Morality Research Sheds Light On The Origins Of Religion

ScienceDaily -- The details surrounding the emergence and evolution of religion have not been clearly established and remain a source of much debate among scholars. Now, an article published by Cell Press in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences on February 8 brings a new understanding to this long-standing discussion by exploring the fascinating link between morality and religion.

--snip--

Citing several studies in moral psychology, the authors highlight the finding that despite differences in, or even an absence of, religious backgrounds, individuals show no difference in moral judgments for unfamiliar moral dilemmas. The research suggests that intuitive judgments of right and wrong seem to operate independently of explicit religious commitments.

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Godless Billboards Spring Up Across Sacramento

"Are you good without God? Millions are."

These words are part of ten billboards (10 ft. 5 in. by 22 ft. 8 in.) that have just gone up around Sacramento. Sponsored by the Sacramento Area Coalition of Reason (Sacramento CoR) with $6,450 in funding from the United Coalition of Reason, the billboards each carry their message superimposed over an image of blue sky and puffy white clouds. Their appearance marks the launch of the Sacramento coalition, which is made up of nine area nontheistic (atheist and agnostic) groups.

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Billboards On Tampa Bay Roads Duel Over Existence Of God

A group representing people who do not believe in God or any gods has revved up an awareness campaign in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

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Pink Ouija Board Targeting Young Girls Riles Critics

A pink version of the popular Ouija board game has some critics seeing red.

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Obama Draws Fire For Remarks On 'Faith-Based Initiative'

President Obama praised the work of religious charities in a speech today and said he has tried to improve how the government supports their charitable efforts.

But civil-liberties groups criticized his administration's "faith-based initiative," saying Mr. Obama has yet to fulfill his promise to place better safeguards against proselytization and religious discrimination.

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On One Year Anniversary, Humanists Join with Broad Coalition Urging President Obama to Fix the Faith-Based Initiative

Americans United Joins Broad Coalition Of Groups Asking Obama To Reform 'Faith-Based' Initiative

ADL Urges President Obama to Ensure Faith-Based Initiative Does Not Lead to Proselytizing Or Discrimination

Tensions Over Faith-Based Office Erupt in Public Spat

Keeping Faith, Courting Conservatives

Obama's faith-based inertia

More Faith-Based Follies: One Year Later, Initiative Remains Plagued With Problems

Action Alert: Tell Obama to Reform the Faith Based Initiative Program

Political Prayer Breakfasts Are Bad Religion

Washington is the Vatican of a larger cult. In municipalities across the country, and on US military bases worldwide, government officials gather to bow their heads and invoke God's blessing - an exercise that should seem benign. But these official liturgies are fraught with dangerous implications.

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Cross Found At Air Force Academy's Wicca Center

Denver - The Air Force Academy, stung several years ago by accusations of Christian bias, has built a new outdoor worship area for pagans and other practitioners of Earth-based religions.

But its opening, heralded as a sign of a more tolerant religious climate at the academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., was marred by the discovery two weeks ago of a large wooden cross placed there.

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Wallbuilders' Narrow Notion: Religious Liberty For Me, But Not For Thee

Wallbuilders.... asserts that the Founders only wanted the word "religion" to incorporate monotheistic beliefs and should not protect the beliefs of others.

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Orwellian Call To Criminalize Homosexuality -- In America! -- Denounced By Atheists

An Atheist civil rights group today denounced a statement by a representative of the American Family Association that gay and lesbian Americans should be forced to receive "Reparative Therapy" and compared homosexuals to intravenous drug users.

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Voucher Volley: D.C. Newspaper Continues To Push Failed School-Aid Plan

The Washington Post yesterday added to its long list of editorials and columns in support of Washington, D.C.'s controversial school voucher plan.

The newspaper seems to have an obsession with keeping the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program alive, despite knowing that the program has shown no improvement in student performance, lacks accountability, hurts public schools and subsidizes religious education with taxpayer funds.

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Bumper Battle: Abortion-Rights Activists Fight 'Choose Life' License Plates With Their Own

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Abortion-rights advocates have been unable to halt the "Choose Life" license plate variations in nearly two-dozen states, so now they're working to balance the bumper debate.

Activists are pushing a "Trust Women/Respect Choice" license plate in Virginia, which would become only the fourth state to offer a pro-choice plate and the first to require legislative approval for it. Supporters have threatened to sue if lawmakers don't give drivers the option.

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School's Sacking Of Christian Science Teacher Divides Town In Bible Belt

Freshwater denied responsibility for writing references to God and religion on class notes even though the hearings were told that they matched his handwriting.

But he did acknowledge that in 2003 he was ordered by school officials to cease a part of his teaching in which he scattered Lego blocks on a table and said that however long you left them there they would not build themselves, and so something as complex as the eye could not be the result of evolution but had to have been created by someone.

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Windsor, Conn., School Board Votes To Stop Holding Graduations At Church

The Windsor (Conn.) Board of Education voted late Monday to stop holding public high school graduation ceremonies at a local Christian church. With this decision, all five area school districts that had been holding graduations at the church have voted to halt the practice.

