Saudi OKs Killing "Immoral" TV Execs

Saudi Arabia's top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content. The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite channels cause the "deviance of thousands of people."

"I want to advise the owners of these channels, who broadcast calls for such indecency and impudence ... and I warn them of the consequences," he said. "Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it's permissible to kill them. Those calling for sedition, those who are able to prevent it but don't, it is permissible to kill them."

More HERE.

Comedian who satirised Pope could face prosecution

Sabina Guzzanti, known for her take-offs of the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, risks being jailed for up to five years. The prosecutors recommended to the justice ministry that she be indicted because of a speech she made to a leftwing rally in July.

Referring to the attitude to gay people of the Catholic church and Pope Benedict - the former cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - Guzzanti said: "In 20 years Ratzinger will be dead and will end up in hell, tormented by queer demons - not passive ones, but very active ones."

More HERE.

Major Christian Organization Endorses the Military Religious Freedom Foundation

With all the attention being given to the radical fundamentalist brand of Christianity espoused by churches like that of Sarah Palin -- a brand of Christianity practiced by a minority of American Christians -- I'm extremely happy to be able to write something about an organization that represents the views of the far more numerous mainstream and progressive Christians in our country.

This week, the California Council of Churches IMPACT (CCCI) announced its formal endorsement of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), and its intent to support MRFF and file an amicus brief in MRFF's federal lawsuit against the Department of Defense.

More HERE and HERE.

SATIRE: Evolutionists Flock To Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain

from The Onion -
"I brought my baby to touch the wall, so that the power of Darwin can purify her genetic makeup of undesirable inherited traits," said Darlene Freiberg, one among a growing crowd assembled here to see the mysterious stain, which appeared last Monday on one side of the Rhea County Courthouse. The building was also the location of the famed "Scopes Monkey Trial" and is widely considered one of Darwinism's holiest sites. "Forgive me, O Charles, for ever doubting your Divine Evolution. After seeing this miracle of limestone pigmentation with my own eyes, my faith in empirical reasoning will never again be tested."

Added Freiberg, "Behold the power and glory of the scientific method!"

More HERE.

Sarah Palin's Demon-Haunted Churches

Sarah Palin's churches are actively involved in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. This is the same 'Spiritual Warfare' movement that was featured in the award winning movie, "Jesus Camp," which showed young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least three of four of Palin's churches are involved with major organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic Reformation. The movement is training a young "Joel's Army" to take dominion over the United States and the world.

More HERE.

Bachmann says Jesus has already 'saved the planet'

"[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she's just trying to save the planet," [Republican congresswoman Michelle] Bachmann told the right-wing news site OneNewsNow. "We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet -- we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that."

More HERE.

The Words They Used

from the New York Times -
The words that speakers used at the two political conventions show the themes that the parties have highlighted. Republican speakers have talked about reform and character far more frequently than the Democrats. And Republicans were more likely to talk about businesses and taxes, while Democrats were more likely to mention jobs or the economy.
More HERE.

Republican Platform

from the Republican Party 2008 Platform -

"Our platform is presented with enthusiasm and confidence in a vision for the future, but also with genuine humility — humility before God and before a nation of free and independent thinkers. As the party of ideas, rather than a mere coalition of interests, we consider vigorous debate a strength, not a weakness. Indeed, we are a party — as we are a nation —of mavericks. "

All 67 pages are like this...

The Morning After

from Nora Ephron -
I forget how white they are, and mean-spirited, and thin-lipped. I watch them and I think, is anyone buying this? Does anyone think we're better off today? That we're "winning" the war? That teaching creationism is simply a matter of exposing students to both sides of the question? That it's sexist to wonder whether a mother who just months ago committed to a Down syndrome child ought to be running for vice-president? Does anyone think that executive experience trumps wisdom and intellect? And who are these people who rise to their feet and cheer loudest when they hear the words "Off-shore drilling"?

More HERE.

Pakistani women buried alive 'for choosing husbands'

Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, told a stunned parliament that northwestern tribesman had done nothing wrong in first shooting the women and then dumping them in a ditch.

"These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them," he said. "Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid."

The women, three of whom were teenagers and whose "crime" was that they wished to choose who to marry, were still breathing as mud and stones were shoveled over their bodies, according to Human Rights Watch.

The three girls, thought to be aged between 16 and 18, were kidnapped by a group of men from their Umrani tribe and murdered in Baba Kot, a remote village in Jafferabad district.

According to some reports, Baluchistan government vehicles were used to abduct the girls, and the killing was overseen by a tribal chief who is the brother of a provincial minister from the ruling Pakistan People's Party.

Some accounts said that two older relatives had tried to intervene, but they too were shot and buried alive with the teenagers.

More HERE.

UPDATE:
...nearly two months after the crime, the Pakistani parliament has announced a high-level police enquiry into the "incident".

According to the UN, over 5000 women and girls are killed every year for failing to live up to cultural and familial expectations of female behaviour, and some estimate that up to 25% of these murders happen in Pakistan.

More HERE.

Nigerian man to divorce 82 wives

A Nigerian religious leader with 86 wives has accepted an Islamic decree ordering him to divorce all but four of them, local authorities say. A spokesman for the emir of Bida told the BBC that Mohammadu Bello Abubakar, 84, agreed on Saturday to comply with the decree.

Last week one of Nigeria's top Islamic bodies, the Jamatu Nasril Islam, sentenced him to death. The sentence was lifted but he was threatened with eviction from his home.

Earlier, Mr Abubakar had challenged Islamic scholars, saying there was no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives.

More HERE.

War/Death-crazed Alaska governor

Three months before she was thrust into the national political spotlight, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked to handle a much smaller task: addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God. Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die. Listen, you know we can't even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode." Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he's like the good shepherd, he's loving all the time and he's kind all the time. Oh yes he is -- but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war."

Full story & video HERE. (See it before it disappears!)

Vatican warns of growing "Christianophobia"

"Christianophobia" is a growing problem around the world and it must be fought with the same determination as anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, the Vatican said on Friday. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's foreign minister, spoke in the wake of attacks against Christians in India that have left at least 13 people dead this week. Mamberti, addressing a conference in northern Italy, said religious freedom was a vital part of international relations and human dignity. "In order to promote this dignity in an integral way, so-called 'Christianophobia' should be combated as decisively as 'Islamophobia' and anti-Semitism," he said. This week in eastern India, thousands of people, most of them Christians, have sought shelter in makeshift government camps, driven from their homes by religious violence.

