Jesus is sympathetic.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Man attempts suicide faking devotion for Sai Baba 
Apr 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He pretended he was so upset about Sai Baba but actually he was just in debt, so the police are investigating.… Read the rest
Fred Halliday on solidarity
Apr 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Solidarity rests on one important principle: the shared moral and political value and equality of all human beings, and of the rights that attach to them.… Read the rest
H Allen Orr reviews The Moral Landscape
Apr 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If there’s no clear line between science and philosophy, why are we supposed to get so excited about a science of morality? No one ever said there couldn’t be a philosophy of morality.… Read the rest
Blackford on Coyne’s open letter
Apr 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Cooperating with the NCSE in court proceedings does not mean that you have to endorse their wider position out of court.… Read the rest
Kenan Malik on the poetry of an Old Atheist
Apr 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
That of Abul Ala Al-Ma’arri (c. 973-1058), whose poetry was renowned for his unflinching religious skepticism.… Read the rest
Scottish cardinal demands more theocracy
Apr 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Priest in expensive goldy hat complains that Christians are being marginalized.… Read the rest
Scotland: Catholic cardinal attacks secularism
Apr 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Enemies of Christianity, robust, traditionalist, teaching, resist, equality legislation, homosexual, in accordance with their beliefs, power, right, Christ prayed for.… Read the rest
Martin Amis on Christopher Hitchens
Apr 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
One of the most terrifying rhetoricians that the world has yet seen.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Fred Halliday’s Open Democracy essays
Apr 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The intellectuals he admired were clear-sighted secularists who had freed themselves from the myths of their communities and traditions.… Read the rest
The pope’s easter homily
Apr 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If man were merely a random product of evolution in some place on the margins of the universe, then his life would make no sense. Therefore…… Read the rest
Patricia Churchland’s science of morality
Apr 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Massimo Pigliucci notes that Churchland is adamant in pointing out that the neural platform for morality is only the platform.… Read the rest
Jason Rosenhouse on out atheists and atheophobia
Apr 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Will Gervais writes: four studies found converging evidence that perceived atheist prevalence reduces anti-atheist prejudice.… Read the rest
Roe v Wade is the law, but it isn’t
Apr 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What we’re witnessing is a stealth campaign to make an abortion illegal or as difficult to obtain as possible in as many states as possible, and it’s working.… Read the rest
A priest rapes children? No jam for tea
Apr 23rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A priest supports the ordination of women? Kick that guy out of the church.… Read the rest
Texas governor Perry is all hat and no cattle
Apr 23rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He hates that pesky federal gummint, but he has sought federal disaster aid and federal assistance in fighting the fires.… Read the rest
Todd Gitlin on what happened at Synthese
Apr 23rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Gitlin is appalled to learn that the tender sensibilities of ID supporters have been permitted to deform scholarly circles.… Read the rest
Jerry Coyne’s open letter to the NCSE and BCSE
Apr 23rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Your employees, present and former, have chosen to spend much of their time battling not creationists, but evolutionists who happen to be atheists.… Read the rest
Anvar Alikhan on what made Midnight’s Children
Apr 23rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The unique liberal, secular values and rule of law Bombay once prided itself on have been ripped from its body.… Read the rest
Martin Rees explains about science and religion
Apr 23rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Now look here: cathedrals. Cathedrals, I tell you. I rest my case.… Read the rest
