Freedom of speech and burning holy books

What is missing in the protests against Terry Jones’s plans to burn a Quran, as well as Mohammed Vawda’s plan to burn a Bible, is why anyone else should care about your beliefs, or desist from offending those beliefs. We can agree that doing so is rude, offensive, insensitive and all the rest, but these… Continue reading Freedom of speech and burning holy books

Threats to a free media

Free speech is not the only value that democratic societies subscribe to. Nor does, or should, our commitment to free speech always have to trump competing values such as national security or personal dignity. But the principle of free speech nevertheless stands in need of exceptional, and exceptionally strong, counterarguments in cases where we are… Continue reading Threats to a free media

FSI Conference 2010: Programme

The 2nd annual conference and AGM of the Free Society Institute Co-hosted by the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Registrations are unfortunately closed at this time. Date: September 11th, 2010, 09h30 to 17h00 Venue: The Cape Milner Hotel, 2 Milner Road, Tamboerskloof (click “continue reading” for directions) Cost: R0 Good without god: is a secular viewpoint our… Continue reading FSI Conference 2010: Programme

The defense of reason

Amongst the things we probably know is that (to quote Hitchens again) “the defense of science and reason is the great imperative of our time”. And the enemies of science and reason are not always somewhere else – they are sometimes next door to you, or even sharing your bed.