Reading Time: 3 minutes Close on the heels of Hurricane Fiona, which struck Canada’s east coast this past weekend after tearing through Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Hurricane Ian is slated to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday. As of today, the major Category 3 hurricane has touched down in Cuba, where it sustained top winds of 125 […]
Pakistan
Posted inClimate Crisis
Pakistan flooding isn’t just a natural calamity: It’s also our failure to adapt
Reading Time: 2 minutes This weekend, Pakistan flooding caused skyrocketing death and displacement tolls, where rains 190 percent higher than a 30-year average have yielded catastrophic flooding, and a national emergency in need of immediate international redress. To date, over 1,000 people have been killed, including hundreds of children, since flooding began in mid-June. On Sunday, the National Disaster […]
Posted inNews
Op-ed: Good for the match trade
Reading Time: 4 minutes A NEWS outlet in Pakistan reports another one of those routine torture-murders of women that go with living in a brutal misogynist theocracy: One Shahabuddin along with his sister Seemab and niece Mahnoor allegedly set his wife Muneeba on fire in Akbarpura’s Khandar village, Nowshera on April 24. Muneeba was rushed to the burn ward […]
Posted inThe Secular
Humanist murder in Pakistan is the latest horror in anti-blasphemy crackdown
Reading Time: 3 minutes This has come from the International Humanist and Ethical Union: A student who referred to himself as “The Humanist” on social media has been murdered today by dozens of fellow students, after a “blasphemy” accusation. Mashal Khan was a student at Abdul Wali Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, studying under the Journalism and […]
Posted inReligion
That False Promise of Security in a Broken System.
Reading Time: 8 minutes People in thrall to a broken system often believe that if they follow the system’s rules, they’ll be safe from victimization. You’ve likely heard the rationalizations: if you don’t want trouble, then simply show respect to those in authority. Don’t cause waves and you won’t go aground on rocks. Those people who were hurt must have done something wrong, but if you don’t do anything wrong then you’re safe.
Posted inPolitics, The Secular
Islamists call for Sharia law in Pakistan after Salman Taseer blasphemy row
Reading Time: < 1 minute Oh dear. You would think that the bombing in Pakistan my lead to a public outrage against hardline Islamic stances. Not so, as the Independent reports: Thousands of protesters have clashed with police in Islamabad in the second day of protests over blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Demonstrators gathered outside Parliament and other key buildings to demanding authorities implement Sharia, […]
Posted inThe Secular
Pakistani couple get death sentences for blasphemy
Reading Time: 2 minutes Being a Christian, or any non-Muslim, in Pakistan is hard. Blasphemy laws restrict any kind of free speech and freethought. Here, the BBC reports on yet another case of backwards thinking. It makes me so sad.
Posted inGeneral
The Petty Vindictiveness of Blasphemy Laws
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Times of India reports that an 11-year-old girl, Rimsha Masih, has been arrested for blasphemy, for alleged Koran desecration in Pakistan. In case you were one of the last people on Earth who was under the illusion that these blasphemy laws were somehow about protecting religious feelings or preventing religiously inspired violence, this should […]