1/15/2014::Last of yesterday's news

Supreme Court takes political ads case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case delving into the government's right to police alleged lies in political advertising.

The high court announced Friday afternoon that it will take up a lawsuit filed by Susan B. Anthony List, a national anti-abortion advocacy group that sought to run political ads against then-Rep. Steven Driehaus (D-Ohio).

During the 2010 election cycle, Susan B. Anthony List accused Driehaus of voting in favor of taxpayer-funded abortions by supporting President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Driehaus then complained to the Ohio state election commission, alleging that the proposed billboard campaign ad was false and violated the state law. The Affordable Care Act requires abortion to be paid for through non-ACA accounts and federal law bars taxpayer money from funding abortions.

15 ways atheists can stand up for rationality

I’ve often wondered how the term “New Atheism” gained such currency. It is a misnomer. There is nothing new about nonbelief. All of us, without exception, are born knowing nothing of God or gods, and acquire notions of religion solely through interaction with others – or, most often, indoctrination by others, an indoctrination usually commencing well before we can reason. Our primal state is, thus, one of nonbelief. The New Atheists (most prominently Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens) have, in essence, done nothing more than try to bring us back to our senses, to return us to a pure and innate mental clarity. Yet their efforts have generated all manner of controversy. Far outnumbered, and facing a popular mindset according kneejerk respect to men (yes, mostly they are men) of faith — reverends, priests, pastors, rabbis, imams and so on – the New Atheists have by necessity explained their views with zeal, which has often irked the religious, who are accustomed to unconditional deference. Even some nonbelievers who, again thanks to custom, consider religion too touchy a subject to discuss openly have been riled.

Indiana House chamber bursts into laughter after speaker calls LGBT people ‘intolerant’

Those attending the Indiana House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on a same sex marriage ban erupted into laughter on Monday when one of the speakers claimed that opponents of the ban were “intolerant.”

Jim Bopp, an anti-LGBT attorney who was forced out as Indiana’s representative to the Republican National Committee in 2012, told the committee that he was perplexed as to why opponents would be against a constitutional ban if same sex marriage was already illegal in Indiana.

“It can only be because [the existing ban is] vulnerable,” he insisted. “They want the option of getting what they actually want, which is to change the definition marriage. And the very vulnerability of a statute as opposed to a constitutional amendment affords them a greater opportunity to get that job done.”

Ordination of Atlanta Teen Called to Preach at Age 5 Sparks Debate About 'Needing a Degree to Preach God's Word'

Jared Sawyer Jr., a 16-year-old from Atlanta, Ga., who has been preaching for more than half of his life, was ordained as an associate minister at his Baptist church over the weekend and among supporters on Facebook offering him praise were others concerned about his lack of formal theological training.

"I like his ambition but he really should get a seminary degree first or study Theology....too many incompetent self-proclaimed pastors here," wrote Marion Morris on WSB-TV's Facebook page featuring video coverage of Sawyer's ordination. The news item had about 5,700 "likes" and more than a thousand shares, and the on-going about debate about Sawyer's ordination has led to hundreds of comments.

"You do not need a 'degree' to preach God's word. When He (God) calls and we answer, the only documents we need comes from the word of God, not a seminary," wrote Dennis Bates, who made frequent comments on the social network in defense of Sawyer.