Possible Ice On Mars Seen By Phoenix Lander Robotic Arm Camera

ScienceDaily -- Scientists have discovered what may be ice that was exposed when soil was blown away as NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars last Sunday, May 25. The possible ice appears in an image the robotic arm camera took underneath the lander, near a footpad.

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E.T.? It's Hard To See In Hyped Video

The video was played at a downtown Denver news conference, after days of buildup from a Denver resident who is circulating a petition calling on the city to create an "Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission" to deal with reports of alien encounters. The petition drive's organizer, Jeff Peckman, hopes to get 4,000 signatures to place his initiative on the ballot.

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Teacher Tortures, Kills Boy

Multan, Pakistan - A blind seven-year-old student at an Islamic school in eastern Pakistan has died after his teacher punished him for not learning the Qu'ran, police said on Friday.

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Official: NATO Soldier Killed In Afghan Bombing

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide car bomber killed one NATO soldier and wounded at least seven other people, an Afghan official said on Saturday.

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Indonesian Police Reports Outline Terror Links

Members and associates of Jemaah Islamiyah are blamed for a string of suicide bombings in Southeast Asia that have together killed more than 240 people, most of them Western tourists, as well as a number of failed terror plots. The group had ties with al-Qaida and other foreign extremists before 2002, but most experts have thought the links had been broken since then.

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Egyptian Police Official: Weapons Cache Discovered

(AP) Boxes of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft missiles have been found in a mountain in the northern Sinai peninsula, an Egyptian police official said Saturday.

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Key Provincial Elections Split Sunni Arabs In Iraq

(AP) Plans for provincial elections in Iraq by the fall have already set Sunni Arabs against each other as factions prepare to compete for control of the local governments that will wield considerable power over security and finances.

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Outrage As French Judge Annuls Muslim Marriage Over Bride's Virginity Lie

The annulment of a young Muslim couple's marriage because the bride was not a virgin has caused anger in France, prompting President Sarkozy's party to call for a change in the law.

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Turkish Christians In Distress

A surge of religiously motivated violence has resulted in the violent murder of three church members and brazen attacks on priests and has created a general sense of isolation and trepidation amongst Turkish Christians. This has been compounded by a growing nationalist sentiment in Turkish society that Christians seek to undermine the nation's sovereignty by promoting a faith that is seen by many as Western.

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Alzheimer's Plaques Cleared Up In Mice

ScienceDaily -- Blocking a common immune system response cleared up plaques associated with Alzheimer's Disease and enabled treated mice to recover some lost memory, Yale University researchers report May 30 in the journal Nature Medicine.

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Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Naproxen May Be Equally Effective At Reducing Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease

U.S. Soldiers Launch Campaign To Convert Iraqis To Christianity

Some U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq appear to have launched a major initiative to covert thousands of Iraqi citizens to Christianity by distributing Bibles and other fundamentalist Christian literature translated into Arabic to Iraqi Muslims.

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Marine Removed From Duty Over Bible Coin Reports

U.S. reassigns Marine for passing out Bible verses to Muslims

Insurgents Hide in Tanker to Attack Iraqi Police

In Iraq, suicide bombing kills 16

The Taliban: An Organizational Analysis

Despite their quick overthrow in 2002 by a small coalition of U.S. forces and anti-Taliban groups, the Taliban has not gone away. In fact, today, in the face of thousands of NATO and U.S. troops, a growing Afghan National Army (ANA), and a popularly elected government, the movement's influence in Afghanistan is increasing. It continues to wage an insurgency that has prevented the new government from establishing legitimacy, and it has created massive unrest in Pakistan. Clearly, it behooves us to know something more about this archaic but formidable enemy."

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US terror drive stalled in political quagmire

NATO Chief in Afghanistan Says Pakistan's Tack on Militants Is Not as Expected

Worshippers Shot Dead At Yemen Mosque

(CNN) -- A man opened fire at a Shiite mosque Friday in northern Yemen, killing seven and wounding 11, state-run news agency SABA said.

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'Moment' In Schools Banned For Now

Federal judge to weigh constitutionality of law requiring silent reflection.

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South Carolina Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, 10 Commandments

The Boy Scouts' Free-Speech Fight

The City of Philadelphia wants the Boy Scouts to be prepared -- prepared, that is, to change their views on homosexuality or get out of the city-owned building they have occupied for 80 years.

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Scientology Protest: Liberty Challenges Police Over Summons

UK -- The police force that issued a teenager with a court summons for calling Scientology a cult could face a judicial review over the legality of its policing guidelines.

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Texas Takes DNA Samples Of Polygamist Leader

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Texas authorities have collected DNA swabs from jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs for an ongoing criminal investigation, an official said Friday.

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Vatican Sends Threat Over Women Priests

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- The Vatican announced Thursday in a general decree that it will excommunicate anyone who would attempt to ordain a woman as a priest and the woman herself.

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Storm Erupts Over 'Virginity' Divorce

FRANCE plunged into a heated debate about its marriage laws today after learning that a court had annulled the union of two Muslims because the husband said the wife was not the virgin she had claimed to be.

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Fossil Reveals Oldest Live Birth

A fossil fish uncovered in Australia is the oldest-known example of a mother giving birth to live young, scientists have reported in the journal Nature.

The 380 million-year-old specimen has been preserved with an embryo still attached by its umbilical cord.

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Mars' Water Appears To Have Been Too Salty To Support Life

Synthetic Copycat Of Living Cell Underway: Life, But Not As We Know It?

Altruism In Social Insects Is A Family Affair

The contentious debate about why insects evolved to put the interests of the colony over the individual has been reignited by new research from the University of Leeds, showing that they do so to increase the chances that their genes will be passed on.

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Stonehenge Was A Place Of Burial, Researchers Say

WASHINGTON (AP) -- England's enigmatic Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings and for several hundred years thereafter, new research indicates.

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'Uncontacted Tribe' Sighted In Amazon

(CNN) -- Researchers have produced aerial photos of jungle dwellers who they say are among the few remaining peoples on Earth who have had no contact with the outside world.

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Large Hadron Collider Enables Hunt For 'God' Particle To Complete 'Theory Of Everything'

ScienceDaily -- When the world's most powerful subatomic particle collider begins gathering data this summer, it will be a major milestone for a number of University of Washington scientists.

--snip--

Physicists the world over are hoping that Atlas will help unlock some deep scientific mysteries and perhaps even lead to discovery of the Higgs boson, sometimes called "the God particle" because it is believed its discovery will refine the understanding of exactly how the universe came to be and how it functions, and how mass came to be in the first place.

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Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Mars lander begins its arm exercises

Religion Is A Product Of Evolution, Software Suggests

By distilling religious belief into a genetic predisposition to pass along unverifiable information, the program predicts that religion will flourish.

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Resource supply and the evolution of public-goods cooperation in bacteria

Marines Pass Out Gospel Verse To Iraqi Muslims, Iraqis Say

Fallujah, Iraq -- At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

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Matt Taibbi On The Daily Show

Taibbi talks about joining the ranks America's conspiratorial fringes to write "The Great Derangement".

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Enlightened Consumerism

Stranger in a Strange Land

Rapture Ready [Excerpt]

Crucifixion And Ice Cream

Amid cell phones ringing, video cams rolling and ice cream melting under the Florida sun, a blood-spattered Jesus stumbles through the crowd on his way to Golgotha, where nasty Roman soldiers strip him, nail him to the cross and crucify him -- while perspiring tourists look on in Bermuda shorts.

