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The Outer Solar System Remains Mysterious

The farthest reaches of our solar system remain the most mysterious areas around the sun. Solving the mysteries of the outer solar system could shed light on how the whole thing emerged -- as well as how life on Earth was born.

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See also:

Space shots: New worlds

Same-Sex Couples Ready For N.H. Civil Unions

CONCORD, New Hampshire -- New Hampshire is becoming the fourth U.S. state to legalize civil unions and about 20 couples decided to be the first to take advantage of the new law with a late-night ceremony on the Statehouse steps.

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Pakistan Elections Likely To Be Delayed

(CBS/AP) Elections in Pakistan look set to be delayed by several weeks despite demands by the party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and other politicians they take place as scheduled on Jan. 8, officials said Monday.

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See also:

New video appears to show Bhutto being shot

Lawyer: Police prevented Bhutto autopsy

U.S. reportedly urged Bhutto to be more careful

At Least 16 Dead In Attacks In Iraq

Baghdad - Bomb attacks on Monday killed at least 16 people, including two Iraqi soldiers, in one of the most violent days in recent weeks even as Iraqi security forces stepped up their operations against insurgents across the country.

In the deadliest attack, a truck bomb exploded at a checkpoint manned by neighborhood security volunteers in the Tarmiya area north of Baghdad. The blast killed at least five volunteers, who are members of a Sunni Arab tribe that has turned against the insurgency in recent months. At least four children were also killed in the explosion. Tarmiya was once a stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgency.

In the restive Diyala province 60 miles north of the capital explosions killed five people and a woman detonated an explosive vest wounding at least five people in Baquba.

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See also:

U.S. troops target al Qaeda suspects, killing six

2007 was deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq

Iraq Progresses To Some Of Its Worst

Iraq marks one year since Hussein's execution

Petraeus: Iraq security fragile, gains reversible

Earlier:

"Analysis: Violence in Abrahamic faiths"

Men Jailed In Sudan For Selling Book On Mohammed's Child-Bride

(CNSNews.com) - A Sudanese court reportedly has sentenced two Egyptian men to six months' imprisonment for harming Islam after they marketed a book deemed critical of one of Mohammed's wives.

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See also:

Submission, 'Part 1' (YouTube Video)

Northern Iraqi women increasingly attempting suicide

Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade In Syria

Malaysia Reverses Allah Paper Ban

The Malaysian government has reversed a decision to ban a Christian newspaper using the word Allah to refer to God.

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Vatican Denies Exorcist Expansion

VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- The Vatican is denying reports it plans to install more exorcists around the world so possessed people can get help quickly.

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Earlier:

Pope's exorcist squads will wage war on Satan

A War On Science

A video covering the rise of Intelligent Design through the lens of the Dover trial is HERE.

See also:

The Top 10 Intelligent Designs (or Creation Myths)

Monkey, Business

The theme of Michael Shermer's new book is a graceful paradox. Decades of study of behavioral psychology, neuroscience and genetics, layered over more than a century of evolutionary studies, proves that we're not completely rational in making economic choices. But an understanding of our fascinating limitations, which Shermer provides, makes us freer than we were before we knew of them.

--snip--

Shermer easily demolishes another myth about both evolution and economics: that both depend exclusively on cutthroat, bloody-handed "survival of the fittest" competition to weed out the weakest creatures and companies. While competition obviously plays a vital part in the markets and in evolution, both primates and markets have evolved to depend on cooperation. Just as those among our hunter-gatherer ancestors who couldn't cooperate in small societies risked punishment, including exile and death, today's citizens, including top business executives, cooperate and complement each other across industry to serve customers as readily as they compete within a particular industry. People who can't cooperate often face exile from the business world.

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Semi-related:

It is possible to be moral without God by Bishop Richard Harries

Purported Bin Laden Message Has Warnings For Iraq, Israel

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al Qaeda and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."

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'In God' Returning To $1 Coin Prominence

WASHINGTON (BP)--Presidential one dollar coins are the only U.S. coins currently being issued by the United States Mint that have the inscription "In God We Trust" along the edge, but public pressure soon may send the motto back to the front or back of the coins.

