Skip to main content.
Religion News Blog is a non-profit service providing academics, religion professionals and other researchers with religion & cult news
ReligionNewsBlog

Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues

Navigation:
A Random Image


Related

More news articles & news archive on UCKG


Translate



Advertisements *

What is a cult: Cult Definition
Simple steps to financial health and a good credit score


Elsewhere

Can you really create wealth through Positive Confession?


UCKG:

Unjustified lawsuits by church against press condemned

Reporters Without Borders, France
Feb. 21, 2008
www.rsf.org

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 20722 • Posted: Thursday February 21, 2008  

  • Google Bookmarks
  • Google Reader
  • Gmail
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Blogger Post
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • Share/Bookmark
Click here... More articles on this topic: UCKG

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the “harassment” of three journalists and their newspapers by followers of the Brazil-based evangelical Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus – IURD), who have filed dozens of lawsuits against the media.

Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

Controverial movement, based in Brazil. UCKG – the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God – also uses the name “Stop Suffering.”

Promotes word-faith theology, with a particular emphasis on the seed-faith doctrine (i.e. if you want to receive money, healing or another blessing, you first must give or ’sow’ money). See also: prosperity theology

Since its theology and practices are far outside those of normal, biblical Christianity, this movement is considered to be, theologically, a cult of Christianity.

 

The daily paper A Folha de São Paulo and one of its reporters, Elvira Lobato, is facing about 50 individual suits filed in more than 20 of the country’s states after she wrote about the church’s finances. The Rio de Janeiro daily Extra and its editor, Bruno Thys, and the Salvador de Bahia (northeastern Brazil) daily A Tarde and one of its reporters, Valmar Hupsel Filho, have had 40 suits filed against them for reporting that a IURD member defiled a Catholic religious image.

“Press freedom allows anyone to respond to what they consider defamation, but such a concerted legal campaign is different from normal defence,” the organisation said. “Why has the IURD not filed a single lawsuit against each paper? The mass individual litigation looks like concerted harassment of the media. A religious argument is also not valid in the suit against A Folha de São Paulo. We declare our support for the three newspapers.”

Lobato reported in A Folha de São Paulo last 15 December about the hugely-wealthy IURD’s links with tax havens. She did not name any church member or discuss its doctrines. But some 50 IURD members said their religious beliefs were “insulted” and each filed a lawsuit. The paper says the scattering of the cases over many states all at the same time makes an effective defence impossible. The judiciary has rejected the papers’ request for the suits to be merged into one. However Lobato and A Folha have already won five of the cases.

The 35 complaints filed against A Tarde and Hupsel Filho and the five against Thys and Extra follow reports in the two papers last December of the defiling of a Catholic image in a Salvador de Bahia church. The IURD says the reports amounted to “incitement to hatred” of its followers. The IURD TV station TV Record attacked the daily O Globo this month (17 February) for calling the IURD a sect. The station screened a photo of Lobato.

Brazilian journalists have backed the three papers. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on 19 February that “press freedom means the press can write what it likes but also allows those who think they have been wronged to take legal action to prove their innocence.”

Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has more than 120 correspondents worldwide.

  • Google Bookmarks
  • Google Reader
  • Gmail
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Blogger Post
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • Share/Bookmark


What You Can Do From Here

Read More Articles On These Topics
more cult news articlemore religion news Categories: UCKG
more religion news aboutmore Religion News Blog articles about
Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Follow Religion News Blog on Twitter


Read Another Article
Find Related Information
cult research search enginecountercult information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults
Find Related Books


Most Popular Today


Share This Article

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:





Counter Cult Search

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.


Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.


Apologetics Search

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.


Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Home
Latest Headlines
RSS news feed [?]
Headlines by Email
News Trackers
Free content for your site
About RNB
Privacy Policy
Contact RNB
Link to RNB
Advertise on RNB
Apologetics Index
Cult FAQ
Apologetics Search Engine
CounterCult Search Engine