6/6/2014::An odd mix of stories

County prayer: Which way is witch? After ruling, Wiccan just might return

The letter, written by Americans United Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan and ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca K. Glenberg, notes that “Although this policy has previously been upheld in court, the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway makes clear that prayer opportunities must be available to persons of all faiths.”

The case in which the board’s existing policy was upheld was a lawsuit filed by a county resident, Cynthia Simpson, a member of the Reclaiming Witches order who asked the county in 2002 to add her name to the list of clergy invited to lead invocations at board meetings.

Simpson won the first round in U.S. District Court in Richmond, but the county ultimately prevailed when the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the board has a right to set restrictions on the kinds of prayers given at its meetings as well as the people who lead them.

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But the new Supreme Court ruling reverses that logic. The justices ruled that imposing restrictions on the content of legislative prayers is unconstitutional, and that lawmakers can avoid that problem by allowing representatives of all faiths to lead invocations, in which they may name any deities they choose, or none at all.

New Orleans Charter Schools Shouldn’t Treat Students Like Prisoners

Is my high school, Lake Area New Tech, a prison or school? Students arrive ready for school every morning, but unfortunately must wait outside the building until security guards unlock the doors at 7:30 a.m. It could be raining, hailing, or sleeting, but they will NOT open the doors until then. Once the doors are unlocked, it takes the guards 15 to 20 minutes to search each student and check for uniform violations. That leaves us with just a few minutes to eat breakfast before class starts at 8 a.m. That’s not enough time for 600 students to make it through the cafeteria line. On a typical morning, we are treated like prisoners, which causes students to react in a variety of negative ways.

Some students break the rules in response to how they are treated. I know how they feel because I was once punished for an act of “rebellion.” At my school, female students are required to wear skirts and socks of a certain length. One day I arrived at school without the proper socks and was told by my principal that I had two options: I could either go to in-school suspension or get my parents to bring the right socks,,,

Two Years Later, the Indian Skeptic Who Debunked a “Miracle” is Still in Exile in Finland

Sanal Edamaruku — a.k.a. “the Indian James Randi” — has debunked a lot of sacred cows in his life. In 2012, after explaining how a statue of Christ could be dripping water seemingly on its own, he was charged with “hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community.” The “crime” could have resulted in a prison sentence of up to three years in addition to a fine, so Edamaruku fled from his home before he could be punished (or physically attacked).

Since then, Edamaruku has been in Finland. And according to Samanthi Dissanayake of BBC News, he still can’t go back home,,,

Officer's Demise Causes Deep Problems For Joe Arpaio

When sheriff's deputy Ramon Charley Armendariz hanged himself, he left behind a house full of questions.

Among the items at his house were a stash of drugs, evidence bags from old cases, hundreds of fake IDs and thousands of his video-recorded traffic stops that were withheld in a racial-profiling case against his boss, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Now, the quest for answers has raised the possibility that a yet-to-be-determined number of his cases could be thrown out and has refocused attention on Arpaio and his department, already under close watch by a federal monitor in the profiling case.

The judge overseeing the case has raised the prospect that Armendariz may have been shaking down people living in the U.S. illegally during traffic stops, and the top prosecutor in Phoenix described the situation as a "mess" as his staff begins to sort it out.

Mark Creech: 'Hunger Is Rampant In India' Because 'False Religion' Makes People Vegetarians

North Carolina Religious Right activist Mark Creech has a theory about why “hunger is rampant in India.” It’s not that “they don’t have enough food,” the Christian Action League director writes today in the Christian Post. Instead, he claims, it’s because “false religion has a stranglehold on their hope for a better future.”

“Though I do not mean to disparage that beautiful country, it cannot be denied the two prominent religions, Hinduism and Islam, hold the nation back,” he writes. He argues that the vegetarianism of many Hindus and what he believes is Islam’s teaching that “human initiative amounts to nothing” are perpetuating hunger in India.

“The factor determining wealth is connected more to a people's belief system than anything else,” he concludes. We hope nobody tells him about Qatar.

Dear Tom Cruise, where are your Scientology Super Powers?

Tom Cruise used to be very vocal about Scientology, but now there’s silence. He once boasted running 17MPH, but there’s not even a verifiable record of that. And what about psychic abilities, telekinesis and super intelligence? But undoubtedly he has super powers because otherwise the whole Scientology thing is a fraud, right? And unquestionably Tom has enough integrity to apologize if he was promoting something that wasn’t true, right? But why does he take so long in giving us the verifiable evidence?