Saudi Woman Crashes Car After Defying Women-Only Driving Ban

Saudi Arabia's conservative establishment has seized on news that a woman crashed her brother's car while driving illicitly on a desert highway.

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Attacks On Christians Worry India

(AP) Nearly a year of attacks on Christians have put India's leaders on edge, and the latest flare-up in violence drew an angry denunciation from the country's Sikh prime minister as "acts of national shame."

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20 Children Die In Tanzania Stampede

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) -- A stampede at an overcrowded dance hall in central Tanzania killed 20 children and left 50 others injured as they celebrated an important Muslim festival, police said Thursday.

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Kenya: Islamists Attack Church

A longstanding effort to replace a church with a mosque in Kenya's northern town of Garissa culminated in an attack by 50 Muslim youths recently that left the worship building in ruins.

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Iraqi Police: Bombs Kill 24 Near Shiite Mosques

Blasts occur as worshippers left prayers; separately, 6 killed in shooting.

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A Delicate Changing of the Guard

Cost of massive unemployment in Iraq could be paid in blood

Trio Of Warlords Blamed For Surge In Afghanistan Violence

WASHINGTON -- The escalating insurgency in Afghanistan is being spearheaded by a trio of warlords who came to prominence in the CIA-backed war to oust the Soviets but who now direct attacks against U.S. forces from havens in Pakistan, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials.

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Top U.S. commander warns that Afghan war could get worse

Blast Kills 4 Near Pakistan Pol's House

(CBS/AP) A suicide bomber blew himself up close to the house of a leading secular politician in restive northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least four people, police said.

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See also:

Islamabad After the Marriott Bombing: The Baghdad Effect

Pakistani Taliban Leader Dead Or Dying?

Pakistan Plotted Afghan Attack, Spain Says

(AP) A report marked confidential and bearing the official seal of Spain's Defense Ministry charges that Pakistan's spy service was helping arm Taliban insurgents in 2005 for assassination plots against the Afghan government.

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

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

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See also:

Evidence For Rain On Mars?

NASA's Mars Rover To Head Toward Bigger Crater

And...

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

Solar Cell Sets World Efficiency Record At 40.8 Percent

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

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Mass Extinctions And The Evolution Of Dinosaurs

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

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America's Smallest Dinosaur Uncovered

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

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

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See also:

33 Pastors Flout Tax Law With Political Sermons

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

The Religious Right's Odd Definition of "Endorsement"

Beware the bully pulpit

Earlier:

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

Seeking Change In Law, Pastors To Endorse Candidates

Church Politicking Is Uncivil Disobedience

Churches Aren't Political Parties, Say Humanists

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

An Idea Ready For Takeoff

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

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Debate Erupts Over Proposal To Teach Creationism In Brunswick Schools

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

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Earlier:

Brunswick school board to consider creationism teaching

No Place For Creationism In Science Class, State Says

Coming Soon: 'In God We Trust' Tags

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

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666 Sign Thefts Bedeviling NJ Roadways

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

--snip--

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

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The Christian Twitter Is Here

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

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See also:

Jesus: Twitter Is a Waste of Time

Massage Firm Steps Up Faith-Based Defense

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

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

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Evangelist Tony Alamo Agrees To Return To Arkansas

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

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Navy Officer Settles Del. Church Sex Abuse Lawsuit

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

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Pullman Defiant Over US Protests Against Northern Lights

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

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

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Dangerously Funny

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

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Faith And Business: A New Deal For The Modern Workplace

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

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At Least 168 Die In India Temple Stampede

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Unholy Row

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

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Somali Insurgents Want To Raze Non-Muslim Places Of Worship

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

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Muslim Gang Firebombs Publisher Of Allah Novel, Martin Rynja

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

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See also:

Three arrested after fire at publisher of Muhammad novel

Respect for religion now makes censorship the norm

Car Bomb Strikes Baghdad Restaurant

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

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Iraq Bombings Kill 31

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

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

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See also:

Iraqi Christians Protest End To Quotas

Dozens Killed In Baghdad's Deadliest Day This Ramadan

Story Highlights:

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

Four others killed in Diyala province

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

Car bomb near market in separate area kills at least 12

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See also:

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

Disbanding the Sunni Patrols: A Backlash Brewing?

Taliban Gun Down Veteran Policewoman

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

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See also:

Dread rises in Kabul as Taliban closes in

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

Pakistan Fighting Forces Thousands To Flee

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

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See also:

Pakistani Taliban leader dead, sources say

The Long Road to Chaos in Pakistan

Battle for Bajaur tests Pakistan (Video)

'Talibanization' of Pakistan's biggest city

Sources: U.S. strikes Pakistani village

Car Bomb Hits Lebanese Military Bus

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

--snip--

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

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Car Bomb Rocks Tightly Controlled Syria

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

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

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

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Earlier:

Seeking Change In Law, Pastors To Endorse Candidates

Church Politicking Is Uncivil Disobedience

Churches Aren't Political Parties, Say Humanists

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

Diamonds May Be Life's Birthstone

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

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A Biologist Reviews An Evolution Textbook From The ID Camp

