Keen to see children die as martyrs.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Simon Blackburn on Bernard Williams
He believed science had a title to knowledge independent of practitioners’ culture and values.
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Moment of Truthiness
Colbert satirizes the intellectual and social myopia afflicting the Bush admin and many Americans.
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Turkish-Armenian Writer Murdered
Newspaper editor Hrant Dink was convicted in 2005 of ‘insulting Turkish identity.’
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Obituary: Hrant Dink
One of dozens of writers charged under controversial laws against ‘insulting Turkishness.’
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Feminism and ‘Will and Grace’ Caused 9/11!
‘It’s nice to see the cultural-relativist shoe back on the far-right foot.’
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Steven Weinberg Reviews The God Delusion
Persistence of belief in a particular religion is aided if that religion teaches that God punishes disbelief.
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Good Girls Don’t Need HPV Vaccine
Only sluts need it, so don’t vaccinate your daughters; if they get HPV, they’re sluts, so they deserve it.
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Dawkins on Why ‘Tolerance’ is not Enough
Opposition to stem-cell research, abortion, contraception are all religiously inspired prohibitions.
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Dreams of an Empty Room
When the piles of books and papers get too tall – put everything in a box, then find a place for the box.
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Intelligent Design Goes Scientific
Maybe if it does ‘experiments,’ federal judges will let it into science classrooms.
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Peter Singer on a Dubious Distinction
Refusal of burdensome treatment okay (except in Italy); why is assisted refusal not okay?
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The Market Summary is Phatic Communication
A message without any real content, just there for the sake of communicating something.
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Ministers Get Science Wrong, Block Research
Researchers explained hybrid embryos to ministers several times, but the research is ‘unpopular.’
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Debate on Human-animal Embryos for Research
Colin Blakemore notes absence of evidence of harm and potential for life-saving research.
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Public Debate on Hybrid Embryos
Scientists say the research could provide cures; opponents say it ‘tampers with nature,’ is unethical.
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Hybrid Embryos Pro and Con
The reasons against are noticeably…thin.
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Nigel Warburton Interviews Simon Blackburn
‘Good philosophy always has had to take some nourishment from surrounding politics, moral concerns, and science.’
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Behold, a Conservative Atheist
Who got frustrated with the preening piety of conservative pundits.
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Dennett on Overconfidence of ‘Listening to God’
Inflating declarations of good intent with religious rhetoric about God being on our side is obscene.