Latest Religion and Cult News
Thursday August 21, 2008
RNB Quicklinks:RNB QuickLinks: Mormons or CIA agents? Jesus in a sink, ethical dogs, the hijood and a black mailbox
Today’s RNB QuickLinks reveals CIA Agents disguised as Mormons, the hijood (like the burqini, but then for athletes), and ethical dogs. Also: the black mailbox, Jesus appears in a bathroom sink, and what to respond to “The Lord be with you.”
And more, including a prediction of churches twice as big as today’s largest mega-church. You have been warned!
» Full Story
Islam, Terrorism:
MI5: Terrorists not frustrated religious loners
Research from the security service found it was impossible to draw up a typical profile of a “British Terrorist” contradicting the perception that all are traditional religious fanatics or Islamic fundamentalists.
The classified report on radicalisation concluded there was no single pathway to violent extremism and no easy way to identify those who would become involved in terrorism in Britain.
» Full Story
Amish:
U.S. Amish population surges and spreads: study
At a time when some other ethnic and religious groups fear dilution through mixed marriages, the Amish have boosted their numbers by insisting on marriage within the group and providing education at Amish-only schools for 90 percent of their children.In a sign of the spreading population, Amish numbers more than doubled in 10 states. [video]
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
Records show more Texas sect members wed minors
Church documents disclosed as part of a separate child custody case over the last several months identify at least 10 other men as allegedly having married girls who were 16 or younger.The girls’ fathers and stepfathers blessed the unions and sometimes even presided over ceremonies between other young girls and adult men, the documents show.
» Full Story
Lawrence Douglas Harris Sr., Ritual Killing:
Court documents claim man killed step-daughters in Satanic ritual
Prosecutors say 26-year-old Lawrence Douglas Harris Sr., who faces two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing his 8- and 10-year-old stepdaughters in January, was practicing satanism and carefully planned the killings as a part of a spell or ritual from “The Satanic Bible.”Shortly after the girls’ deaths, police said Harris told them they had died during a spell that “had gone bad.”
» Full Story
Wednesday August 20, 2008
Fresh Fire Ministries, Todd Bentley:Todd Bentley bends: B. C. healer, televangelist withdraws for his own healing
What a performance it was: For the past few months, Todd Bentley, a 32-year-old former drug addict from Canada’s west coast, was the hottest thing going on the global televangelist circuit. A hog-riding faith healer with a devil-may-care attitude.
Then he failed his flock, the old fashioned way: By consorting with another woman.
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
CPS is taking custody of sect leader’s child bride
The child bride of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was ordered into foster care Tuesday by a judge who said the girl’s mother had shown herself unwilling to ensure her protection from further abuse.
State District Judge Barbara Walther said “uncontroverted evidence” existed that the girl had married Jeffs when she was 12 in a wedding her father performed and her mother also witnessed.
» Full Story
Tuesday August 19, 2008
RNB Quicklinks:RNB QuickLinks: Atheists, Reverend Magdalen, Satanic Bikinis, Bibles, Scientology Whistleblowers, and BB King
Today’s issue of RNB QuickLinks brings you Satanic bikinis vs. full-body swimwear (yes, we’re talking Islam, of course), atheists upset at being shunned by an interfaith service, religious freedom, hell, Scientology whistleblowers and BB King…» Full Story
Islam:
Man goes on trial accused of encouraging two boys to flog themselves during Muslim ceremony in Britain
A devout Muslim ordered two boys to flog themselves until their backs bled during a religious ceremony, a court has heard.
In a British legal first, Syed Mustafa Zaidi went on trial for child cruelty after allegedly making the pair flagellate themselves with a bladed whip, as part of a ritual that is centuries old.
» Full Story
Islam:
‘Model’ pupil secretly studied ways of wiping out non-Muslims
Britain’s youngest terrorist - a teenager from West Yorkshire - was behind bars today after a guide to death and explosives was found in the schoolboy’s home.
Hammaad Munshi, just 16 and taking GCSEs when arrested, was part of a cell of cyber groomers that set out to brainwash the vulnerable to kill “non-believers”.
» Full Story
Fresh Fire Ministries, Todd Bentley:
Todd Bentley kept pastor out of the loop for his protection
The pastor in whose Florida church the Todd Bentley circus started says Bentley kept him out of the loop for his protection.
The loop? Bentley, who claims to get visited by angels, take trips to heaven and talk with the Apostle Paul, recently filed for separation from his wife — days before it was revealed that he was carrying on an “unhealthy relationship” with a female staff member.
» Full Story
Islam:
Iranian ‘cult’ of imam sparks controversy
When President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad launched Iran’s first domestically built telecommunications satellite into space on Sunday, he did so in the name of the last true Shia imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi.
The launch coincided with the end of festivities in Iran to mark the birthday of the imam, one of the holiest figures in Shia Islam, who is believed to have gone into hiding in the year 941 and will return to bring peace and justice to the world.
But this year’s festivities have proved unusually controversial because of claims that the imam is being exploited for commercial and political purposes.
» Full Story
UCKG:
Church sues HIV-positive ex-member
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God also goes by the name of “Stop Suffering.” However, the church causes lots of suffering by preaching its heavy-handed brand of the so-called Prosperity Gospel: God can only heal you or bless you financially if you first give him money — by giving it to the church.In Uganda, one former member who did not get healed after donating her car to the church demanded her car back. Now she is experiencing the cult’s wrath.
