Year: 2019

The “Reluctant Activist”: Being Outed as an Atheist in a Muslim-Majority Country

The “Reluctant Activist”: Being Outed as an Atheist in a Muslim-Majority Country

Published by Sam

Secular Rescue’s mission is predominantly rooted in protecting emboldened atheist activists whose lives have become the targets of extremists because of public or social-media based human rights advocacy. It is relatively easy to spot an activist from a sideliner: nearly all or a majority of activist writing focuses on the inhumanity of hateful intolerance against those who choose no religion over some faith. However, many of those who seek emergency assistance from the Center for Inquiry’s Secular Rescue program are deemed “reluctant activists”: those who do not intentionally engage in public advocacy for freedom of conscience or the freedom to not believe in God but nevertheless become de facto activists. Such is the case of Ali, a young Tunisian ex-Muslim who was outed in his community, in a public way, as an apostate from Islam. He didn’t deny it and continued to try to live a secular life but was persistently harassed and unable to find work—declined because of his atheism. Like most atheists in Muslim-majority countries, early threats came from family: he was threatened …

Sweden drops Assange rape investigation after 9 years

Sweden drops Assange rape investigation after 9 years

Published by skeptic

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden on Tuesday dropped its investigation into an alleged rape by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently in prison in Britain, because too much time has elapsed since the accusation was made over nine years ago. Assange, who is battling an extradition attempt by the U.S. so he can face spying charges related to his WikiLeaks work, has always denied the allegations made against him during a visit to Stockholm in August 2010. “Nine years have gone,” Swedish prosecutor Eve-Marie Persson said. “Time is a player in this. The oral evidence has weakened as time has passed.” Though the victim “submitted a credible and reliable version of events,” Persson said “the memory fades for natural reasons.” Still, Persson said her statements “have been coherent, extensive and detailed.” Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the lawyer for the rape victim — a Swedish woman who was never identified — told Swedish broadcaster SVT that “the plaintiff’s information is supported by heavy written evidence plus verbal evidence in the form of doctors who examined the plaintiff.” …

Pope urges bold action to protect the Amazon amid fires

Pope urges bold action to protect the Amazon amid fires

Published by skeptic

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis urged bishops on Sunday to boldly shake up the status quo as they chart ways to better care for the Amazon and its indigenous people amid threats from forest fires, development and what he called ideological “ashes of fear.” Francis opened a three-week meeting on preserving the rainforest and ministering to its native people as he fended off attacks from conservatives who are opposed to his ecological agenda. Francis celebrated an opening Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday with global attention newly focused on the forest fires that are devouring the Amazon, which scientists say is a crucial bulwark against global warming. On hand for the service were indigenous people from several tribes, some with their faces painted and wearing feathered headdresses, as well as more than 180 South American cardinals, bishops and priests, who donned green vestments like the pope. They traveled to Rome from the region for a special synod, or meeting, that has become one of the most controversial of Francis’ papacy. Among the most …

Brittany Howard: ‘I didn’t want to end up back in the trailer park’ | The Independent

Brittany Howard: ‘I didn’t want to end up back in the trailer park’ | The Independent

Published by Sam

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Brittany Howard spent her childhood in a junkyard. “We were broke,” the 30-year-old explains, sitting in a bar in north London. “So my sister taught me how to have fun without money, how to use my imagination, how to make music. We made a club house, which was a car stacked on top of a car, stacked on top of a car, stacked on top of a car that didn’t have doors. We were definitely at risk of it collapsing on our tiny children’s bodies.” A bespectacled former postal worker, Howard was last seen as the powerhouse frontwoman of the Grammy Award-winning Alabama Shakes, but now she’s releasing her debut solo album, Jaime, named after her sister. Jaime died at 13 of retinoblastoma, a rare of form of eye cancer, when Howard was eight, but Howard has never lost the sense of imagination her sister gave her. Musically, …