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Residents Urge Lake Local To Keep "Belief In God"

LAKE TWP. -- More residents are telling the Lake Local Schools Board of Education that they believe in God and don't want the district's values statement to change.

School board members are wrestling with whether they should drop the phrase "belief in God" from the district's values statement.

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Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern Sounds Off On Atheist Debate

Back in 2004, three members of the council at that time -- Kevin White, Rose Ferlita and Mary Alvarez -- walked out of the chamber in a vivid display of disdain when an atheist whom Councilman John Dingfelder had invited to give the invocation began to speak.

Mulhern correctly said that nobody on the current council had done so. Continuing her monologue, she then seemed to raise some eyebrows by recounting a story about a parent in the chamber who told her when his toddler asked him about religion, "'The only thing you need to know about religion is never criticize anyone's religion, because if you do they might kill you.'"

She then took on both the atheists and their critics, saying that those who mocked other's beliefs "are not going to help your cause. And to come as a religious person and condemn people who don't have belief is not going to help you either."

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Atheist group wants prayer out at City Council

Board Won't Resist Court

Judge James A. Beaty Jr. of U.S. District Court recently ruled that the county cannot allow prayers with sectarian content before meetings. Beaty said that the county could choose to have no prayer or a nonsectarian prayer instead.

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SC School District Ends Prayer Meetings

GEORGETOWN, S.C. -- For more than a decade, Violet Infinger had been praying with students in Georgetown High School's auditorium, but the South Carolina school district officials have ended that.

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FFRF Objects To Prayer Proposal In Albany, New York

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter yesterday objecting to a proposal introduced Monday by Common Council member Anton Konev, of Albany, N.Y., to replace a moment of silence at Council meetings with prayer.

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FFRF Urges Elmhurst, Illinois City Council Not to Pray

How Alaska Court Dealt With Sincerity Of Religious Belief

Courts rarely pass judgment on whether individuals' religious beliefs are sincere, but that's exactly what the Alaska Court of Appeals did in Lineker v. State of Alaska Jan. 20 when it denied the religious-freedom claims of a couple who douse themselves in extracted marijuana liquid as part of a purported religious ritual.

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Secular Club Asks Concordia College Officials To Reconsider Rejection

Students trying to start a secular club at Concordia College are gathering signatures of support after the college declined to recognize the group. Concordia leaders determined the mission of the proposed group Secular Students of Concordia is not consistent with the college's mission.

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Baptists To Flood Texas With Bible CDs By Easter

DALLAS -- The largest state Baptist group in the nation wants Christ's message of hope heard in every home in Texas - about 9 million of them - by Easter.

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Baptists' Descent From Idaho To The Hell Of A Haitian Prison

The Idaho Baptists who are in a Haitian prison facing child kidnapping charges were led by a woman with financial and personal problems.

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American Charged in Haiti Had Some Troubles in Idaho

Americans jailed in Haiti tried taking other kids, officer says

A Graveyard That Tells No Lies

"My family has been in the church for decades," said a middle-aged woman who has called several times over the years. "I have seen so many people die, many from heart attacks and diseases."

"However, the deaths of the young women in child birth, and the deaths of their babies and children, is the reason I left and will never go back to that church."

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Clackamas County hopes to prevent more faith-healing deaths

Televangelist Denies 'Quid Pro Quo' With Ex-Liberian President

UNITED NATIONS -- Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, testifying in his war crimes trial in The Hague on Thursday, said that his government had awarded American televangelist Pat Robertson a gold mining concession in 1999 and that Robertson later offered to lobby the Bush administration on the government's behalf.

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AP: Ala. Christian Coalition Gets Gambling Money

Campaign finance reports show one of the state's leading faith-based groups, the Christian Coalition of Alabama, has received donations from political action committees financed largely by gambling interests.

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Vt. Diocese Selling HQ To Raise Settlement Money

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Buffeted by priest sex abuse lawsuits, Vermont's Catholic church says it will sell its headquarters building and a children's camp to raise money for settlements to alleged abuse victims.

If it does, the 118,000-member Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington would become the latest U.S. diocese to resort to selling off assets to satisfy claims stemming from sexual abuse by priests.

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Prosecutor: Former Youth Pastor Tried To Hire Hit Man To Kill Witnesses

Johnson County - A former youth counselor, already charged in a sex scandal, is now accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill witnesses in the molestation case against him.

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Oak Park Pastor Investigated In New Rape Case

A Sacramento sex crimes task force is investigating an Oak Park pastor on allegations that he raped a woman before he was arrested last month for failing to properly register as a sex offender.

Meanwhile, The Bee learned Friday that two registered sex offenders worked as ministers on Pastor Calvin Lee Little's staff at the nondenominational In a Sweet Way Ministries.

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Retired Pastor Arrested For Molestation

Gibson. PA (WBNG Binghamton) Another allegation against a retired priest from Susquehanna county.

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Pastor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Child

RIVER ROUGE -- A reverend from a Detroit church was charged this morning with repeatedly molesting an underage boy.

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Queens Priest, Msgr. Michael Dempsey, Is Target Of Feds' Kid-Porn Probe

The feds have opened a kiddie-porn probe of an elderly Queens cleric, who has been suspended from his priestly duties.

