KENTUCKY ATHEISTS NEWS & NOTES Date: September 07, 2008

Kentucky Atheists, P.O. Box 666, Union, KY 41091; Email: ekagin@atheists.org

Phone: (859) 384-7000; Fax: (859) 384-7324; Web: http://www.atheists.org/ky/

Editor’s personal web site: www.edwinkagin.com

Editor’s personal blog: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com

Edited by:

Edwin Kagin, Kentucky State Director, American Atheists, Inc.

(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)

IT IS OKAY TO BE AN ATHEIST

To Unidentified Recipients:

Your editor must confess to being a tad despondent. He considers himself to be a creator of humor of modest merit, yet he has been so eclipsed by the events of the past few days that it is tempting to wonder if anything he, or anyone else, might ever again invent could be funnier than reality. Just imagine, the Governor of Alaska, a lady moose hunter, a soon-to-be grandmother next door, the mother of a pregnant unwed underage teenage graduate of the abstinence only pro-choice traditional family values program, a proponent of teaching creationism in public schools, a treasonous advocate of state secession, a born again Fundangelical, a rabidly anti-choice example of just why some women indeed should not work outside of the home, has been nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate on the ticket of Geezer and Gidget, for the 2008 Presidential election. Mrs. Sarah Palin, a cross between Our Miss Brooks and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, is a poster girl for constitutional ignorance and American Fascism. For the satirist seeking material, she is indeed low hanging fruit.

How could any made up humor, invented by a humorist, possibly top that?

Perhaps she would be a guest on our soon-to-be-award-winning Internet radio talk show “Answers in Atheism” (www.answersinatheism.net ) to explain her views on just why we should become a theocracy.

Maybe she would be a great President of the United States.

And maybe Queen Elizabeth will appear naked in Playboy.

Edwin.

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AMERICAN ATHEISTS MEDIA ALERT
http://www.atheists.org

SILVERMAN DEBATE MONDAY RADIO, INTERNET
“Was American Founded on Judeo-Christian Values?”
Monday, 9/8 — 6:00 PM 971 Talk, St. Louis

DAVE SILVERMAN, National Communications Director for American Atheists, will be the guest this Monday September 8, 2008 on the popular Dave Glover Show airing from St. Louis, MO. and on the Internet.

Mr. Silverman will be debating the question: “Was the United States founded on Judeo-Christian values?”

The program begins at 6:00 PM EST, and can be heard live on the Internet at http://www.971talk.com .

WHO & WHAT: Dave Silverman of American Atheists on the Glover Show

WHEN: Monday, September 8, 2007 — 6:00 PM EST

WHERE: 97.1 FM Talk Radio, on the Internet at http://www.971talk.com

MORE INFO: http://www.971talk.com

(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights of nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)

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From reader Jan:

Subject: If you weren’t afraid before…

Get scared now:

Palin’s Churches and the Third Wave

Part 1: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/0244/84583

Part 2: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/03830/11602

Scary video in the second part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_1Eit0pxM&eurl=http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/03830/11602

With links to other scary videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ4WOOceGis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVIPF_PmHuQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpKR0REYrnY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7n3h0fCAYk

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=964

‘Arming’ for Armageddon
Militant Joel’s Army Followers Seek Theocracy
By Casey Sanchez
Photography by Lowell Handler
Intelligence Report
Fall 2008

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From reader Len:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/4/155547/0997

Sarah Palin used AK tax dollars to fund dominionist churches
Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 03:55:47 PM EST

Over the past few days, I’ve done reporting on Sarah Palin’s extensive dominionist connections–including the attempt to run her as a “stealth” dominionist candidate and her connections to some scary dominionist groups including not just “Joel’s Army” folks but a far-right Christian Reconstructionist political party linked to domestic terrorism.

As bad as all this–and the scandals regarding her misrule in both Wasilla and as state governor–are, there’s apparently still more.

Today, we find that part of those funding scandals include the tax money of Alaskans used to pay for youth programs at Juneau Christian Center. We also reveal info regarding a particularly disturbing Assemblies frontgroup Palin recently did a talk at, and we go into researching the dominionist connections of her most recent church–Wasilla Bible Church.

Your tax dollars, going to support dominionism for kids

In another example of what appears to be some extensive whitewashing at almost all of Palin’s former and present churches, there were some very interesting links removed from JCC’s site regarding an interesting bit of largesse by Sarah Palin to the church.

Fortunately, an astute blogger happened to archive the material, which included not only documentation of a $25,000 grant to JCC’s “The Hub” from Palin’s administration, but also a request for $100,000 total in state and federal funding and pictures of Palin actually being at the opening of “The Hub” (which have since been scrubbed from her website).

And all is definitely not as it seems with “The Hub”.

“The Hub” is essentially a frontgroup run by JCC for recruitment of future members–much of its activities focus on recruiting kids. The page itself begins with the phrase “Destiny Has Begun!”–a codephrase commonly used in “Joel’s Army” circles to denote the “generation of destiny” (the new rebranding of “Joel’s Army” borrowed from an Assemblies-linked church in New Zealand, now that the press is starting to catch onto the “Joel’s Army” branding). “Destiny” in and of itself is a favourite codephrase in these circles–in “Joel’s Army” theology, people are “destined” to inherit all manner of wealth and take over the planet and whatnot.

The original blogger has also noted he’s received some info to suggest that ongoing prosyletisation may be going on at “The Hub”:

I also found some publicly available videos about JCC’s “Ground/Zero” youth program through a rather circuitous route that I won’t post here to protect the privacy of people in the videos that lead me to believe that more goes on here than what is described in the application.

The “GroundZero” program, too, is worth noting–and even based on its rather scrubbed page, the intent is to essentially set up an army of teen “God Warriors”:

groundzero – the center of rapid or intense development or change.
Our name speaks our purpose. At groundzero we have a vision to develop youth that are marked by purity, passion, and the presence of God. This vision exists to create young people that will carry groundzero as a movement, not just a meeting.
ground/zero is not a place, it’s not a time, but it is a movement transported by people that will impact this generation with a message that instills hope and a purpose. The movement meets Wednesday nights.
Doors open at 6:00PM and service begins at 6:30PM for Middle and High School service.
Doors open at 8:30PM and service begins at 9:00PM for University service (ages 18-26).

(Last I checked, “ground zero” was the central blast point of explosions. And also a name that at least the New York community would probably find in extremely poor taste.)

Seeing as it’s actually been established through some quite official sources that Juneau Christian Center is an Assemblies church, that means that at least $25,000 of Alaskan taxpayers’ money may have gone for active efforts to convert Alaskan teenagers to “Joel’s Army” theology.

More evidence of Palin’s dalliances with Joel’s Army

Possibly some of the more damning info yet on Palin’s membership in “Joel’s Army” comes from the recent revelations of Palin’s speech to a group called “Master’s Commission”. The full transcript of her speech has now come out, and it’s actually worse than the initial reports of her claiming that Gulf War II was a holy crusade.

Some of the badness is from specific codewords she uses (at the beginning, she literally describes the members as being under the “umbrella of the church”–a codephrase used in orgs that use abusive “cell churches” to denote the cell-church relationship). And she gives some real zingers, too, including one which notes pretty much why I get alarm bells when I hear neopentecostal dominionist churches ranting about “destiny”:

But, um, so, having grown up here, and having little kids growing up here also, this is such a special, special place. The Assembly of God here has been a real center point in the Valley for all these years, and the Valley has been a center point for the state of Alaska. So what comes from this church I think has great destiny. And I say this to the Master’s Commission students who have been here under this umbrella, who are going to be sent out now and bringing people in.
. . .
I just want to bless you, and oh, because I didn’t know if I was going to get here tonight, I flew in from Juneau last night and I fly again to Juneau tomorrow. So I didn’t prepare anything, thinking my schedule wouldn’t allow me to be here. But I have a word, but really I’m cheating ’cause it’s a, I think it was given to me today but I’m going to give it to the Master’s Commission students because I think it’s so applicable to they are headed. And this word was given to me, bless his heart, by Pastor Ed Kalnins this morning at our big Valley-wide church service.

It was called Ephesians 1:17, and this is what I want to pray over you guys too: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you a spirit wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, and that spirit of revelation also including a spirit of prophecy, that God’s going to tell you what is going on and what is going to go on, and you guys are going to have that within you, and it’s just going to bubble up and bubble over and, and it’s going to pour out over the state of Alaska. Again, good good things in store for the state of Alaska. Let us pray for God’s will to be done here, for all of your destinies to be met in this state.

(Yes, you’re reading this right–Palin is stating, flat out, that the whole reason that Alaska is rich in natural resources and why people are moving there is so that neopentecostals can hold the Great-Grandmother Of All Revivals.)

However, this isn’t all of why this is disturbing. For the rest of it, you have to do a little bit of digging into Master’s Commission itself.

The efforts at whitewashing haven’t been so successful with Master’s Commission, as a fellow blogger has recorded, but even more enlightenment is found via some Google-massaging.

There are a number of groups using this name (and a surprising number of them are Joel’s Army connected, indicating this may be one of the “rebrandings” we need to keep an eye on), but in this particular case, the “Master’s Commission” we’re concerned about is a post of an Assemblies frontgroup at Wasilla A/G that is connected to Phoenix A/G (Ted Haggard’s present church). Whilst the main headquarters are now in Texas, the group did have its origins in the largest Assemblies church in the US (and one of the largest megachurches in the country).

The group promotes itself as a “discipling and shepherding” group (which is bad enough), but the info on Wasilla A/G’s site–amazingly, not yet redacted–is even worse.

