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May 8, 2009
Volume 5, Issue 19
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:
info@centerforatheism.org.
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FEATURED ARTICLES
Young Americans Losing Their Religion
- ABC News
May 6, 2009 ... New research shows young
Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church -- or to participate
in any form of organized religion ...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7513343&page=1
ATHEISM
Op-Ed Columnist Defecting to Faith
New York Times - United States
(It should be noted that about a quarter
of the unaffiliated identified as atheist or agnostic, and the rest said
that they had no particular religion. ...
http://www.nytimescom/2009/05/02/opinion/02blow.html?_r=1
Atheists fight to keep God out of Irish
law
guardian.co.uk - UK
A group that claims to represent the
rights of atheists in Ireland has launched a campaign to expel God from
the Irish constitution, starting with an ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/03/atheist-ireland-blasphemy-legislation
Atheist says secular rule important
to faithful, too
Knoxville News Sentinel - Knoxville,TN,USA
By Jessie Pounds Nonetheless, during
a talk at Pellissippi State Technical Community College, the American Atheists
president proposed that religious people ...
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/04/atheist-says-secular-rule-important-to-faithful/
How to Say You Don't Believe
On Faith - Washington,DC,USA
"Getting atheists to agree on something
is like herding cats" a wise man once told me. Meow. The term "atheist"
tends to set people on edge. ...
http://newsweek.washingtonpostcom/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/05/6_ways_to_tell_your_family_you_no_longer_believe_in_god.html
Ex-York student organises atheist summer
camp
The Yorker - York,North Yorkshire,UK
Our aim is educational - we are not
an indoctrination scheme trying to push some 'atheist agenda' to abolish
all religion." Stein added: "There are few ...
http://www.theyorker.co.uk/news/uninews/2955/1#CommentItem7003
Atheists seek role in proposed Federal
"Religious History Week"
American Chronicle - Beverly Hills,CA,USA
An Atheist public policy group says
that it supports the call by conservative Christians to establish a Federal
"Religious History Week," and already has ...
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/101572
BOOKS, FILM, THEATRE, TV, YOU TUBE
Camilla Taylor: In Iowa, A Same-Sex
Marriage Win
NPR - USA
And by addressing this argument head
on and by talking about the separation between church and state, I think
the court made a powerful statement that'll be ...
http://www.nprorg/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103848870
EVOLUTION, CREATIONISM, I.D.
Study says high school teachers impact
students' views on ...
College News - Chicago,IL,USA
The purpose of the study was to learn
about how biology majors viewed evolution, as compared to those students
were not biology majors. ...
http://www.collegenews.com/index.php?/article/study_shows_that_teachers_shape_students_views_on_creationism_05062009235/
SCIENCE
Dinosaur-Bird Link: Ancient Proteins
Preserved In Soft Tissue From 80 Million-Year-Old Hadrosaur
ScienceDaily (May 1, 2009) — Ancient
protein dating back 80 million years to the Cretaceous geologic period
has been preserved in bone fragments and soft tissues of a hadrosaur, or
duck-billed dinosaur, according to a study in the May 1 issue of Science...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090430144528.htm
Mechanisms Of Self-control Pinpointed
In Brain
ScienceDaily (May 1, 2009) — When you're
on a diet, deciding to skip your favorite calorie-laden foods and eat something
healthier takes a whole lot of self-control--an ability that seems to come
easier to some of us than others. Now, scientists from the California Institute
of Technology (Caltech) have uncovered differences in the brains of people
who are able to exercise self-control versus those who find it almost impossible...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090430144543.htm
Unusual Impact Basin Discovered On Mercury
ScienceDaily (May 2, 2009) — A previously
unknown, large impact basin has been discovered by the MErcury Surface,
Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft during
its second flyby of Mercury in October 2008. The impact basin, now named
Rembrandt, more than 700 kilometers (430 miles) in diameter...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090430144705.htm
Storing A Lightning Bolt In Glass For
Portable Power
ScienceDaily (May 2, 2009) — Materials
researchers at Penn State University have reported the highest known breakdown
strength for a bulk glass ever measured. Breakdown strength, along with
dielectric constant, determines how much energy can be stored in an insulating
material before it fails and begins to conduct electricity...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090501204039.htm
Scientists Race To Deliver DNA Swine
Flu Test
ScienceDaily (May 2, 2009) — A team
of genetics experts in Southampton is working against the clock to produce
the world's first DNA test for the Mexican strain of swine flu...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090501091151.htm
'Invisibility Cloak' Successfully Hides
Objects Placed Under It
ScienceDaily (May 2, 2009) — The great
science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke famously noted the similarities
between advanced technology and magic. This summer on the big screen, the
young wizard Harry Potter will once again don his magic invisibility cloak
and disappear. Meanwhile, researchers with Berkeley Lab and the University
of California (UC) Berkeley will be studying an invisibility cloak of their
own that also hides objects from view...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090501154143.htm
SUMO Protein Guides Chromatin Remodeler
To Suppress Genes
ScienceDaily (May 2, 2009) — In an
in vitro study, led by Grace Gill, PhD, Tufts University School of Medicine,
researchers discovered how a protein called SUMO (Small Ubiquitin-related
Modifier) guides an enzyme complex that alters the structure of chromatin
to regulate expression of genes. Chromatin is a compacted mass of DNA and
protein that make up chromosomes...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090427102233.htm
Stem Cells For The Damaged Heart: Key
Factors In Heart Cell Creation Identified
ScienceDaily (May 2, 2009) — Scientists
at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have identified for
the first time key genetic factors that drive the process of generating
new heart cells. The discovery, reported in the current issue of the journal
Nature, provides important new directions on how stem cells may be used
to repair damaged hearts...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090426175646.htm
Quantum Ghosts Are Helpful
ScienceDaily (May 3, 2009) — The idea
that far distant particles can somehow 'talk' to each other worried Einstein
so much that he called it 'spooky action at a distance'...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090427102229.htm
SEPARATION CHURCH / STATE
Maine, fifth state to allow gay marriage
msnbc.com - USA
It does not require the church to perform
any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation
of Church and State," Governor Baldacci ...
http://firstreadmsnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/05/06/1924233.aspx
Obama plans a scaled back National Day
of Prayer
The Associated Press
The Madison-based group of 12000 atheists
and agnostics filed the lawsuit near the end of Bush's second term. It
asks a judge to declare the law ...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gd8532foDasi_HtAzi9JolkMVlqQD980T9VO3
MISCELLANEOUS
Churchgoers More Likely To See Torture
As Justifiable
CBS News - New York,NY,USA
Unaffiliated, for Pew's purposes, are
those who call themselves atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular.
White evangelical Protestants, meanwhile, ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/04/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4989944.shtml
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