Wahhabi and Salafist ideas are spread globally through online fatwas, conferences, lectures, cheap booklets.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Chilean Pharmacies Warned 
Oct 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Government tells pharmacies refusing to sell morning-after pill they could face stiff fines or closure. … Read the rest
Pope Tells Pharmacists to Refuse
Oct 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Says pharmacists have a right to refuse to dispense emergency contraception or euthanasia drugs. … Read the rest
Material Urging Hatred Found in Mosques
Oct 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Researchers uncovered propaganda calling for homosexuals to be murdered and women to be subjugated.… Read the rest
Fisking King Abdullah
Oct 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Kim Howells said we ‘share values’ with the Saudis. And what values precisely would they be?… Read the rest
Howells Cites ‘Shared Values’ With Saudis
Oct 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
AI yesterday issued a dossier on executions, detention of critics, discrimination against women.… Read the rest
Amnesty Int. Annual Report on Saudi Arabia
Oct 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Political prisoners, censorship, women’s rights, forced removal, migrant workers, torture, execution.… Read the rest
Sepia Mutiny on News Blackout in Gujarat
Oct 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
State government blocked all three news channels that were going to show footage from Tehelka’s report.… Read the rest
Sentenced to Death Again
Oct 30th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Soghra, sent to work as a maid at age 9, spent 18 years in prison. Then things got bad.… Read the rest
Normblog Ponders Science and Wonder
Oct 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The desire to understand is every bit as much a human given as is our wonder at the world.… Read the rest
Protests at Saudi King’s State Visit to UK
Oct 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Saudi human rights record less than stellar.… Read the rest
An Exciting History of German Romanticism
Oct 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Surpassing of religion through release of the powers of imagination, which re-invented the world.… Read the rest
Andrew Brown Ponders a Stupidfilter
Oct 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
An application of spam-fighting algorithms to the problem of stupidity.… Read the rest
The Exposé of a Gujarati Massacre
Oct 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sunny Hundal notes lack of media coverage in both India and the UK.… Read the rest
Tehelka Magazine on the Gujarat Riots
Oct 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A collection of articles.… Read the rest
Hinduism Still State Religion in ‘Secular’ Nepal
Oct 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The state spends over Rs.50 million annually on Hindu rituals, including slaughter of birds and animals.… Read the rest
Srebrenica Revisited
Oct 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Srebrenica massacre cast a shadow on the viability of international law and organizations. … Read the rest
Nick Cohen on the Dangers of Alt Med
Oct 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Society of Homeopaths promises to provide ‘fascinating insights’ for World Aids Day.… Read the rest
Vatican ‘Beatifies’ Spanish Civil War Dead
Oct 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Franco side only, of course; cites ‘reconciliation.’… Read the rest
Mark Vernon Urges Preservation of Ignorance
Oct 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Scientific knowledge must be limited or else it will ‘erode the capacity for contemplative wonder.’… Read the rest
