Author: Cheryl Heckler

Source: Ecumenical News International

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=2563

Hundreds of people showed up in Olympia, the capital of Washington state, for a two-hour rally to protest against Christmas with a "winter solstice" sign. The gathering was sponsored by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which calls religion a "myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds".

It's all part of a war of...

Author: DeeDee Correll

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-na-atheists15-2008dec15,0,4460066.story

Bill Ritter Jr. was not the first governor of Colorado to declare the first Thursday in May as a day of prayer.

But he was the first to attend a celebration of the National Day of Prayer at the state Capitol, joining a crowd of several hundred Christians in 2007. His...

Author: Ashley Powers

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-weddings14-2008dec14,0,5458048.story

In a city launched by shotgun weddings and quickie divorces, and which offers the chance to be wed by faux Liberaces, King Tuts and Grim Reapers, there remains at least one nuptial taboo: You can't be married by an atheist.

Michael Jacobson, a 64-year-old...

Author: Michael Bachelard

Source: The Age

http://www.theage.com.au/national/religion-in-schools-to-go-godfree-20081213-6xxs.html

Victorian state primary school students will soon have an alternative — religious education lessons taught by people who do not believe in God and say there is "no evidence of any supernatural power".

The Humanist Society of Victoria has developed a curriculum, which the...

Author: David O'Reilly

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20081210_The__Godless_Holiday_Tree__goes_up.html

From a distance, the scene on the lawn of the old Chester County Courthouse in West Chester seemed a Christmas classic.

Ornaments in hand, a red-clad woman stood high on a stepladder, smiling merrily at a 12-foot evergreen. "A little forward," Margaret Downey...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Wire Service: AP

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/391032_capitol08.html

Several hundred people rallied Sunday at the state Capitol to protest a holiday display inside that provoked a national outcry by disparaging religion and declaring there is no God.

The "winter solstice" sign sponsored by the atheistic Freedom from Religion Foundation calls...

Author: Mallory Simon

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/05/atheists.christmas/index.html

An atheist sign criticizing Christianity that was erected alongside a Nativity scene was taken from the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, on Friday and later found in a ditch.

An employee from country radio station KMPS-FM in Seattle told CNN the sign was dropped off at the station by someone who found it in a ditch...

Author: Adelle M. Banks

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=17067

The American Atheists have sued the commonwealth of Kentucky after learning that a law requires the state's Office of Homeland Security to declare its reliance on God for safety.

The New Jersey-based atheist group filed suit Tuesday (Dec. 2) in a Kentucky court seeking a ruling that a 2002 law stating that "the safety and security of the...

Author: D. Patrick Knoth

Source: The Harvard Crimson

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=525683

It was a “Ben Franklin-inspired” protest.

A group of parents at Julie A. Duncan ’09’s all-girls Catholic school in Kentucky pushed for a ban on several English books containing objectionable material like child abuse and pre-marital sex. The books included “Red Tent,” “Flowers for Algernon,”...

Author: Janet I. Tu

Source: The Seattle Times

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008458044_noreligion02m.html

In the latest round of what's become almost a winter tradition — conflicts over religious symbols in public places — a group of atheists and agnostics have put up a sign in the state Capitol that says, in part: "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Star Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/35126229.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DU2EPaL_V_9E7ODiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Complaints have led to the removal of an atheist group's "Imagine No Religion" billboard in this San Bernardino County city.

The General Outdoor sign company took down the Freedom From...

Author: Stephanie Simon

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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

Late next month, atheists, humanists, freethinkers, secularists -- in short, nonbelievers of every description -- will gather in dozens of cities to mark the holiday they call HumanLight.

Whether by singing from a Humanist Hymnal, decorating a winter wreath or lighting candles dedicated to...

Author: Russell Haythorn

Source: The Denver Channel

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

Eleven billboards [...] have gone up in metro Denver and Colorado Springs that question the existence of God.

The first one went up at E. Colfax Avenue and Quebec Street in Denver. It says, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." The two lines sit against a blue sky backdrop.

The billboards cost $5,000 total and...

Author: David Yount

Source: Scripps Howard News Service