http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:08:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23500/aum-shinrikyo-secret-cash-stash http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23500/aum-shinrikyo-secret-cash-stash#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:43:23 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23500 A secret stash of money apparently hidden by a member of the Aum Shinrikyo killer cult -- notorious for its poison gas attacks on Japan's metro system, as well as a range of other crimes -- has been turned over to a fund set up for its victims.

which handed the money to the organization after the expiration of a three-month retention period, is investigating whether the money was used to provide support for wanted AUM fugitives.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23500/aum-shinrikyo-secret-cash-stash/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23422/religion-news-pareidolia http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23422/religion-news-pareidolia#comments Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:01:07 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23422 The RNB Religion News Roundup for Friday, Apr. 24, 2009 includes items about Scientology, Aum Shinrikyo, Korean cult leader Jeong Myeong-Seok, the continuing popularity of Aum Shrinrikyo's jailed cult leader, and China's on-going ban on Falun Gong.

Also: • A US state must pay benefits to the wife of a Jehovah's Witness who died after refusing a blood transfusion  • A killer turned pastor upsets his victim's son  • Nigerian preacher speaks out against witch hunts  • Vampire story gets demoted...

Plus: what do you see? Pareidolia?]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23422/religion-news-pareidolia/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23351/aum-shinrikyo-29 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23351/aum-shinrikyo-29#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:06:52 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23351 The 14th anniversary of the Aum Shinrikyo cult’s deadly 1995 sarin nerve gas attacks was marked Friday in a ceremony at the Tokyo subway’s Kasumigaseki Station.

The attacks took the lives of 12 people, including two subway workers at Kasumigaseki Station in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, and sickened more than 5,500 others. [video]]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23351/aum-shinrikyo-29/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23348/aum-shinrikyo-28 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23348/aum-shinrikyo-28#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:37:23 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23348 The Tokyo District Court has dismissed a request for a retrial of AUM Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara, who was sentenced to death for crimes including the deadly sarin gassing of Tokyo's subway system in 1995.

Lawyers for Asahara, 54, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, had provided testimony by former AUM executive Seiichi Endo, 48, who denied that Asahara was involved in the subway gassing. However, the court dismissed the credibility of the testimony. [video]]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23348/aum-shinrikyo-28/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23002/aum-shinrikyo-27 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23002/aum-shinrikyo-27#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:38:24 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23002 The agency decided to file the request with the Public Security Examination Commission, concluding that the group could commit indiscriminate mass murders because it is still under the strong influence of founder, Chizuo Matsumoto, 53, also known as Shoko Asahara.

The agency also asked for the surveillance extension to include Hikari no Wa, a new group established by Fumihiro Joyu, a 45-year-old former senior Aum member. The agency believes the splinter group is still integral to the cult.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23002/aum-shinrikyo-27/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22982/aum-shinrikyo-26 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22982/aum-shinrikyo-26#comments Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:24:28 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=22982 Bankruptcy procedures for AUM Shinrikyo have effectively ended, but victims of the 1995 sarin gas attacks on Tokyo's subway system and other crimes by cult members have received only 40 percent of the compensation that they should have been paid, the receiver said Wednesday.

The victims will also receive up to 30 million yen each from the central government depending on their degree of suffering under a relief law set to take effect Dec. 18. [video]]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22982/aum-shinrikyo-26/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22917/aum-shinrikyo-25 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22917/aum-shinrikyo-25#comments Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:29:53 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=22917 Lawyers for the Japanese doomsday cult leader on death row for ordering a deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 have requested a retrial, a court official said Tuesday.

The petition was based on what Asahara's lawyers considered new evidence from testimony by a senior member of the cult that the attacks had been carried out against their leader's wishes. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22917/aum-shinrikyo-25/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21953/aum-shinrikyo-cult-victim-dies http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21953/aum-shinrikyo-cult-victim-dies#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:44:51 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=21953 Sumiko Kono, who survived an AUM Shinrikyo cult sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in 1994 but was left bedridden and comatose, died Tuesday of respiratory failure, people familiar with her said.

The Japanese cult has a history of violence. Nevertheless, it was for a while defended by cult apologists who suggested investigation of the 'new religious movement' was akin to religious persecution. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21953/aum-shinrikyo-cult-victim-dies/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21650/aum-compensation-unresolved http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21650/aum-compensation-unresolved#comments Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:49:56 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=21650 The Diet recently passed into law a bill designed to provide state benefits to victims of crimes committed by the Aum Supreme Truth cult, but stopped short of requiring the central government to compensate victims of the indiscriminate terrorist attacks.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21650/aum-compensation-unresolved/feed http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21619/aum-shinrikyo-compensation-victims http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21619/aum-shinrikyo-compensation-victims#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:25:18 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=21619 "Thirteen years of efforts (to seek legislation on compensation for victims) finally bore fruit. I feel a sense of accomplishment," one victim said.

She lost her 50-year-old husband Kazumasa, who worked as an assistant station master at Kasumigaseki Subway Station, when it was gassed by the cult in 1995.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21619/aum-shinrikyo-compensation-victims/feed