Minister hawked phony cancer cure
An ex-doctor and minister who sold a mixture of suntan lotion an beef flavoring as a miracle cancer cure has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and a $1.2 million fine.
Christine Daniel hawked her quackery via a program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) — a ‘Christian’ broadcasting network which is known to some as The Blasphemy Channel.1
According to the Orange County Register many victims, who paid up to $4,270 for a one-week supply, told the judge they trusted Daniel because she was a minister.
She also offered a six-month treatment program for between $120,000 and $150,000.
In a statement to the court, Daniel said clients came to her precisely because they didn’t trust traditional medical care.
“In faith-based churches, there are a lot of people who won’t go to doctors,” she said, and then went on to name the deceased and refute the allegations brought by family members in court.
“They know in their hearts that what they are saying is not correct,” she said, to audible gasps from observers.”They know the truth, and the Lord’s going to deal with this.”
Cult Expert joins Board of Advisors
Cult expert Steve Hassan has joined the Board of Advisors of the Child-Friendly Faith Project.
The non-profit organization is a public charity that educates the public about the impact that religious, spiritual, and cultural beliefs and practices have on children in the United States and around the world.
Hassan is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a Nationally Certified Counselor.
Leader of super-wealthy church talks about “cult of money”
Last Thursday Pope Francis called on world leaders to put an end to the “cult of money” and to do more to help the poor.
That’s a bit rich from the leader of a church whose wealth is “impossible to calculate.”
Kashi Ashram: Claims of Rape, Child Abuse, and Kidnapping
For many, to exist near Ma Jaya — a beguiling New Yorker with a tenth-grade education — was rapture. To them, her dogma was beyond the mortal ken. But there were also stories of profound cruelty and despotism. Former followers say Kashi members were beaten for disobedience or spiritual cleansing.
In the church’s 35 years of existence, adherents claim abuses including beatings, pedophilia, forgery of official documents, and extortion occurred by order of Ma Jaya.
An in-depth article by Terrence McCoy in the New Times Broward-Palm Beach.
Incidentally, the textual equivalent of a sound-bite within the article reminds us to remind you: If you need a cult expert, here’s how to select one.
Twitter Users Risk Damnation
We were going to invite you to subscribe to Religion News Blog’s Twitter stream.
But buyer beware: Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, the head of Saudi Arabia’s religious police (yes, that’s a crazy notion to start with) has declared that anyone using social media sites – and especially Twitter – “has lost this world and his afterlife”.
The sheikh’s comments echo those of the imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in April who used his sermon – seen by millions on TV – to warn that Twitter was a threat to national unity, our correspondent says.
For reasons that are self-evident we file these kind of items under the header, “Religious Insanity.”