More HERE.

Do animals understand death? Do humans?

from Tamsin Osborne -

Now, call me heartless, but the first thing that jumped into my head when I saw the picture of Gana with her dead infant was that, rather than mourning, she looked thoroughly flummoxed.

It seems to me that the question here is not do animals experience grief, so much as do they understand death? And, while I'm on that subject, do humans even understand death?

Science tells us that death is pretty much the end of the story in terms of human experience. But there are plenty of examples of human behaviour that seem to fly in the face of this.

More HERE.

'The Email Pushback Project'

The idea of The Email Pushback Project is simple, effective, and based upon four central ideas:

1. Though not all chain emails are nefarious, many use lies, distortions and twisted logic to advance political goals. This makes them indistinguishable from propaganda. Such emails are not merely annoying - They are actively harmful.

2. Your friend or relative needs to be publicly told that their mass-forwards are not welcome in your Inbox. Email was not designed to be their propaganda distributor.

3. Lies, distortions and illogic should be directly confronted and debunked. As the old saying goes, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

4. Exposing BS and spreading awareness of The Email Pushback Project informs others, and gives them the tools to push back as well.

More HERE.

Crucified frog angers pope

Sarah Palin's faith-based positions

In October of 2006, the Anchorage Daily News described Palin's positions on social issues in a lengthy profile:

"A significant part of Palin's base of support lies among social and Christian conservatives. Her positions on social issues emerged slowly during the campaign: on abortion (should be banned for anything other than saving the life of the mother), stem cell research (opposed), physician-assisted suicide (opposed), creationism (should be discussed in schools), state health benefits for same-sex partners (opposed, and supports a constitutional amendment to bar them)."

More HERE.

666-foot wide protest sign

American Right to Life Action, an anti-abortion group, claims to have displayed the largest ever protest sign in history, towering over the Democratic National Convention in Denver at 530 feet tall and 666 feet wide.

The sign says "Destroys uNborn Children" [sic], with the words appearing one atop each other to also form the acronym "DNC."

According to a release from the group, "thousands of DNC delegates and journalists can look out their hotel windows to the west to see the sign. Sponsored by American RTL Action, the message initially appeared with three enormous 160-foot tall, bright yellow letters, D-N-C, stacked on top of each other."

More HERE.

'Fight Fake History'

Buy a copy if Chris Rodda's book, Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternative Version of American History

Swedish pastor accused of leading violent 'cowboy sect'

A southern Swedish religious congregation based at a cowboy-themed conference centre has been accused of harbouring a violent and extreme religious sect.

A show aired on Tuesday by public service broadcaster SVT contained interviews with former Kingdom Center members who accuse the group of being a sect, guilty of performing violent exorcism ceremonies and using child labour, Expressen reports.

According to religious affairs programme Existens, members are often bullied into working long hours at the centre, and children are taken out of school and made to work at the cowboy-themed Lone Star park and conference centre in Höör, 50 km north of Malmö.

One woman who did not want her child to work there said they threatened to take her children away.

More HERE or HERE.

ACA 'Keeps Austin Beautiful'

Gay marriage foes mobilize for ban in California

With less than 11 weeks until Election Day, supporters of Proposition 8 are ramping up their field organization and refining their message as they seek to persuade California voters to shut the door on same-sex marriage. It's the first time voters will be asked to weigh in on the issue in either California or Massachusetts — the states where gays have won the right to wed.

An estimated 15,000 backers of the measure, most of them members of Mormon, Catholic and evangelical Christian churches, knocked on doors and distributed campaign literature to registered voters throughout the state this weekend and last, according to Jennifer Kerns, spokeswoman for the Yes on 8 campaign.

The initiative is a constitutional amendment, similar to ones already enacted in 26 other states, that would overturn the California Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage. It needs a simple majority of votes to pass.

More HERE.

Democrats open faith-filled convention with prayer

At the first official event Sunday of the Democratic National Convention, a choir belted out a gospel song and was followed by a rabbi reciting a Torah reading about forgiveness and the future.

Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote "Dead Man Walking," assailed the death penalty and the use of torture. Young Muslim women in headscarves sat near older African-American women in their finest Sunday hats.

Four years ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable at a Democratic National Convention. In 2004, there was one interfaith lunch at the Democratic gala in Boston. But that same year, "values voters" helped re-elect President Bush, giving Democrats of faith the opening they needed to make party leaders listen to them.

More HERE.

'Take Your God and Shove Him'

Colorado city cancels Al-Jazeera barbecue

Associated Press
Saturday August 23, 2008

The city manager of Golden, Colo., has decided to withdraw his invitation to let the Al-Jazeera news network broadcast from a barbecue in his backyard on the final night of the Democratic National Convention.

City manager Mike Bestor has apologized for any divisiveness he caused in the city of about 18,000, about 15 miles west of Denver.

Bestor made his decision after a City Council meeting Thursday at which residents complained the event with the English-language service of the Middle East news network would be disrespectful to veterans and active U.S. soldiers.

Al-Jazeera is based in Qatar and is funded by the royal family of the Persian Gulf nation. The network says its English service reaches at least 100 million households worldwide.

Vaccine refusals fuel measles outbreak

In 2008 alone, 131 cases of measles have been reported, with 15 serious enough to be hospitalized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

"Of the 95 patients eligible for vaccination, 63 were unvaccinated because of their or their parents' philosophical or religious beliefs," the CDC said.

More HERE.

Toddler starved to death by religious cult

A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase was starved to death by religious cult members - including his mother - because he refused to say 'amen' after meals, police said today.

Ria Ramkissoon and three other members of the group have been charged with the first-degree murder of her son Javon Thompson, whose body was found in April.

U.S. police and the family of Ramkissoon say that the group, based in Baltimore and called "1 Mind Ministries," is a cult.

More HERE.

Obama, Dems Can't Just Talk Faith

".. after the 2004 election the Democratic pundits were saying 'The Democrats lost in '04 because they didn't talk the language of faith.' And actually that's kind of, not paternalistic, but it's talking down. It's basically saying 'If you just get the right words, then they'll think you've got the lingo.' And just because a person can say 'God' and 'Jesus' and 'salvation' and whatever doesn't mean they have a worldview. And people want to know what do they believe, not just their personal faith. It's just like how many different beliefs do Jews and Christians have and still call themselves Christians or Jews? It's all over the spectrum."

