Girl, 16, Dies After Hijab Dispute With Father

The 16-year-old Mississauga girl who was allegedly strangled by her father in a dispute over her refusal to wear the hijab has died.

More...

Humanists Celebrate The Roots Of Christmas And Hanukkah

Washington, D.C. -- What do nontheists (atheists and agnostics), such as humanists, do for the holidays?

"Many people are under the false assumption that secular people like humanists are just a bunch of old Scrooges who don't celebrate the winter holidays," commented Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. "But actually, we humanists appreciate and enjoy the season in ways that go right to its roots. Christmas and Hanukkah are both derived from much earlier nature celebrations of the Winter Solstice. This makes this festive time the common property of all. And as for Scrooge, he's a character in Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol,' a story that became a major part of the process of secularizing the holiday so all could enjoy it."

One of the newest ways of celebrating the season is with a specifically humanist observance called HumanLight.

In 2001 Joseph Fox inaugurated HumanLight in New Jersey. Since then the concept has spread across the country, and now internationally. More details can be found on the HumanLight website at http://www.humanlight.org/.

"Because humanists shy away from rigid rituals, the specific elements of HumanLight celebrations will differ from region to region, and even year to year," said Fred Edwords, director of communications for the American Humanist Association. "But commonly they include a meal with friends and family, dancing, gift exchanges, and short talks, discussions, or readings. Some aspects are similar to religious observances while others are different."

Though having no god belief, humanists recognize that observing celebrations fills a human need for togetherness. From pre-Christian times to the present the arrival of winter has been celebrated as a special time of year, so it's a likely choice for groups independent of traditional religion.

And HumanLight isn't the only way humanists may choose to celebrate the winter season. "My family and I have long exchanged holiday gifts, decorated a holiday tree, and all that," Edwords added.

"And this year I'm particularly thrilled to have a new holiday movie out that celebrates my values--'The Golden Compass.'"

Some have considered "The Golden Compass"--both book and film--controversial because of its challenge to religious authoritarianism and support for freethinking. There have also been objections to such a film being released during the holidays.

"My family and I enjoyed this film together," Edwords said. "And the holidays are a perfect time for it. After all, we humanists have families and we celebrate the holidays, too. So it's about time we had a holiday film that expresses our values."

Philip Pullman, the author of "The Golden Compass" book, will receive the International Humanist Award at the 2008 Annual Conference of the American Humanist Association this June in Washington, D.C. Full details are available at http://www.americanhumanist.org/.

LINK


RELATED NOTE:

The Humanist Community of Central Ohio will be holding a Winter Solstice Banquet on Saturday, December 29th from 4-9 pm at the Holiday Inn 328 W. Lane Ave - Columbus, OH 43201. Lori Lipman Brown, Director of the Secular Coalition for America, will be the keynote speaker.

Sign up HERE.

Americans United Urges Appeals Court To Uphold Colorado Bar On Aid To Religious Colleges

Colorado is not required by either the state or federal constitutions to provide public funding for tuition at pervasively sectarian colleges, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Americans United joined with other civil liberties groups to argue that restrictions on state aid to religious institutions are constitutional.

Colorado Christian University has filed a lawsuit, demanding the right to participate in Colorado's state-funded student financial aid program. The litigation came after state officials decided the university was so overwhelmingly religious that aid to students there would fund religion and thus violate the separation of church and state.

More...

Is Human Evolution Speeding Up?

People are evolving more rapidly than in the distant past, with residents of various continents becoming increasingly different from one another, researchers say.

More...

See also:

Six Reasons to Have Sex Every Week

Scientists Find The Dent In Our Solar System

SAN FRANCISCO -- New observations from the edge of our solar system show what scientists have suspected for several years: The solar system is squashed.

More...

See also:

Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2007

Mars rover racing to reach winter resting spot

Death Goes Digital: The Electronic Tombstone

WAUSAU, Wisconsin (AP) -- No one would set a scrapbook filled with pictures and memories on the tombstone of a loved one. But what about a high-tech, weatherproof version, with digital images powered by a solar cell?

More...

Colorado Gunman Scared Co-Workers 5 Years Ago, One Says

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- Matthew Murray was kicked out of a missionary training program five years ago for strange behavior, and talked about hearing voices, according to a man who served at the center with him.

More...

Brown Hails Afghan Battle Success

Story Hightlights:

Success calimed in major operation underway to retake town from Taliban

Taliban militants took over Musa Qalah in February

More...