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'Very Religious Community' Gets Rid Of 666 Phone Prefix

REEVES, La. -- After decades of living with what Mayor Scott Walker calls a stigma, residents of this southwest Louisiana village are getting a new telephone exchange, one without the biblical connotations attached to their current 666.

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Malaysia Faces Christian Outcry Over Word "Allah"

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian Catholic newspaper and church groups cried foul on Friday over a government move to forbid non-Muslims from using the word Allah.

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Pope's Exorcist Squads Will Wage War On Satan

The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism.

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Jets Spiral In 'Reverse Whirlpool' From Star

Astronomers have observed for the first time a jet of matter spiraling outward from an infant star, as if a lengthy strand of curly pasta.

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[His noodly appendage?]

See also:

The Winter Sky: Planets, Stars and Cool Shapes

Ancient Pyramid Found In Central Mexico City

MEXICO CITY -- Archeologists have discovered the ruins of an 800-year-old Aztec pyramid in the heart of the Mexican capital that could show the ancient city is at least a century older than previously thought.

Mexican archeologists found the ruins, which are about 36 feet high, in the central Tlatelolco area, once a major religious and political center for the Aztec elite.

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Making A Martyr Of Bhutto

Just days before parliamentary polls in Pakistan, leading prime ministerial contender and anti-terrorism crusader Benazir Bhutto was shot dead during an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. "She has been martyred," said party official Rehman Malik. The Associated Press, citing Malik, reported that Bhutto was shot in the neck and the chest before the gunman blew himself up. At least 20 bystanders were killed in the blast. Bhutto was rushed to a hospital But, at 6:16 p.m. Pakistan time, she was declared dead.

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See also:

Main suspects are warlords and security forces

Slain Bhutto's supporters take anger to the streets

U.S. Checking al Qaeda Claim of Killing Bhutto

Pakistan accuses al Qaeda of killing Bhutto

Pakistan: al-Qaida Behind Bhutto Killing

U.S. suspects Taliban leader behind Bhutto plot

Grief, anger after a voice is stilled

How did Pakistan's Bhutto die?

Bhutto Conspiracy Theories Fill the Air

More than 30 dead in Bhutto protests

Obituary: Benazir Bhutto, 54, Weathered Political Storm

U.S. fears spillover into Afghanistan

U.S.-Led Forces Target Militants

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S.-led coalition forces killed an estimated 11 "terrorists" early Thursday, during operations targeting criminal networks in southeastern Iraq, a statement from Multi-National Force - Iraq said.

And a hidden bomb exploded inside a minibus in eastern Baghdad's Baladiyat neighborhood Thursday morning, killing two passengers, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

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See also:

Car bomb in Baghdad market kills 14

Bin Laden To Send Web Message On Iraq

Iraqi hairdressers forced underground

Brad Stine's 'GodMen': Promise Keepers On Steroids

According to OneNewsNow, a news service sponsored by the American Family Association, Stine, who is an oft-featured speaker at Promise Keeper conferences, "states he is on a 'mission' to free his fellow Christians from 'the chains of political correctness.'" "In a country with guaranteed rights to freedom of religion, its citizens are constantly trying to make faith in public spheres illegal. I am offended by that contradiction and want to talk about it as a comic," Stine told OneNewsNow.

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Priests Brawl At Bethlehem Birthplace Of Jesus

Seven people were injured on Thursday when Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests came to blows in a dispute over how to clean the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Following the Christmas celebrations, Greek Orthodox priests set up ladders to clean the walls and ceilings of their part of the church, which is built over the site where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born.

But the ladders encroached on space controlled by Armenian priests, according to photographers who said angry words ensued and blows quickly followed.

For a quarter of an hour bearded and robed priests laid into each other with fists, brooms and iron rods while the photographers who had come to take pictures of the annual cleaning ceremony recorded the whole event.

A dozen unarmed Palestinian policemen were sent to try to separate the priests, but two of them were also injured in the unholy melee.

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Carl Sagan's COSMOS Begins Airing On Jan 8th

Carl Sagan's Cosmos will be airing in its entirety beginning January 8th on the Discovery Science Channel in the US, check your local listings.

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What We Believe: Atheism

When mortar shells were exploding near Fernando Aguilar in Iraq, he didn't pray to God for help.

