Trigg's THEOS report - a silent downgrading of religious rights in Britain

Prof Roger Trigg and I had a debate about whether Britain is too secular now last Easter at the Ox Lit Festival (a CFI event). Trigg has since produced a report for the think tank THEOS that takes much the same line as he took in the debate and his earlier book. He says there has been a silent downgrading of religious rights in Britain. His conclusion is religious beliefs are special and do deserve special privileges and protections - which are currently being eroded with potentially dangerous consequences. Go here.

Several of Trigg's arguments are explicitly discussed in an early draft of the secularism chapter of my forthcoming Very Short Introduction to Humanism (OUP 2010) available here.

Edinburgh Festival - Children's event

Really, Really Big Questions at the EDINBURGH FESTIVAL 2010.

Really Big Questions with Stephen Law
1:00pm on Sunday, 29th August 2010 | RBS Corner Theatre | RBS Children's Programme (age 8-12). Tickets available nearer the date.

The mystery move - examples please

I am looking for examples of how people attempt to protect their belief system - immunize it against rational criticism - by appealing to mystery.

Religious examples are good (do provide them), but I also want non-religious examples, e.g. people dealing with apparent scientific refutations of the claims of crystal healers, etc. by suggesting that science is limited in its scope and we must acknowledge "there are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio", etc.

If the examples can be accessed on the internet, that helps. It's for forthcoming book. I imagine there are skeptical websites that have many examples but I am struggling a bit to find them...

Simon Singh interview and news

Singh interview here. Jack of Kent is one of best places to go for the latest news on the ongoing legal case.

Labour's election strategy: bring on no-nonsense hard man Gordon Brown

I have already bought my "Step Outside Posh Boy" t-shirt. Go here for the new strategy. I seem to be one of the few people in the UK that are actually rather fond of Gordon Brown.

"230 volts" "AAAARGH!"

There is an interesting article about the Milgram experiment here.

And here's a video:
The Milgram Experiment

James | MySpace Video

Moral Philosophy links

Very useful set on links on moral philosophy here if you are interested. At Baalbek.org.