Taliban Threaten Spring Offensive On Kabul

Taliban leaders have warned they are planning to strangle Kabul, targeting civilians with dozens of suicide bombings and using thousands of fighters to lay siege to road links to the Afghan capital.

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Afghan insurgency spreads

Afghanistan mission close to failing - US

Poverty pushing youth into arms of Taliban?

Welcome To The Quagmire

First, Iraq's sectarian factions are nowhere near reconciliation.

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Sunni Forces Losing Patience With U.S.

Sharia In Iran: 'Death To Converts'

The Iranian parliament is discussing a new penal code, under which citizens who convert from another religion will face execution.

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Muslim Headscarf Rows Hit Christian Schools

Ireland -- Conflicts are developing in Irish schools over the wearing of the hijab, or headscarf, by Muslim pupils, it was disclosed yesterday.

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New Warning To Faith Charities

UK -- Faith charities encouraging or promoting violence or hatred risk losing their charitable status as part of a radical overhaul proposed by the Charity Commission.

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Sharia unveiled

Bobbies Will Be Taught Sharia Law And The Koran

UK -- Police will be trained on the importance of the Koran and Sharia law to Muslims under Government plans to tackle extremism.

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MP fury at Sharia law idea for police

Dutch Film To Slam Islam

BRUSSELS -- Europe's uneasy relationship with its Muslim minority faces another blow next month, when Dutch politician Geert Wilders releases a 15-minute film that compares Islam to Nazism and communism.

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Do not broadcast critical Islam movie, says Dutch foreign minister

Muslim anger mounts over cartoons, movie

Creationists 'Peddle Lies About Fossil Record'

Some Christians claim there is a lack of "missing link" fossils, halfway between two major groups of creatures.

They say this proves Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is a fallacy and that God created each living species from nothing.

But, in an essay published in the magazine New Scientist today, geologist Donald Prothero claims that reports of "huge gaps" in the fossil records have been greatly exaggerated.

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Wine Bottles A Step Too Far For Turkish Pop Music Video

As clips go, it looks inoffensive: scenes of men dancing jigs in a dark, water-filled basement, interspersed with shots of a crowded dinner table studded with bottles of wine.

But when the Turkish pop singer, Aslizen Yentu, sent the promotional video for her first album to the country's top music station, she was told the shots of an alcohol-laden dinner table had to go, although such a ban has no basis in Turkish law. "I thought it was a joke," she says. "The album is called Cheers. The song is a Greek tavern song. Was I supposed to sip yoghurt drink?"

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FreeThoughtAction Hero Of The Day - 02/28/08

Linus Pauling (February 28, 1901 - August 19, 1994)

According to Wikipedia, Pauling "was an American scientist, peace activist, author and educator. He is considered as one of the most influential chemists of the 20th century and ranks among the most important scientists in history.

"Pauling was one of the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry, molecular biology and orthomolecular medicine (optimum nutrition). He is also a member of a small group of individuals who have been awarded more than one Nobel Prize, one of only two people to receive them in different fields (the other was Marie Curie) and the only person in that group to have been awarded each of his prizes without having to share it with another recipient."

Pauling was raised in the Lutheran Church, but he joined the Unitarian Universalist Church as an adult and publically declared his atheism.

"Does God Exist?" Forum In Kentucky

Edwin Kagin, National Legal Director for American Atheists will be a guest on a panel discussing "Does God Exist?" at the University of Kentucky next Monday, March 3, 2008.

The forum will also include members of the Campus Crusade for Christ, and a representative of the Muslim religion. The discussion begins at 7:30 in the University of Kentucky (Lexington) Student Center, Small Ballroom. The forum is free and open to the general public. You can find directions and other visitor information at http://www.uky.edu/uksb07/subpages/directions.html. Inquiries about the Forum should be directed to Bryan Kennedy at btkenn3@uky.edu.

