THE   FOCUS

November 23, 2008
Volume 4, Issue 47
Published by the Center For Atheism (CFA)
Editor: David Birnkrant
 
The Focus provides links to articles collected from major newspapers and magazines, and is emailed weekly.

This Week in Atheism is a cable show that discusses the articles featured below, every Wednesday at 6:30 PM (EST), Manhattan Cable station 57. 
Live streaming is available at: 
http://www.mnn.org.

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FEATURED ARTICLES

Protest Over a Rule to Protect Health Providers

New York Times - by Robert Pear

WASHINGTON — A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/washington/18abort.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

 

Most Texas profs back unlimited teaching of evolution

Houston Chronicle - United States

By GARY SCHARRER AUSTIN â€" The verdict from Texas scientists is nearly unanimous: 98 percent favor the unadulterated teaching of evolution in public school ...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6118016.html

 

State high court to take up Prop. 8 challenge

Sacramento Bee - CA, USA

Whether it violates the separation of powers doctrine under the state constitution. • If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what its effect is, if any, ...

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1413084.html

 

 
 
News Articles
  (Some publications may require that you sign up for membership to view their article.)

ATHEISM

Religion alters visual perception

New Scientist (subscription) - UK

To see if religious differences might skew perception, Hommel's team tested 40 Dutch atheist and Calvinist university students, who, religion aside, ...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16046-religion-alters-visual-perception.html

 

Atheist holiday ad bound to turn heads

News-Leader.com - Springfield,MO,USA

"Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during ...

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20081115/LIFE07/811150324

 

Faith and the Uniform

The Washington Independent - Washington,DC,USA

The action follows on the heels of a much-publicized legal case involving atheism and the military. Jeremy Hall, 23, a US Army specialist, ..

http://washingtonindependent.com/18788/faith-and-the-uniform

 

Atheists Reach Out -- Just Don't Call It Proselytizing

Wall Street Journal - USA

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which represents atheists and agnostics, kicked off an ad campaign with this billboard in Madison, Wis. ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122696699813835335.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

Lip Service

Charleston City Paper - Charleston,SC,USA

"My problem with Ketner," wrote South Carolina's leading atheist, "was a 30-second TV ad in which she proclaimed her love of God three times. ...

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A55242

 

Atheist Billboards Now Up In Denver

TheDenverChannel.com - Denver,CO,USA

Joel Guttormson, the president of the Metro State Atheists, said the billboard should be viewed as nothing more than a message to non-believers. ...

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/18003483/detail.html

 

There is no God ... on Billboards

Fort Collins Now - Fort Collins,CO,USA

A coalition of atheist, humanist and free-thinking groups called Colorado CoRe — Coalition of Reason — bought about a dozen billboards with an image of the ...

http://www.fortcollinsnow.com/article/20081119/NEWS/811199988/1062&ParentProfile=1054&title=%20There%20is%20no%20God%20...%20on%20Billboards

 

Does Religion Make You Nice? Does atheism make you mean?

Virtue Online - West Chester,PA,USA

... worthy of consideration aren't those like North Korea and China, where religion is savagely repressed, but those in which people freely choose atheism. ...

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9399

 

Billboard promoting atheism will be removed

Press-Enterprise - Riverside,CA,USA

By DAVID OLSON An Ontario billboard company is removing a controversial Rancho Cucamonga billboard promoting atheism after receiving complaints, ...

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_atheist21.44263f8.html

 

BOOKS, FILM, THEATRE, TV, YOUTUBE

Cats, Dogs, and Creationism: On Intelligent Design and the Left

Monthly Review - Herndon,VA,USA

Why devote a whole book to that argument, as John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York do in their recent Critique of Intelligent Design (Monthly ...

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bricmont141108.html

 

EVOLUTION, CREATIONISM, I.D.

Darwin art strikes wrong note

guardian.co.uk - UK

'Mockingbirds and finches were important in getting Darwin thinking about evolution, but hummingbirds played no role at all. Presumably the artist just ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/16/darwinbicentenary-currencies

 

Texas biology professors see little controversial about evolution ...

Fort Worth Star Telegram - Fort Worth,TX,USA

By MARK AGEE Most college biology professors in Texas see little controversial about evolution, according to a survey commissioned by an advocacy group ...

