ReligionNewsBlog, Aug. 10-13, 2004
ApologeticsIndex.org
Fri, Aug. 13, 2004
[Witchcraft] Spelling it out, I'm sorry
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8322-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8322-.html )
Friday the 13th was a lucky day for triumphant witch Olivia Watts.
Yesterday's inauspicious date saw the end of a year-long legal hassle
between the transgender witch and City of Casey Mayor Rob Wilson. The
saga ended when Cr Wilson publicly apologised for comments made about
the former police officer in a 2003 press release.
[Catholic Church] Catholic church finds no fraud in weeping statue
hoax
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8321-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8321-.html )
The Roman Catholic Church says an Australian community center did not
commit fraud or gain financially from a hoax that drew worshippers
from around the world.
[St John Apostolic Faith Mission] Church unshackles patients following
govt pressure
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8320-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8320-.html )
Eight mentally ill patients at the St John's Apostolic Faith Mission
Church in Etwatwa, east of Johannesburg, have been unshackled
following pressure from the department of health. Earlier reports said
church officials had shackled the patients as a means of curing them
from their mental illness.
[Hate Groups : Scientology] The Passion of the Cruise
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8319-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8319-.html )
Tom talks frankly for the first time about why Scientology is "the
shit, man"
[Maximiliano Ramirez] Healer accused in teen's abuse
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8318-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8318-.html )
Evinger said 33-year-old Maximiliano Ramirez of Richmond has practiced
for several years as a curandero, a folk doctor who performs holistic
and ritualistic treatments of common ailments among the people of
rural Mexico. Richmond police say Ramirez took a 16-year-old boy on a
trip from Merrill, Ore., on July 13 to cure him of chronic seizures
but, once across the California border, began sexually abusing the
boy. Ramirez imprisoned his victim at his home on McLaughlin Street
for several days before returning him to his family July 26.
[Cargo Cults] Cargo cult reborn: once-stingy America offers cash pot
to deserving poor
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8317-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8317-.html )
The devotees of one of the world's last surviving "cargo cults" are a
patient bunch. On the remote Pacific island of Tanna, in Vanuatu,
they've been waiting since the 1930s, at least, for their share of the
apparently endless supply of material possessions which first began
arriving with European colonial settlers. [...] Today, Vanuatu is one
of the world's poorest nations. The "cargo cults" were reshuffled into
political parties after independence in 1980, but they didn't give up.
Christians, the cargo cultists argue, have been waiting 2000 years for
the return of their messiah. What's 70 or years so? Imagine the
astonishment, then, in Vanuatu's capital, Vila, when President Edward
Natapei recently heard from a "George from America". George's
emissaries had some fantastic news. Vanuatu had been picked in the
first round of winners in a new American aid lottery of sorts. No
application form required. The new Millennium Challenge Fund, the
post-September 11 foreign policy baby of US President George Bush, was
coming to the Pacific in 2004.
[Raelians] Some press releases are looney
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8316-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8316-.html )
Check out this latest press release, which originates from The Raelian
Revolution, a group which proclaims itself to be the "world's largest
UFO related non-profit organization" with 60,000 members in almost 100
countries "working toward the first embassy to welcome people from
space." Oooooo Kaaaayyyy. The Raelians want all those who seek public
office to undergo a brain scan. And they want the Neosho Daily News to
do a story on it.
[Islam] A British Muslim expert renders the Quran in modern-day
English
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8315-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8315-.html )
When M.A.S. Abdel Haleem was a youngster in Egypt, all the boys in his
school were required to memorize the entire Quran and were tested
annually to make sure they maintained this knowledge. [...] Haleem has
put his lifelong immersion in the Quran and the Arabic language to
good use the past seven years, working on a new Quran translation in
English that appeared last month: "The Quran" (Oxford University
Press).
