Anti-Terror Law Requires God Be Acknowledged

Under state law, God is Kentucky's first line of defense against terrorism.

The 2006 law organizing the state Office of Homeland Security lists its initial duty as "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

Specifically, Homeland Security is ordered to publicize God's benevolent protection in its reports, and it must post a plaque at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center with an 88-word statement that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."

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Al-Qaida No. 2 Calls On U.S. To Embrace Islam

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader appeared in a new video posted Friday calling on Americans to embrace Islam to overcome the financial meltdown, which he said was a consequence of the Sept. 11 attacks and militant strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Bomber Targets Iraqi Shiites At Mosque

(AP) A suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt in a line of Shiite worshippers near the entrance of a mosque south of Baghdad during Friday prayer services, killing at least nine people, Iraqi officials said.

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Mumbai Hotel Siege Thwarted

(CBS/AP) Indian commandos killed the last remaining gunmen holed up at a luxury Mumbai hotel Saturday, ending a 60-hour rampage through India's financial capital by suspected Islamic militants that left more than 150 people dead and rocked the nation.

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Authorities differ on whether Mumbai standoff is over

Freethinking Winter Solstice Sign & Billboard

In addition to erecting a jaunty "Reason's Greetings" billboard in downtown Olympia on East 5th Avenue (cross street Jefferson), the Foundation and its membership have a permit to display a Winter Solstice sign in the Washington State Capitol for the month of December. Members of the Foundation will assemble at 10 a.m. on Monday, December 1, on the third floor (near the George Washington bust) to dedicate the sign.

Foundation co-president Dan Barker, author of the new book, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists, will be there for the dedication.

The engraved sign will read:

At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail.

There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell.

There is only our natural world.

Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts

and enslaves minds.

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"Imagine No Religion" Billboard Comes Down in Cucamonga

FFRF Sues City of Rancho Cucamonga over Censorship of "Imagine No Religion" Billboard

And...

Atheist Foundation of Australia Bus Slogan Rejected!

Atheist Foundation of Australia

Vast Stores Of Water Ice Surround Martian Equator

Ice glaciers hundreds of metres deep are lurking just underneath the Martian surface around the planet's mid-latitudes, new radar measurements suggest.

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Hopes rise for liquid water on Saturn moon

NASA Prepares For New Juno Mission To Jupiter

Dawn Spacecraft Glides Into New Year

Holiday Get-Together: Jupiter, Venus, Moon

Potentially Universal Mechanism Of Aging Identified

ScienceDaily -- Researchers have uncovered what may be a universal cause of aging, one that applies to both single cell organisms such as yeast and multicellular organisms, including mammals. This is the first time that such an evolutionarily conserved aging mechanism has been identified between such diverse organisms.

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Two From One: Evolution Of Genders From Hermaphroditic Ancestors Mapped Out

The Religious Right's War On Christmas Began Centuries Ago

The "war on Christmas" traces back, historically, to Calvinist bans on the celebration of Christmas which began in Geneva and then migrated, with the spread of Calvinist theological views, to Scotland, where Christmas was banned in 1583, a ban that remained in force four almost four hundred years and was only lifted in the 1950's.

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NPR Sends Wiccan Priestess To Public Prayer Booth

NPR vehemently denied that its coverage was opposed to prayer or organized religion.

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Child Deaths Test Faith-Healing Exemptions

OREGON CITY, Ore. - When Dr. Seth Asser saw row after row of flat headstones marking children's graves in a small cemetery not far from the end of the historic Oregon Trail, he knew many of these early deaths should not have happened.

The children's parents relied on faith healing, instead of doctors.

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WFISD To Move Forward With Bible Course For High Schools

In the beginning, the state of Texas created a Bible course. And the course was formless and void. Darkness hung over the details of the course.

Eventually, the state said, "Let there be K-12 instruction in religious literature that includes the Old and New Testaments."

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Iowa College Bases Musical On Bible's 'Terror' Stories

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Don't expect to hear these Bible stories at church.

Cannibalism, rape, a bear that mauls children -- this is the Bible?

They're among six stories from the Old Testament acted out in "Terror Texts," a musical at Northwestern College in Orange City.

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I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians (Humor)

Mormon Aid To Prop. 8 Campaign Investigated

SAN FRANCISCO -- California officials are planning to investigate whether the Mormon church gave an accurate accounting of its role in the campaign that succeeded in getting a same-sex marriage ban approved in the state.

