Nice.
OSLO – Norway, which is one of few developed countries to still have a state religion, passed a final hurdle Thursday to separate the Protestant Lutheran Church from the state, parliament said.The move, which requires changes to Norway’s constitution, was approved by parliament a second time Thursday, in what was a formality after lawmakers voted through with overwhelming support on Monday, with 161 votes in favour and just three opposing votes.
via Norway goes secular, removes Lutheran Church as state religion | Holy Post | National Post.
Situations like these underscore why the death penalty must be abolished. You can let an innocent man out of prison if you made a mistake, but you can never bring him back to life.
They told the jury that police had looked for a “Carlos Hernandez” after his name had been passed to them by DeLuna’s lawyers, without success. They had concluded that Hernandez was a fabrication, a “phantom” who simply did not exist. The chief prosecutor said in summing up that Hernandez was a “figment of DeLuna’s imagination”. By the end of [a] single day the investigator had uncovered evidence that had eluded scores of Texan police officers, prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges over the six years between DeLuna’s arrest and execution. Carlos Hernandez did indeed exist.[…]
via Report: Texas Executed The Wrong Man Because He Looked Like The Real Murderer | ThinkProgress.
Game on.
In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters.“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts, in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday. Excerpts of the interview will air tonight on ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer.”
via Obama: Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal | TPM Livewire.
And so it begins:
James fired off the following email to County Manager Harry Jones and county legal staff early Wednesday morning:
Since Amendment One has passed when will we get a memo or something that outlines what changes we need to make to our health plan to be in compliance? I recall when the Democrats on the Commission forced the issue and added these benefits for homosexuals that a number of legal experts said it was illegal then – including the City attorney. Now that Amendment one has passed it obviously is illegal to offer this benefit as there is now only one ‘domestic legal union’ recognized in the state.
Prior to the vote most scholars (left and right) said that Amendment One would eliminate local faux ‘marriage’ benefits for homosexual employees. I would cite them but you know them all too well.
Still, I would like to know when the Board can expect information on the changes Amendment One wrought (or are we going to break the law and spend scarce resources on litigation we will likely loose)?
via Amendment One and Mecklenburg County employee benefits | Pundit House.
Amendment 1: Opponents make final appeal and hope the polls are wrong | Citizen.
This is the kind of idiocy we’re fighting against. Don’t let them have this victory!
The day a same sex couple can reproduce naturally is the day that their union will be recognized as a couple. They must evolve naturally.
…
Today’s the day we slam the brakes on the queer bus in NC. Let’s go, people! We can turn our country around!
…
Your ignorance is astounding. Evil must be opposed. Evil tears down. It destroys. Homosexuality is evil. It will eventually destroy all it touches, including countries, governments, and societies. It’s only a matter of time. I AM ashamed. I am ashamed of your naivete. I am ashamed you don’t know why it’s necessary to hate evil. You obviously were (mis)educated in government institutions.
Seriously, Greece? My current home state is about to vote hate into the constitution, and my family’s homeland is electing Nazis? Well, shit.
Sunday’s elections also saw the far right, ultranationalist Golden Dawn party, whose members perform Nazi salutes at rallies and who routinely scuffle with illegal immigrants in downtown Athens, receive 7 percent of the vote, enough to enter Parliament for the first time, with 21 seats.
via Splintered Vote Throws Greek Politics Further Into Confusion – NYTimes.com.
The story of the lost colony fascinated me in elementary school. I remember learning about it in NC history and being enthralled.
Theories abound about what happened to the so-called Lost Colony, ranging from sober scholarship to science fiction. Some historians believe that the colonists might have been absorbed into American Indian tribes. Other explanations point to darker fates, like disease, an attack by Spaniards or violence at the hands of Indians. The wild-eyed fringe hints at cannibalism and even alien abduction.
The shroud of mystery may finally be lifting. The British Museum’s re-examination of a 16th-century coastal map using 21st-century imaging techniques has revealed hidden markings that show an inland fort where the colonists could have resettled after abandoning the coast.
