http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:58:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24212/trial-set-for-erstwhile-flds-cult-leader-warren-jeffs http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24212/trial-set-for-erstwhile-flds-cult-leader-warren-jeffs#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 07:46:08 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24212 After more than two years, a Mohave County Superior Court judge finally set a trial date in one of two criminal cases filed against Warren Jeffs.

The self-proclaimed prophet of the polygamist polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is serving a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted in Utah in 2007 of two counts of rape as an accomplice. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24212/trial-set-for-erstwhile-flds-cult-leader-warren-jeffs/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24181/flds-member-merril-leroy-jessop-guilty http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24181/flds-member-merril-leroy-jessop-guilty#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:41:18 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24181 The Texas Attorney General's Office says a member of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been convicted of sexual assault of an alleged underage bride.

Merril Leroy Jessop faces up to life in prison.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24181/flds-member-merril-leroy-jessop-guilty/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24095/judge-cancels-hearing-in-case-against-warren-jeffs http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24095/judge-cancels-hearing-in-case-against-warren-jeffs#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:50:13 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24095 An Arizona judge has canceled a two-day hearing in the state's case against polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs after granting a defense motion barring use of any evidence found at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Texas ranch in 2008.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24095/judge-cancels-hearing-in-case-against-warren-jeffs/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23954/flds-indictments-upheld-keate-trial-begins-today http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23954/flds-indictments-upheld-keate-trial-begins-today#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:17:42 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23954 After two hearings lasting 12 hours Monday, the stage is set for the trial of Allan Eugene Keate, beginning today in the Memorial Building in Eldorado.

Keate, a member of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sect, is alleged to have taken an underage girl as a "spiritual" wife.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23954/flds-indictments-upheld-keate-trial-begins-today/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23881/flds-member-raymond-jessop-sentenced http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23881/flds-member-raymond-jessop-sentenced#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:47:42 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23881 A man from a polygamist group in West Texas has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexual assault of a child.

Raymond Jessop was sentenced Tuesday by the same jury that convicted him last week.

The 38-year-old was the first member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to go on trial since authorities raided their ranch in Eldorado last year.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23881/flds-member-raymond-jessop-sentenced/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23867/raymond-jessop-convicted http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23867/raymond-jessop-convicted#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:22:26 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23867 Raymond M. Jessop, one of the leaders of a polygamist sect was convicted Thursday night of sexually assaulting an under-age girl whom the church elders had assigned to him as one of his nine wives.

The state used birth records, a marriage certificate and FLDS church records to show Jessop, already married, took the girl as a spiritual wife in 2004 when she was 16. [video] ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23867/raymond-jessop-convicted/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23827/raymond-jessop-flds-polygamy-trial http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23827/raymond-jessop-flds-polygamy-trial#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:36:14 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23827 The first of a dozen polygamist sect members charged with abuse of women stands trial Monday, 18 months after agents raided the group's remote ranch and carted off more than 400 children in the largest child-custody case in American history.

Raymond Jessop, 38, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of sexual assault of a child, a charge stemming from his alleged marriage to an underage girl in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He will be tried later on a separate count of bigamy related to a second alleged underage bride.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23827/raymond-jessop-flds-polygamy-trial/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23807/flds-united-effort-plan-supreme-court-challenge http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23807/flds-united-effort-plan-supreme-court-challenge#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:25:21 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23807 A polygamous sect is asking the Utah Supreme Court to overturn a state court decision that stripped the religious purposes from its communal land trust.

In a court filing Tuesday, attorneys for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints say making the United Effort Plan Trust secular was a violation of the faith's constitutionally protected religious rights. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23807/flds-united-effort-plan-supreme-court-challenge/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23740/evidence-obtained-in-raid-on-flds-sect-ok http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23740/evidence-obtained-in-raid-on-flds-sect-ok#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:31:17 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23740 raid of a polygamist sect's West Texas ranch in upcoming criminal trials even though search warrants were prompted by faked reports of abuse, AP reports.

Attorneys for FLDS sect men charged after the April 2008 raid had sought to have the documents — including family photos, records of multiple marriages and journal entries by jailed sect leader Warren Jeffs — kept out of their trials because they were obtained using search warrants that relied on false reports to a domestic abuse hotline.

The defendants argued law enforcement officials were looking for an excuse to raid the Yearning For Zion Ranch and did little to check the reports before rummaging through the ranch's homes and other buildings.

Prosecutors disputed that claim, saying law enforcement officials believed the reports were real at the time of the search.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23740/evidence-obtained-in-raid-on-flds-sect-ok/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23536/berry-knoll-farm http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23536/berry-knoll-farm#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:04:42 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23536 A Utah judge suggested Wednesday she may offer a polygamous sect's historic farm to the highest bidder -- a sale hundreds of FLDS members gathered outside the Matheson Courthouse Wednesday to oppose.

Salt Lake City accountant Bruce R. Wisan, who has overseen the trust for the past four years, wants to sell the farm property to solve the trust's "liquidity" crisis. The trust has debts of about $3 million, mostly in fees owed to Wisan's firm and that of his attorneys.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23536/berry-knoll-farm/feed 0