by Heather Hastie | Oct 30, 2014 | Atheism, Religion, Terrorism
One of the journalists I most admire is Christiane Amanpour. I never miss her show Amanpour on CNN International if I can help it. On 21 October though she disappointed me – she fell into the trap many liberal Americans do (and New Zealanders too, as I’ve...
by Heather Hastie | Oct 25, 2014 | US Politics, Women
Anyone speaking English (or American!) on Twitter will have seen tweets, especially around election time, of the US Democratic Party accusing the US Republican Party of waging a War on Women. The phrase is so common it’s become capitalized. So is it a fair accusation?...
by Heather Hastie | Oct 24, 2014 | Health, Human Rights, Middle East, Religion
Orla Guerin of the BBC, a reporter I admire greatly, today presented this report about FGM in Egypt. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to embed it into this article, but I urge you to go to the link and watch it. It’s only 2:49 long. In the...
by Heather Hastie | Oct 21, 2014 | International Politics, Middle East, NZ Politics, Religion, Terrorism
Islamophobia-phobia is the fear of appearing to be Islamophobic. I have to give credit to author and television personality Greg Gutfeld (Fox News’s The Five, Red Eye) for the term. The Five is a guilty pleasure of mine, and it was while watching this show that I...
by Heather Hastie | Oct 16, 2014 | Atheism, Religion
In his self-appointed role as an apologist for Islam, Reza Aslan is determined to prove that the religion is a wholly benign influence. His position is that Islam itself should not be blamed for the negative attitudes and behaviours of its adherents. This is an...