americanatheists

Many of us really like ONN, the Onion News Network. But now we have to contend with another ONN, the OneNewsNow.com of the American Family Association.What is really troubling is that I am pretty sure they are both sarcastic in nature. I mean look at the AFA’s ONN, it has an article stating that the president of the American Life League accuses Democrats of using religion for political gains. Clinton and Obama are insincere when they state they are good Christians because they support contraceptive and pregnancy termination rights for all women. Judie Brown does not mention the hypocrisy of Republicans claiming to be Christians for political gain when they support killing innocent children in Iraq in order to provide gas for her SUV. I’d have to say I don’t know which one is really the more sarcastic site. What do you think?Peter Nuhn

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080129/us_nm/bush_faith_dc_1

BALTIMORE (Reuters) – President George W. Bush reflected on his battle with alcohol abuse on Tuesday, acknowledging that he once drank too much, as he sought to showcase the religious-based programs that have been one of the controversial initiatives of his presidency. Bush, who gave up alcohol at age 40, made the comment during a visit to the Jericho program, run by the Episcopal Community Services of Maryland, which helps recently released prisoners re-enter the workforce.The visit was part of an effort to highlight one of his domestic priorities — providing government funding for religious-based organizations to help their communities.”Addiction is hard to overcome. As you might remember, I drank too much at one time in my life,” said Bush, who has often stated that religion became a greater part of his life after he gave up alcohol.”I understand faith-based programs. I understand that sometimes you can find the inspiration from a higher power to solve an addiction problem,” he said.Faith-based programs like Jericho should not be forced to give up their spiritual underpinning to receive federal funding, Bush said.Critics of the initiative oppose the use of taxpayers’ money by faith-based groups because it blurs the line separating religion and government.Some supporters of the program have also voiced concerns that Bush has not provided as much money to these organizations as he promised. A study by the Rockefeller Institute found the number of faith-based organizations that received federal funding rose to 762 in 2004 from 665 in 2002.In his State of the Union address on Monday night, Bush asked Congress to guarantee funding permanently for faith-based groups.

Yes, watch out for those pesky liberals who want to take away these wonderful programs, right?No Mr. president, for the zillionth time, it’s not about the organizations operating as charities, and it’s not even about them getting government money. Religious organizations that genuinely wish to do charitable work have ALWAYS been allowed to do so, by forming a separate organization, with a separate bank account, and operating a charity. They do good work, manage their funds, and provide the same service to all who need it. Piece of cake, many do it.The Faith-based Initiative is NOT about helping the needy — it’s about allowing churches to provide a service, at government expense, WHILE preaching and discriminating, and without oversight to make sure the plans are effective and the money is spent properly. The faith-based organizations receive government funding with the expressed permission to break laws and NOT prove how they spent their (our) money. They are allowed this privilege simply because they believe in a deity. Government-sponsored religious discrimination.Now would be a great time to remind your Congressman that you want your money managed and spent with equality and accountability.

I just discovered another wacko Christian group – the Hollywood Prayer Network. :yawn:Now go out an buy a prayer sticker and pray for a Hollywood mogul or star and all the world’s problems will be resolved. All you have to do is pull out your VISA card and Jesus will love you. I really wish life was as simple as the simpleton Christians make it out to be.Let us wish them all the luck in the world with their prayers for “Reaper” and “Ghost Whisperer”. I know I’ll be praying for the Faux News Network to get a clue.Peter Nuhn

Well, it looks like the war is on. The Church of Scientology’s attempts to squash circulation of a video of Tom Cruise last week seem to have been the final straw for a group that calls itself “Anonymous.” According to a recent report in Wired, the cryptically-named organization recently stated that its main goal is to destroy the leadership of the Church of Scientology.The first public salvo was launched over the past couple of days as a group of hackers claiming affiliation with Anonymous took down the home page of the Church with repeated distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. DDOS attacks flood target servers with requests, so that they become overwhelmed with data and shut down. This results in a site that doesn’t work, which is exactly what visitors to the Scienology Web site experienced during the attack. The attacks flooded Scientology’s Web servers with as much as 220 megabits per-second, which security experts claim is a mid-sized attack. While this attack is not the largest of its kind ever seen, it does show some level of organization, “It’s not just one or two guys hanging out in the university dorms doing this,” said Jose Nazario, a senior security engineer with Arbor Networks. The church has since moved its site to servers run by Prolexic Technologies, a company that specialized in protection from DDOS attacks.

OK I know I’m not commenting much. Part of that is because I’m busy, and part is that sometimes, the comments write themselves!