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Car Dealer Regrets Ads Urging Non-Christians To 'Sit Down And Shut up'

A radio ad that tells non-Christians to "sit down and shut up" has prompted a flood of phone calls to the Kern County car dealer who paid for the ads and now regrets airing them.

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Earlier:

Car dealership advert tells atheists to 'shut up'

Wisconsin Sheriff Has No Right To Impose Religion On Employees, Americans United Tells Appeals Court

A Wisconsin sheriff has no right to compel his employees to attend presentations by an evangelical Christian group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told a federal appeals court.

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AU Urges IRS To Investigate Religious Group's Fund-Raising For Washington State Gubernatorial Candidate

The Internal Revenue Service should investigate a Washington state religious group that engaged in fund-raising for a gubernatorial candidate, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Louisiana's Latest Creationism Bill Moves To House Floor

On May 21, 2008, Senate Bill 733 (PDF), the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act, was unanimously passed by the Louisiana House Education Committee. Before passage, the bill was amended slightly from the form which passed the Senate on April 29, 2008, as previously reported by NCSE. It now moves to the full House.

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Home-schoolers learn to argue against evolution

Evolution Debate Pops Up in Maine

District urged to abandon evolution

No SAD 59 vote on evolution question

Gay Marriage Advances In Calif., New York

California Sets June 17 As Date For First Weddings; New York To Recognize Gay Marriages

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New York to recognize gay marriages

Pastor Accused Of Staging Crash, Killing Rancher To Inherit Millions

FRESNO, California (AP) -- The Rev. Howard Douglas Porter says he tried to brake before his truck plunged into an irrigation ditch, and that he made a desperate effort to save his elderly passenger from drowning in the mire.

But prosecutors in a murder trial scheduled to begin opening statements Thursday say the country preacher staged the crash as part of a far-fetched plot to kill the old rancher and inherit his millions.

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Vatican Unveils Newly Restored Pagan Tomb

(AP) The Vatican unveiled the largest and most luxurious of the pagan tombs in the necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday after nearly a year of restoration work.

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Church Of Scotland Mediators To Quell Disputes

THE Church of Scotland will hire mediators to handle mutinous parishioners clashing with ministers over the interpretation of Christian doctrine.

A third of the kirk's 1,200 congregations are in squabbles between church-goers and ministers, says a report calling for independent "peace-makers" to be used to quell disputes.

The infighting has been blamed on the growing influence of atheist writers such as Richard Dawkins, the evolutionist whose book The God Delusion challenges religious faith and the "irrational" belief in a supernatural creator.

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Nepal Declared Secular, Federal Democratic Republic

Kathmandu: Nepal on Wednesday scripted a new chapter in its turbulent history as the new Constituent Assembly abolished the 240-year-old monarchy and declared the country a "secular, federal democratic republic."

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Secular Turks Attack Religious Council's Code For Women

A powerful state body regulating the role of Islam in Turkey has come under fire over an article on sexual behaviour that equated flirting with adultery and condemned women for wearing perfume.

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Group Cites Rights Violations In Gaza, West Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are increasingly violating human rights in their territories in a quest for control, a human rights group said Tuesday.

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Hundreds of New Testaments torched in Israel

CIA: Killing Bin Laden Won't End Al Qaeda

(AP) The United States is making "a big and continual push" to capture or kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but his demise will not end the organization's menace, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Tuesday in an Associated Press interview.

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Are terror groups pursuing the mentally disabled?

Female Al-Qa'eda Supporter Uses Internet As 'Bomb' To Recruit Others To Wage Jihad On West

Malika El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian of Moroccan origin, has been convicted in Switzerland for her part in running terror websites showing execution videos and promoting statements from al-Qa'eda linked groups.

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Al Qaeda Warrior Uses Internet to Rally Women

Cell Phone Bomb Kills 2 Near Philippine Air Base

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- A homemade bomb exploded outside an air force base in the southern Philippines on Thursday, killing two people and wounding 19 others in a possible attack by al Qaeda-linked militants, police said.

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Dozens Killed In Afghan Carnage

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) -- A dozen policemen and 12 civilians including three children were killed in violence Tuesday, officials said, in one of insurgency-hit Afghanistan's bloodiest days in weeks.

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Taliban turn to Iraq-style tactics to take Kabul districts

Afghan prison nightmare may be coming to an end for Pervez

NEW: Car Bomb Targets Troops, Kills 3 Afghans

Suicide Bomber Kills 16 People In Northwestern Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday in a crowd of police recruits in northwestern Iraq, killing at least 16 men and wounding 14 others, an official said.

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Suicide Bomber Kills Iraqi Police Recruits

Boys trained for suicide attacks

Iraqi army: 6 teens trained as suicide bombers

Al Sadr: Let Iraqis decide on U.S. troops

Sadr Pursues Image to Match His Power

Iraqis losing patience with militiamen

Keeping the Sunni-Shi'a Peace

U.S.-Iraqi Forces Given Ominous Warning

A religion hijacked

Germany's CDU Interested in Accepting Refugees from Iraq [Christians Only]

Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah

Where No Mars Probe Has Gone Before

When NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander sets down in the Martian arctic on Sunday, it will open a new, icy frontier for scientists back on Earth.

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Does Time Run Backward In Other Universes?

One of the most basic facts of life is that the future looks different from the past. But on a grand cosmological scale, they may look the same.

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New Statistical Method Reveals Surprises About Our Ancestry

ScienceDaily -- A statistical approach to studying genetic variation promises to shed new light on the history of human migration.

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Roadside Bomb In Iraq Injures 7 Marines

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Seven U.S. Marines were wounded by a roadside bomb that also wounded two Iraqi police officers and killed a civilian interpreter in the Anbar province city of Falluja Friday morning, according to the U.S. military.

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Imams in Iraq denounce Quran shooting

Al-Sadr lawmakers denounce Iraqi government

Car Bomb Kills Police Officer In Peshawar

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A Pakistani police officer died and two other were wounded when a car bomb exploded Saturday morning in Nasir Bagh, about 15 miles from Peshawar, a Peshawar police official said.

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Police Facing Action Over Teenage Protester's Arrest

A HUMAN rights group has pledged to take action against a police force which tried to prosecute a teenager for branding Scientology a "cult".

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Vatican Talks On Argentine Church-State Showdown

Buenos Aires -- An Argentine cardinal is traveling to the Vatican for consultations about a Church-state crisis in that country.

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Brain's 'Trust Machinery' Identified

ScienceDaily -- The brain centers triggered by a betrayal of trust have been identified by researchers, who found they could suppress such triggering and maintain trust by administering the brain chemical oxytocin. The researchers said their findings not only offer basic insights into the neural machinery underlying trust; the results may also help in understanding the neural basis of social disorders such as phobias and autism.

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Five Things Humans No Longer Need

Federal Court Rules Against Military Gays Policy

The military cannot automatically discharge people because they're gay, a federal appeals court ruled in the case of a decorated flight nurse who sued the Air Force over her dismissal.

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Californians narrowly reject gay marriage

Two men exchange vows in Norfolk

Cross Could Adorn State License Plates

COLUMBIA, SC -- The cross could soon grace a state specialty license plate.

But if the Legislature endorses the new plate, which would say "I Believe" across the bottom and carry the image of a cross in front of a stained-glass window, the state could end up in court.

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Iran 'Plans To Destroy Baha'i Community'

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A top Baha'i official has criticized Iran's claim that the six imprisoned leaders of the religious minority were held for security reasons and not because of their faith.

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Powerful Iraqi Cleric Flirting With Shiite Militant Message

(AP) Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible -- a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad.

