Minnesota

An atheist group in Minnesota has put up billboards featuring pictures of babies and attacking religion in the Twin Cities and its members say they are inspired by pro-life ads across the country.

"Please don't indoctrinate me with religion. Teach me to think for myself," says an illuminated 14 x 48 foot billboard, installed at 725 Washington Ave. N. in Minneapolis by the Minnesota Atheists, a group affiliated with the national organization American Atheists.

"We are all born without belief in gods. Learn how to be a born-again atheist," reads another ad, which measures 10.5 x 36 foot and has been installed at the corner of University Avenue and Lexington Avenue in St. Paul. The billboards, which went up this week and will remain in place until Feb. 19, carry images of smiling babies. more >>

Tim Tebow, the NFL's comeback quarterback, has done it again.

The Denver Broncos met the Minnesota Vikings yesterday in Minneapolis for a routine late season showdown. What followed was instead a brutal, back-and-forth shootout that saw each team pushed to the edge of defeat. Undeterred by such drama, Tebow helped take his team back from the brink and earned them first place in the AFC West division en route to victory.

"Tim Tebow has an ability to expand on plays and finish games unlike anybody else I've seen in a long time," said Kolin Mayne, a Conifer, Colo. Broncos fan. "I'm seeing him as someone who lives up to all the hype from before the start of the season." more >>

A Minnesota Pastor, infamous for endorsing Michele Bachmann's congressional run, is cautiously making plans to hit the campaign trial for her presidential campaign.

Mac Hammond, pastor of Living Word Christian Center, is planning to work outside of his church to campaign for Bachmann, a candidate he calls his "sister in the Lord." He reportedly told his congregation the news this past Sunday. A recording of the announcement was posted on the church's website, according to The Associated Press. The video is now no longer featured on the site.

Hammond explained his decision, "[Bachmann] is a sister in the Lord that is as committed to His Word as any you in here are." more >>

After a 15-year process, the first handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine monastery is finally complete for viewing at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Commissioned by monks at St. John’s Abbey and University in 1998 to celebrate the beginning of a new millennium, The Saint John’s Bible is the first Bible of its kind in the more than 500 years since the invention of the printing press.

“The Saint John’s Bible has been a labor of love,” the Rev. Robert Koopmann, president of St. John’s University and Abbey, said at a media-only event, according to USA Today. more >>

A Woodbury congregation of the Eagle Brook megachurch in Minnesota has delayed construction of its new worship center until the economy improves and will meet in a rented space in the meantime.

With weekly attendance of close to 16,000 in four campuses, the Eagle Brook Church congregation of East-Metro will start its weekend services at Woodbury’s East Ridge High School beginning Sept. 10, according to the church’s website.

The megachurch will pay over $200,000 annually to rent the space to relieve overcrowding at Eagle Brook’s other churches, Star Tribune quoted Executive Pastor Scott Anderson as saying. Many church members live in the Woodbury, Lake Elmo and Oakdale areas. more >>

Patrick Kiley, a 73-year-old host of Christian Radio show “Follow the Money,” has been indicted in an ongoing case involving a multi-million dollar Ponzi scam in Minnesota.

Pat Kiley, as he is widely known, and two others were charged with defrauding investors by soliciting them to invest money in a foreign currency trading program offered through entities bearing the acronym “UBS” between 2005 and 2009, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said in a statement Wednesday.

The indictment came after Kiley and the others facing charges ranging from wire fraud to money laundering appeared in the federal court in St. Paul. It was part of an ongoing case where a financial advisor, Trevor Cook, and his associate Christopher Pettengill started a Ponzi scheme called Universal Brokerage Services involving 700 investors and $194 million. more >>