Secular News Daily News and Views from a Secular Perspective

In yet another stunning example of how out-of-touch the Catholic Church has become, canonical proceedings have been initiated against one Argentine priest, but it’s not for a crime you might expect.

A court-ordered study has discovered a statistically-significant link between the Vatican's radio towers and childhood cancers. “The report also warned of “important risks” of dying of cancer for people who had resided at least 10 years within a nine-kilometre (5.5-mile) radius of the radio's giant antenna towers near Cesano, some 20 kilometres north of Rome.” [...]

Researchers have discovered the skull of a 29 million-year-old animal that could be a common ancestor of Old World monkeys and apes, including humans. It indicates that apes and Old World monkeys diverged millions of years later than previously thought, say the scientists. The discovery was made in Saudi Arabia by researchers from the University [...]

New rules the Vatican is expected to issue soon on penalties for priests who sexually abuse children will also put the ordaining of women in the same category of the most serious crimes under church law.

Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the senior judicial official in East Azerbaijan province, where the mother-of-two was convicted, told the Irna state news agency yesterday the sentence “will not be implemented for the time being.” Ajdar Sharifi added that the sentence would still be carried out if the judiciary wanted, despite protests from the west. Mohammadi Ashtiani's [...]

The Dalai Lama, who just celebrated his 75th birthday, often refers to the 'oneness' of all religions, the idea that all religions preach the same message of love, tolerance and compassion. Historians Karen Armstrong and Huston Smith agree that major faiths are more alike than not. But in his new book “God is not One,” [...]

Accusing a lecturer of writing a test question derogatory to Muhammad, Islamic radicals in Kerala, India attacked the professor and his family. They broke the windshield of his car and dragged him out, hacking off his right hand and stabbing him, brutalizing his wife and mother when they tried to stop the attack. Read more

Nine years ago, two Plano, TX school principals told children they could not distribute religious materials at school — pencils saying “Jesus is the reason for the season”, and candy canes with cards explaining the Christian origin of the candy. In December, an appeals court upheld the school's policy about when students may hand out [...]

Beliefnet, founded in 1999 as a site reporting on various belief systems, has developed into an online community serving people of many beliefs. Owner Rupert Murdoch (Fox News) has now sold the established site to Affinity4, a company providing cellular and internet services to raise funds for conservative Christian organizations like Jay Sekulow's American Center [...]