The News Wire

2013-09
2013-09-13	China sentences three men to death over attack blamed on Islamists Bloody clashes have killed at least 56 people – and possibly many more – over the last several months as Uighur resentment continues to simmer over heavy restrictions on Islam and Uighur culture
2013-09-13	‘Some girls have been married 60 times by the time they turn 18′ Egypt's illegal child sex tourism trade appears to have put a regional-friendly spin on the practice by portraying the buying and selling of children as a form of marriage, thus giving them a thin veneer of religious acceptability by circumventing Islamic rules against pre-marital sex.
2013-09-12	Moroccan Christian jailed for “shaking the faith of a Muslim” Propagating Christianity is prohibited under Article 220 of the Moroccan Penal Code. The law states that it is unlawful to stop one or more persons from practicing their religion by force, violence or threats.
2013-09-12	Quebec's values charter sends politicians scrambling If it is successful in entrenching secularism and religious neutrality in the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, it will set Quebec on a new course quite different from the other provinces.
2013-09-12	Vatican's Secretary Of State Says Celibacy Is An Open Question the first written mandate for chastity dates back to 304 C.E., when Canon 33 of the Council of Elvira stated that all 'bishops, presbyters, and deacons and all other clerics' should 'abstain completely from their wives and not to have children.' A definitive ruling was handed down at the Second Lateran Council of 1139, which ruled that priests were forbidden to marry."
2013-09-12	Pope Francis tells atheists to abide by their own consciences "Given – and this is the fundamental thing – that God's mercy has no limits, if He is approached with a sincere and repentant heart," the pope wrote, "the question for those who do not believe in God is to abide by their own conscience. There is sin, also for those who have no faith, in going against one's conscience. Listening to it and abiding by it means making up one's mind about what is good and evil."
2013-09-12	'Million Muslim March' Shaping Up To Be More Like A Few Hundred People Walking Down The Street the "Million Americans Against Fear," said to expect "somewhere in the hundreds, not thousands, of participants,"
2013-09-12	Somali Islamic scholars denounce al-Shabab in fatwa "Al-Shabab has strayed from the correct path of Islam, leading the Somali people onto the wrong path. The ideology they are spreading is a danger to the Islamic religion and the existence of the Somali society.
2013-09-12	Deoband issues fatwa banning photography as un-Islamic "Islam forbids photographing of humans and animals. Whoever does that will be answerable to God,"
2013-09-12	She may be flogged for not covering her hair Nothing has hindered women’s progress more than the cult of modesty. In the Muslim world it has sadly reached the point to where it is seen as the primary, if not only indicator, of a woman’s entire worth as a person.
2013-09-09	31 killed in Indian religious violence “These riots are taking place so as to cause Hindu-Muslim polarization of voters in anticipation of the general elections in April 2014. We'll see a lot more of this in the next nine months. What's new is that violence is now spreading to rural areas, though earlier it used to be restricted to cities,” he says.
2013-09-09	Bride, 8, dies of injuries on wedding night in Yemen Yemeni activists urged the local police to arrest the “beastly groom” and the girl’s family and transfer them to a court where justice would be served and the case would be used to help put an end to the practice of marrying very young girls in the impoverished country,
2013-09-09	Woman Ordained as a Priest in Brecksville the Vatican has decreed that "attempted sacred ordination of a woman" is a “grave crime,” accompanied by automatic excommunication
2013-09-09	Bishop Charles vonRosenberg called to lead diocese left in crisis “Remember, there was a church split even before Jesus died. And church splits have been happening ever since. The church continues to exist in spite of those of us who are parts of it,”
2013-09-06	Children removed from Christian sect after German police raids According to initial reports, the disciplinary rods used were soaked in oil to make them more pliable during a beating, when children were allegedly struck on their bare feet, arms and backs
2013-09-04	Charlotte pastor: "Only white people" at front door of church "We are continuing to work to bring our racial demographic pendulum back to mid-line," she continued in the email. "So we would like to ask that only white people be on the front doors."
