1. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls

Comment #232851 by LaurieB on August 18, 2008 at 6:05 pm

Allan W

Although not a guy, I certainly know who Frank Zappa is. I saw him in concert in Portland, Maine in the late seventies. Had all his albums, etc. Dammit, where did I put those zircon encrusted tweezers?

2. Richard Dawkins Lecture at UC Berkeley

Comment #231404 by LaurieB on August 16, 2008 at 9:06 am

AfraidToDie,

Yes, I've been lucky to have done a fair amount of traveling and I can say that Machu Pichu is one of the places I could easily go back to year after year and never be bored. It has a surreal beauty and must have been a very effective location for the Inca ceremonies. I would really love to be there on the summer solstice. Good location for an atheist meetup, That's my kind of "pilgrimage".

3. Richard Dawkins Lecture at UC Berkeley

Comment #231326 by LaurieB on August 16, 2008 at 6:05 am

Richard,

Please come to Boston ...

4. God's Warriors

Comment #230262 by LaurieB on August 14, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Fanusi, thanks. I'd send the link to the story but I'm too techno-challenged.

5. God's Warriors

Comment #230245 by LaurieB on August 14, 2008 at 1:19 pm

Fanusi, Sorry to get off subject here, but while I have you here, could you get me the reference regarding the stoning of adulterers? Here in the Boston,US area we had a court case yesterday of a muslim guy charged with threatening to kill his wife because she was leaving him for someone else. He got the attention of the local press because he claimed that his religion told him he has the right to do that. Care to comment?

6. God's Warriors

Comment #230220 by LaurieB on August 14, 2008 at 12:47 pm

I caught God's Muslim Warriors. I missed the other two shows. The one I saw was really very good. I hope they can be seen by the international community soon.

7. Faith is not the answer

Comment #221852 by LaurieB on July 30, 2008 at 8:01 am

The Third Man,

When relationships end the children suffer. So do plenty of other people. About ten years ago a young friend of mine asked me if I thought that humans were naturally monogamous or not. The question jolted me because I wanted to say yes but my observations told me to say no. A lifetime monogamous relationship paints a very pretty picture but what I really want to know is..what is the truth. Whether that truth is optimistic or pessimistic is irrelevant. What if breakdown of relationships IS natural ?

8. Fury at funeral songs ban

Comment #211233 by LaurieB on July 15, 2008 at 4:19 pm

I have kept my issue of Free Inquiry Magazine that has the cover title, "Dealing with Dying". October/November 2007. Vol 27 No. 6. It has wonderful ideas for a secular funeral including some nice readings and advice on how to not let religious people hi-jack a secular person's funeral, etc. A very useful issue indeed.

9. Fire the starting gun! The Darwin year begins...NOW!

Comment #202867 by LaurieB on July 2, 2008 at 4:55 am

Auraboy

Wasn't that the most depressing thing? Expansion of faith based programs ! I thought we would be done with all of that nonsense when we rid ourselves of Bush. What a disappointment. There is a video clip linked on some other thread here that really got my hopes up about Obama separating religion from government.

All this and I haven't even had my coffee yet.

10. Saudi Marriage Officiant : 'It Is Allowed To Marry A Girl At The Age Of One'.

Comment #199208 by LaurieB on June 25, 2008 at 10:22 am

Advocatus, well put.

Al, What a relief. It seems that I may not be as bad off as you claim! What we have here is a spelling discrepancy. The correct spelling of that word is in Arabic script, of course. When we must try to express that word using our alphabet then we have difficulty finding a letter that accurately corresponds to certain Arabic language phonemes that we do not use. We choose the closest one we can find. Choice of which letter most acurately corresponds with a phoneme will of course be influenced by the translators native language. Anglophones make different choices of letters than Francophones, etc. I propose to you that Moslem and Muslim are the same word and a quick investigation of nearby Moslems/Muslims drew blank stares when I asked them if they were insulted by this label.

If this post comes up twice please overlook it. I thought I submitted it but where it went is a mystery to me! techno-challenged.

11. Saudi Marriage Officiant : 'It Is Allowed To Marry A Girl At The Age Of One'.

Comment #199168 by LaurieB on June 25, 2008 at 9:04 am

Al,
No. I do not use the term "negro". I promise that I make every effort to remain current on the appropriate popular terminology of the times. Have I been remiss? Please correct me on this promptly.

"Anyone can get a 401K plan so long as their employer offers it"

Exactly. You are correct. As you know, not all jobs offer these benefits in the U.S.

Do all Americans, male or female, have equal access to the jobs that offer these benefits? Are there no other factors involved here?

12. Saudi Marriage Officiant : 'It Is Allowed To Marry A Girl At The Age Of One'.

Comment #199137 by LaurieB on June 25, 2008 at 8:20 am

On marriage:

- If the U.S. had universal healthcare

- If more young women had jobs and careers offering 401K and decent retirement prospects independent of their partners

-If childcare were more affordable and reliable

-If religious threats of eternal punishment were eliminated

Why in the world would any female sign a document that would legally bind them to an archaeic institution such as marriage?

How many women are trapped in a loveless marriage because one ormore of the items above are lacking? Alot!

Fanusi - What I wish for al children is to have 2 loving, psychologically well adjusted parents who are devoted to the best interests of their children. A signiture on a legal document is irrelevant.

On moslem women:

I speak as an outsider on the inside. I'm an American woman who by marriage to a moslem has become part of that world for 28 years. I lived in North Africa for 3 years. I certainly share the frustration expressed by everyone here. As affectionate as I feel toward the moslem women that I encounter, I have been consistently disappointed over all these years in any effort to participate in meaningful dialog regarding feminist issues of our day due to accusations against me of cultural imperialism that could be summed up as, "you American women keep your noses out of our religion and culture since yours is messed up worse than ours."

