Author: Doug

Founder, editor and host of Secular Left - please be gentle

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August 2, 2006
August 1, 2006

I received an e-mail from Robert Meyer, who writes editorials on the RenewAmerica website. I have responded to a couple of his previous articles. One was concerning elected officials praying for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the other was his article about the “war on Christmas”. Earlier on Monday, I got a Google alert on “secular left” and found an article by Meyer, offering his views on this blog and my POV.

I think it is appropriate to give a review on his review

July 31, 2006
July 29, 2006

As happens in emotionally charged debates, one side or the other makes knee-jerk reactions of a slippery slope. They claim that if X is done then all instances of X would have to be done the same way. A majority of the time such claims are wrong.

The Media Matters website pointed out that on the July 25th edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly falsely claimed that the Red Cross “historically … adopted” its emblem “because of the Christian philosophy of giving alms and giving assistance to people in need.”

July 27, 2006

As we see Middle East strife heat up, with a historical link to religious differences, and the Prophet Mohamed cartoon riots still fresh in our collective memory, there has been a recent attempt by some Islamic countries to censor any religious criticism. Humanist Network News reported on July 12 that at the June 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, delegates from Bangladesh, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates called for limits on freedom of speech regarding religion.

July 23, 2006