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Feds move to seize 4 mosques, skyscraper

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Seattle Times - By Adam Goldman - Nov. 13 (News) - Federal prosecutors took steps Thursday to seize four U.S. mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government.

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God, the Army, and PTSD

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Boston Review - By Tara McKelvey - Nov. 11 (Special Report) - During the Iraq war, however, the great difficulty veterans experienced in getting psychiatric care—greater than before—was not a product of cost-cutting, but of conviction: many Bush administration officials believed that soldiers who supported the war would not face psychological problems, and if they did, they would find comfort in faith. In a resigned tone, one prominent researcher who worked for the VA, and asked that he not be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press, explained that high-ranking officials believed that “Jesus fixes everything.” Benimoff and the others who returned with devastating psychological injuries found a faith-based bureau within the VA. At veterans’ hospitals, chaplains were conducting spirituality assessments of patients.

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Tears, tempers fly in Nancy Pelosi's campaign

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By Patrick O'Connor, John Bresnahan - Nov. 08 (News) - By Thursday, Ellsworth, who was working closely with Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) realized the church wouldn’t accept anything less than a version of Hyde, so he and his staff started working on a version the bishops could accept, aides said.

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Who Is a Jew? Court Ruling in Britain Raises Question

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Sarah Lyall - Nov. 08 (Special Report) - A case involving the admissions policy of a Jewish high school in London has potential repercussions for thousands of other parochial schools across Britain.

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Justice Scalia spars in debate over Mojave cross

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By David G. Savage - Oct. 08 (News Report) - A Supreme Court argument Wednesday over a cross within the Mojave National Preserve in California sparked a sharp dispute over whether the Latin cross stands as a symbol of all fallen soldiers, including Jews and Muslims.

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Prayer Effort Seeks 'Right Thinking' From Liberals

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

All Things Considered - By Barbara Bradley Hagerty - Oct. 04 (Special Report) - A Christian conservative group, fearing a liberal drift in the country's leadership, has put 11 prominent politicians and activists on an "Adopt a Liberal" roster. They're asking God to help their targets change their stances on a variety of social issues.

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Groups Push to End Hiring Bias Legalized for Religious Charities

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Carrie Johnson - Sep. 17 (News Report) - Nearly 60 groups concerned with civil rights, labor, health and education urged Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Thursday to renounce a Bush-era memo allowing religious charities that receive federal grant money to discriminate in hiring.

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Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Jeremy Scahill - Aug. 04 (News) - Sworn statements filed in Federal Court allege that Blackwater founder Erik Prince launched a "crusade" to eliminate Muslims and Islam and that the company may have been involved in murders to suppress information from federal investigators.

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religion

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Link TV - Aug. 02 (Special Report) - (Global Pulse: April 24, 2009) Obama declassifies Bush administration documents that detail and attempt to legalize what some have called "torture techniques." While the U.S media seem focused on the political ramifications, media worldwide present the brutality of torture and point the finger of blame directly at Bush.SOURCES: FOX, CBS, ABC, CNN, The Daily Show, U.S; TV5, France; Press TV, Iran; TVN, Chile; Al Jazeera English, Qatar

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Congress Should Reject Scheme To Extend D.C. School Voucher Plan

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AU.org - Jul. 30 (Press Release) - Congress should reject proposed legislation that would breathe new life into Washington, D.C.’s controversial private school voucher plan, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Ireland’s bizarre war on blasphemy

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

spiked-online.com - By Jason Walsh - Jul. 20 (Opinion) - It does seem bizarre that, in 2009, a modern European nation would seek to shield religious belief from criticism – yet that is what is happening in Ireland right now. In repealing the 1961 Defamation Act, the Irish government sought to expunge the worst excesses of Ireland’s draconian laws restricting free speech, but in the process it has ended up making offending religious belief a criminal offence

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Supreme Court Nominee Should Be Closely Questioned on Church-State Views, Says Americans United

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - May. 26 (Press Release) - It appears that Sotomayor has not written widely on church-state issues, meaning the committee has an obligation to ascertain her views. "We hope Judge Sotomayor turns out to be in the mold of retiring Justice David H. Souter - a strong champion of separation of church and state," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "The American people deserve no less."

