Atheist Billboard

The Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry ... says it has no intention of turning believers into non-believers with this campaign. Instead, they want those who do not believe in a supernatural being to know that there is a happy and welcoming community of other-like minded people.

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New atheist billboard goes up in Charleston, SC

Don't Believe In God? You Have a Billboard

Humanists' billboard to greet drivers on interstate

Godless billboard to go up along I-26

The secular humanists start a billboard campaign

Pro-atheism ads will hit South Carolina next

Quantum Teleportation Between Distant Matter Qubits: First Between Atoms 1 Meter Apart

ScienceDaily -- For the first time, scientists have successfully teleported information between two separate atoms in unconnected enclosures a meter apart -- a significant milestone in the global quest for practical quantum information processing.

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Danube Delta Holds Answers To 'Noah's Flood' Debate

ScienceDaily -- Did a catastrophic flood of biblical proportions drown the shores of the Black Sea 9,500 years ago, wiping out early Neolithic settlements around its perimeter? A geologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and two Romanian colleagues report in the January issue of Quaternary Science Reviews that, if the flood occurred at all, it was much smaller than previously proposed by other researchers.

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Evolution In Action: Native U.S. Lizards Are Adapting To Escape Attacks By Fire Ants

ScienceDaily -- Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Tracy Langkilde has shown that native fence lizards in the southeastern United States are adapting to potentially fatal invasive fire-ant attacks by developing behaviors that enable them to escape from the ants, as well as by developing longer hind legs, which can increase the effectiveness of this behavior.

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Creationism Defeated In Texas

Campaigners against the teaching of creationism in science lessons last week celebrated a key victory in Texas.

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Board sides with evolution in curriculum debate

Texas board moves closer to new science standards

Evolution war still rages 200 years after Darwin's birth

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FFRF Erects Billboard to Honor Darwin, Not Dogma

Attenborough Reveals Creationist Hate Mail For Not Crediting God

Sir David Attenborough has revealed that he receives hate mail from viewers for failing to credit God in his documentaries. In an interview with this week's Radio Times about his latest documentary, on Charles Darwin and natural selection, the broadcaster said: "They tell me to burn in hell and good riddance."

Telling the magazine that he was asked why he did not give "credit" to God, Attenborough added: "They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator."

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Proposed Berkeley Ordinance On 'Cremains' Unfairly Favors Religious Groups, Says Americans United

A proposed Berkeley, Calif., ordinance that would only allow religious organizations to inter cremated ashes, while deny the same right to nonreligious organizations, violates the Constitution, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Disgraced Pastor Faces More Gay Sex Accusations

DENVER (AP) -- Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard's former church disclosed Friday that the gay sex scandal that caused his downfall extends to a young male church volunteer who reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard -- a revelation that comes as Haggard tries to repair his public image.

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Priest Father John Skehan Stole From Church To Go On Gambling Binge

Every Sunday the parishioners of St Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic church in Florida dropped their dollar notes into the collection plate, confident that the money would go straight to the church.

It did -- but not in quite the way that they might have expected.

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LA Cardinal Subject Of Federal Probe

Federal prosecutors are investigating Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and other officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles over their handling of alleged clergy child molestation cases, according to reports published Wednesday.

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Vatican Attacks US Abortion Move

The Vatican has condemned President Obama's move to restore US funding for family planning clinics abroad that give advice on or carry out abortions.

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Catholics hit Obama on pro-choice agenda

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Pope reprieves Holocaust-denying priest

Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some

More Young Aussies Non-Believers

YOUNG Australians are increasingly becoming a generation of non-believers or at least seem to be....

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Why Should I Respect These Oppressive Religions?

Whenever a religious belief is criticised, its adherents say they're victims of 'prejudice'

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Nigerian Police Hold 'Magic' Goat Over Attempted Car Theft

The black and white animal was turned in to police by a vigilante group, which claimed it was an armed car thief who had used black magic to transform himself into a goat to escape arrest after trying to steal a Mazda 323.

