The fate of a religious couple accused of abusing their adopted daughter to death is now in the hands of a jury.
There is a new documentary about the 1985 police bombing of the radical group MOVE in Philadephia.
And Germany police have removed 40 children from two Twelve Tribes communities on suspicion of abuse.
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.
When Lynn’s son Bryce went to the annual Harvest Crusade, a Christian music and evangelism event, she had no way of knowing he would be lured into a cultic group known as the Twelve Tribes.
As Lynn discovered to her dismay, behind the quaint “freepapers” and homespun clothing is a religious system marked by exclusivism, racism, manipulation, and the spiritual domination of a man who calls himself “Yoneq.”
Seventh-day Adventists are among the other groups that chase down Crusade attendees.
Today’s Religion News Roundup includes stories about elves, a ship operated by a religious sect, mosques facing the wrong direction, and mosques possibly spied upon by the FBI.
Also: “I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed.” Yes, it’s about Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Further, the definitive book on the Columbine High School massacre. Germany’s main Neo-Nazi party faces collapse, and according to the Vatican the Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin.
The practices of messianic Christian sect The Twelve Tribes continue to divide opinion in the Blue Mountains, Australia, with an ex-member and a potential new member throwing another log into the fire of debate.
Winmalee resident Matthew Klein, is sounding another warning to Mountains residents to recognise the Twelve Tribes as a potentially destructive cult.
“It’s very apparent from these two cases that at least two courts are looking for specific, direct information regarding each family unit,” said Washington attorney John Easton, who in 1984 was the Vermont attorney general and involved in the decision to launch the Island Pond raid. “To remove a child from a family is a high burden. The courts are going to be looking for a substantial amount of proof” of abuse.