The Russian media is reporting that Dmitry Kazachuk, 4, died during an exorcism in the Primorye region. Doctors believe the boy had pneumonia. No one by the shaman was present with the boy when he stopped breathing.
Category: Religion
Alana Newhouse has an interesting op-ed in the New York Times about a move in the Israeli Knesset that would give the Orthodox rabbinate control of all conversions in Israel. The authority (extending to matters of all Jewish births, marriages and deaths) would allow ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi rabbis) to define who is Jewish under standards that could exclude a significant portion of the population.
In an astonishing concession under pressure from the Catholic Church, the New Zealand Human Rights Commission has agreed to remove language from a draft report that simply stated that New Zealand is a secular state and that religion was only for the “private sphere.”
Continue reading “Human Rights Commission To Remove Language Referring to New Zealand as Secular State Under Pressure From the Catholic Church”
The French Parliament has voted to become the second country (Belgium) to ban full burqas. The lawmakers voted to make it illegal for women to wear a full burqas or nijab in public. It is a direct assault on religious freedom from a nation that helped define the basic rights of all humans.
Continue reading “France Parliament Votes to Ban the Burqa”
Islamabad, Pakistan is dealing with murder that seems the Middle East version of the water fountain scene in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.. Muslims attacked Hindus and forced dozens to flee their homes in Sindh province after a young Hindu boy committed the offense of drinking water from a cooler outside of a mosque.
Continue reading “Muslim Attack Hindu Families After Boy Drinks Water In Front of Pakistani Mosque”
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has issued directives to school officials to accommodate Muslim students during Ramadan, including canceling swimming lessons, tests, and sex ed classes.
The Pentagon has sent out a questionnaire for troops, including questions on how they feel about the lifting of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban. The questions have been challenged as homophobic and designed to enrage the troops. The military insists that it is merely trying to gather data on the views of the troops and was not trying to trigger a backlash.
Continue reading “Pentagon Questionnaire on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Called Homophobic”
First there was the sighting of a vampire after a crash on the roads of Colorado. Now, witnesses have come forward to report of a car of zombies who first crashed their car on Interstate 84 and then got out and walked around.
Continue reading “Zombies! Witnesses Describe Car Filled With Undead in Oregon Crash”
There is an interesting controversy at the University of Illinois where the university has fired adjunct professor Dr. Kenneth Howell for teaching why homosexual acts violate natural moral law under the tenets of the Catholic church. Howell taught courses on the Catholic faith at the St. John’s Catholic Newman Center. He was fired after a student labeled his statements “hate speech.”
Continue reading “Illinois Professor in Catholic Studies Fired After Student Objects That Teachings Constitute Hate Speech”
Ernest J. Pagels is a politician who is not just satisfied with balancing the budget. He is campaigning on a promise to “outlaw” homosexuality as well as abortion and pornography. You may think he is running for Kandahar city council on the Taliban ticket, but he is one of the candidates vying for the GOP slot to challenge Russ Feingold in the Senate.
Two prominent art curators in Moscow, Yury Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev, are facing three years in prison for showing art that insulted the Russian Orthodox Church. It is the latest example of blasphemy prosecutions, a growing trend in the West and industrialized nations.
Continue reading “Criminalizing Art: Two Prominent Art Curators Face Three Years in Jail for Offending Orthodox Church”
What do you do when you hand over all your money before a promised Doomsday, but Doomsday never comes? You go find the next best thing: a lawyer. That is the situation in Australia where a court has frozen the assets of Pastor Rocco Leo and his associates at Agape Ministries after followers demanded their money back. While there appears to have been no written contract, this appears a novel inverse of a force majeure claim: the act of God never came.
Continue reading “Followers Sue Church After Doomsday Fails To Come”
Picture this scene out of Midnight Express, police surrounding a nervous man late at night on an airport tarmac. Pulling away his shirt, they find taped to his body . . . steaks. A beef mule. That could be the scene in Karnataka, India where the government is about to make the possession of beef a criminal offense. Presumably, possession of beef with intent to distribute will receive a higher sentence.
Continue reading “Do The Prime, Do The Time: India Legislators Move To Criminalize Beef Possession”
We often run Iranian blogs to show clown-like policies such as requiring Islamic haircuts or mannequin mascetomies. However, it is important to remember the plight of women and dissidents under Iran’s medieval Sharia system. There is no more frightening example than the scheduled stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, for conducting an “illicit relationship outside marriage.” Convicted in May 2006, Ashtiani has already been given 99 lashes under her Sharia sentence.
Continue reading “Iran Set to Stone Woman To Death — After Giving Her 99 Lashes — For Adultery”
Now you can finally have hair like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian government has released the results of a list of acceptable and banned hair styles for men.