Dawn To Explore Asteroid Belt

Story Highlights:

Dawn spacecraft set to launch Thursday at 7:20 a.m. ET
The probe will explore the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
It will focus on Vesta and Ceres, to the two biggest bodies in the belt
Dawn has a camera, infrared spectrometer, and gamma ray and neutron detector

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Police: Uncle Killed Nephew, 1, To 'Release Evil Spirits'

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A West Palm Beach man told police that he used a butcher knife to kill his 1-year-old nephew because he believed the boy was possessed, investigators said.

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Pope's Robe Cut Up For 100,000 'Holy Relics'

Fragments of a cassock worn by Pope John Paul II are being offered for sale to the faithful, causing concern in the Vatican over the resurgence in the veneration of relics.

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Return Of Devil's Bible To Prague Draws Crowds

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) - Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil's Bible - a medieval manuscript said to have been written 800 years ago with the devil's help - has returned to Prague after an absence of 359 years.

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Pastor Accused Of Slashing Spouse Faces More Charges

NORWALK -- The former pastor of a South Norwalk church who allegedly slashed her husband's wrist with a knife in June was arrested again Friday night on charges that she slapped and punched her husband during an alcohol-fueled fight, police said.

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Prayer Nixed At Rite For Victims

The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation complained Tuesday that the hymn and the prayer at the state-sponsored event would violate the separation of church and state guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

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Anglican Church Could Split By End Of Year

The worldwide Anglican Church is expected to split radically by the end of the year under plans being drawn up by a leading conservative archbishop to "adopt" a breakaway group of American dioceses, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

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Joni Mitchell Slams Catholic Church

Singer Joni Mitchell is back on the scene after nine years, and she's swinging critique in her lyrics at the Catholic Church.

Shine on the Catholic Church
And the prisons that it owns.
Shine on all the Churches
that love less and less.
Shine on lousy leadership
Licensed to kill
Shine on dying soldiers
In patriotic pain
Shine on mass destruction
In some God's name!

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Gay-Bashing Tops Agenda At Religious Right Rally In Florida

The nation's Religious Right leaders may still be hunting for an appropriately far-right candidate to get behind in the 2008 presidential election, but until that special someone is found they'll continue to rely on bashing gays to motivate their supporters to the polls.

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Turkish General Says Secularism Beyond Debate

ANKARA (Reuters) -- Turkey's powerful military views itself as the ultimate guarantor of the secular order and is closely watching the Islamist-rooted government's plans to overhaul the country's constitution after its election victory in July.

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Study Links Religlion To Medical Treatments

A study by medical ethics experts suggests doctors and patients need to talk about religion. Researchers have examined responses from more than 11-hundred doctors. The results show differences between religious doctors...and those who are not religious.

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Jeffs Follower Charged With Rape Of Child Bride

ST. GEORGE, Utah (CNN) -- A young man whose arranged marriage to a young cousin led to the conviction of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was charged Wednesday with her rape.

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Religious Related Violence 9/26/07

Some of the religious-related violence stories in the last couple of days:

Report: Buddhist monks arrested, beaten by Myanmar security forces

U.S. soldier killed in Iraq

Canadian soldier killed in southern Afghanistan

At least 7 killed, several wounded in Baghdad bombings

Suicide bomber in Baquba strikes 'reconciliation' meeting; 24 deaths reported

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Three Hamas militants killed in Gaza

7 dead, 30 wounded in Baghdad car bombings

4 Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike in Gaza, capping day of violent events

At least 18 people killed in northern Iraq attacks

3 killed, 8 detained in Iraq raids

Scores of insurgents killed in southern Afghanistan fighting

Report: Buddhist monks arrested, beaten by Myanmar security forces

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

See also:

Sunni Insurgents in New Campaign to Kill Officials

Charges In Religious Lawsuit Against Army Detailed

An Army major who was sued last week for allegedly threatening to retaliate against a soldier who convened a meeting of atheists, and whom Pentagon officials said could not be located, has been found via a MySpace page the Army major updates regularly.

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Virgin Mary Sighted At Local Church

MIAMI -- The faithful claim the Virgin Mary is at St. Brendan Catholic Church.

