http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:15:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23860/american-torture-kidnappers-convicted http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23860/american-torture-kidnappers-convicted#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:11:15 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23860 MILAN — An Italian judge says he has convicted 23 Americans of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from a Milan street in a CIA extraordinary rendition, AP reports.

The American suspects — all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents — are being tried in absentia and are considered fugitives.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23860/american-torture-kidnappers-convicted/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23415/us-human-rights-violations-9 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23415/us-human-rights-violations-9#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:34:55 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23415 The Americans Civil Liberties Union deserves credit for suing for the memos’ release. And President Obama deserves credit for overruling his own C.I.A. director and ordering that the memos be made public. It is hard to think of another case in which documents stamped “Top Secret” were released with hardly any deletions.

But this cannot be the end of the scrutiny for these and other decisions by the Bush administration.

Until Americans and their leaders fully understand the rules the Bush administration concocted to justify such abuses — and who set the rules and who approved them — there is no hope of fixing a profoundly broken system of justice and ensuring that that these acts are never repeated.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23415/us-human-rights-violations-9/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23342/us-human-rights-violations-8 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23342/us-human-rights-violations-8#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:32:16 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23342 The International Committee of the Red Cross concluded in a secret report that the Bush administration's treatment of al-Qaeda captives "constituted torture," a finding that strongly implied that CIA interrogation methods violated international law, according to newly published excerpts from the long-concealed 2007 document.

The report, an account alleging physical and psychological brutality inside CIA "black site" prisons, also states that some U.S. practices amounted to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." Such maltreatment of detainees is expressly prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23342/us-human-rights-violations-8/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23032/bush-versus-bible http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23032/bush-versus-bible#comments Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:22:12 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23032 Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true.

"You know. Probably not. ... No, I'm not a literalist..."

The president also said that he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23032/bush-versus-bible/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23029/detroit-car-industry-bailout http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23029/detroit-car-industry-bailout#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:17:53 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23029 The Sunday service at Greater Grace Temple began with the Clark Sisters song “I’m Looking for a Miracle” and included a reading of this verse from the Book of Romans: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Pentecostal Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, who shared the sanctuary’s wide altar with three gleaming sport utility vehicles, closed his sermon by leading the choir and congregants in a boisterous rendition of the gospel singer Myrna Summers’s “We’re Gonna Make It” as hundreds of worshipers who work in the automotive industry — union assemblers, executives, car salesmen — gathered six deep around the altar to have their foreheads anointed with consecrated oil.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23029/detroit-car-industry-bailout/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22908/airport-laptop-seizures http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22908/airport-laptop-seizures#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:16:25 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=22908 Elahi was confronted with what many local Muslims and residents of Arab descent say are increased searches and seizures of laptops at airports and border crossings without warrant or warning.

Civil rights groups are challenging the tactic, as the Bush administration and citizens continue to grapple with the conflict between civil liberties and national security seven years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22908/airport-laptop-seizures/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22338/christian-hypocrites http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22338/christian-hypocrites#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:03:49 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=22338 A new survey suggests the very Americans who claim to follow the Bible most assiduously don’t consult it when forming their views about torture and government policy.

It shows not only are white evangelical Southerners more likely than the general populace to believe torture is sometimes or often justified, but also that they are far more likely—to tweak a phrase from Proverbs—to “lean on their own understanding” regarding the subject.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22338/christian-hypocrites/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21737/the-fbis-plan-to-profile-muslims http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21737/the-fbis-plan-to-profile-muslims#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:27:47 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=21737 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21737/the-fbis-plan-to-profile-muslims/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21725/international-legal-experts-unveil-index-to-measure-how-well-nations-follow-rule-of-law-plus-robert-jay-lifton-comments-on-us-use-of-torture http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21725/international-legal-experts-unveil-index-to-measure-how-well-nations-follow-rule-of-law-plus-robert-jay-lifton-comments-on-us-use-of-torture#comments Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:06:44 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=21725
Also: not coincidentally, Robert Jay Lifton comments on America's use of torture. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21725/international-legal-experts-unveil-index-to-measure-how-well-nations-follow-rule-of-law-plus-robert-jay-lifton-comments-on-us-use-of-torture/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21718/muslim-sues-over-loss-of-security-clearance http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21718/muslim-sues-over-loss-of-security-clearance#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:55:06 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=21718 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21718/muslim-sues-over-loss-of-security-clearance/feed 0