The findings, announced Thursday morning, bring into focus a puzzle that has long fed the feverish curiosity of historians, archaeologists and amateur sleuths. Folklore has flourished over the colonists’ fate, including that of the first child of English descent born in the Americas, Virginia Dare.
This is a pretty good story about people who are nonbelievers but don’t get into arguments about it or talk about it. They just quietly live their lives without a religious faith.
It’s risky to say anything categorically about atheists – for a more individualistic bunch would be hard to find. But let’s propose that there are two kinds of atheists: the kind you hear about, and the kind you don’t.
The kind you hear about are crusaders with a specific agenda: to challenge religious bigotry wherever it raises its head. Since 9/11 particularly, they have stepped up their campaign, galloping through the chapel with the guns-ablaze fervor of a persecuted minority, cataloguing the harms that have been done in the name of organized religion. That strategy, while it has definitely raised atheism’s profile — partly by polarizing the religious debate — hasn’t exactly endeared atheists to the majority of Americans. Indeed, polls consistently show that dislike and distrust for atheists goes wider than for any other identifiable group.
The kind of atheist you don’t hear about is different—in strategy or temperament or both.
Some of them, of course, do this because they’re afraid to admit they don’t believe.
Within that group of self-identified atheists and agnostics, almost one in five were part of a religious community—attending a church or temple or mosque with some regularity. Ecklund pumped for explanations. And with sociologist Kristen Schultz Lee, she published her findings last fall in The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Turns out, her subjects’ reasons were mostly perfectly rational – as befit a group that “places a high premium on reason and making sure that they live consistently,” as Ecklund says. Her atheist scientists found themselves in the precarious centre of a Venn diagram. They needed to reconcile, all at once, their identities as scientists, as nonbelievers, and as spouses and parents. They may have had a religious husband or wife. They may have drifted into the pews after they had kids, drawn to the social glue a church community can provide, or the moral structure that kids can benefit from, or the chance to reconnect with family cultural traditions. Whatever motivated them, there they all were, in the church or synagogue or mosque or temple, cheek-by-jowl with believers, and unchallenged in their reasons or right to be there.
I definitely understand and identify with this issue in particular, and I agree with the advice:
Not long ago Wade received a letter from a British woman who called herself “Christmas Elf,” and described her fairly common dilemma thus: Her aging parents had asked her help putting on the Christmas Pageant at her church. Kind of awkward, as she is an atheist. Love and familial duty was suddenly colliding with an uncomfortable personal sense of hypocrisy. She was leaning toward helping with the pageant. What did Richard think?
He was with her. “You have a limited number of Christmases to spend with your parents,” he said. “You’ll have the rest of each year and the rest of your life to follow your own convictions more meticulously.”
The great thing about being a nonbeliever is that nothing bad will happen to you if you participate in religious events. Sure you’re encouraging that religious faith in others by doing so, but what are the chances that your participation will help anyone or hurt anyone? It’s mostly neutral, whereas your refusal might hurt your family. So, why not take communion or something if they ask you to?
I draw the line at baptism, however. Baptism is a very big deal in the church, and it involves initiating a young child, unable to make his or her own decisions, into an organization he or she doesn’t understand yet.
Anyway, I recommend reading The Atheist at the Breakfast Table. I don’t necessarily agree with everything in it, for instance, how to deal with your kids when they ask you about god or religion… but that’s one of the many reasons I don’t want kids. That whole situation sounds like a nightmare to me, and good luck to atheist parents who have to deal with it.
Good for the Kannapolis police. We can’t let this kind of behavior go without a response.
Jonathan Alexander Wiles of Kannapolis was issued a citation on Wednesday for injury to real property after he posted a video of himself shooting a shotgun into a sign opposing the statewide marriage amendment.The 17-year-old could face additional punishment for firing a firearm within close proximity to a residential district, said Cabarrus County Sheriff Brad Riley.The sheriff’s office began investigating the incident late Tuesday because the shooting appeared to be in a residential area, which could violate a county ordinance.Riley said Wiles allegedly filmed the video with his friend, Chase Young. In the video, a young man shoots a sign urging voters to vote against Amendment One. The proposed amendment would change the state constitution to define marriage as being between one man and one woman.
via Teen’s video of sign-shooting goes viral | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper.
