“The Koran itself says it.”
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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This is your brain on metaphors
Robert Sapolsky on how the brain links the literal and the metaphorical.
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Aung San Suu Kyi aims for peaceful revolution
She told the BBC she hopes for a non-violent end to military rule.
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Cathy Grossman compares atheists to Fred Phelps
Atheists note hateful passages in the bible, therefore, atheists are comparable to Westboro Baptists.
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Tony Blair says religion must have a place in politics
The religious dimension of politics cannot be ignored because it is a reality that must be accommodated, he said. -
Jesus and Mo tease the barmaid
Faithy-waithy faith-head, na na na na na.
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Former woman on women in science
Prof. Barres’s experience suggests that if women are less competitive, it is because that trait has been beaten out of them.
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Andrew Anthony talks to Christopher Hitchens
He’s said before that his life is his writing, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say that his life is an argument in which writing takes the lead role.
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Afghanistan: a girl dares to go to school
She wants to be a politician. The neighbors call her venomous names.
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Mona Eltahawy on Saudi Arabia and women
Once again, women are the cheapest bargaining chips, thrown on the table to silence and appease allies and “major donors.”
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Exorcism revival for US Catholics
Bishops are holding a conference to help priests learn to distinguish who really needs an exorcism from who really needs a psychiatrist.
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Aung San Suu Kyi released from house arrest
Her release comes six days after the political party supported by the military won Burma’s first election in 20 years.
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Blogger Walid Husayin arrested for “heresy”
He is suspected of posting “atheistic rants” on English and Arabic blogs and creating three Facebook groups where he spoofed the Koran.
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Walid Husayin could get life in prison for atheism
He lives in the West Bank, and he said rude things about Islam on Facebook…until the authorities found him.
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Woman topples Orthodox law disinheriting her
Her parents left her their house, but her brother – the first-born son of an Orthodox rabbi – claimed the religious right to lock her out.
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Thoughts of an atheist teaching in “faith” schools
Even finding the best parking space at the local casino apparently depends on how many in the car can chorus the ‘Hail Mary’ in unison.
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Obama overstates Indonesia’s tolerance
Just last April Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of Indonesia’s Blasphemy Act.
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Religious doctors’ rights don’t trump women’s rights
Deploying conscience claims as a means to deny women’s access to lawful services lacks all moral legitimacy.
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The biblical-womanhood-industrial complex
In a biblical home and church, the man is the head and the woman must submit.
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Jesus and Mo discuss God and the miners
Or do they.