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AUDI AG delivered around 1,867,750 new Audi brand cars to customers during 2016. As one of the world's most successful manufacturers of premium automobiles, the company has nearly doubled its unit sales in a span of seven years. The Audi portfolio today includes over 50 different model variants and is available in more than 100 countries around the world. Sales figures, news from the markets and any other information from Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG can be found here. The Audi sales figures for each month are published at the beginning of the following month.
Recent Press Releases
AUDI AG: June sales up in China, USA and Western EuropeAUDI AG increased sales in June in all its three largest sales markets. In China (+1.7%), the company returned to growth. In the tightening U.S. market, the Four Rings saw business continue to grow substantially, up 5.3 percent. Sales also increased year-on-year in Western Europe (+2.6%). Audi delivered around 170,650 automobiles to customers worldwide in the past month, thus exceeding the high level of June 2016 (+1.0%). Cumulative sales since January total around 908,950 units. The impact in the first few months of the year of extraordinary effects associated with the strategic alignment of Audi's China business meant sales by midyear were down 4.7 percent on the 2016 figure.
"Audi Summit" in Barcelona in July: brand exhibition of the Four RingsAudi has issued invitations to its own brand exhibition to take place on July 11, 2017. On a total area of more than 10,000 square meters, the first Audi Summit will showcase pioneering solutions for the urban mobility of tomorrow – from premium mobility services to piloted driving and parking. 2,000 guests from all over the world will also experience the premiere of the brand's new flagship, the Audi A8.
Audi continues to grow in North America in MayIn May, AUDI AG delivered around 159,600 cars to customers, 2.8 percent less than in the same month in 2016. Around 738,300 deliveries over the first five months of the year represent a decrease of 5.9 percent worldwide. Despite the downturn of the total U.S. market, Audi managed to further increase sales in the United States in May too, achieving substantial growth in North America overall since the start of the year (+6.6%). In China, the sales balance for the past month (-4.0%) was still influenced by the negotiations on future collaboration, which have now been brought to a successful conclusion. The intended comprehensive deal was sealed in the second half of the month. The Chinese Audi dealers reported 48,012 units delivered in May, the highest monthly sales figure in the year to date.
Audi defines future network strategy with partners in ChinaAUDI AG, FAW Group and FAW-Volkswagen have signed an agreement with the Audi dealer council for the future development of the Audi business in China. The agreement is based on a common understanding of how the planned cooperation between SAIC and Audi will meet the interests of all parties involved. AUDI AG, FAW Group and FAW-Volkswagen will implement the 10-year growth plan together with their dealer partners in order to develop business in China in a profitable and sustainable way.
AUDI AG: Extraordinary effects impact sales in AprilAUDI AG delivered around 156,150 cars to customers worldwide in April; a decrease of 5.0 percent compared to the 2016 record-breaking figure. In China, where business is currently impacted by extraordinary effects associated with Audi's strategic alignment in the market, sales in the past month were 11.6 percent higher than in March. Year-on-year, April results in China were still 6.9 percent down. Global deliveries since the start of the year amount to around 578,750 units, 6.7 percent below the 2016 figure. In Western Europe (+1.0%) and North America (+7.3%), Audi achieved further growth despite the ongoing model changeover for the Q5 and the A5 family.
Audi sales down year-on-year in the first quarter due to temporary extraordinary effects in ChinaAUDI AG sold around 422,600 automobiles in the first quarter of 2017, 7.3 percent less than one year ago. International markets reported a mixed picture for the Four Rings: Western Europe (+2.4%) and North America (+8.6%) both registered the most successful start to the year in Audi history. Despite the ongoing generation changeover of important high-volume models such as the Audi Q5 and the A5 family, the brand continued to grow in both regions. In China (-22.1%), by contrast, temporary extraordinary effects impacted the start of 2017. Audi is laying important structural foundations for the market potential of the coming decade there. In the month of March, around 173,450 deliveries worldwide were 6.8 percent below the previous year's figure.
Audi sales in February down slightly year-on-yearAUDI AG delivered around 125,100 automobiles in February. In North America (+16.1%) strong demand for the Audi A4 and the Q7 in particular once again translated into double-digit growth. Likewise in Europe (+1.9%), the Four Rings achieved the best start to the year in its history and continued to grow in February. In China, Audi is currently holding intensive talks with its local partners in order to position the joint cooperation suitably for the planned next stage of growth. In this phase the Chinese dealers are managing their business cautiously and reported 5.8 percent fewer deliveries in the past month than a year ago. Global sales in February were thus 1.1 percent below the record-breaking figure from 2016
Audi achieves further growth in Europe and North AmericaAUDI AG delivered around 124,000 cars to customers in January. In particular, demand continued to rise in Europe (up 3.1% to 61,800 units) and North America (up 11.8% to 16,200 units). Sales in China fell by 35.3% to 35,181 cars. In the last month, Audi established a long-term, strategic growth plan for the coming decade together with its Chinese partner FAW. Against this background the Chinese Audi dealers had planned a restrained business volume at the start of the year. This temporary development in China also affected the global sales balance: Worldwide deliveries fell by 13.5 percent compared with the record-breaking figures for the prior-year month.
01/09/17Audi MediaCenter
Audi sets new sales record: 1.868 million deliveries in 2016AUDI AG increased its global sales to around 1,867,750 automobiles in 2016, 3.6 percent more than in the previous record-breaking year 2015. During the ongoing, wide-ranging renewal of the model range, sales increased in all core regions: in Europe (+7.1%), in North America (+5.3%) with further growth in the plateaued U.S. market (+4%) and in Asia-Pacific (+0.5%). In all five of its largest individual markets, the four rings sold more automobiles than in the previous year. Worldwide, demand increased for the seventh year in a row since 2009. Compared with 949,729 customers in 2009, the company almost doubled its market success over this period.
First German location for Audi on demandIt's the most convenient way to get from the tarmac to the business appointment: Airline passengers at Munich Airport can now use the premium mobility service Audi on demand to continue on the next leg of their trip in one of the brand's latest models. Sophisticated travelers and Audi aficionados can expect to find a fleet of cars equipped with exclusive features – from designer coupes to the high performance experience. Users can book the Audi models with a mobile app and pick them up directly at the myAudi Sphere at the terminal. This makes Munich the first German location for Audi on demand.
Audi sales up in all core regionsAudi continues its course of growth: The brand's deliveries increased by 4.3 percent to around 154,050 units in the past month. Demand rose sharply in Europe where two important new models, the Audi Q2 and the Audi A5, were launched on the market only recently. Across the entire portfolio, sales in the region increased by 9.5 percent to around 68,200 automobiles. The company also posted further growth in the two other core regions of North America (+3.6%) and Asia-Pacific (+0.8%) in November. Since the start of the year around 1,713,900 customers worldwide decided to buy an Audi; 4.2 percent more than in the same period last year.
New drive version for the Audi TT: 2.0 TDI now also as quattroOne in two Audi TT cars sold worldwide is a quattro. The successful two-liter diesel engine, which made its appearance with the introduction of the third-generation TT, is now also available in the all-wheel-drive version. Its power is transmitted by the S tronic six-speed dual-clutch transmission. With this combination, both the Coupé and Roadster offer agile performance combined with fuel economy.
Part-Time Scientists and Audi lunar quattro ready to head for the MoonIt has shed eight kilograms in weight, while also gaining Audi e-tron power: Following extensive tests the "Audi lunar quattro" rover is ready to tackle one of the most difficult terrains of all in exploring the Moon. As well as the development of the lunar vehicle, the mission has now also achieved a further landmark: The German space travel team "Part-Time Scientists" announced yesterday at Audi City in Berlin that it plans to complete the 385,000 km trip to the Moon from the end of 2017 using a launcher booked with Spaceflight Inc. As an early technology partner and ambassador of the Part-Time Scientists' mission, Audi has been instrumental in generating extensive publicity for the project and bringing other strong partners on board.
11/10/16Audi MediaCenter
Audi starts fourth quarter with sales growthAUDI AG sold more premium automobiles in October than one year ago. Compared with the same month in 2015, global deliveries increased by 1.2 percent to around 150,950 units. As such, the company has exceeded the 2015 figures every month in the year to date amid a challenging environment. In October, Audi defied the negative market trend in the USA achieving growth for the 70th month in a row; high increases in Canada (+10%) confirmed the successful sales performance in North America. Worldwide, the brand with the Four Rings increased its sales by 4.2 percent since January to around 1,559,750 cars.
Audi in September: New A4 up by more than 20 percent in EuropeAUDI AG closed the first three quarters with growth despite the difficult market environment: In September, the brand increased its deliveries by 1.7 percent to around 173,850 units compared with the strong prior-year month. Demand especially in Europe (+6.3%) and North America (+4.1%) played its part in the positive sales balance. Within the product portfolio, the compact Audi models in particular were very popular. Combined sales of the Audi A3 and Q3 increased by 16 percent in the month. Since January, the manufacturer delivered around 1,408,800 automobiles across all models to customers, an increase of 4.5 percent.
Audi Twin Cup: premium service at its bestThis year's world championship trophy for the best After Sales performance goes to the Audi team from Russia. Outstanding technical know-how and consistent customer focus led to victory for the team of service technicians and advisors in the international final of the Audi Twin Cup 2016.
Audi continues global growth in AugustAUDI AG delivered around 132,350 cars to customers in August. As such, global sales exceeded the prior-year month by 2.9 percent. Most recently, the demand for automobiles with the Four Rings developed positively especially in China (+8.8%), the United Kingdom (+13.2%) and Spain (+23.3%). By contrast, weaker conditions of some markets in South America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East were also reflected in Audi's sales balance. Cumulative global sales increased by 4.9 percent since January to around 1,234,900 cars and are up in all the brand's core regions: in Europe (+7.4%), Asia-Pacific (+3.8%) and North America (+5.2%).
