DART Driver Refused Bus With Atheist Sign - Driver Faces Disciplinary Action

On Monday, the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority suspended bus operator Angela Shiel after she refused to drive a bus with an Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers ad on its side. Shiel, 41, said the ad's message, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone," went against her Christian faith.

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DART suspends driver after she refuses to use bus bearing atheist ad.

UPDATE:

Bus driver, suspended over atheist ad incident, is back at work today

CHARLOTTE POP FEST -- SEPTEMBER 24-26, 2009

Power Pop Music Festival in Charlotte, NC

The 2nd annual Charlotte Pop Fest is a 3-day music festival that will feature well-established internationally known artists, in addition to local and regional indie artists, in the "power pop" genre. The event will take place on Thursday, September 24-26, 2009 in Dana Auditorium at Queens University of Charlotte (http://www.queens.edu/) and at Freedom Park as part of the 45th annual Festival in the Park (http://www.festivalinthepark.org/).

--snip--

All proceeds from the event will benefit the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science (http://www.richarddawkinsfoundation.org/).

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Report: Atheism On The Rise In U.S.

A study by Trinity College in Connecticut reveals atheism is on the rise in the U.S. Host Michel Martin interviews Blair Scott, Founder of the North Alabama Free Thought Association to talk about what it means to be an atheist and how they're working to find acceptance in communities throughout the country.

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See also:

Polls show atheists on the rise in America

Atheists on the march in America

This Just In: College Will Make You An Atheist

School is starting soon. And that may mean losing your religion.

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More Forgo Clergy-Led Funerals For Those By Secular 'Celebrants'

A growing number of people want to celebrate a loved one's life at a funeral or memorial service without clergy -- sometimes even without God.

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Research Into Protein Transport - More 'Evidence' Of Intelligent Design Shot Down By Science

Intricate cellular components are often cited as evidence of intelligent design. They couldn't have evolved, I.D. proponents say, because they can't be broken down into smaller, simpler functional parts. They are irreducibly complex, so they must have been intentionally designed, as is, by an intelligent entity.

But new research comparing mitochondria, which provide energy to animal cells, with their bacterial relatives, shows that the necessary pieces for one particular cellular machine -- exactly the sort of structure that's supposed to prove intelligent design -- were lying around long ago. It was simply a matter of time before they came together into a more complex entity.

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Supreme Court: Catholic Abuse Documents Can't Stay Sealed

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against a Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut, saying that thousands of documents generated by lawsuits against six priests for alleged sexual abuse cannot remain sealed.

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Suspect In Jaycee Dugard Abduction Has A Blog

SACRAMENTO, CA - News10 has found the blog of Phillip Garrido, one of the suspects in the 1991 abduction of Jaycee Dugard.

--snip--

On the blog Garrido has posts covering different facets of religion: from his ability to speak in tongues to explaining why people hear voices in their head.

News10 has also learned Garrido may have his own church he runs out of his home called "Voices Are Us."

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Opposing Groups Protest Outside Abortion Doctor's Clinic

BELLEVUE, Nebraska (CNN) -- Anti-abortion groups, led by Operation Rescue, and supporters of abortion rights rallied Saturday outside the clinic operated by LeRoy Carhart, one of the nation's few remaining doctors who perform late-term abortions. Carhart was best friends with George Tiller, one of the world's most well-known doctors performing abortions.

Tiller was shot in the head at point-blank range on May 31 as services began at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. Scott Roeder, a 51-year-old anti-abortion activist, is charged in Tiller's killing. He has pleaded not guilty.

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'Egg-As-Person' Crusade Drives Big Money To Anti-Choice Groups

In just five short years, the primary movers and shakers in the absolutist anti-abortion/anti-choice movement seeking to promote the "personhood" of zygotes (the single cell that forms after a sperm fertilizes an egg) have amassed nearly $58 million in tax-deductible contributions for their cause.

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Same-Sex Unions Accepted By Evangelical Lutherans

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America delegates meeting in Minneapolis voted 559-441 Friday to allow churches to hire gay pastors in relationships.

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3-2-1-JESUS!

An Atheist-First Amendment public policy group charged today that NASA is violating the separation of church and state by permitting a "space missionary" memento on the latest Discovery Space Shuttle Mission.

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Spencer Schools Drop New Bible Class

Spencer school officials will throw out a Bible class and discard a critique of evolutionary theory to avoid being sued over the district's proposed "religious liberties" policy.