A preview of just how far we’re going to be going into the rabbit hole becomes obvious on the website for Master’s Commission North Pole (the state org–which, incidentially, has one of the most annoying Flash-based websites known). Aside from all the “sword” imagery and spouting off “destiny” every five seconds, it’s let out that participants engage in “marathon fasting” of the type popularly promoted in Assemblies circles (which is to say, 21- and 40-day fasts with nothing but water, no food); in comparison, Lent just drops certain food groups, and Ramadhan only has daytime fasting. Such extreme fasts are considered quite unhealthy by medical personnel, and are seen as one major “warning sign” of a potentially abusive religious group.

Have I also mentioned the fun of the group targeting Native Alaskan and Inuit communities for conversion? And this is just baby steps, really, compared to what we’re about to dive into.

The truth is, the group exists primarily as an ordination mill for the Assemblies of God:

Q: What sort of materials will I be taught?
A:
-Berean School of the Bible (work towards being credentialed with Assemblies of God)
-Scripture Memory (hidding God’s word in our hearts)
-John Bevere Curriculum (Under Cover and Bait of Satan)
-Francis Frangipane (In Christ’s Image Training)
-Steve Thompson (developing and operating in prophetic ministry)

Of note, that “Berean School of the Bible” is the Assemblies of God’s mail-order correspondence school–and the Assemblies tends to have particularly lax standards for ordination (you can get by with two good words from other Assemblies preachers, a multiple choice “Bible quiz”, and two years of “ministerial experience” without setting foot in a seminary hall).

Another sign that Something Is Not Right is the fact that a big part of the work of “Master’s Commission” is working with another Assemblies front–namely, the “Dream Center” chain of “faith based rehabs”:

Here at Masters Commission Wasilla Alaska you will be involved in many different ministries. Here are just some of them:

. . .

Dream Center: You will be serving Rob and Cherise Hyslip who are taking on the vision of a dream center here in Wasilla. Like the one Pastors Matthew and Tommy Barnett have started in L.A., it is a shelter and resource for those facing homelessness, poverty, drug addiciton, and hopelessness.

Ah, yes, Dream Center. 😛 Dream Center is one of several chains of “Faith Based Rehabs” that the Assemblies of God operates; in Dream Center’s case, it is largely the Western District of the Assemblies promoting it, but it has spread to areas outside the Western District (such as Alaska). Past readers may remember Dream Center Phoenix as the site of Ted Haggard’s so-far-unsuccessful degaying (he was ultimately dismissed from the program, as expected).

And–much like other Assemblies-operated “faith based rehab” chains such as Teen Challenge and Mercy Ministries, there have been reports of abuse…some egregrious.

One of the more disturbing reports of abuse at Dream Center facilities involves profiteering off Katrina evacuees and holding them in conditions identical to people in rehab (complete with random pee tests). Much like similar cases at Teen Challenge, at least one facility had a registered sex offender working with youth in Dream Center St. Louis in violation of Missouri law, and there are similarly coercive practices at Dream Center as exist at Mercy Ministries and Teen Challenge (including forced conversions as a condition of receiving aid–including Katrina evacuees who were targeted quite aggressively

Back to “Master’s Commission”, though. Probably some of the most damning material as to what and whom that speech Palin made was meant for is revealed on the “About Alaska” page, including textbook use of the term “Destiny” as a neopente dominionist codeword–and noting some very frequent offenders here:

Alaska has a divine destiny that has been spoken about by many church leaders and prophetic leaders from all over the world such as Dutch Sheets, Todd Bently, Steve Thompson, Woody Woodson, and Dr. Cho just to name a few.
You will have an awesome opportunity here in Master’s Commission Wasilla Alaska to partner with God as he is getting ready to pour out His Spirit like never seen before and cause a great awakening that will see millions all across our world come to know the Lord in a radical and intimate way.

If this isn’t a veritable “who’s who” of modern Joel’s Army promoters, I don’t know what is.

Listed prominently is Todd Bentley, who recently became the primary focus on a new Southern Poverty Law Center article on “Joel’s Army” groups; also listed prominently is Paul Yonggi Cho (nee David Yonggi Cho), head of the largest megachurch in the world in Seoul and pretty much the “founding father” of Joel’s Army stuff in the Assemblies–oh, yes, and there’s always Cho’s lovely connections to the party responsible for a particularly genocidal attempt to establish the Republic of Gilead in Guatemala. Steve Thompson is connected with Rick Joyner’s Morningstar Ministries (and Rick Joyner is one of the names most consistently connected with “Joel’s Army”) and tends to show up frequently in reference material re “Joel’s Army”; Dutch Sheets is a real piece of work and a major, major promoter of this stuff as well (in fact, he’s also engaging in rebranding of “Joel’s Army” as “Gideon’s Army” on his end) with connections to “Joel’s Army” promoter C. Peter Wagner. Woody Woodson is proba bly the most obscure of the lot–he’s heavily promoted on the Assemblies “traveling pastor” circuit along with a number of “word-faith” promoters.

And this is still not the full extent of the “Joel’s Army” linkage; one group they’re connected with is the International House Of Prayer along with Morningstar Ministries. (The International House Of Prayer has been mentioned in the SPLC report om “Joel’s Army” groups; I am, to this day, surprised that the proprietors have not had the living you-know-what sued out of them by the proprietors of the International House of Pancakes.)

If that’s not enough to curl your nosehairs, apparently the intent–as I noted above–is to essentially hold the Great-Grandmother of Revivals, for the express purpose of turning the Great White North into Jesusland:

In 1967 during the Alaska Purchase Centennial, Richard Peter wrote our Alaska State Motto. The motto is meant to represent Alaska as a land of promise. “North to The Future”, we believe this is Prophetic; Alaska will be in the middle of a great outpouring.

Yes, you read that right…apparently the state motto is seen as a prophecy of a giant tent meeting. I can’t make this up if I tried.

Again, I hope this puts to rest any doubt on the whole “Joel’s Army” thing. :3

And her present congregation aren’t exactly angels, either

Compared to this, Palin’s present congregation–Wasilla Bible Church–seems rather harmless.

Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving…especially with all the whitewashing of info critical of Palin going on. Wasilla Bible Church may not be Assemblies-scary, but it is definitely in the “SBC-level of dominionism, post-steeplejack” levels of “worrisome”.

Finding out any solid info in regards to Wasilla Bible Church has been difficult, because there’s very little info on the church’s website; it claims to be nondenominational, but some things like the Statement of Faith point to similarities to so-called “Independent Christian Churches” (which, in the case of the megachurch variety, trend dominionist).

And an early, non-purged Internet Archive version of Wasilla Bible Church’s page already turns up, as early as 2003, links to Focus on the Family–and both WBC and its parent church, as we’ll see, are closely connected to FotF.

The linkage continues to the present day–in the most recent church flyer I’ve been able to find online, a Focus on the Family frontgroup called “Love Won Out”–which promotes the “degaying” bogosity–is actively promoted.

We actually tend to find more revealing info at the parent church of Wasilla Bible Church–a Palmer, Alaska church by the name of Lazy Mountain Bible Church. Again, there’s an almost-deliberate attempt to hide where the origin was (all that is noted is that people apparently came to Alaska to found the church at some unidentified date, no bios on the pastors, no nothing)…but there are some indications of a potential neopente bent, and a definite dominionist bent.

One of the first warning signs is actually from a want-ad for an assistant pastor–specifically someone into “discipling and shepherding”. (I mentioned earlier how this could be a Bad Thing in regards to Wasilla A/G.)

One surprising thing that I did find in research was apparent promotion of a popular women’s writer in SBC circles within Lazy Mountain’s church newsletter; in the same newsletter, though, we also find more promotion for that FotF frontgroup conference.

Another thing that pinged my radar–and may give a clue to the true denominational affiliation of WBC and its parent–was the discovery of a “Potter’s Group” course. This raised my alert, in part, because some highly abusive “Assemblies daughters” tend to use this imagery (including the “Potter’s House” group).

The application also gives hints of a potentially neopente group–it is in fact very similar to the form Matt Taibbi filled out to attend weekend at John Hagee’s “Jesus Camp for Grownups” that turned into a literal vomitorium. (One of the giveaways we may be dealing with neopentes: one of the questions asked re abuse is a history of “Satanic Ritual Abuse”, something that is pretty much only taken seriously in neopentecostal circles and which has been pretty well thoroughly debunked elsewhere.) Interestingly, it is one of the few applications for joining a cell-church group that I’ve seen that includes an indemnity form.

And yes, this too has links to Focus on the Family:

An Adult Sunday School Class featuring Focus on the Family’s The Truth Project meets at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday mornings in room #11. The class is facilitated by Jonathon Peters, Doug Prins and Ed White.

A Truth Project Discussion Group will meet on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the home of Ed White. This is open to men and women.

(Again, the “Truth Project” is a little FotF project–only this time going for explicit dominionist indoctrination, in a surprisingly blatant attempt (via cell-churches)…and when I mean blatant, I mean flat out Christian Nationalism 101.)

And it wouldn’t just be these two pet projects the “Bible Churches” in question are associated with. Another group that LWBC likes to promote is the Alliance Defense Fund–a dominionist legal group that effectively operates as the de facto legal battering-ram of FotF. (Yes, it’s little known, but the Alliance Defense Fund is actually a Focus on the Family “daughter”.)

The particular speaker that LWBC had from ADF is also particularly damning–and disturbingly in-line with Palin’s past history. Chuck Lane, in addition to being a regional ADF head, also has connections with Campus Crusade for Christ (yes, the same Campus Crusade now linked to attempts at military steeplejacking and coercive tactics aimed at college students, among other fun things–yes, the same Campus Crusade that runs the “Fellowship of Christian Athletes” that Palin held membership in, the same one that is practically joined at the hip with the Assemblies) and Promise Keepers (the infamous dominionist “men’s org” that came into controversy because of its use of abusive “cell church” tactics; to this day, Promise Keepers is still listed as a coercive religious group by some exit counselors).