"Audi at home" premium mobility service debuts in AsiaFollowing its successful launch in the USA, Audi at home is now also available for the first time in Asia. In Hong Kong, residents of the exclusive "Dragons Range" complex can make flexible use of a fleet of selected Audi models. The automobiles are located on-site and can be booked by smartphone, complemented by all-encompassing service through a concierge desk. The mobility program will also be introduced into other high-class real estate projects in this Asian megacity in the future. With the service, Audi is offering new ways to experience the brand with the four rings in one of the world's most demanding automotive markets.
Audi increases sales in all regionsAUDI AG has started the second half of the year with sales growth: In July, the company sold 149,400 units, up 2.3 percent year-on-year. The brand increased sales in all three core regions – in North America by 5.9 percent, in Asia-Pacific by 4.4 percent and in Europe by 1.5 percent. The new Audi A4 was the bestselling model worldwide with around 30,450 units and growth of 14.9 percent. Since January, the carmaker has delivered around 1,102,650 cars to customers from its entire portfolio, an increase of 5.2 percent.
Audi partners with digital health incubator to tone up startups and driversAUDI AG becomes founding partner in Berlin's "Flying Health Incubator". The center supports startups that develop digital innovations in the healthcare sector. With its involvement, Audi is accelerating to develop "automotive health" as new business area – dedicated to enhance customer's health and fitness while driving. With Audi Fit Driver, the brand is already testing innovative services and functionalities in this field.
Now accepting orders for the new Audi Q2The new Audi Q2* made its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show. Audi is now accepting orders for the compact SUV. It will roll into dealerships in the fall with sporty and agile handling plus infotainment and assistance systems from the full-size class.
Sporty and elegant: Orders now being accepted for the new Audi A5 and S5 CoupéAudi unveiled the A5 and S5 Coupé* to the public in early June with a spectacular light show. Customers can now order the design highlight from Ingolstadt. On board are powerful engines, a newly designed chassis and a wide range of infotainment choices.
The new Audi R8 Spyder V10 is in the starting blocksAudi unveiled the new R8 Spyder V10* at the 2016 New York International Auto Show in March. Pre-sales are starting in Europe tomorrow. The base price in Germany is €179,000.
Audi increases sales by 5.6 percent in the first half of the yearPositive sales result for the Four Rings for the half year: With around 953,200 units delivered, AUDI AG increased its sales since January by 5.6 percent, growing in all regions. The brand recorded strong growth especially in Europe. Sales in that region increased by 8.4 percent since the beginning of the year, topping 450,000 cars for the first time. Worldwide, especially the new models Audi A4 (+12.3%) and Audi Q7 full size SUV (+73,6%) pushed the sales performance. Deliveries across all models increased by 7.4 percent in June to around 169,000 units with Audi surpassing its performance from the same month last year in all top ten sales markets.
Sixth Audi City opens in MoscowAudi is bringing its digital showroom concept to another major metropolis: the sixth Audi City worldwide opens today in Moscow. In the immediate vicinity of Red Square, inside the bustling Nikol'skaya Plaza shopping mall, visitors to the 600 square meter (6,458 sq ft) space are treated to a virtual experience of the complete product portfolio from the four rings.
Audi CityAudi City points the way in the future of premium car sales: This physical cyberstore presents Audi's entire model range using virtual technology throughout, and offers top caliber personal advice and service. The showroom concept therefore blends digital innovation with the strengths of the physical dealership, and acts as the main innovation lab for digitally connected sales activities at Audi. At the forefront of developments in this pioneering field, the Company opened the first Audi City in 2012 and has since been gradually refining the successful formula.
myAudi Sphere: new stage for the four rings at Munich AirportThe new business class from Audi: At Munich Airport, visitors, customers and Audi dealers can now discover cutting-edge retail solutions developed by the four rings. Following a complete remodeling, the former Audi Forum at Munich Airport is reopening as a discovery platform for progressive tools in the dialogue between customers, the manufacturer and dealers. The focus is on digital innovations that connect the real and virtual worlds of Audi.
Audi sales increase by 6.7 percent in MayAUDI AG sold around 164,150 cars to customers in May, representing a global increase of 6.7 percent year on year. With their new model generations, growth for the A4 Sedan and the A4 Avant reached 16.2 percent. The new Q7 full size SUV also continued its successful start, up 79.6 percent in May. For the entire model lineup, Audi sales increased in all of the brand's three key regions – by 9.7 percent in Europe, by 5.7 percent in Asia Pacific and by 3.8 percent in North America. Worldwide deliveries since January rose to around 784,250, up 5.3 percent compared with the same period in 2015.
Cinema feeling: Audi City Istanbul opensAudi continues to push the digital empowerment of its sales activities: the world's fourth location of the brand's digital showroom – Audi City Istanbul – goes online today on the Bosporus. Cyber stores in more major cities will follow this year. In addition, digital technologies from the Audi City concept will be introduced in around 200 traditional dealerships by the end of 2016.
05/11/16Audi MediaCenter
Audi continues global growth in AprilAUDI AG has started the second quarter with further growth. In April, worldwide deliveries climbed by 7.5 percent year on year to around 164,350 automobiles. The four ring's two largest markets China (+9.4%) and Germany (+12.4%) reported substantial growth rates. Globally, cumulative sales since January were up 4.9 percent on the corresponding period of 2015 at around 620,100 units. This was the first time ever in the Company's history that over 600,000 customers had chosen an Audi in the opening four month period.
AUDI AG: Strongest starting quarter with over 450,000 deliveriesDouble record for the brand with the four rings: Audi concluded the best first quarter in the company's history along with the most successful sales month. In March, Audi increased global sales by 4.6 percent to a monthly high of around 186,100. That brings cumulative deliveries since January to around 455,750 cars, 4 percent more than in the same quarter last year. Growth during the first three months was mainly driven by strong demand in Europe and America. Audi has also seen increases in China since the beginning of the year.
AUDI AG: European sales up 8.1 percent in FebruaryAUDI AG has extended its successful start to the year in February: worldwide deliveries increased by 3.3 percent year on year to around 126,500 cars. The company once again achieved high growth in Europe: up 8.1 percent to around 65,150 units. Here the new Audi A4 is already in dealerships. Global sales of the mid size model increased by 5.3 percent to around 22,650 units in February. Across the entire portfolio of the four rings, sales since the start of the year total around 269,650 cars, an increase of 3.6 percent compared with 2015.
Audi starts the new year with sales recordFollowing last year's record-breaking sales, AUDI AG continues to grow in 2016. With around 143,150 units, the company managed to increase its year-on-year global deliveries by 4 percent in January. Demand for the four rings developed especially positively in Europe, with sales increasing here by 6.5 percent to around 59,900 cars. The brand's SUV models once again proved to be the global growth drivers. The cumulative sales of the Audi Q3, Q5 and Q7 of around 46,350 units was 20.3 percent above the previous year's figure.
AUDI AG: new record year with 1.8 million deliveries in 2015AUDI AG achieved a new sales record in 2015: Compared with 2014, worldwide deliveries increased by 3.6 percent to around 1,803,250 automobiles. This total was achieved despite the fact that the first representatives of the current model initiative – the new A4, the new Q7 and the new R8 – were not yet available in all regions of the world. In Europe and China, Audi confirmed its position as the most successful premium brand; in the United States, the brand with the four rings grew at twice the rate of the market. In December, around 158,450 customers worldwide chose an Audi, an increase of 5.6 percent. This means that the company has increased its sales for the 72nd successive month.
Audi surpasses 200,000 unit sales milestone for first time in USAAudi is kicking off the new year on the heels of success. When the brand with the four rings will present at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit beginning next week, the company can look back on the most successful year in its history in the USA. In 2015, Audi of America surpassed for the first time the 200,000 unit mark in sales, increasing its sales by 11.1 percent to 202,202 automobiles. This means that Audi grew at twice the rate of the overall US market, as the brand did in 2014.
AUDI AG: European sales up six percent in NovemberAudi remains on track: With around 147,750 deliveries (+1%) in November, the company reaffirmed its strong sales result from the prior-year month. In Europe, the Ingolstadt-based carmaker increased sales by 6 percent to around 62,300 units, despite the model changeover for its bestseller, the Audi A4. Since the start of the year, more than 1.64 million customers worldwide have chosen the brand with the four rings, up 3.4 percent.
Audi continues sales growth in OctoberAudi has started the fourth quarter with further sales growth. In October, global deliveries increased year-on-year by 2.0 percent to around 149,200 cars. Demand for the four rings proved very positive especially in the United States (+16.8 percent) and several southern European markets. Since January around 1,497,150 customers decided to buy an Audi globally, leading to a 3.6 percent growth compared to one year ago. Cumulative sales exceeded the 2014 figures in all regions around the world.
Audi participating in Web Summit 2015Audi is taking its involvement in Europe's biggest startup conference to the next level: At this year's Web Summit, which will start this Tuesday in Dublin, the company is participating in the central pitch competition as one of the jurors. At this event, young entrepreneurs compete with each other by pitching their digital business ideas and introduce themselves to potential investors, international groups and media representatives. AUDI AG will in addition be presenting its activities in the arena of piloted driving in a keynote speech and exhibition.
Audi increases sales in SeptemberAUDI AG continued to grow in September: With around 170,900 cars, the company increased its deliveries worldwide by 6.8 percent. Sales in the Americas rose by 11.9 percent, while the brand's business in Europe increased by 8.8 percent. Thanks also to the strong start of the new Audi Q7, the four rings saw its best ever September sales in company history in Europe with almost 80,000 units. Since the start of the year, the global sales of the Ingolstadt based company have increased by 3.8 percent across all models to around 1,347,950 units.
