Back in November, U.S. District Judge David Hamilton ruled that invocation prayer must not advance any religion.

Indiana legislators spoke unanimously (83-0) to support freedom of prayer in the state’s House of Representatives on Monday in a landslide vote. The resolution does not carry the force of law though.

“[The order] attempts to control the content of prayer, this order undermines the rights of all Hoosiers regardless of their theological convictions,” is an excerpt of the resolution.

Members have been gathering to pray at the rear of the legislative chamber before official meetings since the 2006 House session began. They say this has been a tradition in Indiana for 189 years.

Full story at The Christian Post

A few weeks ago, Italian priest Enrico Righi (76) was accused of abuse of popular belief and impersonation.

The plaintiff is Luigi Cascioli (72), who lives in the same town as Righi. They even went to the same seminary school when teens.
However, they took separate roads. Very different roads. Righi became a priest, while Cascioli a vocal atheist.

The abuse of popular belief accusation appears when Righi, in his parish newspaper, wrote about Jesus as a historical character. Cascioli said: “In my book, ‘The Fable of Christ,’ I present proof Jesus did not exist as a historic figure. He must now refute this by showing proof of Christ’s existence,”.

The second charge, impersonation, is also commented by Cascioli: “The Church constructed Christ upon the personality of John of Gamala,”. John of Gamala was the 1st century Jew who fought against the Roman army.

Presenting these charges, Cascioli isn’t putting only Righi on trial, but the whole Roman Catholic Church.

“It would take a miracle to win,” Cascioli joked weeks ago. Well, this Italian atheist just lost his crusade so no miracles for him.

The judge rejected his attempts to sue Enrico Righi. But it’s not over yet. There are two reasons:

- Cascioli plans to appeal to Italy’s highest court, and then to The Hague.

- Bruno Severo, priest Righi’s lawyer, said that the judge recommended magistrates investigate Cascioli for slandering Righi.

“Thank God it’s over,” Righi told Reuters. “I’m glad it has ended like this, because imagine if it had gone on and on.”

With all these references made by Cascioli to his own book, “The Fable of Christ”, I’m sorry but I can’t help to wonder if this was all a publicity stunt by this novel author…

Full story on ABC: The trial and the judge’s decision