THE FOCUS
centerforatheism.org
June 26, 2009
Volume 5, Issue 26
Published by the Center For Atheism (CFA)
Editor: David Birnkrant
The Focus provides links to articles collected from major newspapers and magazines, and is emailed weekly.
This Week in Atheism is a cable show that discusses the articles featured below, every Wednesday at 6:30 PM (EST), Manhattan Cable station 57.
Live streaming is available at: http://www.mnn.org.
Comments, suggestions and subscription:
i...@centerforatheism.org.
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FEATURED ARTICLES
Christian Soldiers
By Kathryn Joyce | Newsweek Web Exclusive
The growing controversy over military chaplains using the armed forces to spread the Word...
http://www.newsweek.com/id/202734
City Room: Ads for Atheism Appear on Manhattan Buses
By Daniel E. Slotnik
What's that, you say you can't believe the ad you just saw on a Manhattan city bus? The people who put the ad there would like to ask you, "Why do you believe," anyway?
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/ads-for-atheism-appear-o...
ATHEISM
Some Bus Drivers Refuse to Work on "Atheist" Busses
YLE News - Helsinki,Uusimaa,Finland
A controversial atheist bus campaign has hit the streets in the capital city after being banned by bus companies in Turku and Tampere. ...
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/06/some_bus_drivers_refuse_to_wor...
Transpo limits ads on buses
South Bend Tribune - South Bend,IN,USA
... board of directors voted unanimously to adopt the policy at its Monday meeting, the same day a contract ran out on controversial ads promoting atheism. ...
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090622/N...
FFRF Gives Alabama Its First Ever Atheist Billboard
Opposing Views - Los Angeles,CA,USA
Drivers going to Talladega from Atlanta or Birmingham will pass the billboard, believed to be the first such freethought (atheist, agnostic) message ever ...
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-ffrf-gives-alabama-its-...
BOOKS, FILM, THEATRE, TV, YOU TUBE
Tapu Misa: Challenging scientists and their science
New Zealand Herald - New Zealand
His was not a Damascus-style conversion but a "pilgrimage of reason" as he writes in his 2007 book, There is a God: How the world's most notorious atheist ...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/science/news/article.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=1...
Inside Nature's Giants: A gory attempt to disprove 'intelligent ...
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
Its anatomy is key in proving evolution over intelligent design (the belief that the complexity of living things demonstrates the existence of a creator). ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5613900/Inside-Natures-...
EVOLUTION, CREATIONISM, I.D.
UT team develops new tool to study evolution
UT The Daily Texan - Austin,TX,USA
“Second, to add [insertion/deletion of nucleotide] events to the model of evolution and third, to develop a mathematical understanding of why SATé works as ...
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/top-stories/ut-team-develops-new-tool...
UT math professor challenges current board seat-holder
UT The Daily Texan - Austin,TX,USA
The theory of evolution was contested by conservative board members who insisted that the theory of intelligent design, or creationism, be taught alongside ...
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/top-stories/ut-math-professor-challen...
Evolution faster when it's warmer
BBC News - UK
By Victoria Gill Climate could have a direct effect on the speed of "molecular evolution" in mammals, according to a study. Researchers have found that, ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8115464.stm
Paleontologists visit enemy turf in evolution debate with field ...
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
Paleontologists spend their careers studying evolution, and here they were visiting a place where nearly every room is dedicated to disproving it. ...
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-paleont...
SCIENCE
New Light Shed On 'Dark' Gamma-ray Bursts
ScienceDaily (June 21, 2009) — Gamma-ray bursts are the universe's biggest explosions, capable of producing so much light that ground-based telescopes easily detect it billions of light-years away...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608131150.htm
Toward New Drugs That Turn Genes On And Off
ScienceDaily (June 21, 2009) — Scientists in Michigan and California are reporting an advance toward development of a new generation of drugs that treat disease by orchestrating how genes in the body produce proteins involved in arthritis, cancer and a range of other disorders...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608101607.htm
Insects' Sex Scents Can Save Lives
ScienceDaily (June 21, 2009) — By identifying and also finding methods to prepare the substances, pheromones, that certain insects secret either to attract to them other individuals of the same species, potential sex partners, or to warn each other about enemies, scientists can save many human lives primarily in the third world...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617155009.htm
Plant Communication: Sagebrush Engage In Self-recognition And Warn Of Danger
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2009) — To thine own self be true” may take on a new meaning—not with people or animal behavior but with plant behavior...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090619171244.htm
Severely Memory-deficit Mutant Mouse Created
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2009) — Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II alpha (CaMKII alpha) is an enzyme that adds phosphates to a variety of protein substrates to modify their functions...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090619112331.htm
Antibiotics-resistant Gulls Worry Scientists
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2009) — The resistance pattern for antibiotics in gulls is the same as in humans, and a new study by Uppsala University researchers shows that nearly half of Mediterranean gulls in southern France have some form of resistance to antibiotics. The study is being published June 18 in the journal PLoS One...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618093242.htm
Mystery Of The Missing Sunspots Solved?
ScienceDaily (June 19, 2009) — The sun is in the pits of a century-class solar minimum, and sunspots have been puzzlingly scarce for more than two years. Now, for the first time, solar physicists might understand why...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618131402.htm
SEPARATION CHURCH / STATE
Exiled Iranian Opposition Group Rallies in Paris
Washington Post - United States
... decree in its entirety and seek the establishment of a democratic, independent state based on the separation of church and state," she declared. ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/20/AR200...
Warren prayer booth under fire
The Detroit News - Detroit,MI,USA
... said because Warren offers the City Hall space to all groups, it does not appear to be violating the constitutional separation of church and state. ...
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090622/METRO/906220312/Warren-prayer...
State audit criticizes St. Louis program that pays for nurses at ...
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - St. Louis,MO,USA
... Department nurses to Lutheran and Catholic schools — is a dubious use of city money and potentially a violation of the separation of church and state. ...
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/C6F8...
Church-State Group Asks AG Eric Holder to Stop Religious Grants
Opposing Views - Los Angeles,CA,USA
By Americans United - 17 Minutes Ago Americans United for Separation of Church and State today asked US Attorney General Eric Holder to terminate or ...
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/news-church-state-group-asks-ag...
Group asks US to revoke Detroit mission's federal grants
Detroit Free Press - United States
BY NAOMI R. PATTON • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • June 25, 2009 An advocacy group for the separation of church and state wants the US Justice Department to ...
http://www.freep.com/article/20090625/NEWS01/906250377/Group+asks+U.S...
MISCELLANEOUS
A Revised Ten Commandments for Atheists | Friendly Atheist by ...
This isn't new, but it worth sharing. It comes from IAmAnAtheist.com: a list of rights and responsibilities for moral atheists: Have no gods. Don't.
http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/06/21/a-revised-ten-commandments-for-...
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