Of note…this is on top of the documented promotion of conversion of Jewish people to “Messianic Jews”; in fact, the speaker in question literally blamed terrorist attacks against the Israeli community on Jewish people failing to convert and God giving a smiting as a result:

“Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It’s very real. When [Brickner’s son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can’t miss it.”

And yes, this is the same “Jews for Jesus” that is almost universally considered a coercive religious group because of deceptive recruitment tactics–as documented by many independent researchers and exit counselors (in fact, the last exit counselor noted got into exit counseling due to attempts by Jews for Jesus to recruit his grandmother when she was in a nursing home).

And this is still not all. Apparently, WBC’s pastor has pulled his own version of a John Hagee foot-bullet–claiming in a sermon that America is due for a smitin’ due to “rampant immorality”.

So…yeah, Wasilla Bible Church are definitely not angels here.

And it’s not entirely accurate to say that WBC is her sole congregation, either. Some media reports have indicated she may be attending both WBC and Juneau Christian Center–though there’s definitely some ongoing spin on that.

And in fact, it looks like Wasilla Bible Church itself has been recruited into whitewashing the muck covering Palin:

On Monday, the church had another cause for notoriety. Kroons told NEWSWEEK that Palin’s campaign staff had contacted him that morning to ask for his discretion when discussing the pregnancy of Palin’s teenage daughter Bristol. “All I’ll say is that Bristol is a young lady. We care about her and want to support her and the family,” Kroons said. Ashley Brown, another pastor at the church, said he’d also been contacted by the campaign with the same request.

All the more reason, methinks, to keep shining that million-candlepower light in Palin’s direction.

KENTUCKY ATHEISTS NEWS & NOTES Date: July 31, 2008

Kentucky Atheists, P.O. Box 666, Union, KY 41091; Email: ekagin@atheists.org

Phone: (859) 384-7000; Fax: (859) 384-7324; Web: http://www.atheists.org/ky/

Editor’s personal web site: www.edwinkagin.com

Editor’s personal blog: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com

Edited by:

Edwin Kagin, Kentucky State Director, American Atheists, Inc.

IT IS OKAY TO BE AN ATHEIST

To Unidentified Recipients:

AMERICAN ATHEISTS

http://www.atheists.org

UPDATE…

FIRST ATHEIST “COMING OUT” &

DE-BAPTISM BASH THIS SATURDAY!

August 2, 2008 — Westerville, Ohio — 12:00 noon

http://healthyaddict.googlepages.com/home

The nation’s first Atheist “Coming Out” Party and De-Baptism bash will take place this coming Saturday (August 2, 2008) in Westerville, Ohio beginning at 12:00 noon.

All Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists and other nonbelievers — especially those “in the closet” — are invited! The event will feature talks, information booths, social events and a “De-Baptism” ceremony (complete with a Certificate of De-Baptism).

“This will be a day of celebration and education for anyone who doesn’t believe in a God,” said event organizer Ashley Paramore. “We’re sending the message that it is OK to not believe in a Jehovah or Allah or some other deity, and live a secular lifestyle as an alternative to organized religion.”

Featured on the program will be Edwin Kagin (Legal Director, Americ
an Atheists); Frank Zindler (President, AA); and Hemant Mehta (Secular Student Alliance).

The venue is the Everal Barn, 60 N. Cleveland Avenue in Westerville, Ohio. For more information, visit http://healthyaddict.googlepages.com/home or contact Ashley Paramore through ashley@secularstudents.org).

WHAT: The first official ATHEIST COMING OUT AND DE-BAPTISM PARTY.

WHEN: This Saturday, August 2, 2008 from 12:00 noon to 5:00 PM

WHO: Ashley Paramore, Frank Zindler, Edwin Kagin, Hemant Mehta

WHERE: Everal Barn, 60 N. Cleveland Avenue in Westerville, Ohio.

MORE INFO: http://healthyaddict.googlepages.com/home or contact Ashley Paramore through ashley@secularstudents.org).

(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)

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DON”T MISS THIS:

ATHEIST COMING OUT PARTY AND DE-BAPTISM.

You’re invited!
Date: August 2nd, 2008
Time: 12pm-5pm
Location: Everal Barn
60 N. Cleveland Avenue
Westerville, Ohio 43081 (click here for map)

From Ashley, organizer of Atheist Coming Out Party:

Ok everyone, the big event is this Saturday! It looks like things are going to be a huge success! I’ve gotten a lot of e-mail from people interested in attending, along with e-mails from the Dispatch, Westerville paper, and even Reuters in Dallas! I’m excited! 🙂

To view details for the party, go here –> http://healthyaddict.googlepages.com/home

All of the information is contained on that site in regards to location and cost – now the low price of FREE! For those of you who have paid me by cash or check and would like to be refunded please contact me at ashley@secularstudents.org and I will give you a full refund (all paypal payments should be fully refunded at this point – I’m still playing catch-up with checks). If you would rather leave it as a donation for the Coming OUT Party for next year, that would be greatly appreciated. In either case, please let me know as soon as possible so I know what to do with your entry.

Hemant’s book, “I Sold My Soul on Ebay” is still available for pre-pay online.

In regards to food, if you plan on eating, be sure to bring something! We will have two grills. Volunteer cooks would be great as well. 🙂

Don’t forget to bring literature for your groups or organizations.

Speakers will start around 1-1:30pm. And for those wanting to get a ‘de-baptism’ that will go on a 4:00pm. Aside from that, bring some food, and have a great time! For those who want to go camping Saturday night at Alum Creek please get ahold of me ASAP!

Please pass this information along to your groups and others who you know are attending.

Looking forward to seeing you all there! 🙂 Thanks so much for all your help getting the word out as well!

—
Ashley Paramore
Secular Student Alliance Board Member
Students for Freethought at Ohio State Chair
Omnipresent Atheists & Heathen Chicks Organizer
419-631-1255

“Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine they didn’t understand, why, there would be no end of divine things.”
~Hippocrates

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Traditional Family Values Department.

From reader Jan:

Matthew 24:12 (King James Version)

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

———————————–

http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1217409343125180.xml&coll=3&thispage=1

Body in freezer as man preached

Anthony Hopkins of Mobile is charged with murdering his wife and sexually abusing his eldest daughter, who tipped off police Wednesday, July 30, 2008 By ROBERT McCLENDON Staff Reporter

While Anthony Hopkins was leading a revival in a small church on the outskirts of Jackson, Ala., Monday night, the body of a woman, presumed to be his wife, was stuffed in a freezer at his house in Mobile, waiting to be discovered by police.

Acting on a tip given by Hopkins’ daughter, the eldest of eight children, police said they knew where to look and what they were likely to find when they searched the Rylands Street house.

Clarke County Sheriff’s deputies found Hopkins at the church a short time later, still preaching and ministering to people in the crowd, according to the pastor of the congregation hosting the revival.

It could be the last sermon he preaches as a free man. Hopkins now sits in Mobile County Metro Jail, charged with murdering his wife, 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. He could face life in prison if convicted.

The body had yet to be positively identified Tuesday night, but authorities said they were confident that it was Hopkins’ wife.

Mobile Police Chief Phillip Garrett said it could be a few days before the body is positively identified, a delay caused principally by the condition of the corpse, which he said looked like it had been in the freezer for “quite a while.”

As of Tuesday morning, when Garrett held a news conference to announce Hopkins’ arrest, it was not even known how Arletha Hopkins had been killed or what condition her body was in.

Officers removed the small chest-style freezer from Hopkins’ house in its entirety, transporting it to the Mobile office of the Department of Forensic Sciences.

Exactly how long she had been in the freezer remains unclear, Garrett said, but nobody has heard from Arletha Hopkins in more than three years.

She had never been reported missing.

She might never have been discovered if Hopkins’ 19-year-old daughter hadn’t come forward and talked to police attached to the Child Advocacy Center.

Detectives found out about the body during the interview, Garrett said. They also found out that Hopkins had been sexually abusing the eldest child, Garrett said.

In addition to the murder charge, Hopkins also faces charges of rape and sodomy.

Details about Hopkins’ past remained sketchy Tuesday.

Police described him as an evangelist, an itinerant preacher who toured various churches around the area holding revivals. He hadn’t been in the Mobile area for long, according to Garrett. Hopkins kept a low profile.

Neighbors on his central Mobile block said they didn’t know him well, only as “Rev.” His children played in the yard often, they said, but they weren’t allowed to play with other kids on the street. None of them recalled seeing Hopkins with his wife.

He did apparently have some roots in Jackson, where he had led several revivals in the past, according to Beverly Jackson, the pastor of Inspiration Tabernacle Church, the site of Monday night’s revival meeting where Hopkins was taken into custody.

Jackson said several of her congregants came to her and asked if Hopkins could hold a revival at their church.

“Everybody liked him, said he was a kind man,” Jackson said, “And they liked the way he ministered.”

Jackson said she didn’t know
Hopkins well, having only met him once, many years ago. When he reintroduced himself, he said his wife died giving birth to their youngest child. Jackson said she thought that was odd. She hadn’t mentioned his wife at all.

Still, she said, he seemed nice enough, and he was highly recommended, so she agreed to host the revival. It was supposed to last all week. It lasted only one night.

With seven of his children in the front row Monday night — the eighth was meeting with Mobile police — Hopkins launched into his sermon, much of which centered on the topic of forgiveness, Jackson said.

“I felt in my spirit that he knew what was going to happen to him. Even if he didn’t know it was going to happen here,” Jackson said, reflecting on Hopkins’ message.