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Mormons' Uneasy Victory

Did Mormon Church hide its support for Proposition 8?

Mormon film boss resigns after 'gay marriage' protests

US Vatican Abuse Case To Go Ahead

A US federal appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit against the Vatican over claims it covered up decades of child sex abuse by priests can go ahead.

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Vatican 'forgives' John Lennon (as if he needed their forgiveness)

Ex-Altar Boy Sues Catholic Church

DETROIT -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit is facing a second civil lawsuit over allegations it failed to stop a priest who molested children when he served at parishes in Warren, White Lake, Redford, Pontiac, and Utica.

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Jehovah's Witness Jailed For Molesting Boys

Sydney -- A member of the Jehovah's Witness church who molested three male church members after "ingratiating himself" into their families has been sentenced to more than 10 years in jail.

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Cambodian Monk Accused Of Rape And Robbery

(AP) A 17-year-old Cambodian monk was charged with raping a British woman while taking her on a tour of a mountain cave near his Buddhist temple, a court official said Thursday.

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Mosque Tutor Accused Of Abusing Girls

Two women have told a court that they were sexually abused by a teacher at a mosque when they were children.

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UN Bans "Defamation of Religion" In Islamic Bid To Curb Free Speech

Geneva -- By a vote of 85 to 50, with 42 abstaining, the UN General Assembly today adopted a draft resolution calling on all countries to alter their legal and constitutional systems to prevent "defamation of religions," asserting that "Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism."

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AJC Condemns UN Vote on Defamation of Religions

Saudi Religious Police Troubled by Youth Fashion Trends

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat - The Saudi Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is looking into a number of customs it believes to be "foreign" as part of study that it will embark upon in cooperation with King Saud University in Riyadh.

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Saudi girl band challenges the rules limiting women

Yemeni Child Bride Hailed As Hero

At Carnegie Hall, Nujood became one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year - their youngest ever.

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Malaysia Clerics Issue Yoga Fatwa

The Islamic authorities have issued a ruling, known as a fatwa, instructing the country's Muslims to avoid yoga because of its Hindu roots.

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Muslims Riot Over Plans For Christian Church In Cairo

A riot broke out over plans to convert a building in a Cairo suburb into a Christian church.

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Mumbai Held Hostage Amid Terrorist Carnage

The terrorist attacks that ripped through Mumbai on Wednesday Nov. 26 morphed into a slow-motion hostage drama on Thursday as disbelieving Mumbaikars watched their city of 12 million paralyzed for a full day -- shops closed, streets emptied -- by just two dozen attackers. How could this happen? The unwelcome truth is that this grand, cosmopolitan city, one that has survived two even deadlier terrorists bombings in 2003 and 2006, was caught completely unprepared.

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Terror Strikes in Mumbai

Gunmen run amok in Mumbai terror attack killing and injuring hundreds

Inside Mumbai hotel, mayhem erupts

Mumbai Held Hostage Amid Terrorist Carnage

UK witness in Mumbai 'splattered with blood'

Security forces hunt gunmen at Mumbai hotel

Terrified Westerners describe Mumbai chaos

World leaders condemn Mumbai attacks

Death toll climbs in Mumbai

Indian forces launch assault

Analysis: a new tactic by Islamist militants

Behind the crisis for India's Muslims

Fighting reported at Mumbai Jewish center

Earlier...

Hindu extremists' reward to kill Christians

Anti-Christian violence claimed 100 lives in India

India shocked by discovery of first Hindu terror cell

Bangladesh's Secular Democracy Struggles with Violent Radical Islam

Witchcraft Is Given A Spell In India's Schools

Witchcraft is being put on the curriculum for India's primary schoolchildren in an effort to debunk superstitions that are behind scores of gruesome murders every year.

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Researcher Sheds New Light On Witch-hunting And Epidemics Of Fear

Muslim Convert Who Bombed Restaurant Blamed Britain's 'War On Islam'

A white Muslim convert who tried to blow up a family restaurant wrote a suicide note showing he was motivated by what he called Britain's "war on Islam", a court heard.

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Acid Attacks And Rape: Growing Threat To Women Who Oppose Traditional Order

Afghan women are feeling increasingly vulnerable as the security situation worsens and a growing number of western and Afghan officials call for the Taliban to join the government.