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Hindu Zealots Attack Women In Raid On Bar Party

The young customers at Amnesia: The Lounge were enjoying a Saturday afternoon of drinking and dancing in one of the hippest spots in the city of Mangalore when a mob of 40 Hindu radicals barged in.

The activists from Sri Ram Sena (SRS) -- or Lord Ram's Army -- screamed abuse and attacked several dozen men and women, mostly students, and smashed up the bar.

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Atheism 2.0 - Indonesia's Nonbelievers Find Refuge Online

JAKARTA (AFP) -- Chain-smoking at a trendy coffee shop while studiously ignoring the mosque's evening call to prayer, Indonesian atheists Didi and Dewi have little patience for the beliefs of most of their countrymen.

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Indonesian Muslims banned from practicing yoga

Islamists Call The Shots In Swedish Town

STOCKHOLM -- Small groups of radical Islamists have a stranglehold on part of a southern Swedish town that saw violent riots last month, a report submitted to the Swedish government said on Wednesday.

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Somali Insurgents Impose Islamic Law

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The radical Islamist insurgents who have seized the provisional capital moved yesterday to consolidate their control of the town and announced that they were imposing Islamic law there.

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Clash On Gaza Border Tests Cease-Fire

(AP) A Palestinian roadside bomb ripped through an Israeli military jeep patrolling the border with Gaza on Tuesday, killing one soldier and wounding three in a sudden flare-up of violence on the eve of a visit by the new U.S. Mideast envoy.

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Humanists Brave Bible Belt With Latest Ad

A controversial new billboard is slated to appear January 26 on westbound I-26 just south of the Spruill Avenue exit in Charleston. It will carry a brief message emblazoned on a background of a blue cloud-filled sky: "Don't Believe in God? You Are Not Alone." Below that will be the website address lowcountryhumanists.org.

"This billboard is unlike any that has ever appeared in South Carolina," declared Herb Silverman, vice president of the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry. "We expect it to generate a mix of reactions from surprise, curiosity, and even uplift."

The billboard is jointly sponsored by the local Secular Humanists of the Lowcounty as well as FreeThoughtAction, a division of the American Humanist Association. Similar billboards appeared previously in the New York City area, Philadelphia, and in both Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado. (A high-resolution image of this billboard is available online at http://lowcountryhumanists.org/billboard.jpg.)

"In the past, some individuals have taken offense at this message," Silverman added. "But that isn't our purpose. Rather, it is to introduce likeminded people to the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry as well as let others know that it's OK to be openly nonreligious."

The billboard will be up until February 25 and is one of a series planned to appear this year around the country, raising the public profile of atheists, agnostics, and humanists. The billboard is backed by an active Web site at http://www.freethoughtaction.org/ that sets forth the larger mission of the effort and offers ways that individuals can get involved.

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Obama's Secular Humanist Upbringing Praised

"President Obama: Living Proof that Family Values Without Religion Build Character," the ad says. It goes on to quote from Obama's own account of his upbringing in his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope. In his 1995 book, Dreams from My Father, Obama had written that his mother stood alone in her community as a "witness for secular humanism."

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Ads use Obama as atheist role-model

An inaugural first: Obama acknowledges 'non-believers'

The role of religion under Obama

Scientists Welcome Obama's Words

In Texas, A Line In The Curriculum Revives Evolution Debate

AUSTIN, Tex. -- The latest round in a long-running battle over how evolution should be taught in Texas schools began in earnest Wednesday as the State Board of Education heard impassioned testimony from scientists and social conservatives on revising the science curriculum.

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Illinois Moment Of Silence In Schools Ruled Unconstitutional

CHICAGO -- A federal judge has ruled that a state law requiring a moment of silence in public schools across Illinois is unconstitutional, saying it crosses the line separating church and state.

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Trials Loom For Parents Who Embraced Faith Over Medicine

WESTON, Wis. -- Kara Neumann, 11, had grown so weak that she could not walk or speak. Her parents, who believe that God alone has the ability to heal the sick, prayed for her recovery but did not take her to a doctor.