Sneak Peek At The Virtual Universe

After weeks of rumblings in the blogosphere, Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope was brought out in the open for the first time today, at the annual TED conference in Monterey, Calif. The software program knits together terabytes of online data into a seamless, zoomable experience - and lets users create their own guided tours of the deep sky.

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See also:

Polar map of the moon is the best yet

'Doomsday' seed vault opens in Arctic

Sci-fi travels from imagination to reality

Yesterday:

The Encyclopedia Of Life

Big Debate Over Small Science

Many Americans Find Nanotechnology 'Morally Unacceptable,' NSF Study Finds

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Taliban Making Gains In Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A resurgent Taliban is back in charge over parts of Afghanistan, the nation's chief intelligence official said Wednesday in an assessment that differed from the one made last month by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

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Al Qaeda No. 2 Lauds Slain Commander

Airstrike Hits Gaza Ministry Building

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- At least three Israeli missiles hit the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza Wednesday, hours after Palestinian militants fired more than 40 Qassam rockets into southern Israel.

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Fighting On Gaza Border Intensifies

Israeli airstrikes kill at least 10 in Gaza

UN Envoy Critical of Gaza Living Conditions

Sabbath Conflict May End Playoff Run

DENVER (AP) -- State senators have taken up the cause of a Jewish boys basketball team whose playoff run may be halted because its players can't play on the Jewish Sabbath.

The Herzl/Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy team could be headed for a regional championship on Saturday, March 8, if it wins one more game. But the Denver team's religious beliefs prohibit students from playing on the Jewish Sabbath between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday.

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The Encyclopedia Of Life

Scientists are writing the Book of All Species. Or to be more precise, they are building a Web site called the Encyclopedia of Life ( http://www.eol.org/ ). On Thursday its authors, an international team of scientists, will introduce the first 30,000 pages, and within a decade, they predict, they will have the other 1.77 million.

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Earth's Final Sunset Predicted

New calculation predicts planet's destruction in 7.6 billion years.

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In First, N.Y. Judge Allows Gay Divorce

In what appears to be the first ruling of its kind, a New York judge will allow a lesbian couple who married in Canada to sue for divorce.

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Network Of Terrorist Camps In Rural England

LONDON - Clad in mud-smeared combat fatigues, the young Muslims trained on picturesque British farmland, hurling imaginary grenades, wielding sticks as mock rifles and chopping watermelons in simulated beheadings.

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Sudan Says Danish Products Banned

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Sudan has enacted a ban on Danish imports in reaction to the reprinting of a cartoon that satirizes Islam's Prophet Muhammad, the Sudanese state-run news agency said Tuesday.

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Pakistan Lifts Block On YouTube

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan's telecoms regulator said Tuesday it has lifted restrictions on the YouTube Web site that led to the knocking out of access to the popular video-sharing site in many other countries for a few hours over the weekend.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority ordered 70 domestic Internet service providers to restore access to the site after removal of what government officials had deemed a "blasphemous" video clip.

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See also:

YouTube row gives taste of hate film

'I don't hate Muslims. I hate Islam,' says Holland's rising political star

Pakistan Targets TV Critics

And...

Sharif plans to contest Pakistan by-elections

Earlier:

Suicide Bomber Kills Pakistan General

Bomb Kills 2 NATO Soldiers In Afghanistan

(AP) A roadside bomb blast struck NATO soldiers patrolling in eastern Afghanistan, killing two of the troops and wounding one other.

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Taliban Threatens Cell Towers

Women's lives worse than ever

Polygamist 'Prophet' In Arizona To Face Charges

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was handed over to Arizona authorities Tuesday to face sex charges stemming from the arranged marriages of two teenage girls to older relatives.

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Accused Witch Gives Birth In Tree

A PREGNANT woman in Papua New Guinea who was hung from a tree after being accused of sorcery gave birth to her baby while struggling to free herself.