See also:

Into the Valley of Death

Prisoners Killed In Attacks On Iraqi Detention Facilities

Story Highlights:

In one prison attack, 122 mm rockets were fired at a facility in eastern Baghdad

Mortars, roadside bomb, drive-by shooting leave several dead or wounded

More...

Vigilantes Kill 40 Women In Iraq's South

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Religious vigilantes have killed at least 40 women this year in the southern Iraqi city of Basra because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings," the police chief said Sunday.

More...

Radical Christians Blame Sinners For Drought

A RADICAL Christian group with the ear of prominent politicians has blamed "sinful" Australians for the nation's record drought.

More...

Scout Leader In California Accused Of Abuse

SAN FRANCISCO -- A scout leader who once sued the City of Berkeley for challenging a national Boy Scout ban on members who are gay or atheist has been arrested on felony charges that for at least five years he sexually abused young males in the troops he led.

--snip--

Mr. Evans sued the city in his role as a leader of the Sea Scouts, an affiliate program of the Boy Scouts. The city, after providing free berthing for a Sea Scouts boat for 60 years, said in 1998 that a Boy Scout policy barring gay scouts and atheists violated Berkeley's rules against discrimination. The city said the Scouts would have to leave the berth or pay $500 a month rent.

Mr. Evans sued for discrimination and for violating the Scouts' First Amendment rights. The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Berkeley.

More...

Pakistan Suicide Attack Kills 8

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a police outpost in Pakistan Sunday, killing eight people in an area where the military has been battling Islamic militants loyal to a fugitive cleric, an official said.

More...

Curfew Imposed After Police Chief's 'Assassination' In Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Authorities imposed a curfew in Hilla on Sunday after a roadside bomb killed a provincial police chief and two other officers, an official with the Interior Ministry said.

More...

Las Vegas Raelian Gets 'God-Free' U.S. Citizenship Ceremony

Dozens of local residents were sworn in Friday as naturalized U.S. citizens, but one of the new Americans insisted on taking a special oath, one that removed all references to God.

More...

Children Are Targets Of Nigerian Witch Hunt

Evangelical pastors are helping to create a terrible new campaign of violence against young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil are being abused, abandoned and even murdered while the preachers make money out of the fear of their parents and their communities.

More...

Blast Kills Regional Al-Sadr Leader, Family

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A regional leader of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement and his family died when an explosion went off as they were sleeping in their home in southern Iraq, police said.

More...

Coalition Moves Against Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan and foreign troops launched an operation to retake a southern Afghan town controlled by Taliban militants, officials said.

More...

See also:

Taliban, Children Dead In NATO Operation

Role Of Gays Prompts Split In Episcopal Church

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- An Episcopal diocese in central California voted Saturday to split with the national denomination over disagreements about the role of gays and lesbians in the church.

More...

Atheists' Sign Sparks Controversy

Vernon (WTNH) -- A sign posted by Atheists in the Rockville's Central Park has people talking, prompting calls to the town hall and the local clergy.

More...

Simle Teacher In Hot Water After Showing Video To Class

A Simle Middle School teacher is under investigation after showing a religious-themed video in health class.

More...

State High Court Rejects Gay Student's Suit

WEST PALM BEACH -- Four years after Jeffrey Woodard was kicked out of Jupiter Christian School for being gay, the Florida Supreme Court slammed the door shut on his legal battle with the religious institution.

More...

God Effect, The

Some anthropologists argue that the idea of God first arose in larger societies, for the purpose of curbing selfishness and promoting cooperation. Outside a tightly knit group, the reasoning goes, nobody can keep an eye on everyone's behavior, so these cultures invented a supernatural agent who could. But does thinking of an omniscient God actually promote altruism? The University of British Columbia psychologist Ara Norenzayan wanted to find out.

More...

Most Ancient Case Of Tuberculosis Found

Although most scientists believe tuberculosis emerged only several thousand years ago, new research from The University of Texas at Austin reveals the most ancient evidence of the disease has been found in a 500,000-year-old human fossil from Turkey.

More...

Moon 2.0

The latest version of the X Prize is backed by Google: $20 million to the first private enterprise that can land a robotic rover on the lunar surface, send back images and data, and travel at least 500 meters--with more rewards if it can find artifacts from the early days of lunar exploration, when only the U.S. and Soviet governments could afford to send probes.

More...

