Gideons International is an evangelical Christian organization whose mission is to distribute Bibles in order to “lead people to faith in Christ” (Gideons International). Since 1941, the Gideons have been providing copies of their Bible to members of the U.S. Armed Forces. While atheists and humanists remained marginalized, the Gideon presence grew into an unofficial but influential arm of the U.S. military. For decades, the Gideons have unabashedly proselytized at Military Entrance and Processing Stations (MEPS) where young men and women are first introduced to the military. After a long history of service in silence, atheists and humanists have begun to challenge the practice. 
Erin Bouquin, New Mexico’s chief medical officer, said she was asked to resign after she promoted condom use in a TV interview as a way to slow the growth of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers. 
A series of break-ins and arson incidents have workers and patients at women’s health clinics in Atlanta on “heightened alert,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The FBI and ATF are conducting a joint investigation of what appears to be a sharp escalation in a campaign to intimidate and threaten providers of women’s health care, including abortion services. 
Cardinal Timothy Dolan has made it very clear that he doesn’t like President Obama’s contraception mandate. And apparently, he and the Catholic Church are prepared to let poor people starve to ... 
"I worked for Reagan and wrote for National Review. But the new hysterical right cares nothing for truth or dignity." The First Amendment clearly states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, but it seems that faith has influenced America's laws more than some would like. In a predominately Christian nation, more and more Americans are turning to Atheism. David Silverman, president of American Atheists, gives us his take on why religion shouldn't influence politics. 
A state that attempts to use the force of law to stop blasphemy must select certain identities for protection to the exclusion of others. ... 
The Catholic Church has finally shown just where it draws the line on the behaviour of its employees, after the Vatican bank sacked its director for not looking after the church's money as well as it would like. 
Last night, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken in California ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional in a case called Dragovich v. U.S. Department of the Treasury. 
After her son Matthew was brutally murdered, Judy Shepard's relentless campaigning on behalf of tolerance led to a major shift in American law. A Concord, NH church lost an ongoing battle with the city yesterday, when the New Hampshire Supreme Court found that parts of its 26-acre property not used for religious purposes–such as an attached apartment complex–were not eligible for property tax exemption. |
Today, I wonder how a work as ground-breaking as Darwin's would be received. Take Back the Flour would accuse him of being the slave of corporate interests set on unleashing dangerous new methods to lift agricultural productivity. Animal Rights protesters would say that the voyage of the Beagle was predicated on inhuman experimentation on animals. The Tea Party movement and religious fundamentalists would try to ban him from entering the US. Islamic fundamentalists would doubtless issue a fatwa. 
"Our first attempts at official recognition were shot down outright. The former director of cadet activities did not want to support any secular organization, and didn’t see the point of our existence. Our last club president described him as “blasé and a stalwart in his opposition to us forming.” This semester, we developed a formal request for recognition memorandum and sent it to the office of the Commandant." 
Max Nielson is a senior at Irmo High School, an Eagle Scout, an International Baccalaureate diploma candidate and… an atheist! Thanks to the story of Harrison Hopkins, a fellow South Carolina atheist, Max learned of the resources available to challenge the graduation prayer at Irmo High School. 
The Senate attached an amendment Thursday to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that seeks to lift the ban on abortion insurance coverage for women in the military who are victims of rape, according to RH Reality Check. Known as the Shaheen Amendment, named for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) who first introduced the amendment in November 2011, seeks to overturn the longstanding ban, which does not exist for other federal employees. Some 400,000 women serve in the military. 
A first in Georgia, an openly atheist candidate is running for the state House. He has promised to propose legislation to outlaw all lobbyist gifts to Georgia legislators, legalize marijuana, and “make the rich pay their fair share of taxes.”
Its quirky governance relationship with Congress makes liberal Washington an attractive rhetorical target for pet social conservative causes. 
Because, really, who hasn’t thought about how much good this huge worldwide organization could do if it reversed its stand on condoms and contraceptives? Rather than waiting for tardy governments to act, it could simply began distributing condoms and teaching how to best prevent the spread of HIV. It could give a kick in the head to overpopulation by telling Third World men and women that it’s okay to use contraceptives, okay NOT to have more and more and more children they can’t feed. 
Limits on the legal right to abortion are sweeping through legislatures across the United States, from moves to require women seeking abortion to undergo intrusive ultrasounds, to the defunding of Planned Parenthood, America’s largest family planning provider. Behind the raft of bills and regulations is one group with an aggressive approach: a non-profit, anti-abortion group called Americans United for Life. 
Police in the Mexico City suburb of Ciudad Neza arrested several people who were reportedly engaging in a "drug-fueled ritual" that resulted in the gouging out of a five-year-old's eyes. 
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the conviction of a man found guilty in the 2008 beating death of his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter. In May 2010 Blaine Keith Milam, who was 20 at the time, was sentenced to die by lethal injection for killing 13-month-old Amora Carson, the daughter of his girlfriend, Jessica Carson. 
Doctors who refuse to give contraceptives to unmarried women or carry out sex change operations face being banned from practicing under new guidelines. Philosopher Daniel Dennett was one of the stars of the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne and gave a brilliant and whimsical talk on defining the atheist... |
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