Your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.

Today’s morning heretic is CFI intern Stef McGraw. Paul is away until August 13th. In the meantime, he’s busy tweeting cute things his kids are saying and doing.

With the new Louisiana school voucher program that will use government money to put students in largely Christian private schools, don’t be surprised if they graduate believing that slave masters were nice guys and that dragons were real. I wish I were kidding.

The good news is that we have some allies. The Interfaith Alliance spoke out against Gov. Jindal’s program, with organization president and Baptist minister C. Welton Gaddy remarkably saying the following:

“Let me be clear: I am not appalled that a Christian school is teaching its students that God created the Earth ... Children in my church learn that every Sunday,” Gaddy said. “I am appalled that these schools are teaching theology as science, and they’re doing so with government money, my tax dollars.”

I don’t think I can beat the headline: “Curiosity Rover Takes A Really Adorable Picture Of Itself.” D’awww.

The New York Times reports that after its controversial attempt to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, Susan G. Komen for the Cure will see both its CEO and president resigning from their positions. Still not buying (in both senses of the word) items that “raise awareness” for breast cancer, though.

Surly Amy’s series “Speaking Out Against Hate Directed at Women” has two more installments, with the Dublin based writer and Atheist Ireland chair Michael Nugent as well as the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s own Dan Barker.

Good news: President Obama came out against the Boy Scouts’ ban on gays in the organization.

Apparently Ireland is one of the countries leading the way in leaving religion. If only American Catholics would catch on to the whole “maybe the church is corrupt and backwards” thing.

Ophelia Benson writes how Saudi Arabia doesn’t even remotely recognize its two women Olympic athletes, despite it being the country’s first time with female participants. (Speaking of the Olympics, maybe I don’t watch enough sports otherwise, but sheesh, there’s more thanking of God by Americans than the Country Music Awards).

Eugenie Scott discusses on Minnesota Public Radio how, much like evolution, teachers often face barriers in the teaching of climate change in schools.

Quote of the Day   

“I am incapable of and uninterested in judging your motivations for such a destruction of education in our state. But, you are capable of changing your mind and helping the situation rather than hurting it. Governor Jindal, please, for the sake of all that is good about education, religious freedom, and our state, put an end to the school vouchers program in Louisiana.”

— Interfaith Alliance president and Baptist Minister C. Welton Gaddy

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Stef, or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is. 

Follow CFI on Twitter: @center4inquiry 

Got a tip for the Heresy? Send it to press(at)centerforinquiry.net!

The Morning Heresy: “I actually read it.” - Hemant Mehta 

Your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.

Today’s Morning Heretic is CFI intern Stef McGraw. Supposedly Paul’s still out being a good dad or something, but I’m guessing he just wants to watch the Olympics all day. Regardless of what he’s really doing, he will return 8/13.

A post at JREF discusses the effect that certain terminology can have on how people view alternative medicine. Sounds “integrative.”

Speaking of alt medicine and terminology: With the British government cracking down on homeopathy being sold as legitimate, tested medicine, one company responds with a rather creative, yet self-incriminating, solution:

“If necessary we could revise the manufacturing method, the labelling of the bottles and kit box to present them as non-medicines and non-homeopathic and market them as ‘confectionery’.”

Tomorrow, Missouri voters will probably decide that church/state separation isn’t really that important. They could surprise me, but I won’t hold my breath.

In other news about states I never want to live in, North Carolina passed a law restricting lawmakers from using scientific evidence that sea levels are rising. Because good policymaking comes from how we want the physical world to operate, right?

At the Huffington Post, a blogger reflects on his time in Catholic seminary, giving insight to the intersection of homosexuality and the priesthood.

The International Freethought Film Festival ended yesterday, unsurprisingly not without at least one controversial film.

Speaking of controversy, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is arguing it unconstitutional for a high school band to play “God Bless America” at school functions. Hey, where were they when I had to sit through three graduations playing “Pomp and Circumstance”? That should be unconstitutional.

Ian Murphy lays out his five most awful atheists, to which Hemant Mehta responds (mostly) disagreeing.

Now that you’re probably nice and pissed off at the world, we’ll finish it out with something more positive. In Scotland, Catholic weddings are getting destroyed by the Humanists…in quantity, that is.

I lied, one more thing to piss you off: don’t forget that a Humanist wedding isn’t possible everywhere in the U.S. CFI is still in a lawsuit in Indiana arguing that secular celebrants should be able to conduct marriage ceremonies.

Quote of the Day 

From Robert Sobel of the Examiner, explaining the ramifications of Missouri’s Amendment 2:

“According to the language in the amendment, if a student who believes in creationism is asked to take a test on the scientifically accepted theory of evolution, the student could point to the new amendment and get out of the class.”

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI . Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is. 

Follow CFI on Twitter: @center4inquiry 

Got a tip for the Heresy? Send it to press(at)centerforinquiry.net! 

The Morning Heresy: “I actually read it.” - Hemant Mehta