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Inside Germany's Catholic Sexual Abuse Scandal

The Catholic Church in Germany has been shaken in recent days by revelations of a series of sexual abuse cases. Close to 100 priests and members of the laity have been suspected of abuse in recent years. After years of suppression, the wall of silence appears to be crumbling.

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Abuse allegations mount at German Catholic church

Two New Books Tell The Gruesome Reality Of The Very Unholy Crusades

Two new books on the subject, Holy Warriors by Jonathan Phillips, and The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge, have just appeared in as many months, and the spell exerted by these extraordinary clashes between Cross and Crescent shows no sign of waning.

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Hindus Pierce Bodies At Religious Festival In Malaysia

North of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) -- Beating drums accompany hundreds of thousands of Hindu worshippers as they inch their way toward the entrance of the Batu caves just north of Malaysia's capital for the festival of Thaipusam.

The festival is celebrated under a full moon and many Hindus come to ask Lord Muruga for good health and peace for the year, to help them find a job or to cure a sick relative.

Some pierce their faces with metal spikes and have hooks inserted into their bodies while in a trance before climbing the 272 steps to the temples inside one cave.

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Don't Celebrate Valentine's Day Warning To Muslim Couples

Urusetia Menangani Gejala Social Pulau Pinang (Unggas) coordinator Nurfitri Amir Muhammad said the National Fatwa Council had in 2005 passed an edict that Valentine's Day is not Islamic; that the celebration has Christian elements and thus, should not be celebrated by Muslim couples.

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Turkish Girl Buried Alive For Talking To Boys

The body of a 16-year-old girl who police say was buried alive by relatives in an "honor" killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys has been discovered in Kahta, Turkey.

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Shots Fired In Guinea Town, Religious Tension Rises

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Gunshots were fired on Saturday in the southern Guinean town where Christians and Muslims clashed earlier this week, witnesses said.

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At Least 9 Die In Somalia Clashes, Group Says

(CNN) -- At least nine people have been killed and 14 others wounded in heavy shelling in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, according to a human rights group.

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Report: New Al Qaeda Threats Against U.S. From Extremist Leader

A new posting on an extremist website claiming to be from the deputy leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Said al-Shihri, has him making new threats again U.S. interests around the world, according to Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera.

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Three Marines Killed By Boy With Wheelbarrow Of Explosives

Three Royal Marines were killed by a boy suicide bomber who wheeled a barrow of explosives alongside them as they stood on a bridge in Afghanistan.

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Car Bombs Kill 32 In Iraq

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Car bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims killed at least 32 people and wounded 154 others south of Baghdad on Friday, an Interior Ministry official said.

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Move to ban candidates sparks political crisis in Iraq

Death Toll Rises In Twin Bombing In Pakistan

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The death toll has risen to 33 in Friday's twin blasts in Karachi, authorities said Saturday.

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Pakistani Taliban claim bombing that killed 3 Americans

Sources: Pakistani Taliban leader is dead

Goel Ratzon, Tel Aviv 'Savior,' Accused Of Enslaving Women

JERUSALEM -- The women tattooed his name and portrait on their bodies and gave their children his name -- Savior.

They spoon-fed the bearded, one-time healer as if he were royalty, brushed his shoulder-length white locks, sent him text messages when they were ovulating and slept with him at his bidding.

They turned over wages and welfare payments to him and lived in cramped, rundown Tel Aviv apartments with the children they bore him. According to police, he fathered some of his own daughters' children.

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Godless Comedy From That Mitchell And Webb Look

Is God done for? [Video]

Fish Caught Evolving Into Three Different Species

The King demoiselle is not just one type of fish, but three distinct groups that recently split from each other, according to a new study.

By essentially catching one species in the process of turning into three, the study suggests that conservation efforts might be failing a variety of species that have yet to be identified.

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Atheists -- Naughty And Nice -- Should Define Themselves

I was somewhat taken aback recently when I found myself on a list of "kinder, gentler atheists"--most of them women--compiled by a religious historian attempting to distinguish between socially acceptable atheism and the presumably mean, hard-line atheism expounded by such demonic figures as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett. This nasty versus nice dichotomy is wholly an invention of believers who are under the mistaken impression that atheism is a religion in need of a good schism.

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This Interesting Chart

Waiting For Armageddon

America's 50-million strong Evangelical community is convinced that the world's future is foretold in Biblical prophecy - from the Rapture to the Battle of Armageddon. This astonishing documentary explores their world - in their homes, at conferences, and on a wide-ranging tour of Israel. By interweaving Christian, Zionist, Jewish and critical perspectives along with telling archival materials, the filmmakers probe the politically powerful - and potentially explosive - alliance between Evangelical Christians and Israel...an alliance that may set the stage for what one prominent Evangelical leader calls "World War III."

