Evolution Desecration, blasphemy in public, and manners 12 Jul 2008 When does a person’s religious beliefs constrain someone who is not religious? What sorts of redress can a religious person expect in a secular society? These questions arise from the recent to-do about PZ Myers defense of the stealing of a communion wafer from a Catholic church. As a result,… Read More
Education What is “secular”? 13 May 200918 Sep 2017 In keeping with the last post on humanities, I thought I’d ruminate with no effort or knowledge to back it up on what the term “secular” means. If the fundamentalists are to be believed, it is a synonym of “humanist” and also “Satanist”, “infidel” and “homosexual”. But somewhat more seriously,… Read More
Censorship ISP filtering for Americans too? 8 Dec 2008 So it looks like Australia won’t be the sole idiot child of the Internet. FCC chair Kevin Martin wants… you guessed… an “opt out” smut filter at the ISP. In your face American First Amendment! All you smug Mericans, wipe of that goofy smile, now, OK? Read More
What’s depressing is that under the spick and span Rudd government, exactly the same kind of farce can easily recur. They haven’t done a thing to restore the civil rights trampled on by the unlamented Howard.