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.