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Church-State Watchdog Group Urges Obama To Keep Promise To Fix 'Faith-Based' Initiative

President Barack Obama should honor his pledge to reform the "faith-based" initiative by banning job discrimination in tax-funded programs and making it clear that public funds cannot support proselytizing, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Non-Christians need not apply

Americans United Speaks Out Against Intolerant Agenda Of National Prayer Breakfast Sponsor

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today deplored the intolerant agenda of "The Family," a secretive Religious Right group that sponsors the annual National Prayer Breakfast.

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Nothing Fails the Constitution Like a National Prayer Breakfast

At National Prayer Breakfast, Obama to Address Shadowy Christian Group Tied to Uganda's 'Kill the Gays' Bill

Lancaster, Calif. Is Not A Christian Community!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter today condemning remarks by the mayor of Lancaster, Calif., R. Rex Parris, in his recent State of the City address, that he wants residents to help "grow a Christian community." He later told a reporter for NBC LA: "In a Christian community, neighbors love their neighbors. . . . This is a Christian community. We should live like it. We should act like it." The mayor said that the majority of the Lancaster community is Christian, so it's only natural that the majority of government invocations invoke the name of Jesus.

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Money For Prayer Trials Best Spent Elsewhere

Federal Judge James Beaty Jr. of the U.S. Middle District of North Carolina ruled Thursday afternoon that the practice of allowing sectarian prayer violates a clause in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment regarding the establishment of religion and free exercise thereof.

Beaty's ruling, of course, could have the opposite effect and cost hundreds of thousands in tax dollars in a protracted legal appeal. Is that really the best use of taxpayer money?

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Atheism Lawsuit: Illinois Politician Claims Atheist Sign Is 'Hate Speech'

William J. Kelly, a Chicago Republican, is suing the Illinois Secretary of State for allowing an atheist sign to be placed next to a nativity scene in the state capitol.

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Suits Charges FFRF Sign In Capitol Violated Establishment Clause

Westboro Baptist Church Protests, Gets Protested Outside Twitter

Yesterday, the Westboro Baptist Church and their subtly named picket group, God Hates Fags, brought their dog-and-pony show to San Francisco. That's right -- the freaky people came to freak out the freaky people.

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Ad Campaign Promoting Gay Acceptance Hits Long Island

Woman Who Shot KS Abortion Doc Warns Of Violence

WICHITA, Kan. -- The woman who shot and wounded Dr. George Tiller in 1993 has warned that abortion providers will "continue to be stopped," despite a Kansas jury's first-degree murder conviction of the doctor's confessed killer.

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Ore. Parents Found Guilty Of Neglecting Ill Son

OREGON CITY, Ore. -- An Oregon couple who practice faith healing testified they did everything they could for their 16-year-old son before he died, but a jury decided it was not enough, especially just months after the death of their granddaughter.

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James Ray Arrested In Sedona Sweat Lodge Deaths

Controversial spiritual leader James Arthur Ray was arrested today and charged with three counts of manslaughter connected to the deaths at a Sedona, Ariz., sweat lodge in October.

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Man Says Pastor Beat The Hell Out Of Him

(CN) - A church pastor beat the hell out of a student when he complained that the church's home-school high school diploma program was not accredited as advertised, the student says in the Cleveland Court of Common Pleas. The man claims that Community of Faith Church pastor Jeffrey Sanders threatened him with a stick, cussed him out, punched him and "slammed him into a table four times" after he had paid good money to get his diploma.

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Many Children Taken By Americans Not Orphans

CALLEBAS, Haiti - Parents in this struggling village above Haiti's capital said Wednesday they willingly handed some 20 of their children to American missionaries who showed up in a bus promising to give them a better life -- contradicting claims by the Baptist group's leader that the children came from orphanages or distant relatives.

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Uganda, White Supremacy And Evangelical Blood Money

White evangelicals have taken their corrupt "traditional family values" racket to Africa and hit paydirt. Over the past several months, Uganda's terrorist anti-Homosexual Bill has been exposed as not just a symbol of African homophobia but a symptom of American evangelical influence-peddling. While the legal battle over same sex marriage has reached epic proportions in the United States, American evangelicals have been quietly wielding "moral" influence over African public policy, spearheading a rabid call for retribution against gays and lesbians in their missionary pilgrimages. During a March 2009 trip to Uganda, evangelical activists Scott Lively and Don Schmierer warned Ugandan leaders of a gay agenda to "take over the world." Lively and Schmierer have been roundly condemned by human rights and social justice organizations for galvanizing Ugandan politicians to develop the legislation.

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Secularism On The Rise In UK

New research from the National Center for Social Research (UK) paints a promising picture of rising secularism in Britain.

The survey of more than 4,000 people across Britain found that the number of people describing themselves as Christian has dropped in the last 25 years from 66 percent to 50 percent.

The national center said most of that drop was due to defections from the Church of England, with only 23 percent of those surveyed describing themselves as Anglican today in comparison to 40 percent of the population in 1983.

The number of Britons saying that they do not belong to any particular faith rose from 31 percent in 1983 to 43 percent today.

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Germany Shaken By 'Systematic' Sexual Abuse At Berlin Catholic School

A priest last week admitted in a statement to Spiegel he had abused a number of pupils at an elite Berlin high school run by Jesuit priests. In recent days, around 20 former students have come forward alleging they were sexually abused by priests at the school. The director of Canisius College has described the years-long abuse as "systematic".

