‘My father beat me and told me that I must marry this man, and if I did not, I would be raped and no law and no sheikh in this country would help me.’
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Chinese Rights Activist Sentenced Last Week
Hu Jia campaigned for the environment, religious freedom and the rights of people with HIV and Aids.
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Raymond Tallis on the Neuroscience Delusion
Academic literary critics now place the firing of neurons rather than signifiers at the heart of lit crit.
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Andrew Anthony Interviews Salman Rushdie
There is no getting away from the current relevance of subjects like foreignness, belonging and group loyalty.
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Stanley Fish on French Theory in America
What was involved was less the rejection of the rationalist tradition than an interrogation of its key components.
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Mo Raps
A prophet with attitude.
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Jesus and Mo Fall Out
Mo called Jesus’s conscience a bullshitter.
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Rabbi Flees to Canada, Israel Seeks Extradition
Has been described as the ‘spiritual mentor’ of a group involved in the systematic abuse of children.
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Underage Girls in Texas Sect Forced Into Sex
Several of the teenage girls have children. Many could not spell their last names or state their birth date.
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What Kind of Extremism Does Blair Have in Mind?
Catholic church’s attitudes to gender equality makes development goals almost impossible.
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Oh That Kind of Temple
The kind that provides a bed where men rape underage girls.
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Breaking Open the Temple
FLDS lawyers said members were praying in front of the temple as officers dragged them out of the way.
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Blair Makes up for Lost Time on the God Front
‘He has converted to Roman Catholicism. This requires much thought and reflection.’ Hmm.
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Persecution of Salah Choudhury for ‘Blasphemy’
Journalist faces sedition, treason and blasphemy charges for confronting jihad and religious hatred.
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Avishai Margalit on Sectarianism
The idea of the sacred describes what is indivisible and hence not subject to compromise.
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On Samantha Power on Sergio Vieira de Mello
Moving from one hellhole to another, he experienced the conflicting claims of power and morality.
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Old Tibet Was no Shangri-la
One third of the boys in Tibet were forcibly taken by the monastery. That’s human rights?
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Illinois Legislator Tells Atheist ‘Get Out’
‘Get out of that seat. You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying!’
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Turkey Considers Tiny Change to Article 301
Proposed amendment would replace denigrating Turkishness with denigrating the Turkish nation.
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Grayling and Monk Debate Education
The appetite for finding out, and thinking about what is learned, grows by feeding.