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7 Killed By Suicide Bomber In Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Seven people, including four Afghan soldiers and two children, died when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in Afghanistan's southeastern Khost province Friday morning..

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Drive to clean up TV leaves soap fans fearing for their one respite from reality

Gaza Crossings Rocked By Gunbattle, Suicide Blast

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Two suicide bombers died when their explosives-laden truck detonated Thursday near a border crossing in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said.

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'Recent Convert To Islam' Is Arrested After Bomb Explosion In Restaurant

A Muslim convert with a history of mental illness who was "preyed upon and radicalised" injured himself yesterday after a device he was carrying exploded in a busy shopping centre in Exeter.

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UK police: Restaurant bomber was 'radicalized'

Phoenix Spacecraft On Course For May 25 Mars Landing

ScienceDaily -- With three days and 3 million miles left to fly before arriving at Mars, NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is on track for its destination in the Martian arctic.

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Mars Express Mission Controllers Ready For NASA Phoenix Landing

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Jupiter gets a brand-new Red Spot

'Telectroscope' peers across the Atlantic

Louisiana Bill Sneaks Religion Into Science Classes, Says Americans United

A bill approved yesterday by a Louisiana legislative panel brings religion into science classrooms and undercuts fundamental constitutional principles, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Supernova Birth Seen For First Time

ScienceDaily -- Astronomers have seen the aftermath of spectacular stellar explosions known as supernovae before, but until now no one has witnessed a star dying in real time. While looking at another object in the spiral galaxy NGC 2770, using NASA's orbiting Swift telescope, Carnegie-Princeton fellows Alicia Soderberg and Edo Berger detected an extremely luminous blast of X-rays released by a supernova explosion. They alerted 8 other orbiting and on-ground telescopes to turn their eyes on this first-of-its-kind event.

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Observation Of X-rays From Birth Of Supernova Leads To All-out Effort To Record Stellar Death

Cosmic Supermagnet Spreads Odd Morse Code

The Mouse That Roared: Pipsqueak Star Unleashes Monster Flare

Astronomers Search For Orphan Stars Using Newly Upgraded Telescope

Missing Matter Of Universe Found; Cosmic Web Discovered

Storm Winds Blow In Jupiter's Little Red Spot

Jupiter: Turbulent Storms May Be Sign Of Global Climate Change

Genetically Altered Bacteria For Data Storage

ScienceDaily -- US researchers have created 'living computers' by genetically altering bacteria. The findings of the research demonstrate that computing in living cells is feasible, opening the door to a number of applications including data storage and as a tool for manipulating genes for genetic engineering.

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Diamond-Like Crystals Discovered In Brazilian Beetle Solve Issue For Future Optical Computers

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New Robot Walks Like A Human

Grasshopper-Inspired Jumping Microrobot Can Make Staggering Leaps

Debate Over Origin Of Frogs And Salamanders Settled With Discovery Of Missing Link

ScienceDaily -- The description of an ancient amphibian that millions of years ago swam in quiet pools and caught mayflies on the surrounding land in Texas has set to rest one of the greatest current controversies in vertebrate evolution. The discovery was made by a research team led by scientists at the University of Calgary.

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First Dinosaur Tracks On Arabian Peninsula

World First Discovery: Genes From Extinct Tasmanian Tiger Function In A Mouse

Social Workers Turned Away From FLDS Ranch

ELDORADO, Texas (CNN) -- Texas Child Protective Services workers were turned back from a polygamist sect's ranch Wednesday when they tried to investigate reports that some children remained at the compound, a lawyer for the sect said.

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Exorcists Are Summoned From Abroad To Drive The Demons Away

Hundreds of Germans, tortured by inner voices, are on the search for priests who can free them from what they believe to be the grip of the Devil, according to an extraordinary radio documentary that has stirred an awkward debate about exorcism in the Catholic Church.

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Publisher To Suspend Cartoon Sales After Muslims Say It Insults Islam

CAIRO -- A popular Japanese cartoon is sparking off outcries in the Muslim world where some fear it could fuel a backlash not seen since European papers carried cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and a Dutch lawmaker released a controversial film earlier this year.

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3 Dead In Afghan 'Quran Shooting' Protest

(CNN) -- Two civilians and a Lithuanian soldier were killed when a protest outside a NATO base in western Afghanistan against the Quran desecration incident in Iraq turned violent on Thursday, a spokesman for the alliance's military in Kabul said.

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Taliban Make Afghan Stability a Distant Goal

Our Mission Is Liberation, Says Somali Islamist Leader

The senior leader of Somalia's Islamist opposition vowed yesterday to expel US-backed Ethiopian troops by force and create an Islamic republic in the war-torn country on the Horn of Africa.

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Pakistan Signs Truce With Militants

Pakistan's government on Wednesday signed a controversial peace agreement with hard-line Islamic militants in a picturesque northern valley, with the government accepting the introduction of Islamic "Shariah" law to the region and agreeing to free dozens of prisoners.

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Israel-Syria Peace Deal Could Threaten Iran, Hezbollah

ANKARA, Turkey -- Newly launched peace talks between Syria and Israel face daunting odds, but a breakthrough could bring fundamental change to the Mideast by returning the Golan Heights to Syria, cutting off support for Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, and diminishing Iran's regional influence.

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Israel and Syria's Secret Talks

'A Huge Day'

U.S. Airstrike Kills Iraqi Children

(CBS/AP) A U.S. helicopter strike north of Baghdad killed eight civilians, including several children, an Iraqi police official said Thursday. The U.S. military said the strike targeted al Qaeda fighters but acknowledged children died.

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Has Maliki Conquered Sadr City?

Non-Religious Summer Camps Develop Niche

Caitlin, 16, and Elizabeth, 10, go to Camp Quest, which in 1996 created a niche getaway for children who are agnostic, atheist, or just not sure what to believe yet.

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16% Of US Science Teachers Are Creationists

Despite a court-ordered ban on the teaching of creationism in US schools, about one in eight high-school biology teachers still teach it as valid science, a survey reveals. And, although almost all teachers also taught evolution, those with less training in science - and especially evolutionary biology - tend to devote less class time to Darwinian principles.

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Irmo High Principal Quitting Over Gay-Straight Alliance

IRMO, SC (WIS) - The principal of Irmo High School will announce his resignation Wednesday after being asked to allow the creation of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at the school.

--snip--

"Allowing the formation of this club on our campus conflicts with my professional beliefs and religious convictions."

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Boy, 12, Beheads Man In Al Qaeda Video

Amid cries of 'Allah o Akbar' (god is great), a young boy, barely 12 years old, lifts his machete and strikes at his victim who is lying on the ground, all tied up for the kill.

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Bin Laden Calls on Egyptians To Overthrow Mubarak, Lift Gaza Blockade

Kenyan Witchhunt Leaves 11 Burned To Death

(AP) Officials say a mob in western Kenya has burned to death 11 people suspected of being witches and wizards.

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Spanish Catholics Rise Against State

Once they governed an empire, their crusaders and missionaries spreading the faith to newly discovered corners of the world. Today the Catholics of Spain are an angry and fearful group....

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Anti-clergy protest marks pope trip to Italian north

Gay Student Who Faced Execution In Iran Granted Asylum In Britain

A gay man who faces the death penalty in Iran has won asylum in the UK after protests prompted the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, to reconsider his case.

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Teenager Faces Prosecution For Calling Scientology 'Cult'

A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word "cult" to describe the Church of Scientology.

The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion.

