The Christian Century

c. 2013 Religion News Service

AUSTIN, Texas (RNS) For someone who was once dubbed "the most hated woman in America," Madalyn Murray O'Hair is getting a lot of love in this city she once called home.

Thomas Jefferson is back in Washington – in the form of a new edition of the "Jefferson Bible" distributed to politicians by a national humanist organization.

The American Humanist Association has delivered electronic and paperback copies of Jefferson's highly edited version of the Gospels to all incoming members of Congress and to President Obama.

A First Amendment watchdog group is suing the Internal Revenue Service for failing to challenge the tax-exempt status of churches whose pastors engage in partisan politicking from the pulpit.

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., the only openly atheist member of Congress, lost his race for another term on Tuesday (Nov. 6).

But secularists will not remain unrepresented in the Capitol. Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, a former Arizona state senator who was raised Mormon and is a bisexual, has narrowly won her pitch for a House seat by 2,000 votes.

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) Jacques Berlinerblau wastes no ink in his new book trying to flatter his fellow nonbelievers.

"American atheist movements, though fancying themselves a lion, are more like the gimpy little zebra crossing the river full of crocs," he writes in "How to Be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom."

Ouch.

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) For the second time in less than a year, the Gallup poll reports that a majority of Americans would vote for an atheist for president.

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) As skeptics, atheists and humanists prepare to gather for their largest meeting in Las Vegas this weekend, attendance by women is expected to be down significantly.

c. 2012 Religion News Service BETHESDA, MD (RNS) As coming out parties go, this was a big one. As the American Atheists convention here wound down in March, a woman with short dark hair and a dark suit took the stage.

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) After more than a year of planning, atheists in the military will stage a public festival and rock concert celebrating their lack of religious beliefs at North Carolina's Fort Bragg, one of the largest U.S. military bases.