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Hamas Children TV Bunny Threatens To Kill Danes Over Muhammad Cartoons

In the February 22, 2008 episode of the Hamas children's show "The Pioneers of Tomorrow," on Al-Aqsa TV, program host Saraa Barhoum and bunny character Assud urge viewers to boycott Danish products and to avenge the insult of the Muhammad cartoons reprinted by Danish newspapers. They also express their hope that "all the borders will be opened" between Arab countries, and discuss their own "martyrdom."

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Turkey In Radical Revision Of Islamic Texts

Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion.

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Vatican Makes It Harder To Become A Saint

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican is making it tougher to become a saint.

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Survey: U.S. Religious Landscape In Flux

DENVER -- The U.S. religious marketplace is extremely volatile, with nearly half of American adults leaving the faith tradition of their upbringing to either switch allegiances or abandon religious affiliation altogether, a new survey finds.

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34th National Conference Of American Atheists

RICHARD DAWKINS, award-winning scientist and author will be the headline speaker at the 34th National Conference of American Atheists, March 20-22, 2008 in Minneapolis, MN.

In addition, the Conference is honored to host writer Robert Lanham and historian Rene Salm.

Robert Lanham - The Sinner's Guide To The Evangelical Right

Robert Lanham is the author of the books The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right, The Hipster Handbook, and Food Court Druids. Neal Pollack calls him "the Margaret Mead of the North American Weirdo." Lanham was born in Richmond, Virginia in the heart of the Bible Belt and was raised in a strict Southern Baptist church. He grew up in an environment where rock music was considered the devil's music and with parents who speak in tongues, vote Republican, and have a vanity plate that says "Prayzin." Lanham's first babysitter was Republican Senator Tom Coburn, best known for advocating the death penalty for abortion providers. As a teen, before his fall from grace, Lanham tried to speak in tongues, but failed. Lanham now lives in the den of iniquity, New York City. Lanham's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Independent, Time Out, Nylon, Playboy, Maxim, and many other publications as well as in the collections The Subway Chronicles and Bookmark Now.

Rene Salm - THE MYTH OF NAZARETH: THE INVENTED TOWN OF JESUS

Rene Salm's meticulous, exhaustive, 8-year-long research on the archaeology of the town now called Nazareth shows irrefutably that "Nazareth" was not inhabited at the time Jesus and his family are supposed to have been living there. This puts Jesus of Nazareth in the same league as the Wizard of Oz. Salm's new AAP book, The Myth of Nazareth, will be released at the conference and is likely to be the biggest challenge to Christianity in centuries. Coming shortly after Israeli archaeologist Aviram Oshri's demonstration that Bethlehem in Judea also was uninhabited in New Testament times and Frank Zindler's discovery that Capernaum was a literary invention, Salm's book is going to be a collector's item for Atheists and all who are interested in the long war between science and religion. Salm is an authority on the origins of Buddhism as well as Christianity, and is a recovered Catholic.

WHAT: 34th National Conference of American Atheists

WHEN: March 20-22, 2008

WHERE: The Minneapolis Marriott City Center Hotel, 30 South 7th St., Minneapolis, MN.

MORE INFO: http://www.atheists.org/conference

Electron Filmed In Motion For The First Time

Scientists have filmed an electron in motion for the first time, using a new technique that will allow researchers to study the tiny particle's movements directly.

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Physicist Neil Turok: Big Bang Wasn't the Beginning

Blood Test Could Reveal Bipolar Disorder

A blood test could be used to diagnose and assess the severity of certain mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, according to a new study. But some experts think this raises ethical concerns about prying into a person's mental status.

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Gene discovery may lead to new baldness drugs

Turning back the 'creepy old hands' of time

Scientists Find 5,500-Year-Old Plaza In Peru

LIMA - A circular plaza built 5,500 years ago has been discovered in Peru, and archaeologists involved in the dig said on Monday that carbon dating shows it is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas.

