Free Republic

"Intelligent Design" gets a close look from the Washington Post on Page A-1 of this morning's Sunday edition. An exercise in agenda journalism, it is an extremely poorly written article, with paragraphs like these: "In October, the Dover school board passed this motion: 'Students will be made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin's theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited to, intelligent design. Note: Origins of Life is not taught.' Several board members resigned in protest. When the remaining board members chose replacements, they subjected certain candidates to withering questions. 'I was asked if I was a...

DOVER, Pa. - "God or Darwin?" Lark Myers, a blond, 45-year-old gift shop owner, frames the question and answers it. "I definitely would prefer to believe that God created me than that I'm 50th cousin to a silverback ape," she said. "What's wrong with wanting our children to hear about all the holes in the theory of evolution?" Charles Darwin, squeeze over. The school board in this small town in central Pennsylvania has voted to make the theory of evolution share a seat with another theory: God probably designed us. If it survives a legal test, this school district of...

The country’s few Christians celebrate the birth of Christ whilst the majority of the population knows little of its meaning.Tashkent (AsiaNews) – In a country that is predominantly Muslim with a history of 70 years of Soviet atheism, Uzbekistan’s small Christian community is getting ready to celebrate the birth of Christ full of joy and hope. Most Christians are Orthodox. For most Uzbeks, Christmas has no religious content and its celebrations blend with those of the New Year. Under Soviet rule, all religious traditions, be they Christian or Muslim, were neglected. The current regime, fearful of Islamic terrorism, has limited...

 December 23, 2004  ATHEISTS DESERVE THEIR OWN HOLIDAY—NOTHINGDAY  Catholic League president William Donohue released the following comments on the Christmas wars today:      “Robert Tiernan, a spokesman for the Freedom from Religion Foundation, is demanding that atheists be represented in next year’s Parade of Lights in Denver.  He wants a ‘winter solstice’ float instead of a Christian one.  He deserves better.   “Atheists deserve to have their own holiday—Nothingday—the purpose of which would be to honor what they believe in, which is absolutely nothing.  Nothingday would be held on the day of the winter solstice and would be...

MILFORD -- Hundreds of counter protesters who say they want to "keep Christ in Christmas," dwarfed ahandful of atheists who gathered on the Green Sunday to protest a Nativity display. A few times when it looked as if would get ugly, police stepped in to calm both sides as they engaged in face-to-face debates on free speech and the separation of church and state. The display is a wooden structure with a glass case showing a Nativity scene. At its base is a baby Jesus in a cradle. Next to the cradle is a sign: "This display is provided by...

Mohler on MSNBC: Evolution an intellectual pacifier By Jeff Robinson Dec 17, 2004 LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--The theory of evolution has become an intellectual pacifier for the secular left in America, and the desire of a Pennsylvania school system to teach Intelligent Design is a signal that parents are fed up with standard liberal teaching on the origins of humanity, R. Albert Mohler Jr. told viewers of MSNBC's "Scarborough Country," Thursday night. Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said parents of children who attend America's public schools have become wise to the secular left's agenda in teaching Darwin's theory of...

The face of evolutionary design / evolution as a religion Robert Meyer December 20, 2004 Recently I saw some news segments that featured debate on whether the teaching of Intelligent Design, should be curriculum taught along side of evolution in public school science classes. The individual taking the side of evolution was cornered at one point, regarding the origin of matter itself. He repeated the often heard mantra that the universe and corresponding matter composing it simply have always existed. What a classic example of "blind religious faith," I thought, particularly for someone who persists in characterizing the issue as...

TV Mocks the Faithful by Keith Peters, Washington, D.C., correspondent New study finds on-screen depictions of religious men and women are overwhelmingly negative. Watching television can be a frustrating experience for people of faithâ€"a truth documented in a new study that finds ridicule of religion is increasing on the small screen. According to the Parents Television Council (PTC) report, titled "Faith in a Box," negativity toward religion grew steadily this year with each passing hour of prime time. During the 7 p.m. hour, religious content was negative 16.9 percent of the time; in the 8 p.m. hour, 20.8 percent of...

I have to admit it snuck up on me. Oh, not the secularization of Christmas itself, but some of the tactics used to effect the de-Christianizing of the birth of the Messiah. The first trick was, oddly enough, to get rid of Thanksgiving. This was done by pushing the "Christmas sale season" to somewhere around Halloween. By de-emphasizing Thanksgiving, the anti-religious people in our society managed to virtually get rid of a religious and patriotic holiday and replace it with a shopper's rush. Very clever. In the process, of course, this elevated the pagan "holiday" of Halloween to new heights---and...

