Police Hold 180 In Iran Religious Clash

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Police detained 180 people in a western Iranian city after unrest involving Sufi Muslims, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Sunday.

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7 D.C. Schools Must Ponder Education Without Religion

The announcement last week by the Archdiocese of Washington that it plans to convert seven District schools to charter schools has forced teachers, students and parents to begin contemplating something that seems unreal: what a Catholic school education would be without religion.

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Television Viewing Tonight

PBS NOVA special on the Dover "intelligent design" trial beginning at approximately 8:00 PM. Check local listings.

Also, American Atheists President Ellen Johnson will be the guest tonight on the CNN program "Out in the Open" hosted by Rick Sanchez. Her segment will air beginning at approximately 8:00 PM. Check local listings.

FreeThoughtAction Hero Of The Day - 11/11/07

Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922 - April 11, 2007)

According to Wikipedia, Vonnegut "was an American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973).

"Vonnegut was a Humanist. He served as Honorary President of the American Humanist Association."

"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!"

- Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

Humanists Call Governor's Rain Prayer Event Inappropriate

(Washington, D.C.) Humanists see Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue's call for a rain prayer to be a divisive distraction from the work of government. While leaders of some Georgia religious groups will pray together on Tuesday outside the Georgia state capitol, the American Humanist Association will continue to advance scientific solutions to such environmental problems--solutions that humanists see as of value to all.

American Humanist Association Executive Director Roy Speckhardt explained, "Our elected officials aren't being true to their oath of office when they promote divisive political props like government organized prayer. Our elected leaders have no business calling on people to express their beliefs in one way over another, nor should public pronouncements of a governor give his personal faith a privileged place over other worldviews."

Millions of Americans, including many Georgia citizens, don't see prayer as an answer to any question, especially after the American Heart Journal last year published the results of the most scientifically rigorous study of the efficacy of prayer to date. That study concluded that prayer doesn't work.

"The governor should be doing the business of government instead of publicly engaging in his personal religious practice," Speckhardt added.

Millions of Americans who retain faith in prayer see it as a private matter and are offended by politicians' attempts to hijack their deeply held religious beliefs to boost political poll numbers. In this regard, American Humanist Association President Mel Lipman declared: "Not only does Gov. Perdue's rain prayer event inappropriately endorse religious belief over nonbelief, it inappropriately sets a standard for how religious people should behave."

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FFRF 07 Convention Webcast Available

(Madison, Wis.) Speeches from the Freedom From Religion Foundation's 30th annual convention, which took place at the Monona Terrace convention center in Madison, Wis., on Oct. 12-14, 2007, can be watched or heard online at: http://ffrf.org/events/2007/video/

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Could We Live Forever? Or Even Come Close?

(CBS) In a quiet Boston suburb, on the appropriately named Elder Road, Esther MacKay has made it to 102 years old - and counting.

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Children Die In Somalia Violence

MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- Neighborhoods in the Somali capital were deserted on Sunday, a day after 17 civilians were brutally killed in the wake of intense fighting between Ethiopian-backed Somali troops and Islamic insurgents, according to witnesses and journalists in Mogadishu.

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Televangelist Releases Financial Documents

ATLANTA -- An Atlanta minister has released his church's finances in response to a Senate investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing that targets him and five other well-known televangelists.

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Holiday Display Policy Defeated

At the end of a sometimes contentious, heated, and confusing debate, the Sonoma City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday night not to pursue adoption of a policy that could allow religious displays, including a Christmas creche, on the Plaza.

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Cleric Places Fatwah On 'Evil' Camel Beauty Contests

A LEADING authority of Saudi Arabia's hardline school of Islam has condemned camel beauty contests as evil, saying those involved should seek repentance in God.

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A Third Of Adults Believe God Watches Over Them

Two in five adults say prayers and one in three believes that God is watching over them, a new poll reveals. Of the 20 million Britons aged over 18 who say they pray, 13 million do so at least once a month, 12 million every week and 9 million every day. Most people (68 per cent) pray for family and friends, 41 per cent to thank God and 25 per cent over world issues.

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Sins Of The Father

In a suburban McDonald's a father begged his wayward daughter to come home... so he and the men of her family could have her beaten, raped and murdered. Fearing violence, but moved by his tears, she relented -- and died.

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Court: Druggists May Deny Emergency Pill

SEATTLE (AP) -- A federal judge has suspended Washington state's requirement that pharmacists sell "morning-after" birth control pills, a victory for druggists who claim their moral objections to the drug are being bulldozed by the government.

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FreeThoughtAction Hero Of The Day - 11/9/07

Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 - December 20, 1996)

According to Wikipedia, Sagan "was an American astronomer and astrochemist and a highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics, and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history. A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemeckis film of the same name starring Jodie Foster. During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, humanism, and the scientific method....

"Sagan wrote frequently about religion and the relationship between religion and science, expressing his skepticism about many conventional conceptualizations of God. Sagan once stated, for instance, that 'The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard, who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by "God," one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.' Sagan is also widely regarded as a freethinker or skeptic; one of his most famous quotations as seen in Cosmos, was 'Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.'"

Comet Surprise

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A comet that unexpectedly brightened in the last couple of weeks and is now visible to the naked eye is attracting professional and amateur interest.

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See also:

Astronomers find the sun's long-lost twin

Italian Musician Uncovers Hidden Music In Da Vinci's 'Last Supper'

ROME, Italy (AP) -- An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting.

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Mother Charged In Son's Drowning

MILWAUKEE -- A Milwaukee mother has been charged with drowning her 5-month-old son inside her apartment near 25th and Wells streets last month.

According to the criminal complaint, police found a notebook in Arkisha Johnson's home with a note saying that God told her to give the baby to him.

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Crowd Drags Ethiopian Corpse

MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- An enraged crowd dragged the body of an Ethiopian soldier through the streets of Somalia's capital Thursday after gun battles with Islamic insurgents killed 19 people, witnesses reported.

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Afghan Blast Death Toll Reaches 75

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The death toll from Tuesday's fatal bomb blast in this country's northeast has increased to 75, Afghan officials said Friday.

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