Idea was to find common ground by saying Islam believes in Jesus, but billboard saying “Jesus: a prophet of Islam” has a bishop all upset.
Category: Latest News
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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
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PZ on another outbreak of Gnice atheism
A couple of indignant wanna-be bureaucrats of atheism complaining about those cranky, rough-hewn gnu atheists.
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Badminton chiefs delay skirts ruling
The BWF now says it will not introduce the new rule, pending a general review.
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Lecturers’ union supports “right” to wear burqa
With much talk of freedom.
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“Moscow authorities again behaved like cavemen”
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights fined Russia for its refusal to allow gay-rights supporters to hold peaceful demonstrations in Moscow. -
Moscow police arrest gay rights campaigners
A group of ultra-Orthodox Christians attacked the protesters, so the police arrested…the protesters.
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“Treating” someone for homosexuality ruled malpractice
Patrick Strudwick went undercover, investigating therapists who practise so-called conversion therapy – who try to “pray away the gay”.
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Vatican says how great its AIDS “strategy” is
“The cardinal did not mention the question of condoms in AIDS prevention.” Scum.
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Interventions should be tested via randomized trials
If you don’t know which of two reasonable interventions is best, and you want to find out, a trial will tell you.
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No anti-homophobia education for Brazil
Several evangelical Christian members of Brazil’s chamber of deputies said the sex education packs encouraged homosexual behaviour.
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Malta: referendum on divorce causes acrimonious split
Malta is the only country – apart from the Philippines and the Vatican City – where divorce cannot be carried out.
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Scientists to go on trial for not predicting quake
7 scientists will be tried for manslaughter because they didn’t do the impossible and predict the quake in L’Aquila.
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Salem has an overload of psychics
Many of them are actually untrained. The horror.
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Egypt: girls and women forcibly “converted”
There have also been consistent reports of girls being coerced into Islamic conversion and marriage in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
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Violence against women in Turkey
There’s a lot of it. Cops shrug. The AKP embraces religious values, which are all about controlling women.
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How dare the media dismiss the bishops’ report?
The “Religion and Ethics Editor” for the ABC gives an extended yell of rage at the lack of deference to the Catholic church.
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Katha Pollitt to France: we are so over
You should listen to yourself sometime: smug, paunchy, powerful middle-aged men going on about how DSK was just engaging in some typically Gallic flirtation.
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Sean Carroll on the physics of the immortal soul
If you claim that some form of soul persists beyond death, what particles is that soul made of? How does it interact with ordinary matter?
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A Miracle in Petrignano
A luminous figure showed up on a cell phone. It’s Mary! The miracle would be if it were Loki.
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Ian McKellen sends message of support to Gay Russia
And unsupport to the Mayor of Moscow.