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Trial Set For Florida Priests Accused Of Theft

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Two priests who authorities say for years stole cash from their Florida church's offering plate and hid it in the church ceiling and offshore bank accounts to pay for lavish lifestyles will soon face a judge.

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Lawsuit: Alaska Villages 'Dumping Ground' For Abusive Priests

Kenney and Abouchuk are among a group of 43 Alaska Natives who claim in a lawsuit that the Jesuit order used remote Alaskan villages as a "dumping ground" for priests who sexually abused children, and accuse the president of Seattle University, who led the Jesuit order in the region from 1990 to 1996, of covering up some of the alleged abuse.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the latest claims are part of a larger pattern of alleged abuse over nearly 60 years by Jesuit priests in Alaska, involving at least 315 known victims, nearly all of them Native Alaskans, and nearly 30 abusers.

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Top FLDS Member, Spokesman Subpoenaed

(CNN) -- A top member of a Texas polygamist sect and the group's spokesman have been subpoenaed and are scheduled for court depositions Friday and Monday, according to court officials.

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Eleventh Child On Way For 'Rampant Rabbi' With Seven 'Wives'

Philip Sharp, 48, already has seven "wives" - none of whom he has actually married - and ten children by four of them.

And Mr Sharp, a former rabbi at a Messianic Jewish synagogue in Hove, Sussex, will become a father for the eleventh time in September.

He claims that God told him he was an Old Testament king and should build his family to strengthen his religious faith.

He has created a harem of women, whom he declares to be his wives after they have slept with him.

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Catholic Church Calls For An End To Secular Social Networking

THE ROMAN Catholic Church has once again revealed how in touch it is with modern times by calling for a ban on Facebook-like social notworking sites.

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Atheist Ads Are Kicked Off The Buses In Italy

A plan to put atheist slogans on buses in Italy has been shot down by the Roman Catholic Church.

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Atheist Ads 'Not Breaking Code'

An atheist UK bus campaign which uses the slogan "There's probably no God" does not breach the advertising code, a watchdog has ruled.

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Slump Sparks A Race To Join Religious Cults

RELIGIOUS cults are targeting credit-crunch Britons in a recruitment drive.

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Monks Pledge Lush New Life For 'The Paris Hilton Of Cows'

Munching contentedly on a carrot and surrounded by besotted admirers, two-year-old Aditi may be one of Britain's luckiest cows. A fortnight ago, she was just another ordinary member of the bovine family, facing a life of servitude on a dairy farm, or worse, heading towards the abattoir.

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Scientologists Hit Out At Criticism

THE Church of Scientology has appealed for religious tolerance after its $12 million bid to redevelop its Sydney headquarters sparked fears from neighbours of an increase in "menacing" and "aggressive" recruitment tactics.

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Islam Film Dutch MP To Be Charged

A Dutch court has ordered prosecutors to put a right-wing politician on trial for making anti-Islamic statements.

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Iraq Attacks Kill Seven, Wound 22

BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Seven people died and at least 22 were wounded in a string of attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, highlighting the continuing violence as new US President Barack Obama pledged to "leave Iraq to its people."

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Taliban Restrict Women's Education In Pakistan

Thousands of young women living in a part of Pakistan once considered the country's most idyllic tourist destination have been prevented from going to school after an order from Taliban forces which have seized control of much of the area.

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Five more schools destroyed in Taliban campaign

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Pakistan arrests London bombings suspect

Afghan Girls Maimed By Acid Vow To Go To School

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Shivering in pain and calling for her mother, Shamsia's hands shake uncontrollably, her eyes swollen shut and her skin peeling from terrible acid burns.

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Afghan unrest killed 4,000 civilians in 2008

First War Tally: 1,284 Gazans Dead, 4,336 Wounded

The two sides disagree on the death toll, particularly the ratio of combatants and civilians.

