Judge Declares National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional
A year-old, incorrect story about Barack Obama "canceling" the National Day of Prayer made the rounds today. Meanwhile, in reality, Obama's Justice Department was defending the Day of Prayer to a U.S. District Court that just ruled it unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb declared section 119 of US Code 36—establishing an annual National Day of Prayer—to be unconstitutional. Her decision is available here. We certainly agree with everything she writes, and we're sure there will be no major controversy over any of this.
The Freedom from Religion foundation brought the suit, claiming that the statute calling on the president to proclaim a National Day of Pray each year is a violation of the Establishment Clause. Crabb found that the plaintiffs had the standing to challenge section 119 itself, but not presidential proclamations generally.
More at Gawker
Discussion thread in the Forum
New things
With the successful installation of the FusionBoard Forum, I'd like to test out a few changes.
If you look to the left at your User Info Panel, you'll notice the addition of 4 lines. Whenever you login to Atheists Today, just click the New Forum Posts link to see what's been posted since your last visit. I would like to try this format out for awhile and remove the Lastest Threads panel from the Front page. It may take some getting use to, but I think it helps with the load times on pages.
I'm sure you've looked around and seen some of the new functions of the Forum, some which we'll use, some we probably won't. We'll take them on slowly and see what works. There are still a few of the new items that aren't even showing up under Admin and I'll have to work with the author of the FusionBoard to see what needs to be done to get them working. I'll keep everyone informed as it happens.
I noticed we lost Similar Threads on the viewthread pages. If we can live without them, it will probably be better on page load time as well, as it basically performs a word search before it shows the page.
Please feel free to post any criticisms, complaints or observations you feel need to be addressed and I'll work on it.
Thank you for all the fun,
Skeeve
Time for an atheist on the Supreme Court?
Previously in Under God, we asked what seemed like a logical question: With the only Protestant on the Supreme Court (John Paul Stevens) retiring this summer, should the president appoint another Protestant to replace him?
But a California blogger is asking what seems to be an equally logical question: Should the president appoint an atheist -- or at least a nontheist -- to the Supreme Court? "We don't need another Protestant on the Court. Or a Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu or follower of any of the hundreds of religions that exist on this planet," wrote Tommi Avicolli-Mecca wrote for BeyondChron. "What the court really needs is an atheist."
The nine-member Supreme Court will never be a perfect demographic reflection of the United States. And of all the demographic factors involved in selecting a Supreme Court justice, religious affiliation is one that should never be considered. But what about lack of religious affiliation?
More at The Washington Post
Until atheists are respected, religious tolerance will remain an ideal
The idea of a god has never made sense to me.
Even during my early childhood, the notion of an invisible figure watching over us struck me as fallacious. I found it difficult to believe that an allegedly rational being could allow evils such as genocide to persist. The customary counterargument is that we cannot understand the ways of God, or that "he" is "testing" the victims. Both reasons are uncorroborated, and the latter offends me.
A prominent and misguided opinion is that atheists and agnostics lack morals. This is evidenced by political rhetoric, as well as other media. In 2007, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney stated in a speech that "freedom requires religion," implying that those who lack belief cannot enjoy liberty. According to journalist Robert Sherman, in 1987 President George H.W. Bush went so far as to say, "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
More at MercuryNews
Scientists investigate if atheists' brains are missing a ‘God Spot’
The widespread idea that human brains have a special area that governs spiritual belief – a “God Spot” – has been disputed by scientists such as Jordan Grafman, a neuropsychologist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Md.
Doing brain imagining on believers while they prayed and meditated, he found that the areas of the brain involved were the expected areas of memory and feeling; no special section was suddenly activated.
“Maybe we are special in the eyes of God, but God didn't place anything special in our brains – at least as far as we can see,” Dr. Grafman says.
Other studies have shown that beliefs about God, for or against, originate in the same part of the brain. Only the interpretation of information is different.
From The Globe and Mail
Pope hailed as 'unfailing' leader at Easter Mass
A senior cardinal staunchly defended Pope Benedict XVI from "petty gossip" on Sunday as the pontiff maintained his silence on mounting sex abuse cover-up accusations during his Easter message.
The ringing tribute by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, at the start of Mass attended by tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square, marked an unusual departure from the Vatican's Easter rituals.
Sodano's defense of the pope's "unfailing" leadership and courage, as well as of the work of priests worldwide with children entrusted to their care, built on a vigorous Vatican campaign to defend Benedict's moral authority.
From AP via Yahoo News
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