Hopkins told the congregation that his eldest daughter had left the house.

“He said he told her she had to do what she had to do,” Jackson said. Looking at his seven children, “He asked them to forgive him for his sins: past, present and future.”

When his sermon concluded, Jackson said, he began to minister individually to people in the crowd. His children played accompanying music on instruments he had brought with him. There was even a miniature drum set for one of his younger sons.

When he worked his way away from the pulpit, Jackson said, deputies and police entered, guns drawn, and took him into custody.

She took the children out of the church, playing with the younger ones, who seemed not to understand exactly what was happening. The older daughters, she said, hardly reacted at all.

Hear part of that sermon here: http://blog.al.com/pr/2008/07/preachers_last_sermon.html

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Y’all come on up to Columbus, Ohio this Saturday and get yourselves de-baptized, y’hear. Edwin.

KENTUCKY ATHEISTS NEWS & NOTES Date: July 29, 2008

Kentucky Atheists, P.O. Box 666, Union, KY 41091; Email: ekagin@atheists.org

Phone: (859) 384-7000; Fax: (859) 384-7324; Web: http://www.atheists.org/ky/

Editor’s personal web site: www.edwinkagin.com

Editor’s personal blog: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com

Edited by:

Edwin Kagin, Kentucky State Director, American Atheists, Inc.

IT IS OKAY TO BE AN ATHEIST

To Unidentified Recipients:

For a waiting world, we now present “They’re Back in Their Burkas Again,” by Edwin &

Helen Kagin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVxswvuJZI

—————————————————————————————–

The brief filed in the Court of Appeals of Kentucky on behalf of David Ryan, the Kentucky Atheist father who objects to his son being sent, under court order, can be found here:

http://www.edwinkagin.com/Appellant_Brief_of_David_Ryan.pdf

——————————————————————————————————

Y’all come to the Atheist Coming Out Part on August 2^nd, y’all hear.

Come and get de-baptized.

Edwin.

===============================================================

ATHEISTS TO HOST FIRST “COMING OUT” PARTY EVENT, DE-BAPTISM BASH

AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.

http://www.atheists.org

http://www.americanatheist.org

For more information, please contact:

FRANK ZINDLER, President (614) 299-1036

EDWIN KAGIN, National Legal Director (859) 384-7000

Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists and other nonbelievers will be attending the nation’s first “coming out” party next Saturday, August 2,

2008 in Westerville, Ohio. The event will feature talks, social events, and even a “De-Baptism” ceremony for those who were enrolled in religious groups and now wish to disaffiliate from their houses of worship.

“This will be a day of celebration and education for anyone who doesn’t believe in a God and is still ‘in the closet,” said Ashley Paramore, organizer of the event. “We’re sending the message that it is OK to not believe in a Jehovah or Allah or some other deity, and live a secular lifestyle as an alternative to organized religion.”

Frank Zindler, President of American Atheists and Edwin Kagin, the group’s National Legal Director will be signing De-Baptism certificates. Zindler said that the organization has been handing out the certificates for years, “This is the first time, though, that we’re having a party to welcome all the new people we expect to turn out.”

Zindler added that the De-Baptism ceremony would be a fun way for people who feel under pressure to conform to religious orthodoxy to make a statement about their newfound intellectual independence.

The Atheist Coming Out Party will be held on Saturday, August 2, 2008 beginning at 12:00 noon at the Everel Barn, 60 N. Cleveland Avenue in Westerville, Ohio.

For media interviews, please contact:

FRANK ZINDLER, President of American Atheists (614-299-1036) EDWIN KAGIN, National Legal Director (859-384-7000) ASHLEY PARAMORE (ashley@secularstudents.org)

AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.

American Atheists, Inc.

P. O. Box 158

Cranford, NJ 07016

Tel: (908) 276-7300

Fax: (908) 276-7402

===============================================================

From Reader Jan, who wrote his Excellency, the Governor of Kentucky. Here is his thoughtful reply:

On offishul stationery too.

He say:

========

Dear Ms. (Redacted):

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding your opinion about the option of having an “In God We Trust” license plate. “In God We Trust” is essentially our national motto, no one should have to pay extra to have the national motto reflected on their license plate. This new license plate would be provided at no additional cost and would be an alternative to the standard-issue “Unbridled Spirit” plate, which will continue to be available at no extra charge.

Your views are important to me, and I am grateful for your willingness to be involved in Kentucky’s future. Please feel free to contact me whenever an issue is important to you.

Sincerely,

Steven L. Beshear

========

Yup! Over an official signature – so he can’t say he was misquoted in the press.

And this moron used to be ATTORNEY GENERAL of Kaintuck?!?!

===============================================================

It is interesting that all of the thoughtful letters from our governor to those who oppose the threatened theocracy seem quite a bit the same. Edwin

===============================================================

From reader Frank:

Hello Folks!

You may recall that on August 16, 2008 I sent the

following in email to KY Governor Steve Beshear:

Can a volunteer Vietnam-era atheist-in-

the-foxhole Army veteran of a law-abiding,

family-raising, wage-earning lifelong

Kentuckian taxpayer get a Kentucky auto

license plate that says “In Reason I Trust?

Today I received in the US Mail a letter from Steve

Beshear dated July 22, 2008 in which he says:

Thank you for taking the time to

contact me regarding your opinion

about the option of having an “In God

We Trust” license plate. “In God We

Trust” is essentially our national motto,

no one should have to pay extra to

have the national motto reflected on

their license plate. This new license

plate would be provided at no addition-

al cost and would be an alternative to

the standard-issue “Unbridled Spirit”

plate, which will continue to be avail-

able at no extra charge.

Yours views are important to me,

and I am grateful for your willingness

to be involved in Kentucky’s future.
Please feel free to contact me when-

ever an issue is important to you.

In short, our governor replied but did not answer the

question that I asked him. I guess this is just what

I should have expected from a professional politician,

but it nonetheless disappoints me. Candor from our

elected leaders is clearly a thing of the past (along

evidently with clarity of thought and an acute under-

standing of the lessons of history).

— Frank

===============================================================

http://www.koco.com/news/16976219/detail.html

Man Watching Steeple Ceremony Killed When Crane Collapses

Dozens Attended Church Ceremony In Southwest Oklahoma City

POSTED: 10:47 am CDT July 24, 2008

UPDATED: 6:42 pm CDT July 24, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY — One of dozens of churchgoers watching a steeple being mounted on top of a newly constructed building in southwest Oklahoma City was killed when a crane collapsed on top of his vehicle, fire officials said.

Winfred Stafford, 79, was killed while watching the ceremony at the newly constructed South Pointe church, located at Southwest 134th Street and Straka Farms Terrace just west of Interstate 44.

His 78-year-old wife was injured and taken to St. Anthony Hospital in good condition. Witnesses told Eyewitness News 5 that the woman was in the back seat of a vehicle talking to a friend when the crane overturned.

Witnesses said she was able to get out of the vehicle, but her husband was in the front seat and unable to get out in time. People gathered at the ceremony were shouting for the couple to get out of the way of the falling crane.

Fire officials said the church is an additional campus to the Grace Assembly of God church, located at Southwest 54th Street and Young Avenue.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Labor and OSHA are at the scene investigating.

The name of the victim’s wife has not been released.

===============================================================

www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-exodus2108jul21,0,7755323.story

OrlandoSentinel.com

Holy Moses! PBS documentary suggests Exodus not real

Hal Boedeker

Sentinel Television Critic

July 21, 2008

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.

Abraham didn’t exist? The Exodus didn’t happen?

The Bible’s Buried Secrets, a new PBS documentary, is likely to cause a furor.

“It challenges the Bible’s stories if you want to read them literally, and that will disturb many people,” says archaeologist William Dever, who specializes in Israel’s history. “But it explains how and why these stories ever came to be told in the first place, and how and why they were written down.”

The Nova program will premiere Nov. 18. PBS presented a clip and a panel discussion at the summer tour of the Television Critics Association.

The program says the Bible was written in the sixth century BC and that hundreds of authors contributed.

“At least the first five books of the Bible come together during the Babylonian exile,” says producer Gary Glassman.

The program challenges long-held beliefs. Abraham, Sarah and their offspring probably didn’t exist, says Carol Meyers, a religion professor at Duke University.

“These stories are unlikely to represent real historical events, but rather there’s some kernel of ancient experience in there which has survived and which helps give identity to the people at the time the Bible finally took shape centuries and centuries later,” Meyers says.

There’s no archaeological evidence of the Exodus, either, she says, but “it doesn’t mean that there’s no kernel of truth to it.”

Nova series producer Paula Apsell says she found it “extremely shocking” to learn that monotheism was a process that took hundreds of years.

“I was always brought up to believe that the minute Abraham and the patriarchs came on the scene, the Israelites accepted one God and there was just always one God and that was it,” Apsell says. “I think people are going to really be stunned by that.”

Another shocker: The program contradicts the biblical view that the Israelites came from somewhere else into the land of Canaan. “The film shows that they were Canaanites,” Apsell says.

Hal Boedeker can be reached at 407-420-5756 or hboedeker@orlandosentinel.com. Read Hal’s TV Guy blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/tvguy.

Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

KENTUCKY ATHEISTS NEWS & NOTES Date: July 16, 2008

Kentucky Atheists, P.O. Box 666, Union, KY 41091; Email: ekagin@atheists.org

Phone: (859) 384-7000; Fax: (859) 384-7324; Web: http://www.atheists.org/ky/

Editor’s personal web site: www.edwinkagin.com

Editor’s personal blog: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com

Edited by:

Edwin Kagin, Kentucky State Director, American Atheists, Inc.