See also:

Best meteor shower nears its peak

Germany Moves To Ban Scientology

BERLIN, Germany (AP) -- Germany's top security officials said Friday they consider the goals of the Church of Scientology to be in conflict with the principles of the nation's constitution and will seek to ban the organization.

More...

Female Suicide Bomber Targets Anti-Al Qaeda Group, Kills 16

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 16 people were killed and 31 others wounded when a female suicide bomber detonated in Muqdadiya, north of Baghdad, an official with Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

More...

Darwin, Not Saddam, Behind 9/11

A caption from the book, below a photograph of one of the planes striking the World Trade Center, reports: "No matter what ideology they may espouse, those who perpetrate terror over the world are, in reality, Darwinists. Darwinism is the only philosophy that places a value on-and thus encourages-conflict."

More...

Holy X-Ray, Do You See Jesus?

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- A man who recently had a chest X-ray done swore he could clearly see the image of Jesus on the photograph.

More...

Earlier Oddball Religious Sightings HERE.

Botched History On "The View"

The View's Sherri Sheppherd Strikes Again

Earlier:

"The View" co-host doesn't know if the world is round or flat

Why Science Needs History

A recent flap at the Texas Education Agency demonstrates why we need to teach history better so we can teach science better.

More...

Former Evangelical Minister Has a New Message: Jesus Hearts Darwin

The Rev. Michael Dowd is preaching a surprising message: Evolution is real and science points to the existence of God.

More...

Catholic School Board Okays Pullman Books

Ontario -- A Catholic school board in Ontario is under fire for approving Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy for its school libraries.

More...

See also:

The Golden Compass vs. the Church

Televangelist Refuses To Turn Over More Financial Documents

(CNN) -- Georgia televangelist Creflo Dollar is refusing to turn over any more financial documents to the Senate Finance Committee, even though they are overdue.

More...

Church Gets Landmark Status Over Congregation's Objections

The District government conferred landmark status on a 36-year-old downtown church today despite impassioned opposition from congregants and community leaders who dismiss the building as an architectural blight.

The Historic Preservation Review Board's 7-0 ruling bars the Third Church of Christ Scientist from redeveloping their fortress-like sanctuary on 16th Street NW, two blocks north of the White House.

More...

Some Day Cares Skip Inspections

In surprise visits to Alachua County's licensed day-care centers, environmental health inspectors have a right to look at children's immunization records, employees' criminal histories, even the labeling on bottles of breast milk.

But they don't have the right to even walk through the doors of the county's faith-based centers that are exempt from state licensing.

More...

Biologist Fired For Beliefs, Suit Says

The battle between science and creationism has reached the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where a former researcher is claiming he was fired because he doesn't believe in evolution.

More...

Court Backs Church's Stay On Picketing Law

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A federal appeals court said Thursday that a Missouri law limiting protests near funerals should have been put on hold while a judge determines whether it's constitutional.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis threw out a district court judge's decision denying the request for a temporary injunction of the law from a Kansas church that regularly protests at service members' funerals.

More...

Hindu Gods Get Summons From Court

A judge in India has summoned two Hindu gods, Ram and Hanuman, to help resolve a property dispute.

More...

Religions In Conflict: India's State Of War

It is five years since Gujarat erupted in violence between Hindus and Muslims. But next week's elections will be dominated by the fallout from the bloody events.

More...

'Flying Saucers' Around Saturn Explained

The formation of strange flying-saucer-shaped moons embedded in Saturn's rings have baffled scientists. New findings suggest they're born largely from clumps of icy particles in the rings themselves, an insight that could shed light on how Earth and other planets coalesced from the disk of matter that once surrounded our newborn sun.

More...

See also:

Saturn's Greatest Hits (Includes links to images of Saturn and its moons and an online vote for best image captured by the Cassini orbiter.)

Solar wind unleashed by magnetic waves

[Image above captured of Saturn on 04/04/05 using Celestia software.]

Just Say Maybe

On Wednesday the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the teen birth rate in the United States increased in 2006 for the first time in 14 years, and unmarried childbearing reached a new record high: 38.5 percent of all U.S. births. (The CDC's report is based on data from the nearly 4.3 million births in the United States last year.) Between 2005 and 2006, the teen birth rate rose from 40.5 to 41.9 live births per 1,000 Americans aged 15 to 19. The increase was highest among black teens, at 5 percent. Hispanic teens had a 2 percent increase, and non-Hispanic white teens were in the middle at 3 percent. Until this year the teen birth rate had been decreasing steadily from its all-time peak in 1991.

