The schoolboy was crushed by a car; he died after refusing a blood transfusion in hospital.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Portugal: president ratifies gay marriage law
Three days after pope left Portugal, having warned that gay marriage is an insidious dangerous threat.
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Libel laws can’t decide religious disputes
What is or is not a cult is a religious question, not a legal one.
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David Colquhoun on the calumnies against Evan Harris
The Reverend Lynda Rose; Keith Mann; Cristina Odone; George Pitcher; all incredibly nasty.
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Philippa Stroud given job in new government
She didn’t win a seat, but has been appointed as a special advisor to work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith.
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Texas school books: God, patriotism, free enterprise
Christian conservatives have won almost half the seats on the Texas education board.
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Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Stand up against the burka
“What of the fact that millions of us are against the black covering? And that many supported the French school-uniform proscription?”
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God is great because suffering is beautiful
This evolutionary creation is an unfolding story of beauty, goodness and love.
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C of E wants BBC to be a branch of C of E
BBC does lots of religion, church wants it to do more and more and more.
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Catholic church lobbying against Child Victims Act
The measure recognizes the church’s history of intimidating victims and burying abuses in church files.
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The bathetic tragedy of Orlando Figes
He said he never, he said it was his wife, he said he did and he’s sorry.
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Michael Ruse on himself and Orlando Figes
Ruse’s dud Amazon review and Figes’s fake Amazon reviews.
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Bill Donohue pitches a fit at Empire State Building
He wants it to wear blue and white lights for Ma Teresa’s birthday, and it won’t oblige.
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“Spiritual counselor” on Sam Harris on morality
Thinks reciprocity is a religious idea.
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Holford Watch on bad science communication
Nature Publishing Group should be careful about what it links to, even via reader posts.
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Goldacre on evidence based smear campaigns
A new experiment shows again that correction of falsehoods only entrenches them.
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Ben Goldacre on whistleblowers
Doctors are expected to blow the whistle, but they can be punished for doing so. That’s bad.
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Grayling reviews Eagleton on evil
A verbal pinball ride among the entries in the telephone book of Western culture.
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Roger Scruton urges pessimism
Not John Gray’s misanthropic nihilism, but reasoned avoidance of false hopes.
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Tatchell calls pope “arch-homophobe”
Will the new coalition government think twice about welcoming this ghastly bigot to the UK?