Patriarchy Rising

Just as I’d been reflecting that my feminism had been in abeyance for several months, not gone so much as displaced by concerns about ecological degradation, peak oil, species extinction etc., along comes a major kick in the gut from the U.S. It has been a while since body politics and incursions into women’s reproductive rights have provoked a visceral reaction in me, but the news that Virginia is set to become the seventh state to require women to undergo ultrasounds prior to an abortion left me reeling. See Feminist Philosophers for some discussion and commentary.

Once again the Onion has a wonderful reductio ad absurdum of this, with the proposal that women be required to paint the nursery and name the baby before undergoing an abortion. Terrifyingly, as with many Onion stories, one can imagine it being true.

There's No Tomorrow (2012)

A majestic thirty four minute animated film from Incubate Pictures.  This is undoubtedly the most concise introduction to peak oil and the limits of growth I have ever come across.  Beautifully clear and terrifying. 

In Memoriam: John Hick (1922-2012)

Dr. Yujin Nagasawa of the University of Birmingham reports the death of Professor John Hick, who died peacefully yesterday.  An influential figure in analytic philosophy of religion and a nice, humble guy too.  I had the pleasure of seeing him speak a couple of times while I was an undergraduate at Lampeter in the 1990s.  Nagasawa reports:

John was Danforth Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Claremont Graduate University and H. G. Wood Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham. He delivered Gifford Lectures in 1986-7 and he was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for Religion in 1991. He was best known for his work on the problem of evil, religious pluralism, eschatology and Christology. He published numerous books including Faith and Knowledge, Evil and the God of Love, Death and the Eternal Life, An Interpretation of Religion, The Metaphor of God Incarnate and Between Faith and Doubt. John was also highly respected in Birmingham for his community service in the areas of civil rights and inter-faith/inter-race relations.