---snip---

Over the time period when this group of young people has come of age, we have been funneling our federal dollars into abstinence-only programs. Since 1996 we've spent $1.5 billion on abstinence-only until-marriage programs, between state and federal dollars. If these programs talk about contraception, they only talk about it in terms of its failure rates. That is a trend we can point to. Whether or not that has impacted these rates, we don't know that. The only federal program for sex education is abstinence-only until-marriage. It's really accelerated since 2000-1.

---snip---

As to these abstinence-only programs, there's no evidence these programs work in any way to delay sexual activity or encourage young people to use contraceptives.

More...

School Bans Those Without Mumps Shots

PORTLAND, Maine - The University of Southern Maine began notifying more than 400 students Thursday that they're being banned from campus for failing to meet the latest vaccination requirements for mumps.

---snip---

The list includes about 20 students who have declined vaccinations on religious or philosophical grounds, said spokeswoman Judie O'Malley.

More...

Spiritualists Draw Tourists To Florida Town

CASSADAGA, Fla. - The scent of incense hangs in the air as one passes between the columns saying "Welcome Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp." So does a musty odor.

More...

The First Noel The Police Did Arrest

(AP) A Salvation Army bell ringer sang "The First Noel" while shoplifting Christmas ornaments on his break, police said. Sean M. Sayers, 33, Anderson, was arrested Wednesday on a misdemeanor charge of conversion.

More...

Holy Highway: Evangelicals Pray To "Light" Interstate 35

Running right through the heart of the Twin Cities is a spiritual road that dozens of evangelical churches say is specifically mentioned in the Bible as the "Way of Holiness." They call it the "Highway of Holiness." Others call it Interstate 35.

More...

See also:

700 Club: I-35 Can Stop Homosexuality (YouTube Video)

Giant Menorah Goes Up

Following a last-minute court battle over separation of church and state, the giant menorah in the City of Poughkeepsie was lit Tuesday afternoon at the same street corner where it has stood for the last 15 years.

More...

WR Church Bringing Christmas Concert To Macon's City Hall

For the second time in two months, religious services are coming to Macon City Hall.

Mayor Jack Ellis first flung the City Council chambers open to the faithful in October, when he helped host a feast marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Now, from Warner Robins, comes Westside Baptist Church with a Christmas program scheduled to take place in the chambers today, celebrating the birth of Jesus.

"This will be a concert about the complete, wonderful, redemptive love of the one and only true God," a flier reads. "This is not about Westside Baptist Church. It is all about professing our God in Macon's City Hall!"

More...

Hamburg Official Wants A Germany-Wide Ban On Scientology

German suspicion of Scientology resurfaced in Hamburg this week after a security official said he would seek a nationwide ban against the organization. He's arguing that Scientology is an "unconstitutional" big business.

More...

Pope Offers Indulgences To Pilgrims

Catholics who visit the miracle shrine at Lourdes over the next year will receive "indulgences" which the Church teaches can reduce time spent in purgatory.

The Vatican said today that Pope Benedict is offering the indulgences to pilgrims from this weekend. The shrine in south western France is preparing to commemorate the 150th anniversary of when the Madonna was said to have appeared to a peasant girl at Lourdes in 1858.

More...

Church Sues New York City Over Its Catering Permit

A lawsuit against New York City is the latest volley in a yearlong battle between a Christian Science church on Park Avenue and its well-to-do neighbors, who do not want the church building rented out for social events.

More...

Lawyer: Priest Will Plead Guilty To Sex Charges

An HIV-positive Catholic Navy chaplain plans to plead guilty Thursday to charges involving sexual misconduct with an unspecified number of men, according to his attorney, who said the priest has known of his HIV status for more than two years.

More...

Are Big-Spending Clergy Abusing U.S. Tax Code?

Washington - Should Congress care if a minister drives a Bentley, flies private jets, or buys a $23,000 commode?

More...

See also:

Just 2 ministries submit financial data

Golden Compass' Anti-Clerical Message Loud And Clear, Humanists Say

(Washington D.C., December 5, 2007) Humanists responded to allegations from the Catholic League that "The Golden Compass" film is a "stealth campaign" to subvert children to atheism. The claim is that the toned-down anti-religious message in the movie will gull young moviegoers into reading the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Philip Pullman.

