The News Wire

2012-01
2012-01-18	High Court Lets Stand Trio Of First Amendment Cases
	The appeals court concluded that by heavily favoring Christianity in its offerings, the county board was violating the First Amendment's ban on government endorsement of a particular religion.
2012-01-18	And lo! Gove's Bible project did run into a spot of bother
	"The King James Bible has bequeathed a body of language that permeates every aspect of our culture and heritage. Second, just as our language and culture is steeped in the Bible, so too is our politics. Third, we are a Christian country. And we should not be afraid to say so
2012-01-17	In Atheists We Distrust
	Subjects believe that people behave better when they think that God is watching over them.
2012-01-17	'I was doing my duty as a Muslim,' says father who handed out leaflets saying gay people should be hanged
	'My intention was to do my duty as a Muslim, to inform people of God’s word and to give the message on what God says about homosexuality.
2012-01-17	Mitt Romney's problem with evangelicals
	the fact that as a Mormon, Romney is alienating a vast swathe of Republican born-again and evangelical voters.
2012-01-17	Thomas Jefferson's revolutionary take on the Bible reissued
	Jefferson was described by preacher John Mason as someone who "writes against the truths of God's word; who makes not even a profession of Christianity".
2012-01-15	Richard Dawkins celebrates a victory over creationists
	Leading scientists and naturalists, including Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir David Attenborough, are claiming a victory over the creationist movement after the government ratified measures that will bar anti-evolution groups from teaching creationism in science classes.
2012-01-15	Israelis Facing a Seismic Rift Over Role of Women
	“Most Israelis at the time assumed the Haredim would die off in one generation,”
2012-01-15	Aiming To Show Strength, Evangelicals May Achieve Opposite
	About one in four held out for Newt Gingrich, while a rump group stuck with the local boy, Texas Gov. Rick Perry. There were apparently few votes if any for Romney, Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman.
2012-01-14	Religious Leaders, Seeking Unity, Back Santorum
	After the first vote, the field was narrowed to Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich. In the third ballot, Mr. Perkins said, 114 people voted, with Mr. Santorum receiving 85 votes and Mr. Gingrich 29.
2012-01-14	West Texas priest sued over church finances
	Leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso have sued the Rev. Michael Rodriguez and his brother, David Rodriguez
2012-01-13	Muhammad cartoon row: student atheist society claims victory
	The society had been asked to remove the advertisement "because UCLU aims to foster good relations between different groups of students and create a safe environment where all students can benefit from societies regardless of their religious or other beliefs".
2012-01-13	MARRIAGE AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together
	In short, the refusal of these religious organizations to treat a same-sex sexual relationship as if it were a marriage marked them and their members as bigots, subjecting them to the full arsenal of government punishments and pressures reserved for racists.
2012-01-13	German priest admits 280 counts of sexual abuse
	"It was never my impression that the children did not consent," the priest was quoted as saying at the trial
2012-01-13	Tesco slump due to divine intervention, says Christian pressure group
	"As the Big Price Drop was launched in September, it seems that almighty God, who operates outside space and time, was well ahead of us, anticipating our prayers, and seeing by our actions that our prayers were serious," Stephen Green, Christian Voice's National Director, said.
2012-01-12	Teacher loses church-state employment appeal
	"The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important," said Chief Justice John Roberts. "But so too is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission.
2012-01-12	Richard Dawkins backs student society over Muhammad cartoon
	"The student atheist society at UCL have my complete support. I am full of admiration for the firm and principled stance they are taking against religious censorship," he said. "My primary reason for drawing the cartoons is to make atheists laugh."
2012-01-10	Federal court blocks Oklahoma ban on Sharia
	"The proposed amendment discriminates among religions," said the judges. "The Oklahoma amendment specifically names the target of its discrimination. The only religious law mentioned in the amendment is Sharia law.
2012-01-10	Muslim men accused of hate crime over anti-gay leaflet
	Ahmed had said he did not feel that the views expressed in The Death Penalty? leaflet – which suggested three different ways to murder gay people – were wrong and simply expressed what Islam says about homosexuality, adding that it was his duty as a Muslim to condemn it.
2012-01-10	Muslim leaders call for Salman Rushdie to be denied entry to India
	“If he visits India, it would be adding salt to the injuries of Muslims,” he said. “He has hurt our religious sentiments.”
2012-01-09	Europe's Angry Muslims
	Leiken learns how thousands of Pakistani nationals from the district of Mirpur ended up in Beeston, and how the transplanting of their culture to a foreign nation apparently spawned some deadly bombers.
2012-01-09	Pakistan wants halt to Arab 'religious colonialism
	Saudi Arabia is funding Wahhabis to crush democratic aspirations in entire world including in Pakistan
2012-01-09	Pope Benedict XVI appeals for end to discrimination against Christians
	"In many countries, Christians are deprived of fundamental rights and sidelined from public life
2012-01-08	Romney Showcases Endorsement by Ex-Ambassadors to Vatican
	Five former ambassadors to the Vatican endorsed Mitt Romney on Saturday, choosing a Mormon over two Roman Catholic rivals in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
2012-01-08	Church attacks in Nigeria leave at least 27 worshippers dead
	Three gunmen with their faces covered with black cloth burst into my salon and started shooting at customers, chanting, 'God is great, God is great,'"
2012-01-08	Has Obama Waged A War On Religion?
	"I believe the greatest threat to religious liberty is the clash between religious liberty and LGBT rights," he says.
2012-01-06	Nigerian church shootings kill six
	No one immediately claimed responsibility for the church attack, but suspicion fell on the radical Muslim Boko Haram sect, which has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict sharia law across Nigeria.
2012-01-05	Israeli Rosa Parks’ Receives Death Threats
	“We cannot allow a situation whereby people ask women to sit at the back of the bus.”
2012-01-05	Feds indict Pa. priest on child porn charges
	Police say a church employee called a child abuse hotline after allegedly seeing Sorensen viewing child porn images on Dec. 9. The Pittsburgh diocese has suspended Sorensen and is cooperating with investigators.
2012-01-05	Sweden recognises new file-sharing religion Kopimism
	The church, which holds CTRL+C and CTRL+V (shortcuts for copy and paste) as sacred symbols, does not directly promote illegal file sharing, focusing instead on the open distribution of knowledge to all.
2012-01-05	Israel's religion minister fears Jewish divides
	Israeli society could be torn apart if disputes between ultra-Orthodox and less observant Jews continue to heat up
2012-01-05	L.A. auxiliary bishop resigns, admits fathering children
	Roman Catholic canon law permits bishops to step down earlier than the normal retirement age of 75 if they are sick or otherwise unfit for office.
2012-01-02	15 faith-based predictions for 2012
	http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/01/12-faith-based-predictions-for-2012/
2012-01-02	Former Scientology executive blasts ‘extreme’ fundraising
	“Over the next few weeks and months, you’re going to see a lot of prominent Scientologists who are going to make themselves known,
2012-01-02	Fury at Ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters who dressed their children as Holocaust victims because they claim they're being persecuted for wanting gender separation
	Much of the controversy has stemmed from ultra-Orthodox men trying to force women to sit in the back of public buses in deference to religious beliefs against any mixing of the sexes in public.

