Secular is one of those words that theocratic propagandists have shifted the Overton Window on, to make it seem like secular is the opposite of pluralist when in fact it is only a secular stance that makes pluralism possible. Post-secular? Hm.
religion
Friday Hoyden: Héloïse d’Argenteuil
The second in my set of Three Wise H’s. Poor, tragic Heloise was one of the great minds of the twelfth century. Eventually Abbess of the Oratory of the Paraclete, she was not a nun by vocation, but through the medieval systems of sexual repression and ultra-strict gender role enforcement, along with a good sized dollop of bad luck.
Quick, Late Friday-Now-Saturday Hoyden courtesy of my crashing internet connection: Saint Lucy
Saint Lucy’s Day is celebrated throughout Scandinavia, particularly in Sweden, and is a very special marker in the lead-up to Christmas. It is traditionally celebrated by the young girls of the town walking in procession wearing white dresses with red sashes and carrying lighted candles. The eldest wears a crown of candles to represent the saint herself.
Quick Hit – The Modesty Experiment
Does setting out to dress modestly for nine months give you any special insights into someone else’s culture?
Savita Halappanavar dead when an abortion could have saved her
She was miscarrying at 17 weeks gestation, there was no way to save the dying foetus, but it still had a heartbeat, so the Catholic doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy, allowing septicaemia to develop and eventually kill her.
DCI Peter Fox calls for Royal Commission into paedophilia within the Catholic Church
For people to sit back and say it’s not going on, they’ve got their head in the sand. The greatest frustration is that there is so much power and organisation behind the scenes that police don’t have the powers to be able to go in and seize documents and have them disclose things to us.
International Day of the Girl
I missed posting this yesterday, but I want to raise my bloggy hand to join the call for protecting the right of girls around the world to education. I want to honour Malala Yousufzai and her two schoolmates who were also shot while trying to shield her from assassins.
A picture paints a thousand words
Who decides what 1000 words are told by a picture?
Deveny! Deveny! Deveny!
According to the angriest keyboard pounders in the Twitterverse, Catherine Deveny rudely interrupted & talked loudly over the top of everybody else on Q&A on Monday night, and was especially disrespectful to the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen. What a frightfully boorish display that would be if it were true.
Update on the Skeptic/Atheist Anti-Feminism Wars
Greta Christina’s latest post sums up the last few months pretty well.
Hoyden About Town 