--snip--

"I didn't expect it to be so clear," said Magdi Castaneda. "You could actually clearly see the silhouette of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Family, but the clearest one is the silhouette of the Virgin Mary, and you see the silhouette of Joseph and the curve of the head of baby Jesus."

"It's a miracle," said another woman who came to see the image. "There's no way to explain it."

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NOTE: The post below is about a different "sighting."

Vatican Rejects Woman's Virgin Mary Claim

A woman who claims that the Virgin Mary has been appearing in a pine tree at her Surrey home for over 20 years has been dismissed as a fraud by the Vatican.

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Holy Toyland

The mega toy retailer, Wal-Mart- is now selling Biblical toys like the talking Jesus.

The missed opportunities are regretful. Goliath is barely taller than David. Jonah is inexplicably bigger than the whale is he's supposed to fit inside. And where the hell is Satan?

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Fashion Gets Religion

From a small stage, Mr. Whalen -- 26, baby-faced with a goatee, his full hair pulled back under a ball cap -- explained the purpose of the group to any newcomers. "We're a bunch of people from New York City's fashion industry, here to seek in our God, in this crazy, crazy industry. God in fashion is a paradox in itself. So that's what we do, and that's who we are."

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Neocon Catholic Leaders On Their Heels

Catholic voters migrated back to the Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections. Was it a temporary move or are they heading home for the long term?

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Group Seeks Removal Of Religious Items At Public Charter School

WASHINGTON (AP) - National advocates for church-state separation are asking a D.C. public charter school to remove any religious symbols on its grounds.

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'Youth For Christ' Shuttered

SARASOTA COUNTY -- Youth For Christ officials said Saturday the center for teenagers will be closed until further notice following accusations that the director had a sexual relationship with a girl beginning when she was 13 years old.

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Suit Charges Sex Abuse By Priest

SARASOTA COUNTY -- A 42-year-old Cuban man is accusing a priest who worked in the Diocese of Venice of sexually abusing him under threats to have him deported.

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Vitter Earmarked Federal Money For Creationist Group

WASHINGTON -- Sen. David Vitter, R-La., earmarked $100,000 in a spending bill for a Louisiana Christian group that has challenged the teaching of Darwinian evolution in the public school system and to which he has political ties.

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Religious Right Leaders Congregate

BRANDON -- Some of the best-known national leaders in the religious right movement have converged on a Brandon church this weekend for a conference to discuss gay rights issues, Islam, abortion, and other issues from what they call the "culture wars."

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New Humanist Poll: Are Dawkins And Hitchens Good For Humanism?

From now on we'll be polling our readers on various matters of importance, starting with the crucial question of whether Messrs. Dawkins and Hitchens have helped to advance the cause of humanism.

Vote HERE

Soldier Who Sued Army Facing Threats

An Army specialist stationed in Iraq said he has been repeatedly threatened by other US soldiers after word spread that he sued the Secretary of Defense and an Army major this week for allegedly retaliating against him when he convened a meeting of atheists, according to the founder of a military watchdog organization who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the soldier and has been in close contact with him since then.

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'God' Gets An Attorney In Lawsuit

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The mystery of one response to a lawsuit against God has been solved. Eric Perkins, an attorney in Corpus Christi, Texas, said Friday he filed a response to the lawsuit from Nebraska State Sen. Ernie Chambers. "It's kind of a turn on 'What would Jesus do?'" Perkins said. "I thought to myself, "what would God say?"

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Vegas Priest Pleads Guilty To Battery

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest who smashed a wine bottle over the head of a woman in church pleaded guilty to felony battery with a deadly weapon.

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Pot-Bellied Jesus Ad Irks Church

Catholic bishops in Belgium have protested against a TV ad depicting Jesus as a pot-bellied hippy picking up half-naked women in a nightclub.

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Prosecute The Racists, Not The Reporters

UK -- From next Monday, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act will, for the first time, make it a specific offence to use threatening words or behaviour towards a religious group.

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War Has Turned Friendship Between Families Into Sectarian Hatred

They are two Iraqi families, one Shia, the other Sunni, who once lived in what were called "mixed" neighbourhoods. Now they are among the 2 million internal refugees in the country, a vast and desperate pool of the dispossessed whose numbers have risen massively along with US troop "surge" operations.

