THE   FOCUS
centerforatheism.org
 
 
 
 
 
 

JUNE 18, 2010
Volume 6, Issue 25
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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Comments, suggestions and subscription:
info@centerforatheism.org
 
 
 
 
 
 
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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

Court will wait to hear Conn. graduation appeal
San Jose Mercury News
... the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and Americans United for Separation of Church and State warning they'd sue to keep the events secular. ...
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15295238?nclick_check=1
 
 


ATHEISM

The players with God on their side
Times Online
Even though he is now an atheist, he is adamant that faith was pivotal to his success. “Believing in something beyond the self can have a hugely beneficial ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/international/article7150133.ece
 
 


Freethinkers believe Chicago open to gospel of reason
Chicago Breaking News - Tribune (blog)
When the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign and American Humanist Association wanted to spark a public conversation last spring about the origin of religion, ...
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/06/freethinkers-think-chicago-open-to-gospel-of-reason.html
 
 


BOOKS, FILM, THEATRE, TV, YOU TUBE

Journalist delivers 'compellingly odd memoir'
Dayton Daily News
Hitchens is an atheist and this manifesto detailing his beliefs, or lack thereof, became a huge best-seller. Now Hitchens, who recently turned 60, ...
http://www.daytondailynews.com/lifestyle/journalist-delivers-compellingly-odd-memoir-759673.html
 
 


Was Christopher Hitchens a Cuban Revolutionary?
Miami New Times (blog)
But what's the man who wrote the atheist manifesto God Is Not Great doing reading in a temple? The reading starts at 7:30 pm, and Temple Judea is located at ...
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/06/the_daily_show_with_jon.php
 
 


Here's the Hitch: Christopher Hitchens writes a memoir
The Canadian Press
His creed, if any, is atheism. In his memoir, Hitchens accepts the honour of being associated with such prominent nonbelievers as Richard Dawkins and Daniel ...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h0T5d1MIx-18bHIgypt80pLe4Cxg

Michael Shermer: The pattern behind self-deception
Exchange Morning Post
As founder and publisher of Skeptic Magazine, Michael Shermer has exposed fallacies behind intelligent design, 9/11 conspiracies, the low-carb craze, ...
http://www.exchangemagazine.com/morningpost/2010/week24/Tuesday/061509.htm
 
 


EVOLUTION, CREATIONISM, I.D.

New school standards will keep focus on evolution
North Platte Telegraph
Intelligent design, meantime, would remain the province of philosophers and theologians. Although advocates of intelligent design enjoyed fleeting success ...
http://www.nptelegraph.com/articles/2010/06/13/news/state/60006578.txt
 
 


California Science Center to Pay Attorneys' Fees and Settle Open Records ...
PR Newswire (press release)
Darwin's Dilemma investigates the intelligent design of organisms during the "Cambrian Explosion" more than 500 million years ago. ...
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/california-science-center-to-pay-attorneys-fees-and-settle-open-records-lawsuit-by-intelligent-design-group-96307034.html
 
 


Evolution in Nebraska
National Center for Science Education
... Board of Education say they're not aware of any effort by board members or the public to include intelligent design in Nebraska's new science standards. ...
http://ncse.com/news/2010/06/evolution-nebraska-005573
 
 


SCIENCE

Zooming in on an Infant Solar System: For the First Time, Astronomers Have Observed Solar Systems in the Making in Great Detail
ScienceDaily (June 12, 2010) — A team led by University of Arizona astronomer Joshua Eisner has observed in unprecedented detail the processes giving rise to stars and planets in nascent solar systems...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100611093611.htm
 
 


NASA Helps in Upcoming Asteroid Mission Homecoming
ScienceDaily (June 12, 2010) — The space and astronomy worlds have June 13 circled on the calendar...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100610140127.htm
 
 


Tiny Insect Brains Capable of Huge Feats
ScienceDaily (June 12, 2010) — Insects may have tiny brains the size of a pinhead, but the latest research from the University of Adelaide shows just how clever they really are...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100611093615.htm
 
 


NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Fires Past Record for Speed Change
ScienceDaily (June 11, 2010) — Deep in the heart of the asteroid belt, on its way to the first of the belt's two most massive inhabitants, NASA's ion-propelled Dawn spacecraft has eclipsed the record for velocity change produced by a spacecraft's engines...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100610140224.htm
 
 


'Dark Pulse Laser' Produces Bursts of ... Almost Nothing
ScienceDaily (June 11, 2010) — In an advance that sounds almost Zen, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder, have demonstrated a new type of pulsed laser that excels at not producing light. The new device generates sustained streams of "dark pulses" -- repeated dips in light intensity -- which is the opposite of the bright bursts in a typical pulsed laser...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609171804.htm
 
 


First-Time Parents' Daily Sleep Duration Predicts Their Relationship Satisfaction
ScienceDaily (June 11, 2010) — First-time parents' relationship satisfaction is related to the amount of sleep they get while caring for an infant, according to a research abstract presented June 9, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609083227.htm
 
 


Sharks Can Really Sniff out Their Prey, and This Is How They Do It
ScienceDaily (June 10, 2010) — It's no secret that sharks have a keen sense of smell and a remarkable ability to follow their noses through the ocean, right to their next meal. Now, researchers reporting online on June 10th in Current Biology, have figured out how the sharks manage to keep themselves on course...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100610125617.htm
 
 


Exoplanet Caught on the Move
ScienceDaily (June 10, 2010) — For the first time, astronomers have been able to directly follow the motion of an exoplanet as it moves from one side of its host star to the other. The planet has the smallest orbit so far of all directly imaged exoplanets, lying almost as close to its parent star as Saturn is to the Sun. Scientists believe that it may have formed in a similar way to the giant planets in the Solar System...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100610141034.htm
 
 


SEPARATION CHURCH / STATE

IRS received complaint about Rapid City pastor endorsing Howie
Rapid City Journal
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State sent a letter Thursday to the IRS, asking it to investigate the Rev. H. Wayne Williams and Liberty ...
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_b83cc2fe-74e4-11df-804c-001cc4c002e0.html
 
 


Group: Charter school still violating constitution
Janesville Gazette
Moore noted in an earlier letter to Americans United for Separation of Church and State that the school is housed in a connected but separate building, ...
http://gazettextra.com/news/2010/jun/11/group-charter-school-still-violating-constitution/
 
 


Idaho Charter School Appeals Religious Text Ruling
Education Week News
But she also added: "The Idaho Constitution and Idaho courts are consistently more restrictive with respect to separation of church and state in connection ...
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/06/14/360996idcharterschoolfederallawsuit_ap.html
 
 


School trades evangelism access for shoes, school supplies
USA Today
Combee Elementary School in Lakeland, Fla., where separation of church and state is clearly not on the social studies curriculum, has been "adopted" by ...
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/06/souls-for-shoes-separation-of-church-and-state-baptist-church/1
 
 


MISCELLANEOUS

6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning
Associated Press
MONROE, Ohio (AP) — A six-story statue of Jesus Christ was struck by lightning and burned to the ground, leaving only a blackened steel skeleton and pieces of foam that were scooped up by curious onlookers Tuesday...
http://my.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20100615/63d8ef7f-6ce3-4da8-9b6b-521dd01fe198&sms_ss=email
 
 



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