2011-12
2011-12-31	Israeli ultra-Orthodox rally for gender separation
	In one city near Jerusalem, radical ultra-Orthodox recently accosted school girls and spit at women and children they believe are dressed immodestly. That prompted a large protest rally.
2011-12-29	Catholic bishops clash with feds over religious freedom, funding
	"In the name of tolerance, we're not being tolerated,"
2011-12-28	Appealing to Evangelicals, Hopefuls Pack Religion Into Ads
	The new, more pointed religious references reflect how campaigns are scrambling for support among evangelicals who are still divided over whom to support
2011-12-28	Bethlehem church cleaning turns into dust-up between rival monks
	In the 1800s, friction between the denominations at the church – each backed by foreign powers – became so fraught that Russian Czar Nicholas I deployed troops along the Danube to threaten a Turkish sultan who had been favouring the Catholics over the Orthodox.
2011-12-28	Battling Anew Over the Place of Religion in Public Schools
	A large poster of the Ten Commandments hangs on a hallway wall, a picture of Jesus hangs in the lobby, and a cross and two Bibles are on a table in the main office.
2011-12-27	Israeli police act against Haredi jews
	Israeli police and ultra-orthodox jews have clashed on the outskirts of Jerusalem after demands to crack down on religious zealots accused of harassing women
2011-12-27	Beit Shemesh ultra-orthodox Jews clash with police
	Such clashes have become more frequent in Israel in recent years as the authorities have challenged efforts by ultra-Orthodox Jews to segregate women in public places
2011-12-26	Three churchgoers held after midnight mass brawl on Christmas Eve
	it was more than just a scuffle, there was actually a fight going on.
2011-12-22	Where Crèches Once Stood, Atheists Now Hold Forth
	“We were trying to accommodate all the groups that were interested in the most fair way we could.”
2011-12-20	Scientists say Turin Shroud is supernatural
	The implications are... that the image was formed by a burst of UV energy so intense it could only have been supernatural.
2011-12-19	Catholics protest 'Satanic' billboard
	"There's only one faith - The Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith - because we go right back in our papal line to Christ. All the other sects and cults are in fact man-made.
2011-12-18	Christopher Hitchens: one man's service in the war against delusion
	there are no final solutions, there is no absolute truth, there is no supreme leader, there is no totalitarian solution that says that if you will just give up your freedom of inquiry, if you would just give up, if you will simply abandon your critical faculties, a world of idiotic bliss can be yours.
2011-12-17	Cameron calls for return to Christian values as King James Bible turns 400
	David Cameron has declared that "Britain is a Christian country and we should not be afraid to say so"
2011-12-17	Waging a One-Man War on American Muslims
	What makes the attack on “All-American Muslim” more disturbing — and revealing — is that it was prosecuted by just one person, a person unaffiliated with any established organization on the Christian right, a person who effectively tapped into a groundswell of anti-Muslim bigotry.
2011-12-16	Christopher Hitchens dies at 62 after suffering cancer
	He maintained his devout atheism after being diagnosed with cancer, telling one interviewer: "No evidence or argument has yet been presented which would change my mind

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