Rationalist Society of St. Louis

Judge Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime Minster Tony Blair, apparently gave a man a lighter sentence because he was religious. From richarddawkins.net:

A senior judge could be called on to investigate a complaint that Cherie Blair handed down a more lenient sentence to a man who had been convicted of fracturing a person’s jaw because he was religious.

Mrs Blair, a devout Roman Catholic who sits as a part time judge under the title Cherie Booth QC, spared Shamso Miah from jail last month after he was convicted of assaulting a person at a bank queue in east London.

The 25-year-old from Redbridge, north-east London, was given a two-year suspended sentence instead of a six-month jail term because, Mrs Blair said, he was a “religious person” who had not been in trouble before.

Press release from Americans United:

An Ohio judge should remove a poster displaying the Ten Commandments from his courtroom, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told a federal appeals court.

Americans United has filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese’s poster is an unconstitutional governmental endorsement of religion. A lower court has already held that this display shows “a preference for Judeo-Christian faiths” and does not belong in a courtroom.

The poster, designed by DeWeese, features the Commandments alongside “humanist precepts.” Below the text is a statement that says DeWeese believes in moral absolutes such as the Commandments rather than the moral relativism of the Humanist Manifesto.

Although the poster references DeWeese’s acknowledgment of “the importance of Almighty God’s fixed moral standards,” he claims that his display is not religious but merely an illustration of legal or philosophical “theory.” [bold is mine: ed.]

“Who is Judge DeWeese kidding?” asked the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “It’s obvious that he is using his courtroom to advance his personal religious viewpoint. That’s wrong, and the appeals court should say so.”

Lynn noted that the judge has been on something of a crusade against church-state separation. Before erecting this particular poster, DeWeese had already been ordered by another court to remove a Decalogue display from his courtroom.

Americans United, joined by The Interfaith Alliance, the Anti-Defamation League, the Hindu American Foundation and the Union for Reform Judaism, filed the brief in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case against the judge’s religious display was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio on behalf of its member, Bernard Davis. Judge DeWeese is being represented by TV preacher Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice.

The AU brief asserts that DeWeese’s “attempt to characterize his religious display as legal or philosophical ‘theory’ is one in a long line of efforts to dress religious doctrine in secular clothing.”

AU reminds the court that this argument has failed in a similar case before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2003, the court demanded that Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore remove a Ten Commandments monument outside the Alabama State Judicial Building. Moore, who refused to take down the 2.5-ton monument, was soon removed from the state supreme court.

The brief in ACLU of Ohio v. DeWeese, was drafted by AU Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan and AU Madison Fellow Taryn Wilgus Null with assistance from AU Senior Litigation Counsel Alex J. Luchenitser.

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

Cecil Bothwell was elected to the Ashville, North Carolina, city council. But some Christians believe he is unfit for office because he is an atheist. These wing nuts have the N.C. state constitution on their side since it says belief in a supernatural power is required to hold office in that state. Of course they conveniently neglect the fact that the U.S. Constitution prevents ever requiring a religious test. So these wing nuts are wasting tax payer money to bring their lawsuit.
Here’s Rachel Maddow on the issue:

From Sky News:

The Police and Catholic Church in Dublin have come under fire today as a report reveals that child abuse within the church was known about but they ‘turned a blind eye’ to it.

The Catholic Church named three rapist priests, however, two are dead and one is retired.

Getting Denied Communion

Things That Don’t Matter

• Feeding the poor
• Caring for the poor
• Genocide
• Child Molestation
• The Death Penalty

Things That Do Matter

• The Stupak Amendment

from onegoodmove

The Supreme Court denied the appeal of a xian valedictorian who lied to get Jesus in her commencement speech.

From CFI:

Supreme Court Denies Review in Case Involving Valedictorian’s Religious Graduation Address

By Derek C. Araujo

On November 30 the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision rejecting a high school student’s challenge to the school’s limits on her valedictory remarks.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Corder v. Lewis Palmer School District No. 38 in May of this year. The 10th Circuit Court rejected claims brought by high school valedictorian Erica Corder, whose graduation ceremony address encouraged students to accept Jesus Christ. Corder had presented a different version of the speech in advance to the school’s principal, but later added her religious remarks without telling school officials. The school forced her to apologize in order to receive her diploma. The 10th Circuit court rejected Corder’s free speech, free exercise, equal protection, and state statutory challenges, finding that her remarks were school-sponsored, not private speech.

The Supreme Court declined to hear Corder’s appeal, but this does not mean that the Supreme Court endorsed the 10th Circuit’s decision in the case; rather, it means that the Court is allowing the decision to stand without comment.

Derek C. Araujo is Vice President and General Counsel of the Center for Inquiry and director of CFI’s legal programs.

The Governor of Rhode Island vetoed a bill that would have allowed a homosexual to claim his/her spouse’s dead body. Governor Carcieri in his own words:

This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage…

Stephen Colbert:

How is the governor of Rhode Island supposed to rest in peace knowing that a couple of plots over two dudes are being gay dead? (05:49)

______________________________

Please note, the governor’s entire quote is as follows:

This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue. If the General Assembly believes it would like to address the issue of domestic partnerships, it should place the issue on the ballot and let the people of the state of Rhode Island decide.’

I did not post it above because it not negate the governor’s irrationality on the issue of homosexual rights. Here is another quote which reveals his bigotry.

It is a not civil right. I get aggravated when it is portrayed that way. Marriage is a license by the state. It is about a state’s responsibility, which is the reason why states don’t allow a lot of types of marriages.

That quote was made at an event sponsored by the Massachusetts Family Institute which issued the following statement:

MFI does not consider homosexual behavior to be merely an alternate lifestyle or sexual ‘preference’; it is an unhealthy practice and destructive to individuals, families and society. Our compassion for those plagued by same-sex attraction compels us to support the healing of those who wish to change their behavior. MFI strongly opposes any efforts by political activists to normalize homosexual behavior and all attempts to equate homosexuality with benign characteristics such as skin color, or the ‘gay rights’ movement with the civil rights movement.

The Christian in the previous post claimed persecution but this is a real example. People, presumably Christians, threatened a billboard owner for posting a customer’s ad that read, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”
The message doesn’t even criticize religion, it encourages fraternity with like minded people.
Thankfully, WCPO aired a neutral story.

Best part is the intolerant Christian claims persecution when he won’t give his lesbian coworker’s fiance the respect she deserves because he insists on referring to her as a “so-called fiance.”
He also expected his coworker to not mention her fiance because of HIS religious intolerance of homosexuality.

This, combined with unwelcome witnessing, no wonder he was fired.

From the New York Times:

“Indeed yes, we found water,” Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, said in a news conference. “And we didn’t find just a little bit. We found a significant amount.”