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10 Arrested In Acid Attack On Afghan Girls

U.N.: "Grave Abuses" Against Afghan Youth

Bomb Explodes Near U.S. Embassy In Kabul

Four killed in blast near Afghan U.S. Embassy

Aid Workers Pull Out As Islamists Hold City To Ransom

Peshawar, Pakistan -- The abduction this week was just one of a spate of kidnappings in and around the city in the past few months as Islamist militants and criminal gangs from the lawless neighbouring tribal areas seek a new source of funding.

One senior police official told The Times that there had been 124 reported cases of kidnapping this year alone. The real number could be higher as most people do not trust the police, preferring to pay the ransom.

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8 Killed In Blast At Pakistan Funeral

Al Qaeda Plotter Reported Killed By U.S.

4 Separate Iraq Blasts Kill At Least 23

(CBS/AP) A female suicide bomber blew herself up near an entrance to the U.S.-protected Green Zone and a bomb tore through a minibus carrying Iraqi government employees in separate attacks on Monday that killed at least 20 people, Iraqi officials said.

A third attack on an Iraqi police patrol in Baghdad killed two civilians, police said.

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Official: Female bomber was disabled

2 U.S. Troops Killed In Iraq

Some Fearful Christians Hope To Flee Iraq

Atheists Reach Out -- Just Don't Call It Proselytizing

Whether by singing from a Humanist Hymnal, decorating a winter wreath or lighting candles dedicated to personal heroes, they'll celebrate what has been an exhilarating ride for the faithless -- a surge in recognition that has many convinced they're on the brink of making a mark on mainstream America.

--snip--

So the American Humanist Association is spending $42,000 to plaster buses in Washington, D.C., with ads asking: "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." FreeThoughtAction and its local affiliates have put up billboards all over the country asking: "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." Eight billboards are going up this month in Denver.

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Atheist Billboards To Debut During Holidays

Atheist Group Spreads Word On Billboards

Atheism, a positive pillar

Furor And Friends Generated By Godless Bus Ads

Amid controversy and delight, ads that proclaim: "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," can be seen on Northwest Washington, D.C., buses today. Photos available free for media use can be found online at http://www.whybelieveinagod.org/moreabout.html . Leading up to their roll out, the anticipation spawned striking new developments.

"When the word got out last week about the American Humanist Association bus campaign, it created buzz from Washington, D.C., to Canada, Europe and even South Korea," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. "It's clearly a message that a lot of people are ready to hear: that you don't need a god to be good."

But there has also been a significant negative reaction in the form of critical phone calls and e-mails flowing into the office of the American Humanist Association. These follow on the heels of religious right efforts to mobilize protests, particularly from the Christian Coalition of America as well as criticism from the Family Research Council, the Catholic League and other groups.

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'Why Believe in a God?' Ad Campaign Launches on D.C. Buses

Taking Atheism for a Ride Around Town

Group's new Christmas message: Be good, not godly

Humanists Launch Godless Holiday Campaign

Astronomers Capture First Images Of Newly Discovered Solar System

A team of researchers was able to see three orbiting planetary companions to HR8799 using high-contrast, near-infrared adaptive optics observations.

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Hubble directly observes planet orbiting Fomalhaut

Planet Orbits Dangerously Close To Giant Star

India's Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Successful: Moon Impact Probe Hits Lunar Surface

Woolly-Mammoth Genome Sequenced

ScienceDaily -- Scientists at Penn State are leaders of a team that is the first to report the genome-wide sequence of an extinct animal, according to Webb Miller, professor of biology and of computer science and engineering and one of the project's two leaders.

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Australian First: Kangaroo Genome Mapped

Darwin Was Right About How Evolution Can Affect Whole Group

Texas State School Board Should Uphold Sound Science, Reject Creationism, Says Americans United

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today urged the Texas State Board of Education to stick to sound science and reject creationist concepts when revising its science standards.

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"Imagine No Religion" Billboard Comes To California For The First Time

The Freedom From Religion Foundation's national campaign to place nonreligious, irreverent billboards has come to California for the first time. The billboard just went up on Archibald Street, facing north, in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. The colorful billboard carries the Freedom From Religion Foundation's name and website, and boasts a John Lennon-esque statement, "Imagine No Religion," against a stained-glass window background. The billboard can be seen by those traveling east and west on Foothill Boulevard, which is part of the famous Route 66.

