Does his “I am a lamp” dance for emphasis.… Read the rest
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
Pretending that evidence is difficult and complicated 
Feb 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Things get tricky when evidence collides with what people would simply like to crack on and do anyway.… Read the rest
Coyne on Vernon on “ultra-Darwinism”
Feb 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There is nothing numinous or celestial about DNA replication.… Read the rest
Mark Vernon on “ultra-Darwinism”
Feb 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Ultra-Darwinism is the kind associated with the new atheism.” Eh?… Read the rest
Clamp down on those pesky women’s shelters
Feb 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women have no business trying to escape violence. Who do they think they are?!… Read the rest
HRW to Afghan government
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Support, rather than control, the work of shelter providers to ensure that women fleeing domestic violence are able to find safe and secure refuge.… Read the rest
Afghan government’s attack on women’s shelters
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In effect, Afghanistan’s few refuges for abused women are about to become prisons.… Read the rest
Values and the New Atheism
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What’s “missing” from the New Atheist world view is the siren call of easy assent to illegitimate authority.… Read the rest
Journalist has tiny crush on Muslim Brotherhood
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Its youth wing, that is. Sure, they want to establish Sharia, but they’re so young and energetic and passionate.… Read the rest
Egypt: “moderate” Islamist to head panel on constitution
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And a former Muslim Brotherhood MP, Sobhy Saleh, will be among the members of the panel.… Read the rest
Petition to save women’s shelters in Afghanistan
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Under a new bill, women and girls would have to appear before a panel which could decide to send them home or charge them with “adultery.”… Read the rest
Johann Hari: get bishops out of lawmaking
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Which two nations still reserve places in their parliaments for unelected religious clerics? Iran…and Britain.… Read the rest
Religious discrimination in “faith” schools
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The new Education Bill would allow a Muslim or Catholic school, for instance, to recruit entirely on religious grounds.… Read the rest
Ahmadinejad on true, Islamic feminism
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s not Zionist.… Read the rest
Free Church minister resigns over music in services
Feb 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Music is Satan’s fishing rod.… Read the rest
Religion is no excuse for promoting scientific ignorance
Feb 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Teachers of science need to understand and convey concepts that are in accord with our understanding of nature.… Read the rest
When is it ok to “discriminate” against creationists?
Feb 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
By hiring someone else for a science job. James Hannam says never.… Read the rest
S Dakota shelves you can kill abortionists bill
Feb 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Several people convicted of killing abortion providers have tried unsuccessfully to use the justifiable homicide argument.… Read the rest
PZ on atheism and women
Feb 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Imagine a panel with 5 Christians and 1 atheist. Think about it.… Read the rest
Dahlia Lithwick on Clarence Thomas
Feb 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
This combination of public silence, private advocacy, and contempt for transparency is the real problem Thomas has created, not the silence itself.… Read the rest