It is very difficult to know how hard I should push them on these matters.

My strategy at this point is to:

-speak bluntly with moslem women about what is right and wrong in all cultures irregardless of culture and religion.

-use my increasing status in my in-law family to promote better condition for those women. (status in Arabic families id directly dependent on certain factors such as age, income, education, proffesion, production of sons, death of mother-in-law, etc.)

-remind myself that social change doesn't happen overnight. Laws must change and be created to back up the progress. On the other hand, nothing infuriates me like an arab/moslem male saying,"Our women are just not ready for change yet. It's not the right time."

I have found encouragement lately in the increasing public presence of the moslem women who have the great courage to speak out against the wrongs of their societies. They are heroic. But the general population of moslem women seems to me:

-oblivious to the basic issues we are discussing here

and

-surrounded by high walls of social and religious restriction (metaphorically and literally) rendering them helpless.

It's all well and good for us to exert pressure from the outside;I do just that, but from my observations here in the U.S., doesn't the greatest thrust for social change need to come from the inside the opressed group itself?

13. On this Day: Galileo Sentenced for Believing Sun Is Center of Universe

Comment #198167 by LaurieB on June 23, 2008 at 9:54 am

A couple weeks ago while visiting Florence Italy I stopped by the Santa Croce church to see Galileo's tomb. It's just across the nave of the chuch from Michelangelo's tomb. Both tombs are excessively embellished and ostentatious. With all the problems that Galileo had with the church at that time, how did this come about? There must have been a reconciliation at some point. Irregardless, It was a moment of mixed emotions. That's my kind of "pilgrimage".

14. Blogger spreads the gospel of science

Comment #189349 by LaurieB on June 6, 2008 at 5:13 am

Sorry to be off topic, but not sure how else to approach this.. I recieved a survey request on my e-mail this morning from Center for Inquiry. Grand Valley State U. is also involved in the survey. Did anyone else get this? Is this legit?

More to the topic, I live in Reading,MA. I'm pretty sure there is a Reading, England too.

15. That's it. Texas really is doomed.

Comment #185275 by LaurieB on May 27, 2008 at 10:48 am

Discipline,

Although Fighting Falcon claims in comment 44 that in the North East, "religion is the exception rather than the rule, up there" I can tell you that as a life-long Massachusetts resident, I don't see any decline in religion here. Boston Catholics have suffered over the clergy abuse scandal but did it shake their faith in God? The Moslems have just finished building a huge, expensive new mosque in Boston. They're going strong. The various types of Protestants in this region may take a more subtle approach than the ones in the south, so I hear, but they haven't given any ground, so to speak and they've enjoyed a strong, steady influence in this region since they got off the boat here 388 years ago. Sad to say, I have yet to meet even 1 self declared atheist in the flesh.

16. That's it. Texas really is doomed.

Comment #184968 by LaurieB on May 26, 2008 at 3:08 pm

Fighting Falcon,

According to Wikipedia, Texas is the 2nd largest State in both area and population. With 23.9 million people under an educational curriculum such as is described above, I don't consider this to be insignificant. Add on to that any other states with similar policies and, well, you get the picture.

As for the fundies and conservative Republicans that have had an 8 year hey-day in this country deciding to wither and retreat, I see no evidence of this. They are firmly entrenched and pushing back hard against the secularists every day. The articles posted on this website are evidence enough of that. If you're counting on the Democrats to crush them, don't hold your breath waiting. They've put on a poor show of it so far.

Sorry phil rimmer, I disagree on FF on this one. Sad to say.

17. Animal Science Without Evolution

Comment #184749 by LaurieB on May 26, 2008 at 5:30 am

King of NH
and
Diacanu :

As self-appointed representative of Massachusetts on this site, I have a better idea. Maine and NH BOTH can secede, leaving Massachusetts, Conn. and R.Island. (not sure if we should keep R.I.) What is your advice

18. Malaysia woman scores rare legal win to quit Islam

Comment #181276 by LaurieB on May 16, 2008 at 8:29 pm

minhuna,

You are correct in that a moslem man can marry a nonmoslem woman. I am told (by moslems) that she must be "of the book" meaning that she must be either Jewish or Christian.

I have read the Koran, but that was at least 25 years ago and I read it in English translation. I'd be hard pressed to call up any useful quotes at this point. In the Islamic world, the religion of a child is that of his Father, therefore, if the Mother is a Jew or Christian there would be no challenge to the family religion. A Hindu or Buddist woman would not be acceptable because they are not considered to be "of the book". I was brought up in the Methodist church and my Husband is Arab/Moslem. In 28 years my Moslem in-laws have never asked me directly to convert, except for one of his particularly fundamentalist cousins who gave me a bit of a hard sell. Only expressions about how sad they were that I would not be going to heaven someday (moslem heaven) where we could all be together and happy. I explained that unfortunately, I would never be able to withstand the rigors of Ramadan, or the Haj. We all agreed that this was completely hopeless. Oh well...

19. Malaysia woman scores rare legal win to quit Islam

Comment #181218 by LaurieB on May 16, 2008 at 4:33 pm

liberalartist

I read "Freethinkers:A History of American Secularism" by Susan Jacoby when it was published in 2004. It was the first book I had ever read on this subject and it lead me to this website and the books by Harris, Hitchens, etc. After all these years of existing in the closet, when I finished with that book all I could think was, "Wow! I'm not alone".