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Advertising Atheism

Recently, placards went up in buses in Washington, D.C., and other cities asking variations on an age-old question: Why believe in God? They're part of a public discussion on humanism and atheism that's gaining momentum thanks in part to books by Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins.

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God Doesn't Ride London Buses

Man refuses to drive 'No God' bus

Atheists hope (don't pray) to bring ads to Toronto

Atheists advertise on buses in Barcelona

Atheist ad campaign spreads to Italy after Spain, Britain

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Hooray for Freethought in Hollywood!

"Mr. President, Rebuild that Wall!" Ad To Run In Washington Post

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking its message of keeping religion out of government to the Inauguration on Jan. 20.

The nation's largest association of atheists and agnostics, also a state/church watchdog, is running a catchy quarter-page ad in The Washington Post on Jan. 20 addressed to the incoming president, urging "Mr. President, Rebuild That Wall!"

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Earlier...

9 In '09 -- A Church-State Agenda For The Obama Presidency

President-Elect Obama Asked To Turn Down Boy Scouts Of America

And...

FFRF Goes After Wisconsin Technical Colleges for Violating Good Friday Court Order

Why So Many Minds Think Alike

(CNN) -- You're in a room with 10 other people who seem to agree on something, but you hold the opposite view. Do you say something? Or do you just go along with the others?

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Making The Most Of It: Study Reveals Motivating Factor For Enjoying The Present

Methane Discovery Suggests Presence Of Life On Mars, Say Nasa Scientists

NASA scientists are expected to announce they may have proof there is life on Mars.

The scientists suspect alien microbes are alive and kicking just below the soil of the big planet, after large quantities of what is believed to be the organisms' waste products were detected.

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Origin Of Jawed Vertebrates: Prehistoric Fish Provides New Piece In Evolution's Jigsaw Puzzle

ScienceDaily -- In an article in the journal Nature January 14, Uppsala researcher Martin Brazeau describes the skull and jaws of a fish that lived about 410 million years ago. The study may give important clues to the origin of jawed vertebrates, and thus ultimately our own evolution.

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New Piece In The Jigsaw Puzzle Of Human Origins

Evolutionary Keys To Common Birth Disorders Discovered

Darwin 200

How Did Life Begin? RNA That Replicates Itself Indefinitely Developed For First Time

Natural selection gives way to human selection

Louisiana Creates: New Pro-Intelligent Design Rules For Teachers

Last year, Louisiana passed the Louisiana Science Education Act, a law that many scientists and educators said was a thinly veiled attempt to allow creationism and its variants into the science classroom. On Tuesday, the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted a policy that sharpens those fears, giving teachers license to use materials outside of the regular curriculum to teach "controversial" scientific theories including evolution, origins of life, and global warming. Backers of the law, including the Louisiana Family Forum, say it is intended to foster critical thinking in students. Opponents insist its only purpose is to provide a loophole for creationists to attack the teaching of evolution.

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BESE OKs rules on teaching 'controversial' science

SCIENCE POLICY SHIFTS: State decision rekindles creationism vs. evolution debate

Creationism ban stripped from rules

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School Officials to Face Federal Judge

Court Allows Monotheistic Inauguration

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton denied a request by thirty individual plaintiffs and eleven organizations to prevent the addition of "so help me God" to the constitutionally prescribed presidential oath and prevent the inclusion of sectarian prayers in the invocation and benediction. Thus, when President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in on Tuesday, January 20, he will continue a tradition that alienates millions of Americans who don't believe in a god.

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Atheist's quest to remove God from presidential oath rejected

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Humanist Million Dollar Challenge Met Despite Severe Recession

Christian Cross Does Not Honor All Deceased Veterans, Americans United Tells Federal Appeals Court

The Christian cross is not an appropriate symbol to memorialize deceased veterans of many different faith perspectives and should not be displayed on government property, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told a federal appeals court.

