Western writers who want to criticize religious misogyny, homophobia, racism and censorship must also live with accusations of “Islamophobia.”
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Kamila Shamsie on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
From the first, the new and expanded blasphemy laws were used as tools of persecution.
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Ahmed Rashid on the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti
As leaders worldwide strongly condemn Bhatti’s murder, the reaction of the Pakistani government has been vapid.
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Joseph Hoffmann on a secular ethics
A secular ethic will always require that religion enjoy no privileged status based on assertions of authority that are widely regarded as untrue.
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Aikin and Talisse on the moral argument for atheism
We hold that there’s something intrinsically morally wrong about holding religious beliefs. This perhaps is a startling claim.
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Susan Jaboby on revolutions and women
Egypt has many university-educated women. Will they be invited to the table when the organization of political parties begins in the post-Mubarak era?
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When regulation is secretive, trust is all you have
Science is built on transparency, but the pharmaceutical industry is regulated behind closed doors; trust is all that’s left.
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Ben Goldacre on torpedoing cherished ideas
Such as the efficacy of sniffer dogs, who turn out to be doing a Clever Hans.
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Lying about Obama
Mike Huckabee said Obama’s perspective was shaped by “growing up in Kenya.”
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PZ Myers reviews David Brooks’s sciencey novel
The neuroscience in the book feels a micrometer deep and a boring lifetime long.
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Katha Pollitt on Republicans v women
Republicans at the state and federal level are letting their misogyny, their fundamentalism and their sheer nuttiness show.
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Drug research fraud
Sources close to the investigation said that the editors would announce the formal retraction of 89 papers next month.
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Student athlete suspended for not being chaste and virtuous
All students agree to abide by BYU honour code, which includes prohibitions on drinking, smoking, drugs, tea, coffee, swearing and sex.
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Homophobia in Tower Hamlets
The mayor’s supporters shout abuse from the gallery. “It is horrible, absolutely bloody awful.”
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Putting homeopathy in perspective
How diluted is it? Well it’s like this…
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Lauryn Oates on the heroism of Sunita Murmu
She confronted the mob mentality that erupted into an actual physical mob, as they stripped, taunted and harassed a young girl because she had fallen in love.
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Report on the Templeton Foundation [pdf]
The stated aims of the Foundation have evolved over the years, although there is evidence that its actual aims have not.
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Friends are afraid for Sherry Rehman
Of the three brave Pakistani politicians who stood up for Aasia Bibi, just one is still alive: Sherry Rehman.
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Paper says Bhatti’s assassination was fault of US
A widely read newspaper, Jang, said it was a “heinous conspiracy against Pakistan” and a result of American pressure on Pakistan to combat terrorism.
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Goddy physicist takes on militant atheists
Here’s what you do: you say it’s all scientism.