Posts Tagged ‘Religion’

News & Submissions 10/6/2010

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Shamans and sorcerors booted off Russian TV
Having a sixth sense will no longer be enough to advertise legally – from now on only a license will allow fortune tellers, faith healers, magicians and shamans to practice.

Anyone who wants to use their traditional or occult gifts to promote a business will be forced to get a licence – and it’s up to the media to check out the credentials of their clients. Read full story from mn.ru

Jenice Armstrong: O’Donnell ad irks witches
GRAB YOUR broomsticks and go find yourself a black cat while you’re at it. Because even if you’ve never given a second thought to the notion that Delaware’s Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell was ever a witch, you might now. Read full story from philly.com

Jury to begin deliberating in case of alleged synagogue bomb plot
New York (CNN) — Jury deliberations are expected to begin Wednesday in the trial of one of four men charged with plotting to bomb a synagogue and a Jewish community center. Read full story from cnn.com

Why Sunday morning remains America’s most segregated hour
“Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of Christian America.”

That declaration, which has been attributed to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., used to startle listeners. Now it’s virtually become a cliché. For years, various academic studies and news articles have reported what many churchgoers already know: most American congregations are segregated. Read full story from cnn.com

Head of religious sect arrested in Siberia
Nikolai Rudnev, 43, who reportedly calls himself “a being from Sirius”, was arrested on rape charges after two former female members of the cult testified against him. Read full story from en.rian.ru

Cherokee chief opens Highland Games in Scotland
The orange flag with yellow stars symbolizing the seven Cherokee clans swayed brightly among swinging kilts and skirling bagpipes at the Highland Games in Nethy Bridge, Scotland. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Court denies Onondaga land rights lawsuit
ALBANY, N.Y. – A federal court has dismissed the Onondaga Nation’s land rights lawsuit in a ruling that follows recent precedent-setting cases depriving other Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy nations of their lands. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

My Take: Atheists not so smart after all
The U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life went viral last week.

According to Luis Lugo, the Pew Forum’s director, over a million people have taken the online quiz associated with the survey, and the Forum “has had unprecedented Web traffic since the survey was launched, nearly crashing its servers on the day of release.” Read full story from cnn.com

Anti-gay church, grieving father square off over free speech, privacy (Source cnn.com)

Cancer patient: I see Jesus in my MRI (Source cnn.com)

Integration on Sunday Morning (Source cnn.com)

News & Submissions 9/27/2010

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Viewpoint: Religious freedom is not tolerance
Here’s an essay question, students: Religious freedom and religious tolerance are not the same thing, or are they? Discuss.

The reason for asking the question today is obvious. The plan to build Park 51, a Muslim community centre a few blocks north of Ground Zero in New York City, has re-kindled resentment smoldering since 9/11 against the Muslim community in a significant portion of American society. Read full story from bbc.c0.uk

Jews for Justice Sail to Gaza today, September 26, 2010
THIS is exactly what I have been talking about in many of my comments and posts.

THESE are not Anti-Semites. There are people, like the rest of us, who oppose the Israeli governments actions towards the Palestinians in the West Bank. And they are tired of being cowed into thinking they have to show 100% loyalty to all actions of the Israeli government to be considered “True Jews.” Read full story from FDL

A look inside NYC Islamic center imam’s mosques
The controversy over a proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan has spiraled into a global debate over Islam’s place in the United States, but the arrival of a mosque a couple blocks from ground zero was driven mostly by the simple need for more space. Read full story from cnn.com

Woman killed, another thrashed for witchcraft
BOKARO: A 56-year-old woman was killed and another battling for life in hospital after they were mercilessly beaten by a group of villagers for allegedly practicing witchcraft. While the deceased woman has been identified as Guruwari Devi, Mukta Devi is in hospital in critical condition. Read full story from indiatimes.com

Televangelist Eddie Long: ‘I’m going to fight’ sex allegations

Lithonia, Georgia (CNN) — Baptist televangelist Eddie Long said Sunday he will fight allegations that he coerced young male church members into having sex with him. Read full story from cnn.com