Ex-pastor pleads guilty to child porn chargesNEW CASTLE A former pastor of a Slippery Rock Township church pleaded guilty this week to two counts of possession of child pornography. No sentencing date has been set for Robert D. Schmidtberger, 52, but prosecutors recommended a sentence of 12 months minus two days to 24 months minus four days with 15 years’ probation. Lawrence County Judge Thomas Piccione, who oversaw the guilty plea, ordered a psychological assessment to determine whether Schmidtberger might be a violent sexual predator.For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/01/28/news/doc47994ee49c77b089171946.txt

New York, Jan. 23, 2008?He was only 16 when secretly he taped his teacher telling students in a history class that if they did not believe Jesus died for their sins, they ?belong in hell.? Matthew LaClair, a Kearny, N.J. high school junior at the time, knew that what the teacher was doing was wrong?and that no one would believe him if he didn?t have evidence. The teacher also said that evolution was not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah?s ark and that only Christians had a place in heaven. When Matt, backed by his family, complained to school authorities that the teacher, David Paszkiewicz, was violating separation of church and state laws by promoting religion in a public school, Mr. Paszkiewicz, of course, denied it. Out came the eight tapes of the teacher proselytizing in class and Mr. Paszkiewicz had to do some fast backtracking. But being in the right isn?t always easy. After Matt turned the tapes over to school officials, he became the target of harassment, of a death threat and of retaliation by school officials who treated him?not the teacher?as the problem!But Matt, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, Atheist organizations and by a partner from a large Manhattan law firm, was encouraged by atheists worldwide: emails, letters and phone calls poured into the little suburban town of Kearny from all over the world. The New York Times did an article about Matt. In the end, the teacher was reprimanded and Matt was grudgingly allowed to bring speakers into the school to inform the students about Separation of Church and State laws in the U.S.On January 31, Matt will tell New York City Atheists about his fight for justice in the Kearney school system and give us a few hints about another expose? he hopes to undertake soon.EVENT SUMMARY WHAT: My Fight to Get Religion Out of Public School Classes by Matthew LaClairPlus Speak-Out to Advance Atheism: A Town Hall Meeting of Ideas WHERE: SLC Conference Center 352 Seventh Ave. (Bet. 29th & 30th St.) 16th Floor New York CityWHEN: Thursday, January 31 at 6:30 p.m.COST: We would appreciate a $5 contribution CONTACTSJane EverhartDirector of Communications212-879-2687Kenneth BronsteinNYCA President212-535-7425http://www.nyc-atheists.org

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US scientists have taken a major step toward creating the first ever artificial life form by synthetically reproducing the DNA of a bacteria, according to a study published Thursday. The move, which comes after five years of research, is seen as the penultimate stage in the endeavour to create an artificial life form based entirely on a man-made DNA genome — something which has tantalised scientists and sci-fi writers for years.”Through dedicated teamwork we have shown that building large genomes is now feasible and scalable so that important applications such as biofuels can be developed,” said Hamilton Smith, from the J. Craig Venter Institute, in the study published in Science.The research has been carried out at the laboratories of the controversial celebrity US scientist Craig Venter, who has hailed artificial life forms as a potential remedy to illness and global warming.

And the “god of the gaps” gets smaller and smaller….

Pope Boniface VIII founded La Sapienza University in 1303. The university became independent in 1870. In 1990, Cardinal Ratzinger called the 1633 trial and conviction of Galileo for the sin of contradicting the Holy Church’s belief that the Sun revolves around the Earth, rational and just. So some students and 67 professors this month protested Pope Benedict XVI’s planned visit to the famous university to mark its opening day for the 2008 academic year.Question: Is this a story of protest over the Church’s position on science; or is this a story about censorship and freedom of expression?The rector of the university thinks it is about censorship and the Catholic League’s Bill Donahue agrees. After all, some of us now know that neither the Earth nor the Church are the center of the universe. But it was a nice dream while it lasted, wasn’t it?Peter Nuhn

John McCain’s Christian Right offensive yields another endorsement, from Tom Coburn, poster child for old school Christian conservatism in the U.S. Senate. Another reminder that the fight for Palmetto State evangelicals isn’t limited to Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/godometer/2008/01/another-christian-conservative.htmlI love the God-O-Meter, but I really hate that McCain has turned out to be a McBush. I still remember him in 2000 trying to convince everyone that he really wanted Bush to win, coming out in a press conference just to say “no really, I really do endorse Governor Bush. No Really”.And now “Mr. National Hero” has turned into another religious nut job, courting the Christians, just the Christians, and ONLY the Christians — after all, we’re a Christian nation based on Christianity as set forth in the Constitution.

American Atheists Speakers BureauDAVE SILVERMAN SPEAKS WEDNESDAY(January 23, 2008) TO N.J. HUMANIST NETWORKDave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists will be the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the New Jersey Humanist Network. He’ll be sharing his thoughts on the on-going fight for the separation of church and state. The meeting begins at 7:30 PM at the PeopleCare Center, 120 Finderne Avenue, Bridgewater, NJ. Phone Lisa Ridge at 609-403-8238 if you need directions. The talk is free and open to the public, refreshments will be provided. There’s plenty of free parking behind the building.WHO & WHAT: Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists speaking to the monthly meeting of NJ Humanists WHERE: PeopleCare Center, 120 Finderne Avenue, Bridgewater, NJ.WHEN: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 beginning at 7:30 PM MORE INFO: www.njhn.org or contact Lisa Ridge, 609-403-8238 Make your next freethought meeting success! The American Atheists Speakers Bureau has qualified experts on a wide range of topical subjects including Atheism, current events, and First Amendment public policy. Visit www.atheists.org/speakers for more information.(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)

Oh great. Now I need to get some thoughts together to share…