10/08/15Audi MediaCenter
Dietmar Voggenreiter to be the new Board of Management Member for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AGDietmar Voggenreiter (46) is to take over the position of Board of Management Member for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG as of November 1. He will succeed in that position to Luca de Meo (48), who will move to SEAT as the new CEO. Under the leadership of Voggenreiter, who has managed the China business for nine years, unit sales in the country increased by six hundred percent to the number of 579,000 cars delivered in 2014.
Diesel emissions: Individual customer information for Germany on Audi websiteEvery customer in Germany can find out quickly and easily about his or her Audi being affected by irregularities relating to the software used. The car's chassis number only has to be entered on the website www.audi.de. Customers can then immediately see whether the car is affected. In the coming week, this function will also be available in the worldwide markets via national Audi websites. Alternatively, customers can already find out whether their cars are affected through their Audi dealers or the national customer-support organization. In parallel, technical solutions are being prepared with which Audi models will be retrofitted. This service action will be presented to the responsible authorities later in October.
Audi Twin Cup in Vienna: the United Nations of ServiceWhether it's UNO City or the Opera Ball, Vienna has always attracted visitors from all over the world. Over the last few days, the city on the Danube has seen a very special international gathering: 73 teams of Audi service advisors and technicians from 38 nations travelled to the Austrian capital in a bid to take home the Audi Service World Championship title. Excellent technical know-how and passionate customer orientation led the team from Turkey to victory in this year's final.
Audi at the IAA 2015: the power of fourAudi is once again displaying bold exhibition architecture at the IAA International Motor Show. In place of a traditional convention booth, a multimedia experience space invites visitors to discover Audi's four key themes at the IAA 2015 with all of their senses: Audi Sport, quattro, Audi Technologies and Audi ultra. The company is therefore constructing a temporary building at the Frankfurt exhibition grounds. Placing the latest edition of Audi's bestselling model in its center, the architectural showcase will provide spectacular staging for the new Audi A4.
AUDI AG: U.S. sales up one-fifth in JulyAUDI AG has started the second half of the year with higher sales than in July 2014. Despite forthcoming model changeovers and ongoing difficult conditions in some key markets, the four rings achieved slight sales growth of 1.4 percent in July, taking the total to around 146,100 units. While the Americas (+19.6%) again gathered pace as growth driver for Audi and deliveries continued to increase substantially in Western Europe (+6.1%), sales in the Asia-Pacific region (-9.2%) and Eastern Europe (-3.2%) remained below the prior-year levels. Around 1,048,450 customers worldwide have chosen an Audi since January, 3.5 percent more than one year earlier.
AUDI AG: for the first time, over 900,000 customers in the initial half of the yearCompared with the same period last year, AUDI AG's worldwide sales from January to June increased by 3.8 percent to around 902,400 cars. For the first time in the company's history, more than 900,000 customers had already chosen the brand with the four rings by mid year. Even though important model changes are imminent in a number of markets, sales climbed further in all world regions – particularly on the American continent (+12.4%). In June, worldwide deliveries of around 157,450 were slightly above the level of the same month last year (+1.3%).
AUDI AG: Sales in the Americas increase 11 percent in MayAt around 153,850 cars, Audi's worldwide deliveries in May were slightly above the figures from the same month last year (+1.2%). In addition to the upcoming model changes for the Audi Q7 and the A4, the brand's top-selling model, the current reticence to buy in the Chinese luxury segment was particularly noticeable. The picture in the Americas is, however, very different: here sales of the four rings continued to increase sharply, up 11.1 percent to around 24,500 vehicles. The Audi TT, whose global sales doubled in the month (+96.6%), also helped drive the company's sales. Across all models, Audi has delivered around 744,900 cars to customers since January, an increase of 4.3 percent.
AUDI AG continues growth in AprilAfter the best first quarter in the company's history, Audi also sold more cars in April: around 152,850 deliveries exceeded prior-year sales in April by 2.5 percent. Demand again increased in all regions of the world compared with the same month of the preceding year. AUDI AG's business developed positively especially on the American continent: deliveries to customers climbed by 12.7 percent. From January to April, global unit sales of the company thus grew by 5.2 percent to around 591,050 premium automobiles.
Audi, DHL and Amazon deliver convenience"Our final attempt failed, your package can be picked up at our service center." With Audi connect easy delivery, a future service from Audi connect, this message will be a thing of the past – making shopping online even more convenient. Audi is working together with its partners DHL Parcel and Amazon Prime to develop an innovative logistics service: shipping parcels directly to your car's trunk. A pilot project starting in May will allow participants to use the service for the first time. Audi connect easy delivery will operate through temporary authorization for keyless access to the car's luggage compartment.
AUDI AG: March best month in the company's historyA start of the year made to measure for AUDI AG: With around 438,250 units sold, the brand's global sales increased in the first quarter by 6.1 percent compared with the same period 2014 – with growth in all regions. The successful start to the year was also helped by the March results. With a plus of 4.4 percent to around 177,950 cars, Audi delivered more automobiles in a single month than ever before. This means that the company with the Four Rings has registered an increase in sales for 63 months in a row.
New Audi Q7 under starter's ordersThe countdown has started: today marks the beginning of advance sales for the new Audi Q7, which will be at European dealerships starting in June. The second generation of the prestigious SUV impresses with innovative technology and powerful and efficient engines that make it the CO2 champion of its class. The base price of the Q7 3.0 TDI (200 kW) is 60,900 euros. The 3.0 TFSI is available from 62,900 euros.
AUDI AG: sales growth in all regions in FebruaryAUDI AG continues to grow: despite the model changeover for the A1* and Q3* in Europe and a shortened sales month in China, the company exceeded prior-year sales in February. Around 122,550 customers opted for the four rings last month, up 4.2 percent. Strong growth was achieved with the now globally available A3 family* (+47.4%) and the latest generation of the A6* (+10.8%). Since the start of the year, worldwide deliveries across all models are up 7.4 percent to around 260,250.
AUDI AG: new record year with over 1.74 million deliveries in 2014In 2014, AUDI AG clearly exceeded its goal of 1.7 million deliveries: By year-end, the company handed over around 1,741,100 cars to customers, 10.5 percent more than in 2013. The company was thus once again able to accelerate its growth pace and achieved with around 165,600 additional customers the second-highest volume increase in its history. The coveted SUV models* (+15.8%) and the A3 family* available worldwide for the first time in 2014 (+53.2%) contributed primarily to the strong sales total. In December, Audi continued to post double-digit growth and concluded the year with sales up 14.7 percent to around 150,000 units for the month.
The intelligent car fleet: "Audi shared fleet" takes on the German capitalFree choice of models, flexible use and pay-per-use billing: The new car pool service "Audi shared fleet" is now also taking the German capital by storm. The innovative start-up campus "Factory Berlin" has already chosen the innovative mobility solution by the company with the four rings, and put its new fleet into operation together with Audi on Thursday evening.
Audi in China: Growth in deliveries of 16 percent in the first three quartersIn the first nine months of this year, Audi set a new record in the Chinese market (including Hong Kong and Macau). Unit sales from January through September increased by 16 percent to a total of 415,704 cars. In September alone, the brand with the Four Rings delivered 51,614 automobiles, representing growth of 13,4 percent compared with the same month last year.
Audi Twin Cup: service cum laudeThe Audi driving experience center Neuburg hosted last weekend the service world of the four rings. The international finals of the Audi Twin Cup drew 75 teams of Audi technicians and service advisors to the competition. Participants from 38 countries traveled to the new driving experience center near the company headquarters in Ingolstadt, hoping to win the brand's Service World Cup with technical know-how and customer focus. The team from USA took first place on the winners' podium.
Advance sales of the Audi TT startThe waiting is over for sports car enthusiasts: From July 10, dealers will be taking orders for the new Audi TT for the German market. Prices start at EUR 35,000. The Coupé will be arriving on the market this fall – with the new Audi virtual cockpit as standard.
An array of awards for Audi publicationsTwo prestigious first prizes for the "Encounter" magazine series from Audi Communications. "Encounter – The Audi Brand Magazine" was honored as the "Best of the Best" in the field of Corporate Publishing in the Automotive Brand Contest. The prize is awarded by the renowned German Design Council. For the second time in a row, "Encounter – The Audi Technology Magazine" was named Gold Winner in the Best of Corporate Publishing Awards. Furthermore, the employee magazine "Audimobil" and a publication of the Governance, Risk & Compliance department of AUDI AG won silver BCP awards.
Correction – new time Live from Geneva: Press Conference at the International Motor Show – featuring the Audi A3 conceptAudi will unveil a new four-seater notchback sedan at the International Motor Show in Geneva on March 1. The attractive A3 concept offers a glimpse into the future and the coming generation of the Audi A3.
AUDI AG: July sees continued strong sales growth in Asia and Eastern EuropeAudi continues to show strong growth in the Asia/Pacific region with 12,037 automobiles sold in July, a 7.6 percent increase compared to the prior-year month (11,189). In China (including Hong Kong), 9,403 new automobiles were sold (up 7.1 percent). Russia is also showing considerable growth with 1,454 customers, a 7.5 percent increase over last year (1,352). Audi posted growth of 10.6 percent in Eastern Europe with 3,466 more automobiles sold than the year before. And some 83,200 cars were handed over to their new owners worldwide, 2.5 percent more than July 2007.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Learn if your bank is insured, view locations, track history, and more.
The secure Internet channel for FDIC-insured institutions to conduct business and exchange information with the FDIC.
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Legal Services
Agreement (LSA)
3.1 Application
As Outside Counsel interested in representing the FDIC, you requested
and received an application package from the Legal Division. The
application package requires various disclosures and requests
information including areas of expertise, firm composition, and
conflicts of interest.