News & Submissions 7/1/2010

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Wall of Separation
A Texas-based Christian group is arguing in a California court on behalf of the California Department of Corrections that the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects only major religions beliefs, but offers no protection for minority religions. Read full story from auburnjournal.com

Somali radio station defies Islamist ban on music
(CNN) — Somalis in Mogadishu could once again hear songs coming from their radios Thursday, as one of the city’s biggest independent stations resumed playing music. Read full story from cnn.com

Religious intolerance ‘the new racism’
RELIGIOUS intolerance is “the new racism” and one of the main causes of persecution of minorities across the world, according to the annual Minority Rights Group International report published today. Read full story from heraldsun.co.au

My Take: New York’s schools should observe Muslim holidays
I was recently eating dinner at a restaurant with a friend near Times Square when it became time for me to pray. Muslims pray five times a day and this particular prayer, called Maghrib, is performed at sunset. Read full story from cnn.com

Pastor Outs Coach for Being Gay
Steve Gaines doesn’t like gay people. He banned a woman from coaching in his church’s softball league because she admitted to being gay: Read full story from unreasonablefaith.com

Gathering strength through the water
LITTLE PRESQUE ISLE POINT, Mich. – As if emerging from the icy depths of Lake Superior, the fiery yellowish-orange sun rose the morning of June 19 to greet American Indians and non-Natives praying during the “Honoring Our Water” ceremony by Ojibwa women and gave them the strength to continue battling an international mining company that is desecrating sacred Eagle Rock on the nearby Yellow Dog Plains in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

News & Submissions 5/25/2010

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Pagans use fest to show their beliefs
VALPARAISO — Lizz Frenzel was drawn to the first May Faire Sunday at Taltree Arboretum and Garden because of the maypole.

Fresh from a trip to the Bavarian region of Germany, Frenzel, of Valparaiso, saw maypoles in many of the small towns, though she missed the May 1 celebration of the ancient tradition there. Read full story from post-tribune.com

Mummies galore: 57 ancient Egyptian tombs discovered in secret underground network
Archaeologists have unearthed a labyrinth of rich Egyptian tombs that had been hidden under the ground for thousands of years.

Most of the 57 ancient tombs contained an ornately painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy inside, Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities said. Read full story from dailymail.co.uk

Separation of church and state: fact or fiction?
Not so very long ago, “separation of church and state” was as American as motherhood and apple pie. Despite perennial debates over the degree of separation, public support for the principle itself has been strong for much of our history. Read full story from firstamendmentcenter.org

‘God must have something specific in mind for me’
From CNN’s Sara Sidner in Mangalore, India: It’s puzzling how we human beings can fight so fiercely over our differences, but when it boils down to it we are all so similar. No matter what religion we believe in or don’t believe in, it never escapes me that in life’s most extreme circumstances our differences suddenly fade away and what is left are the simple human traits we all share. Read full story from cnn.com

Using humor to bridge religious divides

News & Submissins 5/24/2010

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Holy water allegedly sprinkled on atheist teacher
POMPANO BEACH — Two teachers accused of sprinkling holy water onto an avowed atheist colleague have been removed from the classroom, and may be fired. Read full story from sftimes.com

Calif. bill would block Texas textbook changes
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California may soon take a stand against proposed changes to social studies textbooks ordered by the Texas school board, as a way to prevent them from being incorporated in California texts. Read full story from mercurynews.com

You Have The Right To Your Own Religion
There are many religions and faiths in this world. Which one do you wish to choose? Lots of people believe Jesus is God, while others acknowledge him only as The Son of God. If your comfortable in believing that Jesus is God, then you have that right, to feel so. Read full story from modernghana.com

