THE   FOCUS

February 6, 2009
Volume 5, Issue 7
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.

Comments, suggestions and subscription:
info@centerforatheism.org.

SEE NYC ATHEISTS BLOG:
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FEATURED ARTICLES 

Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnerships 
NY Times - Monday, February 2, 2009 
The 2008 election brought a new twist in the saga of same-sex marriage with the passage of measures banning marriage for gay couples in Florida, Arizona and in California, where the right had been granted less than six months earlier... 
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html 

Obama creates faith-based office with wide mission 
The Associated Press 
Focused primarily on faith-based initiatives, the Bush office sparked 
constitutional questions about whether the separation of church and 
state would be ... 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090205/ap_on_go_pr_wh/rel_obama_faith_based 

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ATHEISM 

Do Obama's nods to non-believers signal turning tide for US atheists? 
570 News - Kitchener,Ontario,Canada 
Three years after a high-profile University of Minnesota study found that atheists outranked Muslims and new immigrants as the most distrusted and despised ... 
http://www.570news.com/news/international/article.jsp?content=w0202123A 

Advertisements promoting atheism could appear on TransLink buses 
Vancouver Sun - British Columbia, Canada 
METRO VANCOUVER -- The jury is out on whether advertisements promoting atheism could appear on TransLink buses and facilities. The BC Humanist Association ... 
http://www.vancouversun.com/Entertainment/Advertisements+promoting+atheism+could+appear+TransLink+buses/1249400/story.html 

The free thinker: young Halifax activist takes on religion, censorship 
Xtra.ca - Toronto,Ontario,Canada 
Derek Rodgers is a member of the Dal Atheist Community and an outspoken advocate for freedom of speech. As soon as Derek Rodgers heard her voice, ... 
http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/The_free_thinker_young_Halifax_activist_takes_on_religion_censorship-6234.aspx 

Atheists back nurse's suspension 
BBC News - UK 
An atheist group has backed a decision by a healthcare trust to suspend a nurse who said she would pray for an elderly patient. Caroline Petrie, a Christian ... 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/7866934.stm 

TransLink faces a devil of a question 
Vancouver Sun - British Columbia, Canada 
He noted that an ad was posted on a community bulletin board at the SeaBus station in Vancouver related to the atheist campaign, but that it has since been ... 
http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=e944ef6c-b361-4f46-bd00-a8596300218f 

Possibly godless busses 
Ontarian - Guelph,ON,Canada 
"The whole point of the campaign is to bring atheism out of the 
shadows," Trottier said. He insists that this is an effort to begin a 
widespread dialogue ... 
http://theontarion.ca/archivearticle.php?date_pub=2009-02-05&id_pag=2210 

Atheists welcome in Obama's big church 
AFP 
"I doubt that any newly elected president has ever sat down with 
lobbyists for the American atheist movement to plot legislative 
strategy," the group's ... 
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090206/tls-us-politics-obama-religion-aeafa1b.html 

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BOOKS, FILM, THEATRE, TV, YOU TUBE 

'Banquet at DelMonico's' Evolution arguments raged in Darwin's ... 
Providence Journal - Providence,RI,USA 
"The evolution of life and of the physical world are now supplemented," said Yale paleontologist OC Marsh, "by the evolution of philosophy, of history, ... 
http://www.projo.com/books/content/BOOK-DELMONICOS_02-01-09_TVD07NC_v13.1451517.html 

Atheist Billboard Turning Heads In South Carolina Lowcountry 
WJBF-TV - Augusta,GA,USA 
It'sa billboard that some say is promoting atheism, but the group who put it there says, that's not necessarily the case. Count on Josh Cascio with that ... 
http://www.wjbf.com/jbf/news/state_regional/south_carolina/article/atheist_billboard_turning_heads_in_south_carolina_lowcountry/10562/ 

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EVOLUTION, CREATIONISM, I.D.
 

Half of Britons reject evolution, survey finds 
guardian.co.uk - UK 
Half of British adults do not believe in evolution, with at least 22% preferring the theories of creationism or intelligent design to explain how the world ... 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/feb/01/evolution-darwin-survey-creationism 

Scientists use Darwin theory to develop new technologies 
Houston Chronicle - United States 
26, Noon Still a flash point among fundamentalist Christians, the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin 150 years ago has become an indispensable ... 
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6240745.html 

Poll reveals public doubts over Charles Darwin's theory of evolution 
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom 
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent More than half of the public believe that the theory of evolution cannot explain the full ... 
http://wwwtelegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4410927/Poll-reveals-public-doubts-over-Charles-Darwins-theory-of-evolution.html 

Darwin 200 years later: Evolution by selection of quotations 
Scientific American - USA 
"In a single stroke, the idea of evolution by natural selection unifies the realm of life, meaning and purpose with the realm of space and time, ... 
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=darwin-200-years-later-evolution-by-2009-02-02 

Hailing the evolutionary revolutionary 
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia 
Cane toads marching across the top end of Australia are a striking example of evolution in action. In the seven decades since these poisonous pests were ... 
http://www.smh.com.au/news/specials/science/hailing-the-evolutionary-revolutionary/2009/02/04/1233423310996.html 

Ben Stein cancels Vermont speech in evolution row 
The Associated Press 
That view holds that life is too complex to have developed through evolution alone, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation. ... 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iDhyGeMxee5BWjjAooBDVR6JDqPgD964E9M81 

God or Ape, Louisiana Teachers Get New Handbook to Teach Both 
DigitalJournal.com - Toronto,Ontario,Canada 
Those rules are in a handbook telling teachers how they can teach Intelligent Design. The law was passed allowing it last year, and this year are ... 
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/266544 
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SCIENCE 

