Do you only defend Muslims when it is the American government that threatens them, and not when Muslim fanatics do?… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
WLUML statement on Asia Bibi 
Nov 20th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Pakistan: Ensure the safety of Asia Bibi and her family and repeal Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws.… Read the rest
Sock puppet gets six months in jail
Nov 19th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He sent emails in someone else’s name, admitting to plagiarism; claimed to think that was “parody, irony, satire.”… Read the rest
Israel: “bastard clause” de-fathers infant
Nov 19th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The law forbids a woman to remarry for at least 90 days after being divorced or widowed.… Read the rest
Johann Hari on religion and cruelty
Nov 19th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No, we don’t respect your desire to needlessly torment animals because some hallucinating desert nomads did it centuries ago.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo go for a drive
Nov 19th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mo’s peripheral vision is not what it might be.… Read the rest
The instruments of torture
Nov 19th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jerry Coyne visits the Palace of the Inquisition in Cartagena, and takes pictures. Warning: graphic horrors.… Read the rest
Gita Sahgal on human rights folly and Awlaki
Nov 18th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
By deliberately sanitising al-Awlaki’s reputation, the CCR is acting as criminal defence lawyers rather than human rights lawyers.… Read the rest
Rights groups should not sanitize Awlaki
Nov 18th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Awlaki published an article in al-Qaida’s magazine openly calling for assassinations of several people, including a cartoonist in Seattle and Salman Rushdie.… Read the rest
Geoff Nunberg on Austen and punctuation
Nov 18th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She wrote untidy drafts; it is foolish to conclude from this that she was a clumsy writer who needed help from a man.… Read the rest
Nuisance lawsuit targets “climate hawk” politicians
Nov 18th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Let Freedom Ring” is a Conservative think-tank set up thanks to a $1 million donation from the president of the Templeton Foundation.… Read the rest
Confederate flag “a symbol of Jesus Christ”
Nov 17th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
According to Arkansas state representative Loy Mauch, who would like the south to withdraw from the US.… Read the rest
Republicans and Tea Partiers go after scientists
Nov 17th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why, after all, have a panel on energy independence and global warming if you don’t believe in either?… Read the rest
Aikin and Talisse wage war on Christmas
Nov 17th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Christmas myths are morally horrid. That’s not the worst of it, though. They are overwhelming, suffocating.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo channel Karl Giberson
Nov 17th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They celebrate their precarious and profound middle ground.… Read the rest
Rowntree Trust gives £120k to Cageprisoners
Nov 17th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Says Moazzam Begg is the right sort of fella to build bridges and make links to young Muslims.… Read the rest
Tortured maid in stable condition in Saudi hospital
Nov 17th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The latest in a string of physical abuse cases involving Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.… Read the rest
Indonesian maid tortured by Saudi employers
Nov 17th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Her injuries include gashes to her face and cuts to her lips, allegedly inflicted by her employers using scissors. She was also burned with an iron.… Read the rest
Indonesia: man on trial for “blasphemy”
Nov 16th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Charges will be dropped if he builds a new musholla. Hmm.… Read the rest
Pakistan: outcry against blasphemy death penalty
Nov 16th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The campaign to confront the country’s blasphemy laws is hampered by the danger of being accused of undermining Islam.… Read the rest