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

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Group Of State Attorneys General Opposes Healthcare Provider Conscience Regulation

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

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

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Evangelist Tony Alamo Won't Fight Extradition

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

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Helping Child Brides Break Free

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

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See also:

Forced marriages: the trail of misery and fear in Britain

Criticism Of Religion Is Not Blasphemy

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

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

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

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Jail For Man In Canada PM Beheading Plot

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

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Germans Arrest 2 Terror Suspects On Plane

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

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Radical Settlers Take On Israel

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

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ISRAEL: Professor wounded in Jerusalem bomb attack

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

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

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See also:

As Crime Increases in Kabul, So Does Nostalgia for Taliban

VIDEO: Security Fears At Afghan Market

Pakistan: Blast Kills Three, Police In Shootout

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

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Indian Police Probe Sectarian Clashes

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

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2008 Atheist Alliance International Convention

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

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

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

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See also:

Interstellar Space Molecules That Help Form Basic Life Structures Identified

Traces of alien life could survive space travel

And...

Oldest rocks on Earth found

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

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

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Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space

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

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Bizarre Hibernating Stellar Magnet Discovered

Two Planets Suffer Violent Collision

Sun's Wind and Output on Extended Dimmer Switch

Seeking Change In Law, Pastors To Endorse Candidates

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

More...

See also:

Church Politicking Is Uncivil Disobedience

Earlier:

Churches Aren't Political Parties, Say Humanists

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

More Atheists Are Sharing Their Views

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

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

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

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Ark. Evangelist Arrested In Child-Porn Probe

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

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Calif. Pastors Push For Gay Marriage Ban

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

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Jesus In The Drywall

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

--snip--

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

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

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

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

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Olympic Park Toilets 'Will Not Face Mecca'

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

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Muslim 'Barbie And Ken' Dolls Created By Iranian Government

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

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

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

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Devout Muslim Avoids Jail Over Child Flogging

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

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Al Qaida Gunmen Kill Dozens Of Iraqi Policemen In Diyala Province

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

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See also:

Sexual cleansing in Iraq

Bomb Threat Puts Pakistan On "Red Alert"

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

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See also:

Pakistan Militants Threaten More Bombs

Churches Aren't Political Parties, Say Humanists

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More...

See also:

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

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

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

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

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Cherry Creek School Violation Linked To Lutheran Brotherhood

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

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No Place For Creationism In Science Class, State Says

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

--snip--

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

More...

Earlier:

Brunswick school board to consider creationism teaching

And...

Butteville board drops Intelligent Design

Vatican Official Defends Evolution Against 'Useless' Creationism

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

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Art Teacher Made Student Pray To Jesus For Forgiveness

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

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Arkansas Church Compound Raided In Child Porn Case

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

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Guardian Angels Are Here, Say Most Americans

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

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Billboard Imagining "No Religion" Visits Harrisburg

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

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Pennsylvania Town Says Couple Runs Swingers' Club Inside Church

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

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Humanist Charities Supports Emergency Medical Access For Haitian Women

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

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Google Agrees To Carry Anti-Abortion Ads By Religious Bodies

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

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Medical Groups Oppose New Abortion Rule

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

More...

See also:

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

Doctors' Body Backs Down On Religion Policy

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

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Winnipeg Schools Pick Religion Over HPV Vaccine

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

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

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

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

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Revered Christian Artifact Turns Out to Be Fake

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

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Faithful Hail Saint's Blood 'Miracle'

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

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Italian Prostitutes To Dress As Nuns

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

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Brazilian Footballers And The Holy Spirit

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

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Religious Mother Let 'Emaciated' Son Die

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

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Turkey Bans Biologist Richard Dawkins' Website

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

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See also:

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

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

Nepal Capital Caught Up In Religious Rage

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

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French Court Hears Muslim Marriage Row

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

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See also:

Church and state on collision course

Jewish 'Ultras' Defend Morals With Menace

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

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

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

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

Female Circumcision Common In Egypt Despite Ban

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

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

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

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Palestinian Drives Into Crowd, Injures 15, Police Say

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

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Civilians Killed As Somali Militants Attack Peacekeepers

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

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Yemen's Revolving Door

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

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A Modernized Taliban Thrives in Afghanistan

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

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

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U.S. Expects Afghan Violence to Worsen

Ex-Afghan provincial police chief killed

Satellite Images Show Ethnic Cleanout In Iraq

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

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

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

Sunni lawmaker's home bombed

Weekend attacks wound dozens, kill 10

Stage being set for Iraqi elections as violence flares

Awakening Councils in hiding as arrests on rise

Getting to school in Iraq

Hundreds Feared Dead In Blast At Pakistan Hotel

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

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

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

Hotel bomb shows al-Qaeda's deadly new reach

Pakistan violence could signal civil war

Arrests Made In Pakistan Hotel Bombing

Bomb Kills 5 At Pakistani Religious School

Pakistan suicide bomber kills schoolgirl

Blast wounds Kabul police official

6 killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

Missile attack reported in Pakistan