Application procedures are set forth in the brochure entitled
Information for Prospective Outside Counsel.
The information and disclosures, some statutorily mandated, were
necessary for the Legal Division to determine whether the FDIC could
retain your services. The Legal Division considers rates, abilities,
areas of expertise, conflicts of interests, need for additional
Outside Counsel in a particular geographic area and other factors
when determining whether to negotiate an LSA with a firm. The firm
proposed a rate schedule for each office (location) of the firm that
may provide services. Included in the application package was the
FDIC standard E-billing form (LSA). Refer to
LSA E-billing Forms.
3.2 Purpose of LSA
The LSA is an agreement between you and the FDIC that contains terms
and conditions applicable to legal referrals and is incorporated in
all referral letters. The E-billing Deskbook, as it may be amended from time
to time, is expressly incorporated in the LSA and the referral
letter. FDICs execution of an LSA with your firm is not a guarantee
that you will receive legal referrals from the FDIC.
Outside Counsel is hereby notified that the FDIC does not view the
standard E-billing form Legal Services Agreement as confidential under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Exemption 4 and generally treats
outside counsel's standard rates charged to the FDIC as public
information and releasable pursuant to the FOIA.
3.3 LSA Duration
The FDIC will execute only one LSA with your firm for the duration
of the LSA. Refer to LSA E-billing Forms.
Your LSA is effective on the date specified in
the LSA. If no effective date is indicated, it is effective as of
the date signed by the FDIC. The term of your LSA is two years from
the effective date unless the Legal Division elects to terminate or
extend it prior to its expiration. FDIC reserves the right to
terminate your LSA without cause or advance notice. Absent
compelling reasons no increase in the E-billing rate schedule attached to the LSA will be permitted during its term.
If at the end of the term you are working on a legal referral and do
not renew your LSA, your LSA will continue for the sole purpose of
completing existing work under the same terms and conditions
provided your LSA expressly permits continuation. If your LSA has
the continuation provision, your LSA will continue until the
earliest of:
Continuation of your LSA is not the same as renewal of your LSA.
Continuation does not permit you to receive any new referrals.
3.4 LSA Renewal
When your LSA is within 90 days of expiration, you should contact
the Legal Division office or section that oversees your LSA if you
wish to renew your LSA. This is usually the FDIC office or section
that entered into the LSA with your firm. LSA renewal is necessary
to receive new referrals and to request new hourly rates. The FDIC
has a limited need for Outside Counsel and does not guarantee that
it will agree to the renewal.
3.5 LSA E-billing Amendment
An amendment to your LSA may be necessary when there has been a change
in the information you submitted in your application package.
Refer to the LSA E-billing Forms.
It is your responsibility to inform the FDIC of
all new or changed information concerning your firm. If your LSA
information is not current, you may not be able to perform legal
services for the FDIC. This information includes, but is not limited
addition, payment of your E-invoices may be delayed if information is
not up-to-date. If you are unsure whether or not you need to amend
your LSA, contact the Legal Division office or section that oversees
your LSA immediately.
Structural Changes
You may need to amend your LSA when a structural change occurs in
your firm. Structural changes may impact your relationship with the
FDIC in areas such as conflicts of interest or malpractice insurance
coverage. In addition, these changes may also impact the FDICs
E-invoice payment process. Examples of law firm structural changes
After reviewing information that you submit concerning any
structural change, the FDIC office or section that oversees your LSA
will determine what action is appropriate.
New Federal Tax Identification Number (TIN)
A new federal TIN requires, at a minimum, an amendment to your LSA.
You should submit an LSA E-billing Amendment form. If the FDIC determines that a new LSA is
necessary, the FDIC may permit you to continue handling existing
assignments and may place your firm in Restricted status until you
have entered into a new LSA. In this situation, you will not be
eligible to receive new referrals until the FDIC executes a new LSA.
Adding and Removing Billable Individuals
You must inform the FDIC in writing when you are adding or removing
billable individuals to an E-billing rate schedule attached to your LSA.
Complete the LSA E-billing Amendment form when any attorney, paraprofessional,
or other billable individual is added or removed.
3.6 Completion of LSA E-billing Amendment Form
1. When completing an LSA E-billing Amendment form:
a. Complete a separate form for each branch office of a multiple-office
firm. Enter the federal tax identification number, law firm name,
and branch office location.
b. Make changes, as appropriate, to the law firm name, address,
telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and contact attorney.
c. For each billable individual, listed alphabetically, type A to add
or D to delete and provide the following information:
Billers Full Name;
Biller's Initials;
State License;
Position; and
Years in Practice.
d. Type M for male or F for female in the gender field.
e. Type the standard rate, percent discount, and proposed FDIC rate.
f. Sign and date the completed LSA E-billing Amendment form.
b. Make changes, as appropriate, to the law firm name, address,
telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and contact attorney.
c. For each billable individual, listed alphabetically, type A to add
or D to delete and provide the following information:
d. Type M for male or F for female in the gender field.
f. Sign and date the completed LSA E-billing Amendment form.
2. Mail the original E-billing Amendment form to the FDIC office or section that oversees your LSA.
3. Mail a copy of the original form to the Legal Division:
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Attn: Legal Services Group
3501 Fairfax Dr., Room E-6066
Arlington, VA 22226
4. The FDIC Oversight Attorney will notify you if your request to amend your LSA is
approved. You will receive a copy of the fully-executed LSA
Amendment form in the mail. You may not bill the FDIC for the
services of billable individuals who have not been included on the
FDIC-approved E-billing rate schedule.
5. After approval of the changes, the updated information will be
entered into the FDIC's computer system. This will allow you to
begin billing and will allow payment to your firm on future work.


text:
The Lord Almighty sits on a throne as the Ruler of the universe, and in His left hand He holds an opened Gospel. With His right hand He blesses with the priestly blessing, the fingers of His hand forming the Greek letters "IC XC", which is the abbreviation for "Jesus Christ". In Christ's halo are the Greek letters for "I AM", for this is the King of Kings as spoken of in Revelation (1:8), "I am Alpha and Omega...saith the Lord, Which Is, Which Was, and Which Is To Come, the Almighty." On the upper part of the throne are symbolically represented the Four Evangelists: Matthew as a young man, Mark as a lion, Luke as an ox, and John as an eagle. All four have wings to portray their angelic nature and all carry Gospel books, for they proclaimed the Good News to the whole world through the Gospels that they have written.
It is important to note that often when we focus on Christ's amazing love for all creation, and His great condescension and humility in coming to us so approachably, we can lose sight of His Divinity, which was and is always present for those who see with sober sight and awesome awareness. May we see this also!


text:
I am working on my websites login system. But when I login it goes through all my security checks and then when it is suppose to start the session it gives me this error.
"Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/Site/Sign_In.php:7)"
Here is my code
include 'Include/Database.php';
$Mail = mysql_real_escape_string(strip_tags(trim($_POST['Mail'])));
$Password = mysql_real_escape_string(md5(strip_tags(trim($_POST['Password']))));
if ($Mail && $Password) {
$Query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Users WHERE Email='$Mail' AND Enabled='1'");
$Rows_Number = mysql_num_rows($Query);
if($Rows_Number==0) {
echo 'Username or password is incorrect';
while($Fetch_Row = mysql_fetch_assoc($Query))
$DB_Mail = $Fetch_Row['Email'];
$DB_Password = $Fetch_Row['Password'];
if($DB_Mail==$Mail && $DB_Password==$Password) {
$_SESSION['User_Session'] = $DB_Mail;
echo $_SESSION['User_Session'];
echo 'Username or password is incorrect';
echo 'Your must enter you mail and password';
Does anybody know the problem?
Try getting rid of any whitespace before the session_start() function. That error means that something has output data to the browser before you call session_start.
On a sidenote, you don't need to use mysql_real_escape_string for your $Password variable since you MD5 it. The md5() function will only return an alpha/numeric string; so you're in no danger of SQL injection.
As pointed by kduv above, I suspect that you have some spaces before opening PHP tag:
Which should start without any spaces at the very top of your PHP script file:
// then do whatever you need....
My code it not actually like that, it is just appearing that way on this forum.
So are you sure that there is no white space or any output (anything html tags even  tags...) above the use of session_start()? But I am sure that there is something has gone as output before the use of session_start() function. Please look at it very carefully. Maybe you have included/required some files and those files have those spaces/output/echo/print ?
One thing that can cause it sometimes is the presence of a BOM at the start of a script, check that you've not got a BOM at the start


text:
Hi Guys,
I'm getting start in the Pen testing field of security and have been
playing with Backtrack (4 R2).
I'm working through the 'metasploit unleashed' and have been watching
some video's here and there.
The one thing I'm trying to understand is how best to determine which
exploit to use based on the results from basic information gathering.
For example I can use NMAP to determine hosts,services and do some basic
OS and application finger printing and from that, and from there I guess
its possible to kind of line up what exploits to try.
So if its a windows box I can 'use' exploit/windows/......
For the testing I'm doing I'm not able to use any type of auto_pwn feature.
The other thing I guess I can do is use a tool like nessus or nexpose to try to get the 'MS' vulnerability
numbers and look for exploits?
Are there any other tips that anyone can provide a n00bie with?
Many thanks.


text:
Michele Bachmann's tea party yesterday may have left her with an inflated sense of her influence and popularity — at least, judging by the fact that she put the number of tea partiers who showed up yesterday to five times the estimate in some news accounts.
Bachmann went on the Mark Levin show last night and claimed that the total number of attendees was "20,000 minimum."