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'Gospel Of Wealth' Facing Scrutiny

The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor's living room each night: Be faithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers said, and God will shower you with material riches.

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Russia Prohibits Denial Of Santa

The Russian government has banned a television advertisement for denying the existence of Father Christmas.

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Polk Needled, Noodled In Evolution Flap

LAKELAND -- Public floggings hurt, even when administered by satirical sacred noodles.

Ask the Polk County School Board. The panel made news last month when five of its seven members declared a personal belief in the concept of intelligent design, the religiously based explanation of the development of life believed in by many Christians.

Four of those five sympathetic board members said they would like to see intelligent design taught in Polk schools as an alternative to Darwinian evolution, at a time when new state standards mentioning evolution by name for the first time are under consideration.

Just like that, it appeared the Darwin wars had found their newest battlefield.

Yet a few weeks later, the controversy is dying with a whimper. There's no board support for a challenge to the proposed standards. Some of the five school board members blame the local newspaper for trying to start a fight.

"It's not our agenda," said Tim Harris, one of the board members. "My personal opinion and how I vote don't always jibe."

What happened? You can start with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The satirical religious Web site asserts that an omnipotent, airborne clump of spaghetti intelligently designed all life with the deft touch of its "noodly appendage." Adherents call themselves Pastafarians. They deluged Polk school board members with e-mail demanding equal time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism's version of intelligent design.

"They've made us the laughingstock of the world," said Margaret Lofton, a school board member who supports intelligent design. She dismissed the e-mail as ridiculous and insulting.

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USA TODAY: Year In Science Review

From the largest scales (global climate) to the smallest (cell research), this was a year punctuated by significant developments in science. USA TODAY highlights the findings.

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See also:

The enduring mysteries of comets

International robotic rivalry in space

Modern beetles predate dinosaurs

Laptop project enlivens Peruvian village

More Than 8 Out Of 10 Americans Identify With A Christian Faith

About 82% of Americans in 2007 told Gallup interviewers that they identified with a Christian religion.

Neport breaks it down: "51% who said they were Protestant, 5% who were "other Christian," 23% Roman Catholic, and 3% who named another Christian faith, including 2% Mormon."

Coming in at 11% were those who claimed no religious identity at all, and another 2% didn't answer.

--snip--

Time has shown a shift in religious camps. The new Gallup shows that the percentage of Americans who identify with a Christian religion is down some over the decades.

It is due to the higher percentage of Americans today who don't claim a religious identity.

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Jo Saturnalia!

Winter solstice

Winter Solstice Celebrations

List of winter festivals

Saturnalia

Natalis Solis Invicti

Yule

The History of Christmas

All About the Christmas Tree

The Origins of the Christmas Tree

Myths surrounding Jesus' birth

Two Bombs Hit Iraqi Cities Killing At Least 34

BAGHDAD, Dec. 25 -- Two bombs in separate Iraqi cities ripped through crowds of people Tuesday, causing some of the worst carnage in the country in recent weeks and revealing that -- despite the relative calm of recent months -- insurgent groups remain capable of devastating attacks.

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MRFF Vs. The Campus Crusade For Christ

You can quickly familiarize yourself with Campus Crusade for Christ's Military Ministry by reading the report on the Military Religious Freedom (MRFF) website....

This report contains details about the Campus Crusade Military Ministry hierarchy, their goal (which they're already well on their way to achieving) of using our military to create "government-paid missionaries for Christ," and a number of quotes from this organization. Much of this story is about two Campus Crusade videos, one filmed at the Air Force Academy, and the Campus Crusade program of indoctrinating basic trainees through their "gateway" ministry at Fort Jackson, the largest Army basic training facility.

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Earlier:

The Anti-Crusader

Disquiet Over Schools' Moment Of Silence

A family of Illinois atheists is fighting to overturn a law requiring time for students' quiet reflection. The father and daughter say it mandates prayer.

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FFRF Files Suit Against Green Bay Creche

(Madison, Wis.) The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state/church watchdog, filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the unlawful display of a manger scene at the entrance of city hall in Green Bay, Wis. (Since federal offices are closed on Dec. 24, the Foundation has mailed its lawsuit to be received by Dec. 26 by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin.)

