Among the items in this issue of Religion News Briefs: Criticizing the Mormon Church can get you excommunicated. Leaving the destructive Scientology cult is scary (and wise).
Also: After three decades of debate on homosexuality, the Presbyterian Church has changed its definition of marriage. Plus: the Ex-Hijabi Fashion Photo Blog.
Want to understand what’s going on in Syria? You need to be familiar with some 7th century prophecies.
“Craigslist killer” Miranda Barbour, who claims she was a Satanist and has killed “under 100 people,” has had her first court appearance.
Also: In some countries, not wearing a proper veil can get you arrested. By the religious police.
The beard-cutting-cult leader is back in the news. Plus more…
A 26-year-old woman who joined a cult-like church after ‘running away from home’ has been seen in public.
Doctors are not liable for the death of a Jehovah’s Witness who refused a blood transfusion.
Do Muslims prefer to see — or not see — a woman’s face while she is out in public?
An arrest warrant has been issued for Matt Pitt — pastor of one of America’s most popular youth ministries — for impersonating a police officer. Also: A look at the state of America’s interfaith movement.
Here’s why non-Muslim women in Sweden are donning headscarves. And how do you forgive a crime like murder?
The late Sun Myung Moon, a fantasist who claimed to be the Messiah, once said that after he died, “I will continue to lead the church from the spirit world.” If that’s so, why is the cult going through a power struggle?
Muslim cleric Yousuf Badri is belligerent and rude during a television interview, but the female hosts puts him in his place.
And we go back to the Seventies, with the Source Family.
People wearing burqas, balaclavas or all-in-one motorbike helmets in public in the Netherlands will soon face fines. On Friday, government ministers voted to outlaw all clothing which covers the face.
“People must be able to look each other in the face and be recognisable to one another. The wearing of face-covering clothing does not fit in with the Netherlands’ open society, in which participation in social traffic is actually crucial,” the cabinet said Friday.
Muslim leaders in Kenya say they will continue to oppose a decision by Roman Catholic bishops, announced on 19 August, that students in Catholic schools may not wear the hijab, or head covering, worn by many devout Muslim girls and women.
The bishops cited long-existing church tradition, discipline and philosophies when announcing the rule.
A law banning the wearing of garments that cover the face in public has today come into force in France — the first European country to impose such a ban. Penalties for forcing a person to wear a burqa are part of the law.
The ban is seen as primarily affecting Muslim women who wear the niqab or burqa.
Hundreds of girls are bring forced by British schools to wear the Islamic veil in a move which has been heavily criticised by mainstream Muslims.
Islamic schools have introduced uniform policies which force girls to wear the burka or a full headscarf and veil known as the niqab.
Moderate followers of Islam said yesterday that enforcement of the veil was a “dangerous precedent” and that children attending such schools were being “brainwashed“.
A Muslim woman who said Disneyland wouldn’t let her wear a religious headscarf on her job as a vacation planner or ticket seller – the second such complaint in recent weeks – has reached an agreement with the Southern California theme park and is now wearing a Disney-provided blue scarf and beret-style hat to work.
The park worked with Abdallah to design a covering to match her costume and meet her religious needs, Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown said. She’s been wearing a blue scarf topped with a beret since early this month.
“Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has a long history of accommodating a variety of religious requests from cast members of all faiths — with more than 200 accommodations made over the last three years and this instance was no different,” Brown said in a statement.
However, the woman in question is not Imane Boudlal, the hostess at Storyteller’s Cafe in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, who was part of a media dust-up last month after she refused management’s offer to either remove her hijab or take a job working out of public view.