More HERE.

Petraeus Endorses "Spiritual Handbook"

from Chris Rodda -
[Mike] Weinstein noticed [in the August 11 Air Force Times] a half-page ad for a book by Army chaplain Lt. Col. William McCoy, titled Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel. With a title like that, MRFF, of course, had to find out just what this book was about, and this is what we found -- a pro-Christian, anti-atheist book heartily endorsed by none other than Gen. David Petraeus, a slap in the face from the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq to the 21% of the men and women fighting there who define themselves as atheists or having no religious preference. Contrary to the old "no atheists in foxholes" movie line, the percentage of non-theists in the military, according to a report from the Population Reference Bureau, is actually somewhat higher than it is among the civilian population. For Petraeus to endorse a book disparaging this segment of our military population is a reprehensible betrayal of all of the non-theists who are putting their lives on the line for our country with every bit as much bravery and dedication as their religious comrades.

More HERE.

Editorial: Never Scrap Books Out of Fear of Fanatics

from Johann Hari: -
The Jewel of Medina was written by a journalist called Sherry Jones. It recounts the life of Aisha, a girl who really was married off at the age of six to a 50 year old man called Mohammed ibn Abdallah. On her wedding day, Ayesha was playing on a see-saw outside her home. Inside, she was being betrothed. The first she knew of it was when she was banned from playing out in the street with the other children. When she was nine, she was taken to live with her now-53 year old husband. He had sex with her there and then. When she was fourteen, she was accused of adultery with a man closer to her own age. Not long after, Mohammed decreed his wives must cover their faces and bodies, even though no other women in Arabia did.

You cannot read this story today -- except in the Koran and the Hadith. The man Mohammed ibn Abdallah became known to Muslims as 'the Prophet Mohammed', so our ability to explore this story is stunted. The Jewel of Medina was bought by Random House and primed to be a best-seller -- before a University of Texas teacher saw proofs and declared it "a national security issue." Random House had panicked visions of a rerun Rushdie or MoToons affair. But her publishers have pulped it. It's gone.

More HERE.

German 'Nazi' youth camp raided

A youth camp run by a neo-Nazi group has been broken up by police near Rostock in northern Germany. Thirty-nine teenagers and children who were attending the camp have been returned to their homes, police said.

The neo-Nazi group that ran the camp had described it as a youth adventure holiday. The police raid uncovered racist propaganda and Nazi material. The head of Germany's equivalent of the FBI told a newspaper neo-Nazis were adopting increasingly violent tactics.

More HERE.

Focus pulls video urging prayers for rain on Obama

Focus on the Family Action pulled a video from its Web site Monday that asked people to pray for "rain of biblical proportions" during Barack Obama's Aug. 28 appearance at Invesco Field in Denver to accept the Democratic nomination for president.

The video disappeared from You Tube also, but is now back on the site. View it here.

Stuart Shepard, director of digital media at Focus Action, the political arm of Focus on the Family, said the video he wrote and starred in was meant to be "mildly humorous."

More HERE.

Colorado personhood law backer linked to militant anti-abortion groups

A strange netherworld of extremes exists in today's anti-abortion movement. Nowhere is that more evident than its latest political salvo coming to a voting booth near you in November — Colorado's proposed Amendment 48, the so-called Human Life Amendment, a controversial mandate that seeks to confer constitutional rights to fertilized human eggs.

In the universe of anti-abortion activism, a complex and sometimes toxic stew of passive pray-ins and endless letter-writing campaigns uneasily coexists with much more aggressive and violent means of ending abortion through patient stalking, clinic bombings and murder.

One man stands in the nexus between the mainstream factions that espouse the politically correct "love the sinner/hate the sin" mantra and the more virulent behavior inspired by strained Biblical justifications for killing said sinner.

More HERE.

Ohio church: No kissing, tickling allowed

CINCINNATI - The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has issued a detailed list of inappropriate behaviors for priests, saying they should not kiss, tickle or wrestle children. The newest version of the archdiocese's Decree on Child Protection also prohibits bear hugs, lap-sitting and piggyback rides.

But it says priests may still shake children's hands, pat them on the back and give high-fives. Victim advocates who have criticized the Roman Catholic archdiocese for its handling of abuse cases say they support the new measures as a step toward better protection of children.

The Cincinnati archdiocese says it updates the rules every five years. The latest version, issued last week, also mandates background checks for contractors working with children.

White supremacists hope Obama win prompts backlash

They're not exactly rooting for Barack Obama, but prominent white supremacists anticipate a boost to their cause if he becomes the first black president. His election, they say, would trigger a backlash - whites rising up, a revolution of sorts - that they think is long overdue.

He'd be a "visual aid," says former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, in trying to bring others around to their view that whites have lost control of America. Obama's election, says another, would jar whites into action, writing letters, handing out pamphlets rather than sitting around complaining.

More HERE.

Did McCain ad intend to link Obama to Antichrist?

"Short of 666, they used every single symbol of the antichrist in this ad," said Eric Sapp, a Democratic advisor who advises Democrats on religious outreach. "There are way too many things to just be coincidence."

Notes the paper: "In some swing states with concentrated pockets of fundamentalists and evangelical Christians, like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Virginia, the ads could have particular impact. Suggestions that Sen. Obama is the antichrist have been circulating for months in Bible-study meetings in towns like Chillicothe, Ohio, where congregants compare his remarks and his biography with verses from the Bible."

More HERE.

Blow-up church looks to lure beachgoers

ROME (Reuters) - Catholic nuns and priests in Italy are following their flocks to the beach this summer, establishing an inflatable church and a beach-convent in the sands to lure sunbathers.

The 30-metre (98 ft) long blow-up church -- staffed by priests ready to take confession -- will debut on Saturday on the Adriatic coast in the Molise region, an organizer said.

"There will be four or five people singing, with music about God," said Chiara Facci with Catholic group Sentinelli del Mattino. Night time activities, which will not include Mass, will run from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The first attempt to inaugurate the inflatable church last month on the holiday island of Sardinia failed after strong winds forced organizers to relocate, she said.

More HERE.

Random House pulls novel on Islam, fears violence

Publisher Random House has pulled a novel about the Prophet Mohammed's child bride, fearing it could "incite acts of violence."

"The Jewel of Medina," a debut novel by journalist Sherry Jones, 46, was due to be published on August 12 by Random House, a unit of Bertelsmann AG, and an eight-city publicity tour had been scheduled, Jones told Reuters on Thursday.