The source for this figure is unknown. MSNBC cited Capitol Police yesterday afternoon putting the number at 3,000-3,5000. Later MSNBC revised it up to 4,000, also citing police sources.
NOT AGAIN!: Michele Bachmann: 20,000 teabaggers in capitol yesterday. Capital Police: 3,000-5,000.
Current Status: Published/No Action (12)
Seeded on Fri Nov 6, 2009 9:02 AM
keyboard shortcuts: V vote up article J next comment K previous comment


text:
Extending free exercise rights to corporations would undercut the rights of actual living, breathing Americans. At stake in this lawsuit is whether corporate chief executives are entitled to impose their religious beliefs on their employees and deny important federal rights to those employees. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood hire workers of all religious faiths and persuasions, but refuse to respect that many of their employees may have a different set of religious views and want and need access to the full range of contraceptives.
David Gans, Constitutional Accountability Center, op-ed, "These claims shouldn't have a prayer"
Los Angeles Times, 3-18-14
These companies are not religious organizations, nor are they affiliated with religious organizations. But the owners say they are victims of an assault on religious liberty because they personally disapprove of certain contraceptives. They are wrong, and the Supreme Court's task is to issue a decisive ruling saying so. The real threat to religious liberty comes from the owners trying to impose their religious beliefs on thousands of employees.
Editorial board, "Crying Wolf on Religious Liberty"
New York Times, 3-22-14
It's past the point of wanting the pictures. I just want them to look at what's happening. We're praying that Walgreens learns that the bible doesn't belong to anyone, it belongs to everyone.
Kelly Taylor, 46, Gulfport, Miss., after Walgreens relented after refusing to process two prints of bible verses due to concerns about copyright violation
Fox News, 2-26-14
Christ's burial is followed by what may be the least necessary title card in cinema history: "Three days later." Surely the resurrection comes as no consolation to the movie's Pilate, who scoffs, "He'll be forgotten in a week."
Ben Kenigsberg, movie review, "History Channel's 'The Bible' is cut into an equally chintzy film, 'Son Of God' "
avclub.com, 2-27-14
The board of trustees is requiring professors and staff to sign a statement saying that they believe Adam and Eve were created in an instant by God and that humans share no ancestry with other life forms.
News story on Bryan College's new policy in Dayton, Tenn., home of the 1925 Scopes "monkey" trial
Chattanooga Times Free-Press, 3-2-14
Your religion is yours; it's not a code that the rest of us must live by. If you have an issue with abortion, don't have one. If you have an issue with gay marriage, don't have one.
Steven Lopez, Sterling, Ill., letter to the editor responding to one headlined "Abortion still heinous, godless"
Sterling Daily Gazette, 2-22-14
Today, Michelle and I join our fellow Christians in the United States and around the world in marking Ash Wednesday. Lent is a season of reflection, repentance, and renewal — a chance to recommit to loving and serving one another, and to deepen our faith in preparation for the Easter celebration to come.
President Barack Obama, White House statement
USA Today, 3-5-14
The weather may have been a factor in not many people being out and about at lunchtime.
Linda McVay, St. John's Episcopal Church pastoral care team member, on why only a dozen people in two hours availed themselves of "Ashes to Go" on Ash Wednesday in downtown Portsmouth, Maine
Portsmouth Herald, 3-6-14
For most of my life, I've been, "Hey, I'm not into it, but I respect your right to believe whatever you want." But as time goes on, weirdly, I'm growing less liberal. I'm more like, "No, religion is ruining the world, you need to stop!"
Irish actor Chris O'Dowd, magazine interview
British GQ, April 2014
This is an excessive lifestyle.
Beth Maguire, Cathedral of Christ the King parishioner, Atlanta, on the Catholic archdiocese spending $4.4 million on two residences for clergy from a $15 million bequest from Joseph Mitchell, nephew of "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3-22-14
We're not anti-religious. We just think a public school should be inclusive for all kids. If they want to have a religious prayer, it should be said in scripture or prayer groups, but not during a core school activity like assemblies.
Kersten Tuckey, who withdrew her daughter from Kororo Public School in New South Wales after parents voted to retain school prayer
Sydney Morning Herald, 3-23-14
According to a survey conducted by the Israeli Science Ministry, the profession of rabbi or any other clergyman is the least well-thought-of by the Israeli public.
News story in which the medical profession was "most admired" in the poll
The Algemeiner, 3-25-14
What to give up for Lent: Religion.
Hulda Pelzl, Texas FFRF member
Letter, 3-24-14
Science is not there for you to cherry-pick. You know, I said this once and it's gotten a lot of Internet play, I said the good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. All right? I guess you can decide whether or not to believe in it, but that doesn't change the reality of an emergent scientific truth.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, host of "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" and Hayden Planetarium director, on why media shouldn't give equal time to creationists and "flat-earthers"
"Reliable Sources," CNN, 3-9-14
As a creationist, I find Neil deGrasse Tyson's presumption to educate America on the meaning of science as host of "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" repulsive and sad. I am repulsed by Tyson's transparent attempt to promote atheism and discredit the Word of God, and saddened that so many cannot recognize the Dark Age a priori pseudo-science animating his slick words.
Robert Bowie Johnson Jr., op-ed
Canada Free Press, 3-19-14
Whatever one might hear on the right about a war on religion, in this country we still care more about catering to religious sensibilities, even in liberal Hollywood, than we do about encouraging the open questioning of the claims of the faithful.
Lawrence Krauss, physicist and subject with Richard Dawkins of the film documentary "The Unbelievers," op-ed titled "Why Hollywood Thinks Atheism Is Bad for Business"
The New Yorker, 3-5-14
Dead "Snake Salvation" Pastor Jamie Coots Had No Life Insurance
Headline about a snake-bitten Kentucky pastor who's survived by his wife, father, two children and a grandchild
Christian Post, 2-17-14
The second goal is that particularly unchurched servers would understand that not all Christians are rude, impatient, lousy tippers.
Lead Pastor Chad Roberts, Preaching Christ Church, Kingsport, Tenn., on the website he set up named "Sundays Are the Worst" for restaurant workers to vent on
Kingsport Times News, 3-3-14
All of a sudden he just snaps. [It] just clicked like that and then he said he hopes I rot in hell.
Skyler Joly, 15, accusing his parish priest, Fr. Roman Manchester of Our Lady of Good Help in Burrillville, R.I., of inappropriate behavior during religion class
In my own parish, several longstanding parishioners have ceased all financial contributions to the parish because they do not want a cent of their gift to go to the diocese.
Catholic parishioner John Veal, supporting a petition to remove Robert Finn as bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph for alleged cover-up of clergy sex abuse
Kansas City Star, 3-13-14
While most invocations are traditional and uneventful, the Rev. Joe Nelms of Lebanon, Tenn., garnered national attention in 2011, when he thanked God for several series sponsors by name and his "smokin' hot wife" prior to a Nationwide Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.
News story, "NASCAR only pro sport to televise weekly prayer"
Bristol Herald Courier, 3-15-14
Shakespeare is my religion. Shakespeare has more wisdom and insight about our lives, about how to live and how not to live, how to forgive and how to understand our fellow creatures, than any religious tract. One hundred times more than the bible.
Sir Trevor Nunn, British theater director
The Telegraph, 3-17-14
The thing that's really disturbing about Noah isn't "the silly," it's that it's immoral. It's about a psychotic mass murderer who gets away with it and his name is God. Genesis says God was so angry with himself for screwing up when he made mankind so flawed that he sent the flood to kill everyone — men, women, children, babies. What kind of tyrant punishes everyone just to get back at the few he's mad at? I mean besides Chris Christie.
Entertainer Bill Maher, on the movie "Noah" that debuted March 28
"Real Time With Bill Maher," 3-14-14
And on the 12th day of his murder trial, Oscar Pistorius broke out what appeared to be a bible study guide.
News story on the South African Olympian accused of shooting his girlfriend to death on Valentine's Day 2013
New York Daily News, 3-19-14
Reason has been under siege and been slapped around. Believing things on the basis of something other than evidence and reason causes people to misconstrue what's good for them.
Peter Boghossian, author and philosophy instructor at Portland State University, speaking to the Freethinking Frogs student group at Texas Christian University
Unfortunately, Fred's ideas have not died with him, but live on. Not just among the members of Westboro Baptist Church, but among the many communities and small minds that refuse to recognize the equality and humanity of our brothers and sisters on this small planet we share. . . . [N]or will this be the last we hear of his words, which are echoed from pulpits as close as other churches in Topeka, Kansas, where WBC headquarters remain, and as far away as Uganda.
Nate Phelps, atheist son of Pastor Fred Phelps, on his father's death March 19
Recovering From Religion, 3-24-14
HORRIFYING ALERT!!! IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN, AS I AM, WAKE UP!!! Much to my surprise last night, I found out that my opponent is not a Christian. She does not have faith in God and feels there is no heaven.
Facebook post by Marilyn Ustler McQueen, Apopka [Fla.] City Council incumbent, adding that someone should bring challenger Diane Velazquez to Christ. [Velazquez, a former New York police detective, won 55% to 45%.]
Orlando Sentinel, 2-26-14
Sign outside Pastor James David Manning's ATLAH World Missionary Church in Harlem
New York Daily News, 2-27-14
Am I too WHITE to be your pastor?
Sign held by Patrick Kelley, pastor at River Pointe Church, suburban Houston, for a promotion to get black people to attend his Sunday service honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Houston Chronicle, 3-1-14
There are [all-night] prayer vigils all over Ukraine. They are praying for peace and for aggression to stop. God is in ultimate control. We trust him. We never expected Russia to move in so swiftly.
