THE   FOCUS

MARCH 26, 2010
Volume 6, Issue 13
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.


 
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.
 
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FEATURED ARTICLES 

Faith No More 
National Post 
When celebrity nonbeliever Richard Dawkins finished addressing his hundreds of Godless followers at the American Atheists Convention at Atlanta's Emory ... 
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2704548&p=1 

Atheists question spirituality award at National Academy of Sciences 
USA Today 
The award of a prize celebrating spiritual scientists at the US National Academy of Sciences headquarters this week has irritated some atheist ... 
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/03/atheists-question-faith-in-science-academy-over-prize/1 

State senator urges closing the book on state ed board 
Houston Chronicle 
Then, they work to revise Thomas Jefferson's views on separation of church and state.” David Bradley, R-Beaumont, one of the board's social conservative ... 
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6927376.html 

ATHEISM 

Atheists vow to fight on as Tampa council affirms pre-meeting invocations 
Tampabay.com 
The action came after a stream of atheists implored the council to end the practice, saying it discriminates against them. The group has been making its ... 
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/atheists-vow-to-fight-on-as-tampa-council-affirms-pre-meeting-invocations/1080903 

Akron City Council defends prayer before meetings 
Akron Beacon Journal 
''What if they were promoting atheism — saying, 'There is no God.' That would be just as egregious. That's the other side of the coin.'' 
http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/88485922.html 

KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports, classifieds-Atheist Group trying to ... 
KAIT 
Entertainment News from AP Here is the latest Missouri news from AP JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) – The word atheist has always had a negative connotation, ... 
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=12173533 

Secular Humanist Takes On New Atheism 
Huffington Post (blog) 
March 23, 2010 -- Concerned that his positive vision of humanism is being threatened and perhaps eclipsed with a new brand of acerbic atheism, Paul Kurtz ... 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/secular-humanist-takes-on_n_512153.html 

Atheist billboard coming 
St. Augustine Record 
By PETER GUINTA Someone in your neighborhood -- perhaps even in your own family -- is a freethinker, humanist, atheist or agnostic. The Washington, DC-based ... 
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-03-25/atheist-billboard-coming 

BOOKS, FILM, THEATRE, TV, YOU TUBE 

YouTube - The Evolution of the Eye 
The fact that you use the words "constucted" & "construct this body" may tell you, even with todays science, we have NO idea how its done... evolution is ... 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TEKDWAe_b8 

TED 2010: Sam Harris Claims That Science Can Answer Moral Questions (VIDEO) 
Huffington Post (blog) 
Best known as an outspoken atheist and the author of The End of Faith, writer-turned-neuroscientist Sam Harris has echoed the assertion, normally associated ... 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/22/ted-2010-sam-harris-claim_n_509052.html 

EVOLUTION, CREATIONISM, I.D. 

Smithsonian's Natural History Museum opens its Hall of Human Origins 
Washington Post 
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History honors its 100 years on the National Mall with a new exhibit space devoted to human evolution. ... 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/18/AR2010031800820.html 

Evolution of Fairness Driven by Culture, Not Genes 
Wired News 
“Once you get cultural evolution going with any strength, you get the enforcement of these norms.” Behaviors interlock in a way that rewards fairness and ... 
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/evolution-of-fairness/ 

Atheist group files complaint against Christian school 
www.kamloopsnews.ca 
The atheist group's director, Bill Ligertwood, filed his complaint last week, asking the ministry to stop funding faith-based schools teaching evolution ... 
http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20100323/KAMLOOPS0101/303239984/-1/KAMLOOPS01/atheist-group-files-complaint-against-christian-school 

'Man flu' may be all a matter of evolution 
Times Online 
Now scientists say that men may have been left by evolution less well-equipped to fend off disease. In an evolutionary twist, it appears that there is a ... 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7073376.ece 

SCIENCE 

Brain Scans Could Be Marketing Tool of the Future 
ScienceDaily (Mar. 21, 2010) — Using advanced tools to see the human brain at work, a new generation of marketing experts may be able to test a product's appeal while it is still being designed, according to a new analysis by two researchers at Duke University and Emory University... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304112233.htm 

UK Scientists Devise Worldwide Food Alert System 
ScienceDaily (Mar. 21, 2010) — Countries producing food containing harmful bacteria and toxins could be named and shamed more quickly using a worldwide alert system devised by a team of scientists from Kingston University in South West London. The team, led by Professor Declan Naughton, says the easy to use computer tool can be used to monitor contaminated products... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304112320.htm 

Evidence Indicates Humans' Early Tree-Dwelling Ancestors Were Also Bipedal 
ScienceDaily (Mar. 20, 2010) — More than three million years ago, the ancestors of modern humans were still spending a considerable amount of their lives in trees, but something new was happening... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100319202526.htm 

Breakthrough for the Quantum Simulator: When Ultra-Cold Atoms Can Be Anything 
ScienceDaily (Mar. 20, 2010) — For the first time, an international research team from the universities of Stuttgart, Innsbruck and Nottingham have succeeded in describing a quantum simulator realizable with current technology... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100315231554.htm 