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India's 'Untouchables' Declare Own Religion

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- In an event considered rare, one of India's low-caste communities has declared its own distinct religion.

Followers of a 14-century spiritual figure, Guru Ravidass, will now have their own holy scriptures, a flag and a greeting, sect officials said.

The new holy book compiles Guru Ravidass' writings, which until now were predominantly found in sacred Sikh scriptures that the sect placed in its houses of worship.

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3 U.S. Special Forces Die In Pakistan Bombing

Three U.S. special operations forces helping train Pakistan's embattled paramilitary corps were killed today when their vehicle was destroyed by a remote control bomb, the deadliest ever attack on Americans in Pakistan.

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Foreign aid workers killed in Pakistan blast

Motorbike Bomb Kills 20 In Iraq

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- A motorcycle bomb killed 20 people and injured 117 others south of Baghdad on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said.

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Petition Urging President Obama To Recognize Darwin Day

We need our elected leaders to speak out about the importance of scientific knowledge and its contribution to the advancement of humanity, and send a signal that religious infiltration into our science classrooms will not be tolerated. That's why we're asking you to sign our petition urging President Obama to recognize Darwin Day.

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Godless Billboards Appear Around Tampa Bay

"Are you good without God? Millions are."

These words are part of prominent, 14' x 48' billboards that have just gone up on both sides of Tampa Bay. The one on the Tampa side is near the University of South Florida along East Fowler Avenue near 17th Street, visible to westbound traffic. On the St. Petersburg-Clearwater side the billboard is along Ulmerton Road just east of U.S. Hwy. 19, viewable by eastbound traffic heading toward the airport. Sponsored by the Tampa Bay Coalition of Reason with funding from the United Coalition of Reason, the two billboards carry their message superimposed over an image of blue sky and puffy white clouds. The cost of the campaign is $7,600.

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Humanist Chaplains Head To The UK

You can't fault Epstein's enthusiasm and dedication. He's probably done as much for humanism in the US as Dawkins has done for it in the UK. His book, Good Without God, has just made the New York Times bestseller lists. And yet, despite 30 years' hard work, there are only three humanist university chaplains in the US -- at Harvard, Rutgers and Adelphi. Stanford and Columbia have had them in the past, but the posts are currently vacant and Tufts is campaigning for one.

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Can One Be Good Without God?

Why Atheists Don't Turn to Religion When Faced with Death or Disaster

Poll: Majority Of U.S. Disapproves Of Marriage To Atheists

(RNS) Most Americans accept interracial marriage, but many people of faith say they would be troubled by a family member's decision to marry an atheist, the Pew Research Center reports.

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Does insecurity promote faith?

Teen Pregnancy Rate Rises. Are Abstinence-Only Programs To Blame?

Teen pregnancy rates plummeted in the 1990s, largely due to increased access to contraceptives. However, the trend stabilized in the last decade and now there's evidence that teen births are rising again.

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The Weird World Of Occult America -- How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation

If witch-burning Puritans are the original jocks of American history, then the mystics surrounding Johannes Kelpius are the first goths.

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Military Re-Thinking Policy On Gay Troops

(CBS/AP) Defense Secretary Robert Gates is tapping two seasoned Pentagon officials to lead the military's first in-depth study on allowing openly gay service members and promising to try to spare more troops from being dismissed in the meantime.

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Air Force Academy Adds Chapel Space For Earth-Centered Faiths; Talks With Secular Student Group

...the Air Force Academy's Freethinkers group has apparently gained consent of administrators to affiliate with national Secular Student Alliance and move out from the Academy's Special Programs In Religious Education.

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State Constitutions And Religious Bigotry

Eight states retain provisions in their constitutions limiting public office to people who profess belief in God.

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'No Religious Test' Tested

While working as a journalist covering municipal government in Asheville, N.C., Cecil Bothwell carefully watched members of the city council and came to a simple conclusion: He could do their job.

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Atheist Group Blasts Postal Service For Mother Teresa Stamp

An atheist organization is blasting the U.S. Postal Service for its plan to honor Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp, saying it violates postal regulations against honoring "individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings."

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Ohio Judge Has No Right To Push Religion In Courtroom, Says Americans United

An Ohio judge should remove a poster displaying the Ten Commandments from his courtroom, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told a federal appeals court.

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'Philosophy' poster containing Ten Commandments gets judge back in spotlight

Arizona Capitol Commandments Monumentally Bad Idea

A state/church watchdog is blasting what it calls "the monumentally bad idea" of Arizona State Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa (with cosponsors Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, Steve Court, R-Mesa, and Carl Seel, R-Phoenix) to plant a Ten Commandments monolith in front of the original 1898 Arizona Capitol by 2011.