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Church of Scientology: Boy faces court for 'cult not religion' placard

Museum Director On Trial For Blasphemy

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian prosecutors on Tuesday charged Yuri Samodurov, head of the Moscow museum, with "inciting hatred" and "offending human dignity" in the March 2007 exhibition "Forbidden Art," his lawyer said.

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Afghan Journalist Appeals Death Sentence

PUL-E CHARKHI, Afghanistan (AP) -- The prison uniform Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh wears is emblazoned with crudely painted black scales of justice, but the young journalist insists on the eve of his appeal that he has yet to see justice done.

A court in January found the 24-year-old Kambakhsh guilty of distributing an article that questioned the Muslim practice of polygamy. It handed him the maximum sentence on the charge of insulting Islam -- death.

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Afghan reporter facing death sentence denies blasphemy

I was tortured to confess, Pervez tells appeal court

And...

Two NATO-led soldiers slain in Afghanistan

Appeal Against Woman Renouncing Islam In Malaysia

The Malaysian government has said it would challenge a court decision allowing Tan Ean Huan, a Chinese woman who called herself Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah as a Muslim , to renounce Islam and revert to Buddhism.

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The Saudi Woman Who Wants A Divorce

After 30 years of marriage, cynics might say most husbands and wives would have seen quite enough of each other, thank you very much.

But not in the case of one Saudi Arabian man who managed to live with his wife for three decades without setting eyes on her face.

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Iraqi: 'I Killed Her With A Machine Gun'

BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- The man, blindfolded and handcuffed, crouches in the corner of the detention center while an Iraqi soldier grills him about rampant crimes being carried out by gangs in the southern city of Basra.

--snip--

Women bore the brunt of the militias' extremist ideologies. The militants spray-painted threats on walls across Basra, warning women to wear headscarves and not to wear make-up. Women were sometimes executed for the vague charge of doing something "un-Islamic."

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See also:

How picture phones have fuelled frenzy of honour killing in Iraq

Iraqi Forces Move Into Sadr City; Violence Elsewhere

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Attackers launched assaults across Iraq over the past 24 hours, killing 11 police recruits and six civilians, including a 7-year-old.

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Iraqi troops pour into Sadr City

Radical Islamists Gain In Kuwait Vote, No Women Elected

Radical Sunni Islamists made a strong showing in Kuwait's legislative election and minority Shiites gained one more seat, reflecting heightened sectarian sentiment and conservatism in the oil-rich Gulf state.

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Facts About The Golan Heights

(AP) Israel and Syria said Wednesday they are holding peace talks through Turkish mediators on a dispute that centers on the Golan Heights.

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Israel-Hamas Truce In Gaza Could Take Effect Later This Week

The cease-fire (tahdiyeh) being negotiated between Israel and the Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip is expected to go into effect in a number of days, following developments at the end of meetings held by Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday with the Egyptian leadership.

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Lebanon Agreement Buoys Hizballah

The new agreement broadly gives Hizballah what it wants: legitimacy as an armed state-within-a-state.

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Somali Gunmen Seize 2 Italian Aid Workers

(AP) Gunmen seized two Somali aid workers and their Somali colleague in an overnight attack, a witness said on Wednesday.

--snip--

Somali insurgents vowed to target foreign aid workers after a U.S. missile strike killed a the head of the Islamist al-Shabab militia, Aden Hashi Ayro, and 24 other people earlier this month. Ayro was reputed to be the top al-Qaida commander in Somalia and was linked to a string of attacks on foreign aid workers and journalists.

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Morocco Arrests Alleged Terror Plotters

RABAT, Morocco (AP) -- Eleven people with alleged ties to Iraq's insurgency have been arrested on suspicion of plotting attacks in Morocco and Belgium, the state news agency reported Monday.

--snip--

The suspects are accused of having links to cells sending fighters to Iraq's insurgency and to camps run by an Algeria-based militant group that calls itself al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa. Authorities believe they were planning attacks in Morocco and Belgium, the report said.

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Virtual Telescope Opens Night Sky

Twirling galaxies, exotic nebulae and exploding stars are now just a mouse click away for amateur astronomers.

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Physicists Demonstrate How Information Can Escape From Black Holes

Simple Artificial Cell Created From Scratch

ScienceDaily -- A team of Penn State researchers has developed a simple artificial cell with which to investigate the organization and function of two of the most basic cell components: the cell membrane and the cytoplasm--the gelatinous fluid that surrounds the structures in living cells. The work could lead to the creation of new drugs that take advantage of properties of cell organization to prevent the development of diseases. The team's findings will be published later this month in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

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Parrot Fossil 55 Million Years Old Discovered

ScienceDaily -- Palaeontologists have discovered fossil remains in Scandinavia of parrots dating back 55 million years. Reported May 14 in the journal Palaeontology, the fossils indicate that parrots once flew wild over what is now Norway and Denmark.

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Rapid, Dramatic 'Reverse Evolution' Documented

Climbing As Easy As Walking For Smaller Primates

Humanity Was Genetically Divided For 100,000 Years

Texas Megachurch Minister Busted In Internet Sex Sting

BRYAN, Texas -- A minister from a Dallas-area Baptist megachurch was caught in an Internet sex sting and charged with online solicitation of a minor, police said Friday.

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Former Altar Boy Seeks Lien On Church Building

BURLINGTON, Vt. - A former altar boy who won an $8.7 million judgment against the Diocese of Burlington in a priest sex case wants a lien on the Vermont church's headquarters to make sure it gets paid.

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Evangelical Group Seeks Separation Of Religion From Politics

A group of prominent U.S. evangelical Christians is urging other Evangelicals to step back from partisan politics and avoid becoming ''useful idiots'' for any political party.

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Islamist Fighters Seize Town In Somalia

(AP) A human rights leader says Islamist fighters have seized a southern town in Somalia that is a major agricultural center, compelling hundreds of refugees to flee.

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Iran's Arrest Of Baha'is Condemned

(CNN) -- Six Baha'i leaders in Iran were seized and imprisoned this week, the religious group said. The act prompted condemnation and concern from the movement and a top American religious freedom panel.

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Iraq Detains 1,000 In Militant Crackdown

(AP) Nearly 1,000 people have been detained in a sweep to break al Qaeda in Iraq's sway in Iraq's third largest city, Mosul, but many of the fighters have fled to nearby areas, where troops are hunting for them, Iraqi officials said Saturday.

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U.S. Soldier Uses Quran For Target Practice; Military Apologizes

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday.

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See also:

Behind the Scenes: Apology for a desecration

Arab Village's Fence War Wins Some Israeli Hearts

(AP) Every Friday for more than three years, schoolteacher Abdullah Abu Rahma has grabbed a bullhorn and a Palestinian flag and marched a few hundred yards from his West Bank village to a 10-foot-tall mesh fence and an inevitable confrontation with the Israeli army.

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Church Trying To 'Limit' Abuse Debate

THE Sydney bishop disowned by Australia's Catholic bishops as failing to understand basic church teaching says the church is trying to restrict debate on sexual abuse.

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Pope Restates Gay Marriage Ban After California Vote

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, speaking a day after a California court ruled in favour of same-sex marriage, firmly restated on Friday the Roman Catholic Church's position that only unions between a man and a woman are moral.

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Humanists Praise California Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

Humanists across the nation expressed jubilation in the wake of today's California high court decision in favor of same-sex marriage. "Despite resistance, times are clearly changing," declared American Humanist Association (AHA) executive director Roy Speckhardt. "Basic equality cannot be forever denied, and this historic decision points the way to a brighter future for all."

