The Netherlands is at the centre of European argument about secularism, multiculturalism and Islam.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Scruton Reviews Grayling
Rebukes him for discussing human rights while overlooking the ‘right to hunt.’
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No Offence Must be Caused to Any Faith Group
‘Faith groups’ and the local hate-crime unit get together to sniff out and ban the offensive.
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The Hague Stops Paying for Hirsi Ali’s Protection
Dutch Green MPs call for parliamentary debate on how the Government plans to organise her protection.
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Gul Calls for Changes to Article 301
Among those prosecuted under the law against ‘insulting Turkishness’: Orhan Pamuk and Hrant Dink.
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‘The Kite Runner’ Delayed to Protect Child Stars
The studio is delaying the film’s release in response to fears that its schoolboy stars could be attacked.
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The Pulping of ‘Alms for Jihad’
The case is fanning widespread concern that English libel law is stifling writers far beyond the UK.
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Interview With Flemming Rose
‘The left is in a deep crisis in Europe because of their unwillingness to confront the racist ideology of Islamism.’
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Nuns and Child Abuse
No audit has been carried out to determine how many nuns have abused children.
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Two Plays About Muslim Women
And the men who murder them.
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Ali Eteraz on an Islamic Counter-reformation
The one thing the traditionalists guarded more than anything was the power to hand down fatwas.
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Why Minorities Should Cherish Free Speech
‘If people were forced by law to respect other people’s identities, you couldn’t criticise anything.’
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Risky Scholarship
Haleh Esfandiari’s time in Evin prison highlights the danger of studying repressive regimes.
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On Mark Lilla and Charles Taylor on Secularism
We have not vanquished political theology -only sedated the beast, hoping it does not again awake.
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Karen Armstrong Blames Dawkins for Islamism
But Koranic fundamentalists are capable of coming up with their own follies without outside prompting.
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Logical Path from Religious Beliefs to Evil Deeds
Religion can change the definition of good.
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God’s Sick Punch Lines
Around the world, more and more people seem to be finding Gods, each more hateful and bloody than the next.
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Review of Nussbaum’s The Clash Within
What the Hindu fundamentalist forces did to the foundations of Indian civilisation has now become well known.
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Mitchell Cohen on the ‘New’ Atheism
Parts of the left apologize for Islamism as an earlier generation found ways to apologize for Stalinism.
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Ian Buruma Points out the Obvious
Religion is sometimes a force for good; other times it’s not; communism can work the same way; etc.