The IHEU is today releasing a report on discrimination against non-religious people, with examples drawn from all over the world. It makes for interesting reading, because in addition to all the cases that get widespread media attention, the problem of discrimination against the non-religious is perhaps a larger one than many people realise. The report… Continue reading IHEU report on social media and discrimination against the non-religious
Category: Politics
Comment to the Press Freedom Commission on regulating the print media
The Press Freedom Commission “released a call for the SA public to voice its opinion about press freedom and the regulation of print media”. What follows is a submission made by the FSI Chairman (not a consensus statement by the FSI generally). To whom it may concern, SUBMISSION WITH REGARD TO PRESS FREEDOM AND… Continue reading Comment to the Press Freedom Commission on regulating the print media
Stop Secrecy Week
Anyone in Cape Town and surrounding areas is encouraged to attend any of these events – but particularly the march on Saturday, in protest of the POI Bill. Students Against Secrecy, a coalition of student organizations have put together a week of action to raise awareness about and activism against the Protection of Information Bill.… Continue reading Stop Secrecy Week
Atheists and the politics of productive engagement
Prominent spokespersons for divisive views can make their arguments in more or less divisive ways. And while we shouldn’t confuse whatever offence is caused by antagonistic expressions of a viewpoint with the legitimacy of that viewpoint, we also shouldn’t ignore the fact that persuasion becomes more difficult when your audience is pissed off. Read more at Synapses.
Sam Harris, ‘new atheism’ and alleged Islamophobia
André Gide remarked that “everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again”. So it is with the recent article by Mandy de Waal, who took Sam Harris (and the ‘new atheists’ in general) to task for ‘hate speech’, ‘bigotry’ and encouraging so-called Islamophobia. It’s… Continue reading Sam Harris, ‘new atheism’ and alleged Islamophobia
Breivik, terror and Islamophibia
Of course it is unfortunate, and prejudiced, for many commentators to have assumed that Breivik was a Muslim – and for those who assumed this, the bias is clear in how they concocted quite torturous narratives to explain why a Muslim would target kids at a Labour Party camp. It made little sense that he… Continue reading Breivik, terror and Islamophibia
On Elevatorgate: Dawkins, Watson and the need for balance
The origins of what has now become a bitter war between various elements in the secular community lie partly in a failure to understand context, or to apply the principle of charity. Some posts on Elevatorgate make it appear that Watson accuses all men of being rapists, and others that Dawkins is a misogynist –… Continue reading On Elevatorgate: Dawkins, Watson and the need for balance
Bill of Responsibilities
Note: this is an edited version of a column for The Daily Maverick It has been a month since the department of education, LeadSA and the National Religious Leaders’ Forum launched their Bill of Responsibilities. Some criticisms of the bill were forthcoming from Ivo Vegter, Khadija Patel and myself (here, here and here). We had concerns… Continue reading Bill of Responsibilities
Leo Igwe arrested (again)
Despite the stated commitment of Awka Ibom State Governor Goodswill Akpabio to rooting out the exploitation of children for the Pentecostal witch industry, people like Leo – who are allies in that cause – are frequently arrested and subjected to other rights violations.
A response to Mngxitama
Gareth Cliff is perhaps smug, and he might even be a racist. But no evidence that I am aware of shows this to be the case. By contrast, we do now have clear evidence of the racist views held by Andile Mngxitama.