Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) joined the ranks of leading Republicans condemning evolution last week. On Bill Maher’s show, Kingston was asked directly if he believed in evolution and announced “I believe I came from God not from a monkey so the answer is no.”
Continue reading “Representative: Darwin Be Damned, I’m No Monkey”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The Florida Bar has filed a complaint with the Florida Supreme Court against attorney John Stemberger, accusing him of violating legal rules of conduct regarding his handling of the Rifqa Bary case. Rifqa Bary was the Muslim girl who converted to Christianity and then ran away from her Ohio home claiming that she was an intended victim of an honor killing. She was returned to Ohio and placed into the custody of Franklin County Children Services, until her 18th birthday on 10 August 2010.
She became a cause célèbre for right wing evangelicals.
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Lei Li, a Chinese Christian whose request for asylum in the United States was denied by an immigration judge in 2005, should be given another chance.
Lei, who became a Christian in 1999, said he was persecuted in China for practicing his faith. He claims he was arrested and beaten “for hosting an underground Christian church in his home.” After his release from police custody, Lei says he lost his job. In 2001, he came to the United States on a visitor visa—but he violated its terms by working.
In 2003, Li applied for asylum in the United States. He filed a petition for withholding from removal under the Convention Against Torture. In 2005, immigration judge Renee Renner rejected Lei’s petition for asylum because she felt he hadn’t answered “basic” questions about Christianity correctly. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Renner didn’t have evidence to make such a judgment.
Continue reading “Appeals Court Rules Religious Test Improper in Asylum Case”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
This case was argued before the Supreme Court on 6 Oct. 2010 and we are awaiting their decision. This is the “funeral picketing” case involving Petitioner Albert Snyder, the father of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder who was killed in Iraq, and Respondent Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church.
In a discovery that is being called “the smoking gun,” Irish media is reporting that they have a 1997 letter from the Vatican warning Ireland’s Catholic bishops not to report all suspected child-abuse cases to police. This was from 1997 — less then 13 years ago in the midst of the scandal. This occurred during the tenure of Pope John Paul II.
Continue reading “Vatican Warned Irish Bishops Not To Report Child Abuse in 1997”
Justice Gerard Hogan of Ireland’s High Court held a novel hearing on December 27th in his own home. Hogan ordered that the government give a lie-saving blood transfusion to a baby boy born in August 2010. His parents are both Jehovah Witnesses and had refused the procedure to save their son.
Continue reading “Irish Justice Orders Baby Saved Over Objections of Religious Parents”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
For those not familiar with William Lane Craig (WLC), he is a Christian apologist and a Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He debates atheists and he usually wins. He doesn’t win on the merits of his arguments but he is a skilled debater, while his opponents are not.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Navarre, Florida, resident Jackie Trebesh was pulled over by a Santa Rosa County deputy and given a trespass warning after leaving mass at St. Sylvester’s Catholic Church in Gulf Breeze. She was also denied communion during mass. Here crime? Someone said her daughter, Kelly, had improperly disposed of the host in the parking lot.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
We have previously discussed John Freshwater, a controversial teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio, who used a Tesla coil to brand crosses into the arm of a 7th grade student, here and updated his story, here.
The Mount Vernon School Board has voted, 4 to 1, to fire middle school science teacher John Freshwater.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The U.S. Army is using the mandatory Soldier Fitness Tracker to measure the “spiritual” fitness of soldiers as part of the $125 million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program. Soldiers are required to answer if they pray, if they attend religious services, and if they find comfort in religious beliefs. Non-believers are guaranteed to score poorly.
While homosexuals can serve openly since the repeal of DADT, atheists are spiritually unfit.
The chief rabbi in the city of Holon, Avraham Yosef, has issued a religious decree banning women from driving — again bringing extremists in both Islam and Judaism to a mutually agreeable position with regard to women’s rights.
Continue reading “Driving Miss Delilah: Leading Israeli Rabbi Bans Women From Driving”
The Vatican is teaming up with the Discovery Channel in a reality show based on the Vatican’s case files and interviews with its top exorcists. While Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon might have had to wait for a Vatican murder to get access to the Vatican files, Discovery can do so with the promise of a reality show. It just shows that even the Pope cannot resist the temptation of a reality show any more than Sarah Palin.
Continue reading “The Exorcist Files: Catholic Church Agrees To Reality Show With the Discovery Channel”
Rev. Sandra McGriff, head of The Church of the Living God and one of the members of a powerful political family in Dallas, has been accused of breaking into the home of a parishioner on Christmas Eve to steal more than $10,000 worth of property, including fur coats, designer purses and electronics. She denies the allegations.
Continue reading “Leading Evangelist Preacher in Dallas Arrested For Allegedly Breaking Into Parishioner’s Home to Steal Furs and Designer Purses”
A survey conducted of people in England established this year that, for the first time, the majority of that nation are not religious. Fifty-one percent of those polled reported that they have no religion — a sharp contrast to the same poll conducted in 1985 when 67% said that they were Christians.
Continue reading “For God and Country: England Now Non-Religious Nation For First Time in History”
Best wishes to everyone celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. Continue reading “Merry Christmas To All”