3 U.S. Special Forces Die In Pakistan Bombing

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

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Foreign aid workers killed in Pakistan blast

Motorbike Bomb Kills 20 In Iraq

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

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Petition Urging President Obama To Recognize Darwin Day

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

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Godless Billboards Appear Around Tampa Bay

"Are you good without God? Millions are."

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

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Humanist Chaplains Head To The UK

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

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Can One Be Good Without God?

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

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

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

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Does insecurity promote faith?

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

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

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

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

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Military Re-Thinking Policy On Gay Troops

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

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

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

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State Constitutions And Religious Bigotry

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

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'No Religious Test' Tested

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

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Atheist Group Blasts Postal Service For Mother Teresa Stamp

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

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

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

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

Arizona Capitol Commandments Monumentally Bad Idea

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

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Theocrats In Maryland

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

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

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

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

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Religion, Politicians Fiery Combo In Lancaster

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

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The Battle Of Hastings

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

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

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

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Council Weighs Prayer Opening

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

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