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Secularism? Separation of church and state? Government should neither help nor hinder any particular religion? Pluralism? Some of us are not Christians? The president is supposed to be the president of all the people? Hello? Oh fuck off, comes the reply. Obama hosted his third annual Easter prayer breakfast at the White House on Wednesday, [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Secularism’
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We mandate no belief
February 28th, 2012 
Ophelia Benson Behold – what Ronald Reagan was able to say in 1984. We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson [of the Holocaust], for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish [...]
Beware the frumious bandersnatch
February 18th, 2012 Ophelia Benson Polly Toynbee thinks secularism is not such a terrible idea. She’s not completely persuaded by claims that secularism is ruining all the things. …the faiths are glad to circle their wagons round [the queen] against the unbelievers. Each has their own divinely revealed unique truth, often provoking mortal conflict, Muslim v Copt, Catholic v Protestant, Hindu v [...]
Last night in Cranston
February 17th, 2012 Ophelia Benson My brother was at the Cranston school board meeting last night. He told me he thought the day was really won by a great Irish guy named Dan McCarthy who got up early in the comment session and said “I went to Catholic schools, where I said the rosary every day. I also said it at [...]
Next up for Cranston
February 17th, 2012 Ophelia Benson Steve Ahlquist – Jessica’s uncle – has a plan for what to do next, to benefit Cranston public schools, which he posted at the Facebook group Support the Removal of the Cranston High School West Prayer. Awhile back, the Cranston school committee cut funding for music at their schools, because of budgetary concerns. In response, a group [...]
“Secularism” in Turkey
October 6th, 2011 Ophelia Benson Burak Bekdil explains why Turkish secularism isn’t. A majority of Turks, Sunni Muslims, overtly or covertly believe that they should be “more equal” than the others because they constitute the majority. They think that it is their natural right to enjoy preferential treatment in terms of governance and law enforcement. Remember how the crowds in [...]
Far from being in thrall?
October 5th, 2011 Ophelia Benson Is secularism really winning in the US? The US is increasingly portrayed as a hotbed of religious fervour. Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless. Far from being in thrall [...]
The history of dissident thought
September 1st, 2011 Ophelia Benson It’s embarrassing and shocking that Michele Bachmann can be a serious candidate for president. The same goes for Rick Perry; the same goes for Mitt Romney; the same goes for Sarah Palin. Susan Jacoby thinks Americans’ ignorance of our history of secularism is part of the problem. I am less concerned about whether the American [...]
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