There was an interesting article on the Huffington Post yesterday about an atheist who recently converted to Christianity. So who is this atheist? Surely, he must be a prominent scientist, right? Is he the author of an atheist book, a prominent atheist blogger, a well-known atheist activist, or the leader of an atheist organization? No, he is just some random 63 year-old guy. Apparently, it is such a rare occurrence when an atheist converts to Christianity that it has become a newsworthy event.

The now former atheist, Patrick Greene, was called an activist because he threatened to sue to get a nativity scene removed from his county courthouse. No lawsuit was ever actually filed. What the media failed to cover was that Greene threatened to sue a lot of people and that atheists within the local atheist community consider him to have a persecution complex after he threatened to sue Christian apologist Ray Comfort over a bumper sticker promoting National Atheist Day, which Greene found offensive.

Greene gave two reasons for his recent conversion. The first was that Christians raised money for him to help with living expenses. While that is certainly a noble gesture on the part of the Christians, it doesn’t speak well for Greene whose believes appear to be for sale to the highest bidder.

The second reason given by Greene for his conversion is a profound misunderstanding and lack of knowledge concerning the science of evolution. He states:

"There's been one lingering thought in the back of my head my entire life, and it's one thought that I've never been able to reconcile, and that is the vast difference between all the animals and us."

http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-national/atheist-converts-to-christianity-media-s-coverage#ixzz1rNA2GZTz

Last week, the Legislative Department submitted comments to the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations. The Commission is led by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) and is soliciting public input on 17 tax issues related to religious organizations that were raised in Sen. Charles Grassley’s (R-IA) 2011 report to ECFA. AU weighed in on three of these topics (which were limited to responses of only 1,000 characters each).

First, we stated our opposition to the proposed formation of an IRS-sponsored advisory committee comprised only of representatives of religious entities. Such a committee is unnecessary, as the IRS already sponsors the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT), which gives voice to all non-profit organizations (including religious groups) on taxation issues. Secondly, the formation of the committee would unconstitutionally favor religion over non-religion and grant special privilege to these groups.

Our second set of comments refutes proposals to adjust criteria for determining whether to investigate a religious group for potential IRS violations. We argued that having the religious advisory committee assist in setting these criteria or looking to whether an organization is subject to oversight by the ECFA or another third party organization would be an impermissible joint exercise of religion and government authority. The IRS should not (and constitutionally, cannot) cede its oversight authority to a religious entity with no accountability to the taxpayers or obligation to enforce the law.

Finally, we unequivocally stated that the ban on church politicking should remain in place and unmodified. The prohibition prevents tax deductible charitable donations from being used to support political candidates, and allows houses of worship to choose between tax exempt status and engaging in electioneering. For the good of the public and the churches themselves, however, they are not permitted to have it both ways.

We hope the Commission takes our statements into account and advises the IRS fairly on these matters.

http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2012/04/06/au-submits-comments-on-taxation-and-religious-organizations-2/

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has denounced priests who have questioned church teaching on celibacy and ordaining women, saying Thursday they were disobeying his authority to try to impose their own ideas on the church.

Benedict made the rare and explicit criticism from the altar of St. Peter's Basilica in his homily on Holy Thursday, when priests recall the promises they made when ordained.

In 2006, a group of Austrian priests launched the Pfarrer Initiative, or pastor initiative, a call to disobedience aimed at abolishing priestly celibacy and opening the clergy to women to relieve the shortages of priests.

Last June, the group's members essentially threatened a schism, saying the Vatican's refusal to hear their complaints left them no choice but to "follow our conscience and act independently."

They issued a revised call to disobedience in which they said parishes would celebrate Eucharistic services without priests, that they would let women preach, and they pledged to speak out publicly and frequently for female and married priests.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/pope-rips-into-dissident-_0_n_1405074.html?ref=religion

A priest in Northern Ireland is being investigated Monday for accidently showing gay pornographic images to a group of parents, according to the BBC.

Father Martin McVeigh was prepared to show a normal Powerpoint slideshow from a memory stick at a holy communion presentation last week in front of 26 parents and an eight-year-old child. Suddenly, 16 images of gay porn popped up on screen unexpectedly, resulting in McVeigh removing the stick quickly.

“He was visibly shaken and flustered,” one parent at the meeting told the BBC. “He gave no explanation or apology to the group and bolted out of the room. The coordinator and the teachers then continued with the presentation. The meeting continued in his absence, however, the parents who viewed the pictures were horrified and distracted.”

McVeigh was still rattled by the incident. (Boy, I'll say!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/02/priest-investigated-for-showing-gay-porn/

When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called "a major exorcism," can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c4a1.htm

Daphne Spurlock's Facebook page is filled with religious imagery and Bible quotes; last February she wrote, "The best thing that ever happen to me is when I gave my life to Jesus and He filled me with His precious Holy Ghost."

Early Saturday morning, what her husband has called an increasingly strange belief that she was hearing voices became too much, and she slit the throat of her five-year-old son and then stomped on his chest in order to release the demons supposedly inside him. "She was reading from the Bible with him (the child) and realized he was infested with demons and had to release these demons from him," a spokesman for the Magnolia police department told reporters.

--snip--

​Spurlock's husband, David, told the Houston Chronicle, "I can't put it together yet...She started cussing a week ago. That was not like her at all." She said the voices in her head were Jesus, said the husband, who was not home at the time of the attack in their Magnolia home.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/03/daphne_spurlock_slits_5-year-ol.php