Peace activist Abie Nathan dead at 81
Iranian-born Abie Nathan passes away at Tel Aviv after long illness.He served in Israel’s first airforce squadron, founded the ‘Voice of Peace’ radio station and fought relentlessly for peace - flying solo to Egypt and serving jail time for meeting with Arafat.
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White Muslim convert arrested over ‘Gordon Brown assassination plot’
All four men are being questioned about a posting on an Arabic website that often carries messages from senior members of al-Qaeda.
The message, written in English, allegedly included a threat to target “all the political leaders, especially Tony Blair and Gordan (sic) Brown”.
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Books (Fiction), Islam:
Danish publisher hopes to publish The Jewel of Medina
The Jewel of Medina tells the story of Aisha, one of Muhammad’s wives, from the age of six to 18 when Muhammad dies.It was bought by Random House US for a reported advance of $100,000, but then dropped after the publisher was told by academics and security experts that publication was potentially more risky than Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and the Danish publication of cartoons of Muhammad. [video]
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Archeology:
Israel to Display the Dead Sea Scrolls on the Internet
JERUSALEM — In a crowded laboratory painted in gray and cooled like a cave, half a dozen specialists embarked this week on a historic undertaking: digitally photographing every one of the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls with the aim of making the entire file — among the most sought-after and examined documents on earth — available to all on the Internet. [video]» Full Story
Exclusive Brethren:
Exclusive Brethren sect claims it is being villified
The Exclusive Brethren — a cult of Christianity — has accused Australian Greens leader Bob Brown of vilifying its church and members.
Senator Brown yesterday urged the Upper House to conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into the activities of the Exclusive Brethren sect, saying it had prevented thousands of young Australians proceeding to tertiary education.
» Full Story
Kenja Communication:
Kenja Communication cult co-founder’s bizarre plot backfires
A former member of cult Kenja Communications has been granted an apprehended violence order following allegations the co-founder instigated a bizarre plot to intimidate and harass her.
Alison Pels, 20, thought Jan Hamilton and another Kenja co-member “were going to kill her” when she discovered they had disguised themselves and posed as directors at a stage audition she attended.
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South Africa: Alleged boy killer dabbled with Satanism
The parents of a South African schoolboy accused of killing a fellow student with a sword said Thursday that he had experimented with Satanism and was bullied.
“We regret to say that it appears that Morne experimented with Satanism and that it gave him a kind of protection for his psyche,” Machiel and Liza Harmse said in a statement in the Afrikaans daily newspaper Die Beeld.
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Mac Hammond:
Mac Hammond’s Living Word Christian Center facing IRS investigation
The Internal Revenue Service is investigating whether Living Word Christian Center violated the law for favorable compensation and loan dealings it gave to church founder and pastor Mac Hammond.The church has resisted demands by the IRS to open its books for an audit, and the agency filed a petition in United States District Court ordering the church to comply.
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Islam:
In Egypt, Some Women Say That Veils Increase Harassment
Female travelers consider Egypt one of the worst countries in the world for harassment on the streets — second only to Afghanistan, where the Taliban forced all women behind the veil and into seclusion in their homes.
And it’s not just women’s perceptions. The United States and Britain both warn female visitors in travel advisories that they may face unwanted attention, or sexual attacks, in Egypt.
» Full Story
Islam:
Canada: Calgary officials take the plunge in allowing hijabs at city pools
People in Calgary will now be allowed to swim in city pools wearing saris, hijabs and other religious clothing under a new policy designed to encourage ethnic and religious minorities to participate.But for safety reasons, saris will be banned from the deep end.
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FLDS, Polygamy:
More bigamy charges in Texas polygamist sect case
Two of the new indictments issued by a grand jury against members of a polygamist sect added bigamy charges against men already accused of sexual assault of a child.
The indictments, issued by a Schleicher County grand jury Thursday, accuse Michael George Emack, 57, and Raymond Merrill Jessop, 36, of bigamy.
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
Warren Jeffs case will not return to grand jury
Jeffs’ defense attorney Michael Piccaretta had argued that Jeffs was denied a fair, impartial and unbiased grand jury, and that the prosecution presented false or misleading evidence to the grand jury.
Piccaretta said Monday he plans to appeal Judge Steven Conn’s decision.
» Full Story
An Egyptian Muslim’s long journey towards Christianity
Maher al-Gohari converted to Christianity 30 years ago, but the Muslim-born Egyptian only recently took the decision to make his conversion public.
The 56-year-old former policeman has put applied to the Higher Administrative Court to have his religion changed from “Muslim” to “Christian” on his official ID card.
