Written by Zach L., News Team | 18 July 2012

A Minnesota-based minor-league baseball team, the St. Paul Saints, will host a "night of unbelievable fun" Aug. 10 -- and change their name to the Mr. Paul Aints for the evening. 

Written by Ebou Sohna, News Team | 17 July 2012

Activist groups such as the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies are calling for the release of a 23-year-old Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery July 10. 

While in the Sudan, no government-sanctioned stonings have been carried out, the sentence is a fact of life for people in countries that practice Sharia, or Islamic, law. Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen, some parts of Nigeria and other a handful of others all have laws allowing stoning for adultery on the books. In the past, human rights groups have used political pressure to get all sentences of stoning in Sudan and some other countries with Sharia law to commute the sentence. However, some cases of stoning without legal backing have been reported in Sudan. 

Read more...

Written by Josh M, News Team | 14 July 2012

Recently — and somewhat humorously — legislators in Louisiana walked back their support of an educational voucher program that allows parents to use public money to send their children to a number of private institutions, including religious schools. For years, atheists, agnostics and other non-Christians in the US have decried the voucher system as a backdoor to institutionalized Christianity; at first blush, what happened in Louisiana might be thought a small victory for freethinkers.

However, with an apparent blindness for irony, legislators such as state Rep. Valarie Hodges (R-Watson) withdrew their support of the bill only after learning that religions other than Christianity would be included in the program. After withdrawing her support, Hodges told the Livingston Parish News, “We need to ensure that [the voucher program] does not open the door to fund radical Islam schools … I do not support using public funds for teaching Islam anywhere here in Louisiana….I actually support funding for teaching the fundamentals of America’s Founding Fathers’ religion, which is Christianity, in public schools or private schools.”

So as not to confuse an international audience, allow me to say the idea that “America’s Founding Fathers’ religion” was Christianity doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Some were inarguably devout and outspoken Christians, but others were deists, and some were outspokenly agnostic/atheistic. Moreover, regardless of what their religion may have been, the Constitution they framed — by way of the First Amendment — clearly bars Congress from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion” — Christian or otherwise. And that is the legacy the Founding Fathers gave us to work with — not their beliefs, but our Constitution.

Read more...

Written by Danika, News Team | 08 July 2012

On 20 June the High Court of Australia decided the federal government’s funding of religious chaplains in public schools was unconstitutional. Shortly after, a bill was rushed through the House and the Senate allowing the federal government to fund programs without legislative scrutiny.

The action that prompted these actions was the Williams v Commonwealth case, which challenged the federal government’s right to fund religious chaplains in public schools, through The National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP).

The NSCP, as described in a previous article ‘Chaplaincy in Australian Public Schools' has been criticised by the Australian Psychological Society, the Australian Guidance and Counsellors Association and parents such as Ron Williams, who brought the case to the High Court. A majority of the criticisms relate to the inadequate qualifications of the chaplains and the legality of religious teaching in public schools.

The High Court’s decision was 6-1 in favour of Ron Williams, based on technical grounds: that the government could not spend money on programs without supporting legislation. As such, the government’s funding of the NSCP was found unconstitutional.

While the decision was welcomed by secular activists, the reasoning behind it disappoints – Williams had also challenged the chaplains program on the basis that s116 of the Australian constitution prohibits a “religious test” for public office, a key clause in the fight for separation of church and state.  The High Court dismissed the claim on that basis and effectively maintained Australia’s non-separation of church and state, a poor position that has endured since the Defence of Government Schools case in 1981.

Read more...

Written by Huffington Post | 26 June 2012

This article was originally published in the Huffington Post.

BERLIN -- A German court has ruled that circumcising young boys on religious grounds amounts to bodily harm even if parents consent to the procedure.

Cologne state court said the child's right to physical integrity trumps freedom of religion and parents' rights, German news agency dapd reported Tuesday.

The case involved a doctor accused of carrying out a circumcision on a 4-year-old that led to medical complications. The doctor was acquitted, however, and prosecutors said they won't appeal.

The president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Dieter Graumann, called the ruling "unprecedented and insensitive," urging the country's parliament to clarify the legal situation "to protect religious freedom against attacks."

Graumann said the circumcision of newborn Jews has been practiced for thousands of years and "every country in the world respects this religious right."

Muslims also circumcise young boys, while many parents request it on health grounds.

Read the full article here.

Written by Alexandre F. Shimono, News Team | 17 June 2012

       
 Valdemiro Santiago         Sillas Malafaia Edir Macedo
 (Investigated for (Politically active (Suspicion of larceny, 
  improper use of  minister) embezzlement and 
  donated money) money laundering)

"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!  But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money!
George Carlin

As funny (or not) as the quote above may be, the point about “needing money” is certainly pertinent in Brazil where many religious institutions enjoy a friendly tax environment and operate profitably. Recently, a scandal involving a large religious institution (Igreja Mundial), suspiciously broadcasted (that is an inference by the writer) by an open TV channel owned by a rival church (Igreja Universal), showed that minister Valdemiro Santiago bought properties in the state of Mato Grosso with a total value of 50 million Reais (c.  US$25 million).  These properties were registered in the name of the church (and therefore tax exempt)[1]. Santiago is now being investigated by the public prosecutor for the improper use of donated money, and because many of his temples have eviction orders for non-payment[1].

Read more...