Jason Frye, president of the Humanist Association of San Diego, had this to add. "This is a choice day, not only for the people of California, but all of Americans. The Courts have struck down Jim Crow Marriage."

Speaking from Florida, AHA president Mel Lipman called this decision "another major step forward in the history of American marriage law. Denying marriage to same-sex couples has been inconsistent with individual liberty and freedom all along. The notion of second-class citizenship has no legitimate place in the American ethos. This is why we cannot continue to tolerate the withholding of equal rights on the basis of sexual orientation."

Lipman continued, "Government recognized marriage is secular, not sacramental. Regardless of our many and varied religious beliefs as a nation, marriage conveys legal benefits that cannot be constitutionally bounded by any particular religious bias." The California court validated that view in its opinion that government must recognize same-sex marriage rights but, "no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiate will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs."

The American Humanist Association has long pushed for equal marriage laws throughout the United States.

Speckhardt concluded "Same-sex families are no less loving, no less stable, no less valuable to society. We'll continue this struggle until all Americans are respected equally throughout this land and the tide of liberty washes away any remaining vestiges of discrimination."

LINK

See also:

California Marriage Decision Respects Boundaries Between Religion And Government, Says Americans United

California high court rules same-sex marriage ban violates state constitution

California Court Affirms Right to Gay Marriage

Quotations from and Reactions on the California Same-Sex Marriage Decision

Magisterial Conviction

FFRF Complaint Halts Evangelical Talk In High School

A timely complaint by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, acting on a tip from a resident, halted a scheduled evangelical talk during the lunch hour at Stoughton High School in Stoughton, Wis., earlier this week.

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Elissa Wall Speaks Out About Her 'Stolen Innocence'

The recent raid on Warren Jeffs' Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas, which resulted in the removal of more than 400 children from their homes, has thrust allegations of widespread child abuse at the polygamous sect into the national spotlight.

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Indian Village Proud After Double 'Honor Killing'

BALLA, India (Reuters) - Five armed men burst into the small room and courtyard at dawn, just as 21-year-old, 22-week pregnant, Sunita was drying her face on a towel.

They punched and kicked her stomach as she called out for her sleeping boyfriend "Jassa", 22-year-old Jasbir Singh, witnesses said. When he woke, both were dragged into waiting cars, driven away and strangled.

Their bodies, half-stripped, were laid out on the dirt outside Sunita's father's house for all to see, a sign that the family's "honor" had been restored by her cold-blooded murder.

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Alleged Bin Laden Tape Urges Muslims To Liberate Palestine

(CNN) -- A blunt new statement attributed to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urges his followers to liberate Palestine. The statement's release coincides with Israel's 60th anniversary.

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India's Jaipur Bombing Called "Terror Plot"

A series of attacks in the Indian city may have been intended to incite religious fury between Hindus and Muslims. Some Indian officials suspect terrorist groups from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

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Suicide Bomber Kills 15 In Afghanistan

(CBS/AP) A suicide bomber wearing a burqa killed 15 people and wounding 22 others when he blew himself up Thursday in a crowded market in western Afghanistan, a provincial official said.

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Remaining Cult Members Quit Cave

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A handful of Russian doomsday cult members on Friday crawled out of the damp cave where they had holed up for months awaiting the end of the world after authorities removed two rotting corpses from their underground lair.

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Russian doomsday cult siege ends

New Center Launches "Secular Sunday Schools"

(Washington, D.C., May 14, 2008) The Kochhar Humanist Education Center (KHEC) was launched today by the American Humanist Association at a Washington DC press conference.

The new center is already developing curriculum for the humanist equivalent of Sunday schools, which include programs in ethics geared to serve the children of atheists, agnostics and freethinkers. It is also developing similar curriculums to serve high school and college students, parents and older adults. And to support this endeavor, the KHEC launched an online resource center, together with the first books of what will become a massive online freethought library. (Go to www.americanhumanist.org/khec/ to see it now.)

"Religious organizations have long had educational programs and institutions for passing on their values to each new generation. These have included Sunday schools, private religious schools and an abundance of resources for parents," said Dr. Bob Bhaerman, education coordinator of the KHEC. "Now it's time for nontheistic people--whether they call themselves humanists, atheists, agnostics or even identify with a more traditionally religious label--to more effectively share their values with future generations and deepen the understanding of those values among adults."

Those who spoke at the press conference were involved in the conception and creation of the KHEC. Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, spoke first. Dr. Bhaerman, who is from Columbus, Ohio, concluded the event. Also speaking were New York City businessman Pritpal Kochhar, a humanist Sikh and major funder of the center, and Maggie Ardiente, former board member and current activist with the Secular Student Alliance. Copies of their remarks are available online at www.americanhumanist.org/khec/.

Topics discussed included why the center is important in today's world, initial accomplishments and immediate plans, the rise of modern atheism and humanism that has spurred the development of the center, and the center's youth and student programs. Presenters also pointed to the "atheist Sunday School," an existing program of a chapter of the American Humanist Association that was covered by "Time" magazine and ABC "Nightline" in recent months.

A major focus of the center's current activities involves developing curriculum units, lesson plans and instructional approaches for all age levels. Such curriculums aim to create understanding and build knowledge about humanism--its philosophy, principles and aspirations--and encourage scientific thinking, rational values, as well as activism toward freedom and social justice. The center is also acquiring a relevant library of children's books and developing citizen action guides to get individuals to apply their humanism to current political, social and educational issues.

The online resource center utilizes compiled materials and will enable local groups and liberal religious congregations to adapt curriculum modules.
There will be an online discourse on humanist education as well as a vast library of books that will be available for reading online, downloading or securing on convenient CDs.

"Our hope is that this center will make humanist education accessible to all," said Roy Speckhardt. "Among other things, humanists see a need to defend minority faiths and philosophies from discrimination. And the best way to accomplish this is through education--not only education of people like us but also the wider public. We want to share our values with our children, refine our own sense of right and wrong, and promote understanding of our worldview among non-humanists. Thus we are working to fill a great need both inside and outside the humanist community."

LINK

God-Free Podcast Poised to Reach 20,000 Listeners

As atheism grows in popularity, Americans are increasingly seeking out programming centered on the topic. This month, two nonreligious organizations are teaming up to satisfy that audience with a podcast series about reason and compassion without belief in God.

"This isn't radio evangelism in reverse," said Duncan Crary, co-host of the Humanist Network News podcast. "We don't deliver atheist sermons and we don't proselytize. But we do interview some of the best minds of our day about religion, ethics and culture. And most of our guests openly identify as humanists or atheists."

The Humanist Network News is a monthly one-hour talk show podcast dedicated to humanist thought, with topics ranging from politics to pop culture. Produced by the Albany, N.Y.-based Institute for Humanist Studies, the two-and-a-half-year-old podcast has attracted more than 10,000 listeners per month since October.

The audience could soon double, thanks to a new partnership.

This April, the American Humanist Association (AHA) adopted the Humanist Network News as "the official podcast of the AHA." The oldest and largest humanist organization in the country, the American Humanist Association is promoting the show to its 10,000 members and 130 chapters and affiliate groups across the nation.

"We could have just created our own podcast," said AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt. "In the past, freethinkers and their organizations have been fiercely independent. But partnerships like this one are becoming more common, and they demonstrate a willingness among nonreligious Americans to work together on shared goals and to show their strength in numbers."

Speckhardt and Crary both see the podcast as a powerful tool to introduce humanism to the roughly 30 million Americans who report to have "no religion."

The Humanist Network News podcast has featured face-to-face interviews with such luminaries as Salman Rushdie, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Julia Sweeney (of Saturday Night Live fame).