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Theocrats In Maryland

Several bloggers (such as Jesus' General) have picked up on a story from the Church of Critical Thinking about Margaret Sayre, 70-year old member of the tax-funded Anne Arundel County senior center in Maryland. The centre provides meals for the elderly, and after 9/11 a moment of silence before eating was introduced. However, this has since evolved into the saying of Christian prayers, and while Sayre has no problem with a generic message acceptable Jews or unbelievers like herself, she found the enforced Christian praying too much and so wrote to her representative in the Maryland House of Delegates, Don Dwyer. Dwyer, however, is a hard-core theocrat, and responded that:

If the atheist (sic) of Maryland want something different then I would suggest building an atheist Senior Center where you won't have to hear any prayers but leave my people alone.

He added to the local newspaper, "What is the violation of church and state?... There is no separation of church and state in the Constitution that the atheists profess it to be." He also triumphantly told a Virginia AU member who objected to his dismissal of Sayre:

Fortunately in Maryland our constitution under the Declaration of Rights article 36 still states that in order to serve in elected office you have to believe in God. Isn't that great!!!

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Religion, Politicians Fiery Combo In Lancaster

Lancaster officials became embroiled in religious controversy this week after the mayor spoke of trying to make the Antelope Valley city a "Christian community" and a councilwoman wrote on Facebook that beheadings are what Muslims "are all about."
Mayor R. Rex Parris made his comments Tuesday in his State of the City speech as he urged Lancaster voters to approve a municipal ballot measure that would allow prayers - even those invoking a specific deity, such as Jesus - at city meetings.

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The Battle Of Hastings

Michael Flynn couldn't be prouder of his alma mater. Hastings College of Law, where Flynn graduated in 2006, has stood up for his rights and the rights of his classmates -- defending them all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Federal Court Strikes Down Sectarian Prayers At Forsyth County, N.C., Commission

A federal court has struck down a North Carolina county's policy of opening board meetings with sectarian prayers.

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Council Weighs Prayer Opening

Elmhurst, IL -- The Elmhurst City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 19, took an interesting turn during its final minutes, when praise for newly ordained Bishop Joe Siegel, formerly pastor of Elmhurst's Visitation Parish, segued to a proposal of a potentially controversial council practice.

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Enfield's Decision To Stop Using Cathedral For Graduations Appeases ACLU

ENFIELD -- The American Civil Liberties Union said a lawsuit against the school district is no longer necessary since the board of education has decided to move graduations back to the individual high schools.

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TN Tells High Schools How To Teach The Bible

Starting next fall, Tennessee high schools that want to teach students about Noah, Moses and the Prodigal Son will have a state-approved road map to do so.

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When the Bible goes to school, the tug-of-war begins

Tax Exemptions Favoring Clergy Defy Constitution

Due to the fact that only ministers are allowed to apply for the housing tax exemption, while other non-profit organization employees such as teachers and day care workers are barred, there is an unwarranted favoritism toward religious workers in the law.

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Sussex County Mother Is Convicted Of Starving Her Kids, Believing God Would Provide

A woman who made no effort to feed her four starving children, telling them God would provide for them as they grew weaker and hungrier by the day, was found guilty of child endangerment charges today in a Sussex County courtroom.

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Marci Beagley Defends Choice To 'Wait It Out' In Oregon City Faith-Healing Case

OREGON CITY -- Marci Beagley acknowledged Thursday that her son took a serious downturn about 12 hours before he died and defended under intense questioning her and her husband's decision to "wait it out" rather than get medical treatment.

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'Slain In Spirit' Case Might Impact Church Leaders

Judith Dadd sued her pastor after she was injured while "slain in the Spirit" - falling backward after being "overcome by the Spirit of the Lord" - during a rally at Mount Hope Church in Delta Township in 2002.

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Abortion Doctor's Killer Found Guilty Of Murder

WICHITA, Kan. - A man who said he killed prominent Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in order to save the lives of unborn children was convicted Friday of murder.

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Conviction angers anti-abortion militants

Former Pastor Plans To Appeal Murder Conviction

WACO, Texas (ABP) -- A former Baptist preacher sentenced to 65 years for murdering his wife plans to appeal his conviction.

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Why Would The Pentagon Ignore Ft. Hood Shooter's Ties To Islam?

The Pentagon report into the massacre at Fort Hood that left 13 dead is a joke. There is no mention of the suspect's views of Islam. None.

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EHarmony Settles Class-Action Suit Brought By Gays And Lesbians

The website, founded by clinical psychologist Neil Clark Warren, who is an evangelical Christian, did not provide same-sex matching services from its founding in 2000 until last year, contending that the company's closely guarded compatibility models were based on studies of married heterosexual couples.

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Hate Church To Protest High Schools, "RENT" Performance Friday In Sacramento

SACRAMENTO - A group notorious for picketing various political events tied with the gay community as well as the funerals of deceased American soldiers will be making a pit stop in Sacramento and Davis this week.

The Westboro Baptist Church, which runs the websites GodHatesFags.com, will protest at two Sacramento high schools -- Rosemont High and McClatchy High -- as well as several Jewish places of worship and the Sacramento Community Theatre's showing of the Broadway musical "Rent" on February 5th.

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Movement Behind Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill Organizing In Newark

PrayforNewark was founded by Newark suburb resident Lloyd Turner, who in October 2008 spoke at an Argentina conference of the International Transformation Network (ITN), whose CEO Ed Silvoso wrote, in his 2007 book, Transformation: Change the Marketplace and You Change the World, that homosexuality is caused by demon possession and that HIV and AIDS can be cured through faith healing and prayer. According to Silvoso, the entire national police force of the Philippines is being indoctrinated in this ideology.