The novel traces the life of A'isha from her engagement to Mohammed, when she was six, until the prophet's death. Jones said that she was shocked to learn in May, that publication would be postponed indefinitely.

More HERE.

'God is punishing Canada'

A fundamentalist church group from the U.S. has announced it plans to picket the funeral of Tim McLean Jr. in Winnipeg, declaring, "God is punishing Canada."

"People are absolutely outraged about it," said Doug Mitchell, a friend of McLean's for about seven years.

Led by pastor Fred Phelps, the Westboro Baptist Church from Kansas issued a release saying they would picket McLean's funeral this weekend.

More HERE.

Church lobbies city to rename Gay Boulevard

Frog wedding brings rain

Fire breaks out at 'God Hates Fags' church

Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, known for its vocal condemnations of homosexuality, website GodHatesFags.com and picketing of gay pride parades and funerals, has sustained thousands of dollars in damage after a fire early Saturday morning. Impromptu protest followed as firefighters carried out their response.

"None of what they do is going to stop us from delivering our message," said church counsel Shirley Phelps-Roper of any "cowards" that would have set the fire on purpose, also saying that it was the "most aggressive act" towards the Phelps family to date.

More HERE.

Backgrounder on 'Defamation of Religion' Laws

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has published a detailed document on the history and issues surrounding the recent push by predominately Islamic nations for international laws against "defamation of religion." It notes that the first such law submitted to a UN body was only about defamation of Islam, but was later broadened to include all language. Most frightening is that in March 2007, the UN Human Rights Council voted 21-10 in favor of such a law. Human rights indeed.

More HERE.

Lawsuit goes after Tom Cruise, church

Tom Cruise is named in a $250 million federal lawsuit that is using the RICO statute against the Church of Scientology. Ex-Scientologist Peter Letterese, a longtime critic of the church, filed suit in Southern District Court in Florida on July 15 alleging, among other things, that members of the church harassed him after he left.

Letterese calls the church a "crime syndicate" and wants it broken up under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization law, just as the feds have broken up Mafia families.

More HERE.

NOT a hate crime??

Less than 24 hours after a man targeted a liberal, gay-inclusive church and killed two of its congregants, one "pro-family" figure said that the case will prove that hate crimes protections are not needed because the media will help prosecute it.

58-year-old Jim D. Adkisson of Powell, Tennessee, entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Monday and fired shots from a sawed-off 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun during a Monday children's performance of the musical "Annie," killing two and wounding seven. According to the Knoxville, Tennessee police chief Sterling Owen IV, a letter the out-of-work truck driver left in his car indicated frustration over a lack of employment opportunities, a reduction in his food stamp benefits and his "stated hatred of the liberal movement." Adkisson had 76 rounds with him and did not intend to leave the church alive.

"It proves our case" that hate crimes laws are not necessary, said Americans for Truth About Homosexuality president Peter LaBarbera. The media spotlight on Adkisson will "give more attention and better treatment to this case."

More HERE.

Editorial: Road to nowhere

from A. C. Grayling -
I enjoyed the subtlety of the Guardian's page 13 layout yesterday. It was the first page of the international section, and it contained two stories, the first about legal moves in Turkey's constitutional court to disband the country's ruling AKP party on the grounds that it is threatening Turkey's secularist constitution, the second about complaints by Polish holidaymakers who find the nudity on German "free body culture" beaches disgusting.

To the alert eye the connection is direct. Admirers of the Catholic culture of Poland will assuredly be delighted by its success in making the unclothed human frame an object of disgust. Admirers of Islamic culture will be delighted to find that Turkish Islamists are encouraging more women to hide that automatic trigger of unbridled male lust, the tresses on the female head.

More HERE.

"Free Day Away"

In a news release dated July 23, 2008, Americans United for Separation of Church and State announced that it has asked the Department of Defense (DoD) to investigate the "Free Day Away" program at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. In its letter to acting DoD Inspector General Gordon Heddell, Americans United (AU) notes a previous investigation of "Free Day Away," conducted by the Fort Leonard Wood Inspector General. That Inspector General determined that this clearly coercive and, according to reports from numerous soldiers, unavoidable religious program was voluntary and did not violate the rights of the soldiers.

More HERE.

Book Review: David Aikman's 'Delusion of Disbelief'

from Arizona Atheist -
Aikman, like every other theist, tries to place the "four horsemen" (Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett, and Harris) in a bad light, seemingly trying to discredit them before he even begins to address their arguments. If theists don't attack the four authors directly they try the old atheism is responsible for communism and nazism bit (Aikman does exactly that in chapter 5). As I've said before, I think this new strategy is an attempt to discredit the logical philosophy of materialism by equating it with evil acts, which is just a logical fallacy in itself (the 'poisoning of the well' fallacy).

In my opinion, this new approach is due, at least in part, to the fact that theists have had their arguments critiqued and destroyed and they have been unable to prove their case. Because of this, they've decided to attack the materialistic philosophy directly, but again they have failed.

More HERE.

Rinehart's bizarre campaign comic book

from Wonkette -
Brent Rinehart is a commissioner in Oklahoma County, which is in Oklahoma. Rinehart has been charged with felony campaign-finance crimes and will be tried this fall, which isn’t helping his campaign for re-election. So he wrote this comic book (PDF) and is sending it to everybody in his district.

More HERE.

'Christian Alliance' annexes Iowa GOP

Evangelical Christians in Iowa, dominant in the state's Republican Party, have denied Sen. Charles E. Grassley his request for a place on the state's delegation to this summer's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

"The Republican Party of Iowa is moving significantly to the right on social issues," the just-ousted Iowa Republican National Committee member Steve Roberts told The Washington Times. "It hurts John McCain's chances to win this state."

Other party officials said money for the party is drying up because of past mismanagement and current religious dominance, which has turned traditional Republican politics upside down.

"It's pretty well controlled now by the Christian Alliance," Mr. Roberts said. "If somebody came to me and wanted to be a delegate to the national party convention, I used to say, 'Talk to the state party chairman or to Grassley.' Now it's very simple. You go to the Christian Alliance, and they determine who is a delegate, and you have to do exactly as they say."

More HERE.

Could Josef Stalin be made a saint?

The Communist party in St Petersburg has petitioned the Orthodox Church to canonise Josef Stalin if he wins a television poll to nominate the greatest Russian in history.