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
Efforts resume for custody of 8 FLDS children
As hearings were set to get under way yesterday morning, attorneys for the parents of the eight children said they wanted to find an amicable settlement with CPS.Closed-door negotiations continued with attorneys for three sets of parents but broke down in the case of two siblings, a 14-year-old girl who authorities say was spiritually married at age 12 to the sect’s prophet, Warren Jeffs, and her 11-year-old brother.
» Full Story
Monday August 18, 2008
FLDS, Polygamy:FLDS custody case ends for some children; starts for others. Evidence hearing may include hoax caller. Plus: Lessons of the Short Creek raid.
While investigations into abuses at the Texas community of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints continue custody cases for 34 of the sect’s kids have been dropped. Texas Child Welfare Authorities do want to see 8 children back in foster care.
Meanwhile, a hearing on a challenge to the law-enforcement search of the FLDS ranch may include the person who placed the hoax calls that led to the raid.
Plus: What have we learned from the 1953 raid on another FLDS community?
» Full Story
Fresh Fire Ministries, Todd Bentley:
Todd Bentley resigns from leadership position
In stepping down, Bentley will also refrain from all public ministries, including his meetings in south Florida which have attracted about 300,000 people to a church and baseball stadium since April.
“In the meantime, he’s going to get himself refreshed,” said Ken Greter, International Missions Director for Fresh Fire Ministries.
» Full Story
Islam, Polygamy:
Netherlands recognizes polygamous marriages of Muslims. Sort of.
Although polygamy is banned in the Netherlands, the marriages of Muslims who have several wives are recognised by Dutch authorities.
Registrars in the major cities, in particular, record dozens of bigamous or polygamous marriages per year.
» Full Story
Saturday August 16, 2008
Todd Bentley:Board: Todd Bentley has entered into an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff
Three days after reacting to news that controversial evangelist Todd Bentley is separating from his wife, the board of Directors of Fresh Fire Ministries announces that he has also agreed to step down from his position on the Board of Directors and to refrain from all public ministry for a season to receive counsel in his personal life. They cite an unhealthy relationship…
» Full Story
Friday August 15, 2008
Todd Bentley:Todd Bentley proves divisive for Christians
Up to 10,000 people a day have been flocking to a Florida baseball stadium to lose themselves in ecstatic music and appeal to Bentley for divine healing, which the T-shirted, bling-wearing redhead sometimes offers by kneeing the sick in the stomach or kicking them with his biker boots and shouting “Bam!”A number of rival conservative Christian radio hosts, apocalypticists and charismatics have attacked the Canadian preacher for, among other things, claiming to have gone to heaven and met and talked with angels, Jesus and the apostle Paul.
» Full Story
China:
Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center
The Olympic Village’s religious center has become the target of a quiet protest by athletes, coaches and other delegates who say its staffing and services fall woefully short of the promises made by Chinese organizers.Previous Olympic hosts welcomed foreign chaplains, but China has banned them from living with the athletes.
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
FLDS man strikes plea deal in YFZ raid
A young man arrested in the early days of the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church’s YFZ Ranch has struck a plea bargain with prosecutors over a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a public servant.The incident occured during the April raid on the sect’s YFZ ranch.
Levi Barlow Jeffs is the son of jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
FLDS question state management of trust
More than three years after the Utah courts took control of a polygamous church’s property trust, a representative of the embattled sect is speaking up — asking a state judge whether church members can ultimately own the homes and property now managed by a court-appointed accountant.FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop appeared in court wanting to clear up confusion surrounding the ownership of assets in the United Effort Plan Trust.
» Full Story
Immanuel David, Matthias David:
Religious cult that inspired tragedy re-emerging in Salt Lake
It was one of Utah’s most shocking moments, 30 years ago this month, seven children and their mother jumped or were thrown from an 11th floor balcony. Only one child survived. Now, the family’s tiny religious cult has re-emerged in Salt Lake. [video]
» Full Story
George Feigley, Neo-American Church:
Child Sex Cult Leader Freed From Prison
On Friday, after serving 33 years for sex crimes against children, George Feigley, 68, will exit prison and reenter society.Feigley, who used aliases such as “G.G. Stoctay Ph.D.” and “the Angel of Light,” has long maintained that his Neo American Church was never a cult. But he had a group of devoted followers who risked life and limb for him.
The tenets of Feigley’s Neo American Church, not to be confused with a church of the same name founded by Timothy Leary in the 1960s, included an emphasis on achieving mystical experiences through orgasm. It also included a sinister point of view on the sexuality of children and how they should be used for pleasure.
» Full Story
Scientology:
Anonymous gears up for more Scientology protests
The Church of Scientology floods websites specializing in the publication of Press Releases with material portraying itself as all sweetness and light.However, the cult is fighting a losing battle, as more and more writers and reporters — bolstered perhaps by the ongoing protests organized by Anonymous — expose Scientology’s dark side to daylight.
» Full Story
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- Todd Bentley bends: B. C. healer, televangelist withdraws for his own healing
- CPS is taking custody of sect leader’s child bride
- U.S. Amish population surges and spreads: study
- MI5: Terrorists not frustrated religious loners
- Records show more Texas sect members wed minors
- Court documents claim man killed step-daughters in Satanic ritual
- RNB QuickLinks: Mormons or CIA agents? Jesus in a sink, ethical dogs, the hijood and a black mailbox
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