AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) – The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of the church she attended.The justices ruled that the exorcism was a matter of church doctrine and subject to certain First Amendment religious protections, and thus the case would “unconstitutionally entangle the court in matters of church doctrine.”In its 6-3 decision, the high court ruled that a lower court erred when it said the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God’s First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion did not prevent the church from being held liable for mental distress brought on by a “hyper-spiritualistic environment.”Laura Schubert sued the Colleyville, Texas, church in 2002, claiming she was cut and bruised and later experienced hallucinations after the church members performed an exorcism on her in 1996, when she was 17.

And this again is where the separation of church and state (and freedom of religion) needs to end — where the safety of children begins. This church participated in child abuse, and the Supreme Court says that’s OK because it was religious.Now if atheists had committed the exact same atrocities, then they’d go to jail for child abuse. See that? Same crime, one gets punished, and one escapes punishment altogether, because the latter did it for religious reasons.That is the exact opposite of freedom of religion. That is YOU, dear reader, having fewer rights (rights no moral person would want, but rights nonetheless) than religious people.And while we’re on the subject of Christians

McCain Meets With Billy And Franklin GrahamJohn McCain met today with Billy Graham and his son Franklin, himself an influential Christian, in an opportunity to reach out to Christian conservatives who have tended to mistrust him over the years. Fun fact: In 2003, Franklin Graham looked forward to the Iraq War as an opportunity to spread Christianity in the Middle East.

fromFrank R. Zindler, Acting PresidentAmerican Atheists, Inc.Charles E. Stevens American Atheist Library & Archives, Inc.Dear Ellen,I am writing to you in this open forum simply because it appears virtually impossible to communicate with you via certified mail or other normal channels. I am writing to appeal to your sense of honesty and your sense of what is best for the cause of Atheism. I am asking you to return to the Charles E. Stevens American Atheist Library & Archives (CESAALA) the diaries of Madalyn Murray O’Hair over which you have control. The diaries cover the period from the late 1950s, through the 1960s, into the early 1970s. Especially in need of return is the diary containing the entries for June of 1963, recording the period of the ruling in Murray v. Curlett. On a number of occasions you have told me and other members of the board and staff that you have these diaries in your possession, and so I would not expect you to dispute the facts of my request.As you know, the joint will of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Jon Garth Murray, and Robin Eileen Murray-O’Hair specifies that all their personal property shall become the property of CESAALA upon their decease. As Acting President of CESAALA, it is my fiduciary duty to seek the return of property rightfully belonging to the corporation. I ask that the diaries be returned immediately, without further delay. I do not wish to insult you, but I must nevertheless remind you that many ? indeed, the vast majority ? of the people who are still supporting you and are sympathetic to your cause are men and women of great integrity as well as intelligence. Can you suppose that they would continue to support you if all the facts could be made to show that you are illegally in possession of CESAALA property ? precious reminders not only of our own organizational history but of the course of First-Amendment jurisprudence as well? I seriously doubt it. They are men and women of integrity who expect you to be at least their equal.I suspect too that your colleagues in GAMPAC would not be pleased to learn that you have not returned property belonging to a corporation to which you previously owed allegiance and for which you claimed to be fulfilling your fiduciary responsibilities. Would they be wise to trust you as their chief executive?I hope that the next few days will witness the return of these important and valuable documents to our library in Cranford.For Reason,Frank R. Zindler

SANTA FE, N.M. (June 28) – A New Mexico appeals court on Friday ruled against a Los Alamos man who wanted to change his name to a phrase containing a popular four-letter obscenity.The man appealed after a state district judge in Bernalillo County refused his request to change his name to “F— Censorship!”Judge Nan Nash ruled that the proposed name change was “obscene, offensive and would not comport with common decency.”

OK here’s the contest. Winner gets and eternal bliss after death, so give it some thought.What’s the best name for an Atheist? The catch is you have to get it past Judge Nash.

