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Tuesday February 9, 2010

FLDS • Polygamy:

Judge cancels hearing in case against Warren Jeffs

An Arizona judge has canceled a two-day hearing in the state’s case against polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs after granting a defense motion barring use of any evidence found at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ Texas ranch in 2008.

» Full Story

Wanda Barzee pleads guilty to charge in Elizabeth Smart case

Prosecutors on Monday dropped state charges against a woman in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart in exchange for a guilty plea related to the attempted kidnapping of Smart’s cousin.

Doctors at the Utah State Hospital said last fall that Barzee had responded to the treatment and was competent.

Atherton accepted that determination Monday but said Barzee remains mentally ill.
» Full Story

Atheism:

Atheists ‘just as ethical as churchgoers’ research shows

Atheists are just as ethical and have as strong a moral compass as churchgoers, new research shows.

People who have no religion know right from wrong just as well as regular worshippers, according to the study.

The team behind the research found that most religions were similar and had a moral code which helped to organise society.

But people who did not have a religious background still appeared to have intuitive judgments of right and wrong in common with believers, according to the findings, published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
» Full Story

Monday February 8, 2010

Lord Our Righteousness Church • Michael Travesser • Strong City • Wayne Bent:

NewsChannel 10 allowed inside self proclaimed messiah’s compound

Nearly two years after the arrest of self proclaimed messiah Wayne Bent, a New Mexico TV news station became the first media allowed inside his cult’s compound.

If you spend a day walking around the remote property of the Lord Our Righteousness Church you wouldn’t believe you were amongst what State Police call an apocalyptic cult. [video]
» Full Story

Sunday February 7, 2010

FLDS • Polygamy:

FLDS has new president, but is Warren Jeffs still their prophet?

A new president has been called to lead a controversial polygamous sect, replacing jailed leader Warren S. Jeffs in that post.

Wendell Nielsen, 69, is now president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and of the corporate entity that handles the faith’s business dealings, according to a document filed with the state of Utah.
» Full Story

Saturday February 6, 2010

Crime:

Street Preachers Killed In United States

A religious liberty group warned Saturday, February 6, that “Anti-Christian hostility is getting increasingly deadly” in the United States after two street preachers were shot and killed by a teenager who apparently opposed their message.

“The increasing demonization of Christians in our culture makes some feel its open season on Christians,” said Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission.
» Full Story

Friday February 5, 2010

Scientology:

Scientology: The Religion of the Stars, infiltrated

In Scientology: The Religion of the Stars author Ian Halperin goes undercover to reveal never-before-told secrets of the strange, science-fiction inspired church of the stars.

Halperin infiltrates the Church of Scientology posing as a gay actor attracted by the church’s claim that it can cure homosexuality. Rebuffed until he claims that his uncle is a rich millionaire thinking of joining the church, he is given unprecedented access and allowed to video his entire experience. The results are explosive.
» Full Story

Scientology:

Australian Senator challenges Scientology cult to agree to Senate inquiry

”I challenge the Church of Scientology – if they are so confident of their position, they should welcome a Senate inquiry where they can give evidence,” Senator Xenophon said yesterday.

The ‘Church’ meanwhile portrays a group of its critics as a ‘hate group’ — an act of hypocrisy given Scientology’s lengthy history of hate- and harassment activities.
» Full Story

Atheism:

Dutch church retains atheist preacher

An atheist preacher has been allowed to stay in office by the Protestant Church of the Netherlands.

The regional church assembly in the southwestern town of Zierikzee decided that preacher Klaas Hendrikse’s views do not fundamentally differ from those of other liberal theologians in the Protestant Church.
» Full Story

Thursday February 4, 2010

James Arthur Ray:

Self-help guru James Arthur Ray arrested over sweat lodge deaths

Police arrested self-help guru James Arthur Ray on Wednesday for the manslaughter of three people who fell ill during a ceremony in a “sweat dome” at a retreat in northern Arizona last year.

Two people passed out inside the sweat lodge and died that night at a hospital. A third person slipped into a coma and died a week later.

Authorities said they quickly determined the deaths were not accidental and focused their investigation on Ray. [video]
» Full Story

Wednesday February 3, 2010

Islam • Religious Persecution:

Muslim Mob Storms Pakistan Church; 65 Injured

Protestant Christians in Pakistan’s Punjab province were searching for a place of worship Wednesday, February 3, after angry Muslims apparently attacked their partly constructed church, injuring scores of worshippers.

Christians are a minority in Islamic Pakistan and rights investigators say there has been an increase in anti-Christian violence, with at least 130 Christians killed last year.
» Full Story

Faith Healing • Followers of Christ (Oregon) • Neil Jeffrey Beagley:

Parents found guilty in Oregon City faith-healing trial

The Beagleys could face a maximum of 10 years in prison. Because the two have no prior convictions, the normal sentencing range under state sentencing guidelines would be 16 to 18 months in prison.

The Beagleys are the first Oregon parents convicted of homicide in the faith-healing death of a child since the state legislature eliminated spiritual treatment as a defense in such cases in 1999.
» Full Story

Tuesday February 2, 2010

Minh Vacma:

Malta court orders cult leader’s extradition

A couple that was arrested in Malta should be extradited to France, a magistrate ruled on Monday morning.

