Pseudo-populist suspicion of them there expurts is not the way to stay in the reality-based community.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Malaysian Woman Allowed to Leave Islam 
May 8th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
That’s against the law in Malaysia, but the judge decided she had never actually converted.… Read the rest
MF Husain’s Work Ruled Not Obscene
May 8th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hindu nationalist groups accused him of ‘hurting their religious sentiments.’… Read the rest
Bush Cites God in Defending War Actions
May 8th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
His policies were predicated on the belief that ‘every human being bears the image of our maker.’… Read the rest
Undercover Atheist Joins Hagee’s Church
May 8th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Christian Zionism aims to align America with Israel so as to ‘hurry God up’ with Armageddon… Read the rest
Sleeper on Wieseltier on Amis
May 7th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Wieseltier’s review is preening and melodramatic, an opera bouffe of a literary attack.… Read the rest
Girls’ School Burnt Down in Swat District
May 7th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Another girls school had petrol bombs thrown at it on Sunday.… Read the rest
Multifaithism is Bad for Women
May 7th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The multicultural approach harms women; it focuses on relations between groups, rather than within them. … Read the rest
Pragna Patel on the Problem with Multifaithism
May 7th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
At the heart of all fundamentalist movements is support for the patriarchal family.… Read the rest
The Mystical Fallacies of a Hero of the Right
May 7th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hayek is not as rational and irrefutable as the right would have it. He is a romantic, a serious deficit in a social theorist. … Read the rest
Women’s Rights versus Religious Liberty
May 6th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They are in tension.… Read the rest
Parvin Ardalan Gets 2 Years Suspended Sentence
May 6th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
For a demo demanding equal rights for women on divorce, inheritance and child custody.… Read the rest
Terry Sanderson on a Clash of Rights
May 6th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Those of gay people and those of religious people who want to discriminate against them.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Ponder the FLDS
May 6th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mo is shocked, shocked.… Read the rest
How Forced Marriage Works
May 6th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She loved her parents, they didn’t beat her, but she gave in to the incessant pleadings.… Read the rest
Nussbaum on Philosophy and Shakespeare
May 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Also psychoanalysis and Shakespeare. Hmm.… Read the rest
Nick Bostrom Looks for the Great Filter
May 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Perhaps the Great Filter is a destructive tendency common to virtually all technological civilizations. … Read the rest
Carl Zimmer on Gene Networks
May 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The more scientists know about them, the more there is to find out.… Read the rest
Pretend Populists
May 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bogus ‘anti-elitism’ is a weapon against liberal Democrats. How does that work?… Read the rest
NCSE’s ‘Expelled Exposed’
May 5th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Not a documentary; anti-science propaganda to create the appearance of controversy where there is none.… Read the rest