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
FLDS struggle beyond YFZ Ranch borders
For many FLDS parents and their children, returning to the sect’s ranch has been an elusive dream. Tammy Jessop’s desire to help extended family brought her to Barbara Jessop’s small apartment, where she cares for 11-year-old Benjamin while his mother struggles to regain custody of his 14-year-old sister.
“We need her,” said Benjamin of his big sister, who was ordered back into foster care last week by a district judge after allegations arose that the girl is an underage bride to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.
» Full Story
Hate Groups:
White supremacist gets death penalty in murder case
A white supremacist gang member was sentenced to death Friday for the 2002 murder of one of the organization’s founders.
An Orange County jury recommended in June that Michael Lamb, 34, a member of the gang Public Enemy Number One, should die for killing Scott Miller in 2002 in retaliation for giving away some of the gang’s secrets.
» Full Story
Islam, Polygamy:
Saudi mother asks for divorce for daughter (8)
A Saudi court will next month hear a plea for divorce from an 8-year-old girl married off by her father to a man in his 50s.The husband had refused to renounce the marriage, saying that he had not done anything illegal.
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
Utahns say fed help OK against polygamy
A push for federal help prosecuting crimes within polygamous communities has the support of a majority of Utahns, a new poll shows.But members of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which first publicly disavowed polygamy 118 years ago, were more likely to oppose federal prosecution than “non-LDS” respondents.
» Full Story
Michael Guglielmucci:
Money back pledge from disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci
Michael Guglielmucci spent two years playing to packed houses on the Christian rock scene, sending an anthem of faith and healing to the top of the charts.
But last week the Melbourne-based pastor came clean about the terminal cancer he did not actually have.
» Full Story
Fellowship of Friends:
A former believer takes on the Fellowship of Friends leader
Robert Earl Burton, a one-time elementary school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, is the unchallenged ruler of the Fellowship and doesn’t face questions, she said.
Not about his living like a king, not about a lifestyle said to rival a ruler in the last days of the Roman empire, not about the nuclear Armageddon that Burton proclaimed would happen in 2006, not about whether the Fellowship is following the “Fourth Way” system of spiritual development taught by two 20th-century Russian philosophers and mystics, Haven said.
“If you challenge him you have to leave the cult,” she said. “No one can understand how crazy this can get.”
» Full Story
Faith Healing, Madeline Neumann:
Parents who prayed as daughter died ask judge to drop charges
Defense attorneys asked a judge Tuesday to drop charges against a town of Weston couple who chose to pray rather than seek medical attention for their dying daughter.
Dale and Leilani Neumann pleaded not guilty during a court appearance to felony charges of second-degree reckless homicide.
» Full Story
Antichrist misses court date, but divorce case goes on without him
Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, the Doral-based church leader who first claimed to be Christ, then the Antichrist, disappeared after he was declared in contempt of court for failure to pay alimony to his soon-to-be ex-wife.Their divorce trial went ahead without him this week, with wife Josefina de Jesus Torres alleging abuse, abandonment and infidelity.
» Full Story
Religion Trends, Witchcraft:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer slaying church attendance among women, study claims
The old-fashioned attitudes and hierarchies of churches are causing a steep decline in the number of female worshippers, according to an academic study.
The report claims more than 50,000 women a year have deserted their congregations over the past two decades because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives.
It says that instead young women are becoming attracted to the pagan religion Wicca, where females play a central role, which has grown in popularity after being featured positively in films, TV shows and books.
» Full Story
Hate Groups, Islam:
UK: Channel 4 announces return of Undercover Mosque
Channel 4 (UK) produces a followup to its undercover report documenting hate speech and other forms of extremism promoted at mosques in England.Having won damages from a police force that made false claims about the documentary, Undercover Moscue: The Return again documents that hatred, intolerance and extremism is still being preached in British mosques — many of them funded by Saudi Arabian religious fundamentalists. [video]
» Full Story
FLDS, Polygamy:
Warren Jeffs, 2 other FLDS leaders charged with bigamy
Bigamy charges have been filed in Texas against jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs and two other members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.Bigamy, being married to two people at the same time, is a felony in Texas, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.» Full Story
Swedish pastor accused of leading violent ‘cowboy sect’
A southern Swedish religious congregation based at a cowboy-themed conference centre has been accused of harbouring a violent and extreme religious sect.The cowboy-theme park may look like a line-dancing paradise, but according to defectors, life under parish pastor Christer Segerliv is far from heavenly.
Calling himself the Sheriff of Lone Star, Segerliv demands total subjugation from parish members, defectors claim.
» Full Story
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