The following is a repost from Hemant Mehta the Friendly Atheist.

Go, LAPD!

The Los Angeles Police Department wants to stop working with the organization that runs its Explorer program for youths because the group is linked to Boy Scouts of America, which bans gays from becoming members.

The organization, Learning for Life, was spun off from Boy Scouts of America.

A department official told the Police Commission Tuesday that the Boy Scouts policy is “inconsistent” with the city’s policy of non-discrimination. He suggested that the department manages the Explorer program itself.

Learning for Life officials say the organization does not discriminate and does not take funds from the Boy Scouts.

They ban atheists, too, even though that’s not mentioned in the piece above. And that that last comment from Learning for Life officials skews the truth. There may be no funding from the Boy Scouts directly, but there is definitely a connection with them.

We know of dozens of stories like this.  If you have a similar story to report.  Post it in the comments.

Posted by August Brunsman at the SSA on Sat, 2008-02-02.

This post originally appeard on Hemant Mehta's blog friendlyatheist.com.  Hemant is the chair of the board of directors of the Secular Student Alliance. 

Anatoly is vice-president of a campus atheist group that meets at Wilfrid Laurier University, a public school in
Ontario, Canada. The goal of the “Laurier Freethought Alliance” (LFA) is: “to promote science, freedom of inquiry, skepticism, and a good life without the need for superstition or religious belief.”

Sounds reasonable, no?

Wayne Adkins(atheist) case of Army Discrimination: FULL STORY FROM WAYNE HERE

Here are some snippets of what Wayne writes, you can view the pictures at his page.

I took the time to transcribe this disgusting aspect of religion, and how it divides families (scroll down):

Mother: You're an atheist. Give me a fuckin' break Michael. Alright, you know what? We need to start going to church every week, I've had it with this.

Michael: I don't believe in God.

Mother: Bullshit. You got yourself confirmed. And you said to the bishop!

Michael: Yeah, a lot can happen, you can think.

<mom interrupts loudly>

Mother: Oh a lot can happen! All of the sudden you can just quit believing in God!?!?

Michael: Yeah <still rather calm>

Mother: All of a sudden! There is no God! <we took a little grammar liberty here>

Michael: Yeah.

The tree of knowledge has had some attacks recently.

The vandals first struck on Dec. 2 or 3, after the ornamented tree had been raised on Dec. 1 at the Chester County Courthouse lawn.

By Dec. 30, there had been four attacks against the Tree of Knowledge, a 22-foot evergreen sponsored by the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia.

Margaret Downey, immediate past president of the society, has defined the organization as "welcoming to agnostics, atheists, humanists, skeptics, rationalists of all kinds."

The attacks are ironic because the tree was meant to "declare a war on intolerance," said Downey, asserting that she had reported each incident to both the West Chester Police Department and the Chester County Office of the Sheriff, which provides security at the courthouse.

West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn said Thursday that there had been no arrests and no suspects.

The tree shares the lawn with a creche sponsored by the Pennsylvania Pastors Network, a menorah sponsored by Chabad of Chester County and a tree sponsored by the West Chester Chamber of Commerce.

Soldier Who Sued Army Facing Threats

Source: Military Religious Freedom

By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Friday 21 September 2007

An Army specialist stationed in Iraq said he has been repeatedly threatened by other US soldiers after word spread that he sued the secretary of defense and an Army major this week for allegedly retaliating against the soldier when he convened a meeting of atheists, according to the founder of a military watchdog organization that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the soldier and has been in close contact with him since then.

Published: 9/23/2007 3:00 AM

Source: Daily Herald

The home of a local outspoken atheist was vandalized overnight Friday, police said -- with eggs tossed at the house and cars, and crosses and religious words scrawled in chalk on the driveway.

A church bulletin also was stuck on the front door.

The incident comes days after Rob Sherman's daughter, Dawn, led a successful effort to have the song "God Bless America" yanked from Buffalo Grove High School's homecoming celebration. Dawn Sherman is a freshman on the student council.

The vandalism likely was the retaliatory work of youngsters, police Sgt. Mike Millett said -- since it came on the heels of the school incident and because one of the chalked words, "Jesus," was misspelled.

Philadelphia Raises Boy Scouts' Rent $199,999 Over Gay Ban

Thursday, October 18, 2007

PHILADELPHIA  —  The city has decided that the Boy Scouts chapter here must pay fair-market rent of $200,000 a year for its city-owned headquarters because it refuses to permit gay Scouts.

The organization's Cradle of Liberty Council, which currently pays $1 a year in rent, must pay the increased amount to remain in its downtown building past May 31, Fairmount Park Commission president Robert N.C. Nix said Wednesday.

City officials say they cannot legally rent taxpayer-owned property for a nominal sum to a private organization that discriminates. The city owns the land on which the council's 1928 Beaux Arts building sits.

Scouting officials will ask the city solicitor for details on the appraisals that yielded the $200,000 figure, said Jeff Jubelirer, spokesman for the Cradle of Liberty Council.

Thought you'd be interested in this report of the first-ever meeting of Atheist service-members in Iraq under the umbrella of the MAAF-Iraq chapter of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. This meeting was put together by the same young MAAF member who recently had his second letter published in the Stars and Stripes.

From the Daily Herald 9/23/07

The home of a local outspoken atheist was vandalized overnight Friday, police said -- with eggs tossed at the house and cars, and crosses and religious words scrawled in chalk on the driveway.

A church bulletin also was stuck on the front door.

The incident comes days after Rob Sherman's daughter, Dawn, led a successful effort to have the song "God Bless America" yanked from Buffalo Grove High School's homecoming celebration. Dawn Sherman is a freshman on the student council.