Oklahoma faces new proposed legislation that seeks to add creationism to the public school curriculum and to define when life “begins” within the womb. The new bills proposed by Republican legislators also seek to allow public funding for churches and to make stem cell research in the state illegal.

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Despite 80 years of court battles ousting creationism from public classrooms, most public high school biology teachers are not strong advocates for evolution.

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A settlement has been reached in the case of creationist astronomer Martin Gaskell, who was passed over as the director of the new observatory for the University of Kentucky, and who sued the university for religious discrimination.

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An exclusive look inside a booming multibillion-dollar, evangelical, global Thai cult.

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Some Christian groups say that Christianity is exploding in popularity in China.

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Posed with the question “What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit?”, Richard Dawkins answers: “the double-blind control experiment”.

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Newly elected governor of Alabama said in a speech that all Christians are his brothers and sisters regardless of race, but non-Christians are not.

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A newly revealed 1997 letter from the Vatican warned Ireland’s Catholic bishops not to report all suspected child-abuse cases to police.

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Due to a precession in the earth’s axis, zodiac signs may not match up with their traditional dates, and people who follow astrology are now worried that all that their horoscopes say about them may not be correct.

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The depressing public reaction to the assassination of Pakistani politician Salman Taseer.

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A prominent research psychologist’s claim of proof of extrasensory perception is already mortifying scientists.

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Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman has compared Turkey with Iran prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution, saying Israel will “not be Turkey’s punching bag.” Writing in Thursday’s Jerusalem Post, Mr Lieberman blamed the crisis in bilateral ties between Jerusalem and Ankara on internal developments in Turkey.

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Evolution may have delivered tendencies to believe certain things but that does not tell us whether those beliefs are true. There are risks in making up evolutionary “just-so” stories to explain the origins of complex human beliefs, such as religious ones.  Evolutionary biology will be of little help in “explaining” human beliefs in either quantum mechanics or the finer points of theology.

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In Pakistan’s huge port city of Karachi, religious scholars united to forbid mourning. They urged pious Muslims not to offer funeral prayers for the outspoken governor of the Punhjab, Salmaan Taseer, who had most recently made headlines by championing the rights of Aasia Bibi, a Christian convert facing execution because of the country’s blasphemy laws.

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The 26-year-old smiling assassin who killed Pakistani politician Salman Taseer is an elite commando trained by the government, motivated by religious zeal and praised by hardline clerics. Officials said he volunteered for duty that day, made sure his weapon was fully armed and then waited for his boss to walk towards his waiting car, before reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar”, opening fire and surrendering.

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La Santa Muerte is cherished by the marginalized, impoverished and sometimes-criminal sector. David Romo, a self-appointed bishop of the church, is accused of kidnapping and money laundering.

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Extremism associated with Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law appeared to claim another victim Tuesday, when the governor of the country’s wealthiest and most politically powerful province was gunned down in Islamabad by a 26-year-old member of his own security detail. Salmaan Taseer, governor of Punjab, was shot at close range by a newly assigned guard who told authorities and the media he was angry about Taseer’s criticism of Pakistan’s law against blasphemy, considered the most draconian of any Muslim-majority country.

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The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has directed its attorneys to file for bankruptcy protection because pending sexual abuse lawsuits have left it with debts it can’t pay.

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Some believers predict that the end of the world will begin on May 21, 2011.  Guided by their interpretation of scripture, they are attempting to spread their message before it is too late.

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Egyptian officials now believe that an attack on a church which killed at least 21 worshippers in Alexandria was the work of a suicide bomber.

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