This month, the Humanist Network News traveled to Harvard University to interview Greg Graffin, lead singer of the punk rock band Bad Religion.

On April 26, Graffin received the lifetime achievement award in cultural humanism, given by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, a local chapter of the AHA.

"A lot of podcasts feature hard-to-hear phone interviews," Crary said. "But we're out there interviewing people in person. The sound quality is better and it's more fun for the listeners because they feel like we're taking them along with us."

Using a portable setup, Crary and his co-host Jes Constantine have recorded interviews in all sorts of locations: celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz on a Harvard staircase, best-selling author Christopher Hitchens in a hotel bar, and folk singer Holly Near in a college campus alley. Other on-location interviews have featured children at a secularist summer camp and humanist students in India and Belgium.

Another feature that sets the podcast apart from similar programs is its audio advice column for humanists, "Sweet Reason." Salman Rushdie had his question answered by "Sweet Reason" last May.

"We're dealing with heavy topics like atheism, bioethics and the separation of religion and government," Crary said. "But we also have a laid back humorous side, too."

To listen to the Humanist Network News podcast, visit: http://humaniststudies.org/podcast or http://americanhumanist.org/podcast.

Transcripts of past programs are available.

For information, contact Duncan Crary, Institute for Humanist Studies director of communications, 518-432-7820 x 5 or Fred Edwords, American Humanist Association director of communications, (202) 238-9088.

LINK

Man Attacked Daughter For Religious Reasons, Court Told

New Zealand -- An Iraqi immigrant who attacked his daughter did so for religious reasons, a court was told today.

--snip--

Ishak, a Syrian Christian, went into his 20-year-old daughter's room and confronted her about going out with a Muslim.

--snip--

His lawyer, Sue Earl, said there were "huge cultural issues" and much shame was brought to a Syrian Christian family if they married a Muslim.

Ishak's daughter would have been excommunicated from the family, Ms Earl said.

The shame in the community of his daughter marrying a Muslim would have been worse than a conviction.

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Apostasy Punishable By Death: Top Adhaalath Scholar

The leader of the religious Adhaalath party scholars' council has said he advocates the death penalty for those who convert from Islam to another religion, as well as amputation of hands for certain types of theft.

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Saudi Arabia: Stop Trials For 'Insulting' Islam

NEW YORK -- Courts in Jeddah should dismiss cases against a Saudi web critic and a Turkish barber charged with "insulting" Islam, an unequivocal violation of freedom of expression protected under international law, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Saudi man used his website to criticize the religious police while the Turkish barber is accused of cursing the name of God.

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Curfew Crackdown After Deadly Indian Bomb Blasts

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Police imposed a curfew in Jaipur on Wednesday, a day after near-simultaneous bomb attacks in the ancient Indian city killed at least 63 people and wounded more than 200.

--snip--

Home ministry officials suspect the Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJi) of being behind the attacks, according to CNN's sister network CNN-IBN and the Press Trust of India. No one has claimed responsibility.

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Suicide Bomber Kills 22 Near Mourners

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 22 people were killed and 40 wounded in a suicide bombing Wednesday evening in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, an Interior Ministry official said.

--snip--

In a separate incident, a female suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint south of Baghdad and killed two Iraqi soldiers Wednesday, an Interior Ministry official said.

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New Tactics In Taliban Killing Season

Fighters follow al-Qaeda's example and plot campaign of bombings and suicide attacks.

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War takes time out for opium windfall

Record Opium Crop Funding Resurgent Taliban

14 Hurt In Gaza Rocket Attack On Israeli City

ASHKELON, Israel - A rocket fired from Gaza exploded in a shopping center in this southern Israeli city Wednesday, wounding at least 14 people, just as Israel's leader wrapped up talks in Jerusalem with visiting President Bush.

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Gaza Rocket Rocks Bush's Israel Trip

Lebanon Officials Reverse Decisions That Set Off Violence

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Lebanon's Cabinet on Wednesday reversed two decisions that triggered violence among anti-government Hezbollah militants last week: the firing of the chief of security at Beirut's airport and the order that Hezbollah's telecommunications system come under state control, according to a statement released by Cabinet members.

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Saudis Sends Sharp Warning to Iran Over Lebanon

Another Polygamist Sect Investigated In Texas

CLYDE, Texas (AP) -- Behind guarded, ornate gates at the end of a rural road, a self-proclaimed prophet warns his followers about the end of time and rails against a dangerous and unclean world outside their West Texas compound.

--snip--

But this isn't the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' ranch....

--snip--

This is the House of Yahweh...

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Pastors Urged To Preach About Politics

NEW YORK -- Conservative legal advocates are recruiting pastors nationwide to defy an IRS ban on preaching about politicians, in a challenge they hope will abolish the restriction.

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Governor Gets Religious Expression Bill

OKLAHOMA CITY - Gov. Brad Henry's desk is the next stop for legislation given final approval by the Oklahoma House Monday that supporters said will protect students' rights to express their religious viewpoints in public school classrooms.

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Debate Over Separation Of Mosque And State Sparks Death Threats

At a charter school in Minnesota, what should have been a "call the lawyers" dispute over religion in the classroom has escalated into a "call the FBI" imbroglio involving death threats against school officials.

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Church Tempts Worshippers With Free Gas

SNELLVILLE, Ga. -- In an attempt to draw in new members, a church in Snellville set up a sign that read "Free Gasoline."

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Einstein Letter Calls Bible 'Pretty Childish'

LONDON - Albert Einstein: arch rationalist or scientist with a spiritual core?

A letter being auctioned in London this week adds more fuel to the long-simmering debate about the Nobel Prize-winning physicist's religious views. In the note, written the year before his death, Einstein dismissed the idea of God as the product of human weakness and the Bible as "pretty childish."

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Virgin Mary Sightings Draw Believers To SoCal Desert

California City -- Scores of worshippers flocked to a desolate spot in the Mojave Desert today to honor a special lady -- the Virgin Mary.

On the 13th of every month, visitors say, the Virgin Mary appears and speaks to a woman named Maria Paula Acuna at a barren site known as Our Lady of the Rock. Crowds have gathered here, about 10 miles north of California City, for nearly 20 years.

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California Man Believes He Sees Virgin Mary In Wound

'Darth Vader' Spared Jail In Jedi Church Attacks

(AP) A man who dressed up as Darth Vader, wearing a garbage bag for a cape, and assaulted the founders of a group calling itself the Jedi church was given a suspended sentence Tuesday.

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Vatican: It's OK To Believe In Aliens

(AP) The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.

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Britain releases files on UFO sightings

Church Punishes Priests But Protects Bishops, Critics Say

Doing more, a lot more, is just what Catholic activists want the church hierarchy to do about bishops who have covered up cases of sexual abuse.

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The Preacher's Wife

(CBS) Ever since Matt Baker's wife Kari died suddenly in April 2006 at the age of 31, the Baptist preacher has lived under a cloud of suspicion. Is he an innocent man unfairly accused as his followers and friends believe? Or is he hiding a terrible dark secret?

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'My Daughter Deserved To Die For Falling In Love'

For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,' he said with no trace of remorse.

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Bomb Blasts Kill Dozens In India

(AP) A series of bombs exploded across the ancient city of Jaipur on Tuesday, killing at least 60 people and transforming busy markets, a jewelry bazaar and a Hindu temple into scenes of carnage.

--snip--

Indian authorities have blamed Pakistan-based Islamic extremist groups for a spate of bombings that have killed nearly 400 people in this predominantly Hindu country of 1.1 billion people since 2005. Pakistan, an overwhelmingly Muslim country, denies any role in the bombings.