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FFRF Intervenes in School Christmas Break Dispute

Public School District Lists "Belief in God" as Key Value

Wash. Bans Capitol Holiday Displays, Tree To Stay

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The Christmas tree can stay - but no more Nativity scene.

That's the word from Washington's Capitol, where protests erupted last winter over competing private holiday displays.

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Religious Right Groups Are Trying To Rein In Citizens' Right To Challenge Government-Sponsored Religious Symbols

American United Praises Appeals Court Decision Upholding Separation Of Church And Post Office

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church must separate its preaching and proselytizing from the work it does on a contract basis for the U.S. Postal Service.

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Court Finds Separation Between Church and Post Office

Court nixes religious displays in postal station

Illinois Warned Against Funding Religious Groups

Illinois should move carefully when awarding $40 million or more in state funds to religious organizations, two national activist groups warned Wednesday.

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Illinois May Not Fund Religion, Americans United Warns State Officials

And...

Sen. Lieberman And Allies Push For Expansion Of Federal Funding For Religious Schools In The District Of Columbia

Judge: Ky. Can't Legislate Dependence On God

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It is one thing to trust in God, but quite another to be ordered to rely on protection from above during national emergencies, a judge has ruled.

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Almighty Constitution Trumps Legislature's God Mandate, Says Ky. Judge

And...

Christian Prayers at City Council Meetings Unconstitutional, Watchdog Charges

Foundation Protests Toledo Council's Christian Prayers

MVBOE Settlement Details Released

MOUNT VERNON -- The Mount Vernon Board of Education has resolved a federal lawsuit filed by a family that alleged a civil rights violation. The family alleged that middle school science teacher John Freshwater displayed religious materials and taught religion, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and school policy.

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'Devil' Shirts Send Kids Home

More children from the Dove World Outreach Center arrived Tuesday at area public schools with shirts bearing the message "Islam is of the Devil" and were sent home for violation of the school district's dress code when they declined to change clothes or cover the anti-Muslim statement on their clothing.

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Teachers Concerned With Meeting At Church

Teachers with concerns say the fact that the event was held in a church is an issue of separation of church and state.

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POLL: Some Collier teachers not happy about going to church for district meeting

Falmouth Faces Heat Over Beach Prayer Site

"This definitely seems like it was crossing the line of separation of church and state and it seems like an endorsement of religion."

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Some Cape residents object after town allows churches' booth on public land

Beach prayer booth brews controversy

Scientology: Crisis In France

It claims to be one of the world's fastest-growing new religions but a battery of legal cases threaten its very existence in this secular country.

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Yale University Press Accused Of Cowardice Over Muhammad Cartoons

This year Yale will publish a scholarly work about reactions to the cartoons printed in a Danish newspaper in 2005, which sparked protests around the world.

But readers will not see the 12 cartoons that are the subject of the book, including one showing Muhammad with a turban like a bomb. In fact, they will not get to see any images of the prophet at all, not even a 19th-century sketch by Gustave Dore.

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Artist Receives Threats Over His Depictions Of Hindu God

An Indian artist, Subodh Kerkar, has been receiving serious threats over his depictions of the Hindu god Ganesha, reports Dawn.com. "I have been receiving phone calls which threaten me with dire consequences. They told me that they will chop off my fingers for indulging in such acts", Kerkar told the press agency AFP.

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Magic Turtle?

Villagers in Cambodia pay homage.

MSN Video

Suicide Truck Bomb Kills 14 In Russia

A suicide bomber exploded a truck at a police station in Russia's restive North Caucasus today, killing at least 14 people and wounding nearly 60 others, officials said.

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Yahya Jammeh's State Witch-Hunters Kidnap Villagers In Western Gambia

Within two hours the soldiers had seized more than 100 people. Simultaneously across Gambia another 1,200 suspected witches, both men and women, were rounded up. Shaking with fear, they were taken to secret government detention centres.

Here their nightmare really began. In the name of Yahya Jammeh, Gambia's dictator, they had been singled out for exorcism. Accused of being witches, they were blamed for the death of the president's beloved aunt. By nightfall at least six had died after they were forced to drink a mysterious potion. Those who survived the foul concoction spent the following days racked with pain. Some claimed to have bled from their eyeballs.