Vitaly Sorukun, pastor of New Hope Church in Kharkov, an hour from the Russian border
Christianity Today, 3-3-14
Let's skip the Oscars and take our families to see Son of God this weekend. #SonofGod #JesusoverOscar
Tweet on the day of the Academy Awards by Pastor Matthew Hagee, Cornerstone Church, San Antonio
Christian Post, 3-4-14
More bothersome than the replacement of biblical characters with birds who, for example, gorily get their heads cut off, is the deliberate portrayal of the Christian parents as plastic, phony, mean and indifferent, predictably simple-minded and against imagination. This negative portrayal of believing Christians is part of the left's ongoing attempt to demonize Christians.
Rabbi Aryeh Spero, author of [Push Back: Reclaiming Our American Judeo-Christian Spirit, panning "The Bird Bible" skit on "Saturday Night Live"
theblaze.com, 3-4-14
Regardless of what some people believe, we were not founded to be secular.
Baptist Pastor Chris McCombs, speaking in favor of prayers "in Jesus' name" at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, city council meetings, to which FFRF has objected
Akron Beacon Journal, 3-5-14
We want to tell lots of people about Jesus by every means available.
Mars Hill Church spokesman Justin Dean, Seattle, justifying spending at least $210,000 to get Pastor Mark Driscoll's book Real Marriage on The New York Times best-seller list
World Magazine, 3-5-14
Pinker named FFRF's first honorary president
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is delighted to announce that world-renowed scientist Steven Pinker, already an honorary FFRF director, will serve as its first honorary president.
Pinker, a Johnstone Family Professor in the psychology department at Harvard University, is on Time's list of the "World's 100 Most Influential People." As an experimental psychologist, he's one of the world's foremost writers on language, the mind and human nature. His research on visual cognition and the psychology of language has won awards from the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and the American Psychological Association.
Pinker told FFRF, when receiving its Emperor Has No Clothes Award in 2004: "I was never religious in the theological sense. I never outgrew my conversion to atheist at 13."
Born in Montreal, Pinker studied at McGill University and Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. He taught at MIT for 21 years and also at Stanford. He's the author of six critically acclaimed books for a general audience, including The Language Instinct (1994), How the Mind Works (1997), The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (2002), and The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Declined (2011).
Pinker has actively worked against religious incursions in science and government, including testifying before Congress. He prevailed against a proposal at Harvard to require a course on "Reason and Faith," saying, "[U]niversities are about reason, pure and simple. Faith — -believing something without good reasons to do so — has no place in anything but a religious institution, and our society has no shortage of these. Imagine if we had a requirement for 'Astronomy and Astrology' or 'Psychology and Parapsychology,' " he wrote in an op-ed titled "Less Faith, More Reason" in the Harvard Crimson in 2006.
In a 2007 interview with Salon.com, Pinker noted, "Atheists are the most reviled minority in the United States, so it's no small matter to come out and say it."
Pinker is part of an intellectual power couple with his wife, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, a recipient of a Mac-Arthur "genius grant." A philosopher and novelist, Goldstein was named a Freethought Heroine by FFRF in 2011, when she spoke poignantly about her escape from the strictures of strict Orthodox Judaism.
Among her books are 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, and the just released nonfiction work, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away. The Boston Globe calls her "a playful, bouyant, witty stylist who parses intractably difficult philosophical and religious ideas with breaktaking ease."
FFRF complaints create buzz
March roared like a lion from beginning to end in winter-weary Wisconsin, and so did the Freedom From Religion Foundation, acting on many egregious entanglements between religion and government.
FFRF's complaints stirred up lots of regional and national news coverage, crank mail and crank callers, starting with the March 3 announcement that the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct agreed with FFRF that former magistrate Lu Ann Ballew violated codes of judicial conduct by ordering a boy's named changed from Messiah to Martin at an August hearing.
Ballew said Messiah is a title "earned by one person, and that person is Jesus Christ." Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert's letter of complaint set in motion the board's public censure.
Garnering at least of a week of media attention in March was a letter from Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor to Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt, reprimanding him for inviting the pope to visit the Wisconsin city next year to make "a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help."
Schmitt's invitation on city letterhead was signed "Your servant in Christ" and extolled in excited tones "the events, apparitions and locutions" in 1859 that "exhibit the substance of supernatural character," involving "the first and only Blessed Virgin Mary apparition approved by the Catholic Church in the United States."
While noting Schmitt is "welcome to personally believe" in the supernatural sighting of the Virgin Mary a century and a half ago, the FFRF directors told Schmitt he's not free to use his civic office to promote "your personal (and highly embarrassing) religious beliefs."
At a press conference Schmitt called to defend himself, he admitted his letter was a "little heavy" on the religion. This is not FFRF's first tussle with Schmitt, who was stopped by FFRF's federal lawsuit from putting a nativity scene atop the entrance of City Hall.
FFRF, by the way, also criticized the invitation to the pope to address Congress from Catholic politicians John Boehner, U.S. House speaker, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: "Congress needs a visit from the pope like Boehner needs more time in a tanning booth."
Gaylor and Barker also stirred up an online hornet's nest for reprimanding Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for misusing his official gubernatorial Facebook and Twitter accounts to promote religion. On March 16, Walker posted the words "Philippians 4:13" — a verse from the bible reading: "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."
FFRF's press release added that "this braggadocio verse coming from a public official is rather disturbing" and seems more like "a threat, or the utterance of a theocratic dictator than of a duly elected civil servant."
Florida school violations
FFRF sent letters of complaint in March to two Florida school districts in Orange and Seminole counties over entanglement with a Christian congregation called The Venue Church (whose "venue," ironically, is only in public schools).
Already, Seminole County Public Schools has promised to end the constitutional violations outlined by Seidel in FFRF's letter.
Orange County allegations detail rampant religious activity at Apopka High School, including weekly services and other events sponsored by the church, which asserts, "We are permanently planting churches in Central Florida Schools."
Other issues:
• Regular prayer sessions attended by football coaches and players, including prayers led by Venue Pastor Todd Lamphere, who is also team chaplain. Lamphere is also "bowling team chaplain." A video shows him and other adults praying with the team.
• Bible verses on signs and apparel are common. A large banner saying "Prepare for Glory, 2 Corinthians 4:17" was displayed at the football field as was a banner with a verse from John 15:13. Several T-shirts and jerseys combine the school logo with religious messages.
Similar constitutional concerns were voiced to Seminole County Schools, including public endorsement of the church by district officials, who appeared in a promotional video for the church using their titles. The video was shot on campus. Seminole County Schools agreed almost immediately to end all such ties with the church.
Idaho, Kentucky letters
A letter sent by FFRF in November dominated March news and airwaves in Idaho, with more than 100 people turning out March 19 at a city meeting in Sandpoint over FFRF's request that the Farmin Park Ten Commandments monument be moved to private property. The monument is one of several placed by the Eagles Club.
FFRF also called out Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear's use of state resources to promote a March 13 prayer breakfast. The governor's home page included a tab promoting the breakfast, and Kentucky.gov included a link to the event, named "Governor's Prayer Breakfast."
FFRF has received regular complaints about Beshear's annual event, particularly from state employees who received two email invitations from the governor to the event. The prayer breakfast invitations included the official state seal and were sent to most state employees in violation of the state's Internet policies.
Chief's prayer walks
Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel's complaint about the police chief of Birmingham, Ala., received statewide and national coverage. Police Chief A.C. Roper, an ordained minister, created a Christian ministry called Prayer Force United. In his capacity as police chief, he leads monthly prayer walks through different neighborhoods, "claiming the city of Birmingham for God," ostensibly to lower crime.
Roper has opined that one of Birmingham's biggest problems is a "lack of godliness." Seidel noted Roper can't use his public office to "advance promote or endorse one religion over another, or religion over nonreligion."
He also debunked the notion of prayer as a crime-fighting technique, citing statistics showing that nonreligious states and nations are safer. (View a video Seidel created documenting Rogers's sermons with commentary on their legality on FFRF's YouTube channel.)
FFRF tells ministers to "Render unto Caesar. . ." in housing allowance challenge
The Freedom From Religion Foundation this week filed a strong brief before the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, defending its November victory in federal district court overturning the housing allowance exclusion uniquely benefiting "ministers of the gospel."
"Even the Bible commands citizens to 'render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's," the state/church watchdog notes in its 47-page brief. Yet the tax code and the clergy who benefit from it at the expense of all other taxpayers ignore "basic principles of neutrality and fairness when it comes to clergy taxation."
The "parsonage allowance" law enacted in 1954 lets churches pay ministers with a housing allowance (up to the fair rental value of a home), which is then excluded from their taxable income.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of Madison, Wis., agreed that this major tax benefit — expressly awarded to clergy for fighting "godlessness," according to bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Peter Mack, D-Ill. — is an unconstitutional preference for religion over nonreligion. Crabb noted that "the exemption provides a benefit to religious persons and no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a special burden on religious exercise."
"Just about every church denomination in the country has mobilized to fight our victory," reported Annie Laurie Gaylor. She and her husband Dan Barker are FFRF co-presidents and co-plaintiffs in the nationally watched lawsuit.
"The rest of us pay more taxes because ministers don't pay their fair share. Ministers and churches are unabashed in aggressively demanding special treatment. We like to call it our 'David versus Goliath' IRS battle," she added, "and you know who won that!"
"It's disappointing that FFRF is being fought not just by conservative churches but by liberal ones, including the American Baptists, traditionally our allies for separation of church and state," noted Barker. "Even Unitarian Universalists, Jewish and Islamic groups have joined literally hundreds of Christian denominations and individual congregations in signing onto seven amicus briefs filed against FFRF by theocratic legal aid societies."
As a former ordained minister, Barker previously benefited from the preferential treatment of clergy by the IRS. But he and Gaylor, as directors of an atheist/agnostic group, may not deduct from their taxable income the portion of their salaries now designated by FFRF as a "housing allowance." That discriminatory treatment gave the couple standing to sue over the law.
