It was a startling assertion that seemed an about-face from church doctrine: A Catholic hospital arguing in a Colorado court that twin fetuses that died in its care were not, under state law, human beings.

When the two-year-old court filing surfaced last month, it triggered an avalanche of criticism — because the legal argument seemed to plainly clash with the church's centuries-old stance that life begins at conception.

But it is also now fueling an already raging debate in Colorado and beyond about whether fetuses should have legal rights and, if so, what kind.

On Monday, the hospital and the state's bishops released a statement acknowledging it was 'morally wrong' to make the legal argument.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2273557/It-morally-wrong-Catholic-hospital-apologizes-arguing-court-fetus-human-being.html#ixzz2K4uPrt6Z

In brief video published by Big Think on Monday, physics professor Lawrence Krauss said that teaching school children incorrect facts about the age of the planet was a form of abuse.

Krauss noted that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently declined to say how old the Earth was, insisting it was “one of the great mysteries.” Krauss blasted the idea of teaching the Earth was 6,000 years old — as some Christians believe — rather than 4.55 billion years old.

“If you think about that, somehow saying that, well, anything goes, we shouldn’t offend religious beliefs by requiring kids to know – to understand reality; that’s child abuse,” he said. “And if you think about it, teaching kids – or allowing the notion that the earth is 6,000 years old to be promulgated in schools is like teaching kids that the distance across the United States is 17 feet. That’s how big an error it is.”

Krauss added the “purpose of education is not to validate ignorance, but to overcome it.”

Bill Nye “the Science Guy” made similar comments last year in another video published by Big Think. Nye implored parents not to teach creationism to their children because the country needed “scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future.”



Raw Story (http://s.tt/1zqrd)

In brief video published by Big Think on Monday, physics professor Lawrence Krauss said that teaching school children incorrect facts about the age of the planet was a form of abuse.

Krauss noted that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently declined to say how old the Earth was, insisting it was “one of the great mysteries.” Krauss blasted the idea of teaching the Earth was 6,000 years old — as some Christians believe — rather than 4.55 billion years old.

“If you think about that, somehow saying that, well, anything goes, we shouldn’t offend religious beliefs by requiring kids to know – to understand reality; that’s child abuse,” he said. “And if you think about it, teaching kids – or allowing the notion that the earth is 6,000 years old to be promulgated in schools is like teaching kids that the distance across the United States is 17 feet. That’s how big an error it is.”

Krauss added the “purpose of education is not to validate ignorance, but to overcome it.”

Bill Nye “the Science Guy” made similar comments last year in another video published by Big Think. Nye implored parents not to teach creationism to their children because the country needed “scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future.”



Raw Story (http://s.tt/1zqrd)

Some people who advocate coercive school prayer are relentless. They’re always coming up with a new scheme to impose their preferred form of worship onto impressionable public school students. Sometimes they even try to use children to spread religious messages in schools. Yesterday, a federal appeals court put the brakes on this latest effort to compel prayer in schools.

The case involved a student, identified in court papers as A.M., who wanted to close her middle school graduation speech with a prayer taken from the Old Testament Book of Numbers. The passage, Numbers 6:24-26, is often called the Priestly Benediction.

Officials at the Taconic Hills Central School District in Crayville, N.Y., declined to allow the girl to recite the passage, so her family lined up help from a small Religious Right-oriented law firm in Florida and sued. A federal district court rejected the suit, and now the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed.

When the A.M. v. Taconic Hills Central School District case reached the appeals court, attorneys with Americans United filed a friend-of-the-court brief, siding with school officials. At that time, Americans United Associate Legal Director Alex J. Luchenitser pointed out what was really going on here.

http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2013/02/public-school-proselytizing-prohibited-federal-appeals-court-rejects-new-prayer-scheme/

A high school principal in the US state of Colorado is facing intense scrutiny for allowing a recitation of the US Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic. In the past, students from Rocky Mountain High School's multicultural club recited the pledge in both French and Spanish. But the Arabic recitation, which was approved by the school principal Tom Lopez, spurred negative comments towards the school, in addition to a nationwide debate over social media.

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201302010235-0022519