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Alice Cooper 'Scraps Gig On Religious Grounds'

Alice Cooper has been forced to scrap a forthcoming gig in Finland after the venue's owners reportedly objected to his controversial stage show on "religious grounds".

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Saudi Religious Police Crack Down On Summer Festivals

JEDDAH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's religious police is cracking down on summer festivals that the government hopes will promote domestic tourism, in the latest battle between liberals and conservatives in the world's biggest oil exporter.

The Saudi government is trying to promote internal tourism but restrictions on singing, dancing and mixing of unrelated men and women by the powerful religious establishment has complicated the effort.

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Saudi Arabia cracks down on 'evil' circuses

Malaysia: Black Eyed Peas Concert Off Limits To Muslims Because Organized By Guinness

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's government has barred Muslims from a concert by U.S. hip-hop stars the Black Eyed Peas next month because the event is organized by Irish beer giant Guinness, an official said Thursday.

The prohibition comes amid a clampdown on alcohol consumption among Malaysia's Muslim majority. A Muslim woman who drank beer in public was sentenced to caning by an Islamic court last month, though authorities this week agreed to review the penalty. Officials also recently curbed retail sales of liquor in a central state.

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Malaysia Muslims Protest Proposed Hindu Temple

Model who drank beer to be first woman caned in Malaysia

Sudan's Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks became the symbol of the civil rights movement when she chose to challenge an unjust law in the Jim Crow South by refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

On July 6, 2009, Sudan's Lubna Hussein also found herself challenging injustice when she and a group of 12 women were arrested in a restaurant in the capital of ''Khartoum''. Their official crime was a violation of Article 152 of Sudan's criminal law: "conduct or clothing in violation of public decency." But what did they actually do? They wore pants in public. The punishment: 40 lashes and a fine.

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Mali Women's Rights Bill Blocked

Muslim leaders have called the law the work of the devil and against Islam.

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Kenyan Christians And Muslims Clash Over Courts In Constitutional Review

Christians in Kenya say Islamic courts are not necessary but some unnamed Muslims in the east African country have been quoted as saying if such institutions are not in the constitution, they could break away and form their own state.

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Aid Agencies Warn Of Crisis Amid Yemen Fighting

(CNN) -- Fierce battles between Yemeni government forces and Shiite Muslim rebels in the country's northwest have displaced tens of thousands of people, creating widespread humanitarian concerns, aid agencies said Thursday.

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Somali Forces Battling Al Qaeda-Linked Militants

(CNN) -- Somali forces clashed with al Qaeda-linked militants in the capital city Friday after the militants attacked an African Union peacekeeping station, according to an independent media report.

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Somali government determined to implement Sharia law

Nigerian Police: Thousands Detained In Raid On Islamic Camp

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Police in northern Nigeria on Saturday detained almost 4,000 members of an Islamic community, claiming the group posed a potential violent threat, the police commissioner in the Nigerian state of Niger told CNN.

--snip--

The raid follows the violent uprising of another Islamist group, Boko Haram. More than 700 people were killed in clashes between Islamic militants and authorities.

Boko Haram, an Islamist sect, wants the government to impose Islamic law, known as sharia, in the entire Muslim-dominated northern half of Nigeria.

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Thai Police: 20 People Wounded In Car Bomb

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- About 20 people were wounded Tuesday when a car bomb exploded near a Buddhist restaurant in southern Thailand, police said.

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Blast Kills 14 Police Recruits in Pakistan's Swat

A suicide bomber killed at least 14 police recruits Sunday in Pakistan's Swat Valley in the deadliest attack since the army regained control over the northwestern valley from the Taliban, officials said.

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21 dead as suicide bomber strikes in Pakistan

Al Qaeda video calls on Muslims to support militants

Who Are the Taliban?

U.S. Deaths In Afghanistan Hit New High

(AP) The U.S. military says an American service member has died in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, making August the deadliest month of the eight-year war for U.S. forces.

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U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan

Nearly 40 dead, up to 80 wounded in Afghanistan truck bombing

Soldier, 59, is oldest U.S. service member to die in Afghanistan

Monitors: Taliban cut off fingers of Afghan voters

Afghan women to miss out on vote in landmark election

Afghanistan's Shia Personal Status Law treats women as second-class citizens

Karzai and Abdullah both claim victory in Afghanistan presidential elections

Bombs Kill At Least 18 In Iraq

(AP) Bombs struck a cafe in Baghdad and remote communities in northern Iraq on Saturday, killing at least 18 people, as the visiting Iranian foreign minister warned that Iraq's instability affected the whole region.