The Freedom From Religion Foundation v. City of Green Bay includes 12 individual plaintiffs of diverse religious and nonreligious views, and additionally names Green Bay City Council President Chad Fradette and Jim Schmitt, Mayor of Green Bay.

"Our legal action was driven by local residents," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, Foundation co-president. "Many Green Bay citizens contacted us over their dismay that city government would thumb its nose at the constitutional principle of state/church separation, and deliberately provoke a divisive controversy in Green Bay."

"We're grateful not just to our named plaintiffs, who include Foundation members, but also a Lutheran, a Buddhist, and a Unitarian Universalist, and to many others who volunteered to be part of the lawsuit if needed," said Foundation co-president Dan Barker.

The legal complaint spells out the chronology of the Green Bay violation, which involved the Council president vowing to place a nativity scene at city hall because the Foundation had complained about an unlawful nativity display in Pestigo, Wis.

"Council President Fradette deliberately used his public office to place an inherently Christian symbol prominently on government property at the entrance to City Hall, the principal location of local government, rather than on his private property, precisely in order to antagonize, offend and challenge those persons who object to the public sponsorship of religious symbols on public property."

The Complaint alleges an open records violation at the Dec. 11 meeting in which a committee chaired by Fradette approved his request to prominently place the nativity scene on the roof of the entrance.

"Public and private communications by the Defendants reflect their intent to provoke and marginalize persons who do not share their views regarding the public display and promotion of religion by the City," the Complaint adds.

The Complaint notes the subsequent vote by the City Council to place a moratorium on the public display of any religious symbols other than the Christian Nativity scene, which "preferentially conveys endorsement, promotion and/or advancement of religion."

Among the plaintiffs are Taku Ronsman and Wendy Coriell, who sought unsuccessfully to place other symbols at city hall, and Michael Bergman, who had expressed concern to the city over the Christian endorsement and wondered if he could display a Buddhist symbol to coincide with a major Buddhist holiday in May.

The Foundation Complaint charges that "objectors and dissenters are shown to be political outsiders and discouraged from challenging the official view that public sponsorship of religious displays is an appropriate exercise of government authority."

"The Defendants' actions constitute government speech deliberately intended to be broadcast as officially accepted dogma, and which hostile message is intentionally directed at political outsiders," the Complaint continues.

Besides the Foundation, plaintiffs are: Wendy Coriell, Michael Bergman, Gail and Wayne Vann, Taku Ronsman, James White, Jill White, Jeffrey Fondrliak, Robert Howe, Amy Wolf, Michael Maternowski and Angie Moon. (Note: The Complaint has a typo. Ms. Ronsman's first name is spelled "Taku.")

The Legal Complaint can be read at:

ffrf.org/legal/GreenBayComplaint.pdf

Muslims Could Be Key To Kenya Election

KIBERA, Kenya (AP) -- In the Kenyan slum of Kibera these days, the ancient cadences of the Muslim call to prayer compete with election propaganda blaring from loudspeakers.

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Mosque Besieged In Kashmir

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir (CNN) -- A standoff at a mosque in the disputed territory of Kashmir is continuing with three militants holding a pair of hostages, police told CNN.

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Turks Foil Bomb Attack

(CNN) -- Turkish authorities said they foiled an apparent bomb attack in Istanbul on Monday when they discovered plastic bags with explosives near a ticket stand.

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In A Force For Iraqi Calm, Seeds Of Conflict

BAGHDAD -- The thin teenage boy rushed up to the patrol of American soldiers walking through Dora, a shrapnel-scarred neighborhood of the capital, and lifted his shirt to show them a mass of red welts across his back.

He said he was a member of a local Sunni "Awakening" group, paid by the American military to patrol the district, but he said it was another Awakening group that beat him. "They took me while I was working," he said, "and broke my badge and said, 'You are from Al Qaeda.'"

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Dawkins To Preach Atheism To US

RICHARD DAWKINS, the British scientist who has become the high priest of atheism, is launching a crusade in America to win new recruits to the church of nonbelievers.