"After reviewing the film, I must say that the Catholic League is profoundly mistaken," commented Fred Edwords, communications director of the American Humanist Association. "In fact, there's nothing 'stealthy' about the movie's message at all. Rather, it's a direct and plain spoken argument in opposition to the religious and secular tyranny and it forthrightly favors freethinking, human nature, and science."

"The Golden Compass" movie does avoid the overt religious references of the book, such as "the church" and a retelling of the story of the fall from the Garden of Eden. However, it directly confronts the danger of religious authority, a "ruling power fearing any truth but their own" that protects people from "messy thoughts and unhappy feelings." "Freethinkers"-a common term for humanists and atheists-are also mentioned in the movie with a positive intent.

"Though 'The Golden Compass' is clearly against blind acceptance of religious authority-or any organized authority, for that matter-I would stop short of calling it anti-religious," said Edwords. "Rather, the movie and the books stress values that are shared by thoughtful non-religious and religious people alike: kindness, intellectual curiosity, and courage. It's too bad that these important morals of the film and books are overlooked by groups like the Catholic League, who denounce any message, regardless of content, if it comes from a humanist."

"Many religious groups have organized protests and boycotts against the film," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. "The AHA has alerted its members across the country to be on the lookout for such protests and launch counter-protests in such an event. Humanists support a free exchange of ideas, and we haven't come out against films with subtle religious messages, such as 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.' So we expect that humanist movies should be afforded the same opportunity to be seen, free from such shameless stunts, even if people don't agree with the message."

"After seeing the film, I am happy to stand behind it," said Edwords. "I would be cautious about letting small children watch it, since it does contain violence and deals with disturbing issues, but I would encourage teens and adults with open minds to see it."

Philip Pullman will accept the International Humanist Award at the 2008 Annual Conference of the American Humanist Association to be held this June in Washington, D.C.

------

The American Humanist Association (http://www.americanhumanist.org/) advocates for the rights and viewpoints of humanists. Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., its work is extended through more than 100 local chapters and affiliates across America.

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity.

Americans United Asks IRS To Investigate Falwell's Liberty University

Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. violated federal tax law by using school resources to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Americans United for Separation of Church and State told the Internal Revenue Service today.

More...

12 Dead, 20 Wounded In Afghan Blast

(AP) Afghan officials and witnesses say a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a minibus full of Afghan soldiers south of Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 20.

More...

U.S. Teen Births Rise For First Time Since 1991

ATLANTA - In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials who had no immediate explanation.

The birth rate had been dropping since its peak in 1991, although the decline had slowed in recent years. On Wednesday, government statisticians said it rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006.

--snip--

...several experts said they have been expecting a jump. They blame the increase on increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education programs that do not teach how to use condoms and other contraception.

Some key sexually transmitted disease rates have been rising, including syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. The rising teen pregnancy rate is part of the same phenomenon, said Dr. Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child health.

"It's not rocket science," she said.

More...

Did Morgan Spurlock Find Osama Bin Laden?

Rumors are flying that filmmaker Morgan Spurlock of "Super Size Me" fame may have done what the United States government has failed to do for the last six years -- find Osama bin Laden.

More...

Saudi Rape Lawyer Hearing Delayed

(CNN) -- The Saudi lawyer who represented a gang rape victim had his disciplinary hearing for "insulting the Supreme Judicial Council and disobeying the rules and regulations" of the judiciary postponed to an unspecified date, according to The Associated Press.

More...

Ethiopia Calls For Help In Somalia

(CNN) -- Ethiopia's government Tuesday called on the international community to step up its support for an African-led peacekeeping mission in Somalia, where Ethiopian troops have been mired in an Islamist insurgency since invading last December.

More...

25 Dead In Iraq Bombings As Gates Visits

BAGHDAD (AP) - A car bomb exploded in a largely Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday and killed at least 16 people, police said, while Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a visit to the capital that security and stability were within reach, although more work is needed.

More...

See also:

A Calmer Iraq: Fragile, and Possibly Fleeting

Sadr tells Bush to get out of Iraq

Murdoch Adds Beliefnet To His Media Arsenal

NEW YORK -- Rupert Murdoch added yet another island to his media empire with the purchase of Beliefnet, the largest faith and spirituality information site on the Web, for an undisclosed sum.

More...

Al Qaeda-Linked Web Sites Number 5,600: Researcher

RIYADH (Reuters) - There are now about 5,600 Web sites spreading al Qaeda's ideology worldwide, and 900 more are appearing each year, a Saudi researcher told a national security conference on Tuesday.