49-year-old Frenchman Alain Schmitt, the leader of a religious sect, and his fiancée, 42-year-old Belgian national Laurence Liegeois, were arrested in their Naxxar home on January 7, after a European arrest warrant was issued against them.
» Full Story

Feng Shui:

Hong Kong court awards Nina Wang fortune to family

A court in Hong Kong has thrown out a feng shui master’s claim to the multi-billion dollar estate of Asia’s richest woman, Nina Wang.

Tony Chan, who said he was Nina Wang’s lover, had argued she left him her fortune/a> in a 2006 will.
» Full Story

Free Speech • Islam:

Geert Wilders to test British free speech with anti-Muslim film screening

Geert Wilders, the radical anti-Muslim Dutch politician, will seek to test free speech in Britain next month when he makes a second attempt to visit the House of Lords to screen a controversial film equating Islam to Nazism.

Lord Ahmed, a Muslim peer, has promised to mobilise 10,000 Muslims to block Mr Wilders from entering the House of Lords.
» Full Story

Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee • Elizabeth Smart:

Prosecutors say alleged Elizabeth Smart kidnapper competent to stand trial

Street preacher Brian David Mitchell is purposely adopting a fake religious persona, does not suffer a mental illness and is competent to stand trial, according to federal prosecutors.

In December, a 10-day competency hearing was held for the man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting Elizabeth Smart in 2002. It was Mitchell’s third competency hearing overall, and his first in federal court.
» Full Story

Christianity:

More churches promote martial arts to reach young men

Recruitment efforts at the churches, which are predominantly white, involve fight night television viewing parties and lecture series that use ultimate fighting to explain how Christ fought for what he believed in. Other ministers go further, hosting or participating in live events.

The goal, these pastors say, is to inject some machismo into their ministries — and into the image of Jesus — in the hope of making Christianity more appealing.
» Full Story

Scientology:

Scientologist makes court appearance in murder case

A DNA test was ordered today for William Rex Fowler, a 58-year-old businessman and founder of an Adams County software company accused of killing his former business partner.

Fowler’s wife, Janet, reportedly told investigators that her husband is a Scientologist “and would not have gone without a fight.” [video]
» Full Story

Monday February 1, 2010

Islam:

Agreement between Rifqa Bary, parents to settle conflict short-lived

The agreement between Rifqa Bary and her parents to settle their conflict through counseling has ended without a single meeting between the parents and their daughter, according to a motion filed in Franklin County Juvenile Court.

The parents – Mohamed and Aysha Bary – are withdrawing their consent to resolve the case. The girl turns 18 on August 10.
» Full Story

Sunday January 31, 2010

Faith Healing • Followers of Christ (Oregon) • Neil Jeffrey Beagley:

Fate of Oregon City faith healers now with jury

Prosecutors said Neil Beagley’s fate was sealed when he was born. His undetected medical condition caused urine to back up into his body and eventually destroyed his kidneys. He also was born into a family that believed using medical doctors showed a lack of faith in God.
The key question facing jurors is this: What would a reasonable person have done?
» Full Story

Friday January 29, 2010

Faith Healing • Followers of Christ (Oregon) • Neil Jeffrey Beagley:

Mother in faith healing trial says she never thought son could die

Nearly two weeks of testimony ended Thursday in the trial of Jeffrey and Marci Beagley, who are charged with criminally negligent homicide for failing to provide medical care to their 16-year-old son. Neil Beagley died in June 2008 of complications from a congenital urinary blockage that had never been treated.

The family belongs to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that relies on faith healing rather than medical care.
» Full Story

Islam • Religious Persecution:

Islamic Militants in Somalia Murder Christian Leader

Islamic extremists shot the leader of an underground church to death outside the capital city of Somalia this month and have threatened to kill his wife, his tearful widow told Compass.

Having learned that he had left Islam to become a Christian, Somali militants from the Islamic extremist al Shabaab murdered 41-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Ali at about noon on Jan. 1, Amina Ibrahim Hassan said.
» Full Story

Islam • Pakistan • Religious Persecution:

Violent Death of Girl in Pakistan Spurs Push for Justice

A daring protest and a high-profile funeral here on Monday (Jan. 25) for a 12-year-old Christian girl who died from torture and malnourishment has cast a rare spotlight on abuse of the Christian poor in Pakistan.

In an uncommon challenge in the predominantly Muslim nation, the Christian parents of Shazia Bashir Masih protested police unresponsiveness to the alleged violence against their daughter by Muslim attorney Chaudhary Muhammad Naeem and his family and his attempt to buy their silence after her death. The house servant died on Friday (Jan. 22) after working eight months in Naeem’s house.
» Full Story

Pakistan • Religious Persecution:

Pakistan Court Hears Case About Murdered Christian Servant

A court hearing was underway Friday, January 29, in Pakistan against the main suspect in the murder of a 12-year-old Christian domestic servant, her family’s representatives said.

Shazia Masih was allegedly mentally and physically abused in the of Muslim lawyer Chaudhry Mohammad Naeem, in the city of Lahore, where she had worked for the last eight months to support her poor parents.
» Full Story

Human Right Violations • Iran • Islam:

Iran Detains Christians without Legal Counsel

At least 14 Christians have been detained in Iranian prisons for weeks without legal counsel in the past few months as last year’s crackdown has continued, sources said.

In the southwestern city of Shiraz, seven Christians were being detained as of Jan. 11, another source said, and most of them may face charges of apostasy, or leaving Islam.
» Full Story

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Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, new religious movements, alternative religions, abusive churches and - to a lesser extent - related issues (e.g. ethics, human rights).

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