He is to embark on a lecture tour of 2,000-seater halls in the Bible Belt and the Midwest in the wake of the presidential primary season, which reaches its climax in early February.

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Priest Who Committed Suicide For Rebirth Cremated

Raipur -- A three-day "miracle" drama in Chhattisgarh's industrial town of Raigarh ended on Monday afternoon after a Hindu priest, who had committed suicide promising to return to life within 72 hours of his death, was cremated.

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Godless X-mas Party

If you don't have a special get-together planned for this coming Monday night, pour a goblet of your favorite potion, saunter on up to the computer and spend a very special evening with Edwin Kagin and other non-believers across the country for the First Annual...

HERETICS AND BLASPHEMERS GODLESS X-MAS PARTY

The fun begins at 8:00 PM ET with special guests and a toll-free number you can call to share thoughts, gripes, suggestions and anything else on your mind relevant to the X-MAS season.

Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists and Fred Edwords, Contributing Editor at the American Humanist Association (AHA) will be guests.

Other guests will include:

ARLENE-MARIE, Michigan State Director, American Atheists
ED BUCKNER, Atlanta Freethought Society
TOM FLYNN, Council for Secular Humanism

It's all airing on the hot new internet radio program "Answers in Atheism" at http://www.answersinatheism.net/ . Call Toll Free 877.814.9287 or local 859.384.7000 , or email to theshow@answersinatheism.net.

Edwin Kagin is National Legal Director for American Atheists. He and wife Helen Kagin are co-founders of Camp Quest, a national summer camp program for the children of Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists and other non-believers.

Kagin On PBS News Hour

EDWIN KAGIN, National Legal Director for American Atheists, will be a guest this Monday (December 24, 2007) on the PBS program "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." Mr. Kagin will be discussing the legal and cultural battle over the "Christmas" holiday, claims that America is a "Christian nation," and other topics.

The program airs at different times throughout the country, but in the East the show is carried at 6:00 PM ET on most PBS channels. Check local listings, or visit http://www.pbs.com/ for information on the station nearest you.

Scientists Inscribe Entire Bible On Head Of A Pin

JERUSALEM - Israeli scientists have inscribed the entire Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible onto a space less than half the size of grain of sugar.

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Baby Jesus Statue Gets GPS For Christmas

(AP) A baby Jesus statue here is getting a Global Positioning System for Christmas. The statue, part of a nativity scene, will be equipped with the device after the previous statue went missing, even though it had been bolted down.

"I don't anticipate this will ever happen again," said Dina Cellini, who oversees the display, "but we may need to rely on technology to save our savior."

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See also:

He Died For Your Mastercard

Rampaging Santas strike New Zealand cinema

Shiite Leaders Oppose Expansion Of U.S.-Backed Citizens Groups

BAGHDAD -- The leader of Iraq's most powerful Shiite Muslim political party warned Friday that the security organizations that American officials credit with helping to cut violence in Iraq must be brought under control.

Abdulaziz al Hakim, the head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, became the latest Iraqi leader to raise concerns that the U.S.-financed groups, which are predominantly Sunni Muslim and known as awakening councils or "concerned local citizens," could become a potent army capable of challenging the U.S.-backed Shiite-dominated central government.

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See also:

Sunni Fighters Need Political Role

Saudi Arrests 28 Terror Suspects

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Saudi Arabian police have arrested 28 men for allegedly planning to attack holy sites around Mecca and Medina during the recently finished Muslim hajj pilgrimage, the kingdom's Interior Ministry said Sunday.

The announcement comes two days after the ministry said it arrested an unknown number of men after security forces foiled a plot to carry out a terror attack on holy sites outside Mecca. But Sunday's statement did not say whether the two arrests were related.

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6 Dead In Northern Pakistan Attack

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide bombing attack on a military convoy killed at least five civilians and one soldier Sunday in troubled northwestern Pakistan, an army spokesman and police said.

Thirteen soldiers and four civilians were also wounded in the attack in the town of Mingora in Swat district, where security forces have carried out several operations against followers of a pro-Taliban radical Islamic cleric, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad told The Associated Press.