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Earlier...

FFRF Sues Colorado Governor Over Prayer Proclamations

California High Court Will Hear Appeal Of Gay Marriage Measure

(CNN) -- California's Supreme Court said Wednesday that it will hear the appeal of a challenge to Proposition 8, a voter-approved measure outlawing gay marriage.

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Protests Over A Rule To Protect Health Providers

WASHINGTON -- A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of objections, including a strenuous protest from the government agency that enforces job discrimination laws.

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God Trumps

Struggling to choose the top religion? Can't decide between Bible-thumping evangelism or benign, gentle Buddhism? Make the process fun and easy with God Trumps, our cut-out-and-keep metaphysical card game for all the family.

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'Playing Gods' Satirizes Religious Violence

Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely The Prophet Muhammad Never Existed

MUNSTER, Germany -- Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, fasts during the Muslim holy month, doesn't like to shake hands with Muslim women and has spent years studying Islamic scripture. Islam, he says, guides his life.

So it came as something of a surprise when Prof. Kalisch announced the fruit of his theological research. His conclusion: The Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.

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God Can Take Your Call Now

New Yorkers have a new avenue for faith - public prayer booths giving the devout a chance to make a call to the heavens to seek comfort and advice.

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Puncturing The Acupuncture Myth

Almost everything you've heard about acupuncture is wrong.

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Buddhists In Rochester Is [sic] Abuzz About Buddha Hive

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) -- The Cambodian Buddhist community in Rochester is abuzz over what they believe is a miracle: a wasp nest in the shape of a seated Buddha built in the eaves of their temple.

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Senator-Elect Hagan Drops Suit Over 'Godless' TV Ad

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- U.S. Sen.-elect Kay Hagan withdrew her defamation and libel lawsuit Thursday against incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole for a campaign commercial that Hagan alleged questioned her Christianity.

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SC Priest: No Communion For Obama Supporters

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

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20 More Kids Seized After Alleged Abuse

(CBS/AP) Stories of alleged beatings and sexual abuse prompted Arkansas child-welfare officials to take custody of 20 more children associated with the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, an official said Wednesday.

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Boy Whose Religious Parents Battled Hospital Dies

NEW YORK -- A 12-year-old New York boy with brain cancer has died after his family battled a hospital to keep him on a ventilator.

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Church Fury As Coma Woman Allowed To Die

Italy's Supreme Court provoked the fury of conservatives yesterday by ruling that a father can disconnect the feeding tube that has kept his daughter alive in a coma for nearly 17 years.

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'Rape Crisis Saved My Life'

A woman who was abused by a pervert Belfast priest has revealed how she won her battle with the Vatican to have her failed marriage annulled. Roisin Fry blamed her mental breakdown and the collapse of her first marriage on sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a respected parish priest when she was a child.

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India Arrests 2 Priests, Nun In 1992 Killing

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Federal police arrested two Roman Catholic priests and a nun Wednesday in the 16-year-old killing of a nun whose body was found in a well in southern India.

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Russian Church 'Taken By Thieves'

A 200-year-old church building has disappeared from a village in central Russia, officials from the Russian Orthodox Church say.

--snip--

It was intact in July but some time in early October thieves made off with it brick by brick, they said.

--snip--

The disappearance of the Church of the Resurrection, some 300 km (186 miles) north-east of Moscow, was not immediately noticed.

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Russian Newsweek Warned For ''Insulting'' Muslims

MOSCOW (AP) - Moscow prosecutors say they have warned the Russian-language edition of the Newsweek magazine for allegedly insulting Muslims.

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Islamic States Ban Secular And Human Rights Websites

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said: "It is not surprising that these websites have been blocked by these states, but it is strange that the most-blocked websites have a secularist trend, which reveals the stance of these states against the secularist and democratic values called for by these websites. Strangest of all is the fact that the United Arab Emirates have joined the list of countries that have this animosity to the Internet."

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Court: Man Stuck With Lying Virgin Bride

(AP) A French appeals court on Monday reinstated the marriage of a Muslim man who had sought an annulment because his bride lied about being a virgin.

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Only One Regret For Women Who Defied Saudi Driving Ban

OVER coffee and date cakes, the women gathered to celebrate the afternoon 18 years ago when they got into cars and drove through the streets of Riyadh, a stunning defiance of Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers.

They have only one regret: the ban remains.