A newly published history text book, approved by the Kremlin for use in all schools, glossed over the more unappealing parts of Stalin's rule and ultimately concluded that he was the Soviet Union's most successful leader.

Despite the church's reluctance, St Petersburg's Communists are convinced their vision will come to pass. They have already commissioned religious icons depicting Stalin with a halo round his head that have reportedly sold very well around the city.

More HERE.

NOVA program examines bible authorship

Archaeologist William Dever:
"It's a waste of time to argue with fundamentalists," he said. "This film doesn't do it. It's designed for intelligent people who are willing to change their mind. And, of course, one film is not going to change religious life in America, but it will give intelligent people who want to read the Bible in a modern way a chance. If we insist on reading the Bible literally, in 25 years, nobody will read it any longer."

More HERE.

'Allah meat' astounds Nigerians

Diners have been flocking to a restaurant in northern Nigeria to see pieces of meat which the owner says are inscribed with the name of Allah.

What looks like the Arabic word for God and the name of the prophet Muhammad were discovered in pieces of beef by a diner in Birnin Kebbi.

He was about to eat it, when he suddenly noticed the words in the gristle, the restaurant owner said. A search of the kitchen's meat revealed three more pieces which bore the names.

More HERE.

Calling on Gospel to Call Off Debt

Following the advice of their pastor, the men and women shuffled to the altar, cut up their credit cards and placed them near his feet.

"If we want to have victory, we have to come out of financial bondage," the Rev. John K. Jenkins of First Baptist Church of Glenarden shouted during a recent sermon.

Ordinarily Jenkins's sermons are about spiritual freedom and ridding one's self of sin. But his message has taken a different turn lately -- one that preaches the dangers of overspending and debt.

More HERE.

Jesse Ventura will not run for office

Editorial: The global war on sex education

by Sarah Wildman

According to a new World Bank report, despite a worldwide increase in access to contraception and contraceptive technologies, some 51 million unintended pregnancies take place every year in the developing world, and an additional 25 million pregnancies are gestated by women who use faulty contraception or don't understand the methods they're using.

Of that number, according to the World Bank, some 68,000 women die from botched or unsafe abortions each year, and some 5.1 million are left permanently disabled by them. "Giving women access to modern contraception and family planning also helps to boost economic growth while reducing high birth rates so strongly linked with endemic poverty, poor education and high numbers of maternal and infant deaths," Joy Phumaphi, the World Bank's vice-president for human development, and a former health minister in Botswana, said in a statement.

More HERE.

Illinois pastor ousted after his arrest

A long-time pastor of the 101-year-old Second Baptist Church of Wheaton, Illinois, has been dismissed from his job after several women accused him of improperly touching them in a gym, according to church members.

Church service went on as usual Sunday, with no mention of a meeting the night before in which the congregation was asked to decide the fate of Rev. Andre Allen, according to members.

"He is no longer a preacher there. We voted him out," according to an unidentified woman who answered the phone at the church Sunday.

Allen has led Second Baptist for more than 22 years and has been a leader on civil rights issues in DuPage County.

More HERE.

Ruling Gives South Dakota Doctors a Script to Read

In a victory for antiabortion forces, doctors in South Dakota are now required to tell a woman seeking an abortion that the procedure "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit last week lifted a preliminary injunction that prevented the language from taking effect. A spokesman for Planned Parenthood, which runs the state's only abortion clinic, said doctors will begin reciting the script to patients as early as this week.

On another front, South Dakota voters will be asked in a Nov. 4 referendum to consider broad limits on abortion for the second time since 2006. The ballot measure includes exceptions for rape, incest and the woman's health that were not part of the 2006 wording rejected by voters.

More HERE.

Pat Condel: Islam is not a victim

There's a nice response HERE.

Relevant stories HERE and HERE.

9 Iranians convicted of adultery set to be stoned to death

Eight women and one man convicted of adultery are set to be stoned to death in Iran, activists said Sunday. Lawyer and women's rights activist, Shadi Sadr, said the nine were convicted of adultery in separate cases in different Iranian cities.

"Their verdicts are approved, and they may be executed at any time," she told reporters.

Sadr, who has been leading a campaign in Iran against stoning deaths since 2006, said trial protocol was not applied properly in the cases. Six of the nine were convicted based solely on judges' decisions with no witnesses or the presence of their lawyers during their confessions, she said. Most of the nine come from areas of Iran that have low rates of literacy and some did not understand the cases against them, she said.

More HERE.

ID meets failure in Oklahoma

Daniel Dickson-LaPrade writes:

I had expected Dembski's talk to get a warm reception, and for many people to be fooled into thinking that ID was a worthwhile scientific enterprise. Instead, the the room had almost a carnival atmosphere. Dembski was heckled repeatedly for evading questions and responded to this heckling with further evasion. The audience laughed and applauded often and at length when a questioner put Dembksi on the spot. As one of our professors with the Oklahoma Biological Survey later told me, "No one could have come away thinking that it was anything but a complete disaster for Dembski."

More HERE.

Xian editorialist decries the popularity of Atheism

By David Kupelian

Religion – including Christianity and Judaism – is "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children." At least that's according to the No. 1 New York Times bestseller "God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything" by journalist Christopher Hitchens.

In the news business, we often cite a nation's current top-selling books – for example, the popularity of anti-Semitic titles in Arab countries – as evidence of the mindset of the people.

Well, in the United States of America right now, some of the most-bought, most-read and most-discussed books are angry, in-your-face atheist manifestos.

More HERE.

South Carolina gov approves 'I Believe' license plates

Apparently, "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper stickers aren't enough for some motorists to proclaim their faith to the person tailgating them on the interstate.

Last May, the South Carolina state legislature unanimously voted to endorse an "I Believe" license plate, bearing the image of a cross and a stained glass window. Governor Mark Sanford then allowed the bill to become law without his signature.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) was quick to file suit against the legislation, and AU executive director Rev. Barry Lynn tells CNN, "I do believe these 'I Believe' plates will not see the light of day."

More HERE.

Child-abuser Freshwater tries to explain himself

More about Freshwater HERE. And HERE.

Church lures teenagers with assault rifle giveaway

An Oklahoma church canceled plans for a gun giveaway Friday at its annual youth conference, a local news station reported.

The church's youth pastor, Bob Ross, said the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle was a means of luring young people as far away as Canada, according to Oklahoma City's KOCO Channel 5 News.

