Because there is no exception when the woman’s life is at stake. Ireland says this is sensitive and deep.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Not festive reading for Catholic clerics in Dublin and Rome 
Dec 16th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How could they have allowed a man they knew to have a track record as a child abuser go forward for ordination as a priest?… Read the rest
Witheld chapter of Murphy report to be published
Dec 16th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Material on Tony Walsh was witheld because criminal proceedings were pending on charges of the sexual abuse of three children.… Read the rest
Pope says Christians are the most persecuted
Dec 16th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Cites “sophisticated forms of hostility to religion, which, in Western countries, occasionally find expression in the rejection of religious symbols.”… Read the rest
Joseph Hoffmann on giving up on spirituality
Dec 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rule number one: it has to be easy. Rule two: it has to be available. Rule three: it has to be blendable.… Read the rest
Jack of Kent on Pilger on Assange
Dec 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Pilger cheerfully accuses others of criminal activity while briskly dismissing such accusations against Assange.… Read the rest
William Chittick on the Islamic notion of mercy
Dec 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The Prophet said that God puts into hellfire only those who refuse to go anywhere else.” How merciful.… Read the rest
A flawed museum show on “Muslim Heritage”
Dec 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“1001 Inventions,” the literature says, “is a nonreligious and non-political project.” But it actually is a little religious and even more political.… Read the rest
Natasha Fatah on the cost of Sweden’s kindness
Dec 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Malmö was supposed to be a symbol of Sweden’s multiculturalism. But it is in danger of turning into an Islamist ghetto.… Read the rest
Berlusconi hangs on by 3 votes
Dec 14th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And riots erupt in Rome.… Read the rest
Sudan’s “judiciary” launches “investigation”
Dec 14th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Oh, you saw that? Well we’ll look into it right away. We’re shocked, shocked.… Read the rest
Life with sadistic laughing bastards
Dec 14th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In Sudan, watching men whip a terrified woman is a source of amusement.… Read the rest
The “Islamophobia” myth
Dec 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
American Jews are far more likely to be the victims of religious hate crime than members of any other group.… Read the rest
Pakistan: doctor arrested for “blasphemy”
Dec 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A sales rep named Mohammed Faizan gave the doctor a business card; the doctor put it in the wastebasket. Blasphemy!… Read the rest
Sweden bomber lived in Luton
Dec 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He had a BSc in sports therapy from the University of Bedfordshire and a hobby of trying to explode people.… Read the rest
Nigeria: court rules against Helen Ukpabio
Dec 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Last year over 150 thugs from Ukpabio’s Liberty Gospel Church invaded a workshop on Witchcraft and Child Rights and attacked the organizers.… Read the rest
Ghana: woman burned to death for being a “witch”
Dec 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ama Hemmah was allegedly tortured into confessing she was a witch, doused in kerosene and set on fire.… Read the rest
Simon Blackburn replies to Sam Harris
Dec 12th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s one thing to know the world, it’s another to care.… Read the rest
Swedish police confirm terror attack
Dec 12th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Elements in Somalia linked to al-Qaida have been recruiting young people from Sweden.… Read the rest
“Your children — daughters and sisters — will die”
Dec 12th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Deep, deep, deep anger in “the Muslim world” over Lars Vilks’s Mohammed cartoon. Boom.… Read the rest