The protest, which made headlines around the world, cost the 47 female drivers and passengers dearly. They were arrested, lost their jobs for two and a half years, banned from travel for a year and condemned by the powerful clergy as harlots.

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Muslim Killed Catholic Girl In Love With Flatmate

A TEENAGER was brutally murdered by her boyfriend's Muslim flatmate because he did not approve of him going out with a Catholic.

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Islamist Rebels Whip 32 Dancers In Somalia

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Islamist insurgents whipped 32 people in Somalia on Saturday after arresting them for taking part in a traditional dance in rebel-held territory south of the capital Mogadishu.

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Government near to collapse, says Somalia leader

Israeli Tanks Storm Into Gaza Strip

(AP) Israeli tanks forged into the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, drawing rocket and mortar fire from Palestinian militants, militant groups said, intensifying violence that has chipped away at a tenuous cease-fire.

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3 militants killed in Gaza airstrike

U.N. agency in Gaza runs out of food

Jewish settlers ignore evacuation order

Afghanistan Suicide Attack Kills 21 And Injures Scores

A suicide car bomb killed 21 people in a packed marketplace in eastern Afghanistan yesterday and wounded at least 74 more. A US soldier and a 13-year-old boy were among the dead.

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U.S. Soldier Among 9 Dead In Afghan Blast

38 militants killed in Afghan offensive

7 Die In Taliban Attack On Tribal Leaders

(CBS/AP) Taliban militants attacked Pakistani tribal leaders near the Afghan border, triggering a gun battle and an explosion that killed seven people, an official said Tuesday.

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Two Journalists Shot In Pakistan Attack

Police arrest two Christians over 'blasphemy'

Fifteen Corpses Found In Baghdad Mass Grave

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Police in northern Baghdad found a mass grave Tuesday that contained the remains of 15 people, an Interior Ministry official said.

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Car bombing in Iraq kills 14

At least 9 killed by suicide car bomb in Iraq

Atheist Group Spreads Word On Billboards

Here's an unusual sign that the holidays are coming: just in time for Christmas, a group of atheists and freethinkers plans to sponsor 11 billboards in Colorado.

Against a blue sky backdrop, the billboards pose the question: "Don't believe in God? - You are not alone."

COCORE, an umbrella organization of 11 groups ranging from the Boulder Heretics to the Humanists of Colorado, is spending $5,000 to post its message at 10 sites in Denver and one in Colorado Springs, for four weeks starting around Nov. 17.

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Humanists Predict Supreme Court Will Rule Against Summum

The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in the case of Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, 07-665 -- the first major religion case since Van Orden v. Perry and McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky were decided in 2005.

Summum's attorney, Pamela Harris, argued today that Summum has the free speech and equal access rights to place a monument in the same park where the city permitted the Fraternal Order of Eagles to erect a Ten Commandments monolith in 1971. Pleasant Grove countered by saying that it owns and controls the Ten Commandments monolith and, therefore, it represents government speech, which is not subject to traditional free speech and equal access claims.

The American Humanist Association filed a friend of the court brief in support of neither party.

"In my opinion, the Supreme Court will reverse the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and hold that city parks are not public forums for donated permanent displays," said Robert Ritter, legal coordinator for the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, the legal arm of the American Humanist Association. "We further asked the Court to send the case back to the district court for argument on whether the Eagles Ten Commandments monolith in Pioneer Park violates the Establishment Clause."

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A Case of Religious Discrimination

Watchdog Pursues Electioneering Violations By Priest, Catholic Group In Colorado

The national Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a formal Complaint with the Federal Election Commission "seeking an immediate investigation and enforcement action against Informed Catholic Citizens (ICC)" over an election violation in Colorado.

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Connecticut Says "I Do" To Gay Marriage

(CBS/AP) A judge cleared the way for gay marriage to begin Wednesday in Connecticut, a victory for advocates stung by California's referendum that banned same-sex unions in that state.

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First Connecticut gays married

Polygamist Leader Faces New Sex Assault Charge

(CNN) -- A grand jury has indicted polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs on a second sexual assault charge in connection with a probe of his Texas compound, prosecutors said Wednesday.

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Haggard Says He Was Abused As Child

DENVER -- Two years after a sex scandal forced him out of his job as pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Ted Haggard took the pulpit and said he was abused as a child.

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Suicide Bomber Attacks U.S. Convoy In Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a U.S. military convoy in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, killing 20 civilians and a U.S. soldier, the U.S. military said.

There were conflicting reports on the number of people wounded -- the U.S. military put it at 25 while local police said 40 were hurt.

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Suicide Bomber Targets Afghan Gov't Office

Two schoolgirls blinded in acid attack in Afghanistan

Iraqi Soldier Kills Two U.S. Troops

(CBS/AP) Two U.S. troops were killed and six others wounded in an exchange of fire involving an Iraqi soldier who also was slain Wednesday in Mosul, the American military said.

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Islamic Rebels Grab Key Somali Port

(CNN) -- Islamic fighters have seized control of a strategic Somali port city just outside the capital, Mogadishu, where United Nations relief supplies enter the famine-stricken country.

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Somalis grow fearful of Islamists

Jerusalem Votes In A Secular Mayor

In a mayoral race widely seen as a struggle for the soul of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, a secular, high-tech multi-millionaire and ex-paratrooper, defeated Meir Porush, candidate of the city's large, ultra-orthodox Jewish community.

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Jones Plotted Cyanide Deaths Years Before Jonestown

JONESTOWN, Guyana (CNN) -- Cyanide was being bought and shipped to the Rev. Jim Jones' jungle compound in South America for at least two years before 909 Americans died there at the command of their cult leader, CNN has learned.

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Humanists Launch Godless Holiday Campaign

"Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," proclaims a new holiday ad from the American Humanist Association. Already appearing today in the New York Times and Washington Post, the message will soon be blazoned on the sides, taillights, and interiors of over 200 Washington DC Metro buses.

It's the first ad campaign of its kind in the United States, and the American Humanist Association predicts it will raise public awareness of humanism as well as controversy over humanist ideas.

"Humanists have always understood that you don't need a god to be good," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. "So that's the point we're making with this advertising campaign. Morality doesn't come from religion. It's a set of values embraced by individuals and society based on empathy, fairness, and experience."

At a press conference today launching the campaign, large displays were featured showing the ads in today's New York Times and Washington Post, the bus posters, and how the posters will look mounted on the side of a bus and inside, behind the driver's seat. (High resolution photos of the bus posters, including images of them mounted on and in a bus, are available online at http://www.whybelieveinagod.org/moreabout.html.) The exterior posters will appear on buses in Northwest Washington starting Tuesday, November 18. The interior posters will begin December 1 in Northwest and Southeast.

"We expect these bus signs to generate a lot of public interest," said Fred Edwords, director of communications for the American Humanist Association. "Some folks may be offended but that isn't our purpose. We just want to reach those open to this message but unaware how widespread their views are.

The "goodness' sake" ads and posters direct people to a special Web site at http://www.whybelieveinagod.org/ that helps people find others of like mind in the Washington, D.C., metro area and nationally. The site also informs the public about humanism and answers common objections to the slogan as well as to the appropriateness of running the campaign during the holidays.

Such high-profile promotion isn't new to the American Humanist Association. Throughout 2008, humanist advertising has become more visible across the nation. In particular, highway billboards have been erected just outside of New York City, Philadelphia, and other major cities. They read: "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

"Those billboards," Fred Edwords added, "started raising the profile of our movement and generated an avalanche of responses, both from people who realized that they, too, were humanists as well as from those who disagreed with us. But everyone heard our message loud and clear. And this is what it takes for us to reach our audience."

LINK

See also:

Godless Holiday Campaign Speech by Jan Meshon, President and Founder of FreeThoughtAction

Legality Of Same-Sex Marriage Ban Challenged

Los Angeles - The future of same-sex marriage in the Golden State will rest, once again, in the hands of its highest court. But this time, its fate will hinge on a different question: Can a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage go before voters? Or must it go before the legislature first?

The answer, legal experts say, will determine whether gay rights advocates can overturn Proposition 8, a recently passed ballot measure that overruled a state Supreme Court judgment that legalized same-sex marriage.

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Calif. win emboldens coalition of religious groups

Supreme Court's Commandments Lawsuit Should Have Been Litigated On Church-State Grounds, Says Americans United

A Ten Commandments lawsuit to be heard this week by the U.S. Supreme Court inappropriately focuses on free-speech rights rather than church-state separation, says Americans United for Separation of Church & State.