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See also:

After murder, Gaza's Christians keep low profile

Alone, Afraid, In the Company of Men Dreaming of Death

Winter Solstice Today - 12/22/07

According to Wikipedia:

"The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane as the observer. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the event of the Winter solstice occurs sometime between December 20 and 23 each year in the Northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and 23 in the Southern Hemisphere, and the winter solstice occurs during either the shortest day or the longest night of the year (not to be confused with the darkest day or nights). Though the Winter Solstice lasts an instant, the term is also used to refer to the full 24-hour period.

"Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time....

"On the night of Winter Solstice, as seen from a northern sky, the three stars in Orion's belt align with the brightest star in the Eastern sky Sirius to show where the Sun will rise in the morning after Winter Solstice. Until this time, the Sun has exhibited since Summer Solstice a decreasing arc across the Southern sky. On Winter Solstice, the Sun ceased to decline in the sky and the length of daylight reaches its minimum for three days. At such a time, the Sun begins its ascent and days grow longer. Thus the interpretation by many cultures of a sun reborn and a return to light. This return to light is again celebrated (at the vernal equinox, when the length of day equals that of night."

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A partial list of holidays/festivals (past and present) occurring around the Winter Solstice:

Zagmuk, Sacaea. Saturnalia, Yuletide, Sankranti, Brumalia, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, Hanukkah, Alban Arthuan/Midwinter, Finn's Day, Festival of Sol, Festival of the New Sun, Festival of Growth, Great Day of the Cauldron, Dong Zhi, Nollaig, Juul, Jul, Jiueis, Jol, Joulu, Joulupukki, Children's Day, Festival of Kronos, Kallikantzaroi, Karkantzaroi, Dazh Boh, Chaomos, Inti Raymi, Soyal, Sada, Touji, Geol, Feailly Geul, Modra-niht, Giuli, Iol, J--lmnu_r, Shass Greiney Geuree, Yn Ad-Gheurey, Divalia, Larentalia, Sigillaria, Midvinterblot, Touji, if Inti Raymi, Shabe-Yalda, Sviatki, Koleda, Choimus, Soyalangwul, Diwali, Sadeh, Adur-Jashan, Maidyarem, Shab e Cheleh, Novo Hel, Nollaig, Pongal, Modranetc, Yalda, Karachun, St. Thomas' Day, Christmas (Xmas), The Festival of the Long Night, Wintervil, Zamenhof Day, Festivus, Human Light, Chrismukkah, Giftmas, Newtonmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Lenaea (Festival of the Wild Women).

Some of the god-men that were supposedly born around this time:

Adonia, Attis, Baal, Dionysus, Helios, Hercules, Mithra, Osiris, Perseus, Theseus, Jesus, and King Arthur.

See also:

Dates and Times of Equinoxes and Solstices

Iraqi Gov't Pledges To Disband Sunnis

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's Shiite-led government declared Saturday that after restive areas are calmed it will disband Sunni groups battling Islamic extremists because it does not want them to become a separate military force.

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Santa On Cross Protests Commercialism

(AP) Art Conrad has an issue with the commercialism of Christmas, and his protest has gone way beyond just shunning the malls or turning off his television. The Bremerton resident nailed Santa Claus to a 15-foot crucifix in front of his house.

"Santa has been perverted from who he started out to be," Conrad said. "Now he's the person being used by corporations to get us to buy more stuff."

A photo of the crucified Santa adorns his Christmas cards, with the message "Santa died for your MasterCard."

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Muslim Rite Of Sacrifice Collides With Law

PRINCETON, N.C. -- For six years, it has been a tradition for Muslims in the Research Triangle: After morning services on the first day of Eid al-Adha -- the "festival of sacrifice" -- scores of families leave the tweedy environs of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill and head toward an obscure plot of land on a two-lane country road.

They come to visit Eddie Rowe, a hog farmer.

The children typically run around among Rowe's loose chickens. The women prepare picnic sandwiches. And the patriarch of each family awaits his turn to slit the throat of a lamb or a goat that Rowe has sold him.

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200 Protesters Turn Up To Support Capo Teacher

MISSION VIEJO -- To an almost continuous stream of blaring car horns and cheering, more than 200 Capistrano Valley High School students and alumni rallied outside their school Wednesday morning to show support for embattled history teacher James Corbett, who is being sued by one of his students for making remarks about Christianity and traditional Christian viewpoints in class.

