It is impossible to miss the calculated manner in which the predators used the authority of the confessional.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Washington Post Asks: Should Pope Resign? 
Mar 31st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No. He should remain while the profiteering, woman-fearing, guilt-gorging, truth-hating, child-raping institution falls.… Read the rest
Catholic Church Practicing Unholy Art of Spin
Mar 31st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Say it’s old news. Blame someone else. Say up is down. Demonize gays. Blame the victims. Blow smoke.… Read the rest
Serbia Apologizes for Srebrenica Massacre
Mar 31st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Serbia’s parliament voted to condemn the 1995 massacre of c. 8,000 Bosnians and apologize to the victims.… Read the rest
AI Annual Report on the Death Penalty
Mar 31st, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
After China, the worst offending nations were Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the US.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Defending Violent Misogyny
Mar 30th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How it becomes politically reputable to ignore the suffering of others.… Read the rest
Terry Glavin Cheers On Alaina Podmorow
Mar 30th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Schoolgirl crushes ‘post-colonial feminist theory’ that attacks feminists who do real work for their living sisters in Afghanistan.… Read the rest
More Props for Alaina Podmorow
Mar 30th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And a rebuke for Canadian universities.… Read the rest
‘Hutaree’ Militia and Rise of Far-right Violence
Mar 30th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Disingenuous for mainstream purveyors of incendiary far-right rhetoric to say there are ‘crazies on both sides.’… Read the rest
‘Contrarian’ Spiked Joins Defenders of Church
Mar 30th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It wasn’t that bad, and besides, new atheists, ew.… Read the rest
Catholic Priests Are Not the Only Child Rapists
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The reality remains that children are most at risk in their own homes. Yet we don’t demonise fathers.’… Read the rest
Pope is a ‘Head of State’ So He Has Immunity
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Vatican claims it is protected by a US law which prohibits lawsuits against foreign countries.… Read the rest
Jack of Kent on the Church and the Criminal Law
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why do we still seem to have this bizarre medieval duality of secular law and “canon law”?… Read the rest
Neo-humanism or Atheism
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The whole ‘Who says so?’ attitude of many secular humanists leads to purist rigor, one-upsman-ship, even soteriology.… Read the rest
Greta Christina Says Thanks for the Advice
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I have yet to see a believer advise the atheist movement to speak up more loudly and more passionately.’… Read the rest
Paul Fidalgo on Why Atheists Should Speak Up
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Reason, science, freedom from oppressive myth, equality for those who have opted out of supernatural belief. … Read the rest
Pope Won’t Be ‘Intimidated’ by ‘Petty Gossip’
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Cited ‘the courage of not allowing oneself to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion.’… Read the rest
Human Rights Watch and Selective Monitoring
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why put such effort into publicising alleged human-rights violations in some countries but not others? … Read the rest
Silence of the Vatican on Rwanda is Contempt
Mar 29th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The church can let those African bodies remain buried, dehumanised and unexamined.… Read the rest
Damian Thompson Blames ‘Liberal Catholics”
Mar 28th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s all their fault, they’re out to get Ratzinger, mutter mutter rave.… Read the rest