“I don’t want people thinking ‘My goodness, we’re putting a weapon in the hand of somebody that doesn’t respect it who are then going to go out and kill,'” said Ross. “That’s not at all what we’re trying to do.”

More HERE.

Coalition Urges Candidates to Restore Constitutional Protections

Thu Jul 10, 2008
A coalition of 43 religious and civil liberty groups (CARD) sent a letter to both presidential candidates today imploring them to include constitutional safeguards in any proposals regarding federal funding partnerships with religious organizations. It contains some extremely helpful background material regarding the history of the Faith-Based Initiative and the religious and legal concerns surrounding it. Some choice excerpts are in the extended entry below, but here's a taste:

"We believe that the policies pursued under the title "Faith-Based Initiative" in recent years lack the proper accountability and constitutional safeguards necessary to preserve the independence of religious organizations and protect the civil rights and religious liberty of the employees and beneficiaries of government-funded programs."

More HERE.

Straight pride parade to hit New York City

A group of reggae artists, backed by their record label, will openly embrace their heterosexuality this upcoming Labor Day weekend.

"Although reggae is known for its militancy and its resistance to injustice," TCOOO Productions proclaimed, "the reggae community has remained calm throughout the attack on the music by Peter Tatchell and other Gay activists (sic) groups."

Frequent reports of kidnappings, harassment and mob beatings of gays, particularly in Jamaica, provide the backdrop for the lyrics of reggae and dancehall artists such as Beenie Man and Buju Banton, assailed by Outrage! founder Peter Tatchell as part of his Stop Murder Music campaign, which spans two decades. One example of a song that has gained notoriety in its mentions of violence against gays is Buju Banton's "Boom Bye Bye," released in the early 1990s and cited as the catalyst to the campaign's birth.

More HERE.

Christian Group Launches “Abortion President” Campaign

The fight against Barack Obama on abortion has officially begun. The Christian Defense Coalition, who are known to shock folks from time to time, have come up with a new campaign called: “Barack Obama: The Abortion President”. They are going to make clear that Obama wants taxpayers to foot the bill on abortions.

More HERE.

Bush Edits Out Jefferson's Religious Views

from 'Dispatches from the Culture Wars' -
President Bush was at Monticello for a 4th of July celebration and he delivered an address. But it's quite telling that his speechwriters, in quoting Jefferson, cut out an anti-religious statement from a long and famous quote.

More HERE.

Former TEA science director files federal lawsuit

Christina Castillo-Comer resigned, under pressure, from the Texas Education Agency last November. She was in charge of the science curriculum in Texas schools and said she lost her job for supporting evolution.

She worked at the TEA for nine years, but her employment came to an abrupt end when supervisors told her she could head for the door or they would be forced to show her to it. Now, Comer has filed – in federal court – to get her job back and her name cleared.

This was a result of a controversial e-mail that Comer forwarded to several people. The e-mail was about a speaker coming to Austin who had critical views of creationism.

More HERE.

Right-Wing Apoplectic Over Pixar’s WALL-E

This weekend, Pixar’s latest film “WALL-E” debuted at No. 1, earning $65 million at the box office. The film has been hailed by critics, scoring a whopping 97 percent “Fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.

The film portrays a lonely robot’s quest for love, as he is left to clean up a trashed earth. Meanwhile, the over-indulged humans wait it out aboard gigantic spaceships run by a monolithic corporation-turned-government that “resemble spas for the fat and lazy.”

Somehow, this touching love story has outraged the radical right.

More HERE.

US teacher is suspended for letting pupils read bestseller

An Indiana teacher who used a much lauded bestseller, The Freedom Writers Diary, to try to inspire under-performing high-school students has been suspended from her job without pay for 18 months.

The effective book ban by the school authorities in Perry Township has outraged teachers and education reformers.

The Writers Diary, a series of true stories written by inner-city teenagers, was put together by a teacher, Erin Gruwell, and has been celebrated as a model for transforming young lives. It was made into a film with Hilary Swank last year.

More HERE.

Religious cannibal fed son's flesh to relatives

Thursday, June 19, 2008 -
A boy's flesh was fed to cannibal relatives after his mum kept him locked in a cellar, a court has heard.

Ondrej Mauerova, 8, was partially skinned by his relatives who then ate the raw human flesh, a court has heard. Klara Mauerova - a member of a sinister religious cult - wept in court as she admitted torturing her son Ondrej and his ten year-old brother Jakub.

More HERE.

Denver Archdiocese settles priest abuse cases

DENVER (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver will pay $5.5 million to settle 16 lawsuits filed by victims of sexual abuse by priests, both sides said on Tuesday.

"I've expressed an apology on behalf of myself, our clergy, and the whole Catholic community," Archbishop Charles Chaput said in a statement announcing the settlement.

The cases involved three now-deceased priests who worked in the archdiocese between 1954 and 1981. Most of the cases involved the Rev. Harold White, who was shuffled around to various parishes despite complaints about him going back to 1960.

"The settlement ... is an acknowledgment that a grave injustice was committed by representatives of the Archdiocese of Denver," said Jeffrey Herman, the attorney for three of White's victims.

The U.S. Catholic Church has been roiled by claims of sexual abuse by priests in the past several years. The scandal erupted in Boston in 2002 and has spread to nearly every U.S. diocese, triggering suits and settlements. In 2004, a study commissioned by the U.S. bishops revealed that 10,667 people had accused priests of sexual misconduct between 1950 and 2002. In July 2007, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles paid $660 million to settle claims with some 500 sex-abuse victims, the largest settlement of its kind.

Creationist critics get their comeuppance

from Short Sharp Science -
A couple of weeks ago we reported on the work of Richard Lenski, who has spent much of the last 20 years maintaining cultures of E. coli to see how they evolve. His paper describes how one of his populations evolved the ability to metabolise citrate, something E. coli cannot do by definition.

It's one of the most dramatic examples of evolution in action ever seen, and because Lenski freezes samples of the population every 500 generations, it is possible to go back and track how the ability developed. Lenski and his team are now doing so, and hope to have a detailed history of the ability developing, mutation by mutation.

More HERE.

Obama Vows To Expand Bush's Faith-Based Programs

Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and _ in a move sure to cause controversy _ support some ability to hire and fire based on faith.

Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday in Zanesville, Ohio, at Eastside Community Ministry, which provides food, clothes, youth ministry and other services.

"The challenges we face today ... are simply too big for government to solve alone," Obama was to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "We need all hands on deck."

