Religion

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European Court Bans Crucifixes in Italian Public Schools - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News - FOXNews.com


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STRASBOURG, France — Europe’s court of human rights ruled Tuesday the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools violates religious and education freedoms under the continent’s rights convention.
The ruling, which could force a Europe-wide review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools, rejected arguments by Italy’s government that the crucifix was [...]

21Nov2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Woman who sees Christ in snack may put it on eBay | The Reason Project


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Woman who sees Christ in snack may put it on eBay | The Reason Project
Preston Hollow resident Sara Bell recently stopped by this newspaper’s office with a unique discovery: a Cheeto that she thinks looks like Jesus.
Bell came across the strange snack a few weeks ago while she and her husband, Dan, were driving home [...]

26May2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Does God Favor Sexual Predators?


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Does God Favor Sexual Predators? | Psychology Today Blogs
If you take a look at The New York Post, Fox News, and The Weekly Standard, you’ll get a pretty good sense of who Rupert Murdock is and what he cares about.
Now imagine one very powerful figure is the CEO of three competing companies, each with thousands [...]

26May2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Parents Fuming as Texas Schools Let Gideons Provide Bibles to Students


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Parents Fuming as Texas Schools Let Gideons Provide Bibles to Students - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com
Some parents in Frisco, Texas, are fuming because their public school district allowed Christian evangelists to provide Bibles to students on school grounds, which administrators say was done to stop even [...]

26May2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Mother knew diabetic daughter was gravely ill, sister-in-law testifies - JSOnline


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Wausau - A mother accused of homicide for only praying while her 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes knew the girl was gravely ill at least a day before she died, her sister-in-law testified Monday.
Susan Neumann of rural Merrill was the first witness to testify in the trial of Leilani Neumann, 41, who is charged [...]

26May2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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French court tries Church of Scientology


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PARIS - The Church of Scientology could be dissolved in France if it is convicted in a trial that opened Monday in a Paris court, where the group and seven of its French leaders stand charged of organized fraud and illegal pharmaceutical activity.
The group, considered a sect in France, has faced prosecution and difficulties in [...]

26May2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Myth: Religion is Central to Human Existence, Everyone Is Religious


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Myth:
Everyone is religious and everyone has a religion because religion is central to human existence. So, atheists have a religion of some sort, even if they deny it.
Response:
For some religious theists, their religion and religious beliefs are so important to them that they can’t imagine anyone being without a religion of some sort. For such [...]

22May2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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It’s Church not Prayer That Makes Us Good


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Mike Gerson has a column up today laying out some of the key findings to be featured in Bob Putnam and David Campbell’s upcoming book, “American Grace,” that I mentioned on Wednesday.
In a nutshell, writes Gerson:
Against the expectations of hard-core secularists, Putnam asserts, “religious Americans are nicer, happier, and better citizens.” They are more generous [...]

9May2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Churchgoers more likely to back torture, survey finds


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WASHINGTON (CNN) — The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new analysis.
More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” [...]

1May2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Afghan President Backtracks on Law Legalizing Rape in Marriage


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KABUL — Responding to criticism from around the world, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that a new law that critics say makes it legal for men to rape their wives will be studied and possibly sent back to parliament for review.
Karzai said he ordered the Justice Ministry to review the law, and if [...]

5Apr2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Judge dismisses attempt to remove ‘one state under God’ from Texas pledge


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By KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH / The Dallas Morning News
kunmuth@dallasnews.com A judge has dismissed the claims of an atheist parent who sought to remove the words “one state under God” from the Texas pledge of allegiance.
Parent David Wallace Croft had argued that the insertion of the words in 2007 by legislators was unconstitutional [...]

5Apr2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Texas education board approves science standards


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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — State education leaders forged a compromise Friday on the teaching of evolution in Texas, adopting a new science curriculum that no longer requires educators to teach the weaknesses of all scientific theories.
The State Board of Education voted 13-2 to put in place a plan that would instead require teachers to encourage [...]

5Apr2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Mom’s plea deal includes ‘resurrection clause’


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(CNN) — A Maryland woman involved with a group described as a religious cult pleaded guilty in the starvation death of her son, but insisted that the charges be dropped when he is resurrected.
The condition was made a part of Ria Ramkissoon’s plea agreement, officials said. She entered the plea Monday in Baltimore, Maryland, to [...]