Richard L. Bolton, serving as FFRF's litigation attorney, laid out the discriminatory treatment of Gaylor and Barker as similarly situated taxpayers. Section 107(2) of the tax code violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because it is not neutral — providing significant tax benefits exclusively to ministers of the gospel, and providing greater benefits to ministers than to non-clergy taxpayers.
Ministers derive an enormous financial benefit by being paid in tax-exempt dollars, FFRF's brief notes. So do churches, which may pay clergy less because tax-free dollars go further. There's no requirement that the housing allowance be used for the convenience of the employer. Even retired ministers are eligible to claim the housing allowance.
The IRS has determined that teachers at parochial schools, even basketball coaches, may be paid through a housing allowance if they're ordained. FFRF documents the substantial entanglement between church and state that results from intrusive IRS standards about what constitutes an eligible church and minister.
"While all taxpayers would like to have exclusions and deductions to cover their housing costs, the reality is that only ministers of the clergy now get this break," FFRF's brief concludes. "Section 107(2) therefore violates the Establishment Clause in a most obvious way by conditioning tax benefits on religious affiliation."
FFRF, a state/church watchdog, is the nation's largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics), with more than 20,000 members and is based in Madison, Wis.
The case is Freedom From Religion Foundation, Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker v. Jacob J. Lew and John A. Koskinen.
Visit FFRF's website to read background, including the theocratic amicus briefs against FFRF's challenge (scroll down to view).
Freethought Radio — May 31, 2014 Broadcast
In God We (Don't) Trust
A challenge of the invidious use of a religious motto on U.S. coins and currency taken by intrepid secular litigator Michael Newdow on behalf of many plaintiffs, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation and many of its members, was ruled against by a 3-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York today.
Primary plaintiff in Newdow v. The Congress of the United States, was Rosalyn Newdow, a member of FFRF and a devoted numismatist who collected coins for 40 years, but has felt obligated to stop purchasing coin sets which exclude her and all nonbelievers.
"It's necessary to remind not just the courts but the public that 'In God We Trust' is a Johnny-come-lately motto adopted at the height of the Cold War. It was only officially required on all currency in 1955," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president.
"It's not even an accurate motto. To be accurate, it would have to say, 'In God Some of Us Trust,' and wouldn't that be silly?" she said, pointing out that today nonbelievers are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population by religious identification, approaching 20% — the second largest "denomination" after Roman Catholics.
FFRF first sued over the motto and its use on coins in the 1990s, and says that religion on the motto and on money remain two of the most common complaints the state/church watchdog receives.
"It creates the dangerous misperception that our republic is based on a god, when in fact it is based on an entirely godless and secular Constitution. These symbolic violations from the 1950s have damaged respect for the constitutional principle of separation between religion and government."
Gaylor praised Newdow for carrying on his pro bono work to divorce religion from government.
FFRF offers "clean," pre-"In God We Trust" currency as door prizes at its national conventions, and is currently offering a "clean" dollar bill to any FFRF member recruiting a new member.
"Godless money is a great way to end the argument when someone misguidedly says, 'God has always been on our money,' " Gaylor said.
Newdow commented that the decision was based on such weak contentions as "other circuits have ruled that 'In God We Trust' is OK" or "It's just ceremonial." He will move for a rehearing.
"I plan to keep trying in the remaining six circuits until we find some federal appellate judges who believe in the principles that underlie our Constitution."
Read more about the lawsuit history, including Newdow's fascinating legal complaint.
Read decision
Hobby Lobby CEO heavily involved in bible curriculum; FFRF criticism of course "correct"
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a state-church watchdog and the nation's largest association of atheists, agnostics and freethinkers, is beating back Hobby Lobby's attempt to proselytize in the Oklahoma public schools.
FFRF has been monitoring and protesting Mustang Public Schools' (Mustang, Okla.) bible curriculum since last November. Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel has written several letters to the school district about the dangers of the class and the Christian bias of the curriculum. Other state-church groups, like the ACLU and Americans United, have also warned the district.
Accompanying Seidel's letters were open records requests. According to Seidel, "The records show that Hobby Lobby CEO Steve Green is intimately involved in the development and administration of this course." The records also show that (1) Green helped the school board avoid Oklahoma open meetings laws (2) Green admits the legitimacy of some of FFRF's criticisms, and (3) Green's biblical scholars are not familiar with biblical texts as basic and central as the Ten Commandments. The records also show that approximately 170 of more than 2,700 students — less than 7% — are interested in taking the elective.
Green's involvement
Hobby Lobby CEO Steve Green is heavily involved in promoting the Christian curriculum. The first email record obtained by FFRF is an email from Green to Mustang Superintendent Sean McDaniel. Later, Green instructed McDaniel "not to provide any information [to media] at this time." For his part, McDaniel kept Green personally informed ("Just wanted to keep you in the loop") with progress reports. Green, CEO of a multibillion dollar corporation, even scheduled meetings with McDaniel for people working on the curriculum and meetings occurred at Hobby Lobby headquarters.
Green also helped the school board circumvent Oklahoma Open Meeting Laws. These laws require school boards to open meetings to the public and the media if a quorum of members is present. More than 20 school district representatives, including three of five board members — a quorum — met at Hobby Lobby headquarters on April 14, 2014, to discuss the curriculum. Green gave Saxum, the public relations company working to spin Hobby Lobby's challenges to the Affordable Care Act, the job of making sure the meeting was closed to the public. According to an April 10, 3:25 p.m. email from Green's assistant Marsha Bold to Superintendent McDaniel, "Steve [Green] reached out to Saxum this morning after several concerns were brought to his attention and he asked that they reach out to you to discuss options." McDaniel had a phone conversation with a Saxum rep who "suggested she was representing HL [Hobby Lobby]." (Sup. McDaniel email to Jerry Pattengale and Marsha Bold, Thursday, April 10, 2014 3:14 PM.) Green and his PR team sought to circumvent the law "because the curriculum and the Obama Care issues cannot be 'co-mingled.' " Id.
To avoid having an open, transparent meeting as required by law, the school representatives met at Hobby Lobby headquarters on the same day in two different groups. That way, no quorum of school board members would be in the same room at the same time: "I want to emphasize again that per my conversation with Ashleigh [the Saxum rep] and the decision to break into two groups, that this will not be a public meeting." (Sup. McDaniel email to Marsha Bold, Thursday, April 10, 2014 4:07 PM.) Green personally called McDaniel to discuss this arrangement: "Steve called and left a message for you as he wanted to visit with you if you have a minute." (Marsha Bold email to Sup. McDaniel, Thursday, April 10, 2014 5:08 PM)
Ascertaining Green's motives is vital given his personal involvement. When someone with the desire, the drive, and the funds to impose their religious beliefs on a captive audience of public schoolchildren is pushing a course on the bible, parents have a right to know why.
FFRF has been sounding this alarm from the beginning. Green uses Hobby Lobby as an "opportunity to start distributing God's Word." He supports foundations that put "Scripture into the hands of nonbelievers," targeting children as young as 4 years old. Green and Hobby Lobby have a record of distorting history to evangelize. Every year Hobby Lobby places a July 4th ad in national papers featuring spurious quotes, misquotes, mined quotes, and creatively edited quotes attempting to show that America is a Christian nation. (FFRF completely debunked Green's most recent ad.
Green's Museum of the Bible runs the Green Scholars Initiative, which, in turn, is developing the curriculum at issue. Green's bible museum's mission is "to bring to life the living word of God, to tell its compelling story of preservation, and to inspire confidence in the absolute authority and reliability of the Bible" according to the documents filed with the IRS.
Green's own experts admit criticism is valid
Jerry Pattengale, as Executive Director of the Green Scholars Initiative, heads up Green's curriculum push. According to his resumé before joining the Green Scholars Initiative, Pattengale authored a book with a telling title: A History of World Civilizations from a Christian Perspective. That title encapsulates the problem with the curriculum he is designing — it is told from a Christian perspective and heavily endorses that perspective. For another book, Straight Talk: Clear Answers about Today's Christianity, Pattengale wrote, "To know Christ's words, to read and study them, and to know about His life, death, and Resurrection is to know history." In Pattengale's eyes, the "Resurrection" is not an article of faith, but a historical fact.
Despite this Christian bias and goal of "inspir[ing] confidence in the absolute authority and reliability of the Bible," Green and Pattengale often note that FFRF's criticisms are accurate.
For instance, regarding FFRF's complaint that the book utilizes leading questions like "how do we know that the bible's historical narratives are reliable?" instead of asking "is the bible historically accurate?" Pattengale says, "actually they are right..."
Pattengale wrote of FFRF's "Feminism complaint ... the writer [of the critical letter, i.e., FFRF] was correct..." Id. Pattengale added, "we're discussing removing the Color Filter sections ..." Id. But many of the changes are superficial and fail to correct the inherent Christian bias. In fact, Pattengale admits to altering the text, but not the meaning: "The simple change from 'that' to 'if' in the title, which carries the same intended meeting [sic, meaning] makes all the difference for those seeking things to criticize." (emphasis added).
Biblical scholars?
Not all of FFRF's criticisms were appreciated. FFRF pointed out, as the textbook's best example of Christian bias, it answering the question, "What is God like?" by listing only positive attributes such as "gracious and compassionate" or "full of love."
Pattengale's response to this criticism is stunning. Writing about God's negative attributes, Pattengale says "the Bible doesn't list any, and these [positive attributes] are in [the] section representing what the text says."