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11 Dead As Truce Ends In Sadr City

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A roadside bomb in northern Iraq killed at least five Iraqi soldiers on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry official said.

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Violence erupts in Sadr City

Sadr City residents fear a cease-fire means more violence

Cease-fire holds in Sadr City after deadly clashes

'Ghost city' Mosul braces for assault on last bastion of al-Qa'ida in Iraq

Another D-Day For Pakistan Over Militants

KARACHI - With the Taliban believed to have launched all of their fighters into Afghanistan and with tribal militants led by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud faced off against the Pakistani armed forces, the issue becomes just how far Washington and its allies will be prepared to expand the war theater.

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'This will get bloody and nasty'

Partner Leaves Pakistan's Cabinet

Clashes Continue In Lebanon For 5th Day

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- More clashes erupted in Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli on Monday, as fighting between the Hezbollah militia and its rivals who support Lebanon's Western-backed government entered a fifth day.

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Fierce Fighting Breaks Out East of Beirut

Hizballah's Toughest Foe in Lebanon

Kids, Mom Live With Corpse 2 Months; Religious Leader Said She'd Come To Life

MADISON, Wis. - Two children and their mother lived for about two months with the decaying body of a 90-year-old woman on the toilet of their home's only bathroom, on the advice of a religious "superior" who claimed the corpse would come back to life, authorities said Friday.

--snip--

The house smelled of incense and burned wood, and had religious materials everywhere and hymns playing on the stereo, according to the complaint.

--snip--

Lewis told the deputy that Middlesworth had died about two months earlier, but that God told her Middlesworth would come to life if she prayed hard enough.

--snip--

She said she propped Middlesworth on the toilet and left the room to call Bushey, who told her to leave the woman alone and pray for her, the complaint said. He said he had received signs that God would raise her from the dead with a miracle.

--snip--

The boy at the house told a detective he had considered running away because he was uncomfortable with the situation. He said Bushey told him that demons were trying to make it look as if Middlesworth wouldn't come back to life, and that if she were to be discovered he and the girl would have to go to public school and get jobs because Middlesworth paid the bills.

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Blasphemy Laws Are Lifted

Britain's ancient laws of blasphemy have been abolished by MPs.

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Pope: Sex Can Become 'Like A Drug'

VATICAN CITY, Italy (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged Saturday that the Vatican's teaching against birth control was difficult as he praised a 1968 Church document that condemned contraception.

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Lebanese P.M.: Hezbollah Staged A Coup

(AP) Lebanese security and hospital officials say that at least 12 gunmen are dead and 20 wounded in a gun battle between pro- and anti-government groups in a remote region of northern Lebanon.

Saturday's gun battle occurred in the town of Halba in Akkar, a remote Sunni region in northernmost Lebanon when fighters loyal to Sunni leader Saad Hariri and the government clashed with members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a secular pro-Syrian group allied with the Shiite Hezbollah.

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Hezbollah Gunmen Take Beirut Neighborhoods

After the Blitz, Hizballah Runs Beirut

Hezbollah militants pull back in Beirut

Militant Rockets From Gaza Land In Israel

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian militants fired eight rockets into Israel early Saturday from Gaza, the Israeli military said.

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Cease-Fire Reached In Baghdad's Sadr City

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi government and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement have agreed to a cease-fire to end weeks of fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City district, spokesmen for both sides said Saturday.

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Agency: Millions more in aid needed for Iraqi refugees

Sudanese Government Defeats Rebels, Source Says

(CNN) -- The Sudanese government said Saturday that it had defeated members of a rebel group in fighting outside the capital of Khartoum, and Sudanese television broadcast pictures of dead rebel fighters and torched vehicles, said sources in the northern Darfur town of El Fasher.

--snip--

Sudan suffered through a 22-year civil war that ended in 2005. Two million people died, and an estimated 4 million others were driven from their homes.

The war pitted a government dominated by Arab Muslims in northern Sudan against black Christians and animists in the south.

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Justice In The Brain: Equity And Efficiency Are Encoded Differently

ScienceDaily -- Which is better, giving more food to a few hungry people or letting some food go to waste so that everyone gets a share" A study appearing in Science finds that most people choose the latter, and that the brain responds in unique ways to inefficiency and inequity.

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Humanists Decry Faith-Based Trickery By Wisconsin Village

(Washington, D.C., May 9, 2008) The American Humanist Association cried foul today over what it calls "faith-based sleight of hand" by the village board of Holmen, Wisconsin. The village owns land upon which sits a Christian cross that is illuminated during Lent. When a local resident complained in March that this constitutes local government endorsement of religion in violation of the U.S. Constitution, the village opted in a closed-door meeting to sell a tiny, 30 foot by 33 foot, plot of land under the cross to the local Lion's Club, which would then maintain the cross on this parcel surrounded on all four sides by village property.

In response, two organizations, the American Humanist Association and Freedom From Religion Foundation, each bid up to double the amount for the land than the $600 offered by the Lion's Club. Therefore, before the sale could be voted on officially by the village board, there were three bids up for consideration. The American Humanist Association and Freedom From Religion Foundation each pledged to take the cross down if they acquired ownership.

But last night, May 8, the Holmen, Wisconsin, Village Board met in a public meeting and voted unanimously, without discussion, to award the controversial Star Hill site to the Holmen Village Lions Club, the lowest bidder.

"The Village of Holmen simply ignored the fact that there were other bids and ignored the public controversy that has raged for weeks in the local media," said Fred Edwords, director of communications for the American Humanist Association. "The village board clearly wants the cross to remain where it is. Otherwise there's no reason to put on blinders and award the site to the lowest bidder. This is all about government support for religion."

American Humanist Association legal counsel Bob Ritter added: "To any onlooker, the cross will still appear to be on public land. So this was a sham sale that followed a closed-door sweetheart deal that was settled from the beginning. No fair hearing was given to other viewpoints. We aren't surprised by this faith-based sleight of hand, but we had hoped that Holmen officials might rise above religious favoritism and back-door politics."

Edwords said further: "This isn't the first time government has made a maneuver such as this to keep a religious symbol on public property. Humanists have been fighting the same tactic at Mount Soledad in San Diego, California, for nearly two decades. And there are other communities with crosses on public land. These crosses are maintained at taxpayer expense. So now there is a risk that, if this gambit proves successful in the end, communities all over America will duplicate this same faith-based trick. This is why we have taken action to stop it here."

In harmony with humanist opinion, and that of church-state separation groups, judicial rulings have consistently declared the cross to be a sectarian religious symbol and have found its placement on government-owned land a clear breach in the Jeffersonian wall separating church and state.

The American Humanist Association is now contemplating legal action.

LINK

Frankenmuth Says No To Removing Cross

FRANKENMUTH -- The hot political issue in Mid-Michigan is all about religion. A group asked the Frankenmuth City Coucil to remove the cross from it's shield, a request that the council members denied.

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Americans United Condemns Religious Right Plot To Politicize Pulpits

A Religious Right group's plan to ask churches to violate federal tax law on electioneering is deplorable, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Apocalyptic Sect Leader Released From Jail

(AP) The leader of an apocalyptic sect accused of sex crimes against underage female followers was released from jail Friday after bond was posted, authorities said.

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Don't Speak: Doomsday Cult Communicates Using Psalms And Notes

The members of a Russian doomsday cult are reportedly refusing to talk with the outside world and will only communicate by singing or using written notes.

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Lebanon On The Brink As Violence Erupts

At least 10 killed and 20 hurt as clashes spread.

