European prosperity is bad because it promotes secularism; better to be poor and religious.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Sue Blackmore Wishes Dawkins Luck
It’s amazing how unpopular you become by trying to tell the truth, and how little effect evidence has on the New Age world.
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Johann Hari on God is not Great
‘Every child stuck in every “faith school” should be bought a copy.’
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Sharia in the UK
Sharia ‘has another face’ – but ‘not all councils are committed to liberal interpretations.’
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Vatican Tells Catholics to Boycott Amnesty
Because of AI’s decision to support access to abortion for women who had been raped.
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Thinking About Happiness
When we ask how we are to live, we want to know what kind of a world we live in, and what’s really right.
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Damon Linker on Rorty
The end of philosophy culminates in the universal affirmation of pragmatic American liberalism.
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John Holbo on Rorty’s Anticipatory Retrospective
Lenin didn’t write an essay: ‘What is to have been done?’
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‘Honour’ Killing Used to Threaten Other Women
The murder of Banaz Mahmod is being used to intimidate women accused of ‘shaming’ their families.
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US Public TV Cozies Up to Theocracy
‘Project smacks of covert Religious Right propaganda, not a forthright contribution to the national dialogue.’
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Two From MCB Say Rename ‘Honour’ Killings
‘We should be saying, “Any honour you once had, you’ve now lost”.’
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Nothing Merely Routine or Contrarian to Rorty
Rorty continued to challenge the frontier between theoretical discussion and public conversation.
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Roger Scruton on Rorty’s Legacy
He was less concerned to present valid arguments than to offer a subversive perspective.
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A C Grayling on Offended Believers
Hundreds of religious books, no problem; a mere six anti-religious books, fury and outrage.
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Malaysia Worked Up Over Religious Law
Widespread disquiet as people realize the court failed to uphold the supremacy of the secular constitution.
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Banaz Mahmod Warned the Police Four Times
Mahmod tried to kill his daughter first on New Year’s Eve 2005…
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New Supermarket Owner Trashes Secularism
‘I believe that in a Jewish state in which there is a large Muslim minority, selling pork is a provocation.’
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Egypt Has a Fatwa Problem
‘The problem created is confusion in thought, confusion about what is right and what is wrong, religiously.’
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Relatives Found Guilty in Banaz Mahmod Case
She tried repeatedly to warn police that her life was in danger, even naming the likely killers.
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Satire: Islamic London Would Be a Better Place
It is satire isn’t it? Surely?