Steve Vallee has never been afraid to jump into something to understand it. During his senior year of high school, he took all but six weeks of classes to be ordained as a Catholic priest. When he moved to Colorado, he joined the Emissaries of Divine Light in Loveland. And when he had a young daughter, he became a deacon in the United Church of Christ in New Hampshire. "I tried a lot of different systems. Every time there was something ... but not enough," Vallee said. Today, he is a member of the Northern Colorado Freethinkers, a group of atheists, agnostics and other religiously unaffiliated people who explore their disbelief in a higher power each month. The freethinkers are a minority in this country, where only 3 percent of people say they don't believe in God, according to a University of Minnesota study. Atheists are often viewed as untrustworthy people who Americans associate with moral indiscretions from criminal behavior to cultural elitism, the study concluded....

by Nick Gier In 1975 America was preparing to celebrate its Bicentennial, and I wanted to write something special for the occasion. There was a program on NPR in which Theodore Roosevelt was quoted as calling Tom Paine "a dirty little atheist." That comment definitely piqued my interest, and I decided that I would research the religious views of our founding thinkers. The result was an article " Religious Liberalism and the Founding Fathers ," which I presented at the Bicentennial Symposium of Philosophy in New York City in October of 1976. Thomas Paine did more for the success of the American Revolution than any other thinker. As Lafayette once said, "Free America without Thomas Paine is unthinkable." Practically every literate American read Paine's "Common Sense." The illiterate, among whom were many of Washington's soldiers, were indirectly inspired by it. A later book by Paine, " Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True an...

(ASSODIGITALE) Campaigners are calling for a change in the law to make it a criminal offence to demonise a child, after police told the BBC that they are unable to charge an African pastor who accused children of witchcraft in this country. Pastor Dieudonne Tukala was arrested on suspicion of inciting child cruelty last January following an investigation by the Today programme in conjunction with Newsnight . Last year, a BBC investigation broadcast connected Pastor Dieudonne Tukala to a case where a father branded his son with an iron because he believed the child was a witch. The investigation also spoke to other parents who said Tukala told them to send their children back to Africa where he could pray for them to die. So called "child witches" have been murdered in some African countries. The Metropolitan Police launched what it describes as a "robust and exhaustive" inquiry. But after ten months of investigation no charges have been brought. It is not against ...

A newly remorseful Pensacola evangelist, who still disputes the government's right to make him pay taxes, was sentenced Friday afternoon to 10 years in prison on federal tax charges. His wife, Jo, will be sentenced March 1 on charges of evading bank-reporting requirements. Before his sentencing, a tearful Kent Hovind compared his situation to that of the lion and the mouse in Aesop's Fables. "I feel like the mouse," Hovind told U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers. "I stand here in great fear of the power of this court. Your decision can destroy my life, my ministry and my grandchildren." Hovind's courtroom comments were in stark contrast to more-combative statements he made in recent telephone calls from Escambia County Jail. In a recording of one of the telephone conversations played in court Friday, Hovind said the Internal Revenue Service, presiding judge and prosecutor broke the law by going after him, and there were things he could do "to make t...

GREENWOOD, Mo. (ABP) -- In what the detective investigating it described as Missouri's biggest clergy sex-abuse to date, Shawn Davies, a 33-year-old former music and youth minister, was sentenced Jan. 12 to 20 years in prison for molesting children at First Baptist Church of Greenwood, Mo. Davies was convicted of 25 counts of abuse dating from 2003. Charges included statutory sodomy, furnishing pornographic material to minors, supplying liquor to minors, sexual misconduct with a child under the age of 14, use of a child in sexual performance and endangering the welfare of a child. Under a plea-bargain deal, Davies will serve the 20 years as concurrent sentences for crimes committed in Missouri and Kentucky. Davies was earlier convicted of molesting children at three Kentucky Baptist churches. He had been serving jail time in Kentucky when authorities returned him to Jackson County, Mo., last year. A sheriff's office in Kentucky began investigating Davies in 2001 after a boy tol...

Pat Robertson, commenting on news that the population of Germany "fell for a fourth straight year and recorded its biggest drop since 1990," attributes the decline to the fact that it is "only those with strong religious faith who have children": In order to have babies, you’ve got to have a hope in the future … If you don’t believe in God, if you have an existential view of life, if this life is all there is, then, as Peggy Lee sang "why don’t we break out the booze and have a ball?" Why do we go to all that trouble? It’s only those with strong religious faith who have children. That’s the truth. Robertson goes on to say that Europe has lost its "central core of religious faith" and embraced the philosophy of existentialism and people have stopped having babies because they see no hope in the future. As such, Europe is becoming "statistically irrelevant" while the US, though its birthrate has declined as well, has made up for it by al...

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- A priest suspected of stealing more than $600,000 from two churches denies accusations in court documents that he was living a double life as a family man in a neighboring county. The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, acknowledged that there is a woman and three girls that live at the home, but denied he was married and declined to comment if the children were his daughters, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Sunday. Rodis also said the woman he lives with knew he was a Catholic priest. Rodis was indicted Monday on a felony embezzlement charge. A document included in papers committing Rodis to jail listed him as living with a wife and three children in Fredericksburg. It wasn't clear from the documents whether Rodis is the children's father. The Catholic Diocese of Richmond was surprised to hear about Rodis' living arrangements, diocese lawyer William Etherington said, as were neighbors in the subdivision where the family had lived in a two-story brick home...