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Hezbollah militants take over West Beirut

25 Killed In Iraq As Rockets Shatter Basra Calm

BAGHDAD (AFP) -- A rocket attack on a coalition military base in Basra killed two civilian contractors Friday, while a retaliatory strike and separate attacks elsewhere in Iraq killed 23 others, officials said.

More...

See also:

Iraqi military orders Sadr City residents to evacuate

Baghdad's Sadr City residents fear intensifying fight

U.S.: Iraq's Al Qaeda Boss Still On Loose

Charity work shows another side to Sadr's movement in Iraq

Malaysian Woman Can Leave Islam

A religious court in Malaysia has allowed a Muslim convert to leave the Islamic faith, in what is being hailed as a landmark ruling.

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Top Billing For Platypus At End Of Evolution Tree

A draft sequence of the platypus genome reveals reptilian and mammalian elements and provides more evidence for its place in the ancestral line of animal evolution.

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FreeThoughtAction Hero Of The Day - 05/08/08

Sir David Frederick Attenborough (born May 8, 1926)

According to Wikipedia, Attenborough "is one of the world's most acclaimed broadcasters and naturalists. Widely considered one of the pioneers of the nature documentary, his career as the respected face and voice of British natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine 'Life' series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all terrestrial life. He is also a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s.....

"In a December 2005 interview with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio Five Live, Attenborough stated that he considers himself an agnostic.....

"Attenborough was asked if he at any time had any religious faith. He replied simply, 'No.'"

Church Of Oprah: New Religion?

JACKSON, Miss. -- She's the queen of daytime TV, and one of the richest women in the world, but is Oprah Winfrey starting her own religion?

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Americans Try Praying At The Pump

WASHINGTON (AFP) - At a Shell gas station in Washington, Rocky Twyman and an unusual group of activists were mad as hell about soaring fuel prices.

--snip--

"Prayer is the answer to every problem in life... We call on God to intervene in the lives of the selfish, greedy people who are keeping these prices high," Twyman said on the gas station forecourt in a neighborhood of Washington that, like many of its residents, has seen better days.

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Fla. Teacher Accused Of Wizardry

LAND 'O LAKES, Fla. -- A substitute teacher in Pasco County has lost his job after being accused of wizardry.

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N.M. Sect Leader Refusing To Eat, Drink In Jail

A judge reduced the bond of an apocalyptic-sect leader accused of sex crimes against minors, but rejected his request Thursday to be released on his own recognizance.

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Sex Charges for Leader of Doomsday Sect

Records Offer Glimpse Into Polygamist Families

SAN ANTONIO - An Associated Press analysis of the records, which authorities seized in a raid last month, show that by the time a girl reached 16, she was more likely to be married than to live as a child in her father's household. The same was not true for boys.

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Losing Faith In Modern America

Growing up in what remains the most religious country in the West, Dan Barker, a former evangelical minister and one of the most prominent and politically active atheists in America today, possesses a unique story of "deconversion".

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Churchgoing On Its Knees As Christianity Falls Out Of Favour

Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.

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Pressure Mounts In Vatican Over Catholic Church Abuse

THE Pope is set to make a historic apology to tens of thousands of Australians sexually and physically abused by Catholic priests when he visits Australia in July.

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Gunbattles Break Out In Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Gunfire broke out in downtown Beirut on Thursday after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said recent government actions amount to "a declaration of open war."

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Violence Escalates Between Sunni and Shia in Beirut

2 Dead As Shiites, Sunnis Clash In Lebanon

Somalis Say Ethiopian Troops Killed 17 Civilians

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Islamist insurgents attacked two Ethiopian troop convoys, and the soldiers responded by turning on civilians and killing at least 17 of them in rural Somalia, witnesses said Thursday.

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Taleban Return To Attacking Girls' Schools In Afghanistan

After a year's respite the Taleban has returned to attacking schools and intimidating teachers across much of the south and east of the country. Schoolbooks, regarded as a threat to the Taleban's grip on the minds of young Afghans, are a particular target.

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Marines Ignore Poppy Crops to Pacify Afghan Locals

Interview With Key Afghan Insurgent

Islamic Militants Ban Mobile Phone Ringtones

Iraqis Report Capture Of Al Qaeda In Iraq Leader

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was captured early Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi officials said.

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Iraq Prepares for Baghdad Exodus

Baghdad's Coming Refugee Crisis

Unicef warns of Iraqis 'at risk'

How Africa Is Breeding Terror

With the Middle East under intense scrutiny from the West terrorists are shifting base to the African continent, where weak governments and corruption guarantee them easier penetration.

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Underground Sport: Saudi Women Shed Veils To Play Basketball

(AP) The players bounded into the gym, shedding their long black cloaks and veils to take to the basketball court. Up this night: Jeddah United against the Jaguars, as 30 women spectators hooted and hollered from the stands.

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Life After Jehovah's Witnesses: Website Offers Help

It was only when Rachel Underhill was lying in a hospital bed, haemorrhaging, that she first realised the way of the Watchtower might not be for her.

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German Scientology Church Drops Court Challenge

BERLIN -- Germany's branch of the Church of Scientology said Tuesday it had dropped a legal battle in Muenster to prevent the nation's domestic intelligence services from monitoring its activities.

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'We Are Not Rooted In Religion'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan talks to Owen Matthews about Islam, modernity and Turkey's role in Israel-Syria communications.

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Ahmadinejad Under Fire From Iran's Clerics

IRAN'S president has alarmed the nation's conservative clerics with remarks suggesting he believes a mystical Shiite religious leader backs his government.

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Platypus Genome Explains Animal's Peculiar Features

ScienceDaily -- The duck-billed platypus: part bird, part reptile, part mammal -- and the genome to prove it.

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Ellen Johnson Leaves Position As President Of American Atheists

Following over 13 years of outstanding service to American Atheists and the cause of State-Church Separation, Ellen Johnson is leaving her post as President of the organization.

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The Emerging Moral Psychology

Experimental results are beginning to shed light on the psychological foundations of our moral beliefs.

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Ex-follower: 'Messiah' Wanted To Bed 7 Virgins

CLAYTON, New Mexico (AP) -- For 16 years, he followed a man who calls himself Michael, finally settling along with other families on a former ranch in a remote corner of New Mexico.

There were red flags along the way, but John Sayer didn't break away from the apocalyptic church until late 2005.

Michael "said God told him that he was supposed to sleep with seven virgins," recalled Sayer, 36. Two were to be Sayer's daughters, then 14 and 15.

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U.S. Heightens Fight With Shiite Militias

(CBS/AP) A U.S. Air Force gunship strafed Shiite extremists who attacked U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Monday, and the military said it killed at least nine militants in recent clashes in the capital.

Iraqi health officials on Monday said 41 that people, including women and children, have been wounded since Sunday in the militia stronghold of Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling the followers of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

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FreeThoughtAction Hero Of The Day - 05/04/08

Thomas Henry Huxley (May 4, 1825 - June 29, 1895)

According to Wikipedia, Huxley "was an English biologist, known as 'Darwin's Bulldog' for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....

"Huxley's famous 1860 debate with the Lord Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, was a key moment in the wider acceptance of evolution, and in his own career. Wilberforce was coached by Richard Owen, against whom Huxley also debated on whether man was closely related to apes..... He was instrumental in developing scientific education in Britain, and fought against the more extreme versions of religious tradition.

"Huxley used the term 'agnostic' to describe his own views on religion, a term whose use has continued to the present day, and which throws light on his demanding criteria for proof in science."