IT IS OKAY TO BE AN ATHEIST

To Unidentified Recipients:

It is happening here. The American Religious Civil War (ARCW) now takes additional treasonous steps into the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Our governor, who replaced the fanatic who wanted to teach Intelligent Design in our public schools, now wants to offer, at no extra charge, a Kentucky license plate that says. “In God We Trust” (IGWT).

To be sure Kentucky has lots of optional specialty license plates that one can get by paying an extra fee. You know, for things like the Masons, :Boy Scouts, Humane Society, etc. And this is no real problem. There should be no serious objection if the state offers an IGWT license plate as a specialty plate at an extra fee as some states do.

But if the state gives out the IGWT plate at no extra charge, in place of the standard state license plate, then that is unlawful endorsement of religion over non-religion by the state. And that is in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….”

And such an activity is also in gross violation of Section 5 of the Constitution of Kentucky, which says, under the heading “Religious Freedom:

“No preference shall ever be given by law to any religious sect, society or denomination; nor to any particular creed, mode of worship or system of ecclesiastical polity; nor shall any person be compelled to attend any place of worship, to contribute to the erection or maintenance of any such place, or to the salary or support of any minister of religion; nor shall any man be compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed; and the civil rights, privileges or capacities of no person shall be taken away, or in anywise diminished or enlarged, on account of his belief or disbelief of any religious tenet, dogma or teaching. No human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience.” (emphasis added)

Didn’t know about that, did you? Most folks don’t. It is actually stronger in its language than the First Amendment. And it will be one of the grounds for the lawsuit that will probably be filed if the state goes through with this unlawful attempt to force the religion of some on all of us.

This is a call for action. The governor and the legislature need to be reminded of the law and of their duties under the law, and of our right to be free of their attempts to make everyone play in their sandbox. You are urged to write letters to lawmakers and to the press on this issue. Send copies to this newsletter for possible publication.

We were once, in my childhood, “One Nation Indivisible.” Since lawmakers of lesser stuff than our founders modified this to “One nation under god indivisible,” we have become divisible. It need not have happened. It can be corrected. We can fix that which has been broken by those who defile the graves of our martyrs.

As a compromise, I will happily accept without complaint the idea of a free IGWT license plate, so long as the state also offers, at no additional charge, a plate that says, “It Is Okay to Be an Atheist.”

Suggest that to the would-be theocrats and watch them ring them bells.

Here is the story and a couple of initial reactions thereto.

Edwin.

==================================================================================================

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/461417.html

Posted on Tue, Jul. 15, 2008

Beshear seeks optional “In God We Trust” Ky. plate

The Associated Press

Related Content

http://www.courier-journal.com

FRANKFORT, Ky. —

Gov. Steve Beshear said he will seek legislation authorizing an “In God We Trust” auto license plate when lawmakers return to Frankfort early next year.

Beshear wants Kentucky drivers to be able to choose the license plate as an alternative to the current “Unbridled Spirit” plate the state issues.

Both plates would cost $21.

“‘In God We Trust’ is essentially our national motto,” Beshear told The Courier-Journal. “And that national motto belongs to every American and indeed every Kentuckian. In my opinion nobody should have to pay extra to have that national motto reflected on their license plate.”

Beshear’s transportation secretary, Joe Prather, sent a letter on Monday asking the chairmen of the House and Senate transportation committees to pass legislation creating the new license plates next year.

Rep. Jim Gooch sponsored similar legislation earlier this year. It passed the House unanimously, but failed in the Senate.

Beshear is scheduled to begin a series of town hall meetings on Thursday. Spokesman Dick Brown said the meetings will allow the governor to listen to the concerns of Kentuckians and to talk to them about his goals for the state.

“Certainly, it doesn’t hurt for people to see him without the filter of the media, so that they can judge for themselves the kind of job he’s doing, the kind of governor he is,” Brown said.

Beshear had gotten off to a rocky start with state lawmakers, who rejected his top legislative priority – a proposed constitutional amendment to allow casinos to open in the state.

Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Steve Robertson questioned Beshear’s motivation for proposing the license plate.

“Quite frankly, for him to come out with an issue like this as he begins a statewide image tour just smacks of politics,” Robertson said.

Robertson said Beshear’s call for such legislation would have appeared more sincere if he had gotten behind the earlier proposal.

Indiana lawmakers approved an “In God We Trust” license plate in 2006. More than 1.6 million motorists in that state have gotten them since they became available in January 2007.

Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com

===================================================================================================

From reader Jan:

Maybe we should let Gov. Steve know that “EVERY Kentuckian” does NOT consider IGWT to “belong” to all. Contact info below. Pass it on to your lists.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/461417.html

Posted on Tue, Jul. 15, 2008

Beshear seeks optional “In God We Trust” Ky. plate The Associated Press

Gov. Steve Beshear said he will seek legislation authorizing an “In God We Trust” auto license plate when lawmakers return to Frankfort early next year.

Beshear wants Kentucky drivers to be able to choose the license plate as an alternative to the current “Unbridled Spirit” plate the state issues.

Both plates would cost $21.

“‘In God We Trust’ is essentially our national motto,” Beshear told The Courier-Journal. “And that national motto belongs to every American and indeed every Kentuckian. In my opinion nobody should have to pay extra to have that national motto reflected on their license plate.”

Beshear’s transportation secretary, Joe Prather, sent a letter on Monday asking the chairmen of the House and Senate transportation committees to pass legislation creating the new license plates next year.

Rep. Jim Gooch sponsored similar legislation earlier this year. It passed the House unanimously, but failed in the Senate.

Beshear is scheduled to begin a series of town hall meetings on Thursday. Spokesman Dick Brown said the meetings will allow the governor to listen to the concerns of Kentuckians and to talk to them about his goals for the state.

Contact Information

Capitol Webmail:

http://governor.ky.gov/contact …

Capitol Website:

http://governor.ky.gov/

Capitol Address

700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100

Frankfort, KY 40601

Phone: 502-564-2611

TTYD: 502-564-9551

Fax: 502-564-2517

===============================================================================================

From reader Jan:

O.K. Heathens…let’s let Beshear know that Kentucky is crawling with infidels.

======

Dear Governor Beshear,

I am writing in regard to your statement in the July 16, 2008 Lexington Herald-Leader in which you say that you will seek legislation authorizing an “In God We Trust” license plate.

You stated:

=====

“’In God We Trust’ is essentially our national motto…and that national motto belongs to every American and every Kentuckian.”

=====

Your statement shows an astounding lack of knowledge about the “In God We Trust” motto itself and the diversity of belief in both America and Kentucky. Not “every” American or Kentuckian has a belief in the Abrahamic God or any god(dess)(es). Some Kentuckians hold absolutely no belief in any supernatural entities.

The “In God We Trust” motto was adopted during a time of divisiveness during the “Red Scare” paranoia of the shameful McCarthy era. “In God We Trust” replaced our original and more inclusive national motto of “E Pluribus Unum” – “Out of Many, One”.

In this day and age, people can purchase personalized license plate frames and bumperstickers of any type to publicly display their personal interests and beliefs. Therefore, I do not think it is necessary to involve the Kentucky legislature and taxpayer funds in creating this license plate to pander to the tyranny of the religious majority.

Please reconsider this proposed endeavor. The state of Kentucky has far more important things to focus on than creating such an inflammatory and exclusionary license plate.

Kentucky also cannot afford to waste taxpayer money on legal challenges to this ill conceived idea.

Sincerely,

Jan

(additional identifying information redacted. Edwin)

==============================================================================================

From reader Frank:

I just sent this email to the Governor:

“Can a volunteer Vietnam-era atheist-in-the-foxhole

Army veteran of a law-abiding, family-raising, wage-

earning lifelong Kentuckian taxpayer get a Kentucky

auto license plate that says “In Reason I Trust”?

I’ll let y’all know what (if any) reply I get.

— Frank

KENTUCKY ATHEISTS NEWS & NOTES Date: July 13, 2008

Kentucky Atheists, P.O. Box 666, Union, KY 41091; Email: ekagin@atheists.org

Phone: (859) 384-7000; Fax: (859) 384-7324; Web: http://www.atheists.org/ky/

Editor’s personal web site: www.edwinkagin.com

Editor’s personal blog: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com

Edited by:

Edwin Kagin, Kentucky State Director, American Atheists, Inc.

IT IS OKAY TO BE AN ATHEIST

To Unidentified Recipients:

Now hold on here a second. This ain’t right. In Texas the courts say that it is okay to let your kid be injured by virtue of the parents’ idiotic religious beliefs and rituals, but in Kentucky the police are out busting people for using poisonous snakes in their rituals because of their religious beliefs. In short, Kentucky gives legal protection to harmful poisonous snakes used in crazy religious rites and Texas gives legal protection to harmful poisonous parents who use their children in crazy religious rites.

Could this have anything to do with the fact that the Supreme Court said that in Texas the Ten Commandments could be posted in public places and also said that in Kentucky the Ten Commandments could not be posted in public places?

I didn’t make the facts.

Had enough? Here is a news flash.

IT IS OKAY TO BE AN ATHEIST.

Edwin.

====================================================================================================

From reader Robin:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/13/snake.bust.ap/index.html

Snake-handling pastor arrested

FRANKFORT, Kentucky (AP) — The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade.

Undercover officers purchased more than 200 illegal reptiles during the investigation.

More than 100 snakes, many of them deadly, were confiscated in the undercover sting after Thursday’s arrests, said Col. Bob Milligan, director of law enforcement for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Most were taken from the Middlesboro home of Gregory James Coots, including 42 copperheads, 11 timber rattlesnakes, three cottonmouth water moccasins, a western diamondback rattlesnake, two cobras and a puff adder.