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Evolution's New Wrinkle: Proteins With 'Cruise Control' Act Like Adaptive Machines

ScienceDaily -- A team of Princeton University scientists has discovered that chains of proteins found in most living organisms act like adaptive machines, possessing the ability to control their own evolution.

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See also:

How Evolution Learns From Past Environments To Adapt To New Environments

Lizard Limb Loss: Evidence For Rapid Evolution

Tale Of Two Snails Reveals Secrets About The Biochemistry Of Evolution

College Bans Nietzsche Quote On Prof's Door

At Temple College, a community college in Texas, the words in the original German - Gott ist tot - have been barred from a professor's office door. While the college says that to leave the phrase up would offend others and constitute and endorsement of the phrase, the professor and others see a double standard in place, and a violation of academic freedom.

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4,300-Year-Old Pyramid Discovered In Egypt

SAQQARA, Egypt - Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a pyramid buried in the desert and thought to belong to the mother of a pharaoh who ruled more than 4,000 years ago, Egypt's antiquities chief said on Tuesday.

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Gold Earring 2,000 Years Old Discovered In Excavations In Jerusalem

Monks Brawl At Jerusalem Shrine

Fighting erupted between Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.... Two monks from each side were detained as dozens of worshippers traded kicks and punches at the shrine, said police.

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Priest 'smashes chair' over Italian restaurant owner's head as nuns kick him in the stomach

'Child-Witches' Of Nigeria Seek Refuge

Mary is a pretty five-year-old girl with big brown eyes and a father who kicked her out onto the streets in one of the most dangerous parts of the world. Her crime: the local priest had denounced her as a witch and blamed her "evil powers" for causing her mother's death.

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Sex Abuse Claims Against 150 Priests

SUSPICIONS OR allegations of clerical child sexual abuse have been raised about over 150 priests who have served in the Dublin archdiocese since the 1940s, according to updated figures released by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin yesterday.

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Priests abused up to 400 children in Dublin diocese

Jewish Group Wants Mormons To Stop Proxy Baptisms

Jewish group calls for Mormons to halt proxy baptisms of Holocaust victims.

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Chief Rabbi Accuses Pope Of "Taking God's Name In Vain"

Riccardo Di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome has accused Pope Benedict XVI of "taking the name of God in vain" and reversing the policy of apologising for past Christian errors adopted by John Paul II, his predecessor.

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Islamic Insurgents Seize Key Somali Towns

(CNN) -- An Islamic militia took over two strategic towns in Somalia Tuesday in a territory grab by the strengthening insurgency, a regional commander told CNN.

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Afghan Insurgency Stronger Than Ever

"I think in Afghanistan, we really dropped the ball for a long time," said Karin von Hippel of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

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Militants Grab U.S. Military Humvees In Ambush

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two U.S. military Humvees are missing after suspected Taliban militants attacked a transport convoy carrying equipment destined for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, U.S. military and local officials said Tuesday.

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Double Bomb Attack Kills 31 In Baghdad

(CBS/AP) A suicide bomber struck Monday in a crowd gathered at the site of an explosion that moments earlier had damaged a bus filled with schoolgirls, with both blasts killing at least 31 people and wounding 71 others, authorities said.

Also Monday, a female suicide bomber attacked a security checkpoint in downtown Baqouba, killing five people including a local leader of Sunni group opposed to al Qaeda, police said. Fifteen other people were wounded in that explosion, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

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Girl of 13 becomes youngest suicide bomber in day of carnage

Battle For Iraq's 3rd City Hangs In The Balance

Humanists Claim Numerous Election Victories

Among a flurry of causes for optimism in reviewing Tuesday's election results, the American Humanist Association today cheered the resounding failure of Elizabeth Dole's concluding attacks on opponent Kay Hagan. The Republican incumbent lost her Senate seat to Hagan in the highly-publicized U.S. Senate race in North Carolina by a nine point margin in a region that almost always votes GOP.

"There's a moral lesson here," said Fred Edwords, director of communications for the American Humanist Association. "Elizabeth Dole had to learn the hard way that it isn't fashionable anymore to demonize people who don't believe in a god. Nor should it have ever been. People know better than to attack Catholic or Jewish Americans for their religious beliefs--now they're learning how wrong it is to visit similar bigotry on nontheistic Americans."

American Humanist Association Executive Director Roy Speckhardt added: "Although we're pleased that Dole's despicable tactics proved not just unsuccessful but counterproductive to her aim of winning votes, it would have been terrific if Hagan had stood up for nontheistic Americans when she denounced the attacks. Nonetheless, we now have another elected official who has become sensitized to the discrimination and bigotry that nontheists face."