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2 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Blast

At least 2 dead, 20 hurt in Baghdad market bombing

95 killed on Iraq's deadliest day since U.S. handover

Gay men murdered across Iraq in 'extremist campaign'

Anti-gay gangs terrorise Iraq

US Military Deaths In Iraq War At 4,335

2 Bombs Explode In Gaza Compound, Outside Mosque

(AP) Security officials say bombs have exploded inside a security compound and near a mosque in Gaza City.

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Abdul-Latif Moussa blows himself up in the Gaza Strip

Profile: Jund Ansar Allah

Islamist vs. Islamist

DART, Atheist Group Benefit From Ad Debate

A controversy over whether an advertisement for an atheist group should be displayed on the side of public buses seems to have benefited both parties involved.

Membership in the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers has doubled from what it was before the ad campaign began. In addition, the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority's advertising department is seeing new groups interested in buying ads.

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Earlier:

Atheists Target Des Moines With Godless Bus Ads

See also:

Iowa Bus Ads Censored

DART: Controversial Bus Ads Pulled

DART: Controversial Bus Ads Pulled - Video

Gov. Culver: Atheist bus ad is offensive

ACLU questions removal of atheists' bus ads

DART Discuss Bus Ads With Atheist Group

OOOOOOOFFFFEENNNNSSIIIIIIIVVVE!

DART: Atheist group's ads will go back on buses

DART To Restore Atheist Ads To Buses

Athiest bus ads create free speech debate in Iowa

(Un)wired For God - Religious Beliefs May Not Be Innate

In brief, the number of American non-believers has doubled since 1990, a 2008 Pew survey found, and increased even more in some other advanced democracies. What's curious is not so much the overall decline of belief (which has caused the Vatican to lament the de-Christianization of Europe) as the pattern. In a paper last month in the online journal Evolutionary Psychology, Gregory Paul finds that countries with the lowest rates of social dysfunction -- based on 25 measures, including rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, unemployment, and poverty -- have become the most secular. Those with the most dysfunction, such as Portugal and the U.S., are the most religious, as measured by self-professed belief, church attendance, habits of prayer, and the like.

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Cultural Evolution Continues Throughout Life, Mathematical Models Suggest

ScienceDaily -- By successively acquiring culture in the form of values, ideas, and actions throughout their lives, humans influence future learning and the capacity for cultural evolution. The number of learning opportunities a person is exposed to is of great importance to that individual's cultural evolution during his/her lifetime, according to researchers at Stockholm University.

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Blackwater Founder Implicated In Murder

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."

--snip--

The two declarations are each five pages long and contain a series of devastating allegations concerning Erik Prince and his network of companies, which now operate under the banner of Xe Services LLC. Among those leveled by Doe #2 is that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe":

To that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.

Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince's executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to "lay Hajiis out on cardboard." Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince's employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as "ragheads" or "hajiis."

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Blackwater, the world's biggest private army, faces a terrible charge - that they were on a crusade to wipe out Muslims

Shooter Read Sexist Christian Author's Book Before Pittsburgh Female Aerobics Class Massacre

Media analysis has so far ignored or glossed over Sodini's religious affiliations but the shooter's Internet diary suggest his last readings were the Bible and a book by a Texas evangelist, R.B. Thieme, Jr. who has written that husbands own their wives, as literal property and promoted an odd teaching that for each man on Earth there exists only one correct "right woman" in all creation.

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FFRF Contests Philadelphia City Council Prayers

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a state/church watchdog based in Madison, Wis., sent a letter Aug. 5 to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and City Council President Anna Verna to stop the regular practice of opening council meetings with Christian prayers.

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Federal Court To Hear Arguments In Case Challenging City-Sponsored Prayer In Greece, N.Y.

Atheist Alliance Alarmed By US Army Secretary Nominee

Atheist Alliance Int'l (AAI), an organization of democratic atheist and freethought organizations across the United States, expressed alarm at the Obama Administration's nomination for the highly visible and powerful role of Secretary of the Army.

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Non-Believers Losing Faith in Obama: More God Talk Than Bush -- and Same Old Faith-Based Policies

UT (University of Texas) Prepares Teachers For Bible Classes

Over four days, UT professors and scholars from the Department of Religious Studies prepared high school teachers to teach a new and controversial addition to the state public school curriculum -- the Bible.