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Louisiana Public School Support Of Christian Field Trip Would Violate Constitution, Says Americans United

Americans United, Allied Groups Ask Calif. Supreme Court To Nullify Proposition 8

Future Of Abstinence-Only Funding Is In Limbo

NEW YORK - With the exit of the Bush administration, critics of abstinence-only sex education will be making an aggressive push to cut off federal funding for what they consider an ineffective, sometimes harmful program.

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Officials Ordered To Stop Prayer At Schools

A federal judge has ordered the Santa Rosa County School District to stop promoting religion and prayer in the classroom and at school events.

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Chicago Dentist Settles Suit Over Religion, Sex Bias

A Chicago dentist agreed Tuesday to pay $462,500 to settle allegations that he violated discrimination laws by forcing employees to submit to indoctrination in the tenets of the Church of Scientology.

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Lawsuit Alleges President Of Seattle U Knew Of Sex Abuse

Seattle University President Stephen Sundborg is named in a lawsuit alleging that Jesuit leaders covered up the crimes of priests who sexually abused at least 43 Native Alaskan children during the span of four decades.

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Less Gay Behavior In Seminaries, Vatican Says

NEW YORK - A Vatican office that evaluated U.S. Roman Catholic seminaries in response to the clergy sex abuse scandal concluded that administrators have been effective in stopping "homosexual behavior" in the schools although the agency said the problem still exists.

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Vatican reveals secrets of worst sins

Parents Win Fight To Remove Class Crucifix

The ongoing row between the Catholic Church and the Spanish Government has erupted again after a judge banned the crucifix from a primary school.

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Top Saudi Cleric: OK To Wed Young Girls

(CNN) -- The debate over the practice of men marrying children in Saudi Arabia was back in the spotlight this week, with the kingdom's top cleric refusing to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.

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Abuse Of Foreign Maids Rampant In Mideast

AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan, like other Middle East countries, offers little legal protection for foreign workers, forcing governments like that of the Philippines to operate shelters. Many of the victims are women who accuse their employers of beating them, refusing to pay wages and forcing them to convert to Islam.

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Beer Drinkers Sentenced To Caning

Malaysia -- A Sharia High Court has sentenced a man and a woman to caning for drinking beer.

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Somali Executed For 'Apostasy'

An Islamist militia has executed a Somali politician who they accused of betraying his religion by working with non-Muslim Ethiopian forces.

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Onward Christian Zionists

These are the militant end-time Christians who are, indeed, yearning for the end.

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Al Qaeda Video Threatens Germany

(AP) German authorities said Sunday that they believe a purported al Qaeda video in which a man threatens Germany over its military presence in Afghanistan is authentic.

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Bin Laden: U.S. Decline Fueled Gaza Attack

Taliban Threats Close Pakistan Schools

(AP) In a dark echo of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, violent religious extremists in Pakistan are moving to restrict girls' education as they seek to impose a draconian version of Islamic law on a beleaguered population.

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Suicide Bomber Hits Iraqi Political Player

(AP) A suicide bomber killed a campaign manager for a major Sunni party near Iraq's northern city of Mosul on Sunday, the latest sign that ethnic and sectarian tensions are rising ahead of this month's provincial elections.

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Driver, bystander killed in Iraqi bomb blast

2 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan

(AP) A suicide car bomb attack Saturday on a heavily guarded road between a U.S. military base and the German Embassy in the Afghan capital killed one U.S. service member and four Afghan civilians, officials said.

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Israel: No Intention Of Staying In Gaza

(CBS/AP) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today he wants to withdraw Israel's forces from the Gaza Strip as soon as possible.

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Israel Begins Unilateral Gaza Cease-Fire

Gazans Dig Bodies From Rubble As Cease-fire Begins

U.N. Blasts Israel For Aid Compound Attack

Gaza City Residents Flee Homes Under Fire

Senior Hamas Leader Killed In Airstrike

Israel and Palestinians Agree to Gaza Cease-Fire. Will It Last

Newsweek: Gaza City counts its dead

President-Elect Obama Asked To Turn Down Boy Scouts Of America

Washington, D.C. -- The American Humanist Association, in conjunction with eighteen other nontheistic (atheist and agnostic) organizations, sent a letter today to President-Elect Barack Obama urging him to decline the title and role of honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America. BSA policy is to deny the participation of nontheistic members and employees and expel those already involved. Thus the letter asks Obama to break with tradition because taking on the title of honorary president would send a message that discrimination against atheists and agnostics is acceptable.