Call To Action: Running Out Of Options To Fight Ever-changing 'Super Bugs 
ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2009) — People are dying from "super bugs" because our antibiotic arsenal has run dry, leaving the world without sufficient weapons to fight ever-changing bacteria, warn infectious disease researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128183925.htm 

Did I See What I Think I Saw? 
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2009) — Eyewitness testimony is a crucial part of many criminal trials even though research increasingly suggests that it may not be as accurate as we (and many lawyers) would like it to be... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128160835.htm 

Capture Of Nanomagnetic 'Fingerprints' A Boost For Next-generation Information Storage Media 
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2009) — In the race to develop the next generation of storage and recording media, a major hurdle has been the difficulty of studying the tiny magnetic structures that will serve as their building blocks... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090129102338.htm 

Black Hole Outflows From Centaurus A 
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2009) — Astronomers have a new insight into the active galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128), as the jets and lobes emanating from the central black hole have been imaged at submillimetre wavelengths for the first time... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128074617.htm 

What Happens When We Sleep 
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2009) — Lack of sleep is a common complaint but for many, falling asleep involuntarily during the day poses a very real and dangerous problem. A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) at McGill University demonstrates interestingly... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128160839.htm 

Women Have More Nightmares Than Men, Study Shows 
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2009) — A researcher from the University of the West of England was inspired by her own nightmares and a chance encounter at a lecture to examine more closely the stuff that dreams are made of. Her PhD study has focused on an astounding discovery that women suffer more nightmares then men... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128104535.htm 

Billion-year Revision Of Plant Evolution Timeline May Stem From Discovery Of Lignin In Seaweed 
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2009) — Land plants' ability to sprout upward through the air, unsupported except by their own woody tissues, has long been considered one of the characteristics separating them from aquatic plants, which rely on water to support them... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090127090723.htm 
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SEPARATION CHURCH / STATE 

Religion, Politics Seldom Far Apart In Arkansas 
The Morning News - Springdale,AR,USA 
Still, she acknowledged that church and state have a history of mingling in Arkansas. In fact, the Arkansas Constitution states, "No person who denies the ... 
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/01/31/legislature/020109lrreligioninpolitics.txt 

Debate rages over Hebrew charter school in NYC 
The Associated Press 
The ACLU contends that the Minnesota school violates the separation of church and state by permitting prayer sessions during school hours and by giving ... 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iSUYbGpPUoZb-asfWt5H_6CI74lAD96407K00 

Appeals court will hear challenge today to Texas schools' 'moment ... 
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA 
David Wallace Croft of Carrollton, an atheist, sued the state, arguing that the moment of silence violates a constitutionally mandated separation of church ... 
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/020309dnmetschoolmoment.1640c66a.html 

State high court to hear Prop. 8 case March 5 
San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA 
8 also argue that it violates the constitutional separation of powers by stripping the judiciary of its ability to protect a minority group. ... 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/03/BAMB15MMOH.DTL 

Conservative Groups Declare Obama's Stimulus Bill a War on Prayer 
FOXNews - USA 
Civil liberty groups like the Americans United for Separation of Church and State vehemently defend the stimulus bill's provision, arguing that it in no way ... 
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/04/conservative-groups-declare-obamas-stimulus-war-prayer/ 

CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION ADVOCATE SAYS OBAMA DELAYING DECISION ON ... 
Tapped - Washington,DC,USA 
Welton Gaddy, president of the church-state separation and religious liberty advocacy group The Interfaith Alliance. Gaddy tells me that Joshua DuBois, ... 
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=02&year=2009&base_name=churchstate_separation_advocat 

Obama Appoints WFU Church-State Specialist to Faith-Based Post 
Media General Washington Bureau - Washington,DC,USA 
Critics of the office under Bush said it blurred the legal separation 
of church and state by favoring religious groups over secular groups 
in awarding ... 
http://www.mgwashington.com/index.php/news/article/obama-appoints-wfu-church-state-specialist-to-faith-based-post/2509/ 

Controversy surrounds Obama's faith office 
CNN International - USA 
In the other corner are separation-of-church-and-state advocates and 
human-rights organizations that say the government must 
constitutionally compel these ... 
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/05/obama.faith.based/indexhtml?eref=ib_topstories 

Church-State Separationists Question Obama's Faith-Based Office 
CNSNews.com - Alexandria,VA,USA 
Conservatives are leery as to what type of faith-based funding will 
occur, while the liberal Americans United for Separation of Church and 
State is upset ... 
http://wwwcnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=43107 

Americans United - Obama's 'faith-based' program lacks ... 
Examiner.com - USA 
Americans United for Separation of Church and State today expressed 
disappointment that President Barack Obama's "faith-based" initiative 
is being rolled ... 
http://www.examiner.com/x-2044-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m2d6-Americans-United--Obamas-faithbased-program-lacks-Constitutional-safeguards 
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MISCELLANEOUS 

JENNIFER ABEL: Belligerent design left her in the snow 
Bristol Press - CT, United States 
By Jennifer Abel The theory of Belligerent Design states that the universe was created by an intelligent being with a chip on his shoulder, who takes his ... 
http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2009/01/31/opinion/doc4984f926d3440467798926.txt 

British Christians launch pro-God ads after atheist blitz 
AFP 
LONDON (AFP) — A British Christian group is to run a pro-God poster 
campaign on the side of London buses, to counter a recent atheist 
advertising blitz ... 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090205/lf_afp/lifestylebritainreligiontransport_20090205201050 

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