These are the economic times that try men's souls -- nowhere more so than at Focus on the Family. The Colorado Independent and the Denver Post report that the Colorado Springs-based powerhouse of the religious right is cutting 202 jobs. Coming on top of another reduction of 46 jobs in October, the cuts add up to roughly 20 per cent of the group's workforce. The group blames declining contributions and rising costs. Still, the Independent says, the group laid out $539,000 to help pass a California ballot measure banning gay marriage.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that "humans, freethinkers, secularists" and "nonbelievers or every description" have been enjoying something of, er, a rebirth. The American Humanist Association is spending $42,000 for an ad campaign on Washington, DC buses, and the Secular Coalition for America has raised enough funds to hire its first ever lobbyist. 

                                                                                                      -- Julie Kosterlitz