Well Mo, it is South Park after all, not the prayer room at Liverpool Airport.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Andrew Brown on a particular kind of ‘faith’ in politics 
Apr 24th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
You can’t have large-scale voluntary action without faith: a combination of self-discipline and hope in an uncertain future state.… Read the rest
Jon Stewart is like Media Matters, but funnier
Apr 24th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He criticizes Fox News a lot because it is “truly a terrible, cynical, disingenuous news organization.” … Read the rest
Suspended sentence and Asbo for mocking religion
Apr 24th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Harry Taylor was convicted of “religiously aggravated harassment” for putting religion-teasing leaflets in an airport “prayer room.”… Read the rest
Susan Jacoby on Dorothy Height
Apr 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She didn’t choose to be out of the limelight, she was shoved there.… Read the rest
Akwa-Ibom Child Witches
Apr 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Yemi Ademowo Johnson would like to be able to close down refuges for children accused of witchcraft. Alas, not yet.… Read the rest
Obama admin will appeal Prayer Day ruling
Apr 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“I would have expected something better from a legal scholar,” FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said.… Read the rest
Franklin Graham uninvited to Pentagon ‘Prayer Day’
Apr 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What is the Pentagon doing having a ‘Prayer Day’?… Read the rest
Cristina Odone offers theocratic bullying nonsense
Apr 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Dr Death, abortion, euthanasia, faith schools, all life precious.… Read the rest
The terrible case of Lucia de Berk
Apr 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A Dutch nurse who has spent 6 years in jail on a life sentence for murdering 7 people, in a killing spree that never happened.… Read the rest
A spectacular reputational car crash for the BCA
Apr 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Until they sued, most people thought chiropractors just did backs, Ben Goldacre notes.… Read the rest
Pope named in Milwaukee abuse lawsuit
Apr 23rd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
His lawyers want the Church to release any files it has on abuse cases involving priests. … Read the rest
50 Voices of Disbelief Review in First Things
Apr 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
New atheism, pooh pooh, new atheists, yawn, new atheism, sheer banality, new atheists, will go away soon, new atheism, we all hates it.… Read the rest
Uncredible Hallq disputes Pigliucci
Apr 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why try to turn these disagreements into proof that the New (read: Bad) Atheists are screwing everything up?… Read the rest
Catholic church crumbles across Europe
Apr 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Raping or beating children, spending orphanage money on wine and jewelry, refusing to admit – it all adds up.… Read the rest
Catholic child rape scandal spreads in Europe
Apr 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Walter Mixa, bishop for Augsburg and the German armed forces, offered to resign after admitting he used to hit children.… Read the rest
Ireland: Another Bishop Resigns
Apr 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bishop James Moriarty did not challenge Dublin Archdiocese’s concealment of child-abuse complaints from police.… Read the rest
Theo Hobson reads Alister McGrath
Apr 22nd, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
McGrath repeatedly claims that “faith entails no departure whatsoever from the rational high ground.”… Read the rest
Rust Belt Philosophy on NOMA
Apr 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Since so much of our knowledge supports and is supported by other knowledge, there are networks of dependencies that stretch across nearly all of what we believe about the world.… Read the rest
A political climate of nervous deference to ‘Faith’ groups
Apr 21st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We now have a situation in which a religious body representing a tiny number of people is able to cause a serious and expensive inconvenience by invoking their outraged religious sensibilities.… Read the rest