Handling snakes is practiced in a handful of fundamentalist churches across Appalachia, based on the interpretation of Bible verses saying true believers can take up serpents without being harmed. The practice is illegal in most states, including Kentucky.

Coots, 36, is pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, where a Tennessee woman died after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a service in 1995. Her husband died three years later when he was bitten by a snake in northeastern Alabama.

Coots was charged Thursday with buying, selling and possessing illegal reptiles. He had no listed telephone number and couldn’t be reached for comment. There was no phone listing for the church.

“It is disturbing to me that individuals would keep such dangerous wildlife in their homes and in neighborhoods where they put their families, visitors and neighbors at such high risk,” Milligan said.

The snakes, plus one alligator, were turned over to the nonprofit Kentucky Reptile Zoo in Slade. Most appeared to have been captured from the wild, with some imported from Asia and Africa.

Zoo Director Jim Harrison said some of the animals would likely have become exotic pets had they not been seized.

“There’s been a large trade in exotics for years,” he said. “Some people are just fascinated with them.”

Undercover officers purchased more than 200 illegal reptiles during the investigation, some of which were advertised for sale on Web sites. One such
Web site lists copperheads for $50 each and cobras for $450.

“You can purchase anything off the Internet except common sense,” Harrison said. “A venomous snake isn’t a pet. You don’t play with it. If you do, you’re an idiot.”

====================================================================================================

From Joe Zamecki, Texas State Director for American Atheists:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25423465/

FORT WORTH, Texas – The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices found that a lower court erred when it said the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God’s First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion did not prevent the church from being held liable for mental distress triggered by a “hyper-spiritualistic environment.”

Laura Schubert testified in 2002 that she was cut and bruised and later experienced hallucinations after the church members’ actions in 1996, when she was 17. Schubert said she was pinned to the floor for hours and received carpet burns during the exorcism, the Austin American-Statesman reported. She also said the incident led her to mutilate herself and attempt suicide. She eventually sought psychiatric help.

But the church’s attorneys had told jurors that her psychological problems were caused by traumatic events she witnessed with her missionary parents in Africa. The church contended she “freaked out” about following her father’s life as a missionary and was acting out to gain attention.

Abuse and false imprisonment?

The 2002 trial of the case never touched on the religious aspects, and a Tarrant County jury found the Colleyville church and its members liable for abusing and falsely imprisoning the girl. The jury awarded her $300,000, though the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth later reduced the verdict to $188,000.

Justice David Medina wrote that finding the church liable “would have an unconstitutional ‘chilling effect’ by compelling the church to abandon core principles of its religious beliefs.”

But Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, in a dissenting opinion, stated that the “sweeping immunity” is inconsistent with U.S. Supreme Court precedent and extends far beyond the Constitution’s protections for religious conduct.

‘Intentional abuse’

“The First Amendment guards religious liberty; it does not sanction intentional abuse in religion’s name,” Jefferson wrote.

After the 2002 verdict, Pleasant Glade merged with another congregation in Colleyville, a Fort Worth suburb.

A message left for the church’s attorney Friday evening was not immediately returned, and calls to two numbers listed in Schubert’s name went unanswered.

=============================================================================

From reader Frank:

Seems to me a good argument can be made for

permitting legal venomous snake-handling for

religious reasons — namely, it allows natural

selection a better chance to thin the herd, you

know, unburden the gene pool — and, as a

(little-l) libertarian, I (for one) am all in favor of

genuine religious liberty.

— Frank

———————————————————————–

Do unto others as they want to be done unto,

or else leave ’em the heck alone.

———————— The Libertarian Golden Rule —–

====================================================

From reader Jan:

Subject: Re: Ky in the news again for crazy biblical views

> it allows natural

> selection a better chance to thin the herd

Trouble is that the snakes are killing them off fast enough. Besides, IF they really are serious about that scripture passage, I want to know why they don’t use any of these < http://arachnophiliac.info/burrow/tenmostvenomous.htm >. Until they do that, they are wussies.

From the story: “plus one alligator”. I want to know the scripture passage for using alligators.

Jan

KENTUCKY ATHEISTS NEWS & NOTES Date: July 11, 2008

Kentucky Atheists, P.O. Box 666, Union, KY 41091; Email: ekagin@atheists.org

Phone: (859) 384-7000; Fax: (859) 384-7324; Web: http://www.atheists.org/ky/

Editor’s personal web site: www.edwinkagin.com

Editor’s personal blog: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com

Edited by:

Edwin Kagin, Kentucky State Director, American Atheists, Inc.

IT’S OKAY TO BE AN ATHEIST

To Unidentified Recipients:

This is just too wonderful to be true. But it seems that it is true.

Just what part of the purloined “Body of Christ” does Catholic League President Bill Donohue think is being desecrated?

And if this cracker is really thought to be a hunk of Christ’s body that has been spirited away instead of being properly eaten in solemn ceremony within the confines of the Mass, along with the drinking of Christ’s blood, then how can the charge of cannibalism be refuted?

If eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood is not cannibalism, how would it look if it was cannibalism?

Is the mystery of the Eucharist, the consumption of the body and blood of Christ, to be observed only in-house?

Is there no take-out available under the rules for those who wish to “Swallow the Leader?”

There is help. Now you can come out.

And you can also go to Hell and back.

Details follow.

Edwin.

====================================================================================================

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/24313139.html?location_refer=Gophers

Communion wafer held ‘hostage’ raises holy heck

Star Tribune

Last update: July 11, 2008 – 7:15 AM

A Minnesota university instructor and avowed atheist is jousting with a national Catholic watch dog group over a smuggled communion wafer, which the associate professor dismisses as a “frackin’ cracker.”

Paul Z. Myers, who teaches biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris, on his blog this week expressed amazement that a Florida college student who briefly took a wafer “hostage” from a church ceremony has been receiving death threats for an action that was characterized “a hate crime” by the Catholic League.

Under the headline, “It’s a frackin’ cracker!” Myers wrote in an at-times profane blog entry: “Crazy Christian fanatics right here in our own country have been threatening to kill a young man over a cracker. This is insane.”

He added: “Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? … I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won’t be tempted to hold it hostage … but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart.”

Myers, in an interview today, explained that the blog entry is more “satire and protest” than an actual threat to defile the Eucharist.

His blog entry has collected nearly 1,000 comments since it was posted Tuesday.

The Catholic League, a civil rights group that challenges any instances it sees as an afront to Catholicism, said today that it is calling on the university to act against Myers, noting that Myers’ blog can be accessed through a link on the university’s website.

“It is hard to think of anything more vile than to intentionally desecrate the Body of Christ,” Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a news release. “We look to those who have oversight responsibility to act quickly and decisively.”

Myers, who was raised Lutheran and now considers himself a card-carrying atheist, said he’s been getting a “few death threats” since the conflict began, “but I don’t take them too seriously.”

His opponents, he said, describe him as a “strident, militant atheist” because of his activism in the debate of evolution vs. creationism.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

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ANNOUNCING ATHEIST COMING OUT PARTY

Tired of it all? Tired of pretending? Tired of putting up quietly with those who think YOU are wrong for not believing their nonsense?

Come Out!

Here is an opportunity to do so

From Reader Ashley:

The first annual Atheist Coming OUT Party, sponsored by American Atheists, will be held

in Columbus Ohio,

on August 2nd, 2008 from 12:00 pm-5:00 pm

The purpose of this event is to provide a setting where freethinkers from across Ohio and beyond its borders can network with each other. There will be tables set up so people can leave literature for their groups and organizations. Speakers include Edwin Kagin and Hemant Mehta.

Entry fee is $5.00, and food is potluck style. Bring a dish if you plan on eating.

To RSVP and find out more information, go to http://healthyaddict.googlepages.com/home.

Ashley Paramore
Secular Student Alliance Board Member
Students for Freethought at Ohio State Chair
419-631-1255

“Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine they didn’t understand, why, there would be no end of divine things.”
~Hippocrates

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And here is an idea whose time has come.

From reader Len:

Camp Quest

it’s beyond belief!

Camp Quest of Michigan, P. O. Box 656, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48303

“. . .Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. . .”

Responding to popular demand, this summer I’ve decided to try to organize a family camp for those intrepid and fearless individuals willing to go to Hell and back.

A number of sites with water & electric hookups have been reserved for our “Weekend in Hell” at the Hell Creek Ranch in Hell, Michigan for the weekend of August 9-10.

Hell Creek Ranch

10866 Cedar Lake Road

Hell, MI 48169 (Pinkney)

734-878-3632

· This is a 100-site campground, 40 “rustic” and 60 sites with water & electric.

· There is a playground, game room, horseshoe pit, volleyball, vending (including ice), in-ground pool and bath house.

· The ranch offers horseback riding, and they are adjacent to 1000 acres of trails on state land.

· Canoes can be rented nearby.

· Buy wood for campfires at the ranch only–due to continuing problems with the emerald ash borer, do not bring your own firewood.

· The village of Hell is about 10 minutes away (consisting of a post office, restaurant and ice cream parlor — yes, you can get ice cream in Hell!)

Check in Friday evening, check out Sunday afternoon (unless you’d like to stay longer). Site fee for water & electric hookup is $25 per day. A weekend family pass to use the pool is $15. Those interested in horseback riding must make reservations in advance by calling 734-954-0500. Canoeing can be arranged through Screams Ice Cream Parlor at 734-878-2233.

Hell Creek Ranch is located in South Eastern Michigan’s most beautiful countryside, in the heart of the Pinckney Recreation Area. Seventeen miles of beautiful hiking trails weave thru the Hell area, the same trails used by the Potowatomi Indians a century ago.

