Recent Blog Posts
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Will you quit making it about freedom of speech?
No, I won’t. Not when people in positions of power to do so, such as Senators Harry Reid and Lindsey Graham, suggest that perhaps they ought to take some sort of action against people like Terry Jones and his congregation for their blasphemy: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says congressional lawmakers are discussing taking some…
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Afghans attack U.N. building, murder workers and each other after Qur’an burning
Cross-posted from State of Formation. Remember Terry Jones? Not the guy from Monty Python, but the Florida pastor who threatened to burn copies of the Qur’an last August in response to the building of the Cordoba House Islamic cultural center a few blocks away from where the World Trade Center used to stand? And the president actually…
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Quote of the day
From a day long past: “It was at the period of my mental progress which I have now reached that I formed the friendship which has been the honour and chief blessing of my existence, as well as the source of a great part of all that I have attempted to do, or hope to…
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A refusal to muddy the water
PZ Myers has a more visceral response to the rioting in Afghanistan, entitled “Shades of gray.” I won’t quote it, because it really should be read in full. What I appreciate most is that he identifies motivations such as honor and vengeance that obscure the fact that humans are murdering other humans in cold blood.…
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The devil in Mr. Jones
I’m not sure it’s actually worthwhile to delve too deeply into the mind of Terry Jones. He’s far from the only Islamophobe in America, and his reasoning behind the Qur’an burning wouldn’t matter too much even if it were abundantly clear– which it isn’t. A valid argument can be made that paying any more attention…
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Update
The rioting continues in Afghanistan. The estimated toll is now 20 dead and more than 80 injured. Two suicide attackers disguised as women blew themselves up and a third was gunned down Saturday when they used force to try to enter a NATO base on the outskirts of Kabul, NATO and Afghan police said. Earlier…