Author: Preeti Bhattacharji

Source: Council on Foreign Relations

http://www.cfr.org/publication/16272/religion_in_china.html?breadcrumb=%2F

Introduction

Religious observance in China is on the rise. According to a survey published in a state-run newspaper, 31.4 percent of Chinese adults are religious, a figure that is three times the initial government estimate. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is officially atheist...

Author: Dave Kinchen

Source: NBC-25

http://www.weyi.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=131113

The hot political issue in Mid-Michigan is all about religion. A group asked the Frankenmuth City Coucil to remove the cross from it’s shield, a request that the council members denied.

In a packed council meeting, residents and non-residents lined up to either attack or defend the Lutheran cross displayed on the city’s shield. Lloyd Clark, a...

Author: NEELA BANERJEE

Source: The New York Times

Author: Sean McManus

Source: New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/news/features/46214/

It seems unlikely that many of the 850 or so people at the Society for Ethical Culture on a recent Saturday night believed that God was still extant. But evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and possibly the most famous atheist in the world, was not taking any chances. He gave a PowerPoint presentation driving home that religion does not meet any of...

Author: Lindsay McIntosh

Source: The Scotsman

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Britons-losing-religious-beliefs.3881823.jp

ALMOST half of Britons doubt the existence of God or are confirmed atheists, research has found.

The think-tank, Theos, has found that most of those who say they are Christians do not practise their religion.

And as the country's supermarkets fill up with chocolate eggs, it appears...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: CNN

Wire Service: AP

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/03/06/military.religion.ap/index.html

A soldier claimed Wednesday that his promotion was blocked because he had claimed in a lawsuit that the Army was violating his right to be an atheist.

Attorneys for Spc. Jeremy Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation refiled the federal lawsuit...

Author: Ray Long, Jeffrey Meitrodt and Stephanie Banchero

Source: Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-moment-of-silence-both_05mar05,0,4162376.story

Most legislators thought it was a terrific idea last fall when they required students in Illinois schools to have a moment of silence to pray or reflect, but House lawmakers now think they could have used a few more moments for reflection themselves...

Author: Neil Datta

Source: Conscience

http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/conscience/current/cWinter0708_forwhomthebelltolls.asp

In Denmark, Thorkild Grosboel, a Lutheran priest, declares, “There is no heavenly God, there is no eternal life and there is no resurrection.” His local bishop, Lise-Lotte Rebel, suspends but cannot dismiss him. Not surprising in a country where just over 3 percent of the...

Author: SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN

Source: The New York Times

Author: ROBERT BENZIE

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com/article/303495

Premier Dalton McGuinty wants to end the daily recital of the Lord's Prayer in the Legislature in what opposition parties are calling a bid to heal wounds from a divisive provincial election fought over religious schools.

McGuinty, whose Liberals were re-elected Oct. 10 partly by defending public funding of Catholic schools while attacking a Progressive Conservative scheme to...

Author: Roland Lloyd Parry

Source: Yahoo! News

Wire Service: AFP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080214/ts_alt_afp/usmilitaryreligion;_ylt=AqlLk71TsPln.9EfUs2_Rys7Xs8F

Since his last combat deployment in Iraq, Jeremy Hall has had a rough time, getting shoved and threatened by his fellow soldiers. The trouble started there when he would not pray in the mess hall.
...

Author: Matt Purple

Source: Crosswalk/CNSNews

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11566408/

(CNSNews.com) - A resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives that recognizes America's "rich spiritual and religious history" is drawing fire from some of America's most prominent atheists.

The resolution, H.R. 888, resolves to "affirm" the religious traditions that most historians say played a crucial role in America's founding. It calls religious principles and...

Author: Ed Stoddard

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2365193920080203

DALLAS (Reuters) - In a U.S. election campaign where presidential candidates from both major parties have talked openly about their Christian faith, some non-Christians feel shut out or turned off.

Despite the constitutional separation of church and state, religion plays a big and sometimes decisive role in politics in America...

Author: KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH

Source: The Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/012508dnmetathiest.55e165e8.html

An atheist couple on Thursday appealed a federal judge's decision upholding the state's law requiring schoolchildren to observe a moment of silence at the start of the day.

David and Shannon Croft of Carrollton are appealing the decision to...

Author: Nara Schoenberg

Source: Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0110atheistjan10,0,5018956.story

The No. 2 atheist activist in Illinois doesn't have an office or a car.

Reporters have been banned from her home -- her mother is adamant on this point -- so the McDonald's across the street from Buffalo Grove High School has to serve as her impromptu media headquarters....