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Krill found in Antarctica's icy depths

Church-State Watchdog Group Highlights A Slew Of Constitutionally Suspect Appropriations

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today urged federal agencies to block constitutionally suspect earmarks directing tax dollars to a string of religious organizations.

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Earlier:

ACLU Sues To Protect Marriages Threatened By Recent Court Decision

Hollywood Gets Preachy, On And Off Screen

Religion is often the backdrop for many Hollywood movies, and these days, with crime on the rise in Tinseltown, most actors need atonement more than their Screen Actors Guild dental benefits.

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Church Is Paying A High Price For Its Celibacy Rule

The appointment of a former Catholic priest as the Anglican Dean of Dublin's Christ Church cathedral is an example how the obligatory rule of celibacy of the Roman priesthood is losing clergy to the more liberal Church of Ireland.

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Anglican Rift Deepens As Two Sides Go To Court

VANCOUVER -- The cracks in the Anglican Church of Canada are widening over the issue of blessing same-sex marriages, with three more congregations voting to split with the national organization over the weekend - and the two sides headed to court on Friday.

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Faith School Boom 'Creates Division'

Australia -- The rapid growth of faith-based schools under the previous federal government has threatened the social cohesion of the nation, according to Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard's most senior education adviser.

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Sydney's Archbishop opposes Civil Unions

Gazans Form Human Chain Along Israeli Border

Palestinians today formed a human chain in protest at Israel's blockade of Gaza as Israel deployed thousands of troops and police officers along the border.

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Gaza protesters form human chain

Israel retaliates after Gaza rocket attacks

In Israel, some see no option but war

Wheelchair Bomber Kills 3 In Iraq Police Station

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A man in a wheelchair blew himself up Monday in a northern Iraqi police station, killing three National Police officers, including a commander, police said.

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Earlier:

Rocket blasts unsettle Green Zone in Iraq

Suicide bomber kills 40 Shiite pilgrims

Dozens Of Iraqi Pilgrims Killed In Attacks

Blast Kills at Least 63 Shiite Pilgrims in Iraq

See also:

Uncertainty Facing Iraq's Awakening Movement Puts U.S. Strategy at Risk

The Ansar al-Mahdi and the Continuing Threat of the Doomsday Cults in Iraq

Hopes of UK troop cuts in Basra dashed

Ominous Signs Remain in City Run by Iraqis

Pakistan Army General Killed In Suicide Blast

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber hit a car carrying the army's surgeon general along a busy road south of the capital Islamabad Monday, killing him and at least seven others, the army said.

In the north, gunmen opened fire and threw grenades inside the office of the British-based aid group, killing four local staff, the group and police said.

--snip--

The latest attack is likely to revive concern about Islamic militancy in Pakistan just days after the opposition won parliamentary elections.

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See also:

Suicide Bombs Kill Surgeon General, 10 Others in Pakistan

Musharraf dismisses talk of 'graceful exit'

Pakistan causes worldwide YouTube outage

More Than 40 Shiite Pilgrims Killed

(AP) The streets of the Iraqi city of Karbala are already choked with Shiite pilgrims gathered for a religious observance. But dozens of others who were headed there by foot never made it.

They were killed at the hands of a suicide bomber who attacked today as the pilgrims took a break from their trek at a tent offering food and drink.

The U.S. military says at least 40 people were killed and 60 were wounded.

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Bombers, gunmen attack Shiite pilgrimage in Iraq

Suicide bomber kills 40 in Iraq

Pakistan Blocks YouTube

(AP) Pakistan's government has banned access to the video-sharing Web site YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies that users have posted on the site, an official said Sunday.

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Israel And Hizballah On High Alert

Spooning brown sugar into tiny glasses of tea, the Hizballah commander said that the Shi'ite fighters will be on the offensive in the next war, hinting at taking the battle into Israel itself. "We weren't expecting the last war and we fought only to defend our land, but next time you will see a very different kind of fighting," he said.

