From the New York Times’ editorial page:
The Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case that could have a broad impact on whether the courthouse door remains open to ordinary Americans who believe that the government is undermining the separation of church and state.
The question before the court is whether a group seeking to preserve […]

According to Rev. Falwell’s sermon last Sunday, global warming is “Satan’s attempt to redirect the church’s primary focus” to the environment.
Apparently only Satan would try to trick humanity into protecting the earth. What about all those Christians who call for creation care you ask?
In his sermon, Falwell referred to such Christians as “naive,” stating […]

From the New York Times. This is easily the most promising stem cell program in the country.
California’s stem cell research program is legal, a state appeals court ruled Monday in a decision that could hasten the day when the state’s $3 billion research effort can get fully under way.
The San Francisco-based court upheld a […]

One of the religious right’s central talking points when they take to the airwaves in opposition of embryonic stem cell research is that adult stem cells hold as much promise for cures as their pluripotent counterpart.
From Focus on the Family:
As research with adult stem cells progresses, scientists are learning that these cells may be […]

Happy Friday.

Tomorrow, John McCain will deliver the keynote address at a luncheon co-hosted by the Discovery Institute. For those who are unaware the Discovery Institute is the Seattle based “think tank” that is responsible for spearheading the religious right’s war on science education.
The Institute is responsible for, among other things, the creationist lesson plan that […]

The cover story on the February 26th edition of Time Magazine focuses on the most recent tactic employed by the religious right in their war on a woman’s right to control her own body — Crisis Pregnancy Centers. These centers capitalize on fear and the misrepresentation of medical data to push an anti-health agenda on […]

A same-sex couple was arrested yesterday at the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs, after refusing to leave the property until James Dobson agreed to meet with them. The couple, who are members of DefCon advisory board member Mel White’s organization SoulForce, were protesting Dobson’s piece in the December issue of Time Magazine, […]

How about a long weekend open thread?
Check out this great work that Americans United is up to.

It’s official, the science standards in Kansas are back to promoting science.

The Kansas Board of Education has approved new evolution-oriented science standards for the state’s public schools.
The new guidelines reflect mainstream scientific views of evolution. They represent a political defeat for advocates of “intelligent design,” who had helped write the previous standards.
The board, with a […]

Today is the 198th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth.
Us science-loving, fact believing, heathens owe a lot to the father of the theory of evolution — most notably, an explanation of how life on this planet developed into the complex forms that surround us today.
Here’s to Mr. Darwin. And here’s to the Kansas board of education, […]

Go get ‘em.

UPDATE: DefCon has launched an action urging media to acknowledge the intolerant agenda of William Donohue before they let him criticize others on the same grounds. We’ll not only be taking on those who have failed to do so to date, but we will be watching for those who continue to allow Donohue to get […]

This is NUTS. From our friends at EvangelicalRight.com
9Wants to Know has learned the New Life Church in Colorado Springs has reached an agreement on the conditions of Pastor Ted Haggard’s relationship with the church…The agreement calls for Haggard, the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor at the New Life Church, […]

When James Dobson published Two Mommies is One Too Many in the December 12th issue of Time Magazine he quickly created a firestorm of controversy. Not only were millions of Americans outraged at his claim that a same-sex two parent family was bad for the “health and development of children” but, slowly, the scientists and […]