Author: Matt Purple

Source: Crosswalk/CNSNews

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11566408/

(CNSNews.com) - A resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives that recognizes America's "rich spiritual and religious history" is drawing fire from some of America's most prominent atheists.

The resolution, H.R. 888, resolves to "affirm" the religious traditions that most historians say played a crucial role in America's founding. It calls religious principles and...

Author: Ed Stoddard

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2365193920080203

DALLAS (Reuters) - In a U.S. election campaign where presidential candidates from both major parties have talked openly about their Christian faith, some non-Christians feel shut out or turned off.

Despite the constitutional separation of church and state, religion plays a big and sometimes decisive role in politics in America...

Author: KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH

Source: The Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/012508dnmetathiest.55e165e8.html

An atheist couple on Thursday appealed a federal judge's decision upholding the state's law requiring schoolchildren to observe a moment of silence at the start of the day.

David and Shannon Croft of Carrollton are appealing the decision to...

Author: Nara Schoenberg

Source: Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0110atheistjan10,0,5018956.story

The No. 2 atheist activist in Illinois doesn't have an office or a car.

Reporters have been banned from her home -- her mother is adamant on this point -- so the McDonald's across the street from Buffalo Grove High School has to serve as her impromptu media headquarters....

Author: STEPHANIE SANDOVAL

Source: The Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/DN-silence_05met.ART0.North.Edition1.37cc71f.html

A Carrollton couple's court challenge to Texas' requirement that schoolchildren observe a minute of silence has failed.

David and Shannon Croft had sued Gov. Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school...

Author: TIM HARLOW

Source: The Star Tribune

http://www.startribune.com/local/12851441.html

Minnesota Atheists are taking their message to the air waves with a new radio program that will debut in January on the talk station Air America Minnesota.

Called "Atheists Talk" -- the same name as a show the organization airs on cable access television -- the live radio broadcast featuring news, interviews, listener call-ins and special guests is...

Source: New Richmond News

http://www.newrichmond-news.com/articles/index.cfm?id=19444&section=Wisconsin%20News&freebie_check&CFID=79778093&CFTOKEN=89022807&jsessionid=883017f915af60731814

Green Bay’s controversial nativity scene came down from City Hall Wednesday.

Madison’s Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit to keep it from ever...

Author: P.J. Huffstutter

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-silence24dec24,1,5677773.story

CHICAGO -- When high school freshman Dawn Sherman learned that Illinois had a new law requiring public schools to provide a moment of silence each day for "reflection and student prayer," she was outraged.

Not because the law meant lost learning time in her honors math class...

Author: Walter F. Naedele

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/nabes/11960367.html

The head of Atheists Alliance International plans to put up a tree this weekend on the lawn at the Chester County Courthouse to stand beside three traditional holiday displays there.

The 20-foot tree will be hung with copies of covers of books, including "Why I Am Not A Christian," "Why I Am Not a...

Author: NICOLE WINFIELD

Source: ABC News

Wire Service: AP

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3935043

Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized modern-day atheism in a major document released today, saying it had led to some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known to mankind.

But in his second encyclical, Benedict also critically questioned modern Christianity,...

Author: Jeff Coen

Source: Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northwest/chi-silence_15nov15,0,4119943.story

The state's new law mandating a moment of silence at the start of the school day may be derailed after a federal judge on Wednesday blocked its imposition in one suburban district.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman issued a preliminary injunction barring the moment of silence...

Author: Tara Malone

Source: Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-silentsuitnew_27oct27,1,178548.story

A 14-year-old suburban girl and her dad, atheist activist Rob Sherman, filed a lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court that challenges the constitutionality of a law requiring Illinois public schools to observe a moment of silence.

Sherman and his daughter Dawn, a freshman at Buffalo Grove...

Author: Karen Lincoln Michel

Source: Green Bay Press Gazette

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071007/GPG0101/710070701/1207/GPGnews

MADISON — An eye-catching billboard with an anti-religion message appeared along the west Beltline on Tuesday, paid for by the national Freedom From Religion Foundation.

In Gothic-style lettering set against a stained-glass...

Author: David Abel

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/09/16/the_nonbelievers/

An increasing number of young people in America - and adults around the world - don't believe in God. Greg Epstein, who advises fellow atheists and agnostics at Harvard University, wants to create a kind of church for those who reject religion. But he's encountering resistance from some of the very...

Source: SMH.com

http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2007/08/10/1186530618725.html

You can be gay, black or even a woman, but America will not tolerate a president who has no religion. Anne Davies writes.

Pete Stark found himself in a unique and slightly uncomfortable position earlier this year. The longtime Democrat congressman for the Oakland district near San Francisco had responded to a survey from the Secular Coalition for America which offered a $...