The Pavillion and Pond area is away from the campground area, offering a semi-private setting with plenty of space for outdoor activities. The Pavillion has picnic tables and a grill available for cookouts, and there is a bonfire pit near the pond.

Check in Friday evening, August 8 – check out Sunday afternoon August 10.

Ask for the Camp Quest Family Camp reserved for Len Zanger.

For more information, please contact me at campquest-mi@comcast.net or phone 248-330-5061.

KENTUCKY ATHEISTS NEWS & NOTES Date: May 02, 2008

Kentucky Atheists, P.O. Box 48, Union, KY 41091; Email: ekagin@atheists.org

Phone: (859) 384-7000; Fax: (859) 384-7324; Web: http://www.atheists.org/ky/

Editor’s personal web site: www.edwinkagin.com

Editor’s personal blog: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com

Edited by:

Edwin Kagin, Kentucky State Director, American Atheists, Inc.

I WAS BORN AN ATHEIST JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE

To Unidentified Recipients:

AMERICAN ATHEISTS

To Members and Supporters of AMERICAN ATHEISTS…

Dear friends,

I want to take this opportunity to tell you about some of the important changes now taking place at American Atheists.

Following over 13 years of outstanding service to American Atheists and the cause of State-Church Separation, Ellen Johnson is leaving her post as President of the organization. Her tenure in this position was marked by some of the most amazing and historic events in our movement’s history. She stepped in following the tragic disappearance of our founder, Madalyn Murray O’Hair and her family, and oversaw the relocation of the American Atheist Center and Charles E. Stevens American Atheist Library and Archives (CESAALA) to New Jersey. She organized the Godless Americans March on Washington, and brought together our nation’s diverse and sometimes fractious community of Atheists, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and other nonbelievers. She testified twice before the National Commission on Civil Rights, and made hundreds of media appearances on prime time and cable news TV programs. Ellen also mobilized Atheists and other secularists throughout the nation to speak out on the vital First Amendment issues of our time. And with all of this, she managed to coordinate the hectic daily activities here at the American Atheist Center.

In the spirit of obtaining all that she (and any other Atheist) can from one life the elegant, energetic and outspoken Ms. Johnson will now focus her passions on a new adventure. Just what that might be we do not yet know. We know, however, that it will be something splendid!

Ellen, who will remain on the Board of Directors, is succeeded by long-time member Frank Zindler.

There have been three presidents of Amer
ican Atheists since its founding over four decades ago — Madalyn Murray O’Hair; her successor and son, Jon Garth Murray; and since 1995, Ellen Johnson. They left, as the saying goes “big shoes to fill.” We are confident that Frank is fully prepared for this new challenging role. He has a distinguished academic career as a former biology professor, linguist and bible-era historian. He has authored numerous books and articles dealing with a wide range of subjects, everything from the alleged historicity of Jesus to the on-going controversy over teaching creationism in our public schools. His tenure as an activist with American Atheists goes back over 30 years. Frank is a nationally-recognized speaker and debater, and has served as an eloquent spokesperson for our organization.

Frank Zindler will serve as President Pro Temp until a suitable replacement for this office is found. The day-to-day operations at the American Atheist Center will continue — and so will our activism!

Other Officers and Directors will be staying on as well. Dave Silverman, who has done an outstanding job as our Communications Director, will continue to be the “public face” of American Atheists, working closely with Frank to make sure that our message gets out to the media and others who shape public opinion. Board member Edwin Kagin will remain in his important post as National Legal Director. The American Atheist magazine and all of the other benefits of membership will continue. And so will our efforts to represent you in the important fight for state-church separation, Reason and the civil rights of Atheists.

We’re hitting the ground running, folks! The baton is passed — and we’ll continue our all-important work.

Thanking you in advance for your support!

KENTUCKY ATHEISTS NEWS & NOTES Date: April 25, 2008

Kentucky Atheists, P.O. Box 48, Union, KY 41091; Email: ekagin@atheists.org

Phone: (859) 384-7000; Fax: (859) 384-7324; Web: http://www.atheists.org/ky/

Editor’s personal web site: www.edwinkagin.com

Editor’s personal blog: http://edwinkagin.blogspot.com

Edited by:

Edwin Kagin, Kentucky State Director, American Atheists, Inc.

I WAS BORN AN ATHEIST JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE

To Unidentified Recipients:

American Atheists Speakers

http://www.atheists.org

FRANK ZINDLER SPEAKS TO CINCINNATI

FREE INQUIRY GROUP SUNDAY 4/27

The Myth of Nazareth

FRANK ZINDLER, Editor of American Atheist Press will speak to the Free Inquiry Group of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky this Sunday, April 27, 2008.

Frank will discuss The Myth of Nazareth, the controversial new book by Rene Salm that explores the archaeological and historical data showing that Nazareth was not inhabited at the time of the alleged figure Jesus Christ. Frank muses: “Can the Wizard of Oz be real if there was never a land of Oz?”

Frank Zindler is a profession linguist and historian with expertise in ancient languages. He is the author of numerous books and articles about Atheism, religion and related topics. He is also a member of several learned societies including the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the New York Academy of Science; Society of Biblical Literature; and the American Schools of Oriental Research. Frank is also a nationally recognized lecturer and debater in the ongoing battle of creationist pseudo science and evolution.

Copies of Renee Salm’s “The Myth of Nazareth” published by American Atheist Press will be available for purchase.

The lectures takes place April 27, 2008 (Sunday) beginning at 2:00 PM at the Vernon Manor Hotel, 400 Oak St. in Cincinnati, Ohio. The event is free and open to the public, and is parking at the Vernon Manor. For further information including detailed driving directions, visit http://www.gofigger.org .

WHO & WHAT: Frank Zindler speaking on The Myth of Nazareth

WHEN: This Sunday, April 27, 2008 beginning at 2:00 PM

WHERE: Vernon Manor Hotel, 400 Oak St. in Cincinnati, Ohio. The event is free and open to the public, and is parking at the Vernon Manor.

MORE INFO: http://www.gofigger.org

(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)

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Repelled by “Expelled.”

Ben Stein’s self proclaimed “documentary,” “Expelled. No Intelligence Allowed” vies with “The Passion of the Christ” for the most stupid and intellectually dishonest cinematography travesty released upon a vulnerable public since “The Ten Commandments.”

Apart from some excellent statements by Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers, and other thinking humans, the only redeeming aspect of this work of media whoredom was the inclusion of some footage of our very own “Rally for Reason” protest against the museum of nonsense in Northern Kentucky known at the “Creation Museum.” See: www.rallyforreason.com . Thank you for that Ben. But this does not in any way make up for the damage done by the movie’s shoddy attempt to show that “Intelligent Design” is something that can be on the same intellectual and scientific thermometer as what Brother Stein incorrectly terms “Darwinism.”

The effort to obey the U.S. Constitution and to keep the religious views that are the only basis of this ignorance, that attempts to dress up and put lipstick on the pig of “Creationism,” out of public education and scientific research funding is portrayed as a horror of the same character as those shown in doctored black and white film clips of Nazism and the Berlin Wall. In this unethical propaganda, proponents of “Intelligent Design” are portrayed as the innocents who are being repressed in their search for truth by the thugs of scientific orthodoxy and the repressive demands of the scientific method.

For an outraged and well thought out responses to “Expelled” see:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3X8aifay678

Yes, you need to see this movie. Just as you need to visit the Creation Museum. You need to do this so you can become informed on what they really are and what they are attempting to foist upon innocent people, including impressionable children. And the movie and the museum are worse than you think. Get over the idea that you don’t want to give these people money. That is certainly understandable, but gaining knowledge and education costs money.

Let the other side express views on movies and books they have neither seen nor read—like “The Golden Compass.”

The movie “Jesus Camp” was shown at Camp Quest.

by Edwin Kagin

April 25, 2008

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From reader Z:

Subject: Florida Senate passes anti-evolution “academic freedom” bill

http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/8731.article

Senate passes evolution academic freedom bill, 21-17

House sponsor committed to his version

By JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor

Published April 24, 2008

Updated 11:30 a.m. April 24

TALLAHASSEE (FBW) – The Florida Senate adopted on April 23 by a vote of 21-17 a bill to permit academic freedom for teachers and students addressing evolution in Florida’s public schools. The prospects of the measure remain in doubt after the House sponsor of its academic freedom bill said he will push his significantly different version in the House next week.

During the debate senators on both sides of the evolution divide invoked cultural depictions of America’s evolution debate – from the play “Inherit the Wind,” about the so-called Tennessee Scopes Monkey Trial, to the currently playing documentary film, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.”

The Evolution Academic Freedom Act, SB 2692, sponsored by Sen. Ronda Storms (R-Brandon), was offered in response to new statewide science standards that have been the subject of debate since its release last October, with critics asserting the standards require a dogmatic acceptance of evolution.

Storms, a member of First Baptist Church in Brandon, read e-mail in support of her bill from two teachers who are concerned about the lack of academic freedom in the teaching of evolution.

One teacher, requesting anonymity, told Storms that students who reject evolution are routinely ridiculed by teachers as “religious idiots” and “rednecks.”

“One [teacher] says it’s his duty to free these sheep … from the chains of religion,” the anonymous teacher said in the e-mail message Storms read.

Storms likened such religious ridicule to comments made earlier in the debate by Sen. Steven Geller (D-Hallandale Beach), the minority leader in the Senate.

Geller spoke about his participation in a high school production of “Inherit the Wind” when he and other students laughed “at how backward those folks were” and warned that some day there may be a future play made about the Florida Senate for engaging in an evolution debate in 2008.

Storms also read portions of a three-page e-mail from Wayne Gerber, a Pinellas County science teacher, who noted a biology textbook currently in use in his school includes erroneous information about evolution that remains in the book because it supports evolutionary theory.