God, Mom and Country Filmmaker documents odyssey through evangelical world You are a young documentary filmmaker with a reputation for capturing politicians' antics. In a deliberate departure from politics, your latest film is a road trip into the world of evangelical Christians that includes a drive-through church, a Christian wrestling federation, a stand-up Christian comic, an evangelical Elvis and a biblical miniature golf course complete with the empty tomb of Jesus. It just so happens, though, that your designated tour guide in that world is the Rev. Ted Haggard, then president of the National Association of Evangelicals who, after your film is finished, is accused of buying illegal drugs from a male prostitute and paying him for sex. And your mother, it turns out, makes history by becoming the first female speaker of the House just weeks before your film is broadcast. Those two big events are the back story for Alexandra Pelosi, whose film "Friends of ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla . -- The pastor of an Atlantic Beach church was arrested Wednesday as part of a prostitution sting. According to police, Jerry Murrell, 28, pastor of Oceanside Church of Christ , was charged with soliciting for prositution after he approached an undercover vice officer posing as a prostitute in the 1600 block of Mayport Road. The report said Murrell agreed to pay the woman $30 for intercourse. The arrest report indicates that police have an audio recording of the exchange. Murrell was booked into the Duval County jail, but posted bond and was released. link

AMHERST VA — A local pastor was found guilty Thursday of molesting a teenage boy he was formerly tutoring. The Rev. Kenneth Payne, 70, was charged with taking indecent liberties and sodomizing the 17-year-old. Payne has preached at New Prospect Baptist Church in the Pleasant View area of Amherst County for the past 14 years. Judge J. Michael Gamble heard Thursday’s nine-hour bench trail and found Payne guilty of taking indecent liberties and not guilty of sodomy. Payne and the teenager met in May 2006 through the Homebound Learning program offered by the Amherst County school system. Homebound Learning is for students who get in trouble, or are struggling in a traditional school environment. The teen entered the program last spring after he got caught with marijuana and was suspended from Amherst County High School . The charges against Payne came after a May 25 meeting at the church where the teen said the pastor unzipped the victim’s pants and fondled him. He said shortly aft...

The Christian right is a "deeply anti-democratic movement" that gains force by exploiting Americans' fears, argues Chris Hedges. Salon talks with the former New York Times reporter about his fearless new book, "American Fascists." By Michelle Goldberg Longtime war correspondent Chris Hedges, the former New York Times bureau chief in the Middle East and the Balkans, knows a lot about the savagery that people are capable of, especially when they're besotted with dreams of religious or national redemption. In his acclaimed 2002 book, "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," he wrote: "I have been in ambushes on desolate stretches of Central American roads, shot at in the marshes of Southern Iraq, imprisoned in the Sudan, beaten by Saudi military police, deported from Libya and Iran, captured and held for a week by Iraqi Republican Guard during the Shiite rebellion following the Gulf War, strafed by Russian Mig-21s in Bosnia, fired upon b...

By Pamela Bone Far from a minority group, the non-believers of this world are fed up with the assumption that moral virtue is reliant on the constant influence of religion in contemporary culture I WAS annoyed to find that all the copies of Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation were sold out (the bookshops have ordered more). According to its publicity machine, the book is a "bold challenge" to the influence religion has on public life in the US. Notwithstanding that 44 per cent of Americans allegedly believe the second coming of Christ will occur within the next 50 years, it has been on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks. Another surprise bestseller over the Christmas period was Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion. A range of anti-religion books are soon to be published: Atheist Manifesto by French philosopher Michel Onfray; Against Religion by Melbourne philosopher Tamas Pataki; Have a Nice Doomsday by American writer Nick Guyatt. The one I am most look...

DENVER -- A youth pastor in Craig was arrested Monday in connection with the alleged sexual assault of two teen girls he had worked with at First Christian Church , authorities said. John Graler, 53, is being held without bond at the Moffat County Jail, facing charges of sexual assault, sexual assault on a child and sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust. Moffat County Sheriffs Office and the Craig Police Department said their investigation has identified two alleged victims, who were between the ages from 13 to 18 when the alleged assaults occurred. Several people have come forward and provided information to investigators that relates to the investigation, but anyone who has additional information, or who may feel that they have been victimized, is encouraged to call Craig police or the Moffat County Sheriff's Office. The case is being forwarded to the 14th Judicial District Attorney's Office for filing of formal charges. link Related story: The Year the W...