More HERE.

Christians: No One Path to Salvation

Mon Jun 23, 3:30 PM ET
Americans of every religious stripe are considerably more tolerant of the beliefs of others than most of us might have assumed, according to a new poll released Monday. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life last year surveyed 35,000 American, and found that 70% of respondents agreed with the statement "Many religions can lead to eternal life."

Even more remarkable was the fact that 57% of Evangelical Christians were willing to accept that theirs might not be the only path to salvation, since most Christians historically have embraced the words of Jesus, in the Gospel of John, that "no one comes to the Father except through me." Even as mainline churches had become more tolerant, the exclusivity of Christianity's path to heaven has long been one of the Evangelicals' fundamental tenets. The new poll suggests a major shift, at least in the pews.

More HERE.

Bail Set at $21M for Hathaway's Ex

NEW YORK (June 25) - An Italian businessman who once dated actress Anne Hathaway was arrested Tuesday on charges he posed as a representative of the Vatican to fleece wealthy investors in a real estate company that sought to buy and redevelop Roman Catholic Church property.

Bail was set at $21 million for Raffaello Follieri. Federal prosecutors said they have "overwhelming" evidence that he improperly spent up to $6 million from investors, much of it on a lavish lifestyle, including privately chartered jet travel with his girlfriend and others, expensive meals and clothing and a posh Manhattan apartment.

An angry Follieri repeatedly interrupted his lawyer at a court appearance to tell her what to say. He shook his head at times and, as a prosecutor accused him of owing various debts, called out: "We paid that."

More HERE.

Danish cartoon ruling may prompt "Islamophobia"

Mon Jun 23, 11:26 AM ET
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a league of 57 Muslim nations, said on Monday a Danish court's rejection of a suit against a paper for printing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad could provoke "Islamophobia."

The High Court for western Denmark on Thursday rejected a suit against Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that first published cartoons of Islam's prophet, leading to deadly protests in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The court said the editors had not meant to depict Muslims as criminals or terrorists, the cartoons had not broken the law, and there was a relationship between acts of violence and Islam -- comments that provoked outcry among Muslim groups in Denmark.

"It is a known fact that acts of terror have been carried out in the name of Islam and it is not illegal to make satire out of this relationship," the court said.

More HERE.

Non-Voters: It's All In God's Hands

People who believe that God is involved in worldly affairs are less likely to participate in national elections than others, according to a new survey.

The study, which included nearly 1,700 U.S. men and women with an average age of 53, suggests that a person's view of God is a variable that determines whether he or she will donate money to a campaign, read political news, or even vote.

"It can be reasoned that if one believes God determines worldly affairs, then there is little reason for individuals to participate in civic events," study leader Robyn Driskell and her colleagues write in the June issue of the journal Social Science Quarterly. "God is taking care of things."

More HERE.

Louisiana Democrats Pass "Stealth Creationism" Education Bill

The stealth-creationist SB 733, the "Louisiana Science Education Act," which in its pre-amended version as SB 561 was entitled the "LA Academic Freedom Act," received final passage in the Louisiana legislature on June 16, 2008, and is now (June 26) on Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk. The governor can either sign it, allow it to become law without his signature, or veto it. Gov. Jindal, who in his June 15 appearance on Face the Nation reiterated his previously voiced support for teaching intelligent design (ID) creationism, is expected to sign the bill. At the behest of the LA Coalition for Science, e-mail petitioners from across the country and national scientific organizations have urged him to veto it. Both the New York Times and National Review columnist John Derbyshire have also publicly called for Jindal to veto the bill. Since Louisiana's passage of SB 733 could be a bellwether for such "academic freedom" legislation, advocates for science education and church-and-state separation in other states had better start preparing now.

More HERE.

Gay marriage: a new bind for church groups

Oakland, Calif. - The same-sex marriage march begins across California Tuesday, with thousands of gay couples expected to wed in the coming weeks. But some notes of discord and rebellion can already be heard above Pachelbel's Canon.

Several county clerks have said they will stop performing marriage ceremonies for all couples, gay or straight. And the state supreme court, fresh from its decision to legalize gay marriage, will decide shortly on whether a private-practice doctor can deny artificial insemination to a lesbian couple.

As gay marriage gains wider legal footing, scholars anticipate a flood of such conscientious objector cases. A key flash point will be religiously affiliated organizations that serve the public, such as hospitals, schools, and adoption agencies, and hold beliefs opposed to gay marriage.

Full story HERE.

Vatican Bans "Angels & Demons" From Rome Churches

The Vatican has banned the makers of Angels & Demons, the latest Dan Brown thriller to be filmed, from shooting scenes not only in the Vatican but in any church in Rome on the ground that it is "an offence against God" and "wounds common religious feelings".

Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, head of the Vatican's Prefecture for Economic Affairs, said that the author had "turned the Gospels upside down to poison the faith. It would be unacceptable to transform churches into film sets so that his blasphemous novels can be made into mendacious films in the name of business."

Full story HERE.

Louisiana gov. supports I.D.

Interview: "The Family"

Jeff Sharlet is a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine. His first story for the magazine, “Jesus Plus Nothing,” appeared in March 2003, and five years later it has grown into a book, entitled The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Senior Editor Bill Wasik recently asked Sharlet six questions about his original piece and what he has learned since then.

Full story HERE.

Get Married or Lose Your Job

A MAJOR Iranian state-owned company has told its single employees to get married by September or face losing their jobs, the press reported today.

"One of the economic entities in the south of the country has asked its single employees to start creating a family," the hardline Kayhan daily reported.

The paper did not mention the name of the company but the reformist Etemad newspaper said the firm was the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone Company - which covers Iran's giant gas and petrochemical facilities on the shores of the Gulf.

"Unfortunately some of our colleagues did not fulfil their commitments and are still single," Etemad quoted the company's directive as saying. "As being married is one of the criteria of employment, we are announcing for the last time that all the female and male colleagues have until September 21 to go ahead with this important and moral religious duty."

Full story HERE.

Questions Surround Govt Funded Abstinence Program

An organization that promotes sexual abstinence for teens received a federal grant of over a million dollars, twice what it had requested, despite the skepticism Department of Justice staffers had about the group and the fact that it refused to participate in a congressionally mandated study.

So why did the Best Friends Foundation receive the grant from the Justice Department's juvenile justice office even though dozens of competing organizations were rated higher by the office's own reviewers? Current and former staffers say it was because of Best Friends' powerful president and founder, Elayne Bennett.