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Eagle Scout Ordered To Take God Out Of Park Project

ARVADA - Fourteen-year-old Jonathan Griesinger says he wanted people to think about the origins of the universe when they stroll by his planetary walk along Van Bibber Creek.

A jogger disagreed.

Griesinger designed and installed a series of 10 stones along the trail through the Stenger Athletic Complex. The first represents the sun and the rest are engraved with the names of the nine planets. The stones are spaced in proportion to the planets' actual distances from the sun. Pluto, the farthest stone, is about a half-mile from the starting point near 58th Avenue and Oak Street.

Griesinger also placed an 11th stone that he has been ordered to remove. The stone is engraved with a Bible verse that says, "The heavens declare the glory of God."

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Hindus Protest Use Of Gods On Underwear

New Delhi - India's eastern state of Orissa has lodged a protest with the US government seeking action against a California-based website for hurting religious sentiments of people by selling undergarments with images of Hindu gods, a newspaper reported Friday. Hindu priests and religious groups had slammed the website, cafepress.com, for selling undergarments embellished with faces of several gods and goddesses, including the presiding deities of Jagannath temple, considered among the most sacred Hindu temples in India.

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Bible Bashing Dying Out In Kansas

Opinion polls suggest that younger evangelical Christians are falling out of love with the "big causes" their churches have championed in recent years, in particular with opposing abortion and supporting the Iraq war.

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Survey Finds Most Americans Believe Jesus Born Of Virgin

--69 percent of adults believed Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana.

--68 percent believed Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed a crowd of 5,000.

--64 percent believed the Earth was covered by a flood in which Noah, his family, and numerous animals were spared by living on an Ark.

--56 percent expressed literal belief in the Bible account of the devil, disguised a serpent, tempting Eve to eat forbidden fruit.

--49 percent accepted as accurate the Bible story of Samson losing his legendary strength when Delilah had his hair cut.

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FreeThoughtAction Hero Of The Day - 12/21/07

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 - December 4, 1993)

According to Wikipedia, Zappa "was an American composer, musician, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa established himself as a prolific and highly distinctive composer, electric guitar player and band leader. He worked in almost every musical genre and wrote music for rock bands, jazz ensembles, synthesizers and symphony orchestra, as well as musique concrete works constructed from pre-recorded, synthesized or sampled sources. In addition to his music recordings, he created feature-length and short films, music videos, and album covers....

"Zappa self-produced almost every one of the more than sixty albums he released with the Mothers of Invention or as a solo artist. He received multiple Grammy nominations and won for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1988 for the album Jazz from Hell. Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. In 2005, his 1968 album with the Mothers of Invention, We're Only in It for the Money, was inducted into the United States National Recording Preservation Board's National Recording Registry. The same year, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #71 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2007, his birthtown Baltimore declared August 9 official 'Frank Zappa Day' in his honor.

"Politically, Zappa was a self-proclaimed 'practical conservative', an avowed supporter of capitalism and independent business. He was also a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion."

Some Zappa Quotes:

The biggest threat to America today is not Communism, it's moving America to a fascist theocracy.

My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can.

Scientology, how about that? You hold on to the tin cans and then this guy asks you a bunch of questions, and if you pay enough money you get to join the master race. How's that for a religion?

Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST...

My theory is that music is good, it's the only religion that delivers the goods.

Military Evangelism Deeper, Wider Than First Thought

For US Army soldiers entering basic training at Fort Jackson Army base in Columbia, South Carolina, accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior appears to be as much a part of the nine-week regimen as the vigorous physical and mental exercises the troops must endure.

--snip--

"Our purpose for Campus Crusade for Christ at the Air Force Academy is to make Jesus Christ the issue at the Air Force Academy and around the world," Blom says in the video. "They're government paid missionaries when they leave here."

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Inmate Says He Needs Thor's Hammer, Drum

(AP) An inmate is suing the Utah Department of Corrections for denying him his right to practice an ancient Nordic religion while behind bars.