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Secret Plan To Avoid Church Gay Split

The Archbishop of Canterbury is backing secret plans to create a "parallel" Church for American conservatives to avert fresh splits over homosexuality.

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Foster couple challenges homosexuality laws

Woman Can't Let Grandson, A Jehovah's Witness, Die 'In Vain'

Olga Lindberg remains consumed by the idea that her grandson died because of misguided faith, and she is driven to share her belief.

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Hunt For Alien Life To Expand Its Scope

Researching the prospects for life beyond our solar system is moving to the next level. Exoplanet hunters are getting instruments that promise to spot Earth-like planets around alien stars. In some cases, they may even yield crude estimates of how life-friendly such a planet may be.

Meanwhile, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is gaining new capacity to scan the heavens for alien signals. It could produce more analyzed data over the next two years than its researchers have collected over the past half century.

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Saudi Arabia Arrests 57 Men For Flirting At Mall

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia began interrogating 57 men Saturday who were arrested for flirting with women in front of a shopping mall in the holy city of Mecca, a local newspaper reported.

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Shells Hit Baghdad's Green Zone

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Rockets or mortars hit the U.S.-protected Green Zone early Saturday, the day after powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mehdi Army militia to extend its cease-fire by another six months.

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The Coming Religious Peace

Human beings have never lacked for things to fight over, but for the last two millennia, they have fought the most over ideas involving the divine. Politics, technology, military capacity, and diseases have all played decisive roles in shaping history, yet it is impossible to understand the rise and fall of empires, the clash of civilizations, and the evolving balance of power without appreciating the unique fervor that religion inspires, and the speed with which new religions can spread.

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See also:

God's Country

Born Again

Earlier:

The new wars of religion

Moral Thinking

WHENCE morality? That is a question which has troubled philosophers since their subject was invented. Two and a half millennia of debate have, however, failed to produce a satisfactory answer. So now it is time for someone else to have a go. And at a panel discussion at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, a group of biologists did just that.

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Priest Spent Church Money On Secret Family

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A retired Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to 63 months in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his parishioners, money he used in part to support his secret family.

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Turkey OKs Controversial Head Scarves Ruling

Story Highlights:

Constitutional amendment allowing head scarves in universities faces legal battle

President denies change violates Turkey's secular principles

Islam and secularism has vied for dominance in Turkey for decades

Change was pushed through a parliament where Islam-rooted party has majority

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Al-Sadr Extends Mehdi Army Cease-Fire

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has extended for six months the cease-fire he imposed last summer on his Mehdi Army militia, al-Sadr's office in Baghdad said Friday.

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See also:

Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites work together, distrustfully

Morocco Says Terror Group Was Plotting To Kill Ministers

Moroccan authorities have rounded up a terrorist group accused of planning al-Qaida-type attacks in the North African country - and have banned a small Islamist political party allegedly linked to it.

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Diocese: Former Priest Has HIV

A former Catholic priest who served several North Texas churches is HIV positive, according to a release from the Diocese of Fort Worth.

The diocese has alerted people who have lodged sexual misconduct allegations against Philip Magaldi that the defrocked priest has the disease linked to AIDS, according to the release.

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Amish Community Fined Over Outhouse Controversy

BARR TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Controversy over a manmade outhouse could end up with members of an Amish community in jail.

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Iran Says God Protects Nuclear Program

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that God would punish Iranians if they do not support the country's disputed nuclear program, state radio reported.

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Ontario's Helmet Law Discriminates Against Devout Sikhs

BRAMPTON, Ont. - Forcing a devout, motorcycle-riding Sikh to choose between his turban and a helmet is denying him the right to religious freedom, human rights lawyers argued Friday as Baljinder Badesha's fight against a $110 fine took on the character of a constitutional challenge.

