Archive for the tag "Religion"

My TED favourite: the morality of science (24/03/10)

I was lucky enough to go to the TED conference in California last month. Many of the better talks are already on line. My own favourite was Sam Harris on the subject of science and morality. I may have liked it because it was squeezed in that stomach-churning moment between my breakfast with local cops […]

In the company of bigots: US opposes gay rights at UN (19/12/08)

The death rattle of the Bush administration puts it, once again, in the company of great defenders of human rights such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia. This time, it breathes its sickness on gays. The US is one of nearly 60 countries which stamped its feet in opposition to France’s declaration (made in the […]

Halleluliah! (not). Faith healing could spread HIV (02/10/08)

Christian fundamentalism and HIV seem both to be on the upswing in Uganda. I’ve remarked before that enthusiastic support for abstinence-only programmes has undermined previously successful HIV prevention efforts in the country. But now it seems over-zealous preachers are threatening the success of treatment efforts, too. Robert Ochai, director of the trailblazing AIDS support organisation […]

Morality and science: are they incompatible? (15/03/08)

Ok, we’re all Spitzered out. I had many reactions to a piece I wrote about the affair(s). Some were baffling — apparently I am anti-Semitic for implying that a man who breaks the very laws he makes might be one sandwich short of a picnic, for instance. Which at least alerted me to the fact […]

God give us strength (or money) (18/01/08)

This week, over 15,000 people converged on the Thai capital Bangkok to chit chat about religion’s role in helping people with HIV, Thailand’s Nation newspaper reports. The paper quotes Asian Interfaith Network on HIV/AIDS chairperson Pramaha Boonchuay Doojai as saying that “People with HIV can spend their life in communities peacefully if religious organisation help […]

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