Tag Archives: Feminism

News

No charges planned for accuser in Hofstra rape hoax

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Story from the New York Times. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) — A prosecutor has decided not to file criminal charges against a Hofstra University freshman who falsely said that she was gang-raped in a dormitory bathroom.

The prosecutor, District Attorney Kathleen Rice of Nassau County, said on Friday that the freshman, Danmel Ndonye, 18, must undergo mental health treatment and community service in exchange for not being prosecuted.

Ms. Ndonye, previously described by the prosecutor as ”a deeply troubled woman,” had claimed she was attacked after a dance party at a Long Island nightclub. Four men were arrested and a fifth was being sought when she recanted the story three days after making the charges.

The turning point in the case came when the woman was confronted with a videotape of the encounter, which indicated the sex had been consensual.

The four men in custody were released two hours after the woman changed her story.

More commentary here and here.

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News

Mothers more likely to engage in neglect, verbal abuse and physical abuse

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Story from the West Australian. (H/T Andrew)

Excerpt:

Mothers are more likely than fathers to neglect and emotionally and physically abuse their children, information obtained under freedom of information laws reveals.

But figures from the WA Department for Child Protection show substantiated cases of child sexual abuse against fathers still far outnumber those against mothers.

The data shows that parents were the perpetrators in almost 39 per cent of the 1505 substantiated cases of child abuse in 2007-08. Of the 582 cases of abuse by parents, mothers were responsible for 73 per cent, while fathers committed 27 per cent.

Mothers were more than 17 times more likely than fathers to neglect their children, while fathers were responsible for 85 per cent of sex abuse cases against children.

Mothers carried out almost 68 per cent of cases of emotional and psychological abuse committed by parents, about 53 per cent of physical abuse and more than 94 per cent of neglect cases.

I wonder if data like this might help advocates of shared parenting (joint custody)?

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Polemics

Religious pluralism and moral relativism are self-refuting

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Check out this post from Neil Simpson’s blog.

Neil writes:

Self-refuting: [Religious pluralists] claim that other paths to God are valid, but they specifically exclude Christians who think Jesus is the only way.  But if all these paths are valid, why isn’t orthodox Christianity?  And if orthodox Christianity is valid, then these other paths are not.  Also, the definitions of “God” in these religions are mutually exclusive.

Pluralists simply don’t understand or apply the logical law of non-contradiction: You can’t have a personal God (Christianity) and an impersonal God (Islam) at the same time, or be saved by faith in Christ alone (Christianity) and by good deeds (everybody else), die once and face judgment (Christianity and Islam) and be reincarnated (Hinduism), Jesus dies on a cross (Christianity) and Jesus does not die on a cross (Islam), etc.

In the same post, he also explains why religious pluralism actually an arrogant and hypocritical point of view, not a tolerant one!

Now, check out this post from Pugnacious Irishman.

Rich explains how to do defeat moral relativism without even saying a word. You better learn how to do it, because the majority of the people you meet today believe in moral relativism. Rich knows – he’s a school teacher and this is the ethical theory that all the young people subscribe to.

My thoughts

This sort of weak tolerance of all viewpoints and moralities doesn’t cut any ice with open-minded atheists and skeptics. They like to discuss arguments and evidence. The best atheists and agnostics are guided by reason and evidence, so they are not offended by your exclusive views. On the contrary: the fact that you hold to unpopular, divisive views appears to them as courageous and authentic. Remember, Anthony Flew was an atheist once. Sure, most atheists are guided by untested assumptions and selfishness, but some of them can be reasoned with.

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