"President-elect Obama was himself raised by a mother whom he described as a secular humanist, a remarkable woman who was very much a religious skeptic," said AHA President David Niose. "As such, he surely realizes that, if he were to accept the current Boy Scout standard, he would be endorsing discrimination against the same value system under which he was raised."

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Activists Sue To Keep God Out Of Inauguration

"Our Founding Fathers knew that to put an oath to God would be hypocritical to the entire secular Constitution," said Margaret Downey, founder of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia.

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All 50 States Attack Newdow Inauguration Lawsuit

Obama wants to invoke God during inauguration oath

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9 In '09 -- A Church-State Agenda For The Obama Presidency

"Imagine No Religion" Billboards Pop Up In Portland

The national Freedom From Religion Foundation has a mini-blitz of its irreverent billboard, saying "Imagine No Religion," around Portland, including billboard sites at 18th & Taylor, Sandy & 50th and Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard & Beech.

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Atheist Bus Campaign Is 'Offensive', Say Complaints To ASA

The advertising regulator has received almost 150 complaints that an atheist ad campaign, proclaiming "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life", is offensive to Christians and other religions that believe in a single God.

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Atheist bus campaign kicks off in London

Why worry? Be atheist

Probably a ridiculous caveat

BBC Radio 4 to broadcast its first atheist 'Thought for the Afternoon'

Ariane Sherine: I'm a believer -- in plastering buses with atheist slogans

Spain's Atheists Continue Other Countries' Ad Campaigns On Buses

MADRID, Spain -- Catholic and religious leaders have denounced slogans questioning the existence of God planned for buses in Barcelona and other Spanish cities.

The message, "Probably, God does not exist. Stop worrying and enjoy life," were to be placed on buses in Barcelona by Jan. 12.

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White House Report Seeks To Mask Monumental Failure Of 'Faith-Based' Initiative, Says Americans United

Today's White House report on President George W. Bush's "faith-based" initiative seeks to mask the shortcomings of a badly failed policy, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Women's Liberation Through Submission: An Evangelical Anti-Feminism Is Born

Six thousand evangelical women gather to support biblical womanhood, and hear from theological leaders about the great influence wielded by "a woman on her knees."

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Louisiana Creation Bill: Science Classes Need Change

Science will not be taught accurately in state classrooms, critics say, if the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education passes a policy that it will consider Tuesday.

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Federal Judge: Schools 'Promote' Religion, Orders Activities To Cease

PACE -- A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction forcing Santa Rosa schools to discontinue policies and practices that "promote religion throughout district schools," a press release from the ACLU states.

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Catholic Bishops Misusing Grant Money

BOSTON - A new lawsuit claims Catholic bishops are wrongly imposing their beliefs on victims of human trafficking by not letting federal grant money be used for emergency contraception, condoms or abortions.

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Catholics Ordered To Keep Quiet Over Virgin Visions

Catholics who claim they have seen the Virgin Mary will be forced to remain silent about the apparitions until a team of psychologists, theologians, priests and exorcists have fully investigated their claims under new Vatican guidelines aimed at stamping out false claims of miracles.

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Church Braced For Revelations In Other Reports

THE Irish Catholic Church is set to be rocked by further sex abuse revelations with the publication of further damning reports over the coming weeks.

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Crisis deepens for Catholic Church

Monasteries In Drive To Recruit More Novices

Religious orders are offering 'taster' weekends to stem a near-terminal decline in numbers.

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Ghostly 'White Lady' Sparks Hunts By Spirit Hunters

Claims of a ghostly woman haunting a remote spot in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, has prompted hundreds of spirit hunters to descend on the area.