Humanists had a number of other causes to celebrate. These include the resounding reelection of U.S. Representative Pete Stark, the first openly nontheistic member of Congress; the nearly 60-40 passage of Initiative 1000 in Washington State, allowing physicians to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to terminally-ill patients; and the near-landslide victory of presidential candidate Barack Obama, a man raised as a humanist who is now at the liberal end of the Christian spectrum.

"The tide is turning. Americans proved yesterday that progress can come not only in incremental steps but also by leaps and bounds," Speckhardt said further. "We humanists are optimistic about the change that will be brought to Washington and the change that is already evident in the nation. We will work in the months and years ahead to consolidate those gains."

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Religious Right Power In Washington Is Greatly Diminished, Says Americans United

The Religious Right's access to power in Washington, D.C., has been seriously diminished, but its divisive influence at the state and local level remains deeply problematic, according to an election analysis by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Religious Conservatives Brace for Future Under Obama

In Many States, Voters Reject Anti-Choice Ballot Initiatives

Legal Analyst: Same-Sex Marriage Again In Limbo

On Wednesday protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles to voice their opposition to the potential ban. And there are at least three legal challenges to it now pending in court.

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Gay Marriage Outlawed in California

Calif. gay-marriage ban creates confusion

Atheists/Agnostics Post "Imagine No Religion" Billboard In Colorado Springs

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, the largest national association of atheists and agnostics, is taking its billboard campaign to 6737 North Academy Blvd., Colorado Springs, for the next month, asking passers-by to "Imagine No Religion." The artwork employs a stained-glass window motif.

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Social Interactions Can Alter Gene Expression In Brain, And Vice Versa

ScienceDaily --Our DNA determines a lot about who we are and how we play with others, but recent studies of social animals (birds and bees, among others) show that the interaction between genes and behavior is more of a two-way street than most of us realize.

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INDIA: Secular Fabric Under Threat

NEW DELHI -- Police in India have unearthed a well-organised terrorist network inspired by intensely Hindu-chauvinist ideas, which they suspect, has been involved in a series of bombings since 2003, primarily targeting mosques and intended to kill Muslims.

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Hindu fanatics threaten Indian secularism

Stoning Victim 'Begged For Mercy'

Human rights group Amnesty International says the victim was a 13-year-old girl who had been raped.

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Algerian Moderates Fear Hardening Islamic Line

Algeria is worried about Salafism, an extreme branch of Islam that is a concern for authorities across North Africa. Imported from Saudi Arabia and backed by Saudi oil money, Salafism has gained a significant following not only in Algeria but in neighbouring Morocco, and has grown dramatically across the Middle East in recent years.

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Twin Blasts Kill 4 In Baghdad Rush Hour

(CBS/AP) Twin roadside bombs exploded during the morning rush hour near a checkpoint in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing four people and wounding seven others, police said.

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Blasts In Baghdad Kill 15, Wound 29

String of Bombs Kills 6 In Baghdad

Pakistan: Suicide Attacks Kill 24

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Suicide bombers struck two targets in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, including a gathering of tribal leaders, leaving at least 24 dead, according to local officials and state-run media.

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Taliban forces advance across 'valley of terror'

U.S. Airstrike Targets Taliban Militants

(CBS/AP) An airstrike in northwest Afghanistan killed 13 Taliban militants and seven civilians Thursday, Afghan officials said, a day after President Hamid Karzai demanded a halt to civilian casualties in U.S.-led coalition operations.

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Afghanistan: U.S. Bombing Kills 37

U.S. Operations Kill 19 Afghan Militants

Syria Blames Al-Qaida Inspired Group For Bombing

(AP) Syria blamed al-Qaida inspired militants Thursday for a Damascus car bombing in September that killed 17 people.

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Shattered Peace: Violence Erupts In Gaza

(AP) Israeli troops and Palestinian militants clashed in a fierce gunbattle along the Israel-Gaza border late Tuesday, killing one Palestinian militant, in the first armed confrontation between the sides since a truce took effect in June. An Israeli airstrike later killed four more militants, Palestinian officials said.

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Israel: Airstrike targets Gaza rocket squad

Will Israel-Hamas Clash Threaten the Truce?