Father Alberto Cutie, known as “Father Oprah,” has been much in the news after photos were published showing him hugging a woman at a bar and beach. Facing a resumption of celibacy, Father Cutie has discovered the Episcopal Church.
Continue reading “Faith With Fräuleins: Father Cutie Goes Episcopal”
Legislators in the Knesset gave initial approval to a law that would make it a crime to deny the right of Israel to exist — mandating a year in prison for such an exercise of free speech.
Continue reading “Israel Moves To Criminalize Statements Against Israel’s Right to Exist”
In torts, we have seen a steady line of cases related to the abuse or mishandling of corpses. However, this Indiana case is off the charts. Rev. Reginald Burrell and his parishioners from Northlake Church of Christ went to their newly purchased building only to find four bodies abandoned from 2006.
Continue reading “Funeral Home Operator Accused of Abandoning Four Bodies in Building Since 2006”
Theodore B. Olson, the U.S. solicitor general under Bush and his lawyer in Bush v. Gore, and David Boies, who represented former vice president Al Gore in that case, have joined forces to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court after this week’s loss in the California state court system.
Continue reading “Olson and Bois Team Up on Proposition 8 Challenge”
Scientology is back in court this week. Officials are facing organized fraud charges with $7 million in fines and 10 years in prison — and could be ordered to end their operations in France. The Church is viewed as a criminal organization and a dangerous cult for years in various European nations, here and here.
Continue reading “Scientology Officers Stand Trial for Organized Fraud in France”
After the recent disclosure of how Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used biblical passages as part of the war briefings for President George W. Bush, GQ magazine has an even more disturbing account: Bush lobbied French President Chirac that the war in Iraq was foretold in the bible and told that it was the final struggle with Gog and Magog.
Police have arrested Billy Masters, 66, reportedly the preacher at Harvest Baptist Church for first-degree sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy. What is remarkable is that Masters previously was convicted and served time for sodomy of a child.
Continue reading “Laying Hands Upon: Ex-Child Molester Becomes Preacher and Molests Children”
The late Rev. Jerry Falwell always insisted that he spoke for “the moral majority.” However, it appears that his university, Liberty University, is equally interested in silencing what they consider to be the “immoral minority.” The school this week shutdown the the Liberty University College Democrats as inimical to their moral mission. The Republican Student organization was retained.
Continue reading “The Price of Liberty: University Bans Democratic Student Organization on Morality Grounds”
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the departing Archbishop of Westminster, had a few things to say about sin this week in welcoming his replacement. It turns out that the greatest sin is not clergy child abuse, war crimes, ethnic cleansing or the like. The greatest sin? Atheism.
Continue reading “Cardinal: The Greatest Sin Is . . .”
Recently, we discussed the forthcoming book by former Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, the leading cleric who was accused of date rape and covering up the abuse of children by other priests. The church paid $450,000 in 1998 to a man who had accused him of assault. Now, Weakland insists that he and other priests did not know it was a crime to have sex with children and thought they would not remember or they would “grow out of it.”
Continue reading “Weakland: I Did Not Know Sex With Child Was a Crime and Thought Kids Would “Grow Out of It””
Colleen Hauser and her son, Daniel, have disappeared in the wake of losing the court fight to block chemotherapy needed to save Daniel’s life. He is suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma and an x-ray on Monday showed that the tumor had grown.
Continue reading “Minnesota Mom Flees with Ailing Son To Avoid Chemotherapy”
Scientists have discovered what is being heralded as the long sought “missing link” — a 47-million-year-old fossilized skeleton of a monkey called Ida that is 95% complete. It is believed to show a direct connection between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. Of course, anyone who has a master’s in creationist science in Texas or runs as a GOP candidate for president can tell you that the researchers have been duped. Since the Earth is only 10,000 years old, the radiometric dating is obviously wrong by roughly 47 million years and evolution is just a god-hating, atheist-advancing theory.
Continue reading “Darwinian Dilemma: Scientists See Fossil As “Missing Link” While Creationist Scientists See Old Dead Monkey”
In past blogs, we have been keeping track of the horrible fate of children and women in Nigeria and other parts of Africa accused of witchcraft. Belief in witches is common in Africa and shown recently with disclosures about one of Gov. Sarah Palin’s favorite preachers. Now, these children are protesting to try to get the world to pay attention to their plight and to get the government to act.
Continue reading “Bewitching Protest: Accused Nigerian Child Witches Protest Abuse”
GQ has an array of daily briefing booklet sent by Donald Rumsfeld to George W. Bush on the Iraq war and the war on terror that featured Biblical sayings. This is the reading prepared for a president who called the war on terror a “crusade.” Such Biblical inspirational sayings as “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death” were coupled with triumphant pictures for the President’s daily briefings. The covers read like a Sunday school workbook for an adolescent student.
The Frisco Independent School District in Texas was faced with complaints about Gideon volunteers hanging around outside of schools to pass out bibles to children. They solved the problem by inviting them into the school where free bibles are now made available to the students — a move that has caused some parents to object.
Continue reading “Texas School District Resolves Controversy Over Christian Groups Distributing Bibles Outside of Schools By Inviting Them Inside”