“Note, there’s no reference to religion here,” Storms told her colleagues. “This is just a scientific basis for objecting to evolution.”

Geller asked Storms twice whether her bill permitted the teaching of Intelligent Design, revisiting an issue he repeatedly pressed her about during the April 17 floor debate on the bill.

Intelligent Design has been held by one federal court to violate the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment, ruling it is a version of creationism, rather than a valid scientific theory.

Intelligent Design postulates that the intricate design evident in human beings and the natural world undermines Darwinism’s argument of a common ancestry for all living things evolving over billions of years by means of natural selection.

“I know you want me to deviate” from answering with the language of the bill, Storms told Geller, “but I can’t do that because it’s not appropriate.”

Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Fort Walton Beach), however, noted in his comments in support of the bill that Storms answered “no” when he asked during the April 17 debate whether the bill permitted Intelligent Design or creationism.

“And the simple text of the bill supports her answer,” Gaetz told his colleagues.

Gaetz said if the subject matter of the bill was controversial literature, liberals would support it, but since the bill permits differing views on evolution, they oppose the measure.

“There’s nothing wrong with inquiry, there’s nothing wrong with debate, there’s nothing wrong with discussion, and that’s what this bill does. And that’s why it should be supported,” Gaetz said.

Sen. Arthenia Joyner (D-Tampa) insisted the Storms’ bill, contrary to her claims, was indeed about religion.

“What this bill is, is an attempt to bring the controversy of creationism versus evolution into our science classrooms,” she said.

Sen. Stephen Wise (R-Jacksonville), a member of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, said the new documentary film “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” currently in theaters starring Ben Stein, demonstrated the need for academic freedom by featuring credentialed scientists who have lost their jobs or been denied tenure for questioning evolution.

“Students ought to have the opportunity to talk about both sides of the issue,” Wise said.

Sen. Nan Rich (D-Sunrise) said the Senate’s job was to support the experts who wrote Florida’s new science standards, rather than interfere with their work by passing Storms’ bill.

Sen. Daniel Webster (R-Winter Garden), majority leader in the Senate and member of First Baptist Church of Central Florida in Orlando, said the bill encourages the proper question, “Could it be?”

Noting that scientific
advancements have come from those who were willing to ask that question, Webster said of teachers and students, “Can’t we ask that question?”

Speaking to his colleagues, Webster said, “Maybe King David was right … when he looked up and said, the heavens declare the glory of God.”

A companion bill in the Florida House of Representatives, HB 1483, was approved by a House council April 11 but differs significantly from Storms’ bill.

In an attempt to reconcile the differences between her bill and the version approved by the Florida House’s Council on Schools and Learning, Storms offered an amendment to replace her two-page bill with the 12-word, one-sentence House bill sponsored by Rep. Alan Hays (R-Umatilla). Hays is a member of First Baptist Church in Umatilla.

Hays’ bill amends the current statute listing “approved methods of instruction” for public school teachers by adding, “A thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution.”

Since the amendment was offered during final consideration of the bill on the Senate floor, a two-thirds majority was needed for passage. The measure failed on a voice vote.

The Herald-Tribune.com reported April 24 Hays planned to ask his colleagues in the House to vote on his version early next week, leaving just a few days after that to forge a compromise that could be approved by both chambers.

“We’re not going to just get something in,” Hays said, reported Herald-Tribune. “We want to get something right.”

Storms warned the legislature is running out of time in its session scheduled to adjourn May 2.

Sen. Wise told the Herald-Tribune Hays “must be hitting the sauce if he thinks he’s going to send the bill back here.”

In addition to praising Storms for her leadership on the issue, Florida Baptist Convention legislative consultant Bill Bunkley told Florida Baptist Witness he is thankful that Senate President Ken Pruitt (R-Port St. Lucie) scheduled a vote on the controversial issue late in the legislative session, even though it takes more time.

“I cannot emphasize how important his support and leadership was to this legislation moving forward,” Bunkley said of Pruitt.

Bunkley also singled-out Sen. Gary Siplin (D-Orlando) for breaking with his party to support Storms’ bill, calling his vote “exceptional statesmanship.”

Kim Kendall, a stay-at-home mom and activist who has lobbied against the new science standards since October, told the Witness she is “very pleased” with the Senate’s adoption of the academic freedom bill.

“We are very disappointed” Kendall said of her two area senators – Sen. Jim King (R-Jacksonville) and Sen. Tony Hill (D-Jacksonville) – who were unwilling to meet with her and other concerned citizens, in contrast to other senators who ultimately opposed the bill.

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Forwarded from the Michigan State Director for American Atheists, Arlene-Marie.

MICHIGAN ATHEISTS TO COUNTER “NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER”
WITH BLOOD DONATIONS

Positive Life-Saving Action, Not Passive Prayer, Is the Message

What will you do on May 1, 2008, the “National Day of Prayer?” If you are an Atheist and do not accept prayer as an answer to human suffering, join us.

On May 1st, groups of Atheists in scores of American cities will go to their local Blood Banks to donate blood and sign up for organ-donor programs.

We call our blood donation program B.L.O.O.D., an acronym for Benefiting Lives of Others Donations.

It’s simple. Here’s what you do:

1) Find your local blood bank by accessing http://www.americanblood.org/ (Bottom left corner, type in your zip code to find your local blood bank.)

2) Tell your local Red Cross Donation Center that you are donating on behalf of the Michigan Atheists Blood drive. Then………………

3) Report your donation to Michigan Atheists B.L.O.O.D chariman, Chris McLaughlin at ccmclaugh@comcast.net who will report your donation to national B.L.O.O.D

4) If you live near the Detroit Metro area, please join Michigan Atheists

WHEN: May 1, 2008

TIME: 4:00-6:45pm

WHERE: American Red Cross Donation Center, 1605 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302

Directions: North of Square Lake Road, E side of Telegraph, at Wagner Rd, 1st street past the Kawasaki-Honda sign, behind Allstate Billiards & Patio Furniture, 1/4 mile S of Orchard Lake Road.
Map: http://www.mapquest.com/mq/7-UPceNF3rHHFMr2wZ

The Bloomfield Hills facility is clean and spacious, with a comfortable waiting area that can easily accommodate dozens of people. Here, we can celebrate together with coffee, juice and light refreshments supplied by the Blood Bank. Just show up to the facility any time between 4:00-6:45, and you will be greeted by other Atheists. Even if, for some reason, you can’t donate, you may wish to attend to show your support. All donations will be counted and logged on a national website that tracks Atheist blood donations.

Be sure to Email me ccmclaugh@comcast.net ASAP if you plan to donate; the Red Cross needs to know how many donors will arrive so that they may have enough staff on hand to take care of us. We will notify local news media about this event.
If you have ANY questions about donating blood, you may call the American Red Cross’ confidential donor hotline at (877) 835-5736.

Thanks for your support. For additional information contact, Chris McLaughlin, Michigan Atheists B.L.O.O.D Chairman Ccmclaugh@comcast.net

FORWARDED MESSAGE BY:

ARLENE-MARIE, Michigan Atheists Affiliate Director
(313) 938-5960 amarie@atheists.org http://www.michiganatheists.org/
P.O. Box 0025, Allen Park, MI 48101

Michigan Atheists is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, social and educational organization defending Atheists civil rights and dedicated to the complete and absolute separation of state and church.

Action without discussion is dangerous. Discussion without action is futile.

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From reader Jan:

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Southern Baptists ‘in decline’

The Southern Baptist Convention is “a denomination in decline” due to drops in baptisms and membership, one of its lead researchers says.

Southern Baptist churches reported their third straight annual decline in baptisms last year and are down to their lowest rate of baptisms in two decades.

Baptisms dropped five percent to 345,941, while membership dropped less than a quarter of a percent, to 16,266,920, according to newly released figures for 2007.

“This report is truly disheartening,” said Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, the SBC agency that gathers the statistics. “…We are a denomination that, for the most part, has lost its evangelistic passion.”

Ed Stetzer, director of research at LifeWay, said Southern Baptists used to take comfort in seeing steadily rising membership numbers, especially compared to the moderate and liberal Protestant denominations that have been bleeding members for four decades.

But now, “Southern Baptists are a denomination in decline,” Stetzer wrote.

Some statistical categories are up slightly, such as total numbers of churches (up 1 percent to 44,696) and church attendance (0.16 percent to 6,148,868). But Baptists have always viewed baptisms as a central measure because it represents bringing new believers in Jesus Christ into the congregation.

But even as the denomination had been growing in membership in recent years, the rate of growing had been slowing, he said.

Among Stetzer’s diagnoses: a failure to recruit leadership among the young and among racial and ethnic minorities. “Vacant seats still exist at the SBC table for the ethnic and generational diversity that matches the America we are attempting to reach,” he wrote.

He also cited Southern Baptists’ well-known propensity for infighting and a failure of evangelistic fervor to match the doctrinal fervor that led to the rightward shift in the denomination in the last two decades of the 20th century.

“We must battle to build upon our Conservative Resurgence and make it a Great Commission Resurgence,” he wrote. “If we don’t, why did we bother with the Conservative Resurgence in the first place?”

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/faith/2008/04/southern-baptists-in-decline.html

Tonight. Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 7:00 pm ET.

Atheist parent David Ryan will appear live on the interactive Internet radio call-in talk show Answers in Atheism.

He wants the court to order his child be sent to a secular school rather than to a religious school.

See: www.answersinatheism.net for details and call in information on the show.

You can call in to rant or rave.

David’s story can be read here:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080406/NEWS01/804060502&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Y’all tune in y’hear.

Edwin