Religion News, Opinion & P.R.
Moscow police have been searching the Church of Scientology on Taganskaya Street since Thursday morning. According to a source who spoke to Russian news agency Interfax, “The search could be part of a criminal investigation by the Moscow region’s Investigative Committee into the distribution of scientology literature of the extremist nature.” »
Hate Groups • Iran • Islam • Religious Persecution:
Militants with suspected ties to Iranian security forces have threatened to kill nearly a dozen evangelical Christians who fled Iran unless they “repent” and return to Islam. At least 11 Iranian Christians received electronic mail messages from ‘The Unknown Soldiers Of The Hidden Imam’ calling on them to either repent or face extra-judicial execution. »
FLDS • Polygamy:
Now that the polygamist FLDS sect’s leader and prophet Warren Jeffs has been jailed for life plus 20 years, cracks may be showing in the group’s armor. But life in the polygamist town of Colorado City hasn’t become any easier. »
Islam • Religious Persecution:
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani refused to recant his Christian faith today at the fourth and final court hearing in Iran to appeal his death sentence for apostasy (leaving Islam). A court declared that although Nadarkhani was not a practicing Muslim before his conversion, he was still guilty of apostasy due to his Muslim ancestry. »
Archeology:
The Dead Sea Scrolls, which include the world’s oldest known biblical manuscripts, are now available online through a cooperative effort between the Israel Museum, where they are housed, and Google. The Dead Seas Scrolls Digital Project will allow users to examine the Second Temple-era manuscripts at an unprecedented level of detail »
Column: Sightings:
The Pope should have learned by now that “warning” does little in complex situations. German and European Catholics argue: does the Pope’s discouragement of the hopeful people who once flocked to the movement of aggiornamento and to generous ecumenism four decades ago contribute to the problems? »
Homosexuality / Lesbianism / Bisexuality / Transgenderism:
The Scottish government has begun a 14-week public consultation, running from 2 September to 9 December, on the question of legalizing marriage for gay couples, encouraging individuals and groups such as religious organizations to take part. The government has said it would like to hear from religious groups and ordinary people, and has indicated religious organizations will have freedom of choice in deciding whether to officiate at gay weddings. »
Column: Sightings:
A group of Interfaith leaders is calling for a much needed, thorough evaluation of the entire U.S. Criminal Justice System with recommendations for substantially improving it. President Obama’s officials and many Congresspersons acknowledged that a thorough assessment of the entire criminal justice system is forty-six years overdue. »
Other News
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Religion News Blog
The Philippines Supreme Court has denied with finality the appeal of Dinagat Islands Rep. Ruben Ecleo Jr. seeking to reverse the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court’s 2006 ruling convicting him and two other people of graft and sending them to 31 years in prison.
The high court affirmed its Oct. 18, 2010 decision finding for the Sandiganbayan, saying it saw no reason to reverse the anti-graft court’s decision.
The anti-graft court convicted and sentenced Ecleo to jail for his involvement in anomalous deals to build a public market, a new municipal building and a guesthouse in the years 1991 to 1994, when he was mayor of San Jose town in Surigao del Norte.
He is said to be a “supreme master” of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, which is reported to have more than a million members.
Ecleo still faces an often-delayed trial on charges that he committed parricide by murdering his wife Alona in January, 2002.
Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association
Ecleo is considered the spiriual leader of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), a religious group founded by his father.
The PMBA, considered to be theologically a cult of Christianity, has an estimated one million members in the central and southern Philippines. Followers consider Ruben Ecleo Jr., who took control over the group after his father’s death in 1987, to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
In relation to that case Ecleo has remained free on a P1-million bail since March 1, 2004.
Cult Experts: If your loved-one is caught up in a manipulative cult, abusive church, or destructive relationship (so-called 'one-on-one cult') you may need a cult expert. Avoid the bad apples. Here's how to select a cult expert.
Wearing a full-length black niqab — with only her brown eyes showing through narrow slits — Widad Lootah does not look like a sexual activist. Yet this conservative Muslim is one of the best known — and most outspoken — marriage counselors in the United Arab Emirates. »
Police in South Korea arrested a pastor and his wife Saturday after three of their four children were found dead. The couple has been detained on suspicions of assaulting and starving their children to death »
The granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Paul and Jan Crouch has accused the world’s largest Christian broadcaster of unlawfully distributing charitable assets worth more than $50 million to the company’s directors. Koper’s complaint is directed against two attorneys who handle some of TBN’s legal work. »
Just one day after parents in Washington were charged in the faith healing death of the teenaged son, an Oregon couple belonging to the same church have been arrested in the faith healing death of their 16-year-old son. They belong to a church is known for its unbiblical teachings beliefs regarding faith healing. »
The former spokesman for the polygamous sect led by Warren Jeffs says in a new lawsuit that sect leaders arranged a nighttime burglary that gutted his business after he was excommunicated for refusing to falsify sect records on Jeffs’ marriages to underage girls. Willie Jessop, a onetime Jeffs bodyguard and sect spokesman, is seeking more than $100 million in damages for business losses, repayment of money he loaned for sect legal expenses and compensation for abuse his family has suffered since leaving the group. »
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Religion News Blog (RNB) is published by Apologetics Index. It 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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