[Witchcraft] Military casts Wicca in the shadows
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8314-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8314-.html )
After U.S. military personnel pelted American Wiccan servicemen and
servicewomen in Iraq with bottles and rocks as they worshipped in a
sacred circle, the Pentagon turned to Patrick McCollum of Moraga. The
chaplain, a national expert on the earth-based Wicca religion,
conjured a little Wicca 101 for the troops. [...] An advisory team
became a Pentagon priority when Wiccan military personnel reported
problems while conducting rites and religious activities. The Wiccans
said that some chaplains were trying to convert them and that
commanding officers made it difficult to practice, McCollum said.
[Gilbert Deya Ministries] Archbishop's 'Miracle Babies' Raise Child
Trafficking Fears
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8313-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8313-.html )
A disturbing world in which a religious guru convinces British women
they are pregnant by God with a miracle baby was exposed today in a
radio investigation. The claims prompted fears of child exploitation
and baby trafficking. Both the Church of England and the Royal College
of Obstetrics and Gynaecology have called on the Metropolitan Police
to investigate the claims involving members of one of Britain’s
fastest growing Evangelical churches The Gilbert Deya Ministries. Its
head, the self-styled Archbishop Gilbert Deya, pronounces the women
worshippers as pregnant by Jesus, according to the BBC Radio 4’s Face
the Facts investigation.
Thu, Aug. 12, 2004
[Witchcraft] Tribunal hears claims of Satanic cult
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8311-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8311-.html )
A former police officer, who had changed sex from a man to a woman,
was assaulted and had her property vandalised because she was a witch,
a tribunal was told yesterday.
[Church and State] County to fight Bible ruling by federal court
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8310-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8310-.html )
The court battle over a Bible at a monument outside a government
building may not be over yet. The Harris County attorney's office is
studying whether it should seek court permission to continue
displaying the Bible near the Civil Courts Building while appealing a
judge's order to remove it. A federal judge earlier this week gave the
county 10 days to remove the Bible from the monument.
[Catholic Church] Porn investigation shuts seminary
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8307-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8307-.html )
A papal emissary on Thursday shut down an Austrian seminary amid a
child pornography investigation on Thursday, saying that past
procedures for selecting students for the program were inadequate.
Bishop Klaus Kueng told reporters in remarks broadcast on state-run
ORF television that he regrets that the seminary veered away from its
mission of training young men to serve the Roman Catholic Church. "I
am closing the seminary right away," he said.
[Lori Hacking] Breaking: Lori Hacking contemplated divorce, documents
say
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8305-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8305-.html )
In a letter written to her husband, Lori Hacking expressed frustration
that caused her to consider ending her five-year marriage to Mark
Hacking, according to new court documents released Wednesday.
[Mormon Church] Tribal leaders plan rites at killing site
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8301-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8301-.html )
A group of American Indian leaders from several tribes plan to gather
at the site of an 1857 massacre in hopes of healing the lingering
wounds over the killings. Paiute Indians were once blamed for the
slaughter of 120 men, women and children from Arkansas heading West,
near what is now the southern Utah town of Enterprise. But now it is
believed that Mormon pioneers settling southern Utah were responsible
for the killings. John D. Lee, an adopted son of Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints President Brigham Young, was the only man
tried, convicted and executed in the killings.
[Offbeat News] Artist Charged for Painting Topless Eve
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8298-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8298-.html )
Authorities are threatening to jail an artist, saying his reproduction
of Michelangelo's painting of Eve is illegal because Adam's wife has
bare breasts. The original of the fresco "The Creation of Man" is in
the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. One year ago, Edward Stross
reproduced part of it on the side of his studio, Gonzo Fine Arts
Studio. "This is one of the world's most famous paintings," said
Stross, 42. "This is not my work. It is Michelangelo's, and all I am
trying to do is brighten up our community."
