“Supporting gay marriage has become a kind of shorthand way of indicating one’s superiority over the hordes, particularly those of a religious or redneck persuasion.”
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Kenan Malik on tolerance as obedience
Tolerance is all too often now about the constraining of speech in the name of promoting a plural society.
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Karzai publishes clerical statement that women are inferior
Women are subordinate to men, should not mix in work or education, and must always have a male guardian when they travel, says the Ulema council.
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An atheist at Alcoholics Anonymous
“God is not looking after me and the Cosmos does not care if I relapse on cheap vodka or not.”
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Philosophers apologize for discussing ethics
It’s a mistake to apologize for discussing ethics.
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James Randi on America the gullible
A sizable portion of the U.S. population accepts as a given that an unseen world of magical paranormal power exists, and that we can take advantage of it
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Pair found guilty in “witchcraft” murder
The teenager had refused to admit to sorcery and witchcraft and his punishments in a “deliverance” ceremony became more horrendous.
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Radio stations, advertisers drop Limbaugh
So it’s not ok to call a woman a slut and a prostitute just because you disagree with her politics? Whaddya know.
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The Hasidic campaign against Deborah Feldman
Interesting that they don’t try to defend the sexist practices and dogma.
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Landlord blocks atheist billboard in Hasidic neighborhood
“It has been very disconcerting to see that the traditional victims of religious bigotry have become the purveyors of religious bigotry,” said Dave Silverman.
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Moses channels de Botton for Jesus and Mo
The barmaid says truth matters.
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The Opinionista is over it
The rant of an angry, Agnostic, British, Indo-Pakistani woman of Muslim heritage.
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Marc Alan Di Martino on falling for science
Knowledge increases wonder, and there’s no danger of running out of either in the world of scientific discovery.
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Atheist and maltheist have a discussion
Gnosticism with a twist.
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Cameroon: 3 women “charged with” practising homosexuality
In Liberia, a senate committee is currently debating a proposal to tighten laws banning same-sex relationships.
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Andrew Copson on humanist education
Humanists in education have prioritised the development of critical thinking and a rational spirit for its social consequences in the formation of democratic citizens.
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Wikipedia and “the majority of sources”
The conventional wisdom, however wrong, always trumps a correction, however well documented.
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The Taliban is determined to stop Fawzia Koofi
She intends to stand in the presidential election. The Taliban would rather she didn’t. And so they shoot at her and her family.
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Defending lying is a lot harder than defending freedom
Freedom of speech means the freedom to misuse speech – unless that speech falls under one of a number of narrow “historical exceptions” laid out by the Supreme Court over the years.