Speakers at a major science meeting in Canada said communication of vital research on health and environment issues is being suppressed.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Telegraph hit piece on Dawkins
A new low in sleaze.
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Nothing extreme about separating church and state
Aggressive? You should see this week’s “burn in hell” messages to the BHA attacking “that spastic Hawking who denies God”, and many more obscene unprintables.
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Councils given “rights” to impose prayers on everyone
Communities secretary says he is effectively reversing the High Court’s “illiberal ruling” that a Devon council’s prayers were unlawful. Mandatory theism is so liberal.
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Santorum says Dems will introduce the guillotine
War on faith: French Revolution: guillotine.
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Nick Cohen on the attack of the militant secularists
An established church that uses the force of law to insist on a privileged position seems slightly more authoritarian than those of us who want a level playing field.
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Will Dawkins roooooin the Reason Rally?
Because he’s so mean and all? Barbara J King at NPR says he will.
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NSS on Warsi’s theocratic nonsense
Why is the British Government courting the Holy See in this way? Why should the last absolute theocracy in Europe be invited to participate in the affairs of the British Government?
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BHA responds to Warsi’s attack on secularism
“It is not secular organisations which lobby to maintain privilege and have exemption from laws – like equality laws – that should affect everyone equally.”
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Can one adviser explain women to David Cameron?
No, says a Guardian panel. What infuriates Pragna Patel is that the issue of gender equality should already be at the heart of policymaking in government.
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Archbish Dolan threatens secularism
Timothy Dolan told a meeting of the pope and his fellow cardinals that they must spread the
faith with joy, love — and blood if necessary. -
Cranston school committee votes not to appeal
The atmosphere in the auditorium was raucous at times. People pressing for the legal fight to continue wore signs around their necks that said “Appeal.”
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Afghan girls are punished for the misdeeds of men
Shakila, 8, was grabbed and held for a year because her uncle ran off with a married woman. This is a traditional Afghan form of justice. Well not so much justice…
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Why we have moral rules but don’t follow them
A twist on a classic psychology experiment suggests that our minds have two parallel moral systems, and they don’t always agree.
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School tells children not to threaten each other with hell
Result is uproar about failure to “respect” religious beliefs.
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The control-freaky ways of Mars Hill Church
To seal the deal, the prospective member must formally agree to submit to the “authority” of the Mars Hill leadership.
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Nick Cohen at the Rally for Free Expression
In 1936 no newspaper would publish news of Wallis Simpson; now no newspaper will publish the Danish cartoons. This is not progress.
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Egypt: FGM is rife despite ban
“Of course we fear this new parliament won’t tackle issues like FGM because already there are extremists who want FGM unlike the previous regime.”
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Saudi religious cops arrest over 140 for Valentine’s Day
The Organisation for Promoting Virtue and Discouraging Evil says officers have punished those caught so far.
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Virginia House passes fetal personhood bill
The House of Delegates voted 66-32 in favor of defining the word person under state law to include unborn children “from the moment of conception.”