The best guitar tuners of 2023

The best guitar tuners of 2023

Published by skeptic

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › Of all the potential tools at a guitarist’s disposal, the guitar tuner is perhaps the most irreplaceable. No instrument stays in tune naturally; everything from changes in weather and humidity to the simple rigors of everyday use can alter a guitar’s tuning and prevent it from producing a musician’s intended harmony. The best guitar tuners are incredibly precise devices that “hear” or receive sound from an instrument via a pickup or microphone, compare it to the intended note, and guide users to make tuning adjustments via a display. Many feature jacks and switches for compatibility with electric instruments, while others utilize clip-on designs to pick up vibrations from acoustic instruments. Some unique designs of the guitar tuners even use motors and sensors to automate the process entirely. The best guitar tuners guarantee you’re pitch-perfect, even when playing in wild tunings. How we chose the best guitar tuners Guitar tuners come in many different forms, and each …

Genetic Engineering to Clash With Evolution

Genetic Engineering to Clash With Evolution

Published by José

In a crowded auditorium at New York’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in August, Philipp Messer, a population geneticist at Cornell University, took the stage to discuss a powerful and controversial new application for genetic engineering: gene drives. Gene drives can force a trait through a population, defying the usual rules of inheritance. A specific trait ordinarily has a 50-50 chance of being passed along to the next generation. A gene drive could push that rate to nearly 100 percent. The genetic dominance would then continue in all future generations. You want all the fruit flies in your lab to have light eyes? Engineer a drive for eye color, and soon enough, the fruit flies’ offspring will have light eyes, as will their offspring, and so on for all future generations. Gene drives may work in any species that reproduces sexually, and they have the potential to revolutionize disease control, agriculture, conservation and more. Scientists might be able to stop mosquitoes from spreading malaria, for example, or eradicate an invasive species. The technology represents the first …

Few See U.S. Health Care as ’Best in the World’

Few See U.S. Health Care as ’Best in the World’

Published by Sam

Most Americans rate the nation’s health care as no better than average when compared with health care in other industrialized countries. Just 15% say health care in this country is the “best in the world,” while 23% rate it as “above average”; about six-in-ten (59%) view U.S. health care as either “average” (32%) or “below average” (27%). The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press’ May 2009 study found that health care receives relatively poor ratings compared with other major U.S. institutions and systems. About eight in-ten (82%) say either that the U.S. military is the best in the world (42%) or that it is above average (39%). Majorities also rate the nation’s scientific achievements (65%) and standard of living (63%) as either the best in the world or above average, while half (50%) say this about the U.S. political system. The economy is the only item on the survey that receives a rating lower than health care. Only about a third (34%) say the U.S. economy rates as the best in the …

Health Care: Important, Interesting, But Hard to Follow

Health Care: Important, Interesting, But Hard to Follow

Published by Sam

Summary of Findings The debate over revamping the nation’s health care system is drawing increased public attention. A third (33%) say they are following the health care debate very closely, up from 24% the previous week. And while news coverage of health care also increased over the past week, a sizable minority of Americans (45%) say the issue is receiving too little coverage. Nearly all Americans (95%) view the issue of health care reform as important. Substantial majorities also say this issue affects them personally (78%) and is interesting (72%). Yet health care reform also is an issue that most Americans find difficult to understand: 63% say it is hard to understand, while just 34% say it is easy to understand. The latest weekly News Interest Index, conducted July 17-20 among 1,002 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, finds that the debate over health care and news about the economy are the week’s top stories in terms of public interest; 22% each said they followed these stories more closely …

Sign up for the Feast newsletter: our free Guardian food email

Sign up for the Feast newsletter: our free Guardian food email

Published by skeptic

A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Ravinder Bhogal, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner. Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email. Continue reading… Source link

From Sudan to Kenya: A Secular Rescue Success Story

From Sudan to Kenya: A Secular Rescue Success Story

Published by Sam

Secular Rescue is a program of the Center for Inquiry that identifies those writers, activists, and everyday citizens in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Iraq who live under the threat of violence and death and provides financial and diplomatic assistance to help them escape to safety. The Center for Inquiry’s international work for free expression and the rights of the nonreligious comes in many forms and takes place in different arenas, but they are not mutually exclusive. Here’s an example of what happens when different programs support the other and become better in the process. For International Blasphemy Rights Day last year, CFI published a short piece by Sudanese writer Mohamed Salih Aldsogi, “On Apostasy And Blasphemy In Sudan,” in which he explained the relatively recent history of the country’s blasphemy laws. “This oppressive state of affairs that robs citizens of their basic freedoms of thought and expression has to end,” he wrote, concluding, “Sudanese secular humanists have a major role to play in making such a future possible.” It’s no surprise, then, that …