Category: News
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Conspiratorial nut-jobs, Nazis and extremists
Here’s a wonderful letter I received recently from a thoughtful ex-member of the far-Right British National Party. There is a lot we can learn from Alistair Barbour in challenging the far-Right. As I have said before, when the pathetic excuse of an ‘anti-fascist’ and Post-modernist Left allies itself with Islamic fascism, it leaves the space…
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We need more cartoons
Iranian cartoonist Mahmoud Shokrayeh has been sentenced to 25 lashes for ‘insulting’ a Member of the Islamic Assembly, Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani, by drawing him in a football kit. The cartoon is criticising the interference of politicians in sports. Another Iranian cartoonist, Mana Neyestani, condemned the sentence as “cruel and uncivilised” and called on others to publish more…
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Finally, they’re getting it
According to the National Secular Society’s Newsline: A British TV channel that broadcast a talk saying it is acceptable to murder someone who has shown disrespect to the prophet Muhammad is facing a heavy fine or potential closure by Ofcom. The regulator ruled that DM Digital is the first UK broadcaster to break the broadcasting code…
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Yes to profiling of Muslims?
The atheist author Sam Harris says: We should profile Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim, and we should be honest about it. And, again, I wouldn’t put someone who looks like me entirely outside the bull’s-eye… But there are people who do not stand a chance of being…
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Shahin Najafi’s death fatwa: They are at it again
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ayatollah Golpayegani has issued a death fatwa against 31 year old rap artist Shahin Najafi for apostasy. Shahin’s rap entitled Naqi is deemed to be ‘offensive’ to a Shia imam. The Fars press agency (which is a government mouthpiece) has announced the ‘establishment of a campaign to execute Shahin Najafi’…
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Often, the silence is deafening
I have just returned from the Center For Inquiry’s Rhine River cruise where Richard Dawkins, Ronald A Lindsay and I were speaking. I gave two talks – one on Sharia law, Islamophobia and Secularism and the other on Free Expression and Islam. Here’s my speech on Sharia law: My talk today is on Sharia law,…
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The only hatred is towards Alex Aan himself
Here is Rafiq Mahmood’s letter to the editor in response to a 3 May piece in the Guardian on Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan: I read Kate Hodal’s piece on Alexander Aan (Indonesia’s atheists face battle for religious freedom – 3 May) with great interest having recently visited Alex with his legal team. I was more…
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May 2012: Nudity is such a natural thing
May 2012 is here. The photo for the Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar is that of Sonya JF Barnett who also designed the calendar. She joined the ‘Scream’ and Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar because: I felt that women needed to stand in solidarity with Aliaa. It takes a lot of guts to do what she did,…
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I’m off for a week
As I mentioned before, I will be away 28 April – 6 May 2012 during which time I’ll be joining the Centre for Inquiry’s River Cruise to speak about Sharia law and Secularism as well as Free Expression and Islam. Other speakers will be Richard Dawkins and Ronald Lindsay. Here’s more details. I will have…
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Forgetting: 1 May, a day like any other?
In his Book of Embraces, Eduardo Galeano says: Chicago is full of factories. There are even factories right in the center of the city, around the world’s tallest building. Chicago is full of factories. Chicago is full of workers. Arriving in the Haymarket district, I ask my friends to show me the place where the…
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Unimaginable crime of principle
Do you remember the ten cases I highlighted to mark the 14 March International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates? One of them was that of the famous Egyptian comedian, Adel Imam. Well a court has upheld his conviction for ‘offending Islam’. There’s much that I can say about this but I’ll let author Alaa…