The Kountze High School Lions will no longer run through banners inscribed with religious messages before the start of football games in Kountze, Texas. On Sept. 17, Stephanie Schmitt, Freedom From Religion Foundation staff attorney wrote Superintendent Kevin Weldon of the Kountze Independent School District:

"It is our information and understanding that Kountze High School cheerleaders regularly display religious banners that the football team runs through before athletic competitions. We understand that each week a different bible verse is displayed for all to observe. Enclosed please find photocopies of recent banners containing bible verses. You must take immediate action to stop these religious banners from being part of school-sponsored events. It is illegal for a public school to organize, sponsor or lead religious messages at school athletic events."

Schmitt cited a long list of court cases that have held such displays "constitute an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. A reasonable Kountze student would certainly perceive the banners 'as stamped with [their] school’s approval.' "

While FFRF hasn't received an official response from the school district, a Sept. 18 story from KIII-TV in Corpus Christi said the banners are banned.

http://ffrf.org/news/releases/texas-school-bans-football-bible-banners/

Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man (Quotation)

This is a somewhat-paraphrased version of the following:

"...those who live by mystery & charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy, the most sublime & benevolent, but most perverted system that ever shone on man, endeavored to crush your well earnt, & well deserved fame." - Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Priestley, Washington, March 21, 1801[1]

http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/christianity-most-perverted-system-ever-shone-man-quotation

The human brain is big and complicated. There has been a map for gene expression in mice brains available for a number of years but human brains are a thousand times bigger and a little harder to come by for post-mortem research.

But published today is a high-resolution 3D atlas of the human brain created by an international team led by Michael Hawrylycz of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. The project was launched in March 2008 with a budget of $55 million.

Working with just two whole male brains and a single hemisphere from a third, the team used around 900 precise subdivisions and 60,000 gene expression probes to create the atlas.

This image is a 3D rendering of just one of the genes in internal brain structures overlaid onto an MRI scan. The level of gene expression at the different points on the map is indicated on a colour scale, with blue dots reflecting relatively low expression and red dots reflecting high expression.

The aim of the project is to provide a platform for further study into gene expression in the brain and how it is involved in normal and abnormal brain function. The Allen Brain Atlas is freely accessible online.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2012/09/allen-brain-atlas.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Russel and Brandi Bellew avoided jail after admitting that they allowed their 16-year-old son, Austin Sprout, die because they chose to pray away his burst appendix instead of taking him to a hospital in Creswell, Oregon, last December.

The Bellews' son Austin (pictured below) died a painful death from a burst appendix after suffering from appendicitis for a week.

Instead of jail, the couple was sentenced to five years probation after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. They were originally charged with second-degree manslaughter, reports the Daily Mail.

The couple, who have six children, are members of the General Assembly and the Church of the First Born in Pleasant Hill, Oregon, which teaches that faith healing and prayer will cure disease. The six children were removed from the Bellews' home by social workers.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/crime/russel-and-brandi-bellew-avoid-jail-after-allowing-their-son-die-burst-appendix

My usual pick-me-up on a Monday morning is a cup of coffee. Today it's going to be something very different. I've been up since 6 am. I've had a breath test for alcohol, a urine test for drugs and a psychological test for mental health. Then I'm handed a red pill and a glass of water. I swallow it… and I'm told to relax. Which is easier said than done when you don't know if you've just taken vitamin C or 83 milligrams of pure MDMA.

Half an hour later I'm inside an fMRI brain scanner, my head clamped in place and a visor over my face. It's noisy and claustrophobic but I'm reassured by the panic button in my hand and a voice from the control room.

And then I start to feel it. A tingle of energy, like pins and needles, starts in the pit of my stomach and rises slowly, not unpleasant but not exactly pleasurable either. It builds in intensity, then breaks into a wave of bliss. The placebo effect can be powerful but when it happens again, I'm in no doubt. I'm coming up.

I'm taking part in a groundbreaking study on MDMA, the drug commonly known as ecstasy. The research is run by David Nutt of Imperial College London, a former government adviser and one of the few UK researchers licensed to study class-A drugsMovie Camera.

His main aim is to discover what MDMA does to the human brain, something that, remarkably, has never been done before. A second goal is to study MDMA as a therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. The experiment is also being filmed for a Channel 4 documentary called Drugs Live: The Ecstasy Trial, which will be broadcast in the UK next week.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22280-a-real-fmri-high-my-ecstasy-brain-scan.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

The Grove City [Pa.] Area School District Board of School Directors voted Sept. 10 "to eliminate prayer" at meetings, according to a Sept. 13 letter to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

School Solicitor Timothy McNickle was responding to a July 10 letter of complaint from FFRF and a Sept. 5 follow-up letter about the illegal prayers.

The board voted in June against changing the prayer to a moment of silence, which led to FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert's first letter. In it, she reminded the board of numerous court rulings that said scheduled prayer at school board meetings is unconstitutional.

McNickle and Superintendent Richard Mextorf then told the board that it was unlikely that the prayer would meet legal scrutiny and recommended a moment of silence instead.

Grove City is the second Pennsylvania board to recently drop prayer after getting an FFRF letter. Big Spring [Newville, Pa.] Board President Wilbur Wolf announced Aug. 28 that “prayer will be removed from future meeting agendas to avoid the potential cost of legal action against the board and Big Spring School District.”

http://ffrf.org/news/releases/another-pennsylvania-school-board-drops-prayer1/

Republicans vote to ban contraception in Missouri for religious reasons

Republicans in Missouri have voted to overturn the veto of Democratic Governor Jay Nixon that will now legally allow "religious" and "moral" exemptions in health insurance policies. Democrats are calling it an assault on women, and Republicans say it allows people to not be forced to deny their faith.

What is at issue, however, is not the faith of those who don't believe in contraception but rather how the religious beliefs of legislators will now be forced on citizens of Missouri. The Republican battle cry is that of religious freedom, but they seem to forget about the religious freedom guaranteed to all citizens, and that freedom includes protecting citizens from religious zealots.

The veto vote went completely down party lines, passing the Missouri House 109 - 45. 109 votes is the minimum amount needed to overturn a veto. The Senate also approved the measure 26 - 6.

Many Democratic lawmakers believe this move by Republicans will cost the state in the long run, and will make Missouri vulnerable to the now inevitable lawsuits where citizens will sue based upon being discriminated for religious reasons.

http://www.examiner.com/article/republicans-vote-to-ban-contraception-missouri-for-religious-reasons?cid=db_articles