Turnabout is fair play: Satanists are using the Hobby Lobby ruling to demand religious exemptions from anti-abortion laws.The Satanic Temple has launched a new campaign seeking a religious exemption to certain anti-abortion laws that attempt to dissuade women from ending a pregnancy. The group says they have deeply held beliefs about bodily autonomy and scientific accuracy, and those beliefs are violated by state-level “informed consent” laws that rely on misleading information about abo … [Read more...]
Court rules Ground Zero Cross is Secular, not Religious
July 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Tortured logic: A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court has found that “the actual purpose in displaying the Cross at Ground Zero has always been secular.”That’s right, the court ruled the purpose of displaying a Christian symbol has always been secular.The appeals court ruled on Monday that the memorial cross at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York can remain at the newly-opened facility because the purpose of the cross is secular, not relig … [Read more...]
Atheist activists issue joint statement on bullying and harassment
July 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Prominent atheist activists Ophelia Benson and Professor Richard Dawkins released a joint statement this weekend condemning bullying and harassment within the community of atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and other secular minded individuals.The statement was released simultaneously this weekend on Benson’s blog and Dawkins’ website. The following is the text of that statement in full: It’s not news that allies can’t always agree on everything. People who rely on reason rather than dogma to … [Read more...]
Conservative Christians boycott ‘Black Jesus’
July 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Blasphemy? Conservative Christians are apoplectic with rage over the portrayal of Jesus Christ as an altruistic black guy living in modern-day Compton, California.Several Christian groups are boycotting the new Adult Swim comedy “Black Jesus” before its first episode even airs.Washington Post reports that currently there are at least four Change.org petitions asking Adult Swim to cancel the show. The biggest one, by Christian Network, has more than 3,000 signatures. It asserts that the sh … [Read more...]
Michele Bachmann claims gays promote child rape, pedophilia
July 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In an alarming outburst of homophobic extremism, potential Republican presidential candidate and Christian conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann accused the LGBT community of advocating for pedophilia and the legalization of child rape during a recent interview on the conservative radio show “Faith & Liberty.”Warning that “our culture” is embracing “deviance,” Bachmann said that the gay community wants to “abolish age of consent laws, which means we will do away with statutory rape laws so t … [Read more...]
Michigan mayor compares atheists to KKK, Nazis
July 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
A Michigan mayor compared atheists to the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis in an attempt to justify his decision to prohibit secular groups from setting up a “reason station” alongside a “prayer station” on public property.Mayor Jim Fouts of Warren, Mich., recently banned an atheist from setting up a “reason station” alongside a “prayer station” in the city hall atrium. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Freedom From Religion Found … [Read more...]
GOP candidate claims fossil record proves humans lived with dinosaurs
July 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Minnesota House of Representatives candidate Bob Frey wants public schools to teach students that humans and dinosaurs lived together. Frey, a Michele Bachmann ally, testified before the Minnesota Senate Education Committee, speaking against the inclusion of the theory of evolution in proposed state science education standards. The following is an excerpt from that testimony:... They like to say that humans probably evolved from bacteria that lived more than four billion years ago, but … [Read more...]
ISIS orders female genital mutilation for all women and girls in Iraq
July 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The United Nations reports the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has ordered all girls and women between the ages of 11 and 46 to undergo female genital mutilation. Major media outlets are reporting the Islamic militants have issued a "fatwa" demanding female genital mutilation that could affect about 4 million women and girls. U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Jacqueline Badcock, reports:"This is something very new for Iraq, particularly in this area, and is of … [Read more...]
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