Belief and Unbelief, Side by Side (6 Letters) Published: December 19, 2004 To the Editor: Re "Keeping the Faith in My Doubt," by John Horgan (Op-Ed, Dec. 12): Like Mr. Horgan, I am concerned about the extreme power of conservatism rooted in religion. It offers a clear, emotional ideology to go about living in a complex world by believing it is simple. According to Mr. Horgan, the United Universists, of which I am director, should give up our effort at organization out of principle because all organizations are flawed. But he offers no viable alternative, which speaks for itself. I...

First, I have to confess that I never got that line about how "love is to never have to say you're sorry." I'm still married to the same woman I fell in love with when I was a teenager and if I hadn't learned early on to accept blame for mistakes, bad moods or stupid remarks, I think my rump would long ago been found sitting at the end of a skid mark between the front door and the curb. I've also received a few apologies in my life and always regarded them as thoughtful, considerate, kind and selfless. Atheism,...

It's Christmas lunch at my house this year. My mother, a practising Jew, will be at the table, and so will my father-in-law, a fundamentalist Christian. My children were bequeathed a rich religious heritage but they have turned out to be "none": non-scripture, non-believers, non-religious. Before they were 13, they were declared atheists. "C'mon, Mum, how can we have a bar-mitzvah if we don't believe in God?" they intoned. And the idea of going to church on Sunday instead of to soccer struck them as ludicrous. If they had a religion, it was sport. People with religious or spiritual beliefs...

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Pasco County officials have banned Christmas trees from public buildings in a move that one constitutional law group said Thursday was "the most extreme example of censorship imaginable." The last of the Christmas trees were removed Wednesday after the county attorney said they were religious symbols, said Dan Johnson, assistant county administrator for Public Services. The county either had to allow all religious symbols or none, he said. "What you allow for one you must provide for all," Johnson said. Pasco County, with nearly 400,000 residents, is a fast-growing area that has a mix of...

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," Dec. 15, 2004, that has been edited for clarity. BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Christmas Under Siege" segment tonight. As you know, the religious symbols of the federal holiday are under fire by secular forces all across the country. And in the Miami suburb of Bay Harbor Island, town officials there banned the nativity scene on public property while okaying a menorah for Hanukah. So Sondra Snowdon, a resident, sued. And today, she won. Joining us now from Miami is Ms. Snowdon. And from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ed White, an attorney...

Some young Freeland students came home from school last week upset and confused about a new pair of words they believed were taboo -- "Merry Christmas." Maria Gordon of Freeland expressed anger and disbelief as she presented her concerns Monday night to the Freeland School Board. She said her second grade twins, who attend the Learning Center, told her during dinner Friday that they are not allowed to say "Merry Christmas" in the school. "You hear about it in other districts, but I never thought it would happen here," Gordon said. She said she believes the ban stems from a...

WFSB-Atheists Plan Protest of Nativity DisplayA group of atheists is planning a protest near a nativity scene on public property in Milford. City officials said they hadn't put up a nativity scene in the Parsons Government Center ending a holiday tradition going back several years.However, there is a larger creche set up on the Milford Green that is owned a maintained by a local family. Dennis Himes, the Connecticut state director of American Atheists, said the protest is scheduled for 11AM Sunday near the Nativity scene.Himes says that the Nativity display is unconstitutional and that a Milford atheist filed the...

Paganism is one of our fastest-growing religions. A druid explains why witchcraft appeals to 21st-century Britain The sky was already murky at 4 p.m. when I locked my bike outside Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street. Inside, it was even murkier: wood-panelled corridors stretched off into the gloom, men in grey suits were wedged together, smoking Bensons and drinking bitter. No one looked even slightly like an Arch Priest of the Council of British Druid Orders. At 4:10 I found a separate little bar near the back of the pub. As I walked in, a big man with round...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Eight families have filed a lawsuit against a school district that is requiring students to learn about alternatives to the theory of evolution, claiming the curriculum violates the separation of church and state. The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the lawsuit is the first to challenge whether public schools should teach "intelligent design," a theory first advanced in the late 1980s, which holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by some higher power. The two organizations are representing the parents in the federal lawsuit. The...

Tupelo, MS - After a federal appeals court denied an emergency appeal to stop prosecution of 11 Christians on Tuesday, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony (criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation, and riot) and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, they could face up to 47 years in prison. The Christians were arrested on October 10 for praying, singing, and reading scripture during an annual “gay pride” event known as “Outfest” in Philadelphia.

Appeal to the Supreme Court last hope for Christians “First, symbols of Christianity are removed from the public square; now, Christians are facing 47 years in prison because they preached the gospel in the public square. Stalin would be proud,” – Brian Fahling, AFA Center for Law and Policy Senior Trial Attorney. Tupelo, MS - After a federal appeals court denied an emergency appeal to stop prosecution of 11 Christians on Tuesday, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony (criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation, and riot) and five misdemeanor charges....