“The idea that if you take religion out of the public square, if you take the Bible out of the classroom, that that’s neutral – well, no it’s not neutral! It’s a different worldview. I think we should start calling secularism a religion. Because if we did, then we could ban that too, because that’s what they’ve done. They’ve hidden …

According to a study issued this week, long-term use of anti-anxiety and insomnia drugs may dramatically increase the odds of developing Alzheimer’s. Regular use of benzodiazepines — which include medications such as Valium (diazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), Xanax (alprazolam) and Klonopin (clonazepam) — is associated with as much as a 51 percent increased risk for Alzheimer’s among people who use the …

Via Deadline: A new proposal for campaign finance reform would make Saturday Night Live’s political skits illegal, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has warned. The Senate is debating a bill that would add a constitutional amendment allowing Congress reverse a 2010 Supreme Court decision and restore limits on corporate campaign spending. Republicans say the bill, proposed by Dems, is an attack …

From Britain’s always bombastic Daily Mail: Wearing matching slippers and bow ties, Brian Davidson, 55, Britain’s consul-general in Shanghai, married his 33-year-old American boyfriend Scott Chang on the lawn of the home of Ambassador Sir Sebastian Wood. New rules mean that British nationals in homosexual relationships can marry in British consulates in 24 countries around the world as the land …

Today the US House Veterans Affairs Committee voted 13-12 to reject an amendment to the Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act. The proposed change would align Veterans Administration policy with Department of Defense rules granting benefits to the legal spouses of active duty gay service members. Via Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade: Although the vote was a largely along party …

“This is an absolutely foundational, non-negotiable, bed-rock American principle: there is a Creator – with a capital ‘C’ (you could look it up) – and he and he alone is the source of the very rights the military exists to protect and defend. An individual who does not understand and believe this has no right to serve in the U.S. …

Via the Air Force Times: An atheist airman at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada has until November to change his mind and swear a reenlistment oath to God, the Air Force said. The unnamed airman was denied reenlistment Aug. 25 for refusing to take an oath that concludes with the phrase “so help me God,” the American Humanist Association …

Acting on behalf of a local woman, the Alabama-based Foundation For Moral Law has filed an amicus brief which urges the Supreme Court to overturn the Tenth Circuit’s strike down of Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage. According to the brief, the woman does not want her late son’s husband to be able to inherit her son’s estate. Foundation for Moral …

Via USA Today: Several tech companies including Netflix and Digg are participating in a digital protest supporting net neutrality. The protest is part of Internet Slowdown Day, targeting cable companies that supporters of the movement say want to slow down the Web. Now, this won’t mean sites will intentionally slow their services to make this point. Instead, visitors to sites …

Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson appeared on Tony Perkins’ radio show yesterday to declare that people get STDs because God is angry about their immoral conduct. (Via Good As You)

Lyle Denniston wrote yesterday at SCOTUSblog: With lawyers moving very rapidly, the number of appeals to the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage rose on Tuesday to seven, as state officials in Indiana and Wisconsin separately challenged a federal appeals court ruling against their bans, and lawyers for the couples planned to file immediate replies. The new cases landed at the …

Responding to complaints from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Penn State has reportedly removed Gideon bibles from its campus lodging. Tony Perkins is ever so pissed. Via press release: In a wild misrepresentation of the Old Testament, FFRF claims the Bible calls for “killing nonbelievers, apostates, gays, ‘stubborn sons,’ and women who are not virgins on their wedding nights.” According …

Even Liberty University has its limits. Ex-Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has lost his teaching gig at Liberty University. The Christian college announced on Friday they had ditched the disgraced politician after he was convicted on multiple federal corruption charges. Liberty President Jerry Falwell had called the former governor “a longtime friend of the university” in April, when McDonnell was appointed …

Via press release: Today, Free & Equal, the United Nations Human Rights Office’s global public education campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, releases “UN Free & Equal: One Billion Rising” a video highlighting the campaign’s impact to date. “In the past year, more than a billion people around the world have been exposed to Free & Equal’s …

New York City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who last week earned widespread condemnation for praising Uganda’s brutally anti-gay regime, yesterday lost his Democratic primary bid for the state Senate. Retaining his seat is Sen. Gustavo Rivera, who took 60% of the vote. Gay City News recaps Cabrera’s downfall: At a time when that government was trying to enact a harshly anti-gay …

The band debuted this track at yesterday’s Apple launch event. Via the Telegraph: On first impressions, Songs of Innocence is not an attempt to create a grand masterpiece that redefines the band, but rather, as the title suggests, to reconnect them with an elusive pop elixir of youthful energy and passion. Lyrically, it reflects on the past, on their origins …

The same Broward County judge that last month struck down Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage has rescinded his own ruling on a technicality. Via the Miami Herald: “It has come to this Court’s attention that the Petitioner, Heather Brassner, has failed to comply with [state law] by failing to notice the Office of the Attorney General of these proceedings by …