Free Republic

I have read Christopher Hitchens’s book God Is Not Great twice, in preparation for a book I have co-written with Biola University philosopher Dr. John Mark Reynolds. Due to come out this spring, our book is titled Against All Gods: What’s Right and Wrong About the “New Atheism.” Because not all readers may know at once who the new atheists are, I will say that they are a group of very fervent opponents of “religion,” of whom the best known are zoologist and science popularizer Richard Dawkins, Tufts University philosopher Daniel Dennett, and Hitchens. What is new about these atheists...

Austin federal judge Sam Sparks dismissed a suit by the Dallas-based Institute of Creation Research, which seeks the right to grant a master’s degree in science from a biblical perspective. And by “dismissed,” we mean the judge tore it apart. But first, a summary of the suit, as reported today by the San Antonio Express-News. The Institute seeks to offer a masters degree that critiques evolution and champions a literal interpretation of the biblical account of creation. Texas’s higher education board nixed the group’s application, because of the proposed program’s creationist slant. This, the Institute contended, was a violation of...

Sex education starts early, especially if you go to elementary school in Provincetown, Mass. That’s because the school committee has unanimously adopted a condom distribution policy beginning as early as first grade. According to the Provincetown Banner, the program requires that students speak to a school nurse or trained counselor before receiving condoms. The committee also directed school leaders not to honor demands from parents who object to their kids receiving protection. Some members on the committee were wary because the program requires that students speak to school officials first. But Beth Singer, the school’s superintendent, said she wanted to...

A small Protestant church in Leon Valley, an enclave within the city of San Antonio, is challenging a zoning code that prohibits the church from holding Sunday worship services. The city code excludes religious assemblies from some zoning areas because they decrease the city’s tax revenue and interfere with commercial activity. In 2007, revisions to the city code excluded churches from most of the city to maximize tax revenues, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty reports. Auditoriums, convention centers, private clubs and schools are free to locate in the city’s retail zones, but churches are not. The Elijah Group, an...

Big Brother says elderly visitors to federally funded meals at a Georgia senior citizen's center aren't allowed to pray to that absurd, dangerous Christian God of theirs. Obama's Big Brother government contends that since it has paid for their meals the government has the right to slam its iron boot heel down on the necks of those seasoned citizens that dare to engage in such an apostasy toward the state. Seem absurd? Well it is but that is what happens when the feds roll into town and begin to hand out money. They feel the right to dictate what everyone...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday decided to let stand a ruling saying the Boy Scouts cannot lease city-owned parkland in San Diego because the group is a religious organization. The high court refused to hear an appeal from San Diego-area Boy Scouts who have traditionally leased Balboa Park camp space.

Madison, Wis. (AP) -- A federal judge in Wisconsin says the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb issued the ruling Thursday in a lawsuit filed by the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Such was our founder’s belief in the preeminence of God that when the First Continental Congress convened in 1774, Massachusetts delegate Thomas Cushing suggested to the assembly that together they pray for divine guidance and protection. The historical events that would forever change the world were preparing to unfold: war loomed on the horizon; the Declaration of Independence would be signed, and a nation “conceived in liberty” would be born. In this moment, men of varied religious beliefs -- Presbyterians, Episcopalians, some Quakers, others Baptists or Congregationalists – were led in prayer by an Episcopal priest in an appeal to...

The little girls' room won't be just for little girls anymore, if the Maine Human Rights Commission has its way. The commission is taking heat over a controversial proposal to ban schools from enforcing gender divisions in sports teams, school organizations, bathrooms and locker rooms. It says forcing a student into a particular room or group because of his or her biological gender amounts to discrimination. The issue came to light last year when the commission ruled that, under the Maine Human Rights Act, a school had discriminated against a 12-year-old transgender boy by denying him access to the girls'...

According to Fox News, Maine is considering banning the little boys, little girls rooms, boys vs girls locker rooms, boys and girls sports teams, etc. Reason: Sexual discrimination. I'm sorry folks, but the people running our government are full blooming idiots! Vote thm ALL out!!