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'Most Britons Belong To No Religion'

A 23-page report by Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, says that the 2001 census findings that nearly 72 per cent of the population is Christian can no longer be regarded as accurate. The report claims that two thirds of British people do not admit to any religious affiliation.

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Oxford to study faith in God

Ripping Into The Bible

ON THE MORNING of December 7, 2007, Christopher Campbell walked into his English Honors class at Parker High School, prepared to tear out pages of the Bible.

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UltraLove: The Medical Right Falls Hard For Ultrasounds

You've already met the Religious Right. Now meet its offspring, the Medical Right -- ideologically motivated pseudo-medical organizations that are shaping reproductive health care policy and practice to conform to their unscientific beliefs about "the beginning of life."

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Genes Link Native Americans And Siberians

WASHINGTON -- People indigenous to Siberia have strong genetic links to native peoples in the Americas, according to a study further supporting the theory that humans first entered the Americas over a land bridge across the Bering Strait.

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Missing Link Found In Sydney Harbour

ONE of evolution's missing links has been found lurking in Sydney Harbour.

Although only a microscopic, single-celled creature, it has excited scientists around the world because it is the nearest relative yet found of a group of deadly parasites.

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Virgin Mary Pretzel For Sale On EBay

Eugene, OR -- It's happened again. Someone has found something in the shape of the Virgin Mary. And they're trying to sell it on eBay.

--snip--

As of Thursday afternoon, the bidding had reached $8,100.

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Monopoly Contest Stirs Up Jerusalem Conflict

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island -- Monopoly, the iconic game of capitalism, has been drawn into the dispute over Jerusalem.

Hasbro Inc. issued an apology Thursday after an employee, responding to complaints from pro-Palestinian groups, eliminated the word "Israel" after the city in an online contest to select names for a new Monopoly board game: Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition.

The company also pulled all country names from other cities on the site when even more people complained, including the Israeli government, because Jerusalem was listed as the only city without a country.

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Church Music Director Jailed For Child Porn

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The former music director at a prominent Greenwich church was sentenced Thursday to 5 1/2 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

--snip--

Tate was choir director for 34 years at Christ Church, creating a music program that gained an international reputation. Former President George H.W. Bush attended the church while growing up and funeral services for his parents were held there.

--snip--

Prosecutors also contend that Tate had sexually abused children at home and abroad since the 1970s. Authorities said Tate picked up boy prostitutes in New York and brought them back to his apartment at the church for sexual contact and traveled to Thailand to have sex with boys. He was not charged with those crimes.

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North West Frontier Goes Secular

AS THE party of Pakistan's assassinated former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto begins putting together a coalition after winning the most seats in the general election, one result will give encouragement -- the religious parties in the country's turbulent north-west have lost out badly.

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See also:

Pakistan leaders agree on coalition

Morocco Busts Al Qaeda-Linked Terror Network Funded By Crime

Story Highlights:

Morocco destroyed network that raised funds through heists, holdups in Europe

Terror group plotted to kill Cabinet ministers, army officials, Jews

Morocco banned an Islamist political party, arrests leader

Police arrested 32 people in sweeps this week

More...

Israeli MP Blames Gays For Recent Earthquakes

An Israeli parliamentarian said that several earthquakes felt in Israel recently were a consequence of gays and the parliament's acceptance of them.

Shlomo Benizri of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the way to stop the tremors was for parliament to reverse its trend of liberalising laws concerning homosexuals.

--snip--

A cost-effective way of averting earthquake damage, he added, would be to stop "passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes".

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Gene Studies Confirm 'Out Of Africa' Theories

WASHINGTON -- Two big genetic studies confirm theories that modern humans evolved in Africa and then migrated through Europe and Asia to reach the Pacific and Americas.

The two studies also show that Africans have the most diverse DNA, and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations.

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Iraqi Militia To Hear Saturday Whether To Resume Fighting

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Mehdi Army cease-fire that has been credited with helping to reduce violence in Iraq since August could end soon, a spokesman for the radical cleric who heads the Shiite militia said Wednesday.

