And ‘Darwinism’ is a religion.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Graffiti of the Wandjina not Allowed
Depicting the Wandjina without permission would traditionally have resulted in spearing.
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Moroccan Journalists Prosecuted for Jokes
Government says attacking religion is one of the most serious offences a journalist can commit.
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Howard Gardner on Peter Kramer on Freud
‘No reader of Kramer alone would appreciate the extent to which Freud airs doubts.’ Hmm.
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Alain de Botton on Philosophy for Adolescents
‘The book ends with the reassuring news that philosophy can change your life for the better.’
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Getting it all Wrong
By tutting at culture of conformity while conforming all the same.
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‘Desperate Crossing’ Gets Things Wrong
‘Instead of discussion and analysis of evidence, we see its mangling to conform with modern sentiment.’
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Carlin Romano on ‘Books’ About Ann Coulter
They have to be better if they want to make a dent.
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Martha Nussbaum on Public Philosophy
US a difficult place for public philosophy because the media are so sensationalistic and anti-intellectual.
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Utopian Dreams Ultimately Maddeningly Vague
Tobias Jones fails to interrogate the doctrinal element of religion.
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Kahneman and Renshon on Why Hawks Win
People have deep decision-making biases, and almost all favor conflict rather than concession.
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Hubble Telescope Data on Dark Matter
Suggest an invisible scaffold around which the ordinary matter of stars and galaxies has formed.
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Squeamishness Can Increase Suffering
A C Grayling notes we sometimes spare our own feelings at the expense of someone else’s.
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It Was Postmodernist Irony You Know
Who is codding whom?
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Umran Javed’s Exciting Past
Defending free speech since 2003.
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Joan Bakewell Chats with Haleh Afshar
Islamophobia says you treat women so badly, a hideous cliché; do you get much Islamophobia now?
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Soundbites Okay, Cartoons not Okay
‘Muslim activists’ said demonstrators were merely expressing anger, not literally calling for murder.
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Ashcroft Fuzzy on Constitution
Former Attorney General urges legislators to pray; scary people agree on revealed truth.
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Tobias Jones Faces the End
‘Secular fundamentalists’ want the eradication of all believers from the face of the earth.
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Ian Hacking on Biosocial Groups and Identity
Drive to find genetic underpinnings for all things human is fueling fascination with biosocial gruops.