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Divine Politics

In "The Stillborn God," a history of the separation of church and state, Mark Lilla urges the West to remember the religious fanaticism in its past -- or risk its return.

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Vandals Egg House Of Local Atheist

The vandalism likely was the retaliatory work of youngsters, police Sgt. Mike Millett said -- since it came on the heels of the school incident and because one of the chalked words, "Jesus," was misspelled.

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Hindu God Row Escalates In India

CHENNAI, Sept 21: A state leader in India has dismissed a deity worshipped by millions as a "big lie", deepening a highly sensitive row over plans to dredge a shipping lane through an area sacred to Hindus.

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A Problem For Israel's Farmers

For decades, Israelis have exploited a theological loophole to continue farming in years when the Talmud forbids it. Now a rabbinical ruling is making agriculture very difficult indeed.

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Teacher: I Was Fired, Said Bible Isn't Literal

A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.

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The Miracle Workers

For 25 years, evangelicals have voted Republican. But the Democrats are courting, and their efforts may have a prayer.

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Monkeys Show Sense Of Justice

Monkeys have a sense of justice. They will protest if they see another monkey get paid more for the same task.

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The Science Of Collective Decision-Making

Why do some juries take weeks to reach a verdict, while others take just hours? How do judges pick the perfect beauty queen from a sea of very similar candidates? We have all wondered exactly why we did not win a certain award. Now, new psychological research explains how groups come to a collective decision.

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Town Accepts Role As Scientology's Mecca

CLEARWATER, Florida (AP) -- Sure, says Mayor Frank Hibbard. It can be a little unsettling sometimes -- throngs of Scientologists wandering Clearwater's streets in their blue or khaki trousers and crisp dress shirts.

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Slain Peacher's Wife Fights For Custody Of Kids

HUNTINGDON, Tennessee (AP) -- Mary Winkler convinced a jury she was physically and emotionally abused by her preacher husband before she shot him to death.

Now, after a short jail sentence, she is trying to persuade the courts to let her have her children back.

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Religious Related Violence 9/24/07

Some of the religious-related violence stories in the last couple of days:

More than 250 bodies found in Baghdad this month

NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

15 killed by suicide bomb at Iraqi reconciliation meeting in Baquba

LINK TO STORY ABOVE

Hundreds Flock To Holy 'Weeping Tree' Oddity

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas -- An acacia tree that started sprouting a foamlike substance on its branches after its owner died is drawing hundreds of people a day to see what some believe is supernatural ice.

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Christian Theater Troupe Scolds Griffin

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) - Members of a Christian theater troupe are spreading the word that they're irate about Kathy Griffin's off-color speech in accepting a creative arts Emmy earlier this month.

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Religious Fliers Prompt Complaint

A flier sent home this month in the backpacks of 2,000 Madison elementary students carried an unmistakably religious pitch: "Plant the Seeds of Faith in Jesus in Your Child at our Sunday school."

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Ex-Judge Consults Three Wee Friends

MANILA, Philippines -- As a trial-court judge, Florentino V. Floro Jr. acknowledged that he regularly sought the counsel of three elves only he could see. The Supreme Court deemed him unfit to serve and fired him last year.

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9th Circuit: Parolee Can't Be Forced To Attend AA

A federal appeals court has ruled that parolees cannot be ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings because religious content in the 12-step program violates the First Amendment's ban on government establishment of religion.

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Bin Laden Tape Urges Uprising Against 'Infidel' Musharraf

Osama bin Laden declared war on Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, yesterday, calling on ordinary people to rise against their "infidel" leader in retaliation for the storming by troops of Islamabad's radical Red Mosque in July.

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Qaeda Urges Cartoonist Death

DUBAI (Reuters) - The head of an al Qaeda-led group in Iraq has offered a $100,000 reward for the killing of a Swedish cartoonist for his drawing of Islam's Prophet Mohammad and threatened to attack major Swedish companies.

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See also:

Swedish cartoonist shrugs off Islamist death threats

Cartoonist in Al-Qaeda death threat in hiding

Semi-related:

Bangladesh authorities ban cartoon insulting Islam, arrest cartoonist

Saudi Ban Drives Women To Rebel

IN AN increasingly equality-conscious world it is almost a miracle it has remained unchallenged so long. Saudi Arabian women are heading for a collision with the country's ultra-conservative religious establishment over a 17-year-old official ban that prevents them from driving vehicles.

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Yes, It's A Hobbit.

The debate that has divided science is solved at last (sort of).

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Fossils Reveal Clues On Human Ancestor

The discovery of four fossil skeletons of early human ancestors in Georgia, the former Soviet republic, has given scientists a revealing glimpse of a species in transition, primitive in its skull and upper body but with more advanced spines and lower limbs for greater mobility.

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Pentagon Sued Over Mandatory Christianity

A military watchdog organization filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and a US Army major, on behalf of an Army soldier stationed in Iraq. The suit charges the Pentagon with widespread constitutional violations by allegedly trying to force the soldier to embrace evangelical Christianity and then retaliating against him when he refused.

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UPDATE:

Soldier Who Sued Army Facing Threats

State Senator Ernie Chambers Sues God

OMAHA, Neb - State Senator Ernie Chambers is suing God. The lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.

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Cops In Polygamous Town Stripped Of Badges

ST. GEORGE, Utah, (AP) -- Two officers in border towns where many residents belong to a polygamous sect were stripped of their badges in Arizona, and Utah will open its own probe, an official said Thursday.

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'No Means No,' Prosecutor Tells Sect Leader's Jury

ST. GEORGE, Utah (CNN) -- A prosecutor urged jurors Friday to find polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs guilty of being an accomplice to rape, saying "No means no."

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Religious Related Violence 9/21/07

Some of the religious-related violence stories in the last 6 days:

Jihadists raid Shiite town in northern Iraq; police colonel slain in south

At least 13 dead in Baghdad attacks, police colonel shot to death in southern Iraq

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Suicide attacker in southern Afghanistan targets police; 7 killed

3 dead, 11 wounded in Baghdad car bombing

7 killed, 31 detained in coalition raids across Iraq

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

3 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq's Diyala province

Car bombs, roadside bombs, mortars kill 21, wound 63 in Baghdad

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Indian army trooper killed in Kashmiri convoy ambush

U.S. soldier dies in Iraq

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Suicide car bomb explodes in Kabul, NATO convoy involved

Coalition, Afghan forces kill 40 militants in southern Afghan fighting

NATO soldiers die in southern Afghanistan

Non-combants killed in fighting between Taliban, ISAF in Afghanistan

Osama bin Laden releases message calling on Pakistanis to wage 'jihad' on Musharraf

3, including two Iraqi soldiers, killed in Baghdad bombing

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

NATO soldier killed in western Kabul suicide car bomb attack

2 U.S. soldier deaths reported in northern Iraq

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Why Were These Comics Dropped?

Readers were confused and angry that "Opus" comic strips with a Muslim theme did not appear in the Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 Sunday print editions.

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In Europe And U.S., Nonbelievers Are Increasingly Vocal

New groups of nonbelievers are sprouting on college campuses, anti-religious blogs are expanding across the Internet, and in general, more people are publicly saying they have no religious faith.

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Suicide Leap Woman 'Told She Was Possessed'

A British woman threw herself to her death in Paris after two French "mediums" convinced her that she was possessed by evil spirits, a court has heard.

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Report On Hindu God Ram Withdrawn

The Indian government has withdrawn a controversial report submitted in court earlier this week which questioned the existence of the Hindu god Ram.

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In America, Nonbelievers Find Strength In Numbers

A legion of the godless is rising up against the forces of religiosity in American society.

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Bell Tolls For Formal Funerals

An analysis being presented to the Death, Dying and Disposal conference, organised by the University of Bath, concludes that the decline in Christian belief in Britain, combined with the popularity of more personalised ceremonies, points to a dramatic rise in non-religious funerals over the next 30 years.

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Al Qaeda Threatens Sunni Leaders

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- An al Qaeda front group threatened to assassinate Sunni leaders who "stained the reputations" of their people by supporting the Americans as the Iraqi government's parliament base fragmented Saturday with the defection of a hardline Shiite bloc.

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Child Bride Wanted To Preserve 'Eternal Salvation,' Court Told

ST. GEORGE, Utah (CNN) -- A reluctant child bride told a Utah jury Friday that she was trying to preserve her "eternal salvation" when she obeyed a command by polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs to marry her cousin at age 14.

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Religious Related Violence 9/15/07

Some of the religious-related violence stories in the last 2 days:

Al Qaeda in Iraq claims responsibility for death of Sunni sheik

Suicide bomber kills 6 police in northern Iraq

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Car bomb kills 10 at Baghdad market during Ramadan

LINK TO STORY ABOVE

Americans' Views Mixed On Basic Freedoms

WASHINGTON -- Sixty-five percent of Americans believe that the nation's founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation and 55% believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation, according to the "State of the First Amendment 2007" national survey released today by the First Amendment Center.

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Interview With Hanna Rosin, Author Of God's Harvard

God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America chronicles the year and a half veteran journalist Hanna Rosin spent at Patrick Henry College, observing the students and faculty. Founded in 2000 by Michael Farris, a constitutional lawyer and Baptist minister, Patrick Henry is the training ground for a new generation of politically active evangelical Christians. Many of the young men and women who attend PHC come from fundamentalist homeschooling backgrounds, and all of them are being groomed for careers in politics, film, science -- any place where they can influence culture. God's Harvard captures the challenges facing the individuals involved in this movement as they try to reconcile their beliefs with their worldly ambitions.

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Earlier:

God and Country

Bush Administration mining fundamentalist recruits

The Bible College That Leads to the White House

'Offensive' Jesus Remarks Cut From Emmys

COMIC Kathy Griffin's "offensive" remarks about Jesus at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be cut, the US Academy of Television Arts and Sciences said today.

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Jury Consulted The Bible, But Death Sentence Stands

The federal appeals court in San Francisco yesterday upheld a death sentence from a jury that had consulted the Bible's teachings on capital punishment.

In a second decision on the role of religion in the criminal justice system, the same court ruled Friday that requiring a former prisoner on parole to attend meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous violated the First Amendment's ban on government establishment of religion.

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Religious Books Removed From U.S. Prisons

The New York Times reports that chaplains in federal prisons have been systematically removing religious books and materials from prison libraries.

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Brawl Over Islam On Facebook

The social networking site Facebook from afar can look a lot like college, with cliques and the familiar range of personalities. In another imitation of college life, the Facebook campus is wrestling with the contentious issue of speech codes.

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Al-Qaida Has Revived, Spread And Is Capable Of A Spectacular

Al-Qaida has revived, extended its influence, and has the capacity to carry out a spectacular strike similar to the September 11 attacks on America, one of the world's leading security thinktanks warned yesterday.

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See also:

Bin Laden Wants 'Caravan' of Martyrs

Most European Nations Keep God Out Of Constitution

The preamble to the EU's reform treaty will not mention God. Yet Germany's major churches would have preferred a reference, they told DW-WORLD.DE. Most EU members do not include God in their national constitutions.

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How Christian Is Britain?

A MORI poll for the Telegraph in December 1999 found 71% believed in a God, an ORB poll in April 2000 found 62% of people believed in God, MORI poll for the BBC's Heavan and Earth show in 2003 found 60% believed in a God, a YouGov poll for the Telegraph in Dec 2004 found 44% believed in God, a poll by Populus for the Sun in June 2005 found 70% believed in "God or some form of higher power", Communicate Research poll for Premier Christian Radio and the Evangelical Alliance in Jan 06 found 45% of people believed in "God or a higher spiritual force".

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Polygamist Told Girl To Submit To Cousin

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) -- The leader of a polygamous sect insisted a 14-year-old girl surrender her "mind, body and soul" to an older cousin, despite her objections to being married, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is charged with rape by accomplice in the case. As his trial opened, prosecutors said he told the girl she risked salvation if she refused to enter a religious union with her 19-year-old cousin.

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Boys Cast Out By Polygamists Find Help

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Woodrow Johnson was 15, and by the rules of the polygamous sect in which his family lived, he had a vice that could condemn them to hell: He liked to watch movies.

