History speaks above the prattle of secular humanism. This was the message delivered by the Kentucky supreme Court, who has declined to hear a case attacking the Kentucky Homeland Security Act for its reference to dependence on “Almighty God” as vital to the security of the Commonwealth. The decision was almost entirely overlooked by the news media, except local (expectedly biased) news reports from the Courier-Journal and Lexington Herald. Their reports quoted the disappointment of the American atheists, and erroneously called the Homeland Security Act “mere lip service to a commonly held belief in God.”

In the court case of American Atheists vs. the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Col. Ron Ray and First Principles Press filed a brief with the Kentucky Court of Appeals representing 35 Kentucky Senators and 96 State Representatives, defending the historic and Constitutional reference to God.

Arizona school children are told they can't pray in front of the Supreme Court building ... Two University of Texas Arlington employees are fired for praying over a co-worker's cubicle after work hours ... In Cranston, R.I., a high school banner causes controversy when a parent complains it contains a prayer and demands that it be removed.

There are more legal challenges to prayer in the United States than ever before, says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist organization whose business is booming as Americans increasingly tackle church vs. state issues.

"We've never had more complaints about government prayer," Gaylor says. "We have just hired a second staff attorney in July.

Student atheist leaders are bragging that they were recently invited to the White House to participate in a meeting on interfaith service projects on college campuses.

The Secular Student Alliance boastfully proclaimed on its website that a couple of its leaders attended the June 7 meeting sponsored by the Obama administration's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Bishop Harry Jackson with the Fellowship of International Churches tells OneNewsNow he believes the White House is trying to expand the tent of faith to include atheists and non-religious people as a way to discredit Bible-believing evangelicals...

The legal effort to halt prayer at presidential inaugurations continues.

Atheist Michael Newdow -- along with numerous other individuals and atheist groups -- filed the lawsuit which was lost in federal district court. They have now appealed to the federal DC Circuit Court of Appeals, continuing their efforts to ban prayers they say make them "sick to their stomach."

Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) says complaints from atheists in the appeals court are extreme...

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Atheist Michael Newdow and 30 other "nontheistic" plaintiffs say they will decide Friday whether to appeal Thursday's decision by a federal judge dismissing their demand that President-elect Barack Obama be barred from saying “So help me God” when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.
 
U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton also refused to block prayers at the inaugural – leaving the Reverends Rick Warren and Joseph Lowery free to give the invocation and benediction at Obama’s swearing-in...

Avowed atheist Michael Newdow, infamous for his attacks against references to God in the Pledge of Allegiance and the national motto, now wants to remove all religious references from Barack Obama's inauguration.

Newdow, who in past legal battles has tried to strip the United States currency of a reference to God and has sued to alter the pledge of allegiance in schools, now wants to alter history. Newdow wants the president-elect barred from a traditional reference to God in the oath of office -- "so help me God" -- because those words are not in the oath set out in the Constitution. He also wants two prayers by well-known Christian figures cancelled. Revs. Rick Warren and Joseph Lowery are scheduled to deliver inaugural prayers on January 20...

Christians in Illinois are upset over an atheist sign being placed next to a nativity scene at the state capitol.

Illinois made history this year by permitting a private group to put a nativity scene at the state capitol. However, the state granted permission to the Freedom From Religion Foundation to display a sign next to it that reads: "Our message at this season of the winter solstice is may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds"...

Washington's governor has put a moratorium on new holiday displays, after an atheist sign placed next to a nativity scene sparked a controversy.

Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, believes people have a right to be dismayed.

"The governor of the state of Washington has really made a mockery out of this situation in the State Capitol. At one time we had a nativity scene with a 25-foot-tall spruce Christmas tree and a menorah," he notes. "And then she allowed this Freedom From Religion Foundation plaque that denigrated the existence of God -- [it] said that there is no god, no angels, no heaven, nor any hell"...

A group of atheists filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to remove part of a state anti-terrorism law that requires Kentucky's Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge it can't keep the state safe without God's help.

American Atheists Inc. sued in state court over a 2002 law that stresses God's role in Kentucky's homeland security alongside the military, police agencies and health departments...

In what humanists are calling a victory over religion, buses in the British
capital will soon carry advertisements for atheism.
 
The British Humanist
Association said this week that an Internet fundraising campaign had raised more
than enough money for the sides of 30 London buses to display the disparaging
signs in January...