Sawsan Salim was being harassed by local officials, so she went to the government offices in Rass to complain. As a result, she was sentenced to 300 lashes and 18 months in jail for the “crime” of visiting government offices without a male relative. In a comically obvious failure of the Saudi...

As a one-time resident of the Netherlands, a headline like “Freedom of Speech Under Attack in The Netherlands” feels quite odd to me. The people of the Netherlands, the Dutch, are a fantastic study in human decency. In all of my travels, I have never encountered a nation of people more...

The Indonesian web site World’s Prophecy recently published the news of churches being bombed in Malaysia for using the word “Allah”.  When they originally published the story, three churches had been attacked — the count is now up at least eight. “Allah” is the only word...

Tyranny flourishes when information is controlled.  This is why our founding fathers had the wisdom to refuse to adopt the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was part of it — and why the first of those rights was the freedom of speech. The majority of people on this planet do not possess that...

I don’t normally write about Scientology.  My general feeling is that people who are weak and stupid enough to get involved with Scientology get what they deserve and deserve what they get. Reading an interview with Marc Headley at Wikinews reminded me of one important exception to that rule....

My left-leaning acquaintances consistently attempt to convince me that all religions are equally good and equally bad.  This is one instance of the doctrine of “moral equivalence.” The trouble is, moral equivalence just isn’t true.  If you and I were to meet on the street, I could...

As I am a devout Atheist myself, this post should more rightly be titled “My fellow Atheists, grow up!” The angry folks from the Freedom From Religion Foundation are suing President Bush and Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin in response to a federal law designating a National Day of Prayer. Their...