More...

Catholic Coloring Book Warns US Kids Of Pedophile Priests

New York's Roman Catholic Church is trying a novel approach to alert children to the danger of being sexually assaulted by a priest, with an abuse-themed coloring book, officials said Tuesday.

"Being Friends, Being Safe, Being Catholic," was distributed earlier this year to several hundred schools in the New York area as part of the church's Safe Environment Program, a spokeswoman from the city's Archdiocese said.

One image in the book features a guardian angel hovering over an altar boy with a priest lurking in the background.

More...

Secrets Case Eyes Jurors' Religion

As two pro-Israel lobbyists near trial on charges of trafficking in classified information, a federal judge is preparing to grapple with some thorny questions, such as what to ask potential jurors about their religion and whether it is legal to knock jurors off the case based on their perceived religious affiliations.

More...

Questions Surround TV Preacher Inquiry

Among the many conservative Christians who feel misunderstood by the general public, the six televangelists under investigation by a Senate committee are an embarrassment.

More...

See also:

Preacher Rebuffs Senate Spending Inquiry

Red Bull Pulls 'Disrespectful' Nativity Ad

AN angry Italian priest has persuaded soft drinks company Red Bull to withdraw an advertisement setting its product in a nativity scene on the grounds it is disrespectful to Christianity.

More...

Springer Opera Court Fight Fails

A Christian group has lost its High Court battle to prosecute the BBC's director general over the screening of Jerry Springer - The Opera in 2005.

More...

Court Debates "God" On Money And In Pledge

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Sacramento atheist made an ardent plea to a federal appeals court Tuesday to respect his religion and remove the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" from U.S. currency.

"I want to be treated equally," said Michael Newdow, who argued both cases consecutively to a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "They want to have their religious views espoused by the government."

More...

Remains Of Prehistoric Sea "Monster" Found

(CBS/AP) Remains of a bus-sized prehistoric "monster" reptile found on a remote Arctic island may be a new species never before recorded by science, researchers said Tuesday.

More...

Neanderthals Grew Up Faster Than We Do

Tooth analysis shows that long childhood is uniquely human trait.

More...

See also:

Before And After Humans

Suicide Bomber Kills 13

(CNN) -- A suicide car bomber rammed a minibus filled with Afghan National Army soldiers south of Kabul Wednesday, killing 13 people, including six soldiers, said military spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi.

The attack, which took place around 6:50 a.m. in the Chihulsutoon area, came about 24 hours after another suicide car bomber attacked a NATO International Security Assistance Force convoy in Kabul, wounding at least 22 civilians.

More...

'Kidnap Video Demands UK Exit Iraq'

Al-Arabiya said the video carries the date of November 18, and that hostage-takers had given Britain 10 days to meet its demand. The video shows two armed militants pointing their machine guns toward the hostage but not to his head. A black banner behind them reads "The Islamic Shiite Resistance of Iraq."

More...

Toy Row Teacher Speaks Of Ordeal

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A British teacher who was jailed over the naming of a teddy bear said Tuesday that she "got a bit more than I bargained for" during her stint in Sudan.

More...

Young Man's Suicide Blamed On Mother's Cult

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The suicide of a young man and the murder he committed before he killed himself are being blamed on a cult led by his mother.

More...

Self-Styled Morality Police Now Commonplace In Egypt

CAIRO, Egypt -- The self-styled enforcers of religious law issued frequent reprimands to Rasha el-Kholy for not wearing a head scarf.

More...

Beyond Belief 07: Enlightenment 2.0

Find links to view the initial edited version of the event HERE.

"God-Free Californians" To Rally

American Atheists California is holding a rally in front of the San Francisco Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals building on Tuesday, December 4, to support the removal of religious references in the Pledge of Allegiance and on national currency. Joining them will be a number of Atheist and Humanist groups and others from the Bay Area and across the state.

This peaceful demonstration will be held on the day that California Atheist Dr. Michael Newdow presents arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in two lawsuits: one seeking to strike the phrase "under God" from the Pledge, the other challenging the inclusion of "In God We Trust" on currency. Congress mandated both phrases in the mid 1950s.

"Those words were added during the height of the Cold War, and should never have been included," stated Dave Kong, California director for American Atheists. "The intent was to differentiate the United States from what was then perceived as 'godless communism' by touting the country as a religious, god-fearing nation, and in the process it divided Americans on religious lines. As a result, many citizens think that if you do not believe in a god, you cannot be a good American. It is time to put an end to such an outdated, false notion."

