkq9EGpw — Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) July 16, 2018 One of the great celebrity “village atheists” of our day, Richard Dawkins, has “stepped in it” again by eliciting […]
How Donald Trump is like Marxism and Psychoanalysis
Recently my Twitter and Facebook timelines have been littered with references to this story: Man, 92, Allegedly Beaten With a Brick & Told ‘Go Back to Mexico’ by a Mom in Front of Her Child. Terrible. It was posted on Twitter, and Facebook, as evidence that Donald Trump’s America was horrible. Some of the Twitter […]
Give me liberty or give me alternative history!
For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne Had Won at Saratoga is one of the best alternative history science fiction novels written in the 20th century. It is literally encyclopedic. A fully realized alternative timeline, the novel takes the form of a narrative history! I don’t know if one can say that the world depicted […]
Why Trump could murder someone and people would still support him
In 1683 the Ottoman Turk marched toward Vienna. John Sobieski, the king of Poland, became a hero to all Europe because of his defense of the Habsburgs in their time of need. In contrast, France had traditionally been a rival of the Habsburg monarchy. In honor of their tacit alliance with the Ottomans they rejected […]
The cretin shall rise again
Roy Moore is almost certain to be the Junior Senator from Alabama soon enough. That much we know. Part of me takes pleasure in the victory, as it is true that the Republican establishment of states like Alabama is sclerotic and corrupt (just like the Democratic establishment of Illinois or California). Roy Moore is certainly […]
Saving intellectuals from the red guards; it’s a mitzvah
The Left is cannibalizing its own again. Unless you’re under a rock you have probably heard about what’s happened to Brett Weinstein. The Campus Mob Came for Me—and You, Professor, Could Be Next: I was not expecting to hold my biology class in a public park last week. But then the chief of our college […]
Henry Wallace couldn’t get them all right
American Fascism, in 1944 and Today: Seventy-three years ago, The New York Times asked the sitting vice president to write an article about whether there are fascists in America, and what they’re up to. It was an alarming question. And the vice president took it quite seriously. His article, “The Danger of American Fascism,” described […]
We are all the secular Right now, but what does that mean?
This blog began in the fall of 2008 somewhat on a lark. This was during a period when the American Right was beholden in many ways to the Religious Right. By “many ways,” I mean more in symbolics and rhetoric than reality. The reality is that conservatism in the 2000s was a “three legged stool” […]
Moderate Muslims are moderate in some things
Bangladesh bloggers: Clear pattern to killings: Since then, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appears to have reached an accommodation with Hefajat. The Islamist group has confined itself to the madrassa premises and the government has put five bloggers in jail for allegedly hurting the religious feelings of Muslims. The government now appears to […]
Jamila Bey at CPAC
Atheist Group Makes CPAC Debut: Jamila Bey is a mom, a business owner, a Pittsburgh native—and a board member of the group American Atheists. She also, apparently, identifies as conservative. After introducing herself to the crowd, Bey used her three-minute spot to invite audience members to drop by the American Atheist table in the exhibition […]
George F. Will, American atheist
Several years ago George Will declared that he was an agnostic on the Colbert Report. Last week he pulled no punches: RCR: Do you believe in God? GW: No. I’m an atheist. An agnostic is someone who is not sure; I’m pretty sure. I see no evidence of God. The basic question in life is […]
Conservatives respect atheists less
This clip by S. E. Cupp is making the rounds. I often find Cupp to be glib, so it’s no surprise that I disagree with many of the details of what she is saying. In particular it struck me as strange to listen to her talk about how conservatives respect atheists. Atheists are held in […]
Conservatives respect atheists less
This clip by S. E. Cupp is making the rounds. I often find Cupp to be glib, so it’s no surprise that I disagree with many of the details of what she is saying. In particular it struck me as strange to listen to her talk about how conservatives respect atheists. Atheists are held in […]
The culture of science is the culture of the Left
Robert Tracinski, in What Atheists Have To Offer The Right‘s, kindly points to this website. He also goes on to assert: That leads me to what atheists have to offer to this agenda. One of the problems with citing a religious foundation for freedom and Americanism is that these arguments tend not to appeal to […]
What is Europe’s anti-Semitism problem about?
In Slate, Europe Has a Serious Anti-Semitism Problem, and It’s Not All About Israel: A recent Anti-Defamation League survey found that 24 percent of the French population and 21 percent of the German population harbor some anti-Semitic attitudes. A recent study of anti-Semitic letters received by Germany’s main Jewish organization found that 60 percent of the hate mail came from […]
Leftist blasphemies
Oberlin has had to walk back its policies about “trigger warnings.” An op-ed defending the old policy highlights what’s really going on here: Trigger warnings exist in order to warn readers about sensitive subjects, like sexual violence or war, that could be traumatic to individuals who have had past experiences related to such topics, not […]