THE   FOCUS
centerforatheism.org

December 7, 2007 Volume 3, Issue 49
Published by the Center For Atheism (CFA)

Editor: Kenneth Bronstein

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: focus@centerforatheism.org.


 
         
      Featured Articles
    Law.com - Newdow's Pledge Arguments Get New Recital Before 9th Circuit
 
   Op-Ed: Islam’s Silent Moderates - New York Times
     When a moderate Muslim’s sense of compassion and conscience collides with religious 
     matters, he should choose compassion.
   A Church Is Divided, and Headed for Court - New York Times
     Religious rifts have flooded courts nationwide with civil lawsuits over church property,
     an area of jurisprudence where courts are notoriously uncomfortable.
   Monkey Business - Stanley Fish - Think Again - Opinion - New York ...
      Stanley Fish's columns on challenging entrenched ideas about politics, education and
      society.
 
   Taxpayer-funded school will ban atheists and egg-eaters National Secular Society 
     A new Hindu school, opening in Harrow, Middlesex next September, will have some of
     the most stringent religious entry requirements in the country. ...
 
     Party of Disbelief - National Review Online 
     Indeed, this is the explicit lament of some high-profile atheists. In a unguarded 
     moment in a recent interview with Britain's Guardian, Richard Dawkins, ...
 
     Patrol car Jesus raises legal hackles - Greensboro News Record 
     Salami complained to the Guilford County Sheriff's Office about the sign
     moment and sent a letter to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, ......
 
    Papal encyclical attacks atheism, promises hope - Reuters 
    Pope Benedict, in a new encyclical released on Friday, said atheism was
     responsible for some of the "greatest ...
 
  Universal Health Care in New York Should Include Spiritual Care
   New York is creating a system that could meet the needs of all its citizens.
    To truly do this, any universal health care system must include a spiritual ...

 

     ATHEISM
  
    Atheism trusts in humanity's potential -  Drexel University
     I am an atheist, and I feel that many of my friends don't understand what atheism truly
     means, because frankly, it's a lot more than believing there's no ...
   
    An Atheist on The Golden Compass - Huffington Post
     As an atheist, I do not believe in original sin. Humans are not broken because of a fall 
     from grace which is the understanding of procreation. ...
 
     Hitchens takes on god again - New Hope Courier
     Hitchens also strives to prove that there is beauty in atheism — Mozart was almost
     certainly an atheist, the author says. "We may possibly come out with an ...
 
     A Sinner's Tale - New York Times
     It seems to me that the impulse to atone is a religious one, and yet you are a self-
     declared atheist. Yes, I am an atheist, and probably Briony is, too. ...
 
   BOOKS /
   Video: Bloggingheads on Stem-Cell Semantics - New York Times
    Writer Carl Zimmer and biologist Lee Silver on whether recent advances end the
    controversy.
 
    Trumpery - Review - Theater - New York Times
    Peter Parnell’s play is a tightly focused study of Darwin, his family and his intellectual
    circles.
 
    By Nicholas Birch in Istanbul Richard Dawkins' best-selling atheist manifesto The god 
    Delusion was at the centre of a growing row over religious tolerance ...
 
    Hitchens enlists help of world's 'greats' to argue against god - Jam! Showbiz -
    Mark Twain did not believe in god, Americans are not uncritically devout and an atheist
    can be elected president of the United ...
 
    A revealing history of church-state relations - Boston Globe - United States
    ... the philosophical tradition which stands opposed to that of Hobbes, Locke, and
   American notions of the separation of church and state. ...
   EVOLUTION / CREATIONISM / I.D
 
   Vatican astronomer likens creationism to superstition - Catholic World News
    A Jesuit astronomer from the Vatican Observatory has said that scientific creationism 
    is a form of superstition. ...
 
   SCIENCE
   Young Earth Creationism Makes Life Difficult for Everyone - ChristianityToday
    Young earth creation science is out of the front page, with the Dover decision on its 
    way into the history books alongside the Scopes trial. ...
 
    Is creationism museum good for kids? - Louisville Courier-Journal
    The tax-exempt ministry, Answers in Genesis, and its new $28 million creation 
    museum in Boone County has become the de facto source of science information ..

 
   SEPARATION OF CHURCH / STATE
   Court Bars State Effort Using Faith in Prisons - New York Times
    A federal appeals panel has ruled that a state-financed evangelical Christian program  
    to help prisoners re-enter civilian life violated the constitutional separation of church 
    and state.
 
    Evolution and Texas - New York Times
     Is Texas about to become the next state to undermine the teaching of evolution?
 
    Washington: No Crosses on Chaplain Badges - New York Times
    The chaplains have to minister to all faiths and nonfaiths.” Chaplains’ badges included 
    the city seal and a Christian-Latin cross.
 
    Romney tiptoes to mixed reviews - Houston Chronicle
    Also, Americans United for Separation of Church and State alleged that Romney's
    remarks twisted the thinking of America's Founding Fathers about the ...
 
    Pledge fight to return to SF courtroom - San Jose Mercury News
    The atheist, the Pledge and the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals are back together
    again. It's been five years since a legal feud over the ...
 
   MISC.
    Lashing Justice - New York Times
    Muslims who wonder why non-Muslims are often baffled and angered by some
    governments’ interpretation of Islamic law need only look to the cases of two women
    threatened with barbaric lashings.
 
    Red Bull pulls nativity ad in Italy | Oddly Enough | Reuters.co.uk
    An angry Italian priest has persuaded soft drinks company Red Bull to withdraw an
    advertisement setting its product in a nativity scene on ...
 
   Saints on cell phones spark controversy in Italy | Tech News on ZDNet
   Dio mio. Cell phone images might replace the santini, or little saint, that many Italians
   place in their wallets and cars.

   Boy Scouts Lose Philadelphia Lease in Gay-Rights Fight - New York Times
   The Boy Scouts will be evicted from a Philadelphia municipal building for
    refusing to denounce the organization’s policy of prohibiting homosexuality.



  CONVENTIONS / MEETINGS / EVENTS
 
Darwin Day (200th Birthday) Feb. 12, 2008  
American Atheists
Mar 21- 23, 2008
 Minneapolis, MN
Madalyn Murray O'Hair (Birthday) April 13, 2008  
Gift for Life Day May 1, 2008  
Atheists  Alliance International Sept. 2008 Long Beach, Ca.
Freedom From Religion Oct. 10-12, 2008 Chicago
Gift for Life Day Nov. 4, 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.

 

 

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