Minnesota Atheists testified on March 16th at the State Capitol in favor of repealing the blue law that forced liquor stores to be closed on Sundays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and to close early on Christmas Eve.  This is some of the press coverage we received:

 

Duluth News Tribune
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/194095/group/homepage

Capitol News
http://hometownsource.com/2011/03/16/sunday-liquor-store-sales-bill-nudges-forward-in-senate

 

By George Kane

 

In early February, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio that Judge James DeWeese must remove from his Richland County Court of Common Pleas courtroom a poster that includes the Ten Commandments. The court ruled in American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation, Inc. v. James DeWeese that defendant DeWeese violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment when he put up a display entitled “Philosophies of Law in Conflict” that contrasted the “Moral Absolutes” of the Ten Commandments with the “Moral Relatives” of humanism.

 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota (ACLU-MN) filed a lawsuit in January 2009 in Federal District Court against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) and the Minnesota Department of Education, stating that the charter school has violated the Establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution by using taxpayer money to illegally promote religion. The Minnesota Department of Education was named as a co-defendant because it has failed to provide proper oversight by disbursing taxpayer funds despite TIZA using such public funds for religious promotion. TIZA has been shown to advance, endorse, and prefer the Muslim religion over other religions or nonsectarian approaches in connection with school activities.

 

By August Berkshire

 

How important is it to dialogue with religious people? I like to say that I don’t care what people believe; I care how they vote: what they believe affects them; how they vote affects me. But since what religious people believe often affects how they vote, we can’t ignore what they believe – at least so long as they are numerous enough to sway elections.

 

By Steve Petersen

Atheists Talk’s director is Mike Haubrich. He and Scott Lohman host. The radio program is live every Sunday morning from 9:00 to 10:00 at the KTNF studios in Eden Prairie, MN AM 950.  Live steaming can be done through our web page mnatheists.org. Original music is composed, played and recoded by Brent Michael Davids. The six month cost is $5,320.00, each donation to support the program is greatly appreciated. To donate just send in a donation to our POB or online at mnatheists.org/component/option,com_civicrm/Itemid,55. All past programs can be accessed via web page.