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Christian Cowboy Plots to Bring Christ into Kids' Social Studies Class

Falling Says Putting Christian Creationism Display In The Tulsa Zoo Is Top Priority

Republican mayoral candidate Anna Falling said Tuesday that putting a Christian creationism display in the Tulsa Zoo is No. 1 in importance among city issues that include violent crime, budget woes and bumpy streets.

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Creation Museum: Is This How World Began?

A group of scientists, students and secularists -- 304 in all -- visited Petersburg, Kentucky on Friday to tour exhibits on display at the Creation Museum. The visitors are in town attending a conference of the Secular Student Alliance, a group formed "to organize, unite, educate and serve students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific and critical inquiry, democracy, secularism, and human based ethics." Exhibits in the Creation Museum, which cost $27 million to build and opened in May, 2007, present a history of the world based on literal interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Adam and Eve share the Garden of Eden with dinosaurs; the beaks of Darwin's finches are explained by God's will, not evolution; and mankind spread from continent to continent by walking across the floating trunks of trees knocked down during the Biblical Flood.

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A little taste of the strangeness

PZ & Secular Student Alliance's trip to the creation "museum"

All In The Family

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The national press for the past two months has roasted "hypocritical" Christians who live in or meet in a ministry-owned house on C Street two blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, both talked about this spring as potential GOP presidential candidates in 2012, have acknowledged adulterous relationships. Last month a lawsuit in Jackson, Miss., served notice that former Rep. Chip Pickering, also a Republican, may have carried on in the C Street house an illicit affair with a former college love interest.

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American Psychology Declares Homosexuality Can't Be "Cured"

The American Psychological Association maintains that homosexuality is natural and, most especially, that it can't be changed.

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See also:

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE THAT SEXUAL ORIENTATION CHANGE EFFORTS WORK, SAYS APA

And...

Gay 'kiss-ins' smack Mormon church

Focus On The Family Faces 'Serious' Shortfall

DENVER (AP) -- A "serious budget shortfall" at Focus on the Family has prompted the conservative Christian group to issue a special fundraising plea, and contributed to a decision to cede control of its contentious "Love Won Out" conferences about homosexuality to another religious organization, a spokesman said.

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Passions Remain High As Child Victims Act Is Derailed After Bruising Fight

...the bill's collapse was a victory for the Roman Catholic Church, which led a shrewd and relentless campaign against the measure, and a blow to abuse victims and their lawyers, who have been pressing for Ms. Markey's bill, and others like it around the country, since the revelations in 2002 about the molestation of children by priests in Boston.

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Former Priest, 71, Faces Sex Abuse Claims

Father James Robinson spoke only to confirm his name and date-of-birth during a two-minute hearing at Birmingham Magistrates' Court.

The clergyman, who was not asked to enter a plea, is alleged to have abused young boys in Walsall, Birmingham, Coventry and Wales between 1959 and 1983.

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See also:

Priest held on sex charges

And...

Catholic priest admits he's a dad - and quits

Sex Abuse Victim Told To 'Go To Hell'

MELBOURNE Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart told a woman who had been sexually abused by a priest to "go to hell, bitch" in conduct labelled appalling by a Victorian magistrate.

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Faith betrayed

Bride And Boom In Humanist Weddings

Scotland -- THEY are a rejection of God and officialdom at a time when marriages are at their lowest level since Victorian times.

While traditional religious and civil weddings in Scotland declined by nearly 1,000 last year, the number of couples opting for a humanist ceremony surged by 45 per cent, official figures showed yesterday.

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What Have The Noughties Done For God?

The Noughties has been a controversial decade for religion. With secularism on the rise, churches closing down and religion finding itself increasingly at odds with artistic expression, atheists have seized the chance to promote their message of a godless universe. Has God's century got off to a bad start?

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Twilight Of Atheism? Not Quite

Atheist Signs To Go On Tasmanian Buses!

The Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc and Metro Tasmania Pty Ltd have today (4 August 09) reached agreement in conciliation before the office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner that the advertisements setting out "Atheism - Celebrate reason!" may be seen on Metro buses in Tasmania in 2010.

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Greenpeace plays on atheist campaign - There's Probably No Cod

Secret Mission To Expose L. Ron Hubbard As A Fake

The founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, was exposed as a fraud 30 years ago by British diplomats who were investigating his qualifications.