Tribute to Kiva’s sacredness
The cities of Albuquerque, N.M. and El Paso, Texas have erected bronze monuments that glorify a violent time in American Southwest history. Albuquerque’s monument, “La Entrada” (the entrance), was dedicated in May 2005 and placed in front of the Albuquerque Museum of Art in Old Town, N.M. Likewise, the world’s largest bronze monument, the “Equestrian” in El Paso, Texas was dedicated in April 2007 at the El Paso International Airport, under protest by Indian rights groups against honoring a “genocidal conquistador,” Juan de Onate. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Shamans use their unique perspectives to seek healing
A group of 20 shamans gather in a circle, bringing totems that connect them with their ancestors and other spirits. They summon these forces with drums, crystals, meditation and song, hoping the energy of the circle transmits vibrations of love and compassion around the globe. Read full story from sunsentinel.com

Take a tour of the new CNN Belief Blog

Shamans use their unique perspectives to seek healing

News & Submissions 5/18/2010

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Humanists join Hertfordshire Police chaplaincy team
The chaplaincy team has 20 members from a range of faiths, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Paganism. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Religion, Bigotry, and Political Hypocrisy
Pat Buchanan, in his usual less-than-charming manner, brought up a point last week about the religious diversity (or lack thereof) of the Supreme Court. Buchanan pointed out that, if Elena Kagan is confirmed to the highest court (as seems likely), there will be only two religions represented on the court — Judaism and Catholicism. He further points out that the court will be one-third Jewish, when Jews account for only two percent of the American population. Now, aside from the highly amusing spectacle of right-wingers advocating some sort of quota system, I think there’s a deeper point here than Buchanan’s “pity the unrepresented Protestant majority” theme. Because, even though virtually no politician would ever admit it, there is indeed a widespread (but unacknowledged) religious bigotry in America. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

Pagan police ‘madness’
The right for pagan police officers to celebrate their festivals has been described by a Euro MP as “politically correct madness.” Read full story from rochdaleonline.co.uk

Have a voodoo curse? You can call police, but there’s not much they can do
Delray BeachMost people would have walked right by the small rock sprinkled with orange dust. But Farel Paul became paralyzed with fear. He was convinced someone cast a voodoo spell on him by leaving the rock by his car door. Read full story from sun-sentinel.com

Does postcard solve ghost riddle?
One of Shropshire’s most sensational mysteries – the spooky riddle of “The Wem ghost” – may at last have been solved by eagle-eyed Shropshire Star reader Brian Lear. Read full story from shropshirestar.com

Malawi convicts couple for being gay
A Malawi gay couple have been convicted of having a criminal relationship and could face up to 14 years in jail under the country’s colonial-era laws. Read full story from independent.co.uk

News & Submissions 5/14/2010

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Wiccan priestess: “Pagans mean no harm”
Many Livingston Parish residents want to keep a pagan festival from coming to Killian.
But one woman wants to set the “spell-casting” and “devil-worshipping” rumors straight.
Emily Turner sat down with a member of the pagan faith, who says she’s part of a community whos beliefs are far from evil. See Video from nbc33tv.com

Tolerance of paganism now a symbol of civilized society
A sign that paganism has come of age is that there are now lapsed pagans — heretics who resort to scientific explanations for phenomena formerly attributed to the supernatural. Read full story from timesonline.com

LOCH MEMORIAL TO FORFAR WITCHES
VISITORS to Forfar Loch Country Park have been intrigued by the appearance of a headstone which has been erected in a small clearing.
Inscribed with the words “The Forfar Witches, Just People”, it sits in a simple stone circle and is sheltered beneath a hawthorn tree. Read full story from kirriemuirherald.co.uk

Satire is Religion
Scatological humor. Crude drawings mocking revered religious figures. I am speaking, of course, of Lucas Cranach’s Birth and Origin of the Pope, one in a series of woodcuts commissioned by Martin Luther in the 1540s under the title “The True Depiction of the Papacy.” In it, an enormous grinning she-devil squats in the foreground, excreting the Pope along with a heap of bishops while in the background another infant pontiff suckles at the teat of a serpent-haired wet nurse. Read full story from religiondispatches.org

