Given all their unearned privilege, how can Christians claim they are in fact being “persecuted”?
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Taliban publicly flogs, kills pregnant woman
The man who allegedly had sex with her has not been punished.
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Taliban murder pregnant widow for “adultery”
They whipped her 200 times first.
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Why religion and atheism need smart women
“We rarely hear the names of Dutch activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali or author Ophelia Benson mentioned alongside Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens.” Who, me?
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How many sickening offences were halted by Sarah’s Law?
Exactly 60. It’s science.
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Boris Johnson’s innovative trial methodology
You do it your way, I do it my way, and we see which is best. Good eh?
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Gillian McKeith’s health claims under fire
She has set up a Wellness Retreat which boasts that its “amazing energy vortex” can help to heal and rejuvenate visitors.
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Ronald Dworkin on the Kagan hearings
When the Senate ceases to engage nominees in meaningful discussion of legal issues, the confirmation process takes on an air of vacuity and farce…
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A C Grayling on Montaigne
He found a method of writing suited to the character of his mind—an aleatory, divagatory, exploratory method which meandered along with his thoughts.
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Tony Judt 1947-2010
A universalist social democrat with a deep suspicion of left-wing ideologues, identity politics, and the US role as solitary global superpower.
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Iran: 18-year-old to be executed for “sodomy”
He retracted his forced confession, but never mind that, the judge has a hunch.
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Nick Cohen on why inequality matters
People who feel too keenly the humiliations their superiors inflict on them become anxious, mistrustful, and stressed.
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Kiran Mehdee on the burqa ban
There’s a lot more to say than a simple yes or no.
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Pakistan: British couple murdered in “honor” killing
Their daughter decided not to marry a local man, so he murdered her parents.
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Telegraph to everyone: be polite to the pope
Benedict XVI’s arrival is an opportunity to celebrate a culture that planted our Christian roots.
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New Statesman to liberals: quit being mean to the pope!
“I have been shocked by the negative criticism of the Pope and the Catholic Church. Why are so many of the capital’s liberal elite upset?”
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Shirin Ebadi on Iran and stoning
The practice of stoning is so abhorrent that even political allies like Brazil have been roused into action.
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Ashtiani tells the Guardian: “It’s because I’m a woman”
“They think they can do anything to women in this country. For them adultery is worse than murder – an adulterous women is the end of the world.”
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Coyne replies to Pigliucci…again
One can falsify the idea that there is a transcendent being who, it is claimed, does specific things.
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My take on what we choose to believe
Belief isn’t spooky or magical, and it isn’t a wormhole to knowledge about God; it’s just a cognitive faculty we have.