This morning at 8:37am, my daughter came back from Camp Quest. It is now 6pm and she has yet to stop smiling. She had a wonderful time, including a zero-gravity plane trip! I’d like to take a moment to give a shout out to August, Amanda, and the entire staff of Camp Quest for giving my Atheist child a great place to have fun with other Atheists. http://www.camp-quest.org If you have a child, I fully recommend you give CG some serious consideration! Lifelong friends and memories!

WASHINGTON (June 26) – Silent on central questions of gun control for two centuries, the Supreme Court found its voice Thursday in a decision affirming the right to have guns for self-defense in the home and addressing a constitutional riddle almost as old as the republic over what it means to say the people may keep and bear arms.The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns and imperiled similar prohibitions in other cities, Chicago and San Francisco among them. Federal gun restrictions, however, were expected to remain largely intact.

I often talk about my first Atheist event — the event that got me started down the road to activism — the PromiseKeepers (bankrupt Christian man-cult) event in DC. At this event, I learned what it was like to meet other Atheists. I learned how it felt to be in front of a TV camera. Finally, I learned how to get a whole bunch of Atheists pissed off at each other: Mention gun control.We have a few resident posters from all sides of the fence. Let’s see who agrees with whom now.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/fossil-find-reveals-evolution-clues/20080625152309990003

WASHINGTON (June 25) – Scientists unearthed a skull of the most primitive four-legged creature in Earth’s history, which should help them better understand the evolution of fish to advanced animals that walk on land.The 365 million-year-old fossil skull, shoulders and part of the pelvis of the water-dweller, Ventastega curonica, were found in Latvia, researchers report in a study published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature. Even though Ventastega is likely an evolutionary dead-end, the finding sheds new details on the evolutionary transition from fish to tetrapods. Tetrapods are animals with four limbs and include such descendants as amphibians, birds and mammals.While an earlier discovery found a slightly older animal that was more fish than tetrapod, Ventastega is more tetrapod than fish. The fierce-looking creature probably swam through shallow brackish waters, measured about three or four feet long and ate other fish. It likely had stubby limbs with an unknown number of digits, scientists said.

I am reminded of a Michael Shermer (I think) quote, which was something like “If you find a transitional fossil that fills a hole in the evolution tree, the creationists find a new hole on each side of the new find”

Pew Study Finds One in Five Atheists Believe in GodThe Secular Coalition for America Responds For Immediate Release: June 25, 2008Contact: Anne Singer, 202-271-4679 Washington, DC ? The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a second report from its U.S. Religious Landscape Survey on Monday concluding that Americans are highly religious and tolerant of other religions and that religion is politically relevant. While none of this is news, the study?s findings about nonreligious Americans are. Pew reported that 21 percent of atheists in their survey said they believed in God or a universal spirit, that six percent of them considered it a personal god, and that 40 percent of agnostics feel certain that God exists. Conversely, among respondents who say they are affiliated with a religious tradition (Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Muslim, etc.), a surprising number said they actually do not believe in a god or universal spirit. ?When atheists are telling you they believe in God and Catholics are admitting they don?t, that?s evidence of the stigma our society puts on nontheists,? said Lori Lipman Brown, Director of the Secular Coalition for America. ?Americans repeatedly tell pollsters that an atheist is the last person they?d want their children to marry, the last person they?d vote for as President. This prejudice also appears in the widespread impression that atheists lack ethics and values.? A 2007 Newsweek study* indicates that surveys putting the number of Americans without a god belief at anywhere between 21 to 63 million are probably low: half of Newsweek?s respondents last year reported personally knowing an atheist. “Unless these small numbers of atheists have unusually vast social networks, those respondents tell us that nontheists make up a lot more than just eight or 12 percent of the U.S. population,” said Brown. ?It says a lot about the difficulty of coming out of the closet, whether it?s to family, pollsters or fellow parishioners.? The Pew Center’s press release also announced that religion in America is politically relevant; however, says Brown, so is its absence. “When you look at the results, you see the secular vote is much larger and more up for grabs than other groups who receive an awful lot of attention from politicians and pollsters. And yet with both major parties pandering to religion, our constituency is feeling more and more like outcasts in our own democracy.? According to the Pew survey, there are more than twice as many atheists and agnostics (a combined 4.0 percent of all respondents) as there are Jews (1.7 percent), and about four times as many as there are Muslims (0.6 percent). Atheists and agnostics also have higher ratios of independent voters than most other groups in the study. The overall percentage of voters with no religious affiliation, which includes atheists, agnostics, and secular and religious unaffiliateds, too, is nearly equal (16.1) to the percentage who are mainline Protestant (18.1). The Secular Coalition for America represents nine national coalition partners who share the view that a secular government offers the best guarantee for freedom of thought and belief for all Americans. In this election year, the Coalition will continue to amplify the voices of atheists, agnostics, humanists and other nontheists, and will advocate for all secular voters and help boost their visibility even as pollsters, politicians and pundits are silent about their place in American public life. The Coalition?s website is www.secular.org.

