Justices unanimously decided that the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts could not delay the Eagle Scout applications of Michael and William Randall while the court decides whether the organization can bar atheists.
The council sought in 1991 to exclude the twins, then 9, from a Cub Scout pack because they refused to take the Scout oath requiring members to do their "duty to God."
In 1994, the state's high court agreed to review the case but oral arguments have not been scheduled.
The boys expect to receive their badges by the end of January.
Deborah Elizabeth Reynolds, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, claiming the girl was possessed by a devil that made her turn cartwheels in the living room.
Two other women, Julia Ann Olivas, 36, and Esther Griggs, 43, were sentenced to 26 years to life for taking part in the torture and beating, which reportedly lasted at least four hours.
Rebecca Ramirez, 26, was arrested Nov. 13, nearly three months after 8-year-old Daniel Ramirez's death. Charges were formally filed against the mother on Dec. 2 .
Investigators say that, in the days before Daniel's death, his mother took him to church services and asked a pastor to pray for him. She had written "Daniel healed" on her calendar and stopped giving the boy insulin. He died within three days.
Robert and Rachel Aitcheson, along with five others, were each charged for failing to report the month-old baby girl's death, a misdemeanor. All are reportedly part of an independent group that believes the bible contains the only laws that should be followed.
The couple told authorities the baby choked on regurgitated milk on Oct. 16, 1996. The father, 24, said he tried for seven hours to resuscitate her and called members of their religious group to pray for the girl.
In February, the Hartford Courant in Connecticut named nine men who claim Father Maciel molested them in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, when they were boys training for the priesthood in Spain and Italy. None of the men has sought financial compensation or pursued legal action against the church. They said they came forward after first suffering in silence and later getting no response when they complained through church channels.
Maciel, who faces no criminal charges, has not responded directly to the accusations. However, his order, the Legionaries of Christ, has denied the charges and called the accusers liars with "personal vendettas."
The men were ordered to one-month prison terms for singing. It was unclear if they were singing in public or at a private function.
Dr. Rabie Ibrahim Mahgoub, who fled after performing the surgery last April in the village of Ashfin, just north of Cairo, was found guilty of "immense medical negligence."
An estimated 70 to 90 percent of girls in the north African country are "circumcised" before puberty because many Moslem Egyptians believe the operation curbs a girl's sexual appetite. The procedure--known as genital mutilation--can involve cutting away the tip of the clitoris or removing all exterior genitals.
Although the ritual is not outlawed in Egypt, the government has taken steps to try to stop it. Barbers and midwives, the traditional practitioners, can face prosecution for performing the operation without a medical license.
"I am no monster. I am no devil," said Rev. Henry J. Lyons at a news conference at his Bethel Metropolitan Church in Florida. "I am a man, and despite whatever you may write I am still a child of God."
The president of the nation's largest black religious group has been dogged by allegations that church money was misused for lavish jewelry, a Mercedez-Benz and a $700,000 home bought with a woman. Lyons is also accused of using secret out-of-state accounts for personal use and diverting money intended for the restoration of southern churches damaged by arson to other church expenses and accepting $350,000 in secret payments from Nigeria's military ruler.
Lyons became the target of state and federal investigations after his wife, Deborah, was charged with arson in July for setting fire to the waterfront home the preacher bought with Bernice Edwards, a convicted embezzler he hired as the church's corporate relations director.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced in mid-November that it had accepted the resignation of Lyons from its national board.
According to news reports, the emblem may have been confused for a religious symbol and spurred attacks.
The red cross on a white background has been used since the organization was founded in 1863 by nonChristian Clara Barton.
Rev. Timothy Mockaitis, pastor at St. Paul's Catholic Church, filed the suit in September 1996 upon discovering that Lane County District Attorney Doug Harcleroad authorized investigators to tape a conversation between the priest and accused triple-murderer Conan Wayne Hale.
Hale is scheduled to stand trial early next year on 22 counts of aggravated murder and other charges stemming from the December 1995 deaths of three Springfield teenagers.
Harcleroad later apologized for the taping but insisted it was legal under Oregon law at the time.
Lane County Commissioners will pay $25,000 and the state Attorney General's office will pay $20,000.
A neighbor filed a complaint that the bells, which ring each hour at the Calvary Christian Center from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., violate a noise ordinance in the small town of The Colony, just north of Dallas.
Inside, President Clinton urged an expansion of federal hate-crime laws which would make it illegal to injure someone because he or she is gay, disabled or a member of the opposite sex.
Art. 19, Sect. 1 of the 1874 constitution reads: "No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court."
This violates the provision in the U.S. Constitution barring any religious test for public office. A new constitution backed by former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker would have deleted the atheist ban. But four out of five Arkansans voting in a 1995 special election opposed convening a constitutional convention.
The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a 1982 challenge of the provision.
