SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's unique duck-billed platypus -- an egg-laying, furry animal with web feet that spends most of its time underwater -- is in fact part bird, part reptile and part mammal according to its gene map.

A team of international scientists released the platypus genome on Thursday, saying its complex sequence would aid the study of human evolution -- particularly the development of the immune, nervous and reproductive systems.

"Its probably the most eagerly awaited genome since the chimp genome because platypuses are so weird," said Jenny Graves, head the Comparative Genomics Group at the Australian National University.

"Comparing us with the platypus means that we can say something about our common ancestor, which was one of the earliest mammals, so that means that we can ask questions about what happened to make us mammals," said Graves, after a briefing on the platypus genome, published in the journal Nature.

The platypus represents the earliest offshoot of the mammalian lineage, some 166 million years ago, from primitive ancestors that had features of both mammals and reptiles.

WASHINGTON - Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, once criticized for leaving out atheists and non-believers when he delivered a much-touted speech on faith in America, now says he missed a chance to discuss their role in society.
    Romney, who addressed his Mormon faith on Dec. 6 to allay concerns by hesitant voters, was criticized for asserting in that pre-primary speech that, "freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom."
    This week, Romney said he is still convinced of that, but that he regrets omitting atheists and agnostics from his initial address.
    "Upon reflection," Romney said at the Metropolitan Club in New York City, "I realized that while I could defend their absence from my address, I had missed an opportunity - an opportunity to clearly assert the following: non-believers have just as great a stake as believers in defending religious liberty."
    If a society decides to outlaw a faith or ordain a state faith, it may be the non-believers who are first likely to be condemned, Romney said. And such an action, in the end, should scare everyone, he added, because an attack on someone because of what they believe - or don't believe - hits at the very idea of religious liberty.

MIAMI --The instructions are simple: Read the Prayer ... Drink the Water ... Believe in God! Believe in Yourself!
Spiritual Water, the faith-inspired venture of two Sunrise, Fla., businessmen, offers its drinkers clearer focus, positive thinking and connection to a higher power.

The 11 bottles in the company's collection bear prayers and impressively detailed images of Jesus Christ, St. Michael and the Virgin Mary. Spiritual Water joins a broad slice of feel-good products -- Testamint, Bible Gum and other bottled waters -- emerging at the intersection of religion and commerce, entrepreneurship and pop culture.

"There is a great history of people using religious images to sell products," says Daniel Sack, an administrator at the University of Chicago Divinity School and author of "Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture." "You are talking about combining the great American traditions of religion and consumption."

Last fall, Elicko Taieb launched Spiritual Water as a way to inspire Protestants and Catholics. The water, purified from a municipal source in Santa Ana, Calif., is not available in stores, but Taieb says independent distributors sell about 2,000 to 3,000 cases a month.

Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.

The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the collection plate to support the Christian infrastructure, including church upkeep and ministers’ pay and pensions, will force church closures as ageing congregations die.

In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims will have increased from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.

THE Church of Scientology has lost its grip on James Packer.

The billionaire's closest friends have revealed that he has quietly distanced himself from Scientology, labelled a cult by some former members, as it faces international controversy about its anti-psychiatry stance.

Members of Mr Packer's inner circle have confirmed that the billionaire, who had ranked as Scientology's wealthiest member in the world, was no longer undertaking Scientology courses and had slowly moved away from the religion, telling his closest friends he no longer "needs it".

His office did not respond to the Herald's calls yesterday.

..."Many Mount Vernon Middle School students have been vocal in their support of science teacher John Freshwater in his claims to a First Amendment right to display a Bible on his desk. But are those students willing to grant someone else equal rights to remain neutral or to disagree? Several comments from students and parents indicate that acceptance and religious tolerance is a one-way street for many concerned."

It seems that Christian children aren't very "big tent" in their support of a Christian science teacher, a man who has allegedly done some seriously controversial things in the classroom.

"My daughter Arie told me about a Jewish child who brought his Torah to school when other students brought Bibles in support of Freshwater ... He thought he was supporting freedom of religious expression, and the other kids just ripped him apart. 'What are you doing?' they asked. 'You can't support Mr. Freshwater, you're Jewish' ... I don't think people realize the depth of what's going on between the students. It's a mob mentality right now. It's peer pressure. To not wear a T-shirt and to not bring your Bible when they say bring your Bible and wear a T-shirt, you're asking for trouble ... one of Arie's friends wore a T-shirt to school that read, 'I don't need to wear a special T-shirt to be a Christian.' That individual was reportedly pushed into the lockers and called a 'stupid atheist b****.'"

In the whirlwind of Friday's final day of the legislative session, one high-profile proposal went, well, extinct.

The House and Senate could not agree on a bill to make sure public-school science teachers could raise questions about evolution.

Social and religious conservatives started pushing for such a bill after the state Board of Education approved science standards this year that included teaching evolution.

The Senate passed the "Evolution Academic Freedom Act'' that would have given teachers the "right and freedom to objectively present scientific information relevant to the full range of scientific views'' about evolution.

Land 'O Lakes, Florida -- The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming.  There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student.

Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher's job is on the line, but this time it's because of a magic trick.

The charge from the school district — Wizardry!

Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.

But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.

"I get a call the middle of the day from the supervisor of substitute teachers.  He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue.  You can't take any more assignments.  You need to come in right away,'" he said.

When Piculas went in, he learned his little magic trick cast a spell that went much farther than he'd hoped.

"I said, 'Well Pat, can you explain this to me?'  'You've been accused of wizardry,' [he said]. Wizardry?" he asked.

AUSTIN — A bid by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research to train future science teachers — focusing on creationism instead of Darwin’s theory of evolution — was flatly rejected by Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board members on Wednesday.

The decision to turn down the proposal, subject to final action by the full board on Thursday, came despite arguments from ICR officials and faculty that teaching of creationism to students would not hurt their future effectiveness as science teachers.

A lawyer for the Bible-based group also warned that the coordinating board could eventually face legal action for suppressing the free-speech rights of the institute.

Texas Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes paved the way for the board action by recommending rejection of the ICR request for a state certificate of authority to offer an online master’s degree in science education.

ZION, Ill. - Steve Kreuscher wants a judge to allow him to legally change his name. He wants to be known as “In God We Trust.”

Kreuscher says the new name would symbolize the help God gave him through tough times.

The 57-year-old man also told the Arlington Heights Daily Herald he’s worried that atheists may succeed in removing the phrase “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency.