Mars Lander Sees Falling Snow On Red Planet, Soil Data Suggest Liquid Past

ScienceDaily -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from Martian clouds. Spacecraft soil experiments also have provided evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water, processes that occur on Earth.

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See also:

Evidence For Rain On Mars?

NASA's Mars Rover To Head Toward Bigger Crater

And...

Successful Re-entry Marks Bright Future For Europe's Space Station Automated Transfer Vehicle

Solar Cell Sets World Efficiency Record At 40.8 Percent

ScienceDaily -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date.

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Mass Extinctions And The Evolution Of Dinosaurs

ScienceDaily -- Dinosaurs survived two mass extinctions and 50 million years before taking over the world and dominating ecosystems, according to new research published this week.

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See also:

America's Smallest Dinosaur Uncovered

Americans United Urges IRS To Take Action Against Six Churches That Joined Pulpit-Politicking Scheme

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today filed complaints with the Internal Revenue Service about six churches whose pastors endorsed candidates from the pulpit during a mass defiance of federal tax law last Sunday.

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See also:

33 Pastors Flout Tax Law With Political Sermons

Pastors challenge US ban on political campaign activity by tax-exempt groups

The Religious Right's Odd Definition of "Endorsement"

Beware the bully pulpit

Earlier:

Ministers To Defy I.R.S. By Endorsing Candidates

Seeking Change In Law, Pastors To Endorse Candidates

Church Politicking Is Uncivil Disobedience

Churches Aren't Political Parties, Say Humanists

Churches That Violate Law On Pulpit Politicking Will Be Reported To The IRS, Vows Americans United

An Idea Ready For Takeoff

Meme is a word for an idea that takes off, relying on its power -- there's nothing as strong as an idea whose time has come, especially if it has a blog -- to implant itself in the common consciousness.

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Debate Erupts Over Proposal To Teach Creationism In Brunswick Schools

NC -- The Brunswick County school board's desire to teach creationism alongside evolution in the classroom - which many consider a violation of the separation of church and state, as backed by past court decisions - has launched a debate that has spread to local religious communities, the Internet and beyond.

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Earlier:

Brunswick school board to consider creationism teaching

No Place For Creationism In Science Class, State Says

Coming Soon: 'In God We Trust' Tags

TALLAHASSEE - A pair of new license plates featuring the state motto -- "In God We Trust" -- will be created by two of several new laws going into effect Wednesday.

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666 Sign Thefts Bedeviling NJ Roadways

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- Someone keeps stealing the metal signs at mile marker 66.6 along two of New Jersey's most traveled roads, and authorities are having a devil of a time keeping up with the thefts.

--snip--

It's been happening all over the country, particularly on roads with names like Route 666. Officials aren't sure if the thefts are being committed by religious zealots upset about the number's association in the Bible with the devil, by Satanic scavenger hunters, or by college students who think a '666' sign would look cool in their dorm room.

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The Christian Twitter Is Here

Do you like microblogging, but always found Twitter to be too full of godless heathens? Well rejoice, because Gospelr is here! It's the Christian version of Twitter, and do we need to explain anything further? Praise god no. The founder says he hopes it will be "effectual in regards to sharing the Gospel," but then admits "I have no idea how Gospelr might eventually be used."

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See also:

Jesus: Twitter Is a Waste of Time

Massage Firm Steps Up Faith-Based Defense

State attorneys say John LaVoie should be forever barred from the massage business because he ran a house of prostitution camouflaged as a church.

But in his latest court argument, the Tucson man says he hired women at Angel's Heaven Relaxation Spa - near University Medical Center - not to sell sex but to comfort the afflicted through the religious act of "laying on of hands."

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Evangelist Tony Alamo Agrees To Return To Arkansas

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Evangelist and convicted tax evader Tony Alamo waived his right to fight extradition to Arkansas after his arrest on charges that he took minors across state lines for sexual purposes.

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Navy Officer Settles Del. Church Sex Abuse Lawsuit

DOVER, Del. - A Navy doctor awarded $41 million in damages by a federal jury after alleging he was raped by a Catholic priest has settled a separate state lawsuit against church officials.

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Pullman Defiant Over US Protests Against Northern Lights

Philip Pullman has revealed he was delighted to discover his novel Northern Lights was one of the most "challenged" titles of the year in America, with numerous calls made to have it removed from libraries.

Pullman's children's novel, which is sold as The Golden Compass in the US, was the fourth most challenged book in 2007, according to the American Library Association, which received 420 formally submitted complaints to libraries or schools over "inappropriate content and subject matter" last year.

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Dangerously Funny

This month, Italian authorities tried to prosecute comedian Sabina Guzzanti after she made derogatory remarks about the Pope. She talks to John Hooper about religion, Silvio Berlusconi's stranglehold on the media and her country's bizarre attitude to freedom of speech.

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Faith And Business: A New Deal For The Modern Workplace

UK -- Increasingly, business bosses are creating faith- based networks, activities and office space to cater for the religious beliefs of employees.

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At Least 168 Die In India Temple Stampede

(AP) At least 168 people were killed and 100 injured when thousands of pilgrims stampeded Tuesday at a Hindu temple in the historic town of Jodhpur in western India, officials said.

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India's Vengeful Christians Turn To Murder As Hindus Step Up Their Killing Campaign

In the remote Indian state of Orissa your religion can cost you your life. Now a Christian mob has resorted to murder. Wielding knives and axes they have stabbed a Hindu man to death.

The killing followed a month-long campaign of murder, gang rape and arson by Hindu fanatics that drove Christians to take up arms to defend themselves, church officials in the area said yesterday. As many as 50,000 members of the minority Christian community have been forced into hiding in the jungle.

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Turkish Youth Although Less Religious, Do Not See Islam A Threat

Turkish youth are less religious than their parents, and worry less about the perceived religious threat to secularism, according to a survey published by the Turkish Daily News (TDN).

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Morocco Shuts Schools, Website Run By Muslim Sheik Who Defends Marriage Of 9-Year-Old Girls

RABAT, Morocco (AP) -- Moroccan authorities have ordered the closure of dozens of schools and a Web site run by a Muslim religious leader who argued that girls as young as 9 could marry.

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Unholy Row

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is no stranger to public scrutiny. The Sunni Muslim preacher is the star of his own highly popular show on al-Jazeera TV, which is watched by millions for his advice on sharia law. But he may have miscalculated when he warned recently that "heretical" Shia Muslims were "invading" Sunni countries.

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Somali Insurgents Want To Raze Non-Muslim Places Of Worship

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Islamists began demolishing an old Roman Catholic church in southern Somalia on Tuesday to replace it with a mosque, and vowed to do the same with all other non-Muslim places of worship they find in the area.

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Muslim Gang Firebombs Publisher Of Allah Novel, Martin Rynja

Scotland Yard's counter-terrorist command yesterday foiled an alleged plot by Islamic extremists to kill the publisher of a forthcoming novel featuring sexual encounters between the Prophet Muhammad and his child bride.

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See also:

Three arrested after fire at publisher of Muhammad novel

Respect for religion now makes censorship the norm

Car Bomb Strikes Baghdad Restaurant

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb detonated Tuesday near a crowded restaurant at lunchtime in central Baghdad, killing at least four civilians and wounding nine others, an Interior Ministry official said.

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Iraq Bombings Kill 31

BAGHDAD -- A series of explosions Sunday apparently timed to strike Muslims preparing to break the Ramadan fast killed at least 31 people in Baghdad and injured dozens.

Also Sunday, members of Iraq's Christian minority protested passage of a long-awaited election bill last week that does not guarantee minorities seats on provincial councils.

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See also:

Iraqi Christians Protest End To Quotas

Dozens Killed In Baghdad's Deadliest Day This Ramadan

Story Highlights:

Thirty-four deaths by bombs are the most in one day in Baghdad this Ramadan

Four others killed in Diyala province

Fifteen killed in attacks involving suicide bomber, car bomb in commercial area

Car bomb near market in separate area kills at least 12

More...

See also:

For U.S. and Sunni Allies, a Turning Point

Disbanding the Sunni Patrols: A Backlash Brewing?

Taliban Gun Down Veteran Policewoman

The most prominent policewoman in Afghanistan was assassinated yesterday, the latest victim of the Taliban insurgency's deliberate campaign of violence against Afghans associated with the fragile reconstruction of the country.

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See also:

Dread rises in Kabul as Taliban closes in

Why the West thinks it is time to talk to the Taliban

Pakistan Fighting Forces Thousands To Flee

(AP) Fighting between Pakistani troops and militants in a tribal region has forced some 20,000 Pakistanis to seek refuge across the border in eastern Afghanistan, the U.N.'s refugee agency said Monday.

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See also:

Pakistani Taliban leader dead, sources say

The Long Road to Chaos in Pakistan

Battle for Bajaur tests Pakistan (Video)

'Talibanization' of Pakistan's biggest city

Sources: U.S. strikes Pakistani village

Car Bomb Hits Lebanese Military Bus

(CBS/AP) A car bomb exploded near a military bus carrying troops to work in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least five people and wounding at least 21, Lebanese security officials said.

--snip--

It was the second bomb attack in less than two months targeting troops in Tripoli, which has been rocked by sectarian fighting between pro-government Sunni fighters and pro-Syrian gunmen.

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Car Bomb Rocks Tightly Controlled Syria

(CBS/ AP) A brazen car bombing near Syrian security offices killed 17 people Saturday, the deadliest attack in decades that raised questions about the regime's usually strong grip as the country tries to boost its international profile.

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Ministers To Defy I.R.S. By Endorsing Candidates

Defying a federal tax law they consider unjust, 33 ministers across the country will take to their pulpits this Sunday and publicly endorse a candidate for president.

More...

Earlier:

Seeking Change In Law, Pastors To Endorse Candidates

Church Politicking Is Uncivil Disobedience

Churches Aren't Political Parties, Say Humanists

Churches That Violate Law On Pulpit Politicking Will Be Reported To The IRS, Vows Americans United

Diamonds May Be Life's Birthstone

One of the hurdles in origin-of-life theories is that the pieces that make up complex biomolecules do not readily come together by themselves. A group of scientists proposes that diamonds provided a kind of "workbench" for biomolecule manufacturing on early Earth.

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A Biologist Reviews An Evolution Textbook From The ID Camp

Ars book reviews typically focus on works for the general public that we consider significant and insightful. But today we're making an exception: the work in question is meant for school children, and it's an atrociously bad book. So why review it? Because, unfortunately, it may well turn out to be very significant. The leading lights of the Intelligent Design Movement, the Discovery Institute, have written this textbook on evolution, and they are doing everything they can to make sure it gets into schools.

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Group Of State Attorneys General Opposes Healthcare Provider Conscience Regulation

Health care institutions should not be penalized and stripped of vital federal funding for ensuring that victims of rape and other sexual assault are provided prompt and adequate birth control and other medically necessary health care services. Vagueness and broad application, together with the penalty of withdrawal of critical federal health care funding to a health care entity that violates - even inadvertently - the proposed regulation may have substantial and significant consequences for the provision of health care to many Americans.

The proposed regulation completely obliterates the rights of patients to legal and medically necessary health care services in favor of a single-minded focus on protecting a health care provider's right to claim a personal moral or religious belief.

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Evangelist Tony Alamo Won't Fight Extradition

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Evangelist and convicted tax evader Tony Alamo says the age of consent is puberty and there's a mandate in the Bible for girls marrying young.

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Helping Child Brides Break Free

(CNN) -- "When I got married I was scared," remembers 10-year-old Nujood Ali. "I didn't want to leave my family and siblings."

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See also:

Forced marriages: the trail of misery and fear in Britain

Criticism Of Religion Is Not Blasphemy

The IHEU position on defamation of religion was strongly supported on 23 September 2008 in a statement to the Human Rights Council prepared by Rabbi Francois Garai of the World Union of Progressive Judaism.

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Two Jehovah's Witnesses 'Murdered 13 People On Mission From God To Cleanse World Of Sinners'

Two twisted Jehovah's Witnesses have been arrested as suspected serial killers, accused of murdering 13 people during a nine-month killing spree in Russia.

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Jail For Man In Canada PM Beheading Plot

A Canadian man has been convicted of taking part in an Islamist plot to storm the country's parliament and behead the prime minister.

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Germans Arrest 2 Terror Suspects On Plane

Commandos Storm KLM Plane In Cologne, Seize Men Linked To Note Wishing To Die For "Jihad"

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Radical Settlers Take On Israel

YITZHAR, West Bank -- A pipe bomb that exploded late on Wednesday night outside the Jerusalem home of Zeev Sternhell, a Hebrew University professor, left him lightly wounded and created only a minor stir in a nation that routinely experiences violence on a much larger scale.

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See also:

ISRAEL: Professor wounded in Jerusalem bomb attack

Afghanistan: Taliban Attacks Increase In New Strategy, Says NATO General

Kabul -- NATO's top military commander, General John Craddock, has expressed concern about the growing number of civilians being killed or wounded in Afghanistan by a resurgent Taliban.

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See also:

As Crime Increases in Kabul, So Does Nostalgia for Taliban

VIDEO: Security Fears At Afghan Market

Pakistan: Blast Kills Three, Police In Shootout

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- An explosion on a rail line killed three people Friday in northwestern Pakistan, rescue workers said.

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Indian Police Probe Sectarian Clashes

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A mob killed a Hindu man in the Indian state of Orissa Thursday as another group attacked a church in another part of the state's troubled Kandhamal district, authorities said Friday.

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2008 Atheist Alliance International Convention

"Unsinkable Atheism," the 14th Annual Atheist Alliance International (AAI) Convention, will be held the weekend of September 25--28, 2008 on the beautiful and historic Queen Mary, which is permanently docked in Long Beach, California.

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NASA Identifies Carbon-Rich Molecules In Meteors As The 'Origin Of Life'

ScienceDaily -- Tons, perhaps tens of tons, of carbon molecules in dust particles and meteorites fall on Earth daily. Meteorites are especially valuable to astronomers because they provide relatively big chunks of carbon molecules that are easily analyzed in the laboratory. In the past few years, researchers have noticed that most meteorite carbon are molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are very stable compounds and are survivors.

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See also:

Interstellar Space Molecules That Help Form Basic Life Structures Identified

Traces of alien life could survive space travel

And...

Oldest rocks on Earth found

'Redesigned Hammer' That Forged Evolution Of Pregnancy In Mammals Found

ScienceDaily -- Yale researchers have shown that the origin and evolution of the placenta and uterus in mammals is associated with evolutionary changes in a single regulatory protein, according to a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space

As if the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy weren't vexing enough, another baffling cosmic puzzle has been discovered.

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See also:

Bizarre Hibernating Stellar Magnet Discovered

Two Planets Suffer Violent Collision

Sun's Wind and Output on Extended Dimmer Switch

Seeking Change In Law, Pastors To Endorse Candidates

On Sunday, Pastor Jody Hice of Bethlehem, Ga., a man who takes the Bible literally and has never committed a crime, will stand before God and the 1,300 members of his congregation and willfully break the law.

More...

See also:

Church Politicking Is Uncivil Disobedience

Earlier:

Churches Aren't Political Parties, Say Humanists

Churches That Violate Law On Pulpit Politicking Will Be Reported To The IRS, Vows Americans United

More Atheists Are Sharing Their Views

When she first logged onto an atheist Web site five years ago, Mikel Childers' hands were shaking.

Since she was a teen, she had harbored growing doubts about the conservative Christian faith, "but I was so programmed against the word atheist," she said.

When she eventually decided she was one, a "feeling of almost euphoria" descended upon her, said Childers, now 28.

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Ark. Evangelist Arrested In Child-Porn Probe

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - FBI agents on Thursday arrested evangelist Tony Alamo at an Arizona motel, alleging he transported minors across state lines for sexual purposes.

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Calif. Pastors Push For Gay Marriage Ban

SAN FRANCISCO - Hundreds of pastors have called on their congregations to fast and pray for passage of a ballot measure in November that would put an end to gay marriage in California.

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Jesus In The Drywall

"When I first seen it," says Omar, "the first thing to come to my mind was Jesus."

--snip--

Whatever it is or looks like, one thing is certain according to Gissendanner, "For drywall finishing this was a pretty exciting day."

Other people who have seen the image agree it looks familiar. Many think it does look like Jesus but, Moses, Sasquatch and Charlie Manson have also been mentioned as possibilities.

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Torquay Lifts Its Ban On Monty Python's Life Of Brian

It regularly tops polls for the funniest film ever made, yet for almost three decades Monty Python's Life of Brian has remained out of bounds to residents of Torquay.

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Olympic Park Toilets 'Will Not Face Mecca'

Toilets which do not face the holy Islamic city of Mecca are among a raft of design principles announced today aimed at making London's Olympic Park the most inclusive and accessible so far.

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Muslim 'Barbie And Ken' Dolls Created By Iranian Government

An Iranian government agency has developed an Islamic version of Barbie-style dolls as an antidote to the "harmful" influence of dolls and accessories from America.

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Russian Woman Put On Trial In Dubai For Drinking Juice In Public

A 28-year-old Russian female, who visited Dubai on a tourist visa, and a 30-year-old male citizen of Lebanon, a salesman in a local store, were put on trial for drinking juice in a public place in the daytime during Muslim fasting.

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Devout Muslim Avoids Jail Over Child Flogging

A devout Muslim who was found guilty of child cruelty for encouraging two boys to beat themselves in a religious ceremony has walked free from court.

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Al Qaida Gunmen Kill Dozens Of Iraqi Policemen In Diyala Province

BAGHDAD -- Gunmen thought to be affiliated with Al Qaida in Iraq ambushed and killed 27 Iraqi policemen and eight anti-Qaida fighters near Baqouba on Wednesday, police and hospital officials said.

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See also:

Sexual cleansing in Iraq

Bomb Threat Puts Pakistan On "Red Alert"

Pakistan's security officials put all of the country's airports on "red alert" Thursday after intelligence warnings of a suicide attack.

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See also:

Pakistan Militants Threaten More Bombs

Churches Aren't Political Parties, Say Humanists

Washington, D.C. -- Today the American Humanist Association denounced the Alliance Defense Fund's so-called Pulpit Initiative, where the ADF is asking churches to break the law this coming Sunday by deliberately violating the Internal Revenue Service's rule against endorsing candidates for political office.

"If churches can remain tax exempt while endorsing political candidates, what's to prevent political parties from becoming churches in order to give their donors a tax break and keep their donations secret?" asked Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association.

The no-electioneering rule prohibits houses of worship from endorsing political candidates for office. While churches have this limitation, they receive a number of special privileges from the government in return. These include relief from income and property taxes, exceptions from certain laws, and their donations don't need to be reported to the government. But if churches could campaign for candidates, the normal campaign contribution reporting requirements wouldn't apply to them.

The Alliance Defense Fund hopes to overturn the IRS rule by generating an IRS investigation of at least one church. In that event, the ADF would sue, claiming that the tax provision is an unconstitutional violation of free speech and freedom of religion. About 80 ministers have expressed interest in participating on Sunday by endorsing candidates from the pulpit.

"Tax-exempt status isn't a right; it's a privilege," said Mel Lipman, president of the American Humanist Association and a civil liberties attorney. "And that's what this is about: the tax-exempt privilege. If Churches wish to endorse candidates, they only have to give up that tax-exemption. They still have the freedom of speech and religious expression to say what they want--they just can't expect taxpayers to cover the church's fair share of the tax burden."

Clergy have been barred from backing political candidates from the pulpit since federal legislation was passed in 1954 that carved out the no-electioneering rule for all non-profits. Legal arguments that circumvent this legislation are considered by many to be weak at best. Moreover, some religious leaders are concerned that religious and government entanglement could result in future regulation of churches and thus a loss of religious liberty and autonomy.

"If churches really want to endorse candidates that badly, they'll get no argument from humanists if they also start paying taxes on the billions they collect in donations each year," added Speckhardt. "But before ministers are coerced by ADF into jeopardizing their tax status, we encourage any democratically-run congregations to weigh this matter and ask their ministers not to take the ADF's advice."

More...

See also:

Churches That Violate Law On Pulpit Politicking Will Be Reported To The IRS, Vows Americans United

Lawsuit Filed To Block District Of Columbia Tax Funding Of Gospel Mission

The ACLU of the National Capital Area, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the District of Columbia's plan to grant more than $12 million in public property and cash to the Central Union Mission, a religious homeless shelter.

The Mission conditions shelter for the homeless on participation in Christian religious activity, including mandatory attendance at nightly church services. Its director has stated, "We are in the business of converting people to Christ. That's what we do." The Mission only employs Christians and requires volunteers to declare their church affiliation.

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Cherry Creek School Violation Linked To Lutheran Brotherhood

A federal judge's decision on Sept. 8 to throw out the Foundation's lawsuit challenging endorsement of religion by the Cherry Creek School District in Denver did not keep the Foundation down for long. Foundation attorney Robert R. Tiernan, in his return bout, has introduced evidence linking the District's 40 Developmental Assets to a Lutheran, scripture-based program.

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No Place For Creationism In Science Class, State Says

NC -- While evolution is a course of study that must be taught in public schools, based on national standards, creationism is not, Dunlap said. Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties all follow the evolution curriculum.

--snip--

The Brunswick County school system offers a Bible as Literature course in high school, but it's not being taught this year because no students signed up for it, according to administrators.

More...

Earlier:

Brunswick school board to consider creationism teaching

And...

Butteville board drops Intelligent Design

Vatican Official Defends Evolution Against 'Useless' Creationism

VATICAN CITY -- A professor at a Vatican-sponsored university expressed dismay Tuesday that some Christian groups reject the theory of evolution - implicitly criticizing the literal interpretation of the Bible.

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Art Teacher Made Student Pray To Jesus For Forgiveness

Former ROB ZOMBIE guitarist and current SCUM OF THE EARTH frontman Riggs' 13-year-old son was reportedly reprimanded by his eighth-grade art teacher for wearing an inappropriate t-shirt in the classroom. The art teacher allegedly insulted the student in front of his peers, dragged him out of class into the hallway and forced him to pray on his knees for forgiveness from Jesus Christ. Later that day, the principal had commented that "we will have to have a board meeting about the situation."

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Arkansas Church Compound Raided In Child Porn Case

FOUKE, Ark. -- Federal authorities conducting a child-porn investigation raided the headquarters Saturday of a ministry run by a convicted tax evader once labeled by prosecutors as a polygamist who preys on girls and women.

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Guardian Angels Are Here, Say Most Americans

More than half of all Americans believe they have been helped by a guardian angel in the course of their lives, according to a new poll by the Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion. In a poll of 1700 respondents, 55% answered affirmatively to the statement, "I was protected from harm by a guardian angel." The responses defied standard class and denominational assumptions about religious belief; the majority held up regardless of denomination, region or education - though the figure was a little lower (37%) among respondents earning more than $150,000 a year.

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Billboard Imagining "No Religion" Visits Harrisburg

A "stained glass" billboard bearing the message "Imagine No Religion" will be up for a month in downtown Harrisburg, Penn. The location is South 2nd St. at Mulberry St., near Harrisburg Hospital, only 7 blocks from the Pennsylvania State Capitol building.

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Pennsylvania Town Says Couple Runs Swingers' Club Inside Church

PITTSBURGH -- A Pennsylvania couple is fighting to maintain a church they run from a Huntingdon Township home, which officials say is really a raunchy swingers club where single men have to pay for access but women come for free.

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Humanist Charities Supports Emergency Medical Access For Haitian Women

Humanist Charities proudly supports the Children of the Border project to raise funds for the women of Haiti and the Dominican Republic to have safe, emergency medical treatment and access to safe birth control and education on family planning.

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Google Agrees To Carry Anti-Abortion Ads By Religious Bodies

Religious organizations can now place anti-abortion advertisements on Google after a lawsuit by a British pro-life charity forced it to lift the ban.

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Medical Groups Oppose New Abortion Rule

Ostensibly, Rule Would Protect Workers Who Oppose Abortion; Critics Say It Redefines Contraception As Abortion

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See also:

Proposed Federal Regulation Could Jeopardize Patients' Health Care, Says Americans United

Doctors' Body Backs Down On Religion Policy

The regulating body for Ontario physicians has backed off a controversial proposal that would have forced doctors to put aside their religious views when dealing with patients.

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Winnipeg Schools Pick Religion Over HPV Vaccine

WINNIPEG - At least four Winnipeg private schools have opted not to vaccinate Grade 6 girls against a sexually transmitted infection linked to cervical cancer for "religious reasons."

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Church Of England Claims Hallowe'en Is 'Similar' To Christmas Eve

A website created by the Church claims that the event, which is based on a pagan celebration and has no Biblical basis, represents "light coming in the darkness" similar to the arrival on Earth of Jesus Christ.

It is part of a campaign by clergy to stop the spread of the secular American interpretation of Hallowe'en that sees children dress in horror masks and demand "trick or treat" from neighbours, and revive its Christian meaning of a commemoration of saints.

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Revered Christian Artifact Turns Out to Be Fake

A silver cross regarded as one of the most important early Christian artifacts found in Britain is a modern fake.

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Faithful Hail Saint's Blood 'Miracle'

Thousands of Neapolitans crowded into the city's cathedral yesterday to witness the miracle of Saint Gennaro, whose dried blood is said to liquefy twice a year, 17 centuries after his death.

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Italian Prostitutes To Dress As Nuns

Prostitutes in Italy who have been ordered to stop wearing skimpy clothing while they tout for business in broad daylight plan to dress as nuns instead.

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Brazilian Footballers And The Holy Spirit

Many Brazilians playing for Europe's soccer clubs are members of Pentecostal congregations and are determined to spread their faith. While the footballers are expected to donate one-tenth of their sizeable income to their churches, they often have no idea where the money is going.

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Religious Mother Let 'Emaciated' Son Die

Australia -- A woman has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her four-year-old son after she denied him medical treatment on religious grounds.

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Turkey Bans Biologist Richard Dawkins' Website

Ankara - Turkish internet users have been blocked via a court order from accessing the site of prominent British biologist Richard Dawkins after complaints from lawyers for Islamic creationist author Adnan Oktar.

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See also:

'All Terrorists are Darwinists': An Interview with Harun Yahya

Turkish edition of The Ancestor's Tale sells out within a day!

Nepal Capital Caught Up In Religious Rage

Large parts of the Nepali capital were closed down on Sunday following clashes between police and protestors demonstrating against a government decision not to finance traditional animal sacrifice.

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French Court Hears Muslim Marriage Row

DOUAI, France: A French court heard an appeal yesterday into the case of a Muslim couple whose marriage was annulled on the grounds the bride was not a virgin, sparking a national uproar.

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See also:

Church and state on collision course

Jewish 'Ultras' Defend Morals With Menace

Four months ago in the middle of the night, six men dressed in wide-brimmed black hats, black coats, white shirts and black trousers burst into the Jerusalem apartment of a young Jewish woman and taught her a lesson.

Mikhail, who is reluctant to give her full name, had scandalised members of her ultra-orthodox Jewish community by leaving her husband and embracing a secular lifestyle. The men, all members of the theologically conservative Haredi branch of Judaism, tackled her to the ground, slammed her head against the floor and tied a rag around her mouth. One assailant sat on her head as the others kicked her while demanding to know the names of the men she was seeing.

They also threatened to kill her if she did not leave the neighbourhood, which contains many secular as well as religious residents. 'A woman is only OK if she has a family, kids and a husband,' said Mikhail with a sigh.

More...

See also:

Jewish newspapers ban pictures of Israel's new PM because she's a woman

Female Circumcision Common In Egypt Despite Ban

OLD habits, however brutal, die hard. It's six years since Egypt banned female genital mutilation but still it continues. And FGM is unlikely to stop as long as religious leaders condone it and parents believe their daughters will otherwise be disadvantaged.

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Saudi Cleric Issues Fatwa Against Journalists/Writers Who Criticise Religious Figures

A top Saudi cleric has issued an edict saying writers who challenge or criticise religious sheikhs should be fired from their jobs, flogged, and jailed. This comes close on the heels of another top cleric calling for the death of owners of satellite TV stations that air "immoral" soap operas.

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Palestinian Drives Into Crowd, Injures 15, Police Say

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Fifteen people -- mostly Israeli soldiers -- were injured at an intersection in Jerusalem Monday night when a driver plowed his car into a group of people.

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Civilians Killed As Somali Militants Attack Peacekeepers

(CNN) -- Islamist militants launched a massive assault on African Union peacekeepers in the Somali capital Wednesday, sparking battles that killed at least 17 civilians, according to witnesses and journalists in Mogadishu.

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Yemen's Revolving Door

The suspected mastermind of last week's assault on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen is a longtime Al Qaeda operative who escaped from a Yemeni prison more than two years ago, according to U.S. national-security officials.

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A Modernized Taliban Thrives in Afghanistan

KABUL -- Just one year ago, the Taliban insurgency was a furtive, loosely organized guerrilla force that carried out hit-and-run ambushes, burned empty schools, left warning letters at night and concentrated attacks in the southern rural regions of its ethnic and religious heartland.

Today it is a larger, better armed and more confident militia, capable of mounting sustained military assaults. Its forces operate in virtually every province and control many districts in areas ringing the capital. Its fighters have bombed embassies and prisons, nearly assassinated the president, executed foreign aid workers and hanged or beheaded dozens of Afghans.

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U.S. Expects Afghan Violence to Worsen

Ex-Afghan provincial police chief killed

Satellite Images Show Ethnic Cleanout In Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.

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See also:

UCLA study of satellite imagery casts doubt on surge's success in Baghdad

And...

U.S. Raid Kills 4 Iraqi Militants, 3 Women

Sunni lawmaker's home bombed

Weekend attacks wound dozens, kill 10

Stage being set for Iraqi elections as violence flares

Awakening Councils in hiding as arrests on rise

Getting to school in Iraq

Hundreds Feared Dead In Blast At Pakistan Hotel

The blast, one of the biggest seen in Pakistan in recent years, happened at the Marriott hotel at around 8pm. The hotel was left burning fiercely all along its facade, with fears that it could totally collapse while other buildings in the vicinity were also left damaged.

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Pakistan blast toll rises to 53; 2 U.S. service members among the dead

Islamabad hotel blast 'was Pakistan's 9/11'

Hotel bomb shows al-Qaeda's deadly new reach

Pakistan violence could signal civil war

Arrests Made In Pakistan Hotel Bombing

Bomb Kills 5 At Pakistani Religious School

Pakistan suicide bomber kills schoolgirl

Blast wounds Kabul police official

6 killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

Missile attack reported in Pakistan

Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia On The Rise In Europe

WASHINGTON (IPS) - Both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have risen in Europe over the last four years, according to a survey conducted earlier this year and released here Thursday by the Pew Research Centre.

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Inspector, Bomb Suspects Die In Delhi Gunbattle

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A police officer and two suspected Islamic terrorists believed involved in a series of bombings were killed in gunbattle Friday in New Delhi, a police official said.

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A Week Late, Al Qaeda Releases 9/11 Video

(CBS/ AP) Al Qaeda threatened major new attacks in Afghanistan and dismissed setbacks in Iraq, vowing that it will keep fighting there even after Americans leave, in a new video marking the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, issued Friday more than a week after the anniversary.

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Saudi Cleric Says Mickey Mouse 'Must Die'

Calling the loveable Disney rodent "one of Satan's soldiers," Sheikh Muhammad Munajid said household mice and their animated counterparts must be rubbed out, the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

--snip--

And Mickey wasn't alone. Munajid also mentioned Jerry from "Tom and Jerry" fame is on his list of "impure" cartoon mice.

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16 Dead In Car Bomb, Ambush At US Embassy In Yemen

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) -- Suspected militants armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb assaulted the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday. The coordinated attack killed 16 people, including six assailaints, officials said.

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See also:

Al Qaeda blamed for U.S. Embassy attack

Did Yemen attackers return from Iraq?

Vatican: Guess What, Darwin? Evolution Is OK

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said on Tuesday the theory of evolution was compatible with the Bible but planned no posthumous apology to Charles Darwin for the cold reception it gave him 150 years ago.

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720 Afghan Police Killed In 6 Months

(AP) Insurgent attacks have killed around 720 Afghan police in the last six months as militants have increased the pace of bombings and ambushes, an official said Tuesday.

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Iraqi Police Say Explosives-Laden Bicycle Kills 2

(AP) Police say a bicycle laden with explosives exploded at a busy market north of Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding 19.

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US Soldiers Battling Hard In Iraqi City

Suicide Attack Kills 3 Soldiers In Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide attack late Tuesday evening in the restive area of Swat killed three soldiers and wounded six others, the Pakistani military told CNN.

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How Memories Are Made, And Recalled

ScienceDaily -- What makes a memory? Single cells in the brain, for one thing.

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Turn It Off To Turn It On: Neuroscientists Discover Critical Early Step Of Memory Formation

The 'Satellite Navigation' In Our Brains

Scientists Watch As Listener's Brain Predicts Speaker's Words

Dark Matter 'Bridge To Nowhere' Found In Cosmic Void

More than a dozen galaxies seem to be lined up along a bridge of dark matter inside a region of nearly empty space. This 'bridge to nowhere' could shed light on how small galaxies formed in the early universe.

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Dark Matter Disk In Our Galaxy

Likely Planet Found Around Sun-like Star

Lander Sees Martian Whirlwinds In Action

Strange 'Ant From Mars' Discovered

A newly discovered species of a blind, subterranean predator -- dubbed the "Ant from Mars" -- is likely a descendant of one of the very first ants to evolve on Earth, a new study finds.

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'Witchcraft' Claim Sparked Deadly Soccer Riot

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- Accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot that killed 13 people, a U.N.-funded radio station reported Monday.

Most of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 16, Radio Okapi said. They were suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits during the mayhem Sunday in Butembo in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

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Moroccan Theologian: Muslim Girls Can Wed At Nine

RABAT - A Moroccan theologian repeated his claims Sunday that Muslim girls could marry as early as nine years old, arguing it was sanctioned by the Prophet Mohammed.

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Bombs Kill At Least 35, Iraqis Say

A suicide bomber blew herself up Monday among police officers who were celebrating the release of a comrade from U.S. custody, killing at least 22 people, Iraqi officials said. Separate bombings in Iraq killed 13 other people.

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Militia Threatens To Close Airport In Somali Capital

(CNN) -- Islamist fighters battling for control of Somalia have threatened to close Mogadishu's only airport, warning all airlines to stop flights into the Somali capital by early Tuesday.

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Inside The Terror Plot That 'Rivaled 9/11'

What really happened in the case that led airlines to bans liquids and gels.

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U.S.: Letters detail al Qaeda infighting

Appeal Denied In Crosses Lawsuit

LAS CRUCES -- Appeals were denied Friday in two lawsuits that argued the city of Las Cruces and the public schools violated the U.S. Constitution by using Christian crosses on city logos and buildings.

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Charles Darwin To Receive Apology From The Church Of England For Rejecting Evolution

The Church of England is to apologise to Charles Darwin for its initial rejection of his theories, nearly 150 years after he published his most famous work.

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Humanists sue as exam agency blocks GCSE

Pope Condemns 'Pagan' Love Of Money, Power

PARIS - Pope Benedict XVI condemned unbridled "pagan" passion for power, possessions and money as a modern-day plague Saturday as he led more than a quarter of a million Catholics in an outdoor Mass in Paris.

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From 2005:

Benedict XVI faces tough decisions as CEO of vast empire

Radical Muslims Warn Of Another 9/11

Muslim extremists have held a meeting at the heart of the area where the liquid bombers lived in which they warned of a British September 11.

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Taliban Attacks Kill Afghan Doctors, Police

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The Taliban has claimed responsibility for two separate attacks in Afghanistan over the weekend that killed doctors and police officers.

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New Delhi Blasts Death Toll Rises To 21

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- The death toll in a string of explosions that ripped through busy marketplaces in India's capital has risen to 21, police said Sunday.

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Five Blasts Put Delhi on High Alert

Remote Brainwaves Predict Future 'Eureka' Moment

ScienceDaily -- Real-world problems come in two broad flavors: those requiring sequential reasoning and those requiring transformative reasoning: a break from past thinking and restructuring followed by an insight (also known as Eureka or "Aha!"), which is a process by which a problem solver abruptly, through a quantum leap of understanding with no conscious forewarning, moves from a state of not knowing how to solve a problem to a state of knowing how to solve it.

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'Big Bang' Experiment Starts Well

Scientists have hailed a successful switch-on for an enormous experiment which will recreate the conditions a few moments after the Big Bang.

They have now fired two beams of particles called protons around the 27km-long tunnel which houses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

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See also:

The Origins of the Universe: A Crash Course

Sleek Probe To Map Earth's Gravity

ScienceDaily -- The European Space Agency is launching a new satellite to map variations in the Earth's gravity field with unprecedented accuracy. The satellite will give UK scientists vital information about ocean circulation and sea level change needed to improve climate forecast models.

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'Values Voter Summit' Tries To Push Churches Into Illegal Partisan Politicking, Says Americans United

The ADF, the nation's largest Religious Right legal group, is asking pastors to endorse or oppose candidates from the pulpit on Sept. 28 in violation of federal tax law.

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FFRF Files Motion to Delay Oral Arguments

Based on comments to the media by the Green Bay mayor indicating the city may adopt a policy to place only secular decorations at City Hall, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has asked the judge to delay oral arguments scheduled for Monday, Sept. 15, in its Green Bay nativity scene lawsuit.

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Chicago Here FFRF Comes!

Priest Accused Of Dealing Coke From Church

(CBS/ AP) A Catholic priest on the University of Illinois campus has been charged with selling cocaine from his church office and rectory.

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62-Year-Old Woman Accused Of Burning Historic Church

MEDFORD, Mo. -- Authorities have arrested a 62-year-old Holden, Mo., woman in connection with a blaze that destroyed a 101-year-old Medford church.

--snip--

The suspect told Millstead that God had told her to hold church services at her house, Millstead said.

The suspect also told Millstead that God had told her to "get rid of all the bad people," Millstead said.

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Colorado Meatpacking Plant Lays Off 100 Muslim Workers

GREELEY, COLO. -- A meatpacking company Wednesday laid off about 100 Muslim immigrant workers who walked off the job last week in protest of the firm's refusal to give them time to pray during the holy month of Ramadan.

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UK's First Hindu School Opens

Krishna-Avanti Primary School, due to open in Camrose Avenue on Monday, has drawn criticism from religious and secular groups for its promotion of Hinduism over other faiths.

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Bahrain Teacher 'Insulted Islam'

MANAMA: An American woman was referred to the court yesterday by the Public Prosecution after being charged with insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

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Saudi OKs Killing "Immoral" TV Execs

(AP) Saudi Arabia's top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content.

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Car Bomb Kills 32 North Of Baghdad

(AP) A car bomb ripped through a crowded commercial district in a mainly Shiite town north of Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 32 people and wounding 43, Iraqi officials said.

--snip--

Earlier Friday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a Shiite mosque farther north in Sinjar as worshippers left prayers at midday, killing two civilians and wounding 15, police chief Col. Awad Kahlil said.

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U.S. Hits Pakistan Again, At Least 12 Reported Killed

(CBS/AP) The main opposition party called Friday for parliament to meet in joint session to devise strategy on how to deal with cross-border attacks after the latest suspected U.S. missile strike killed 12 people in northwestern Pakistan.

American forces in Afghanistan are stepping up their efforts to hit Taliban and al Qaeda militants in what they call safe havens in Pakistan's wild border regions, despite stiff protests from Islamabad.

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See also:

Bush OK'd Secret U.S. Strikes In Pakistan

And...

7 Years Later, No Closer To Bin Laden

In Hunt for Bin Laden, a New Approach

U.S. Suffering Deadliest Afghan Year

(AP) Insurgents killed two U.S. troops in Afghanistan on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Thursday, making 2008 the deadliest year for American forces since U.S. troops invaded the country in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

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See also:

U.S. "Running Out Of Time" In Afghanistan

Pentagon admits Afghan strategy not succeeding

FFRF's Full Page Ad In Today's New York Times Imagines A World Free From Religion

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has placed a full-page in today's New York Times (p. A17), featuring a photograph of the intact pre-9/11 Manhattan skyline juxtaposed with the words: "Imagine a World Free From Religion."

"One of the lessons of 9/11 is that there is no greater source of terrorism, strife, bloodshed, persecution or war than religion," the Foundation ad points out.

"John Lennon was right," comments Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Dan Barker, author of the new book, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists (Ulysses Press).

"If there were no religion," Dan added, "it would not automatically solve all our problems, but it would make them so much easier to address."

"In this approaching seventh anniversary of the terror attacks, the role religion plays in creating terrorism and division is that proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room," said Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor.

The ad points to "the growing threat of religious fanaticism here at home," the de facto religious test for public office being imposed on candidates, and asks: "Is the American public flirting with theocracy?," adding: "Don't let it happen here!"

The ad promotes membership in the Freedom From Religion Foundation, points out that FFRF is the largest national association of freethinkers, recounts FFRF achievements and touts the Foundation's significant 30-year history of litigation to keep state and church separate.

"We came into the office today to find the phones ringing off the hooks, and already have been contacted by many very interested prospective members from all over the nation," said Dan.

"We thank the original East Coast FFRF member who suggested this ad and contributed $10,000, and the other members who contributed toward this national statement," added Annie Laurie.

View ad here

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is a national association of more than 12,000 freethinkers (atheists, agnostics) that has been working since 1978 to keep church and state separate.

LINK

See also:

Humanists Praise Bold New York Times Ad

Billboard Targets Ex-Mormons In Valley; Draws Controversy

A billboard in Chandler is drawing attention from Mormons and former followers alike.

The Utah-based group Post-Mormon has placed a billboard at the corner of Gilbert Road and Chandler Boulevard in an attempt to reach out to ex-Mormons who feel abandoned by their friends and family.

It features a family with a note that reads, "You're not alone!" as well as the web address postmormon.org.

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Ban On Political Endorsements By Pastors Targeted

CHICAGO -- Declaring that clergy have a constitutional right to endorse political candidates from their pulpits, the socially conservative Alliance Defense Fund is recruiting several dozen pastors to do just that on Sept. 28, in defiance of Internal Revenue Service rules.

The effort by the Arizona-based legal consortium is designed to trigger an IRS investigation that ADF lawyers would then challenge in federal court. The ultimate goal is to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a 54-year-old ban on political endorsements by tax-exempt houses of worship.

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See also:

Americans United Commends Ohio Clergy For Opposing Pulpit Partisanship

Scientists In Switzerland To Do The Monster Smash

(AP) Scientists will launch an experiment in a tunnel deep beneath the French-Swiss border Wednesday, hoping to find evidence of extra dimensions, invisible "dark matter," and an elusive particle called the "Higgs boson."

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Powerful telescope 'looks back' 4.6 billion years

Anthropologists Develop New Approach To Explain Religious Behavior

ScienceDaily -- Without a way to measure religious beliefs, anthropologists have had difficulty studying religion. Now, two anthropologists from the University of Missouri and Arizona State University have developed a new approach to study religion by focusing on verbal communication, an identifiable behavior, instead of speculating about alleged beliefs in the supernatural that cannot actually be identified.

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Biologists On The Verge Of Creating New Form Of Life

A team of biologists and chemists is closing in on bringing non-living matter to life.

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Ancient Trees Recorded In Mines

Spectacular fossil forests have been found in the coal mines of Illinois by a US-UK team of researchers.

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Devolution In Education

This summer and fall, the science curriculum comes under scrutiny. But far from being a yawner, the review may turn out to be a key battleground between scientists and science teachers on one hand and the religious right on the other.

The basic fight is expected to be over what kids are taught about evolution -- which takes up only about three days of teaching in a 180-day school year. But scientists and teachers argue there are much bigger things at stake: the intimidation of teachers and the possible beginning of biblical beliefs being taught as science in Texas public schools.

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Atheist At Fort Riley Reports Death Threat

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - An atheist soldier at Fort Riley who's suing the military is reporting that he has received a death threat.

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'Heretics Barbecue' Gathers Skeptics

There was a time when Mark Boyd's truck sported a "Darwin fish," which is a parody of the Christian ichthys symbol. Then somebody ripped it off, broke it into four pieces and put it under one of the vehicle's windshield wipers.

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Man Indicted For Allegedly Seeking Heavenly Tax Refund

A Marion man, who allegedly claims to be a citizen of heaven rather than a U.S. Citizen, has been charged in federal court in Cedar Rapids with making a false claim on his taxes.

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Pope Orders Disciplinary Measures On Priest Over Sex Scandal

Pope Benedict XVI has authorised severe cautionary and disciplinary measures against Fr Tomislav Vlasic, the former spiritual director to six children who said Our Lady was appearing to them at the site in Bosnia.

The Franciscan priest was suspended after he refused to co-operate with a Vatican probe of scandalous sexual immorality "aggravated by mystical motivations".

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Church Obsessed With Gays - Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has accused the Anglican church of allowing its "obsession" with homosexuality to come before real action on world poverty.

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Football 1, Religion 1

There was no clear winner as two of Northern Ireland's great passions - football and religion - clashed on the streets of east Belfast.

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Church Of Scientology Faces Fraud Trial In France

A French judge has ordered two branches of the Church of Scientology and seven of its leaders to stand trial for fraud, in the latest of a series of French legal battles against the organisation promoted by celebrities such as Tom Cruise.

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Lawmaker Candidates Face Koran Test In Indonesia's Aceh

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's Aceh province will begin testing candidates for next year's provincial elections on the Koran from Monday, an election commission official said.

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Sikhs And Hindus Accuse BBC Of Pro-Muslim Bias

Hindu and Sikh leaders have accused the BBC of pandering to Britain's Muslim community by making a disproportionate number of programmes on Islam at the expense of covering other Asian religions.

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Russian Prosecutors In Bid To Ban South Park

Moscow prosecutors began legal proceedings aimed at the cartoon series South Park today in a bid to kill Kenny in Russia.

--snip--

A statement by Moscow prosecutors read: "It offends the honour and dignity of Christians and Muslims alike." It could just have easily included Jews, Scientologists, Catholics, Mormons and Moonies all of whom have been mercilessly targeted by American series.

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Tunisia Gets Religious TV Amid Islamist Concern

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's first religious television channel has begun broadcasting, with the blessing of a government keen to ensure growing religious devotion does not fuel the rise of militant Islam.

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Airliner Bomb Trial: Three Muslim Extremists Face Lengthy Jail Terms Over Plot

Three Islamic extremists are facing lengthy prison sentences after being found guilty of conspiring to kill hundreds of people in a terrorist bombing campaign.

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US Finds Clues In Bakery To Foil Iraqi Terror Plot

The U.S. military believes insurgents planned to tunnel underneath the compound's blast walls and blow up the headquarters building. With 250-300 Iraqis working in the governor's office and perhaps hundreds more there for business, casualties from such a blast could have been catastrophic.

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See also:

New Cholera Outbreak Hits Iraq

Iraq Palestinians head to Iceland

Guard: Al Qaeda Chief In Pakistan Killed

(CNN) -- The newly appointed al Qaeda chief in Pakistan, Abu Haris, has died of his wounds after a missile attack in northwestern Pakistan, according to a guard who was also wounded in the attack.

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U.S. Strike Hits Pakistan Village

Right at the Edge

Pakistan's Unlikely President

3 U.S. Troops Killed In Afghan Blast

(AP) A NATO bomb missed its target by more than 1.5 miles and hit a house Tuesday, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding 10 at a time of rising tension between the Afghan government and international troops over the use of airstrikes.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed three U.S. coalition soldiers and an Afghan contractor, the coalition said.

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Large Hadron Collider Readies For World's Biggest Experiment

IT is the most ambitious and expensive civilian science experiment in history, using the biggest machine yet built. It has sparked alarmist fears that it might create a black hole that will tear the Earth apart, and it has triggered two last-minute legal attempts to stop it.

And next Wednesday, after almost two decades of planning and construction, the project in question will finally get under way.

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See also:

Collider Triggers End-of-World Fears

Large Hadron Collider Switch-on Fears Are Completely Unfounded, Report Finds

Earlier:

The Large Hadron Rap

European Probe Zooms Past Asteroid

DARMSTADT, Germany - The Rosetta deep-space probe successfully passed close to an asteroid 250 million miles (400 million kilometers) from Earth, the European Space Agency said Friday night.

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See also:

Rosetta Observes Asteroid At Close Quarters

And...

New partial rings discovered around Saturn

Trichoplax Genome Sequenced: 'Rosetta Stone' For Understanding Evolution

ScienceDaily -- Yale molecular and evolutionary biologists in collaboration with Department of Energy scientists produced the full genome sequence of Trichoplax, one of nature's most primitive multicellular organisms, providing a new insight into the evolution of all higher animals.

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See also:

Yale Researchers Find 'Junk DNA' May Have Triggered Key Evolutionary Changes In Human Thumb And Foot

Bettany And Connelly To Star In Creation

Real-life husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly have signed on to play a married couple in Creation, Jon Amiel's project about the life of Charles Darwin, says The Hollywood Reporter.

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Wash. Rampage Suspect In Court: 'I Kill For God'

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) "I kill for God. I listen to God," a man accused of a northwest Washington shooting rampage said Friday at a hearing where six charges of first-degree murder and four of first-degree assault were filed against him.

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Vicar Admits Child Porn Charges

A vicar is behind bars after he admitted possessing more than 55,000 indecent pictures of children.

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Deadly Iraq Bombings Target Market, Politician

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least six people were killed and 50 wounded in a suicide car bombing Saturday at an outdoor market in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

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Suicide Bomb In Northwest Pakistan Kills 25

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide car bomb targeting a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan killed at least 25 people, including 10 police officers, and wounded 50 others, a Peshawar police spokesman said Saturday.

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Ask An Atheist!

Atheism sets its roots from the pre-Socratics. The etymology of atheist can be traced to Ancient Greek from the word atheos meaning without (a-) god (theos).

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Optical Computing Closer To Reality

ScienceDaily -- Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have theorized a way to increase the speed of pulses of light that bound across chains of tiny metal particles to well past the speed of light by altering the particle shape.

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See also:

Physicists Discover 'Doubly Strange' Particle

A Fine-tooth Comb To Measure The Accelerating Universe

Do 68 Molecules Hold The Key To Understanding Disease?

ScienceDaily -- Why is it that the origins of many serious diseases remain a mystery? In considering that question, a scientist at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has come up with a unified molecular view of the indivisible unit of life, the cell, which may provide an answer.

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See also:

Cell Division Study Resolves 50-year-old Debate

Americans United Hails Florida Supreme Court Ruling Removing Deceptive Amendments From Florida Ballot

Americans United for Separation of Church and State hailed today's ruling by the Florida Supreme Court removing two ballot amendments that would have erased religious freedom safeguards and harmed public schools in the state.

The lawsuit, Ford v. Browning, filed by Americans United and other civil liberties and education groups in June, asserted the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission exceeded its authority by approving both ballot amendments and that one of the amendments is worded in a misleading manner.

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Spain Mulls Easing Strict Abortion Law

(AP) Spain has taken a first step toward amending its restrictive law on abortion, a government minister said Thursday, moving to fill one of the last big gaps in a drive for sweeping social change in this traditionally Roman Catholic country.

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Iran Bill To Ease Polygamy Angers Women

(AP) A bill that would allow Iranian men to take additional wives without the consent of their first wife has angered women and the country's top justice official, who say it would undermine women's rights and could be a government attempt to more deeply enshrine its strict Islamic interpretation into law.

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U.S. Troops Crossed Border, Pakistan Says

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Helicopters carried U.S. and Afghan commandos many miles into Pakistan on Wednesday to stage the first U.S. ground attack against a Taliban target inside the country, Pakistani officials said. At least 20 local people died in the raid, according to the officials.

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See also:

Pakistan reacts with fury after up to 20 die in 'American' attack on its soil

Pakistan, Afghanistan deplore U.S. attacks

And...

Pakistan PM escapes assassination attempt

Anti-Radical Islam Reporter Killed In South Russia

Abulla Alishayev was the second journalist to die in three days in Russia's north Caucasus, a region scarred by fighting between federal forces and Muslim rebels.

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Canceled Novel About Muhammad, Child Bride Finds New Publisher

SPOKANE, Wash. - A historical novel about the prophet Muhammad and his child bride that was pulled by Random House over concerns it would anger Muslims has been sold to another publisher, the author said Wednesday.

"We do have a U.S. publisher," Sherry Jones, of Spokane, told The Associated Press in an e-mail Wednesday. "We can announce that, but not the name until they announce it."

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Don't Let Them Eat Cake, Saudi Cleric Says

The Saudi ban on birthdays is in line with the strict interpretation of Islam followed by the conservative Wahhabi sect adhered to in the kingdom. All Christian and even most Muslim feasts are also prohibited because they are considered alien customs the Saudi clerics don't sanction.

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A New Taliban?

The emergence of a Saudi-style 'morality police' is ringing alarm bells in Yemen.

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Iraqi Government To Gain Control Of Anti-Al Qaeda Councils

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military will transfer control of Sunni Awakening groups to the Iraqi government next month, a U.S. military spokesman said Thursday in Baghdad.

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Gaza Hospitals Strain Under Pressure Of Strikes

(AP) A walkout of medical staff throughout Gaza has strained services at hospitals and clinics throughout the territory, the latest in a series of crippling strikes that are deepening bitter divisions between Gaza's militant Hamas rulers and loyalists of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Violence In India Is Fueled By Religious And Economic Divide

TIANGIA, India: Those who came to attack Christians here early last week set their trap well, residents say.

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See also:

Where Politics Crucifies the Poor

Atom Collider Rap Is A YouTube Smash

EAST LANSING, Michigan (AP) -- Who says science doesn't turn people on? Kate McAlpine is a rising star on YouTube for her rap performance -- about high-energy particle physics.

More...

The Large Hadron Rap

See also:

Courts weigh doomsday claims

And...

Cosmic crash unmasks dark matter

New maps detail solar system objects

Rosetta Spacecraft On Its Way To Meet Asteroid Steins

Origin Of Cosmic Dust That Lands On Earth Discovered

Origin Of High Energy Emission From Crab Nebula Identified

Furthermore...

'Autonomous' Helicopters Teach Themselves To Fly

Scientists Grow 'Nanonets' Able To Snare Added Energy Transfer

DNA Tubes Created With Programmable Sizes For Nanoscale Manufacturing

Bonobos May Have Greater Linguistic Skills Than Previously Thought

ScienceDaily -- What happens when linguistic tools used to analyze human language are applied to a conversation between a language-competent bonobo and a human? The findings, published this month in the Journal of Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, indicate that bonobos may exhibit larger linguistic competency in ordinary conversation than in controlled experimental settings.

--snip--

Pedersen said linguistic aspects of the conversation included turn taking, negotiation, pauses and repetition, and went far beyond information sharing made possible through the use of lexigrams symbols.

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Prehistoric Funerary Precinct Excavated In Northern Israel

ScienceDaily -- Hebrew University excavations in the north of Israel have revealed a prehistoric funerary precinct dating back to 6,750-8,500 BCE.

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See also:

'Lost World' Beneath Caribbean To Be Explored

Scientists Develop New Computational Method To Investigate Origin Of Life

ScienceDaily -- Scientists at Penn State have developed a new computational method that they say will help them to understand how life began on Earth. The team's method has the potential to trace the evolutionary histories of proteins all the way back to either cells or viruses, thus settling the debate once and for all over which of these life forms came first.

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See also:

Person's Geographic Origins Located From DNA

Gene 'Network' Linked To Schizophrenia Pieced Together; Patients Confirmed To Carry Mutations

New Master Switch Found In Brain Regulates Appetite And Reproduction

Genetic Link To Relationship Difficulties Found

Sleight Of Hand And Sense Of Self: Illusion Isn't Always Just In The Mind

'Armored' Fish Study Helps Strengthen Darwin's Natural Selection Theory

In The Nevada Desert, There's Something Out There -- The Black Mailbox

TIKABOO VALLEY, NEV. -- The only landmark for about 40 miles on a barren stretch of highway is a mailbox battered by time and desert gusts. It's known as the Black Mailbox, though it's actually a faded white.

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'Arming' For Armageddon

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Both Christian and secular critics assailed the makers of Jesus Camp for referring to the camp's extremist, militant Christianity as "evangelical." There is a name, however, that describes Kids on Fire's agenda, if you're familiar with their theology: Joel's Army. Pastor Becky Fischer, who runs the camp, said that a third of the kids at her camp were under 6 years old because they are "more in touch in the supernatural" and proclaimed them to be "soldiers for God's Army." Her camp's blend of end-times militancy and supernaturalism is perfectly emblematic of the Joel's Army movement, whose adherents believe their cause is prophesied in the Old Testament chapter titled "An Army of Locusts."

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Protest Continues Over Darwin Exhibition

A protest, supporting rational thinking against attacks by religious fundamentalists, will take place outside a Northampton museum.

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Ireland Is Running Out Of Priests

With precious few candidates for the priesthood and rapidly emptying pews, the Catholic Church is being forced to accept radical change.

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Cathedral turns to wine bars to woo new business

U.S. Fights Islamic Anti-Defamation Push

U.S. officials said they hope to persuade moderate Muslim nations - among them Senegal, Mali, Nigeria and Indonesia - to reject the measure, which lacks the force of law but has provided diplomatic cover for regimes that repress critical speech. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

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Anglicans Still Divided Over Homosexuality

Senior churchmen yesterday rejected proposals designed to avoid a schism in the Anglican Communion, insisting they would continue to develop their own global movement for conservative evangelicals and offer it as an alternative solution to the current crisis over homosexuality.

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Bishop Post To Go To Gay Cleric

A gay cleric is in line to become the next Bishop of Bangor, replacing the Right Rev Tony Crockett, who died of cancer this year. Canon Jeffrey John, who entered into a civil partnership with his long-term partner, the Rev Grant Holmes, in 2006, is currently the dean of St Albans and is a Welsh speaker - making him an ideal candidate for the job.

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Women Preachers At Moderate Mosque 'Urge Faithful To Kill Gays'

Women preachers are urging followers at one of Britain's most influential mosques to kill homosexuals and view all non-Muslims as "vile", according to a television documentary.

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Even In Flood, India's 'Untouchables' Last Rescued

TRIVENIGANJ, India - In the two weeks since a monsoon-swollen river burst its banks, ancient prejudices have run just as deep as the floodwaters. India's "untouchables" are the last to be rescued - if at all - from a deluge that has killed dozens and made 1.2 million homeless.

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Christians hide in forests as Hindu mobs ransack villages