Latest Religion & Cult News
More religion news: Religion News Report
The last hours of Kimberly Simon’s life in 1985 were likely spent with a group of young men who worshiped the devil, tortured cats, used hallucinogenic drugs and sexually abused women, according to investigators who have been probing her homicide for the past 16 months. By disclosing the new information, investigators hope to stir public interest in watching the “America’s Most Wanted” episode scheduled to feature Simon’s case.
» Full Story
Media:
“The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere,” a newly released report by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), offers an extensive overview and analysis of the increasingly prominent role played by blogs in shaping the contemporary dynamics of religion, academia, and public life. Drawing on a review of the work of nearly 100 blogs, as well as detailed survey responses, “The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere” provides both empirical data and reflection on the impact of blogging at the intersection of religion, academia, and public life.
» Full Story
Hate Groups:
The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether vitriolic anti-gay protestors who picket the funerals of US soldiers are protected by free speech laws. The Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group that masquerades as a Christian church and uses free speech as an excuses for despicable behavior.
» Full Story
Faith Healing • Followers of Christ (Oregon) • Neil Jeffrey Beagley:
Judge Steven Maurer sentenced Jeffrey and Marci Beagley to 16 months in prison this afternoon, calling the couple’s decision to not seek medical care for their 16-year-old son, Neil Beagley, a “crime that was a product of an unwillingness to respect the boundaries of freedom of religious expression.” The Beagleys and Worthingtons are members of the Followers of Christ Church. Members of the Oregon City church have a lengthy history of child deaths from lack of medical care that influenced a 1999 law eliminating the religious freedom defense in cases involving the welfare of a child.
» Full Story
Aum Shinrikyo:
In March 1995 members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult carried out its infamous nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. The widow of a man killed in the attack has made a documentary film in which she interviews other people victimized in the sarin attack.
» Full Story
In Australia the Scientology cult has been hit by a fresh wave of allegations, likely to give added weight to calls for a Senate inquiry into the church. Several Australians have spoken out for the first time about their experiences with the church, accusing it of forced abortions, holding slave labour camps and exploiting child workers.
» Full Story
Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki says his $1 million-plus home and $75,000 car are “not much” of a reward for decades of clean and righteous living and taking his message to the masses. But a former high-ranking Destiny member told the New Zealand Herald he and others left because people were hearing less about Jesus Christ and hearing more about the church’s leader.
» Full Story
Destiny Church:
Destiny Church’s self-proclaimed Bishop, Brian Tamaki, said he feels uncomfortable with members of his parish giving him gifts but the rules were written by the church’s elders. He said he had been ready to take a vow of poverty but that was not what God wanted.
» Full Story
New pastors have been appointed to run Brisbane’s Destiny Church after their predecessor and more than half the congregation walked out of last Sunday’s service. Brian Tamaki dismissed reports of a split within Destiny as “grossly exaggerated” and accused the media of being “funny and weird”.
» Full Story
Destiny Church:
Destiny Church ministers and leaders are heading to its Brisbane branch after more than half the congregation – including its pastor – walked out. “You might think I’m stupid for going into the church in the first place. But I [only] found out it was a cult after I went in,” one former member says.
» Full Story
A high school senior’s desire to build a Wiccan altar in shop class has forced a community debate about free expression.Dale Halferty, who has taught industrial arts at Guthrie Center High School for three years, was placed on paid leave Monday after he acknowledged to district officials that he told the student he could not build the altar in class.
» Full Story
1 Mind Ministries:
A Baltimore jury on Tuesday afternoon convicted three alleged cult members on charges of first-degree child abuse resulting in death and second-degree murder for starving a 16-month-old boy in their city apartment because he did not say “amen” before meals. The defendants each face a maximum of 60 years in prison when they are sentenced, scheduled for May 18.
» Full Story
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an allegation of dishonest testimony about medical records of the state’s key witness during the 2007 criminal trial of FLDS polygamous sect prophet Warren S. Jeffs. The case was based on a 2001 spiritual marriage Jeffs performed between Elissa Wall, then 14, and Allen G. Steed, then 19.
» Full Story
1 Mind Ministries:
Closing arguments are expected today in the Baltimore trial of three members of an alleged cult — the now defunct 1 Mind Ministries — who are accused of starving a toddler to death because he didn’t pray properly. The defendants, who are representing themselves, rested their cases within minutes Monday without calling any witnesses.
» Full Story
Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee • Elizabeth Smart:
Brian David Mitchell is competent to stand trial in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart despite his personality disorders, a judge ruled Monday. In a 149-page decision, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball said Mitchell can understand the charges against him and help his lawyers in his defense, the standard for mental competency.
» Full Story
Some 150 armed Muslims assaulted the Christian colony of Pahar Ganj in North Nazimabad, Karachi, damaging two churches, shooting at houses, beating Christians and burning shops and vehicles after a fruit stand vendor attacked a Christian boy for touching his merchandise. Christian leaders said Muslim extremists helped gather and inflame the assailants, but they said the fruit stand vendor upset with the 14-year-old Christian boy for touching plums on his hand-pulled cart initially instigated the attack.