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A Compelling Case For Secularism

On July 29 Christian witch-hunters accused of torturing and killing local children attacked and beat campaigners for child protection at a public meeting in Calabar, Nigeria.

The same week hundreds of members of the Islamist group, Boko Haram, were killed in suicide attacks on police stations across the north of the country.

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Zambia: Mounting Church-State Tensions As Church Blamed For Rwandan Genocide

Tensions between the Church and the Zambian government have increased after the nation's information minister, Lt. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwasha, for helping foment the Rwandan genocide that left an estimated 800,000 dead in 1994. Shikapwasha-- whose government has clashed recently with the Church over freedom of the press-- said that the Church in Rwanda "blindly sided with some newspapers and radio stations, which allegedly fanned out falsehoods and propaganda." The Zambian bishops' conference immediately demanded an apology.

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Suicide Bomber In Pakistan's Swat Kills 5

ISLAMABAD (AP) - A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a checkpoint in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley, killing at least five people Saturday in a reminder that extremists can still strike despite the military's retaking of the area, police said.

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See also:

Wanton slaughter in Pakistan after allegations that the Koran had been 'desecrated'

'Blasphemer' attacked in Pakistan

Blast Kills 7 Outside NATO HQ In Kabul

A suicide car bomber struck near the front gate of NATO headquarters in Kabul on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding nearly 100 in a brazen daylight attack less than a week before Afghanistan's landmark presidential election.

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See also:

Marines Continue Afghan Battle

Bombs kill 14 Afghan civilians, one US soldier

Two journalists wounded in Afghanistan

Three British soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Three U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan

Afghanistan passes 'barbaric' law diminishing women's rights

Taliban threaten to chop off voters' fingers in Afghan election

Hamas Battle With Islamic Radicals Kills 7 In Gaza

(AP) Islamic radicals from an al-Qaida-inspired group battled Hamas security in the Gaza Strip Friday in a shootout that killed at least seven people.

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Jewish extremism gaining more power in Israeli politics, Knesset, Netanyahu government, army

At Least 20 Killed In Iraq Blast

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded in a double suicide bombing Thursday in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

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8 dead as violence continues in Baghdad

Attacks kill at least 42 in Iraq on Shiite religious holiday

Suicide bombing kills 17

Philippines: Dozens Die In Clashes

(CNN) -- At least 44 people, including 23 Filipino soldiers, died Wednesday in fighting between the Philippine military and Islamic militants, the country's armed services said on Thursday.

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Atheists Target Des Moines With Godless Bus Ads

Des Moines, IA -- "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."



These words are part of an advertising campaign designed to raise awareness that there are many Iowans who don't believe in a god. The prominent ads have been placed on the sides of twenty DART buses and will continue through the month of August as those buses serve the Iowa State Fair.

The ads are sponsored by Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers (IAF) and were prepared by the United Coalition of Reason, a national organization. Each ad features an image of blue sky and clouds with the words superimposed over. An image of this ad is available online at http://www.iowaatheists.org/.

"The purpose of this ad campaign is to reach out to non-religious people in the Des Moines metro area as well as the state, letting them know that they aren't alone and that they too have a community if they want to join it," said IAF President Randy Henderson.

"Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers chose August to run the ads in part because of the timing with the Iowa State Fair," Henderson added. DART runs a shuttle service to the state fairgrounds from several spots in the Des Moines area. "Our group hopes that with so many visitors from around the state coming to Des Moines for the fair, we will have the opportunity to reach many more Iowans than at any other time."

Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers is a nonprofit social and educational group working to provide a community of support and friendship for atheists, freethinkers, secular humanists, agnostics, and other nonreligious people.

In previous actions, Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers co-sponsored in October a billboard on Fleur Drive that stated "Keep Religion Out of Politics," hosted the second annual National Day of Reason Celebration in May, and this summer marched in the Capital City Pride Parade as well as hosted informational booths at the Capital City Pride Festival and the Des Moines Downtown Farmers' Market.



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Atheists Push For Greater Visibility And Acceptance

"Being a good person doesn't require God," the sign declares. "Don't believe in God? You're not alone!"

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Out, atheist and American

Atheists, 'Monster' fans say No to God, Yes to giving

Evidence Of Liquid Water In Comets Reveals Possible Origin Of Life

ScienceDaily -- Comets have contained vast amounts of liquid water in their interiors during the first million years of their formation, a new study claims.