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"Open the Gates that the Righteous Nation May Enter": Rumsfeld Used Biblical Quotes in Top-Secret Iraq War Briefings for Bush

Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Robert Draper - May. 19 (News Report) - GQ Magazine has revealed former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly gave President Bush top-secret briefings adorned with Biblical quotes during the early days of the invasion of Iraq. One briefing paper showed an image of a US soldier in Baghdad below the Biblical quote, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

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More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Laurie Goodstein - Apr. 28 (News Report) - Polls show that the ranks of atheists are growing. The American Religious Identification Survey, a major study released last month, found that those who claimed “no religion” were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years. Nationally, the “nones” in the population nearly doubled, to 15 percent in 2008 from 8 percent in 1990. In South Carolina, they more than tripled, to 10 percent from 3 percent. Not all the “nones” are necessarily committed atheists or agnostics, but they make up a pool of potential supporters. Local and national atheist organizations have flourished in recent years, fed by outrage over the Bush administration’s embrace of the religious right. A spate of best-selling books on atheism also popularized the notion that nonbelief is not just an argument but a cause, like environmentalism or muscular dystrophy.

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Is the U.S. a Christian nation?

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - Apr. 09 (Special Report) - So far, the most interesting thing to come out of all this is a debate on MSNBC's "Hardball" between writer and noted atheist Christopher Hitchens and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who's now with a Christian right group, the Family Research Center.

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Is Obama Bringing Too Much Religion into the White House?

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Liliana Segura - Mar. 05 (Opinion) - "The only thing worse than having these prayers in the first place is to have them vetted, because it entangles the White House in core theological matters," Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), told Gilgoff.

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Wash . Post latest to omit Sebelius' Catholic support

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Media Matters - Mar. 03 (News Analysis) - Washington Post article quoted the president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute saying of secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius: "That she is a dissident Catholic is a further slap in the face to Catholics and the Catholic Church." But the article did not note that President Obama's selection of Sebelius has received support from Catholics United and numerous other Catholics.

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Supreme Court Should Strike Down Display of Cross on Federal Land in California, Says Americans United

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - Feb. 23 (Opinion) - "This cross is in the middle of a national park, and anyone looking at it would assume it was erected by the government," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "The federal parks belong to all Americans and are not the appropriate place for the display of religious symbols."

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The Obama Mandate: End Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

rhrealitycheck.org - By Jodi Jacobson - Feb. 17 (Opinion) - Let’s get rid of that wasteful Washington spending. And I have a concrete suggestion that will save over $200 million in cold hard cash right away, plus billions of dollars in future healthcare and related economic costs! Sound too good to be true? Really, it’s not a gimmick. It’s very simple: We just need to zero out funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in the next budget cycle.

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Illinois moment of silence ruled unconstitutional

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

AP - By Mike Robinson - Jan. 22 (News Report) - A federal judge has ruled that a state law requiring a moment of silence in public schools across Illinois is unconstitutional, saying it crosses the line separating church and state.

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Inaugural Pastor: The Two Faces of Rick Warren

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Time - Jan. 19 (Editorial) - In short, Warren wants to be both the universally admired pastor who speaks to the nation and the influential leader who mobilizes religious conservatives for political ends. But those are two inherently conflicting roles, and he cannot be both, no matter how hard he tries.

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Atheists file suit to stop Warren invocation

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Alex Koppelman - Jan. 01 (News Report) - The latest organized effort against Warren's participation was launched by a group of atheists who have filed a lawsuit that contends prayer should not be allowed during the ceremony.

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The (Really) Moderate Muslims of Kosovo

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

City Journal - By Michael J. Totten - Dec. 21 (Special Report) - Kosovo’s brand of Islam may be the most liberal in the world. I saw no more women there wearing conservative Islamic clothing—one or two per day at most—than I’ve seen in Manhattan. There is no gender apartheid even in Kosovo’s villages. Alcohol flows freely in restaurants, cafés, and bars, where you’ll see as many young women in sexy outfits as you’d find in any Western European country. Aside from the minarets on the skyline, there is no visible evidence that Kosovo is a Muslim-majority country at all.

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The misguided war on Christmas

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

OregonLive.com - By Melanie Springer Mock - Dec. 16 (Opinion) - For while O'Reilly and gang blame the Christmas war on secularists, it's important to remember that many Christians are also strong proponents of the separation of

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Mall of America Moves to Accommodate Minnesota Muslims

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Mshale - By Mohamed Hassan - Dec. 16 (News Report) - Every year, as Muslims in America are compelled to engage in business, work and shopping during the holidays, many find themselves away from mosques and other places where they can hold prayers without interruption. They are forced to seek privacy in corners and alleyways, places that often subject them to unwanted attention. Some Muslims also worry that their repetitive calls of “Allah akbar!” (God is great!) during prayers could be misconstrued as calls for Jihad.

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