Uganda's Child Sacrifices

... by Jourdemayne

On Thursday night, the BBC brought us news of witchcraft and child-sacrifice in Uganda via two media: Radio 4’s ‘Crossing Continents’ and BBC2’s ‘Newsnight’ (19 mins to 33 mins) both carried reports by Tim Whewell. In northern Uganda in the last year, police reckon there have been around two dozen ritual killings and 120 missing persons. People in the...

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Religion

God Squad

Tue, 02/23/2010 - 22:00

Evening all. Constable George Dixon with you again.

Last month I told you about the Home Office giving the Christian Police Association £10,000 to fight crime with the power of prayer.

This month, there's more on prayer and policework. Inspector Roger Bartlett of Devon and Cornwall police has said that he is 'convinced' faith has a positive effect on policing. And he has proof. Let's take a look at that while I have my tea break.

The Problem of Faith

Tue, 02/23/2010 - 11:52

The Gangs of New York. Oh, Bollocks No ... Er, Southall

Wed, 02/10/2010 - 01:54

I’ve returned from New York to the UK to find a strange echo of futurepast. As with so many religious issues, it seems we’re on a cyclical treadmill.

Retired Sikh judge, Sir Mota Singh, has criticised schools over their handling of the issue of the kirpan. This is a ceremonial dagger, one of the five requirements of the Sikh faith. Singh can’t see why Sikh children should be disallowed from wearing the kirpan in public spaces and points out, rightly, that we’re hardly on the crest of a wave of Sikh stabbings. If there is no violence, surely there is no issue?

Natural Law,

Sat, 02/06/2010 - 09:45

The Pope has said that UK equality law is against natural law.

In his speech confirming his visit here in September, he said: "Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society.

"Yet (...) the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.

"In some respects, it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed."

What to do if your date turns out to be the wrong gender

Mon, 02/01/2010 - 12:08

Over the weekend, I had planned to meet up with someone new to my neck of the woods. They had emailed me a few months ago via another blog of mine to ask if I’d have any time to show them around a bit, maybe introduce them to some people they could make friends with. They were fresh out of Eastern Europe, coming to the UK to be an au pair. Naturally, I obliged. I know loads of people, especially people for whom “Eastern European au pair” would seem quite an appealing sort of person to get to know – exotic, caring, probably really good looking to boot.

'Do You Believe in Dog' or 'Rabies, Scabies and Babies'

Sun, 01/24/2010 - 10:32

When I was about three years old, my mother was one day alarmed to see that our dog was foaming at the mouth. A prompt investigation revealed several pertinent facts:

* It wasn’t rabies

* I had been cleaning the dog’s teeth, which accounted for the foam

* The dog did have a toothbrush – it was ‘this one’

* ‘This one’ was also my Mum’s toothbrush

* I had been doing this regularly

I’d like to convey the fear and hysteria which surrounded that incident and the scars it left of my half-formed psyche – it would explain a lot of personality defects for which I don’t care to take responsibility.

MicroEvolution vs MacroEvolution

Thu, 01/21/2010 - 22:18

Has MacroEvolution really never been observed? Have scientists really never seen one "kind" evolve into another "kind"? Surely information can't ever been added to the genome by unintelligent processes.

cdk007's blog

Got a creationist in your face? There's an app for that!

Sat, 01/16/2010 - 07:10

The iTunes store has a new Creationist Claims Index app, which at 99 cents might just be the thing I should recommend to my students as I begin teaching Intro Bio (Bio 1B) next week. I just hope I don't have to keep turning to it myself too often. I also wonder if this might have helped last year when I had a creationist grad student in my very lab?! I do have and recommend the paperback version, but having it handy one a phone might have helped others in the lab who got into head-scratchingly odd conversations with that student.

A Long Hard Look at Promiscuity

Fri, 01/15/2010 - 01:38

Two articles were recently brought to my attention based on a recently published book, "Living Dolls" by Natasha Waltersregarding the rise of feminism and its relationship with apparently blossoming levels of promiscuity, particularly among the unwashed masses. In an odd but nonetheless interesting article by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, this licentiousness breeds extremism.