The breakfast's steering committee agreed in December to mail out the invitations, which previously were mailed by the governor's and mayor's offices in Honolulu.
A gynecologist in Hamilton, Ontario, was shot at his home in the elbow two years ago, and another was shot in the leg at his Vancouver home three years ago. All shootings remain unsolved.
Daniel Shea, a lawyer and a Catholic theologian, filed suit in December: "As a practicing Roman Catholic, I am personally offended by the appropriation of one of the sacred symbols of the Judeo-Catholic tradition by a publicly elected official."
The case may go to trial in early 1998.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops Pro-Life Committee, which originated the proposal, announced pompously that it intends it as a public display against abortion and other "attacks on human life and human dignity."
Reps. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, and Sen. Ament, R-Iliff, admitted their intent is to compromise over school prayer, which raises legal questions. The Supreme Court has ruled a moment of silence cannot be substituted for prayer, but has permitted a Georgia law to stand, which aside "silent reflection" to stand.
Sen. Ament voted against the Foundation's proposed counter-monument as a member of the Capital Development Committee.
The Foundation sent a detailed analysis in November of the unconstitutionality of offering "bible as history" classes to the Lee County school district and the ACLU.
The Florida ACLU, Steel Hector & Davis and People for the American Way announced they are pursuing the challenge in federal court on the basis that teaching the bible "as history" puts the school district in the position of endorsing the truth of the bible.
"What this is about is whether or not Bible stories will be taught as literal history and the Bible will be used for a history text," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
Seven residents signed on the lawsuit. Approved by a 3-2 vote in October, the course is scheduled to begin on Jan. 21 as a high school elective. Bitter strife over the proposal, initiated by a Christian group called the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools and backed by the Christian Coalition, has already cost the district $40,000 in legal fees and staff time.
The bible group claims its curriculum is being used in public schools in 23 states, but refuses to identify school systems employing it. Simon said the suit was the first legal challenge of the program in the nation.
The Kearsley Ministerial Association is putting pressure on its local high schools in Michigan to offer the same glorified Sunday School curriculum promoted by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools.
School board president Sharon Wright of Genesee Township said she probably would not have a problem with the proposal. The Foundation sent the board a protest of the plan.
The Christian Family Association, campaigning to support Alabama Judge Roy S. Moore's posting of the Ten Commandments, has approached all Indiana county commissions to display the religious tenets.
After Grant county officials announced they would place the Ten Commandments in their courthouse, the ICLU went to court in November. However, the ICLU agreed to "settle" for the commandments being placed on a "Wall of Freedom" with the Magna Carta, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The ICLU went on record as calling the Ten Commandments "one of a large number of foundational legal documents."
A Michigan branch of the Christian association announced earlier this year its goal to place Ten Commandments in every county courthouse in Wisconsin. The Foundation wrote every county board to point out the unconstitutionality of this. No Wisconsin county to date has caved in to the demands.
Please inform Freethought Today promptly if a similar Ten Commandments campaign is announced in your state. News clippings or brief material can be faxed to (608)256-1116.
In an experiment with epileptic patients, researchers found that the brain's temporal lobe, dubbed the "God module," may affect how intensely a person responds to religion.
The patients studied have an unusual form of epilepsy which results in intense mystical experiences as part of their seizures, but they are also preoccupied with religion between attacks.
"The exciting thing is that you can even begin to contemplate scientific experiments on the neural basis of religion and God," senior scientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran told the Los Angeles Times. It was speculated that an involuntary response to religion might have had an evolutionary advantage of encouraging tribal loyalty.
Keating opposed school vouchers as a 1994 candidate for governor.
Bob Mooneyham, director of the Oklahoma School Boards Association, called vouchers a fad that could have damaging implications for public education in Oklahoma.
McCartney admits the first time he said "I love you" to future wife Lyndi Taussig was after exploding because she "used the Lord's name in vain" at a party. He pulled her from the fraternity, drove recklessly, hit a police car, and was being handcuffed and led to jail when those "magic words" were uttered.
Alcoholism continued during McCartney's public image as a devoutly religious man and hardworking football coach, even through the 1991 founding of Promise Keepers. While exhorting men to "practice spiritual, moral, ethical and sexual purity" and "build strong marriages through love, protection and biblical values," he was ignoring his family. After Promise Keepers started, Lyndi McCartney became depressed, bulimic and suicidal.
Not mentioned in the book is McCartney's confessed adultery. He does admit a daughter had two out-of-wedlock births fathered by football players from his team.
Perhaps motivated by fear that his secrets would be outed by the press, McCartney is counting on the fact that every fundamentalist loves a sinner. Standing by her man, Lyndi vows his life has turned around. McCartney gives all credit, of course, to Jesus.
Since the image was discovered by the dog's owner 15 months ago, orphans have come to pray, mothers have come to weep, and invalids have taken drinks from the bucket and proclaimed themselves cured.