Jediism is losing followers in Canada, according to the latest census. Also: the arrival of religious immigrants has worked to offset the country’s growing secular population.

Scientology troubled front group Narconon now has the Oklahoma government looking over its shoulders.

Also: Vactican official says worshipping Santa Maria is blasphemy.

Brazilian evangelist Valdemiro Santiago, who refers to himself as an ‘apostle,’ is the founder of Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus — Worldwide Church of God’s Power.

He’s got big expansion plans for his movement in the U.S., so keep your hand on your wallet…

Look to the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s a Chapel!

Leaders of Warren Jeffs’ church have re-filed a lawsuit accusing the man appointed to run a controversial polygamous trust of fraud.

The trust has been taken over by the State of Utah, which currently wants to get rid of it.

Three men who were sentenced to death for their part in the Aum Shinrikyo cult’s 1995 Sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway may be called to testify in the trial of fellow cult member Makoto Hirata.

Hirata faces trial for the fatal abduction and confinement of a notary clerk.

Also: ‘Hot Yoga’ guru Bikram Choudhury faces a sexual harassment lawsuit. Plus, more trouble for Narconon Arrowhead: Lawsuits allege its counselors traded sex for drugs.

Plus: Citizens of a polygamous cult’s town are being watched by surveillance cameras.

Eighteen years ago today, the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult released Sarin, a deadly nerve gas, on five subway trains during Tokyo’s early-morning rush hour.

A handful of misguided sociologists of religion traveled from America in defense of the cult.

The Utah Supreme Court says that 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg made an error when she secularized a polygamous church’s property trust.

The ruling will not benefit the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, since the sect missed the deadline to challenge Lindberg’s decision.

The state of Utah wants to divest control of a religious sect’s property trust fund .

We’ll tell you what the United Effort Plan (UEP) property trust is, why Utah seized control of it, why the UEP has been the subject of ongoing legal battles, and why the state is looking for exit strategies.

‘Psychic’ James van Praagh is concerned that the public will be confused and deceived (but not in the way you might think).

A court has rules that the polygamous cult known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) cannot intervene in the way the State of Utah runs the sect’s property trust.

And Narconon of Georgia, a Scientology front group, is being investigated for insurance fraud.

A polygamous cult of Mormonism, whose prophet is serving life in prison, is coming under increased scrutiny by U.S. authorities.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has announced a criminal probe to determine whether marshals in the FLDS cult-dominated town of Colorado City are preventing women from leaving the polygamous sect.

The State of Texas on Wednesday took steps to seize the Yearning For Zion ranch where underage girls were involved in marriages to adult followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).

Last year the cult’s leader, Warren Jeffs, was sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting two underage followers he took as brides in what the FLDS considers “spiritual marriages.”

Under Texas law, law enforcement can try to seize property that was used to commit or facilitate certain criminal conduct.

A communal land trust once run by jailed U.S. polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs should not be turned back to leaders of his breakaway Mormon sect because they were too late filing a legal challenge against Utah’s takeover of the assets, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.

We provide background to the case, as well as an overview of other controversies surrounding the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Today: The New Mexico Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the convictions of religious cult leader Wayne Bent for sexual misconduct with teenage followers.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has been ordered to appear in court to discuss how the state will pay millions in past-due fees to the accountant in charge of the property trust the state took over from the FLDS cult.

And Word of Faith Fellowship — an abusive church in North Carolina — is accused of confining and beating a man because he is gay.

Finally: Would you donate money to a millionaire preacher who claims God will make you rich?

In today’s issue: Unitarian faith growing throughout the USA. Cheerleaders’ Scripture-Quoting Football Signs Face Constitutional Challenge. And a poll shows that most Americans doubt Scientology is a true religion.

Plus… Filipino students hold naked protest In Manila against Innocence Of Muslims film.

‘Hug Me Jesus’ statue about to replace the Touchdown Jesus statue that was destroyed by lightning. Also: The Trinity Broadcasting Network’s legal problems turn ‘The Blasphemy Channel’ into a soap opera.

Plus: What is going on at the Texas ranch of the polygamous FLDS cult? Storm chasers: some people want God to influence the weather to match their sense of right and wrong. That and more in today’s Religion News Briefs.

The state of Utah must help pay more than $5.5 million in past-due bills owed to an accountant appointed to run the FLDS sect’s United Effort Plan property trust after it was taken over by the state, the Utah Supreme Court decided Friday.

Utah courts seized control of the trust in 2005 amid allegations by state attorneys that the cult’s leaders had mismanaged its assets.