CNN) — A top U.S. evangelical leader is accusing Sen. Barack Obama of deliberately distorting the Bible and taking a “fruitcake interpretation” of the U.S. Constitution.James Dobson says Barack Obama is distorting bibical teachings to fit “his own confused theology.” In comments to be aired on his radio show Tuesday, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson criticizes the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for comments he made in a June 2006 speech to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal.In the speech, Obama suggested that it would be impractical to govern based solely on the word of the Bible, noting that some passages suggest slavery is permissible and eating shellfish is disgraceful.”Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy?” Obama asked in the speech. “Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount?”So before we get carried away, let’s read our Bible now,” Obama said, to cheers. “Folks haven’t been reading their Bible.” He also called Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount “a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our Defense Department would survive its application.”In the comments to be aired Tuesday, Dobson said Obama should not be referencing antiquated dietary codes and passages from the Old Testament that are no longer relevant to the teachings of the New Testament.

YAY! The Christians are beating up on each other AGAIN about which passages they should cling to and which they should abandon AGAIN and now they’re fighting amongst themselves AGAIN because RELIGION CAUSES UNITY! Heil Jesus!OK Mr. Dobson, I guess we can just take that old passage that “is no longer relevant” and just black it out with a sharpie, right? OK, what else should we erase, and which is the perfect objective word of God?

One of the funniest Atheist comedians out there has died. He was top notch.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9oToo bad.

LOS ANGELES (June 23) – George Carlin, the frenzied performer whose routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” led to a key Supreme Court ruling on obscenity, has died.Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas. He was 71.”He was a genius and I will miss him dearly,” Jack Burns, who was the other half of a comedy duo with Carlin in the early 1960s, told The Associated Press.Carlin’s jokes constantly breached the accepted boundaries of comedy and language, particularly with his routine on the “Seven Words” – all of which are taboo on broadcast TV and radio to this day.When he uttered all seven at a show in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, freed on $150 bail and exonerated when a Wisconsin judge dismissed the case, saying it was indecent but citing free speech and the lack of any disturbance.

OK So this is elitist at best, but here’s the rub. Religion is a stupid thing. It doesn’t take brains to believe in stupid things. It DOES take brains to QUESTION stupid things, and then to identify them as stupid.

A study published in the journal “Intelligence” shows the smarter a person is, the less likely they are to believe in God.Ulster University Psychology Professor Richard Lynn found a large percentage of people with a high IQ considered themselves to be atheists.His survey of the Royal Society found that just over three percent believed in God. That compares to nearly 69 percent of Britain’s general population who are believers.During the 20th century, as intelligence levels rose, religious belief in 137 developed nations declined. Critics dismiss Lynn’s research as too simplistic.