Some of the most basic and central biblical verses do, in fact, discuss God's negative characteristics. One prominent example is God's jealousy. According to the Ten Commandments, God himself says "I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." Exodus 20:5. Not only does God admit that he is jealous, he promises to punish innocent children for the crimes of their parents in the Ten Commandments. God repeats himself, in the second set of Ten Commandments in Exodus 34:18, and elsewhere in the bible, Deuteronomy 4:24, 5:9, 6:15 and Joshua 24:19 to name a few.
Pattengale's erroneous statement seems to indicate one of three possibilities, that (1) Pattengale does not know the Bible, which disqualifies him from developing a Bible curriculum for the nation's youth, (2) he's deliberately keeping the superintendent in the dark, which is even more disturbing or (3) he's blinded by his bias, which again calls the curriculum into question.
Green and his staff are using the Mustang School District for their own ends. The school district has adopted a curriculum that is not constitutional and for which the Mustang taxpayers, not Green, could ultimately pay. FFRF's April 24, 2014, letter was correct: "This course is too tainted with Christian bias. It should be scrapped altogether." Mustang Schools needs to rethink its trust in Green and Hobby Lobby.
FFRF is working closely with the ACLU and Americans United to ensure that this class meets the constitutional standards. These groups are interested in discussing the curriculum with Mustang families should the board fail to address these problems.
'Nothing Fails Like Prayer Award' contest
The contest is ongoing until we can persuade governmental bodies to pray on their own time and dime or the Supreme Court overturns the infamous Town of Greece v. Galloway ruling. New entries will be considered for the 2017 award at the 2017 convention.
So get out there and give your local government a piece of your secular mind! Read the contest rules below.
View Nothing Fails Like Prayer winners here.
It's time to show our government that official prayer is unconstitutional, pointless, divisive and offensive. The U.S. Supreme Court unwisely "blessed" sectarian blessings by city and county governments in its May 5, 2014, Town of Greece v. Galloway decision.
If the Supreme Court won't uphold our godless and entirely secular Constitution — adopted at a prayerless constitutional convention — it's up to us. It's up to you!
Although the Greece decision is a blow to secularism and the rights of the nonreligious, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the decision did include reasoning that acknowledges the right of an atheist to give the invocation:
"The town at no point excluded or denied an opportunity to a would-be prayer giver. Its leaders maintained that a minister or layperson of any persuasion, including an atheist, could give the invocation." Town of Greece, N.Y. v. Galloway, 12-696, 2014 WL 1757828 (U.S. May 5, 2014).
To foster the groundswell of protest against government prayer, FFRF announces the creation of its newest activism award: The Nothing Fails Like Prayer Award. The award will be given for the best secular "invocation" at a government meeting. The annual winner or winners will receive a commemorative plaque, $500 and will be invited to deliver the invocation at FFRF's annual convention. Be a Paine in the government's Mass — a Thomas Paine.
All eligible entries will receive a commemorative certificate. FFRF will post eligible video entries of the secular invocation at its website and/or reprint it in FFRF's newspaper, Freethought Today.
We'd like to see secular citizens flood government meetings with secular invocations that illustrate why government prayers are unnecessary, ineffective, embarrassing, exclusionary, divisive or just plain silly. The more citizens that protest prayers, the more likely government prayers will stop.
Annual Prize
The individual or individuals judged to give the "best" secular invocation will be invited to open FFRF's annual convention with the "invocation," receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to FFRF's annual convention, a plaque and an honorarium of $500.
FFRF plans to make the contest an annual event until the Greece decision is overturned.
FFRF announces 'Nothing Fails Like Prayer Award' contest
"If the Supreme Court won't uphold the Constitution, it's up to us — it's up to you" is the response of the Freedom From Religion Foundation to the high court's ruling May 5 that judicially blessed sectarian prayer at official government meetings.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Town of Greece v. Galloway that governments can not only host prayers, those prayers can be pervasively sectarian: "To hold that invocations must be nonsectarian would force the legislatures that sponsor prayers and the courts that are asked to decide these cases to act as supervisors and censors of religious speech." 572 U.S. 1, 12-13 (2014).
FFRF, the nation's largest association of freethinkers, with more than 20,000 atheist and agnostic members nationwide, is responding to the hostile court ruling by announcing a "Nothing Fails Like Prayer Award." The award will be given to citizens who succeed in delivering secular "invocations" at government meetings.
The individual judged to give the "best" secular invocation will be invited to open FFRF's annual convention with the "invocation," receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to our 37th annual convention at the Los Angeles Biltmore Oct. 24-25 and an honorarium of $500.
FFRF plans to make the contest an annual event until the Greece decision is overturned. All eligible secular invokers will receive a certificate suitable for framing, and FFRF will post the invocation on its website.
FFRF, which submitted an amicus brief against government prayer in the case, was initially founded for the very purpose of protesting government prayer at city and county meetings.
Anne Nicol Gaylor, who coined the adage, "Nothing fails like prayer," and her daughter Annie Laurie, founded FFRF in Wisconsin in order to speak with a more powerful voice when testifying against prayers by the Madison Common Council and Dane County Board in 1976. The city dropped prayers the following year and the county went to rotating opening remarks by county supervisors.
Government prayer continues to rate as one of the most common complaints FFRF receives from its members and members of the public.
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor notes that despite the approval of sectarian governmental prayer by five Supreme Court justices, there is no requirement for government bodies to open with prayer. Citizen request has stopped the practice of government prayer throughout the country and can continue to do so.
"We'd like to see secular citizens flood government meetings with secular invocations that illustrate why government prayers are unnecessary, ineffective, divisive, embarrassing and exclusionary of the 20-30 percent of the U.S. population today that identifies as nonreligious," Gaylor said.
Although the Supreme Court "blessed" opening prayer as governmental speech, meaning government bodies don't have to permit guest prayers, even the town of Greece has indicated it would consider a guest secular invocation.
FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel, who suggested the award, notes that many of our nation's most influential founders opposed governmental exercises of religion, including revolutionary Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, who refused in his two terms to issue days of prayer, and James Madison, our fourth president and primary architect of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Secular invocations can be sincere and eloquent, such as state Rep. Juan Mendez's invocation before the Arizona House, for which he won FFRF's Emperor Has No Clothes Award. You may wish to "invoke" secular "founding fathers," your own life philosophy or take a more facetious route.
The goal is to show that government bodies don't need prayer to imagined gods, or religion or superstition, to govern — they need to be guided by reason.
"Government officials need to get off their knees and get to work," added Dan Barker, a former evangelical minister and author of "Godless," who now co-directs FFRF. He has another suggestion: "Be a Paine in the government's Mass."
(For "inspiration," download a free copy of Barker's songs "Get Off Your Knees and Get to Work" and "Nothing Fails Like Prayer.")
Contest rules.
FFRF will scrutinize Hobby Lobby bible class
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state-church watchdog based in Madison, Wis., is keeping a close eye on the bible course developed by Hobby Lobby President Steve Green for public school students.
The school board in Mustang, Okla., voted 4-0 with one abstention April 14 to approve Green's curriculum entitled "The Book, the Bible's History, Narrative and Impact of the World's Best-selling Book" as a high school elective course.
Green is a billionaire whose corporate headquarters is about 5 miles from Mustang in Oklahoma City. The company's No. 1 commitment, according to its website, is "Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles." Hobby Lobby has also sued the federal government because it's opposed to the birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act and has taken the case to the Supreme Court.
FFRF has been corresponding with Mustang Public Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel about the course since November 2013 (also when Green met with the school board). FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote a cautionary letter to the district and requested records on Nov. 21.
According to a Religion News Service story, Mustang High will be the only school using the curriculum this fall in its "beta-test" phase. Supposedly, 170 students expressed interest in it. A company spokesman said the goal is to have it in at least 100 schools by September 2016 and "thousands" by the following year.
Elective bible classes at higher grade levels can be taught in public schools but must be secular, informative and not endorse religion, Seidel said. "The Green family's constant attempts to impose their evangelical Christianity on Hobby Lobby employees has secularists naturally suspicious that any Hobby Lobby bible class will not comform to the law. Previous investigations have revealed that bible classes in Texas rarely comport with the law, that teachers lack training, and that teachers impose their personal religious beliefs on all students."
"Will the class be fair, scholarly and open, or will this be another attempt by Hobby Lobby to impose their religion on others?" Seidel asked.
These are questions that FFRF hopes to have answered soon and has again requested all documents and records relating to the curriculum and will carefully analyze them over the summer before the class starts in the fall.
Dan Barker, FFRF co-president, quoted Isaac Asimov, who said, "Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."
Barker, a former evangelist, is skeptical. "In the religious climate of the bible belt, given the impetus for this class, we are seriously concerned."
Please act now. Contact the superintendent to express your opposition to a Hobby Lobby-funded bible class in our public schools. The scheme is fraught with peril. There are tax-exempt churches all over where students or adults may seek out Sunday school classes.
As President Ulysses S. Grant put it in a famous speech in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1875: "Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the Church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate."
Contact now:
Superintendent Sean McDaniel
Mustang Public Schools
906 S. Heights Drive
Mustang, OK 73064


text:
greentara wrote:Watching news/doco program the other night and they enter a old age facility for people suffering from dementia and what you may ask is the pressing problem in the facility?
These unfortunate people don't know who they are, where they are and don't recognise relatives and friends. No worries for experts are brought in to convince us all that these people are missing out on sexual gratification. The elderly nurse that was brought in went on and on about their needs. Then we cross to sex workers both male and female who are only too willing to enter the old age home(for a fee) and give these poor old folk whatever it takes.
If it wasn't so sad one could laugh but I couldn't even muster a smile.
I read about that & believe that if the sex workers were bought in, that would have to go close to constituting rape, after all you're having sex & taking money off someone who's not playing with the full deck.


text:
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