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1044802.html

 

95% of professors back teaching only evolution in Texas schools

Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA

About 95 percent of those responding to the study by the progressive group Texas Freedom Network said schools should teach "just evolution" in covering the ...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/111808dntexevolution.3c0a5be.html

 

State education panel hears evolution debate

Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN – Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution grabbed center stage Wednesday as State Board of Education ...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/112008dntexscience.3d3243d.html

 

Draft of revised Texas science standards further undermines ..

Pegasus News - Dallas,TX,USA

"All of a sudden, a new draft appears with loaded buzz words that evolution deniers have used repeatedly to launch phony attacks on evolution," Miller said. ...

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/nov/19/draft-revised-texas-science-standards-further-unde/

 

Evolution exhibit honoring F. Clark Howell debuts in VLSB

Berkeleyan Online - Berkeley,CA,USA

The exhibit, jointly sponsored by the UC Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) and the Human Evolution Research Center, is the handiwork of integrative-biology ...

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2008/11/20_evolution.shtml

 

SCIENCE

UI researchers using genetic relationships to track evolution

Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette - Champaign,IL,USA

They found that changes in ribosome structures are "molecular fossils" that track evolution. UI Professor Zaida Luthey-Schulten and graduate student Elijah ...

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2008/11/16/ui_researchers_using_genetic_relationships_to_track_evolution

 

Chemists: Proteins may guide evolution

Princeton University The Daily Princetonian - NJ, United States

By Aaron Hosios University researchers have discovered a molecular mechanism that may play a determining role in an organism's evolution, according to a ...

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2008/11/18/22145/

 

Two From One: Evolution Of Genders From Hermaphroditic Ancestors ...

Science Daily (press release) - USA

20 edition of the journal Heredity could finally provide evidence of the first stages of the evolution of separate sexes, a theory that holds that males and ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081120171328.htm

 

Humanity may hold key for next Earth evolution

Harvard University Gazette - Cambridge,MA,USA

By Alvin Powell Human degradation of the environment has the potential to stall an ongoing process of planetary evolution, and even rewind the evolutionary ...

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/11.20/11-earth.html

 

SEPARATION CHURCH / STATE

500 protest in Providence over Calif. ban of gay marriage

Providence Journal - Providence,RI,USA

... said that that would be appropriate "especially in Rhode Island, a state that was founded on the idea of equality, of separation of church and state. ...

http://www.projo.com/news/content/PROP_8_PROTEST_11-16-08_UQC9UNT_v44.34b8bb8.html

 

Brooklyn Park megachurch smites IRS in info showdown

Minneapolis Star Tribune - Minneapolis,MN,USA

By MARY LYNN SMITH, Star Tribune It seems that when it comes to money, churches are all for separation of church and state. But, when it comes to power, ...

http://www.startribune.com/local/north/34718789.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

 

Still Roiled By Prop 8

Gay City News - USA

... the gay marriage issue is," said Bill Dobbs, a veteran gay and peace activist who favors civil unions for all and the separation of church and state. ...

http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20202786&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568864&rfi=6

 

ACLU wants to ensure Freedom Fest not overtly Christian

Tampabay.com - St. Petersburg,FL,USA

County tourism officials believe they have found a way to meet the separation of church and state provisions in the US and Florida constitutions. ...

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article912837.ece

 

MISCELLANEOUS

Prop 8 attacks gay rights

The Collegian online - Tulsa,OK,USA

As Thomas Jefferson once said, the First Amendment creates "a wall of separation between church and State." Christian and non-Christian dogmas alike have no ...

http://www.utulsa.edu/collegian/article.asp?article=3953

 


 
 
  CONVENTIONS / MEETINGS / EVENTS 

No upcoming events for 2008
  
 
             
 
        CFA Program
 
The Center for Atheism (CFA) was established by the New York City Atheists as a separate and independent national organization to propose, develop, and be a catalyst for new national activities supporting the objectives of atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics, secularists and separation-of-church-and-state advocates. 

CFA will accept and review suggestions from individuals and other secular organizations that will foster our goals.
 
 
          Special Notices

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