[Antisemitism] Cemetery attack shocks France
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8297-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8297-.html )
France is reeling from the shock of yet another display of
anti-Semitism after vandals desecrated a Jewish cemetery in Lyon on
Monday night. Fifty-six graves and a war memorial dedicated to Jews
who died during the Second World War were daubed with swastikas and
misspelled slogans glorifying Adolf Hitler and urging resistance to
"the Islamist invasion".
[Salman Rushdie] Porn a measure of freedom, says Rushdie
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8296-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8296-.html )
Salman Rushdie has done it again. The writer, who was put under a
death sentence for insulting Prophet Muhammad in The Satanic Verses,
has raised the stakes with an essay praising pornography, according to
a report in The Sunday Times. In the essay, to be published this
autumn alongside images of American porn stars in a book called XXX:30
Porn Star, Rushdie argues that a free and civilised society should be
judged by its willingness to accept pornography. His views are likely
to infuriate Christians and Muslims alike, the Times said.
[Kabbalah] 'Red String' goes retail
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8295-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8295-.html )
After enrolling such earnest Judaic scholars as Madonna, Britney
Spears, Paris Hilton, and Demi Moore, the Kabbalah Centre of Los
Angeles has taken another step forward in mainstreaming its product.
The nationwide Target stores are offering the Centre's prepackaged,
preblessed Red String bracelet, for an unbeatable price of $25.99.
When tied with seven knots to the left wrist, the red thread, or
bendel in Yiddish, is empowered to ward off the Evil Eye and assorted
negative forces.
[Lori Hacking] Security tapes may show disposal of missing wife's body
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8294-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8294-.html )
Police are reviewing security-camera images from the psychiatric
hospital where they believe Mark Hacking dumped his wife's body, a
technology executive said Wednesday. Hacking was charged Monday with
shooting his wife after an argument provoked by her discovery that he
had been lying about his college education and plans to enroll at a
medical school.
[Hate Groups] Judge lets Hale be own lawyer
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8292-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8292-.html )
In front of a row of supporters, convicted white supremacist Matthew
Hale was granted the right to represent himself Tuesday. [...] In
April Hale was convicted of asking his security chief to kill U.S.
District Judge Joan Lefkow, who had ordered Hale's church to change
its name as the result of a trademark-infringement case. Weisman
informed the judge that the government plans to present two factors,
obstruction of justice and terrorism, to increase Hale's sentence,
which is scheduled to be determined at a hearing Nov. 15.
[more news below]
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Wed, Aug. 11, 2004
[USA] Research details use of religion to help sell war on terror,
Iraq
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8291-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8291-.html )
A skillful mixing of religion and politics helped President Bush
silence critics and sell his policies on terrorism and Iraq to the
nation, according to a new book that analyzes hundreds of public
communications and news reports. As Bush makes his case for a second
term, the research by David Domke documents how during his first term
the president effectively linked religious terminology with political
goals in the turbulent months after the Sept. 11 attacks. [...] The
findings appear in Domke's book, "God Willing?: Political
Fundamentalism in the White House, the 'War on Terror,' and the
Echoing Press," just released by Pluto Press (London and Ann Arbor), a
detailed portrait of how the administration grounded its war on
terrorism in religion and how a deferential mainstream press helped
pave the way.
[Lori Hacking] Victim advocate says Mark Hacking's lies were a form of
domestic abuse
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8290-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8290-.html )
There is no evidence that Lori Hacking, prior to her death, was ever
physically abused by her husband, Mark. But the woman was a victim of
abuse through much of her marriage, an advocate says. Her husband's
years of lying to his wife and betrayal of trust are a type of control
exerted by abusers, said Stewart Ralphs, chairman of the Utah Domestic
Violence Council. "The main factor in domestic-violence relationships
is one partner using power and control over the other," Ralphs said in
a statement released Monday shortly after Mark Hacking was charged
with murder. Mark Hacking lied about graduating from the University of
Utah and about being accepted to medical school at the University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Mark Hacking also apparently lied to her
about why he was sent home early from his Mormon mission and about his
smoking habit.