"Dr. Newdow was the catalyst for our rally in 2003 when he argued before the Supreme Court in his original Pledge suit. This rally is a celebration of the progress we have made since then. The Atheist community grows stronger in its solidarity, we have bestselling authors among our ranks and a presence on Capitol Hill. We have joined with our affiliated groups and other Atheist, Humanist and freethought groups - the 'god-free Californians' - to cheer on Dr. Newdow, applaud the Ninth Circuit for its landmark 2002 decision, and urge removal of these archaic and inappropriate religious references."

The event at the Ninth Circuit will begin at 9:00 a.m. and include a program of speakers.

More...

FFRF Solstice Message Returns To Wisconsin Capitol For 12th Year!

'Tis the season . . . for the Freedom From Religion Foundation's gilt "Winter Solstice" message, which returns for its 12th visit to the first-floor rotunda of the Wisconsin State Capitol for the month of December.

The pretty sign, with a secular message composed by Anne Nicol Gaylor, Foundation co-president emerita, reads:

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.

The back of the sign reads: "State/Church: Keep Them Separate."

"Our sign is a reminder of the real reason for the season, the Winter Solstice," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, Foundation co-president.

The Winter Solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year, takes place early on Dec. 22 this year. The natural holiday signals the return of the sun and the new year, and has been celebrated for a millennia in the Northern Hemisphere with festivals of light, evergreens, feasts and gift exchanges.

More...

Americans United Praises Court Ruling That Upholds Separation Of Church And State

A federal appeals court today ruled that tax funding of an evangelical Christian rehabilitation program at an Iowa state prison violates the separation of church and state and must end.

More...

Atheists To Erect Holiday Display

WEST CHESTER -- For the first time a regional atheist group will display a holiday tree on the Chester County Courthouse lawn during the winter holidays, potentially setting a seasonal model for other communities.

---snip---

The group's display, "The Tree of Knowledge," will include a 15-foot evergreen with color copies of book covers as decorations. Some of the book covers will include the Holy Bible, the Quran, "Ethics Without God," "Why I Am Not a Christian," and "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism."

More...

'Miracle Chair' Draws Childless Couples

NAPLES -- An ordinary old armchair under a worn blanket in a three-room flat in Naples draws thousands of hopeful pilgrims. Pasted all over the walls around it are birth announcements: pink for girls, blue for boys.

Childless women from all over the world flock to the "miracle" chair -- close to Speranzella street whose name suggests hope -- in the picturesque Spanish Quarter of Naples. There they ask Saint Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus for a miracle.

More...

Pat Robertson Hands Control Of Network To His Son

(AP) -- The Rev. Pat Robertson said Monday that his son, Gordon, has succeeded him as chief executive of the Christian Broadcasting Network, the most recent shift to a younger generation of leaders within major conservative Christian groups.

More...

Iowa Diocese Reaches $37M Sex Abuse Pact

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport agreed Monday to pay out $37 million to more than 150 sex abuse victims under a settlement that requires the bishop to personally apologize to any accusers or relatives who ask.

More...

'Mummy' Yields Rock-Solid Info On Dinosaurs

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of the most complete dinosaur mummies ever found is revealing secrets locked away for millions of years, bringing researchers as close as they will ever get to touching a live dino.

More...

5-Year-Old Chimp Beats College Kids In Computer Game

NEW YORK (AP) -- Think you're smarter than a fifth-grader? How about a 5-year-old chimp? Japanese researchers pitted young chimps against human adults in tests of short-term memory, and overall, the chimps won.

More...

Scientists Make Videos For The Web

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Fans of the niche sites say they help the lay public -- and students -- understand the scientific process, allow researchers to duplicate one another's results and may help discourage fraud.

More...

Is 'Golden Compass' 'Selling Atheism To Kids'?

(AP) -- The plot sounds familiar: movie takes on religion, angers some faction of believers.

But the furor surrounding "The Golden Compass," a $180-million fantasy epic coming to theaters next Friday, is more complex than that.

Based on the first volume in the award-winning trilogy "His Dark Materials" by religious skeptic Philip Pullman, the movie already has been condemned by conservative Roman Catholics and evangelicals. They say it will hook children into Pullman's books and a dark, individualistic world where all religion is evil.

More...