Not only is Bennett the wife of Bill Bennett, a former Reagan and Bush administration official and conservative political commentator, but she is also personally close to the chief administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), J. Robert Flores.

Full story HERE.

They had sex WHERE?

Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:01am EDT
ROME (Reuters) - An Italian couple who were caught having sex in a church confessional box while morning Mass was being said have repented and made peace with the local bishop.

The couple, in their early 30s, were detained by police earlier this month after they had made love in the confessional box in the cathedral in northern Cesena. They were cautioned for obscene acts in public and disturbing a religious function.

Their lawyer said they had been drinking all night and realized they had gone too far.

The lawyer told the area's local newspaper on Wednesday the couple met with the local bishop on Tuesday night, asked for his forgiveness and that he had given it.

Last week the bishop celebrated a "Mass of reparation" in the cathedral where the confessional box incident took place to make up for the sacrilege.

'I Believe' license plates

South Carolina's lieutenant governor announced Thursday that he is willing to put up $4,000 of his own money so his state can become the first in the nation to issue "I Believe" license plates with the image of a cross and a stained glass window.

The legislation allowing the plates was one of several religious-themed bills to became laws in the closing days of the state's legislative session. The bills mean South Carolinians attending local government meetings could soon see the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer posted on walls, pray without fear of being sued and drive home in cars with the "I Believe" plates.

Civil rights groups are considering lawsuits. An attorney for the New York-based American Jewish Congress, Mark Stern, said the bills are an obvious endorsement of religion by legislators in an election year. His group is looking to sue over the plates.

Full story HERE.

Storm Clouds Over The Sunshine State

Some are well-established and fully accredited with a qualified teaching staff and a tradition of educational excellence. Others are small, poorly equipped and devoted to religious indoctrination, not academic accomplishment.

If former Gov. Jeb Bush and his allies have their way, however, all of these schools – and private academies like them around the state – will soon be eligible for massive new streams of public funding, courtesy of the state’s taxpayers.

Bush has engineered onto the November ballot two initiatives that would eliminate the state constitution’s strict church-state separation provisions, mandate funding of religion and water down language requiring a quality public school system.

For advocates of church-state separation and strong public schools, it’s a political showdown with breath-taking possible consequences.

Full story HERE.

Opponents of Evolution Adopting a New Strategy

DALLAS — Opponents of teaching evolution, in a natural selection of sorts, have gradually shed those strategies that have not survived the courts. Over the last decade, creationism has given rise to “creation science,” which became “intelligent design,” which in 2005 was banned from the public school curriculum in Pennsylvania by a federal judge.

Now a battle looms in Texas over science textbooks that teach evolution, and the wrestle for control seizes on three words. None of them are “creationism” or “intelligent design” or even “creator.”

The words are “strengths and weaknesses.”

Full story HERE.

Scientific Information Largely Ignored When Forming Opinions About Stem Cell Research

ScienceDaily (Jun. 9, 2008) — When forming attitudes about embryonic stem cell research, people are influenced by a number of things. But understanding science plays a negligible role for many people.

That's the surprising finding from a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison communications researchers who have spent the past two years studying public attitudes toward embryonic stem cell research. Reporting in the most recent issue of the International Journal of Public Opinion, the researchers say that scientific knowledge - for many citizens - has an almost negligible effect on how favorably people regard the field.

"More knowledge is good - everybody is on the same page about that. But will that knowledge necessarily help build support for the science?" says Dietram Scheufele, a UW-Madison professor of life sciences communication and one of the paper's three authors. "The data show that no, it doesn't. It does for some groups, but definitely not for others."

Full story HERE.

E3 Keynote Speaker Backed Hagee

When the Entertainment Software Association announced on May 19th that Texas Governor Rick Perry would deliver the keynote address at E3 2008, GamePolitics was one of the few news outlets to publicly question the ESA's decision.

We expect more raised eyebrows over Perry's selection given yesterday's reports on Wired and The Escapist that in November, 2006 Perry affirmed the comments of controversial minister John Hagee that non-Christians are condemned to Hell.

In the photo at left, Perry is seen covering his face while Hagee preaches.

Full story HERE.

Court annuls Turkish scarf reform

Turkey's highest court has blocked government moves to allow college students to wear Muslim headscarves. The Constitutional Court said that a vote by parliament to ease a ban on scarves being worn on campuses violated the constitution's secular principles.

The government argues that a headscarf ban stops many girls being educated. But much of the secular establishment resisted the move, seeing it as a step towards allowing Islam to figure more largely in Turkish public life.

The ruling, by a panel of 11 judges, could foreshadow the outcome of a separate court case in which the ruling AK Party (AKP) could be banned for anti-secular activities. Some 71 members of the party, including the prime minister and the president, could also be banned from belonging to a political party for five years.

Full story HERE.

U.S. Soldiers Launch Campaign to Convert Iraqis to Christianity

Some U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq appear to have launched a major initiative to convert thousands of Iraqi citizens to Christianity by distributing Bibles and other fundamentalist Christian literature to Iraqi Muslims.

A recent article published on the website of Mission Network News reported that Bible Pathway Ministries, a fundamentalist Christian organization, has provided thousands of a special military edition of its Daily Devotional Bible study book to members of the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, currently stationed in Iraq, the project "came into being when a chaplain in Iraq (who has since finished his tour) requested some books from Bible Pathway Ministries (BPM).”

“The resulting product is a 6"x9" 496-page illustrated book with embossed cover containing 366 daily devotional commentaries, maps, charts, and additional helpful information," the Mission Network News report says. Chief Warrant Officer Rene Llanos of the 101st Airborne told Mission Network News, “the soldiers who are patrolling and walking the streets are taking along this copy, and they're using it to minister to the local residents.”

Full story HERE.

Outcry after French court rules on virginity

PARIS - The bride said she was a virgin. When her new husband discovered that was a lie, he went to court to annul the marriage — and a French judge agreed.

The ruling ending the Muslim couple's union has stunned France and raised concerns the country's much-cherished secular values are losing ground to cultural traditions from its fast-growing immigrant communities.

The decision also exposed the silent shame borne by some Muslim women who transgress long-held customs demanding proof of virginity on the wedding night.

In its ruling, the court concluded the woman had misrepresented herself as a virgin and that, in this particular marriage, virginity was a prerequisite.

Full story HERE.