Some Bullies Are Just the Shy Type: New Research Shows a Darker Side to Social Anxiety Disorder 
ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2010) — When you think of people suffering from social anxiety, you probably characterize them as shy, inhibitive and submissive. However, new research from psychologists Todd Kashdan and Patrick McKnight at George Mason University suggests that there is a subset of socially anxious people who act out in aggressive, risky ways... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100318113255.htm 

Light Twists Rigid Structures in Unexpected Nanotech Finding 
ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2010) — In findings that took the experimenters three years to believe, University of Michigan engineers and their collaborators have demonstrated that light itself can twist ribbons of nanoparticles... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100317112059.htm 

Students Discover New Species of Raptor Dinosaur in Inner Mongolia 
ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2010) — A new species of dinosaur, a relative of the famous Velociraptor, has been discovered in Inner Mongolia by two PhD students... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100319085257.htm 

WISE Captures a Cosmic Rosebud Blossoming With New Stars 
ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2010) — A new infrared image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows a cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars. The stars, called the Berkeley 59 cluster, are the blue dots to the right of the image center. They are ripening out of the dust cloud from which they formed, and at just a few million years old, are young on stellar time scales... 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100316183430.htm 

SEPARATION CHURCH / STATE 

First Hebrew-language charter school gets approval in Santa Clarita Valley 
Los Angeles Times (blog) 
... the go-ahead this week, after modifications to the charter helped to allay concerns that the institution would violate separation of church and state. ... 
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/first-hebrewlanguage-charter-school-gets-approval-in-santa-clarita-valley.html 

Arlington affordable housing dispute morphs into test of church-state separation 
Washington Post 
... is suing the church, the county and Virginia in federal court, saying the development violates the constitutional separation of church and state. ... 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032003068.html?sid=ST2010032004054 

In Texas Curriculum Fight, Identity Politics Leans Right 
New York Times 
the History News Network asked, referring to the board's recommendation that Jefferson, who coined the expression “separation of church and state,” be ... 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/weekinreview/21tanenhaus.html 

Group willing to fight for separation of church and state 
Canton Repository 
Freedom From Religion is adamant in its belief the authors of the Constitution crafted the First Amendment to ensure a separation between church and state. ... 
http://www.cantonrep.com/stark/lake/x427979358/Group-willing-to-fight-for-separation-of-church-and-state 

Church and State Get Too Close for Comfort in Va. 
NBC Washington 
A group of nearby residents is suing Arlington County and Virginia, claiming the development would violate the separation of church and state, according to ... 
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/House-Of-Worship-88760372.html 

School District Will Not Edit Out Cross Video 
WBAY 
Last month, the Madison-based foundation asked the school to remove the clip, citing a need for the separation of church and state. ... 
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=12183968 

Teacher's 'God' banners at heart of legal dispute 
San Diego Union Tribune 
In a news release, the district said the banners violate the separation of church and state and said other displays touching on religion in other classrooms ... 
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/22/educator-teaching-is-honor/ 

Council Member's Christian Prayer Prompts Complaint 
News Channel 7 
... that there are people in the audience that are very diverse," says Miles, who is a member of Americans United For the Separation of Church and State. ... 
http://www2.wspa.com/news/2010/mar/22/5/council-members-christian-prayer-prompts-complaint-ar-68738/ 

Senator wants to abolish State Board of Education 
Dallas Morning News (blog) 
Hinojosa referred in particular to a board decision to not have students study First Amendment language that requires separation of church and state - an ... 
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/03/senator-wants-to-abolish-state.html 

White urges Perry to get state board to revisit social studies curriculum 
Fort Worth Star Telegram 
... factions of the board of wanting to downplay Jefferson's contributions because he advocated a "wall of separation" between church and state. ... 
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/23/2061907/white-urges-perry-to-get-state.html 

Springs nonprofit hopes billboards spark diversity dialogue 
Colorado Springs Gazette 
Citizens Project, a local nonprofit that trumpets separation of church and state, has rented 12 billboards and bus-shelter spaces in Colorado Springs to ... 
http://www.gazette.com/articles/billboards-96161-springs-diversity.html 

Buffalo Grove atheist fighting state construction spending 
Chicago Daily Herald 
By Timothy Magaw | Daily Herald Staff SPRINGFIELD - A Buffalo Grove atheist claims that $2.3 billion worth of construction grants are unconstitutionally ... 
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=368259 

MISCELLANEOUS 

China tightens financial controls on religious groups 
New Straits Times 
China officially allows freedom of religion, but in practice, the atheist Communist Party restricts religious groups through a bureaucratic registration ... 
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20100319155012/Article/index_html 

High demand for Muhammad cartoons 
The Local 
However, I must agree that nobody killed IN THE NAME of atheism. Only WHILE BEING an atheist, which is a big difference. If he is profiteering from such ... 
http://www.thelocal.se/25624/20100319/ 

Intelligent Design Trial | The Onion - America's Finest News Source 
The Onion 
A debate has arisen over a Pennsylvania school board's decision to teach both intelligent design and evolution in the classroom. What are some highlights ... 
http://www.theonion.com/articles/intelligent-design-trial,8141/ 
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