The Merest Christianity
ARLINGTON, VA – - The lower house of Belgium’s Parliament voted unanimously on April 29 to outlaw full-face veils. The Senate must also pass the measure. Read full story from newsblaze.com

Europe Under the Ash
Eyjafjallajokull, that unpronounceable volcano, prompted inevitable chatter about nature’s awesome fury and the inadequacy of human invention to deal with it. Few Europeans had even heard of the volcano before, and they marveled at, but mostly grumbled about, how such widespread havoc could be caused by such teensy particles of ash, adrift from Iceland. On the whole, Europeans tend to forget about Iceland until some fresh calamity compels their attention. The last was the banking implosion, and a line making the rounds in Europe has it that Iceland’s final wish after its economy kicked the bucket was to spread its ashes across Europe. Read full story from nytimes.com

News & Submissions 2/15/2010

Monday, February 15th, 2010

First Pagan Chaplain Appointed at Syracuse University
This is the first new chaplain since the appointments of the Buddhist and the historically black church chaplains and the 11th chaplain at Hendricks. As a chaplain, Hudson will work at Hendricks two days a week, sponsor community outreaches and be apart of the Chaplains Council. Read full story from virtueonline.org

Mary Daly changed my life
When I heard that Mary Daly had died in early January, I wrote on my Facebook page that she had changed my life. The ferocious theologian was among those writers responsible for the unraveling of my Presbyterian Christianity. I find myself hesitating to write about her, knowing that it means approaching the thick tangle of culture, gender, anger, and God. In that place, scorpions patrol and guard, tails lifted and ready to strike at a misstep in thought, feeling, or choice of words. As the witches say, “Where there’s fear there’s power,” so here I go. Read full story from uuworld.org

Newcomb: ‘Avatar:’ An eye-opener about indigenous peoples
Ever since its release this past December, James Cameron’s blockbuster 3D movie “Avatar” has generated a tremendous amount of discussion. Even the Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, stepped into the fray, criticizing “Avatar” because of concerns the movie promoted “nature worship” and “neo-paganism.” Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Screamy Window
A PALE young woman appears at the window of a ruined castle – in a photo said to show a GHOST. Read full story from thesun.co.uk

Woman in cross row loses £120,000 battle
A DEVOUT Christian lost her appeal yesterday after being banned from wearing a cross visibly at work. Read full story from dailyrecord.co.uk

ACLU accuses community college instructor of religious indoctrination
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An instructor at a public community college in Fresno has been presenting his religious views on homosexuality, abortion and global warming as fact to students in an introductory health science class, the American Civil Liberties Union claims. Read full story from poconorecord.com

News & Submissions 1/21/2010

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Voodoo Brings Solace To Grieving Haitians
Erol Josue lost more than two dozen friends and extended family in Haiti’s devastating earthquake. The Voodoo priest, who lives in New York, says he has spent the past week saying traditional Voodoo prayers. Read full story from wbur.org

What is an Atheist?
When defining something it often helps to define what it is not. Because of the many misconceptions (to be polite) about atheists, let’s start that way. An atheist is not an amoral or an immoral person, not licentious, and not un-patriotic. An atheist is your neighbor, practicing his/her constitutional right to hold his or her own freedom of thought. Read full story from madisoncountycourier.com

Lights, Action, Camera: Witch City TV is on the Air
The name of the local station will be Witch City TV, while our International Internet TV Station Network will continue to be Magick TV. We will combine a couple of different ideas, and do daily programming that is meaningful, purposeful, as well as entertaining and fun. Daily programming, and something that jumps beyond simply seeing people on Facebook, Myspace, Ning, and being available for real viewing and interaction in a way that we have come to enjoy, when you want, how you want. It is a very exciting dream Read full story from associatedcontent.com