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We just can't get enough of those little green men

Woman Suspected Of Witchcraft Burned Alive

(CNN) -- A woman in rural Papua New Guinea was bound and gagged, tied to a log and set ablaze on a pile of tires this week, possibly because villagers suspected her of being a witch, police said Thursday.

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The Middle East Conflict Is Still A Religion-Fueled One

The Arab-Israeli schism isn't one between the rich and the poor - Israel's economic might is balanced well by oil-rich Arab states. In the same way, there are both men and women, people of varying ethnicities, different levels of education, and of different political leanings - conservative, liberal, or otherwise - on both sides.

The dividing factor, by and large, is that of religious heritage and religious belief. Worldwide, those born in Muslim families overwhelmingly and almost unconditionally side with the Palestinian struggle; and Jews and Christians, whose scriptural teachings are more in line with the Israeli cause, support Israel.

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Behold! The Jewish Jesus

Israeli Troops Advance On Gaza City

(CBS/AP) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stood within Hamas rocket range Monday and warned Islamic militants that they face an "iron fist" unless they agree to Israeli terms for an end to war in the Gaza Strip.

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Israelis strike 60 Gaza targets

Israelis, Hamas Battle In Gaza Suburb

Israel To Gazans: Brace For More

Israel's Gaza War Extends Into Psychological Realm

Rights Group: Israel Uses White Phosphorus In Gaza

More Rage In Rallies Against Gaza Violence

Hamas leader defiant

Hamas Reinstates Crucifixions Of Christians

While the world focused on Hamas militants launching rockets from Gaza at southern Israel, the terrorist organization also voted quietly to implement Islamic law in the Gaza Strip, including crucifixion of Christians, according to reports in the Arabic press.

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Family Of Afghan Rape Victim, 14, Carry Out Forced 'Honour' Abortion With Razor Blade And No Anaesthetic

The mother and brother of a 14-year-old Afghan rape victim hacked her stomach open with a razor before removing her unborn baby, it emerged today.

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Dancing girl 'murdered by Taliban after refusing to give up traditional performances despite death threats'

Muslim Separatists Burn Christian Homes In Philippines

Muslim separatists have torched the houses of 30 Christian families in an attack on a southern Philippines village.

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Men Stoned To Death For Adultery, Murder In Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Officials say two men in Iran have been stoned to death for adultery and murder, while another escaped death by digging his way out of the hole where he was buried to face a similar fate, according to media reports.

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Two Top Al Qaeda Operatives Killed

A U.S. counterterrorism official confirms that two al Qaeda operatives, who were on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list, have been killed in a missile strike in Pakistan's tribal areas.

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Scientists Discover Way To Levitate Tiny Objects

CHICAGO - U.S. scientists have found a way to levitate the very smallest objects using the strange forces of quantum mechanics, and said on Wednesday they might use it to help make tiny nanotechnology machines.

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Physicists Squeeze Light To Quantum Limit

Reality Gets Hyperlinked

The 2009 Weird Science Awards

Milky Way 'Bigger Than Thought'

Our galaxy is much bigger than once thought, according to research presented at a major astronomy meeting this week.

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Galactic Core Seen In Unprecedented New Detail

Black Holes Preceded Galaxies, Discovery Suggests

Astronomers Use Gamma-ray Burst To Probe Star Formation In The Early Universe

Astronomers To Gaze Back In Time And Map History Of Universe

Scientists hear mystery boom from space

15 Evolutionary Gems

This week, Nature magazine published a short list of recent important developments in evolutionary biology that support the theory of evolution, as a tool to help explain that evolution is definitely a dynamic and useful theory in our field and to demonstrate that the evidence is still growing. Here's a short summary of the 15 stories the editors picked out, but you should also read the freely available article, 15 Evolutionary Gems. Teachers, put this in your classroom!

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Pink iguanas unseen by Darwin offer evolution clue

Apes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man

Ancient African Exodus Mostly Involved Men, Geneticists Find

David Niose Elected As American Humanist Association President

Washington, D.C. -- The American Humanist Association is pleased to announce the recent election of David Niose, an attorney from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, as president. In addition to Niose's new role, he will also serve as a member on the AHA board of directors.