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Wife Who Shot Preacher Calls Sentence Too Short

(CNN) -- The parents of a Tennessee preacher shot to death by his wife convinced a judge to keep the convicted killer at home, but they couldn't keep her off the air.

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Childhood Origins Of Adult Resistance To Science

Resistance to certain scientific ideas derives in large part from assumptions and biases that can be demonstrated experimentally in young children and that may persist into adulthood. In particular, both adults and children resist acquiring scientific information that clashes with common-sense intuitions about the physical and psychological domains. Additionally, when learning information from other people, both adults and children are sensitive to the trustworthiness of the source of that information. Resistance to science, then, is particularly exaggerated in societies where nonscientific ideologies have the advantages of being both grounded in common sense and transmitted by trustworthy sources.

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Young Muslims Begin Dangerous Fight For The Right To Abandon Faith

A group of young Muslim apostates launches a campaign today, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America, to make it easier to renounce Islam.

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RELIGULOUS: A Conversation With Bill Maher And Larry Charles

In this special Mavericks presentation, Maher and Charles will take the stage to discuss religion, comedy and whatever else enters their heads -- and they'll share a teaser clip of Religulous, their work-in-progress. In the film, Maher travels to some of the world's most popular religious destinations, from Jerusalem to the Vatican, questioning believers while being upfront about his own skepticism. Why is suffering so random? Why are so many religions down on homosexuality? What's up with the virgin birth?

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San Diego Diocese Settles Lawsuit For $200 Million

LOS ANGELES -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed Friday to a settlement that would pay nearly $200 million to 144 people who have said they were sexually abused by clergy members under lax supervision from the church.

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Religious Related Violence 9/13/07

Some of the religious-related violence stories in the last 3 days:

Uzbek terror group claims responsibility for Germany plot

Suicide attack kills 18 in northwestern Pakistan

Islamic Jihad claims joint responsibility for attack on Israeli base

Israel fires into Gaza after Palestinian rocket attack wounds 69 soldiers

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

At least 12 Pakistani soldiers killed in blast in army mess

Key Sunni leader in Anbar who stood against al Qaeda assassinated

Roadside bomb kills 6 in Shiite neighborhood; start of Ramadan for Sunnis

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Central Texas Minister Busted For Child Porn

Texas -- A Waco-area minister has been arrested on child pornography charges.

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US: Bush Appointee Campaigns For Evangelicals

SAN FRANCISCO, Sep 5 (IPS) - The head of the U.S. federal government agency that doles out benefits to disabled veterans is under fire for saying Bible study is "more important than doing [my] job."

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Can The Alabama 'Ten Commandments' Judge Rise Again?

Ousted Alabama judge Roy Moore is waging war on church-state separation -- and you won't believe the far-out folks who are helping him.

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Ted Haggard's Plea for Money Reproved

The latest request by former evangelical leader Ted Haggard for financial support was deemed "inappropriate" and "unacceptable" by overseers of the megachurch he founded and was fired from.

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Megachurch Leader D. James Kennedy Dies

MIAMI -- The Rev. D. James Kennedy, a pioneering Christian broadcaster and megachurch pastor whose fiercely conservative worldview helped fuel the rise of the religious right in American politics, died Wednesday. He was 76.

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Airline Sacrifices Goats To Appease Sky God

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday.

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Richardson: God Wants Iowa First

Sioux City, Ia. - God's will is for Iowa to have the first-in-the-nation caucus, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson told a crowd here Monday.

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Wiccan Teacher Wins Lottery Jackpot

BALTIMORE - The Maryland Lottery on Tuesday validated a winning Mega Millions ticket purchased by an accountant who teaches the Wiccan religion.

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Park Staff Will Visit Creation Museum

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Naturalists from Kentucky state parks are planning a trip to the Creation Museum in Boone County to see firsthand what they are up against.

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Inquisition 2008

Presidential candidates are getting barraged by the media on questions about their prayers, their sins, and their beliefs on religious doctrine -- and some of them seem to enjoy it.

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Pastor Had Sex With Daughters To Teach How To Be Wives

A fundamentalist church pastor had sex with two of his teenage daughters to educate them on how to be good wives, a South Australian court has heard.