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Celebrating With The Christkind

(Tribune Media Services) -- Like a German child's fantasy, Nurnberg's fairy-godmother-like teenage angel stretched out her arms and said, "If you're very, very gentle, you can touch my wings." I stayed seated while little Bavarian preschoolers mobbed the stage to touch their Christkind.

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Saudis Foil Plot Against Muslim Pilgrims

(AP) Police arrested a group of men planning to attack holy sites around Mecca during the just-completed annual Muslim pilgrimage, the Saudi Interior Ministry said Friday.

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The recent arrests indicate that al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists are still actively attempting to destabilize the monarchy, which holds a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves.

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Hezbollah Slams Bush's 'Order'

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- The militant Hezbollah group denounced President Bush on Friday for urging Lebanon's anti-Syrian lawmakers to push through their own choice for president if necessary to resolve a long political deadlock.

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The opposition refuses to recognize the legitimacy of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government because its Shiite members resigned last year and the constitution requires that all sects be represented in the government.

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Guantanamo Bay Detainee Accused In Terror Plot

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Guantanamo Bay detainee from Saudi Arabia -- who is also the brother-in-law of a September 11, 2001, hijacker -- faces terrorism charges, the U.S. Office of Military Commissions said Friday.

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Belgians Stop Al Qaeda Jail Break

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Police in Belgium arrested 14 Muslim extremists on Friday after uncovering a plot to free an al Qaeda suspect from prison using weapons and explosives.

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Exit Her Majesty; Enter Militias

On Sunday, and amid fears of renewed clashes among rival Shia groups, Britain handed over security in the southern city of Basra to local Iraqi authorities. In the past, security handovers in Iraq's southern cities have been followed by assassinations and turbulence. Basra, 580 kilometres south of Baghdad, is unlikely to be an exception. The city is Iraq's only port, produces 70 per cent of the country's oil (and exports 80 per cent of it), and offers opportunities for cross-border trafficking with Iran. Iraqi officials and the Shia parties that control the city vowed to maintain security and cooperate with each other. But reality on the ground appears shaky.

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See also:

The Coming Fight for Northern Iraq

Kurds' power share row with Iraqi government

A Modest Proposal on Kirkuk

Torture Chamber Found In Iraq

BAGHDAD - Blood-splotches on walls, chains hanging from a ceiling and swords on the killing floor -- the artifacts left a disturbing tale of brutalities inside a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq torture chamber. But there was yet another chilling fact outside the dirt-floor dungeon. Villagers say they knew about the torment but were too intimidated by extremists to tell authorities until now.

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See also:

Iraq 'torture complex' discovered

Iraq Bomber Aimed At Alcohol Sellers

BAGHDAD -- Blood and ouzo mingled on the sidewalk outside a shattered Baghdad liquor store on Thursday after three people were killed in a car bombing directed at alcohol sellers in one of Baghdad's most heavily protected areas.

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Historic Civil Rights Group Recognizes Nontheists' Struggle

Washington, DC - The Secular Coalition for America has become the newest member of the oldest and most respected civil rights organization in the United States. As one of eight new members joining the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) this year, the Secular Coalition for America will work with the LCCR in its mission to unite all Americans as one nation true to its promise of equal justice, equal opportunity and mutual respect.

Recognition that the nontheistic minority must be included in the struggle for civil rights marks a milestone. There are several religious groups within LCCR's coalition, but the Secular Coalition for America is the first nontheist (atheists, humanists, and other Americans without a god belief) group to be included. Both organizations agree that religious freedom as protected by the Bill of Rights must also include the freedom to practice no religion.

Secular Coalition Director, Lori Lipman Brown, said, "This decision says as much about the LCCR and its willingness to acknowledge and include nontheists as it does about the Secular Coalition and its recognition of our theistic allies who support our rights."

A total of eight groups were added to the LCCR's coalition at their most recent board meeting: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); Center for Responsible Lending; Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights; DC Vote; Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), Matthew Shepard Foundation; Paralyzed Veterans of America; and the Secular Coalition for America.

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Continued Display Of Nativity Scene Is Unconstitutional

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has urged officials in Green Bay, Wisc., to remove a nativity scene from government property.

The display, Americans United points out, amounts to an unconstitutional endorsement of re

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Monday, December 31, 2007