CHARLOTTE NC — A senior pastor charged with tax evasion must pay the IRS $13,000 by Monday or risk being taken back into custody, ruled a federal judge on Friday. John Henry Walker , pastor at the Macedonia Baptist Church , was indicted last May for underreporting his income between 1999 and 2003 by more than half a million dollars. He is also accused of evading federal income taxes of more than $125,000. He was in court Friday because he still owes $7,300 from his 2004 tax return and $5,700 from 2005. United States District Judge Frank Whitney ruled Walker must make full payment by 5 p.m. Monday, and also must prove that none of the money came from the church. In November, Walker pled guilty to nine felony charges. Last month, the church voted for Walker to continue to lead the 500-member church north of Uptown. Link Previous article: Pastor charged with loan fraud and tax evasion

Scott Hoppe told the Walworth County girl that God loved her. But the girl told police that Hoppe, a former youth minister and assistant pastor at Grace Church in Burlington , had sex with her many times when she was between 15 and 17 years old. Hoppe now faces multiple sexual assault and related charges in Walworth and Racine counties. According to court documents, Hoppe told the girl, now 19, that he was not happy with his marriage and that was why God brought the girl into his life. He told her he wished "something would happen to his wife" so the two could be together, according to court records. Hoppe, 32, had a sexual relationship with the girl beginning in April 2003, when she was 15 years old, according to court documents. The girl told police she and her family attended Grace Church since she was 11. The two had sexual encounters at the church, at a school where youth groups were held, in Hoppe's home and at the girl's home in Walworth County, court document...

Tavares FL . - A Pastor who repeatedly molested a parishioner's grandson was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison. Douglas Myers, 57, the former pastor of Triangle Community Church in Eustis , listened impassively, his head bowed, as a prosecutor read a letter from the boy's mom. "You believe in God?" the letter demanded. "How, then, in God's eyes, could you do this?" Myers pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious molestation. Court records show he had sexual contact with the boy, then 13, during a six-month period in the youth's grandmother's home. Myers befriended the boy, now in high school, by driving him to school, taking him to Walt Disney World and giving him money. Myers had been a clergyman for 30 years. link

Sen. Satveer Chaudhary , a practicing Hindu, was re-elected to the State Senate of Minnesota in November. The following is the text a the concession e-mail message sent from his opponent, Rae Hart Anderson : Congratulations on winning the District 50 senate race. Your phone is "busy"...no doubt with good wishes! I've enjoyed much of this race, especially the people I've met...even you! I see your deficits--not all of them, and your potential--but not all of it. Only your Creator knows the real potential He's put in you. Get to know Him and know yourself...you'll be more interesting even to you! The race of your life is more important than this one--and it is my sincere wish that you'll get to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He died for the sins of the world, yours and mine--and especially for those who accept His forgiveness. His kingdom will come and His will be done--on earth as it is in heaven. There's more....I love belonging to the family o...

"Jesus don't just pop up like that. If you know the word of Jesus and you believe in Jesus, then there you go. He does exist." JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Man-made religious decorations are a common sight at this time of year, but the image on a tree in an Arlington man's front yard is natural and some neighbors have begun calling it a holy tree, according to a WJXT-TV report. Neighbors near Daryl Brown's Arlington home said a tree in his yard bears the image of Jesus. The likeness has created a buzz in the neighborhood and has many residents at a loss for words. "I see the face, eyes, and you can see the crown," said one neighbor. "I can't say what I feel, I just feel it," said another neighbor. The image was discovered a week before Christmas by a woman walking her dog, the report said. Overjoyed by what she saw, the woman shared the news with her neighbor. "Nancy said, 'Would you like to see something? Just make sure you see it. I do...

From Newsweek: 'Hi my name is Lindy and I deny the existence of the Holy Spirit and you should too.' With that five-second submission to YouTube, a 24-year-old who uses the name "menotsimple" has either condemned herself to an eternity of punishment in the afterlife or struck a courageous blow against superstition. She's one of more than 400 mostly young people who have joined a campaign by the Web site BlasphemyChallenge.com to stake their souls against the existence of God. That, of course, is the ultimate no-win wager, as the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal calculated—it can't be settled until you're dead, and if you lose, you go to hell. The Blasphemy Challenge is a joint project of filmmaker Brian Flemming , director of the antireligion documentary " The God Who Wasn't There ," and Brian Sapient, cofounder of the atheist Web site RationalResponders.com . Their intent was to encourage atheists to come forward and put thei...

WM note: This is an interesting story that seems to have slid past me unnoticed. I belatedly offer it now for comments. From the Syrian Arab News Agency website, SANA.Org : DAMASCUS, (SANA)_ The meeting between President Bashar al-Assad and Pastor Rick Warren , a famous Protestant clergyman in the USA and an accompanying delegation on Sunday focused on the Syrian-American relations. The American delegation stressed that the American administration is mistaken not to hold dialogue with Syria. The importance of dialogue among religions and achieving the just and comprehensive peace in the region which leads for stability and prosperity were emphasized during the meeting. Pastor Warren hailed the religious coexistence, tolerance and stability that the Syrian society is enjoying due to the wise leadership of President al-Assad, asserting that he will convey the true image about Syria to the American people. He offered to President al-Assad a memorial drawing as a gift to the Syrian peo...

In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in "mass killing" late in 2007. "I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that." Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September. Robertson said God also told him that the U.S. only feigns friendship with Israel and that U.S. policies are pushing Israel toward "national suicide." Robertson suggested in January 2006 that God punished then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a stroke for ceding Israeli-controlled lan...