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Hardline Takeover Of British Mosques

Almost half of Britain's mosques are under the control of a hardline Islamic sect whose leading preacher loathes Western values and has called on Muslims to "shed blood" for Allah, an investigation by The Times has found.

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London: 'Segregated By Religion'

Britain's capital city is far more segregated on religious grounds than by race, new research revealed.

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Father Of Dead Jehovah's Witness Girl Can Sue Church

CALGARY -- The father of a teenaged Jehovah's Witness who refused blood transfusions can proceed with legal action on behalf of her estate against the church, the Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled. Lawrence Hughes alleges that lawyers for The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada counselled his daughter Bethany to refuse transfusions necessary to treat her for leukemia. But the court forced her to get them. She died Sept.

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Malaysia Considers Switch To Islamic Law

Hardline Islamic law could be introduced across Malaysia under reforms proposed by the country's chief justice.

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San Diego Diocese Settles Lawsuit For $200 Million

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7 -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed Friday to a settlement that would pay nearly $200 million to 144 people who have said they were sexually abused by clergy members under lax supervision from the church.

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Court Bans Christian Cross On Private Land In Public Park

The U.S. government cannot trade a parcel of land to private hands to allow a Christian cross to remain in the middle of a vast federal preserve, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday.

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Religious Related Violence 9/10/07

Some of the religious-related violence stories in the last 12 days:

Two American troops killed fighting in western Iraq

Afghan suicide car bomber hits 3 targets before explosives detonate

11 insurgents killed in strike on military base in Afghanistan

U.S. military: Raids in northern Iraq lead to two deaths, dozens of arrests

British soldier, civilian interpreter killed in southern Afghanistan blast

U.S. soldier dies fighting in Iraq's restive Diyala Province

Iraqi police officers dismantling bomb wounded

NATO soldier killed in southern Afghan, 2 others wounded

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Interior Ministry: Number of Iraqi civilian deaths up this month

5 police officers in northern Iraqi city killed in car bombing

Suicide car bomber near Kabul airport kills 2 Afghan soldiers

Afghan troops kill Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan battle

Two American troops killed fighting in western Iraq

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Suicide bomber kills at least 4 Pakistani soldiers

Lebanese army seizes home of top Islamic militant

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Car bomb in Shiite area kills at least 5

Lebanese army snatches up, kills militants trying to flee Palestinian refugee camp

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Afghan forces kill 'several' suspected Taliban militants in eastern Afghan operation

Roadside bomb kills 1 in Baghdad

Two bomb blasts near Pakistan's capital kill 11, hurt dozens

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Taliban leader involved in South Korean kidnapping among militants killed in Afghan firefight

Roadside bomb kills 1 in Baghdad

Two bomb blasts near Pakistan's capital kill 21, hurt dozens

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

U.S. military announces 8 U.S. troop deaths in Iraq

In Mosul, 1 dead, 28 wounded in suicide car bombing

4 U.S. troops die in Baghdad

Two NATO soldiers killed, 2 wounded in southern Afghanistan

11 killed, 20 wounded in Baghdad roadside bombing

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Blast kills 3 U.S. soldiers in Iraq Thursday

More than a dozen killed in Algerian bomb explosion

2 NATO soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan

Military: Some Sadrists apparently not following call to stop violence

Fierce battle in southern Afghanistan leaves more than 40 Taliban dead

Palestinians exchange gunfire inside Gaza; Palestinian sources say 3 dead

Baghdad day laborers queuing for work struck by roadside bomb

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Seven U.S. troops killed in Iraq

More than a dozen killed in Algerian bomb explosion

LINK TO STORIES ABOVE

Suicide car bomber kills at least 15 in Sadr City

LINK TO STORY ABOVE

U.S. soldier killed in Baghdad

Al Qaeda-linked group says it tried to assassinate Algeria's president

U.S. military: Terrorist behind deaths of 400 Iraqis killed in recent airstrikes

Blast kills coalition soldier, wounds 4 others in southern Afghanistan

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Rocket attack wounds 57 soldiers at Israeli base

12 killed in northern Iraq fighting

In Iraq, U.S. soldier killed during rocket fire

1 dead, 2 injured in Afghan fighting

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