Monday, June 20, 2016A Norwegian Journalist's Look at Church/State Separation in the U.S. Norwegian journalist Even Gran spent a year in the U.S. not too long ago and he used the opportunity to dive into our nation's problems with church/state separation. He spoke with a couple of the students I've written about extensively on this site -- Jessica Ahlquist and Damon Fowler -- and the result is his book Rise of the Seculars. MORE Buy the book HERE. 
Thousands of atheists gather in DC for 'Reason Rally'
Thousands of atheists turned out Saturday on a muggy Washington day to take part in "Reason Rally," dedicated to boosting the political power of the growing number of non-religious Americans.
MORE See also... 'Reason Rally' Highlights Non-Religious Voting Bloc An Atheist Singer Humiliated on Ecuador's Got Talent Found Redemption at the Reason Rally The Godless Descend on DC for The Reason Rally The Political Ascension of the Nonbelievers Rev. Graham to 'Reason Rally': Atheists Will Stand Before the God They Disown and May Face Eternity in Hell The Catholic League's Bill Donohue is Angry That "Good for Nothing" Atheists Are Gathering in D.C. Pictures from the event can be found HERE. A local recording of the event is below. The official video with all speakers and performers will be released later.
Southern Baptists lost 200,000 members over the past year
Membership in the Southern Baptist Convention declined by more than 200,000 from 2014 to 2015, down to 15.3 million members.
MORE See also... Evangelicals feel alienated, anxious And... Religious Right Is Losing Influence
Iowa Governor Steps Into A Tangled Web Of Church And State With Proclamation Encouraging Bible Study
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed a proclamation in April encouraging "all Iowans" to participate in a statewide Bible-reading marathon, but the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa argues the declaration is unconstitutional.
MORE See also... Iowa governor attempting to impose Christianity as state government's religion, say rights groups And... Humanist Group Condemns Iowa Governor's Proclamation Promoting Christian Scripture
Public Schools Across The Country Are Violating The Separation Of Church And State
A conservative Christian non-profit, Focus on the Family works to promote right-wing values in public policy, including gay conversion, intelligent design creationism, and opposition to certain types of birth control. According to their website, they provide "resources for couples to build healthy marriages that reflect God's design, and for parents to raise their children according to morals and values grounded in biblical principles." It's astonishing that the organization has somehow become a go-to resource on so many different topics for some public schools and even local governments, especially given the legal status quo which mandates the separation of church and state.
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Catholic church accused of using 'mafia-like' tactics to fight sex abuse bill
Pennsylvania church accused of using 'mob boss approach' to pressure lawmakers who support bill giving victims of abuse more time to sue abusers.
MORE Earlier: Priest banned for molesting girl gets a new job as director of teen pregnancy center
Texas County with Crosses on Police Cars Will Pay Atheist Group More Than $22,000 in Settlement
Brewster County (Texas) Sheriff Ronny Dodson is one of the many, many government officials to put "In God We Trust" stickers on all the vehicles in his department. But rather than pretending it was just an act of patriotism and saying it's just our national motto, Dodson made clear this was all about promoting Christianity.
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California Highway Patrol Officers Caught Proselytizing to Homeless People While On Duty
Police officers shouldn't be in the business of converting the very people they're trying to help. Churches may not see a difference between converting and protecting, but it's very obvious to those of us who reject religion.
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LISA Pathfinder Reports Record-Breaking Gravitational Wave Results
The successful technology demonstration paves the way for detecting mergers of supermassive black holes with future space-based observatories.
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8.8 billion habitable Earth-size planets exist in Milky Way alone
Astronomers using NASA data have calculated for the first time that in our galaxy alone, there are at least 8.8 billion stars with Earth-size planets in the habitable temperature zone.
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Secularist Activists Are Being Murdered in Bangladesh: An Ongoing Crisis Causes Many to Flee
If you've seen any news headline on Bangladesh in Western media over the past 15 months, odds are strong the headline included the phrase "hacked to death": Writer hacked to death outside a book fair. Blogger hacked to death on his way to work. LGBT activists hacked to death in their apartment.
MORE See also: Bangladeshi Police Arrest More Than 3,000 People To Prevent Further Attacks on Atheists and Others
Monday, May 30, 2016Nonreligious Americans March to Capitol Hill Ahead of Historic Rally
Washington, DC - On June 2-3, more than three hundred nonreligious Americans will march to Capitol Hill. Hosted by the Secular Coalition for America, nontheist Americans from across the country will meet with members of Congress as part of the Reason Rally Advocacy Days.
Participants will lobby their representatives in support of the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act (REHYA), which would eliminate all federal funding for abstinence only education and reallocate the money to support evidence-based sex education. The Advocacy Days precede the Reason Rally on June 4th, when tens of thousands of nontheists will assemble on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to voice their support for science-based public policy and the separation of church and state. MORE
Proud Godlessness Grips Our Transportation System
The organization has a new advertising campaign on Metro trains, Bikeshare bikes, PTRC commuter buses, and garages that say "I'm an Atheist and I Vote" before the forthcoming Reason Rally at the Lincoln Memorial on June 4 and the D.C. Democratic Primary on June 14. The ads will run through June 6.
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Women Are Leaving Church, And the Reason Seems Clear
Why have women stopped going to church? It isn’t because they're too busy or too well educated. Maybe they stopped going when conservative politics took over the pulpit.
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University of Miami Establishes Chair for Study of Atheism
With an increasing number of Americans leaving religion behind, the University of Miami received a donation in late April from a wealthy atheist to endow what it says is the nation's first academic chair "for the study of atheism, humanism and secular ethics."
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State-Mandated Mourning for Aborted Fetuses
A new Indiana law is part of a wave of legislation that requires burial or cremation following abortions. What's behind it?
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Catholic church audit shows spike in sex abuse reports
The audit, released on Friday, showed that 838 people came forward from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015, to say they had been sexually abused by priests, deacons or members of religions orders while they were children, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said.
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