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Disgraced Pastor Is Freed Of Gay Urges, Wife Says

It has been more than three years since charismatic pastor Ted Haggard left his megachurch in disgrace, mired in a scandal involving drug use and a male prostitute. But the woman who stood by him says now that the experience has brought them closer together than ever.

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The ex-gay files: The bizarre world of gay-to-straight conversion

Baptist Camp Hires Interim To Replace Director Charged With Pedophilia

HERTFORD, N.C. (ABP) -- A Baptist association in North Carolina has hired an interim replacement for a camp director arrested last summer on molestation charges.

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New Series Of Clergy Sex Abuse Cases Opens In Spokane

A new chapter is opening in Spokane's ongoing saga of sexual abuse cases involving Catholic priests. A Spokane judge is presiding over the first of what could be a series of trials against a Catholic group home for boys. Many former residents now claim they were molested there as children. For Spokane's Catholics, the trial reopens old wounds. A warning: some details in this story might not be appropriate for children.

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Man testifies he was paid hush money

Diocese Seeks To Pay Accused

When he was a Catholic priest in Delaware, Francis DeLuca molested boys after bingo games, on a trip to Italy and in the den of his living quarters, he said in an April 2009 deposition.

He admitted abusing so many boys in Delaware from 1962 to 1993 he couldn't remember all of them, according to court records.

--snip--

Now, the diocese, which was forced to file for bankruptcy in October under the weight of civil lawsuits alleging clergy sexual abuse by DeLuca and others, wants to pay about $10,000 a month in combined benefits to him and five others accused of abuse. The money would come from the diocese's bankruptcy estate or pool of assets.

Bankruptcy lawyers say it is the first time a diocese in bankruptcy has asked permission from a federal court to provide benefits to priests accused of sexual abuse.

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Archdiocese: Abusive Priests With Ireland Ties Worked In Boston

BOSTON -- For the first time, the Boston Archdiocese has confirmed that some abusive priests with ties to Ireland worked in Boston. An Irish government report last year outlined rampant clergy sex abuse in Ireland, but the Boston Archdiocese has never before acknowledged that any of those priests worked here.

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Armfield Requests Prostitution Charge Be Dismissed

A local reverend and former Greenwood County Council member who recently was accused of soliciting a prostitute has filed a petition to have the charge against him dismissed.

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Catholic Priest Charged With Embezzling $200,000

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. -- A priest at St. Mary Catholic Church in Gays Mills and St. Phillip Catholic Church in Soldiers Grove has been arrested on a charge of embezzling up to $200,000 from those parishes.

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Crystal Cathedral Makes Deep Cuts As Revenues Drop

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- Blaming a struggling U.S. economy, the megachurch founded by Robert H. Schuller Sr. is pulling its signature TV program "Hour of Power" and taking other measures to offset a nearly $8 million drop in revenue.

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Jefferson County Pastor Arrested For Disorderly Conduct During Church Eviction

The church was evicted today after years of running behind on debts.

A foreclosure was completed on the building in September 2007 after the church defaulted on payments, according to Jefferson County court filings. The church then reached a lease agreement but fell behind on payments.

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Catholics Reel As A Diocese Whittles Its Parishes

Most Holy Redeemer Parish will offer its final Sunday Mass. After that, the building will go mostly unused, reflecting an era of dwindling churchgoers and vanishing priests.

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Church Of England Congregations Fall Again, And Half Are Pensioners

The Church of England has been hit by a new slump in its congregations, with the latest figures showing its fifth year-on-year decline.

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Average age of churchgoers now 61, Church of England report finds

Stuyvesant Town gamble costs Church of England

Catholics Cry Foul As Celebrity Cruises Drops Priests From Voyages

Celebrity Cruises this month quietly ended its long tradition of carrying Catholic priests on ships in a move that has some Catholics crying foul.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in New York has issued a statement of protest saying the line has given in to "bigots" that had complained about the presence of priests on ships.

The Catholic League cites a letter Celebrity sent to priests affected by the change that said the line had received "a great deal of negative feedback pertaining to the selective support" of one particular religion.

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Haiti And The Hypocrisy Of Christian Theology

We know what caused the catastrophe in Haiti. It was the bumping and grinding of the Caribbean Plate rubbing up against the North American Plate: a force of nature, sin-free and indifferent to sin, un-premeditated, unmotivated, supremely unconcerned with human affairs or human misery.

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Haitian preachers speak of fire and brimstone after disastrous quake

Haiti earthquake: voodoo high priest claims aid monopolised by Christians

Between God And A Hard Place

In the 18th century, the genre of "earthquake sermon" was good business. Two small shocks in London, in 1750, sent the preachers to their pulpits and pamphlets. The bishop of London blamed Londoners' lewd behavior; the bishop of Oxford argued that God had woven into his grand design certain incidents to alarm us and shake us out of our sin. In Bloomsbury, the Rev. Dr. William Stukeley preached that earthquakes are favored by God as the ultimate sign of his wrathful intervention.

