Sikorski v Ernst, the Nightingale Collaboration v Sikorski, Sikorski v Sense About Science, and much more.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Beautiful Girlhood v. Courageous Boyhood
Oct 7th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBoys are to remain “steadfast in their conviction” while girls are to guard against “anything that would rob them of purity.”… Read the rest
Adopted child, 8, dies of exposure and malnutrition
Oct 7th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA witness told investigators that the Williams got their ideas for the disciplinary measures from a book, “How to Train Up Your Child,” by Michael Pearl.… Read the rest
Can al-Shabab retake Mogadishu?
Oct 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonProbably not, but it can keep on killing people.… Read the rest
Religious freedom in Turkey
Oct 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“Turkey may look like a secular state on paper, but in terms of international law it is actually a Sunni Islamic state,” a leader of the country’s Alevi minority charged.… Read the rest
Democracy and secularism in Turkey
Oct 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA majority of Turks, Sunni Muslims, overtly or covertly believe that they should be “more equal” than the others because they constitute the majority.… Read the rest
Sigmund on an unholy alliance
Oct 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBetween “the Iona Institute” and Brendan O’Neill of Spiked. Reactionary Catholicism pairs up with reactive ex-Trotskyist libertarian posturing.… Read the rest
Turkish cartoonist to be put on trial for teasing ‘God’
Oct 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIstanbul chief public prosecutor charged cartoonist Bahadir Baruter with “insulting the religious values adopted by a part of the population.”… Read the rest
Rising atheism in US puts religious right on the defensive
Oct 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMost experts agree that the number of secular Americans has probably doubled in the past three decades.… Read the rest
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws: even judges fear for their lives
Oct 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe mixing of religion and politics has long troubled Pakistan, but over the past 30 years that dangerous cocktail has been spiked by the army’s policy of nurturing extremists.… Read the rest
Israel: a victory for separation of state and religion
Oct 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“Israel is the only country in the Western world in which Jews don’t have freedom of religion.”… Read the rest
Why “we” should not let “them” drive cars
Oct 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“If you start now to let women drive, let them go wherever they want, let them do whatever they want, Saudi Arabia will be like New York.”… Read the rest
The barmaid cites the Dunning Kruger effect
Oct 2nd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn telling the boys they don’t know enough to realize how little they know.… Read the rest
Israel court grants request to register ‘without religion’
Oct 2nd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“The court granted legitimacy to every person to live by their conscience in this land.”… Read the rest
Why Are British Muslim leaders silent about Nadarkhani?
Oct 1st, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNothing from the Muslim Council of Britain. Nothing from the Federation of Student Islamic Societies. Nothing from the Muslim Public Affairs Committee.… Read the rest
Are Christians really being persecuted in the UK?
Oct 1st, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOr are they simply being asked to follow the same anti-discrimination laws, and
professional codes, that govern everyone else?… Read the rest
Mehdi Hasan on Iran’s death sentence on Youcef Nadarkhani
Oct 1st, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe silence from the world’s Muslims – especially the UK’s usually voluble Muslim organisations and self-appointed “community leaders” – has been shameful.… Read the rest
Oregon couple found guilty in faith-healing trial
Sep 30th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA couple who prayed and rubbed olive oil on their dying infant rather than seek medical care was convicted Thursday of manslaughter.… Read the rest
Anwar al-Awlaki killed in Yemen
Sep 30th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUsing the internet and an online magazine called Inspire, Awlaki encouraged his
followers to kill lots of people.… Read the rest
Life for Saudi women is a joke
Sep 30th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn 18 months a Saudi woman can be a member of parliament – providing that her male guardian allows her to and she finds a man to drive her there.… Read the rest