Calif. Prop 8 fight heading for Supreme Court

(CBS/AP) SAN FRANCISCO -- The sponsors of California's same-sex marriage ban said Tuesday they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a landmark appellate court ruling that struck down the law as unconstitutional.

MORE: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57447548/calif-prop-8-fight-heading-for-supreme-court/?tag=stack

See also...

Pastor pays price for gay marriage stance
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/bestoftv/2012/06/05/erin-pkg-mattingly-minister-same-sex-marriage-support.cnn

NJ Doctor Would Reportedly Rather Let Patient Die Than Treat Him For 'Gay Disease'

New Jersey doctor, a woman who has dedicated her life to healing, apparently feels that her right to hate in the name of God trumps her Hippocratic oath. In refusing to treat an HIV patient, Susan V. Borja, M.D, effectively played God by deciding who is worthy of living and who is not. Gay men, in her mind, are not worthy of life.

MORE: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/06/04/hiv/

Group objects to gay dads in JCPenney catalog

One Million Moms is asking its members to avoid shopping at the Plano, Texas-based retailer, saying it is "disturbed" that the company is "continuing down the same path of promoting sin in their advertisements."

MORE: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/05/12070575-group-objects-to-gay-dads-in-jcpenney-catalog?lite

Nun's sex talk raises the Vatican's ire

The Vatican has denounced an American nun after she wrote an award-winning book on sexual ethics, which includes topics such as gay marriage and masturbation.

MORE: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-05/vatican-denounces-nun-over-sex-book/4053384

See also...

Vatican intensifying crackdown on American nuns
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/05/vatican-intensifying-crackdown-on-american-nuns/?hpt=hp_t3

And...

Catholic Bishops Go After Girl Scouts
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/295-164/11781-catholic-bishops-go-after-girl-scouts

N. Dakota 'Religious Liberty' Measure Sparks Debate

Recent polls point to a close vote. Both sides are running a number of radio and television ads between now and the June 12 election.

MORE: http://www.npr.org/2012/06/05/154285336/n-dakota-religious-liberty-measure-sparks-debate

Student suing school district over pre-graduation prayer

Max Nielson is suing Lexington-Richland School District Five for allowing prayer during graduation.  

MORE: http://www.wect.com/story/18661876/student-suing-school-district-over-prayer-read-at-graduation

Ill. Atheist Fails to Get Court to Cut State Funding for Giant Cross

An appeals court has ruled against an Illinois atheist who sued the state for granting state funds to repair a large cross noted as a major tourist attraction.

MORE: http://www.christianpost.com/news/ill-atheist-fails-to-get-court-to-cut-state-funding-for-giant-cross-76122/

See also...

Standing Down: Federal Court Denies Taxpayer Challenge To Funding Of Giant Cross
http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/standing-down-federal-court-denies-taxpayer-challenge-to-funding-of-giant

7th Circuit rejects atheist suit over cross funding
http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2012/06_-_June/7th_Circuit_rejects_atheist_suit_over_cross_funding/

Southern Illinois cross group can keep state grant
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/jun/04/no-headline---ev_gmtsr/

Anti-Evolution and Anti-Climate Science Legislation Scorecard: 2012

Call 2012 the Year of the Copycat. Many of the antievolution bills proposed this year were old bills that were simply dusted off and offered up as new.

MORE: http://ncse.com/evolution/anti-evolution-anti-climate-science-legislation-scorecard-20

What Would Darwin Say to Today's Creationists?

An Asian Origin for Human Ancestors?

Researchers agree that our immediate ancestors, the upright walking apes, arose in Africa. But the discovery of a new primate that lived about 37 million years ago in the ancient swamplands of Myanmar bolsters the idea that the deep primate family tree that gave rise to humans is rooted in Asia. If true, the discovery suggests that the ancestors of all monkeys, apes, and humans--known as the anthropoids--arose in Asia and made the arduous journey to the island continent of Africa almost 40 million years ago.
MORE: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/06/an-asian-origin-for-human-ancest.html?ref=em

See also...

Fossil Discovery: More Evidence for Asia, Not Africa, as the Source of Earliest Anthropoid Primates
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120604155705.htm

Expanding the Genetic Alphabet May Be Easier Than Previously Thought
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120603191722.htm

Americans' heads have been growing, scientists say
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/05/our-heads-may-be-getting-bigger-literally/?hpt=hp_bn12

South Korea surrenders to creationist demands

Publishers set to remove examples of evolution from high-school textbooks.

MORE: http://www.nature.com/news/south-korea-surrenders-to-creationist-demands-1.10773

Four convicted in Scandinavian 'Mumbai-style' terror plot

(CNN) -- Four men behind what officials describe as the most serious Islamist terrorist plot ever hatched in Scandinavia were convicted of the plot Monday in a courthouse in Glostrup, just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark.

MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/04/world/europe/denmark-terror-case/index.html?hpt=ieu_c2

Police: Suicide attack kills 18 in Iraq

Following the invasion, sectarian violence between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunni minority nearly ripped the country apart.

While violence has dropped off, there are still near-daily attacks.

MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/04/world/meast/iraq-violence/index.html?hpt=wo_bn8

Paraguay's president, once a priest, admits to fathering love child

She is the fourth woman to claim having a child with the president.

MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/05/world/americas/paraguay-president-child/index.html

Voting in North Carolina Churches Should Cease, Says American Humanist Association

Stating that "churches are an unconstitutionally hostile environment for nonreligious voters," the North Carolina State Board of Elections has been asked by the American Humanist Association (AHA) to cease allowing the use of churches as polling places.

The AHA's legal department, the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, sent a letter on May 31, 2012, to State Board of Elections Executive Director Gary O. Bartlett saying that state and federal law requires that "appropriate polling places must be neutral civic locations, welcoming to all voters," and "the use of churches as polling places is, in addition to being a violation of state law, unconstitutional."

When North Carolinians went to the polls on May 8 to vote on Amendment One, the amendment to the state's Constitution banning equal marriage rights, news reports highlighted how signs outside of churches being used as polling places displayed messages supporting the amendment. This practice is just one example of a broader situation in the state and across the country in which voters encounter religious messages and influences in what should be neutral polling places.

"Citizens are forced to enter a religious structure and encounter religious messages simply to exercise their fundamental right to vote," wrote Appignani Legal Center Director William J. Burgess in his letter. "This violates the Establishment Clause [of the U.S. Constitution], which requires the separation of church and state."

MORE: http://www.americanhumanist.org/news/details/2012-06-voting-in-north-carolina-churches-should-cease-says

No Religion? 7 Types of Non-Believers

Religious labels help shore up identity. So what are some of the things non-believers can call themselves?

MORE: http://www.alternet.org/story/155685/no_religion_7_types_of_nonbelievers_?page=entire

In U.S., 46% Hold Creationist View of Human Origins

Highly religious Americans most likely to believe in creationism.

MORE: http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx

Creationism Commotion: Georgia Church Opposes Evolution In Science Standards

It's safe to say that crime, child abuse and divorce all pre-date the 1960s and have absolutely no link to the missing link.

MORE: http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/creationism-commotion-georgia-church-opposes-evolution-in-science-standards

How Christian fundamentalists plan to teach genocide to schoolchildren

Good News Clubs' evangelism in schools is already subverting church-state separation. Now they justify murdering nonbelievers

MORE: http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/30/christian-fundamentalists-plan-teach-genocide?cat=commentisfree&type=article

Church Under Fire For Video Of Boy's Anti-Gay Song

Boy Sings 'Ain't No Homo Gonna Make It To Heaven.'

MORE: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/31129804/detail.html