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HEARING GRANTED On Suit To Stop Religion At Inauguration

Shortly before the close of business yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a hearing in Newdow v. Roberts. The hearing is scheduled for January 15, 2009.

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Obama Likely To Retool Bush's Faith-Based Initiative

The most controversial issue is whether religious groups should be allowed to hire only people of their own faith as staff in federally funded projects. Some in Congress and other critics insist that groups should not be allowed to engage in such selective hiring, calling it discrimination. The debate became so intense that Congress never approved specific legislation for the faith-based initiative, and the Bush administration implemented it largely by executive orders.

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Arkansas Public School's Promotion Of Religion Violates Constitution, Says Americans United

A public school in Arkansas violated the U.S. Constitution by arranging construction of a special meeting room for a Christian student group, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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"Imagine No Religion" Billboards Go Up In San Francisco

The Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has taken its national billboard campaign to San Francisco, posting colorful "Imagine No Religion" billboards employing a stained-glass window motif, at three downtown locations: Broadway by Polk, Van Ness by Pacific and 9th by Folsom.

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Organized Religion Losing Mass Appeal Among Young People

U.S. -- A recent benchmark survey finds that 55 percent of young people ages 12 to 25 say they are more spiritual now than two years ago. But nearly one-third of the young people said they don't trust organized religion.

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Church Of England Is Losing Popularity

London: Only one in four older Britons wants the Church of England to remain the country's official religion, according to research that indicates a decline in belief among the over-50s.

The survey of 15,500 adults found that the majority now worship or pray less frequently than they used to, and that many have lost their faith in God as they have grown older.

A quarter now call themselves atheist or agnostic and a similar proportion (24 per cent) supports the separation of Church and state.

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Atheists Send A Message, On 800 British Buses

LONDON -- "There's probably no God," the advertisements say. "Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

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Vicar Takes Down Crucifixion Sculpture

A vicar has removed a sculpture of the crucifixion from the front of his church because it was a 'horrifying depiction of pain and suffering' that was scaring off worshippers.

Rev Ewen Souter said the traditional Christian symbol was frightening children and that it would be replaced with a modern, stainless steel cross.

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Vatican Divorces From Italian Law

The Vatican City State, the world's smallest sovereign state, has decided to divorce itself from Italian law.

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Bishops refused to give abuse case details

Paris Opens Door To Author Fleeing Islamist Threats

The award-winning feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, who is under death-threat from Islamist extremists, is to be housed in an artist's studio paid for by the city of Paris, more than a decade after she was forced into exile from her native Bangladesh.

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Menaced Bangladeshi writer to settle in Paris; city hall

Tears As British Couple Get Year's Hard Labour

Gambian judge makes an example of Christians who criticised Muslim state.

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After Brief Pause, Gaza Fighting Rages

(CBS/AP) Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rockets resumed after a brief pause Wednesday to allow food and fuel to reach Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where an Israeli warplane dropped leaflets urging some residents to flee because of imminent attacks.

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Humanitarian truce lasts just 15 minutes

More than 100 foreigners trapped in Gaza

U.N.: No militants at shelled Gaza school

Israel Fights On, Gaza Death Toll Tops 500

Gaza Conflict Spreads To Europe With Jews Attacked

Gaza Hospital Overwhelmed By Dead, Wounded

Gaza Hospital In Crisis

Coalition Forces Kill 38 Afghan Militants

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Troops in Afghanistan launched raids against militants over the last two days, killing 32 armed insurgents near the nation's capital and six militants in western Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in statements Wednesday.

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Female Suicide Bomber Kills Dozens Of Shi'ites On Iraq Pilgrimage

The blast struck a checkpoint outside the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in Kadhimiya, a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, as Shi'ites prepared for the Ashura holiday this week to mark the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.

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Bomber Kills Shiite Pilgrims In Baghdad