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.