5Apr2009 | Admin | 1 comment | Continued
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To The Brain, God Is Just Another Guy


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The human brain, it appears, responds to God as if he were just another person, according to a team at the National Institutes of Health.
A study of 40 people — some religious, some nonreligious — found that phrases such as “I believe God is with me throughout the day and watches over me” lit up [...]

16Mar2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Mother of Child Rape Victim Excommunicated


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A Brazilian archbishop says all those who helped a child rape victim secure an abortion are to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
The girl, aged nine, who lives in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, became pregnant with twins.
It is alleged that she had been sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather.
The excommunication [...]

12Mar2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Faith-Based Charities in a Bind over Federal Dollars


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Now, weeks after the election, there comes, loud and clear, from a counselor to the President, that such assurances were not for real, and that the promised money will not be given for social programs to religious organizations that discriminate against gays or those who are not in harmony with their religious beliefs. This appears [...]

10Mar2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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More Americans say they have no religion


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Study finds percentage of Christians in the nation has declined
A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.
Fifteen percent of respondents [...]

9Mar2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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The Gospel Truth: Sometimes A Little Hazy


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Fresh Air from WHYY, March 4, 2009 · What is the story of Jesus’ birth? How did Judas die? What did Jesus say when he was crucified?
The answers to those questions vary depending on which Gospel you read, says Bible scholar Bart Ehrman.
Ehrman is the author of Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the [...]

7Mar2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Don’t Say a Word


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A U.N. resolution seeks to criminalize opinions that differ with the Islamic faith.
By Christopher Hitchens
The Muslim religion makes unusually large claims for itself. All religions do this, of course, in that they claim to know and to be able to interpret the wishes of a supreme being. But Islam affirms itself as the last and [...]

4Mar2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Council for Secular Humanism rips Baylor survey on U.S. and religion


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Did Baylor University professors, including the renowned Rodney Stark, get it wrong - way wrong - in their much-publicized survey of religous life in America? That’s the view of a very different organization from the Baptist college in Waco - the Council for Secular Humanism.
Here’s a gloves-off press release:

New Report Raises Questions about the Legitimacy [...]

25Feb2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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FOXNews.com - Parents Outraged Over Baby Doll They Say Mumbles Pro-Islam Message - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News


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FOXNews.com - Parents Outraged Over Baby Doll They Say Mumbles Pro-Islam Message - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
A doll some are claiming utters pro-Islam and even satanic messages has outraged parents in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
People insist they can hear Fisher-Price’s “Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo” mumbling [...]

14Feb2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Woman Burned to Death for Practicing Witchcraft


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A young Papua New Guinea woman was burned to death in what authorities fear is the latest witchcraft killing in the remote and lawless interior of the country.
The woman, believed to be between 16 and 20 years old, was stripped naked, gagged and tied to a truck loaded with firewood — which was driven to [...]

10Jan2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Church removes ’scary crucifix’


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A large sculpture of Christ on the cross has been removed from outside a church in West Sussex after its vicar said it was “scaring young children”.
The Reverend Ewen Souter said the 10ft crucifix was “a horrifying depiction of pain and suffering” which was also “putting people off”.
The sculpture, located at the side of St [...]

9Jan2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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The War on Reality


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I find the so-called claim of a “War on Christmas” ironic because those same people have had a “War on Atheism” for much longer.  This war includes many things such as

(1) trying to get Intelligent Design into the public schools,
(2) get public tax dollars used for religious purposes,
(3) get public dollars used for groups which [...]

3Jan2009 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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Kenneth Hutcherson: Let Them Sleep on the Streets & Starve


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One of the positive aspects of Christianity is supposed to be its teachings about charity and providing for the less fortunate in society. Many Christian apologists regularly tout this as a reason why atheists are wrong to argue for an end to religion (as if charity wouldn’t exist without their religion) and, to be perfectly [...]

21Dec2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
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  • STS-125 Crew Visits the Stock Exchange

     
    NASA astronauts Scott Altman and Mike Massimino of the STS-125 mission visit the New York Stock Exchange to support the release of Hubble 3D, the newest IMAX film, which documents the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and features never-before-seen 3D flights through Hubble imagery such as the Orion Nebula. In honor of the occasion, Altman and Massimino ring 'The Closing Bell' ending the day's trading at the Exchange on Thursday, March 18, 2010. Image Credit: NYSE (Used by permission)
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  • Mark Twain

    "Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of."
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  • John Adams

    "The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Treaty of Tripoli
  • James Madison

    "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
  • Friedrich Nietzsche

    God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.
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