2013-09-03	A child's death rocks Islam's teachings Ghamdi confessed to torturing and killing his daughter. The girl's body showed evidence of a fractured skull, brain damage, repeated rapes, burns, beatings with whips and an iron, electrical shocks, a broken back, ribs and arm. Reportedly, he also had sadistically sought to burn Lama's rectum closed.
2013-09-02	Islam before all else, Muslims told in crackdown on minority beliefs An official sermon for the Aidilfitri celebration early this month had also warned Muslims nationwide against a conspiracy by “enemies of Islam” to manipulate them through ideas like secularism, pluralism, socialism, feminism and positivism.

2013-08
2013-08-31	Evangelist’s Flock Keeps the Faith After His Brush With Law The pending felony charge stems from a June incident in which Mr. Pitt is said to have told a Birmingham resident that he was a deputy sheriff as he confiscated a rifle that had been abandoned near a wooded area.That episode followed Mr. Pitt’s 2012 guilty plea after he was arrested for using blue emergency lights on his vehicle to speed around other cars.
2013-08-31	'Black Jesus' murder: Leader of 6,000-strong cannibal rape cult hacked to death by villagers in Papua New Guinea jungle after killing yet again The 40-year-old, who had previously been accused of raping, murdering and eating three girls in front of their traumatised mothers, was one of 48 prisoners to break-out of a remote jungle prison six months ago.
2013-08-30	Hollywood's next big thing: religion “Snake Salvation” is due to appear next month on the National Geographic Channel, featuring a pair of snake-handling Pentecostal preachers. Expect it to draw a sizeable audience, Stone says, “and we can likely expect similar programming on the way.”
2013-08-30	Islam – A religion of peace? What Americans need to understand is that since the battle of Badr 14 centuries ago, acting against injustice is dearer to a Muslim than peace.
2013-08-28	India: Fatwa 'bans watching cartoons It's not the first ruling by the seminary to cause controversy. In the past, it's reportedly declared it unlawful for women to use perfume containing alcohol, or to wear tattoos, jeans or "Western hairstyles".
2013-08-27	Sentenced to death for a sip of water If you don’t want to die,” says the young mullah, “you must convert to Islam.
2013-08-25	Burma violence: Rioters burn Muslim homes and shops The clashes in Meiktila were the worst since ethnic violence in Rakhine state last year, where nearly 200 people were killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes.
2013-08-24	Scientology Flack Arrested in Plot to Kill Cop Before she was allegedly caught up in a plot to kidnap, try, and execute a cop as a political statement, Newman was active as the Church of Scientology’s public relations maven in Southern Nevada.
2013-08-24	GOLUB: Despite guilty verdict, Fort Hood shooter the big winner Thirteen people were murdered because obsessions with diversity and multiculturalism prevented the military from removing a lunatic and isolating him from the general population.
2013-08-24	Suicide bomber targets busy Baghdad cafe, killing 25 It was one of the worst attacks in Iraq since suicide bombers hit the same district two months ago, targeting a Shi'ite mosque and killing 29 worshippers during noon prayers.
2013-08-24	Nigerian Islamists accused of cutting throats of 44 villagers He said the attackers gouged out the eyes of some of the survivors.
2013-08-24	'Hindu men being forced to embrace Islam in Pak "Every Hindu in Pakistan is bearing atrocities, girls are kidnapped and forcibly converted but now, Hindu boys are being made to embrace Islam."
2013-08-23	Hackney woman told to remove burka by crown court judge "I can't, as a circuit judge, accept a plea from a person whose identity I am unable to ascertain."
2013-08-23	More measles cases linked to Tarrant County megachurch She said many members follow alternative medicine and choose not to immunize their children.
2013-08-22	Beit Jimal monastery in Israel hit by suspected ultranationalist Jewish vandals Jewish ultranationalists are widely believed to have been behind the vandalism of several churches and mosques in Israel and the occupied West Bank in recent years.