More...

See also:

Thousands of Darfur refugees trapped by fighting

Kosovo touts 'Islam Lite'

Total Lunar Eclipse Feb. 20

For the third time in the past year, the moon will become completely immersed in the Earth's shadow on Feb. 20, resulting in a total lunar eclipse.

More...

See also:

New forecasting method predicts solar storms

Farthest galaxy found ... perhaps

Earlier:

Astronomers find 2 new distant planets

Scientists and amateurs find new solar system

What space telescopes of tomorrow will see

Beatles Song 'Across The Universe" Beamed Into Space

Science Standards Will Call Evolution 'Scientific Theory'

Florida's State Board of Education has voted to use the term "scientific theory of evolution" in new science standards, the first time the word "evolution" has been included.

More...

See also:

Florida adopts 'scientific theory of evolution'

Suicide Attack At Afghan Market Raises Two-Day Toll To About 140

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bomber killed 38 Afghans at a crowded market Monday, pushing the death toll from two days of bombings to about 140.

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Iraq To Round Up Homeless, Mentally Ill, To Prevent Bombings

Story Highlights:

The move follows a pair of high-profile bombings that left almost 100 people dead

U.S. military: Al Qaeda in Iraq recruited female patients at psychiatric hospitals

Rocket-laden truck explodes in Baghdad; at least 15 police officers killed

More...

See also:

Rocket blasts kill 15 at U.S. base in Baghdad

Uganda Rulers And Rebels Reach Conflict Deal

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- Ugandan government and rebel negotiators signed a major agreement Tuesday on how the country will deal with crimes committed during a brutal 20-year insurgency in the north, mediators said.

The agreement outlines how Uganda should handle allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during an insurgency the Lord's Resistance Army has waged since 1987.

--snip--

LRA fighters are notorious for cutting off the tongues and lips of civilians and abducting thousands of children, turning the girls into sex slaves and the boys into fighters.

More...

Musharraf Faces Call To Resign

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The ruling party of Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf admitted defeat in parliamentary elections Tuesday, and one senior opposition leader said it was time for the president to step down.

More...

See also:

Musharraf's Exit Urged After Election Rout

Musharraf under pressure to resign

Israel's 'Hilltop Youth' Are Settling In

"God is the landlord."

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See also:

A third of settlements on land taken for 'security purposes'

Financial Woes Force Church To Sell Private Jet

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (AP) -- Dwindling donations to the Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park have prompted its high-profile pastor, Mac Hammond, to put his private business jet on the market.

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Hopes Rise For Finding Alien Earths

BOSTON -- Rocky planets like Earth could be found around most sunlike stars in our galaxy, new research suggests, further raising hopes that scientists will someday find E.T. or at least primitive life beyond our solar system.

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Gecko's Sticky Secrets Inspire New Bandages

The ultra-sticky feet that allow gecko lizards to climb walls and hang from ceilings have inspired scientists to create waterproof adhesive bandages that may offer a new way to patch up patients during surgery.

More...

See also:

Scientists find 'Devil Toad' fossil

Vote Is Expected To Further Weaken Musharraf

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistanis began voting Monday morning in parliamentary elections that are expected to diminish President Pervez Musharraf further and present Washington with a challenging new political lineup here as it pursues its fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the region.

More...

See also:

Security forces reported at least four bombings at or near polling places

Pakistan Opposition Leads In Early Returns

Women barred from voting in parts of Pakistan

And...

U.S. strikes within Pakistan -- without notice

UPDATE:

Pakistanis Deal Severe Defeat to Musharraf in Election

Al Qaeda In Iraq 'Killing Off' Former Allies

BALAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Video provided to CNN shows an al Qaeda in Iraq firing squad executing one-time allies -- fellow Sunni extremists -- who were not loyal enough to the terror organization, coalition military analysts said.