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Problem of evil and religion's double standard

Idaho Baptist Adoption Suspects Planned to 'Gather' 100 Haitian Orphans, Cross Border

(ChattahBox) -- Kidnappers for Jesus? A group of Evangelical church folk from Idaho, led by personal shopper Laura Silsby, Executive Director and Founder of New Life Children Refuge, descended upon the earthquake ravaged country of Haiti last week, to snatch and grab 100 orphans off of the streets and from orphanages. The Baptist group's mission statement was to "share God's love with these precious children, helping them heal and find new life in Christ." However, they were only able to "gather" up 33, some of whom weren't even orphans. The evangelical do-gooders became alleged kidnappers and child traffickers when they loaded the Haitian "orphans" on a bus and attempted to take them across the border to the Dominican Republic to the New Life Refuge orphanage, with no documents from the Haitian government. Well, the so-called orphanage turns out to be a 45-room hotel at Cabarete, a beach resort in the Dominican Republic that the group was renting.

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Haiti: U.S. Baptists Knew They Were Wrong

Baptists Offered Kids Pool, Tennis Courts

Scientologists 'Heal' Haiti Quake Victims Using Touch

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Amid the mass of aid agencies piling in to help Haiti quake victims is a batch of Church of Scientology "volunteer ministers", claiming to use the power of touch to reconnect nervous systems.

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How to Spend $150,000 on Scientology: The Larry Anderson Story

Scientology defector tells all

Joan Of Arc 'Relics' Confirmed To Be Fake

The so-called "relics of Joan of Arc," overseen by the Archbishop of Tours in Chinon, France, do not contain the charred remains of the Catholic saint.

Rather, the artifacts consist of a mummified cat leg bone and human rib, both dating to the 6th-3rd century B.C., according to a new study.

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Global Atheist Convention - Sold Out!

Tickets for The Rise of Atheism, 2010 Global Atheist Convention are now sold out! The Convention, to be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre 12 - 14 March 2010, has attracted substantial Australian and international interest and tickets have sold out more than five weeks before the Convention starts.

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Italy Appeals School Crucifix Ruling

Italy has appealed against a European rights court ruling that displaying crucifixes in Italian schools breached the rights of non-Catholic families, the court says.

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117 In Hospital After Drinking Holy Water

MOSCOW -- Authorities in Siberia say more than 100 Russian Orthodox believers have been hospitalized after drinking holy water during Epiphany celebrations in the eastern city of Irkutsk.

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Attack By Militant Group Leaves 12 Dead In Somalia

(CNN) -- A militant Islamist group associated with al Qaeda attacked areas controlled by government troops and peacekeepers in Somalia early Friday, leaving 12 dead and scores injured, witnesses said.

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Somalia Islamist group bans video games

Christian-Muslim Violence In Nigeria Warrants Probe, Rights Group Says

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- Reports of at least 150 Muslims killed in recent religious clashes in Nigeria should be investigated, a human rights group urged Saturday.

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Rapist Spared, Victim Lashed

Bangladesh -- Eight months after being raped, a 16-year-old at Khargor of Kasba upazila in Brahmanbaria had to receive 101 lashes as "punishment".

A village arbitration found her guilty and issued the 101 lashes fatwa (religious edict) but amazingly left alleged rapist Enamul Mia, 20, untouched.

The arbitration also fined the victim's father Tk 1,000 and issued another fatwa that her family would be forced into isolation if he failed to pay up.

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Malaysia Charges Three Over Allah Row Church Fires

Prosecutors in Malaysia have charged three Muslim men with firebombing a church in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, earlier this month.

They are the first suspects to appear in court in connection with a series of attacks on Christian places of worship.

The violence began when a High Court judge ruled that a Roman Catholic newspaper had the right to use the word Allah to refer to the Christian God.

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Iran Puts 16 On Trial After December Riots

Five of those on trial, including two women, were accused of "moharebeh" -- or defying God -- a charge that could carry the death penalty, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

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Female Suicide Bomber Kills 54 In Iraq

A female suicide bomber detonated her explosives inside a way station for Shiite pilgrims Monday, killing 54 people and rattling security officials who are struggling against a possible rise in violence before key elections next month.

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Iraq suicide blast at eatery kills 3, wounds 25

Car bomb kills 18, injures dozens in Baghdad

Blasts near hotels kill 36 in Baghdad

Al Qaeda-linked group claims Iraq bombings

Suicide car bomber strikes Baghdad police forensics office

Coalition Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan

(CNN) -- Two British soldiers and a Spanish soldier were killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan, the British and Spanish Defense Ministries said.

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Taliban claims 25 dead in attack near U.S. base

Insurgents kill 3 Afghan women

U.S. intelligence briefing: Taliban increasingly effective

Insurgents Stage Comeback In Pakistan Tribal Area

KHAR, Pakistan - Pakistani troops killed eight Islamist militants Tuesday in an Afghan border region where insurgents are staging a comeback after a military operation there was declared a success, a local official said.

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12 killed in suicide attack in Pakistan