The ranks of America's home-schooled children have continued a steady climb over the past five years, and new research suggests broader reasons for the appeal. The number of home-schooled kids hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 74% from when the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track in 1999, and up 36% since 2003. The percentage of the school-age population that was home-schooled increased from 2.2% in 2003 to 2.9% in 2007. "There's no reason to belie

A lawsuit alleging religious bias, including mandatory participation in Christian prayers, against the U.S. Department of Defense was expanded  this week, the latest twist in a story that probably won’t go away in 2009. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s (MRFF) expanded lawsuit said the U.S. military was sanctioning Christian missionary activity with Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan — a highly sensitive issue in two predominantly Muslim co

A group of atheists, led by a California man known for challenging the use of the words "under God" in recitals of the Pledge of Allegiance at public schools, filed a lawsuit yesterday to bar prayer and references to God at the swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama. Michael A. Newdow, 17 other individuals and 10 groups representing atheists sued Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., several officials in charge of inaugural festivities, the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery and

A study documenting how non-practicing Turks feel forced to conform to a former-Islamist government’s conservative values if they want government jobs or promotions has sparked heated debate, revealing once again the depth of divisions in this secular Muslim country. The first study to provide backing for secular Turks’ fears that political Islam is influencing their lives, the report, titled Being Different in Turkey, clashes with popular characterizations of Anatolia as a font o

When the 111th Congress convenes on Jan. 6, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus will be underrepresented in its membership. No shocker there perhaps. But a new analysis of incoming members' religious affiliations by the Pew Forum indicates there's no small measure of change in Congress' religious ties: It's much more diverse than just half a century ago. Yeh, sure, those Protestants still form a majority of these high-paid talkers (54.7%), slightly more than their 51% of the population. (But way dow