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Guiding Light Around Corners With New Metamaterial Device

Billboards A Blow To U.S. History

For the next six months, people on the roads of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties will rumble past billboard ads making false claims and misleading assertions about our country's history and commitment to religious freedom. One ad even fabricates a comment from the first president of the United States.

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ACLU Seeks To Separate Religion From Education

At the upcoming American Civil Liberties Union of Texas' annual meeting, the organization's leaders say they will search for ways to keep creationism and intelligent design out of the classroom and to promote religious freedom in South Texas.

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Americans United Urges Supreme Court To Reject Scheme Designed To Keep Cross On Public Land

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has urged the Supreme Court to overturn a congressional scheme to maintain a cross on public land in California, insisting that government should refrain from displaying sectarian symbols.

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Court Gives Santeria Priest OK To Sacrifice Goats

DALLAS -- A federal appeals court reversed a lower court's ruling on Friday that barred a Santeria priest from sacrificing goats in his Texas home, saying a city's decision to prohibit the ritual violated the man's religious rights.

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Australia 'Foils Suicide Attack On Army Base'

Australian police arrested four people last night who were planning a suicide attack on a military base.

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Protests As Sudan 'Tight Pants' Trial Delayed

(CNN) -- Scores of protesters gathered outside a Sudanese courtroom Tuesday as the trial of a woman who faces 40 lashes for wearing clothes deemed indecent was postponed.

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See also:

Trial adjourned for Sudanese woman who faces flogging for wearing trousers

Islam and dress

Victims Of Nigerian Clashes Buried In Mass Graves

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- About 780 people killed in clashes with Islamic militants in the northeast Nigerian area of Maiduguri have been buried in mass graves, an aid official said Monday.

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700 die in fighting in northern Nigeria

Afghan Capital Hit By Rocket Attack

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A pre-dawn salvo of at least eight rockets slammed into the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday, Afghan officials said.

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12 die as blast targets Afghan police

Afghanistan bomb targets police, kills 12

At least 9 NATO troops killed in weekend fighting

Christian Family Burned To Death In Pakistan After Koran Is 'Defiled'

Paramilitary troops patrolled the streets of a town in eastern Pakistan yesterday after Muslim radicals burned to death eight members of a Christian family, raising fears of violence spreading to other areas.

Hundreds of armed supporters of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Islamic militant group, burned dozens of Christian homes in Gojra over the weekend after allegations that a copy of the Koran had been defiled.

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Hate Engulfs Christians in Pakistan

Israeli Settlers 'Are Wrecking Peace Process'

Britain has accused Israel of allowing extremist Jewish settlers to disrupt attempts at relaunching the peace process after police evicted more than 50 Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem.

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Two Killed In Tel Aviv Gay Support Centre Shooting

Israeli officials said the gunman, who fled the scene, sprayed the club with automatic rifle fire and six of the wounded were badly hurt.

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Gay vs. Orthodox: A Deadly Turn in Israel's Culture War?

Americans United Urges Senate Armed Services Committee To Question McHugh On Religious Liberty Issues

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today asked the Senate Armed Services Committee to question U.S. Rep. John M. McHugh about his views on religious liberty and the rights of religious minorities.

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Atheist Alliance Alarmed By US Army Secretary Nominee

Indiana Atheists Prevail: Bus Ads Coming To Bloomington

Remember the atheist bus ads that were scheduled to go up in Bloomington, Indiana? The Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation rejected the ad on the grounds that it was "controversial," prompting the ACLU and the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign to sue the Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation in federal court. The fight is now over, and the atheists won. The ads will now go up in Bloomington. Way to go Indiana atheists!

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"Invocation" For Cobb County Board Of Commissioners 28 July 2009 CE

American Humanist Association Files Brief in Salazar v Buono

The American Humanist Association filed a friend of the court brief today with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Salazar v. Buono in support of Respondent Frank Buono. The case will determine whether a Christian cross may remain atop Sunrise Rock in the Mojave National Preserve in California.

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Don't Mess with Texas! Keep Social Studies Curriculum Historically Accurate

The Texas State Board of Education is currently revising the social studies curriculum for Texas public schools, and efforts are underway by some religious conservatives to push for a curriculum that would portray the founding of the United States as having "biblical motivations."

