Why and how do young people get recruited by Muslim extremists?
Alex Gibney’s Scientology documentary will debut on HBO at the end of March.
Also: Psychic Daniel Perez has been convicted in the drowning death of a woman at his commune, plus 27 other criminal charges.
Plus: cult expert Steve Hassan’s YouTube channel.
Chinese house church leader Samuel Lamb, persecuted for his faith, dies.
Former porn star Jenna Presley, now a Christian, joins XXXChurch. And punk rockers are speaking out against Buddhism’s neo-Nazis.
Myanmar’s Buddhist 969 movement has been referred to as “neo-Nazi” — and not without reason. Four members of a Belgian sect have been found guilty in the death of a former follower.
Also: Bobby McFerrin talks about his new album, spirityouall — and you can listen to some of the songs here. Plus: members of the Westboro hate group that pretends to be a church are freaking out (more than usual).
In today’s edition: the upcoming funeral of cult leader Sun Myung Moon, “one of the most preposterous egomaniacs of the post-war world.” Germany’s Federal Office of Criminal Investigation warms of impending attacks by Neo-Nazis. And Scientology front group Narconon does not want to release staff records.
Plus: ‘Death of God’ theologian Gabrial Vahanian dies. More…
‘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.
In today’s issue: Congress delivers a blow to the Westboro ‘Baptist’ Hate group. Snoop Dogg ‘born again’ as a Rastafarian.
Plus: an important article in which author Debra Weyermann wonders why the FLDS cult is allowed to continue its abusive polygamist practices in Utah and Arizona.
And a ‘pastor’ says Kermit the Frog deserves the death penalty.
A collection of links and blurbs highlighting religion news, cult stories — and anything else we think you might like.
Today: New York fails to stop noisy Scientologists. Religious devotees line up to have coconuts smashed on their heads. Nigerian prophet wants to represent a Japanese cult.
Also: South African white supremacist guilty of high treason in Mandela murder plot.
Plus… our yummiest new Twitter follower.
Notorious serial hater David Duke has been arrested in Germany and is facing deportation.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that tracks hate groups and fights discrimination cases, describes Duke as the “most recognizable figure of the American radical right, a neo-Nazi, longtime Klan leader and now international spokesman for Holocaust denial.”
After 35 years of tracking cults and hate groups, counseling victims of mind control, and monitoring end-of-the-world prophecies on the Internet, cult expert Hal Mansfield is moving on, the Denver Post reports.
Mansfield is handing off control of the nonprofit he started in 1981 to Lisa Monroney, herself a cult survivor.
Religion News Roundup for Thursday, May 17, 2011. Is Facebook killing the church? Crystal Cathedral Choir: no gays, please; Religion and Santa hat suit settled; Christians question divorce statistics, and more.
Plus: Today in History; and King James Bible or Nothing…