More...

And...

Rockets Hit Iraq Housing Complex, Kill 5

Earlier:

Woman blows up Baghdad store after officers ask her to stop

See also:

Millions of Iraqis Living on the Edge

Food security and vulnerability analysis in Iraq

IRAQ: The Lights Have Gone Out, Who Cares

Iraqi medical system in deep trouble

Afghan Civilians Killed In Convoy Attack

KABUL (CNN) -- A suicide bomber rammed his car into a Canadian military convoy near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan Monday, killing 35 civilians, officials said.

More...

Earlier:

Attack kills 82 in the worst atrocity since fall of Taliban

See also:

Fear Saps Vibrancy In Afghan Capital

Atheists An Increasingly Outspoken Minority

CHICAGO (CBS) -- In this presidential campaign season, Democrats and Republicans alike have declared their religious faith. They do it, in part, because they believe it wins political points. After all, the latest Harris polls show somewhere between 73 and 80 percent of Americans believe in God. But what about the rest?

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Kosovo To Be "Democratic, Secular And Multiethnic"

Pristina -- Kosovo's president, prime minister and parliamentary speaker have declared their intentions to form a new state that will be "democratic, secular and multiethnic".

More...

See also:

Serbs Protest New Kosovo Republic

Religious Superheroes Come Back Fighting In A Manga Comic Bible

He comes to town as a stranger, a silhouetted superhero ready to save the world. He's dark, he's moody and he deals in miracles. He is Christ.

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Religion Joins Custody Cases, to Judges' Unease

Across the country, child-custody disputes in which religion is the flash point are increasing, part of a broader rise in custody conflicts over the last 30 years, lawyers, judges and mediators say.

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Atheist Group Calls Former Church Home

The Atlanta Freethought Society, an educational organization for atheists and agnostics, will begin meeting this spring at the former Collins Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Smyrna.

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A Debate Created In America

A growing number of creationists are waging 'culture war' in Europe against evolution in schools.

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Wikipedia Defies 180,000 Demands To Remove Images Of The Prophet

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia, is refusing to remove medieval artistic depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, despite being flooded with complaints from Muslims demanding the images be deleted.

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Muslim Cartoon Causes Rift Between Denmark And Iran

Danish MPs have decided not to go ahead with a trip to Iran after they were ordered to apologise for the republication of cartoons deemed offensive to Islam.

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Female Suicide Bomber Kills 3 In Iraq

BAGHDAD - A female suicide bomber blew herself up in a predominantly Shiite area in central Baghdad on Sunday morning, killing at least three people and wounding 10, police said.

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Dozens Dead, Wounded In Kandahar Bombing

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomb exploded in a crowd of people gathering to watch dog fighting, killing at least 80 people and wounding dozens more in the western section of Kandahar, Afghanistan Sunday morning, according to Afghan officials

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Israel Kills 4 Palestinians In Gaza Operation

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An Israeli airstrike killed at least three Palestinians and wounded 16 others Sunday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

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Texas Diocese Settles Priest Abuse Suit

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth has settled another lawsuit alleging abuse by a priest now serving prison time for raping a boy, church officials said Friday.

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Public: Faith Trumps Science

Proposed teaching standards are at odds with what most Floridians believe.

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Car Bomb Kills 37 Ahead Of Pakistan Vote

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A car bomb killed 37 people and wounded 93 Saturday in northern Pakistan when it exploded in front of an election office of the opposition Pakistan People's Party, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said.

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See also:

Pre-Election Day Violence Scars Pakistan

Pakistan AG 'predicts vote-rigging'

Story Of Jesus Through Iranian Eyes

A new movie in Iran depicts the life of Jesus from an Islamic perspective. "The Messiah," which some consider as Iran's answer to Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ," won an award at Rome's Religion Today Film Festival, for generating interfaith dialogue. The movie will be adapted into a television series, shown on Iranian TV later this year.

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