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Humanists say to Texas State Board of Education, "Don't Mess with Texas"

Christian right aims to change history lessons in Texas schools

Christian Group's Billboards Denounce Separation Of Church, State

Ten billboard advertisements against what activist Terry Kemple called the separation "lie" are being put up across Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Seven or eight of the billboard messages already are in place, and the rest will be by the end of this week, Kemple said.

--snip--

The billboards showcase quotes from early American leaders like John Adams, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin. Most of the quotes portray a national need for Christian governance.

Others carry the same message but with fictional attribution, as with one billboard citing George Washington for the quote, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."

"I don't believe there's a document in Washington's handwriting that has those words in that specific form," Kemple said. "However, if you look at Washington's quotes, including his farewell address, about the place of religion in the political sphere, there's no question he could have said those exact words."

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Humanists Denounce Double Standard For Church School

Religious school teachers who are fired over their age should be protected by anti-discrimination laws, said the American Humanist Association today in response to a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling. In a 4-3 decision the state court ruled that Wendy Ostlund, who was 53 at the time she was laid-off, could not make a discrimination claim under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act because it would interfere with Coulee Catholic Schools' (now Aquinas Catholic Schools) right to religious freedom.

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Image Of Virgin Mary Appears In Bird Dropping On Area Family's Truck

The Pachuca family of Bryan says an image on their pickup truck is a miracle.

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Mayors, Rabbis Arrested In NJ Corruption Probe

NEWARK (Reuters) - Dozens of New Jersey politicians, officials and prominent rabbis were arrested on Thursday in a sweeping federal probe that uncovered political corruption, human organ sales and money laundering from New York to Israel, officials said.

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Faith-Healing Father Gets Jail Time

OREGON CITY, Ore. -- An Oregon City man convicted of criminal mistreatment in the faith-healing death of his daughter learned his sentence Friday.Carl Brent Worthington was sentenced to two months in jail and five years of formal probation.

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Wisconsin Dad On Trial In 11-Year-Old Girl's Faith-Healing Death

WAUSAU, Wis. -- A Wisconsin man accused of killing his daughter by praying instead of seeking lifesaving medical help considered her illness "a test of his faith," a prosecutor told jurors Saturday.

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Cops: Texas Mom Says Devil Told Her To Decapitate Baby

DALLAS -- Police said they found a 3 1/2-week-old infant stabbed and decapitated in a Texas home on Sunday and his mother "screaming that she killed her baby" after the devil told her to do it.

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Pro-Life Zealot On Trial Over US Murder Of 'Hated' Doctor

Mr Roeder, 51, has been charged with premeditated murder and two counts of aggravated assault, one against Mr Hoepner. He had a history of evangelising against Dr Tiller and other abortion doctors in online postings where he sometimes went by the name of "ServantofMessiah".

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Jurors Convict Evangelist On 10 Sex Counts

(AP) Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher who became an outfitter of the stars and fought the federal government over claims he underpaid followers for church work, was convicted Friday of taking five girls across state lines for sex.

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Bishop Remained Silent About 25 Abusive Priests

The former No. 2 official of the Catholic church in Chicago admitted that he knew 25 priests broke the law by sexually abusing children but did not report them, according to depositions made public Tuesday.

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Ireland Braces Itself For Another Report On Clerical Child Abuse

A report into clerical child abuse in Dublin released later today will "shock and horrify" the whole of Ireland, a leading figure in the Catholic church has admitted.

The Dublin Diocese Commission will name up to 15 priests they say were guilty of abusing children in the Irish capital over a 35-year-period.

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Second child abuse uproar engulfs Catholic Church in Ireland

Ireland: Report shows 'horrific acts of depravity'

Church Set To Abandon Parishes In Divisive Closure Plan

The Church of Scotland is facing a divisive crisis described as greater than the issue of gay ordination over plans to close churches.

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More Dutch Muslims Are Skipping The Mosque

Churches in the Netherlands have been emptying out for some time, but a new study shows that mosque attendance too is declining.

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Philanthropy Outlook Upbeat, But Not For Religious Charities

Philanthropy does not seem to have been hit by the global economic downturn. Contrary to some initial fears after the stock market plunge last year, giving by the rich to charitable causes seems to be rising as younger donors get more active in the field. But the report by Barclays Wealth, the wealth management arm of the British bank, says faith-based charities face falling donations because they're not in step with this new generation of philanthropists.

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