2013-08-22	Cut into pieces: ‘She challenged God’s orders’ He said he had been telling her to cover her face with a veil when she stepping outside, but she had not listened. He also wrote that he did not want to be responsible for her sins and thus killed her.
2013-08-22	Gay marriage feud erupts in AL-01 congressional race There is only one marriage; a divine unity between a man and a woman ordained by God in holy matrimony.”
2013-08-21	‘Repent or get out!’ Tennessee church targets family who campaigned for gay rights Hunt Cooper said his family rejects the notion that being gay is a lifestyle choice. And his wife, along with her brother and sister, believed repentance would be hypocritical. So the decision to leave, devastating as it was, was a simple one. There’s no sin to repent for. And she’s not going to turn her back on her daughter.
2013-08-21	Russians launch dedicated center to fight ‘atheist extremism’ The Moscow City authorities together with the Russian Orthodox Church are currently implementing the so called “Program-200” – a plan according to which 200 Orthodox churches must be erected throughout the capital in the next 10 to 15 years.
2013-08-21	FURIOUS BUDDHISTS ARE MAKING LIFE HELL FOR SRI LANKA'S MUSLIMS Moulavi Fazil Farooq, from the Islamic political group All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, told me that Muslims’ “freedom of religion and freedom of speech” are under threat in Sri Lanka.
2013-08-21	On Life Without a Jaw "Do you believe in God?" Heck no. Atheist here.
2013-08-20	Indian Rationalist Narendra Dabholkar Shot Dead Rationalism is on the front foot in India. Fundamentalist exploiters are losing ground. This is their last stand, and they are resorting to medieval means of threat, torture and murder to turn the tide.
2013-08-16	Is God an angry ogre? Presbyterians and Baptists debate The fact that a Baptist newspaper editor sided with the Presbyterians made things worse, said the Rev. John Thweatt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Pell City, Ala
2013-08-16	HIV patients told by Pentecostal pastors 'to rely on God' Sixteen-year-old Oliver (not his real name) said he was told by a pastor to swap his HIV medicine for a plastic bottle containing water that would heal him.
2013-08-16	Pakistani politician cheered and jeered for leaping on gunman While his words echoed the all-too familiar rhetoric of militant groups – a Pakistani Taliban commander even attempted to claim credit for the stunt – it appeared the man was mentally unstable.
2013-08-16	In the Name of God, or Baby ‘Messiah,’ Competing Claims of Religious Freedom “Mary was considered simply too holy for secular use until the 12th century,” Dr. Murray said. Yet today Mary, along with cognates like Maria and Marie, are popular throughout the Christian world.
2013-08-16	Christian churches across Egypt torched This and other attacks have been blamed by some on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement which backs recently deposed President Mohamed Morsy.
2013-08-15	School Board Votes To Add Pamphlet To Textbook That ‘Sugar-Coats’ Islam “When you report history truly, then you report those horrible things that we did in the name of Christ or that the Jews did. And you should also report that in the name of Islam,
2013-08-14	Malaysian Resort Owner Detained for Allowing Buddhists in Muslim Prayer Room, Faces Demolition Threat "The most sacred places on Earth are mosques and surau. Accordingly, they are not allowed to be used to carry out religious activities other than for Islam and if a surau is found to have hosted other religious activities, it can be demolished based on surah At-Taubah verse 107 (in the Quran),"
2013-08-13	Islam’s greatest enemy To answer the question – “who is Islam’s greatest enemy?” – it is its own followers. The followers that carry out the law in the name of mercy. The followers that assert greatness in the name of graciousness. The followers who plot vengeance in the name of forgiveness. The followers that bring death in the name of peace. The followers that believe the Qur’an.
2013-08-13	Judge Orders Baby's Name Changed From 'Messiah' "I was shocked. I never intended on naming my son Messiah because it means 'God,' " Jaleesa Martin tells WBIR, "and I didn't think a judge could make me change my baby's name because of her religious beliefs."
2013-08-13	Do you believe religious people are less intelligent than atheists? 72% Yes 28% No

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