Renee murder psychic probes spirit world kids
Joanne, who has penned a new book, Psychic Children about her work with youngsters, told the Highland News Group: “The wonderful array of psychic gifts and abilities that children possess include things like having imaginary friends, talking to spirit people and seeing angels. A psychic child can tell you things they could not possibly have known such as information that predicts the future, or even things that reveal the past. Read full story from highland-news.co.uk

Series to explore tough questions
Several diverse faiths will come together over the next month to debate where religion fits into some of the most contentious issues in our society. Read full story from martlet.ca

8 Ways Religious Groups Show Their Green Beliefs
When the pope says, “respect creation,” people are going to listen. And over the past few years, religious figures representing all faiths have been increasingly spreading the same message to the 85 percent of the world’s population that holds religious beliefs. From Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, to the Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority in Sikhism, spiritual leaders have been telling their followers that protecting the environment is their moral and religious duty. Here are eight ways members of religious groups are paying heed. Read full story from treehugger.com

The mysterious production of blizzards
A town where the Weather Channel is treated with as much skepticism as a palm reader has little choice but to turn to superstition and charms. And the rituals surrounding the summoning of snow in this town are as eclectic as the residents themselves: some have been here for decades, others are as itinerant as the summer-phobes who bring them each season, and there are a few that — through their sheer insanity — lay bare a naked enthusiasm for these mountains. Read full story from telluridenews.com

Religious riots spread despite Nigerian troops
As street clashes broke out in Pankshin and Mangu, one report said 464 people had died in Jos, where the fighting between Christians and Muslims began on Sunday. “The figure sounds credible,” said local reporter Bashir Ibrahim Idris, “but it is impossible to verify due to the 24-hour curfew”. Read full story from independent.co.uk

The Big Question: Is Nigeria teetering on the brink of a major crisis?
Upto 265 people are reported to have died in the Nigerian city of Jos after fighting between Muslims and Christians. Calm has now been restored but only after a 24-hour curfew imposed by the government which has sent soldiers armed with machine guns to patrol the streets in pick-up trucks. But there are reports that the violence has now spread to Pankshin, 60 miles to the south-east. Read full story from independent.co.uk

News & Submissions 1/4/2010

Monday, January 4th, 2010

US Marines with strange lights and whispers in the night
The Marines found the bone as they scraped a shallow trench. Long, dry and unmistakably once part of a human leg, it was followed by others. They reburied most of them but also found bodies. Three of the graves were close together; in another was a skeleton still wearing a pair of glasses. The Marines covered the grave and told their successors to stay away from it. Read full story timesonline.co.uk

The Crooked Cross and the Cross: Nazism and Christianity
Yet: another slander Christians lay at Paganism’s doorstep is equating Nazism with a Pagan revival. Perhaps the best witness we can call to the stand against this claim is Hitler himself Read full story from newsjunkiepost.com

Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks in 2009
VISTA, Calif., Jan. 4 /Christian Newswire/ — The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CADC) has released its list of the top ten incidents of anti-Christian defamation, bigotry and discrimination in the US from last year. The list was selected by the subscribers to CADC’s e-mail list and was selected from a list of twenty of CADC’s top stories from 2009. Read full story from christiannewswire.com

Religion and science can be partners
Ever since the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, which proclaimed the inexorable secularization of society, it has generally been assumed that the advance of scientific understanding would supersede religious authority based on unchallenged faith. Religion, presumably, belonged to the primitive past, while secular science and technology belonged to the mature future. Yet today we see the flourishing of both. Read full story from uuworld.org

God, why are they egging us on now?
BEFORE we have had a chance to get on the treadmill, pumped with well-meaning New Year’s resolutions and shaky with post-Christmas pot belly shame, supermarkets have stocked shelves with Easter eggs. Read full story from dailytelegraph.com.au

Apple growers in Somerset prepare for Wassail
Wassailing is an ancient pagan tradition held on Old Twelfth Night which falls on 17 January. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

IHCIA passes despite GOP abortion controversy
WASHINGTON – Republican abortion-based opposition to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act as part of the nation’s health care reform package couldn’t stop the bill from clearing Congress. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com