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You need not dig deep into the annals of history to find examples of religious bloodshed. From the Crusades to the Inquisition to the terrorist attacks seven years ago today, dogmatic interpretations of religious doctrine - spanning almost every set of...
By, Wendy Kaminer Last month, I criticized the Texas ACLU for its timidity in defense of liberty when Texas authorities raided the polygamous “Search for Zion,” compound, forcibly removed some 460 children from their parents, on the basis of one anonymous...
By Wendy Kaminer, Why is polygamy illegal? Why don’t Mormons have a First Amendment right to enter into multiple marriages sanctified by their church, if not the state? There’s a short answer to these questions but not a very good one: Polygamy is illegal...
By Wendy Kaminer, Now that Judge Barbara Walther has refused to release from state custody the 416 children taken from their parents in the raid of a polygamous compound in Texas, ordering all parents and children to undergo DNA testing, the Texas ACLU...
By, Wendy Kaminer When federal immigration authorities summarily rounded up immigrant workers in a surprise raid at a New Bedford factory in March 2007, civil liberties and civil rights activists immediately entered the fray, defending the rights of workers...
By Wendy Kaminer Atheists and agnostics are typically portrayed as actively hostile to religious belief, with only occasional accuracy -- some are simply indifferent to its charms. What tends to unite us is not hostility toward religion but hostility...
The New York Times is reporting that Wikipedia is getting flak -- in the form of angry emails and a 80,000-signature petition -- over its entry on the life and times of Muhammad . The website contains several images of the face of Muhammad taken from...
By Wendy Kaminer MYSpace has deleted the 35,000 member “Atheist and Agnostic Group” in response to complaints from people who are offended by atheism, according to a press release posted by the Secular Student Alliance. Group Moderator Bryan Pesta stressed...
By Wendy Kaminer It's foolish to seek logic in appeals to religious faith, especially those made while campaigning, but I can’t help interrogating Fred Thompson’s refrain that our "basic rights come from God and not from any government."...
By Wendy Kaminer I shouldn't bother critiquing anything penned by the Dinesh D’Souza, but his latest screed on atheism is hard to resist. Extrapolating from some intemperate comments posted by one anonymous, self-identified atheist who claims that...
By Wendy Kaminer Thank god for religious minorities: when members of minority faiths run for office they have little choice but to defend religious liberty and give at least a nod to separation of church and state. Appealing to our tradition of pluralism...
By Wendy Kaminer Friendly, occasionally funny, less doctrinaire than many of his fellow conservatives and more approachable than the authoritarian Rudy Giuliani and robotic Mitt Romney, Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is the right wing preacher/politician...
By James F. Tierney Last week the family of a U.S. marine who died in Iraq won a $10.9 million award against members of the Westboro Baptist Church for picketing outside the soldier’s funeral, bearing signs reading “God Hates Fags.” (They “argue” that...
By Wendy Kaminer Anyone who has yet to be convinced that the term “faith-based” social services is a euphemism for sectarian social services should consider that the Bush Administration has directed 98% of “faith based” foreign aid funds to Christian...