Iraqi Insurgents Regrouping

Iraq's main Sunni-led resistance groups have scaled back their attacks on US forces in Baghdad and parts of Anbar province in a deliberate strategy aimed at regrouping, retraining, and waiting out George Bush's "surge", a key insurgent leader has told the Guardian.

More...

See also:

IRAQ: Government Fragments Further

The Iraqi Refugee Crisis in Syria and Jordan

Semi-related:

POLL: Afghans' Criticism of U.S. Efforts Rises; In the Southwest, Taliban Support Grows

Darwin's Surprise

Darwin's surprise almost certainly would be mixed with delight: when he suggested, in "The Descent of Man" (1871), that humans and apes shared a common ancestor, it was a revolutionary idea, and it remains one today. Yet nothing provides more convincing evidence for the "theory" of evolution than the viruses contained within our DNA. Until recently, the earliest available information about the history and the course of human diseases, like smallpox and typhus, came from mummies no more than four thousand years old. Evolution cannot be measured in a time span that short. Endogenous retroviruses provide a trail of molecular bread crumbs leading millions of years into the past.

Darwin's theory makes sense, though, only if humans share most of those viral fragments with relatives like chimpanzees and monkeys. And we do, in thousands of places throughout our genome. If that were a coincidence, humans and chimpanzees would have had to endure an incalculable number of identical viral infections in the course of millions of years, and then, somehow, those infections would have had to end up in exactly the same place within each genome. The rungs of the ladder of human DNA consist of three billion pairs of nucleotides spread across forty-six chromosomes. The sequences of those nucleotides determine how each person differs from another, and from all other living things. The only way that humans, in thousands of seemingly random locations, could possess the exact retroviral DNA found in another species is by inheriting it from a common ancestor.

More...

Scientists Tell Pelosi: No More Ab-Only Funding

Dear Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid,

As a group of leading scientists who have recently conducted research on adolescents, reproductive health, and abstinence-only education, we are writing to express our strong concern about increasing federal support for abstinence-only education (AOE) programs. This federal support includes monies going to states (Section 510 of the Social Security Act) and those going directly to community and faith-based organizations (the Community-Based Abstinence Education program).

More...

Patrol Car Jesus Raises Legal Hackles

GREENSBORO -- There's not much to enjoy about the back of a police car.

While a deputy was searching M. Reza Salami's car at a sobriety checkpoint last Saturday, the deputy asked Salami to wait in the back of his patrol car, Salami said. There, Salami, a professor at N.C. A&T, saw a sign reading "Jesus is your savior" between the front and back seats.

More...

Foster Parents Sue After License Revoked For Alleged Snake-Handling

LONDON, Ky. -- A southeastern Kentucky couple who say they refused to agree not to attend snake-handling religious services have sued a foster-care agency after their license was revoked.

More...

Suspended Student Sues Over Pat Robertson Image

A Spring man who said a private university founded by Pat Robertson suspended him over an image showing the televangelist with his middle finger extended has sued the school in federal court.

More...

Ruling Warns Of Mixing Religion, Rehab

In a decision Friday, a federal judge in Detroit put faith-based drug and alcohol treatment programs on notice that mixing religion and rehabilitation can be a recipe for violating the U.S. Constitution.

More...

'Condemned To Life As An Outsider'

Driven out of Kolkata by violent protests last week, Taslima Nasrin talks to Kathleen McCaul from hiding about her battle for free expression.

More...

Poll Finds More Americans Believe In Devil Than Darwin

DALLAS (Reuters Life!) - More Americans believe in a literal hell and the devil than Darwin's theory of evolution, according to a new Harris poll released on Thursday.

More...

Sudan Demo Over Jailed UK Teacher

Crowds of people have marched in Sudan's capital Khartoum to call for a tougher sentence for a British teacher imprisoned for insulting religion.

More...

See also:

Teacher moved to secret location as Sudanese demand stiffer sentence

Teddy row teacher boards plane for Britain as protestors mob British embassy in Sudan

Evolution Debate Led To Ouster, Official Says

AUSTIN, Tex. (AP) -- The state's director of science curriculum said she resigned this month under pressure from officials who said she had given the appearance of criticizing the teaching of intelligent design.

More...

See also:

Americans United Blasts Ouster Of Texas Educator For Supporting Sound Science

Papal Encyclical Attacks Atheism

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, in an encyclical released on Friday, said atheism was responsible for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in history.

More...

See also:

PAPAL ENCYCLICAL SMEARS ATHEISTS, SECULARISM AND DISTORTS HISTORY