[Lori Hacking] Husband of missing Utah woman charged
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8289-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8289-.html )
The man who confessed to shooting his wife in the head and throwing
her body in a trash bin stood passive Tuesday as a judge read the
charges against him during an initial court appearance.
[Islam] Can tolerant Canada tolerate sharia?
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8288-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8288-.html )
Their burnished domes rise high above the adjacent pizza parlors and
drab strip malls, like beacons of sanctity in this largely secular
country. But the peaceful facades of the dozens of mosques in Canada's
most populous province belie the public rancor that has been stirred
up over the use of sharia, or Islamic law, by Ontario's Muslims.
Muslims here, supported by a 1991 provincial law, have been using
sharia to mediate legal disputes, such as divorce and child custody.
But in the spring, after a Muslim group proposed creating a formalized
tribunal, what had been going on quietly for more than a decade became
front-page fodder and led to a government review of the law. A report
is expected next month.
[Books] A handy guide to many religions from the fringe
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8287-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8287-.html )
So many religious and spiritual movements have sprung up in the past
few decades, you'd need an encyclopedia to learn about them all.
Luckily, one just came out. It's New Religions: A Guide, a sweeping
overview of the spiritual explosion from Wicca to feng shui to Soka
Gakkai to Santeria to The Celestine Prophecy. The book is a fine,
fact-packed, though not flawless, resource.
CONSUMER ALERT: The book's forword is provided by notorious cult
apologist J. Gordon Melton who frequently sounds like a PR man for the
cults he discusses. Some of his work - particularly that which was
co-produced with James R. Lewis, a contributor to this volume - has
been referred to as "a travesty of research."
[Falun Gong] China Falun Gong followers appeal for permission to
remain in Japan
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8286-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8286-.html )
Chinese followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement who are seeking
asylum in Japan appealed Tuesday for permission to stay here out of
fear they will be persecuted in China.
[Rastafarianism] Dagga plan up in smoke?
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8285-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8285-.html )
It seems as if the idea for the first Amsterdam-style coffee shop in
South Africa is going up in smoke. Amsterdam is renowned for its
coffee shops where caffeine takes a backseat to marijuana. In June,
News24 carried a report on the plans of Rastafarians of the Boboshanti
branch in Khayalethu, Knysna, to open the Bobosh Ganja Coffeeshope.
However, last week, police clamped down in the same area, home to
South Africa's largest Rastafarian community.
[Polygamy] Justice center opens in polygamist town
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8284-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8284-.html )
In a community rocked by persistent and ongoing allegations of sexual
abuse, welfare fraud and forced marriages, suddenly there is a new
force in town. This week, the state of Arizona and Mojave County
opened a new justice center in the border straddling polygamist town
of Colorado City.
[Polygamy] Polygamist Sentenced to Public Service
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8283-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8283-.html )
Polygamist John Daniel Kingston and one of his wives have been found
in contempt of court for violating a protection order against
contacting two of their daughters.
[Cloning] Q&A: Therapeutic cloning
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8282-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8282-.html )
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority have given the
go-ahead for a team of British scientists to clone human embryos. BBC
News Online examines the implications of the case.
[Cloning] Scientists given cloning go-ahead
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8281-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8281-.html )
British scientists have been given permission to perform therapeutic
cloning using human embryos for the first time. The Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Authority granted the licence to experts
at the University of Newcastle. They are investigating new treatments
for conditions including diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's
disease.
[Kabbalah] Trancing Queen
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8280-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8280-.html )
Madonna has demanded a special peace room be built backstage at her UK
gigs. The pop queen wants a soundproof zone where she can meditate
into a trance for an hour before going on stage.
[Marcus Wesson] Prosecutors to seek death penalty against Wesson
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8279-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8279-.html )
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the Fresno man charged
with killing nine family members. Fresno County District Attorney
Elizabeth Egan made the announcement Tuesday after "a careful review
of the facts and applicable law," in defendant Marcus Wesson's case,
according to a news release.
[Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee] Woman in Smart Kidnapping Said
Incompetent
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8278-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8278-.html )
The woman accused in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping is still not
competent to stand trial and must receive another year of treatment, a
judge has ruled. Wanda Barzee, 58, who first was ruled incompetent in
January, remains incompetent, but there is a "substantial probability
she may become competent in the foreseeable future," Third District
Judge Judith Atherton said Tuesday. She ordered another evaluation on
Aug. 10, 2005.
[Buddhism] Some Hawai'i Buddhists protest over naming of new Waikiki
bar
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8277-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8277-.html )
Some Buddhists are so concerned about the name of a new Waikiki bar
that they have started a writing and telephone campaign to
proprietors, politicians and community groups. The Buddha Bar, in the
former House of Hong restaurant in Waikiki, opened Thursday. Some
Buddhists find the name offensive.
[Syria] Syria becoming haven for Iraq's Christian minority
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8276-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8276-.html )
Even before the church bombings, Christians reporting harassment by
Islamic fundamentalists had begun streaming out of Iraq, many to
neighboring Syria. Syria's relaxed visa rules for Arabs and its
geographical and cultural proximity to Iraq have attracted thousands
of Iraqis, Muslim as well as Christian, seeking to escape chaos at
home. A disproportionate number of the refugees, though, have been
Christian.
[Amish] Sect in the City
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8275-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8275-.html )
It only took "Amish in the City" housemate Mose one morning in midtown
Manhattan to size up the lay of the land. "In New York City, drivers
don't look at lines or signs they cross lanes, straddle the lines and
literally push each other out of the way with their cars," the
Wisconsin Amish schoolteacher said yesterday. There isn't much that
seems to surprise Mose these days, not after living in a posh
Hollywood house for two months as part of "Amish in the City," the UPN
reality show airing its third episode tonight (8 p.m./Ch. 9).
[Jehovah's Witnesses] Jehovah's: 144,000 Will Go to Heaven
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8274-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8274-.html )
Jehovah’s Witnesses doctrine concentrates on a coming godly kingdom on
earth and what its benefits will be for mankind, rather than going to
heaven or hell. They believe only 144,000 people will go to heaven.
[Offbeat News] Teachers complain at head's exorcise regime
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8273-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8273-.html )
Teachers at a fundamentalist Christian school in Norway are
complaining that the headmaster keeps trying to exorcise them. The
accusations were revealed in a report on the private Skjaergard's
School by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority. Previously, the
school was criticised by the same body for listing Jesus Christ as its
executive manager, reports Nettavisen.
[Philippines] Cult link probed after gory wedding murder
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8271-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8271-.html )
Filipino police have arrested four people for murdering a wedding
guest, roasting and eating parts of the body and serving some of the
remains at the reception, they said on Wednesday. [...] Bacuel said
this was the first time she ever heard of such a bizarre crime in this
area, adding they were looking into the possibility that Eladio Baule
may have been a member of one of the rural cults that are known for
chopping up their enemies.
[Unification Church] Ex-president falls in love online
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8308-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8308-.html )
Former Ugandan president Godfrey Binaisa (84) has fallen in love and
married in a mass wedding Japanese woman Tomoko Yamamoto, whom he
had only met through the internet. Binaisa said he was introduced to
Yamamoto last month during a ceremony that was part of an
international mass wedding of Korean billionaire Sun Myung Moon's
Unification Church in the South Korean capital, Seoul.
[Mungiki] Mungiki members battle warders
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8302-.html
(http://www.religionnewsblog.com/8302-.html )
Operations at the Nairobi Law Courts came to an abrupt halt yesterday
after an estimated 300 suspected Mungiki sect members fought with
prison warders along court corridors.
Anton
--
Anton and Janet Hein-Hudson
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