A Tennessee father told his son’s school board they need to ban a biology textbook because of it's ‘bias’ against Christians. Kurt Zimmermann is appealing a Knoxville school district's decision to keep the book. He says the textbook used in his son’s biology class cites creationism as a "biblical myth." According to reports, he requests, 'non-biased' textbooks be used. In his words, the current textbook's phrasing misleads, belittles and discourages students in believing in creationism and calls the Bible a myth.

On Monday, March 29, 2010, President Obama was interviewed by NBC News and portions were broadcast on the Today show on March 30. According to the The Caucus blog at the New York Times: "Mr. Obama said he would not select a church while living in the White House. 'What we have decided for now is not to join a single church, and the reason is because Michelle and I have realized we are very disruptive to services,' he said. Instead, he said he would from time to time visit St. John's Church, across Lafayette Square from the White House,...

Officials in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., who had ordered participants of a home Bible study either to purchase an unobtainable city permit to meet or shut down, now are relenting a little. City officials have said the Bible study targeted earlier for banishment can continue to meet, but they are reserving the right to shut down other Bible studies...

One week before the most solemn day in the Christian year, the city of Davenport, Iowa removed Good Friday from its municipal calendar, setting off a storm of complaints from Christians and union members whose contracts give them that day off. Taking a recommendation by the Davenport Civil Rights Commission to change the holiday's name to something more ecumenical, City Administrator Craig Malin sent a memo to municipal employees announcing Good Friday would officially be known as "Spring Holiday."

The advocacy group In God We Trust today ripped the Obama administration for meeting to plot political strategy with 60 atheist activists representing organizations comprising the Secular Coalition of America. "It is one thing for Administration to meet with groups of varying viewpoints, but it is quite another for a senior official to sit down with activists representing some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation," says In God We Trust's Chairman Bishop Council Nedd. Tina Tchen, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, will meet with representatives from groups that comprise the Coalition. The...

HAMILTON, Ontario, February 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Public school children in Hamilton, Ontario will not be permitted to withdraw from classes that promote homosexuality, according to the Hamilton Mountain News. At the same time, according to a leaked document obtained by a local journalist, teachers are being instructed to tell parents who object to the curriculum that “this is not about parent rights.”At the end of January, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) hosted a professional development day dedicated to “equity” training, where they distributed a sheet to teachers with “quick responses” they can offer to parents who object to...

New York: Incoming Ulster County judge Donald A. Williams has been sworn into office with his left hand on a dictionary instead of a book of scripture. When the time came to swear in Williams, a Republican, no Bible could be found so the former district attorney took his oath on a dictionary. Williams was unconcerned by the substitution, saying that the swearing-in is ceremonial only. There is no requirement for officials to be sworn in on a Bible but most choose to do so, many with their own family Bible. The substitution in this case reportedly injected 'a light...

The Issaquah School Board may consider eliminating the Pledge of Allegiance at its regular business meetings. At their Dec. 9 meeting, school board members were asked to eliminate the pledge from their meetings by parent Matthew Barry. “The words ‘under God’ in the pledge are offensive to your atheist residents in this school district,” Barry said at the meeting. “A study from last year, The American Religious Identification Survey, indicates that 15 percent of Americans aren’t religious. In Washington, which is one of the most nonreligious states, 25 percent aren’t religious. So, I think it is safe to assume there...

SAN FRANCISCO — It was the week before Christmas when Irv Sutley, a former warehouse worker, first saw the offending ornament in a government building in Sonoma County, just north of here. “I was turning around in the lobby, and I noticed the tree,” Mr. Sutley said. “And then, I noticed the angel.” Mr. Sutley, an atheist, said he then went to the office of the county Board of Supervisors. “And there was a star,” he said. Technically, neither stars nor angels belong to any particular religion. But to the mind of Mr. Sutley, 65, a veteran who has fought...

Folks, this according to the Thomas More Law Center: ANN ARBOR, MI – Tomorrow, December 16, 2009, at 10 AM PST, a panel of eleven judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in San Francisco will hear oral arguments concerning the constitutionality of San Francisco Board of Supervisor’s virulent resolution attacking the Catholic Church for its teachings against homosexual adoptions. The en banc panel will review the earlier opinion of a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit that upheld the resolution. Thomas More Law Center attorney Robert Muise will argue the case on behalf of the plaintiffs in...