Welcome to Heather’s Homilies
Worry of the Week – 4 October 2015: Syria
In reality, Syria has been a worry for years. Bashar al-Assad took over the presidency, the role of commander-in-chief of the Syrian armed forces, and the leadership of the ruling Ba'ath party on his father's death in 2000. For several reasons, including his British...
Ben Carson and Right-Wing Hypocrisy on Religion
The Daily Beast published a story on 29 September called GOP’s 2016 Festival of Hate: It’s Already the Most Racist Presidential Campaign Ever by Dean Obeidallah. He says, "It appears that the GOP has traded in its dog whistle for a bullhorn when it comes to bigotry in...
Winner of the Week – 27 September 2015: Carly Fiorina
So far we've had two GOP primary debates, the first hosted by Fox News and the second by CNN. The outstanding performer in both was Carly Fiorina. Whatever you think of her positions on the issues, and I disagree with rather a lot of them, she has been clear,...
Worry of the Week – 27 September 2015: Women in Iran
For my Worry of the Week, I'd like to draw your attention to a film that was brought to my attention by Dermot C., a commenter on the Why Evolution is True website. It's called Women on the Front Line and was produced last year by Sheema Kalbasi, directed by Hossein...
Worry of the Week – 20 September 2015: Russians in Syria
Just when you thought things couldn't possibly get any worse in Syria, they have. Putin is going to speak at the United Nations in a few days, and political commentators such as the Guardian's Natalie Nougayrède are predicting that his speech will be a call for all...
Winner of the Week – 20 September 2015: Malcolm Turnbull
Australia has a new prime minister - the fifth in five years, and his name is Malcolm Turnbull. His predecessor, Tony Abbott had "led" Australia's Liberal Party to thirty consecutive losses in the polls since his election in 2013. Turnbull has previously put himself...
Is New Atheism a Cult?
Wikipedia says: New Atheism is a social and political movement that began in the early 2000s in favour of atheism and secularism promoted by a collection of modern atheist writers who have advocated the view that "religion should not simply be tolerated but should be...
Second Republican Debate: My Analysis
The Under-Card George Pataki, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, and Lindsay Graham faced off. As far as debates go, this was a pretty good one. They all got a chance to speak and make their positions clear. If George Pataki was trying to get make it out of the second...
Second GOP Presidential Debate Tomorrow
We haven't had a Democratic Party debate yet, but tomorrow sees the second Republican Party one. As in the first debate, the field has had to be split into two because there are so many contenders. One candidate, former governor of Texas Rick Perry, pulled out on...
Worry of the Week – 13 September: Al-Qaeda
My Winner of the Week this week was The Free World, an entity that is growing every day as freedom and democracy continue to spread. Long-term, as I said, I have no doubt that it is the values of secularism and humanism that will take hold. The behaviour of many...
Winner of the Week – 13 September 2015: The Free World
Regular readers will know I've been looking for a new name for my weekly Sunday posts. I've decided on "Winner of the Week" for Bouquet/Saint. And because he put in so many suggestions I had to choose one of Paxton Marshall's for Brickbat/Sinner, so I'm going with...
Is Yahweh Gay?
There are probably some people out there that think even asking whether God is gay is blasphemy, or at least disgraceful and insulting, so there are couple of things I unfortunately have to say before I even start. Firstly, being gay is normal; it is simply less...