Atheism & Humanism

Newly Formed Interfaith Coalition Hosts First "Religion on Campus" Week at Bryn Mawr

April 6, 2006

Source: Bryn Mawr Now

http://www.brynmawr.edu/news/2006-04-06/religion.shtml

On April 6, 2006 Bryn Mawr Now reported, "Next week, the Office of Intercultural Affairs (OIA) and a variety of student organizations that have joined to create the new Interfaith Coalition will sponsor [Bryn Mawr] College's first-ever Religion on Campus Week, the OIA has announced. Aside from celebrations of important Christian and Jewish holidays, the week will offer a chance to look at...

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Atheist Renews Legal Battle Over Pledge of Allegiance

April 3, 2006

Source: The Kansas City Star

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/14251861.htm

On April 3, 2006 The Kansas City Star reported, "The children in Shauna Hammett’s kindergarten class faced a small American flag hanging from a wall at Pawnee Elementary School in Overland Park one recent Monday morning. Led by a child’s voice over the loudspeaker, they recited the Pledge of Allegiance. But if California atheist...

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Evangelical Christians Harbor Least Favorable View of Islam

March 22, 2006

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32604

On March 22, 2006 Inter Press Service News Agency reported, "Evangelical Protestants tend to view Islam much more unfavourably than do mainline U.S. Protestants and Catholics, according to a new analysis of recent public opinion surveys published here Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion...

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Self-Identified “Bright” Defends Darwin Against the Religious Right

March 12, 2006

Source: The Observer

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1728920,00.html

On March 12, 2006 The Observer released an interview with Daniel Dennett, a stringent atheist and a philosopher. "Daniel Dennett has something of the look of those seventeenth-century puritan preachers who would talk for hours about the sins of the flesh. The gospel he has spent most of his life spreading, however, has nothing to do with supernatural vengeance; quite the...

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Scottish Atheist Wins Discrimination Case

March 9, 2006

Source: The Herald

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/57728.html

On March 9, 2006 The Herald reported, "A teacher who lost out on promotion at a Roman Catholic school because he was an atheist has won his claim for religious discrimination. In a case which could have far-reaching implications for the way denominational schools are run in Scotland, an employment tribunal ruled Glasgow City Council had discriminated against David McNab on the grounds of his religious beliefs by...

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Atheists Describe Civil Rights Struggle in Increasingly Religious Society

February 20, 2006

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/20/ATHEIST.TMP

On February 20, 2006 the San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Gathered around the plastic red-and-white tablecloths in the back room of a San Francisco hofbrau, 30 of the Bay Area's 'out' atheists were recasting themselves as the protagonists of America's newest civil rights struggle. As they described the strain of being openly atheistic in...

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Opinion: “Diversity of Beliefs is the American Way”

February 10, 2006

Source: ADL

http://www.adl.org/ADL_Opinions/Religious_Freedom/20060210-PalmBeachPost.htm

On February 10, 2006 the Anti-Defamation League ran an opinion piece by by Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the ADL. "Many of us are deeply committed to the religion we practice. Our faith informs many aspects of our lives. As Americans, we all share the common right, so beautifully enshrined in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers, to practice...

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Humanistic Buddhism Conference Gets Underway

January 17, 2006

Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_3409552

On January 17, 2006 the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported, "A major event in the Buddhist world quietly got under way Monday at the University of the West. The seventh International Conference on Humanistic Buddhism kicked off with a small gathering of some of the world's top Buddhist scholars, who will present papers during the weeklong conference. The University of the West... was founded in 1991...

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Friends of South Asia Speaks Out Against “Hindutva Assault” on California History Books

January 16, 2006

Source: FOSA

http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/

On January 16, 2006 Friends of South Asia ran an editorial regarding the current controversy over the content of sixth grade history textbooks in California. "We in California are facing a Hindutva assault on school history textbooks of the kind that went on a few years ago in India. This is an issue of rising concern in the California community, and we at Friends of South Asia, as a group of Hindus, Muslims, Christians...

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Opinion: "Respect Religious Diversity During This Holidays Season"

December 14, 2005

Source: The Decatur Daily

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/opinion/other/051214.shtml

On December 14, 2005 The Decatur Daily ran an opinion piece by J. Brent Walker, an executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C. "Are 'Christian haters' and 'professional atheists' engaged in an all-out war on Christmas, as FOX News' anchor John Gibson claims? I don't think so — unless one is prepared to say that...

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Atheist to File Lawsuit Challenging “In God We Trust” on Currency

November 14, 2005

Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: AP

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/178/story_17896_1.html

On November 14, 2005 the Associated Press reported, "An atheist who has spent years trying to ban recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is now challenging the national motto printed on U.S. currency. Michael Newdow said Sunday that he planned to file a federal lawsuit this week asking for the removal of the national motto, 'In...

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Controversial Play about a Muslim-American Family Opens in Chicago

October 5, 2005

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-silkroad05.html

On October 5, 2005 the Chicago Sun-Times reported, "In the Silk Road Theatre Project's upcoming play, a devout Muslim-American family's seemingly uneventful life quickly skids off the road and slams into a brick wall -- hard. One son decides he doesn't believe in God. Another has a homosexual tryst. And the suburban California clan's only daughter suddenly isn't sure...

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Wiccan Teen Fights for Right to Wear Pentacle, Start Club at School

October 4, 2005

Source: The Decatur Daily

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/teenpage/051004/wiccan.shtml

On October 4, 2005 The Decatur Daily reported "[Sixteen-year-old Ricky Shepard, a sophmore at Priceville High School in Decatur, Alabama and a Wiccan] confronted [the school's] principal, Guy Bowling after he confiscated two seventh-graders' pentacles, the Wiccan equivalent to a Protestant's cross or a Jew's star of David... Shepard didn't persuade his...

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Executive Director Chosen for Universism, a Religion that Opposes Moral Certainty

September 21, 2005

Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: RNS

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/175/story_17562_1.html

On September 21, 2005 Religion News Service reported, "An upstart religion called Universism has named a new leader who hopes to spread the neo-Deist movement nationwide. Todd Stricker, 25, has been named executive director of the nonprofit organization and said he hopes to launch a new branch in Chicago. University of Alabama-Birmingham medical...

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