» Full Story
Crime:
Even as authorities closed in, one of the two suspects in a string of east Texas church fires attended a Sunday service and went to a Baptist ministry on his junior college campus for a free meal. But officials say they found weapons and books detailing atheism and devil worship during a pre-dawn raid at a home where Bourque was arrested Feb. 21.
» Full Story
A woman who once lived with three accused cult leaders testified Thursday that they had her involuntarily committed to a mental hospital to keep her quiet about a toddler’s starvation death. Members of the culthave been charged with murder in the death of baby Javon Thompson.
» Full Story
Islam • Pakistan • Religious Persecution:
The four older Muslim brothers of a 26-year-old Christian beat him unconscious here earlier this month because he refused their enticements to convert to Islam, the victim told Compass.Riaz Masih, whose Christian parents died when he was a boy, said his continual refusal to convert infuriated his siblings and the Muslim cleric who raised them, Moulvi Peer Akram-Ullah.
» Full Story
Indonesia • Islam • Religious Intolerance • Religious Persecution:
Hundreds of Muslims from outside the area where a 600-member church meets in West Java staged a protest there to call for its closure this month in an attempt to portray local opposition. Demonstrators from 16 Islamic organizations, including the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), gathered on Feb. 15 to demand a stop to all activities by the Galilea Protestant Church (GPIB) in the Galaxy area of Bekasi City.
» Full Story
Because the wife has retained new counsel, a Paradise couple charged with the murder of one adopted daughter and torture of her sister, did not enter pleas to the charges in court Thursday. Meanwhile, prosecutors have disclosed that a book by a Tennessee-based fundamentalist Christian ministry, espousing “biblical chastisement” with the same quarter-inch plumber’s supply line alleged to have been used in the ridge beatings, was found in the Paradise home of Kevin Schatz, 46, and Elizabeth Schatz, 42.
» Full Story
Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz • Michael and Debi Pearl • No Greater Joy Ministries:
Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz are expected to enter a plea today. They are accused of killing Lydia Schatz and severely beating their 11-year-old adopted daughter, Zariah Schatz.Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said he has a direct connection between the Schatz case and No Greater Joy Ministry, a fundamentalist religious organization founded by Michael and Debi Pearl.
» Full Story
1 Mind Ministries:
The mother of a dead child testified Wednesday that she agreed to starve her toddler son, who refused to say “amen,” to rid him of a demonic spirit that was potentially placed there when her own mother offered the boy up to the devil. She still believes God will resurrect her son.
» Full Story
Two pastors in Kenya’s Kingdom Seekers Fellowship International church were killed in a road accident on Monday last week. The faithful believed that God would resurrect them if they prayed hard enough. If the pastors will not have risen from the death by Thursday, their bodies will be buried. [video]
» Full Story
Three times now, including a complaint they plan to file today against the secretive C Street Center in Washington, D.C., the activist pastors have challenged the tax-exempt status of religious organizations they believe have improperly dabbled in partisan politics. Their numbers fluctuate, but their mission is always the same: protect the divide between church and state.
» Full Story
Older »
RNB Twitter Feed
Advertisement
About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, new religious movements, alternative religions, abusive churches and - to a lesser extent - related issues (e.g. ethics, human rights).
The information is provided for research and educational purposes.
RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.
Categories / News Trackers:
Samples of the hundreds of religious news subjects covered in Religion News Blog include (click links for respective news trackers): the Alpha Course, Alternative Healing, Catholic Church, Christianity, Cults, Falun Gong, Hate Groups, Interfaith issues, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism / Mormon Church, Polygamy, Religion Trends, Scientology, Transcendental Meditation, Unification Church, Wicca / Witchcraft, and many more.
[More info : How to link]
Factlet
Check it out:
Apologetics Index
Latest Updates and Additions:
Apologetics Index Feedburner RSS feed
Popular News Topics
Polygamy
[FLDS / Warren Jeffs]
Scientology
Islam
Landmark Education
Jehovah's Witnesses
Catholic Church
RNB Clippings
Unification Church
Religious Offbeat News
Hate Groups
Wicca/Witchcraft
Transcendental Meditation
Popular at Apologetics Index
Carlton Pearson
Emerging Church
Neo-Paganism
Prosperity Teaching
Joel Osteen
Bible Contradictions
Landmark Education
Scientology
John Hagee
Benny Hinn
Rick Warren
Mormon Church
Wicca/Witchcraft
Joyce Meyer
AI / RNB Highlights
The Power of Cults
Who Joins Cults, And Why?
When Spirituality Goes Awry:
Students in Cults
Today's Cults: You Might Not Recognize Them
The Da Vinci Code: The Facts Behind The Fiction![]()
Books about Cults, spiritual abuse, and ex-cult support
Headlines: Email or RSS
|
|
RNB's RSS feed | What is this? |
![]() |
![]() Subscribe by Email | What is this? |
Use Our Headlines
Free: Place RNB Headlines on your website! It's easy: just copy and paste
Most Popular Today
- U.S. Supreme Court to rule on free speech by Westboro ‘Baptist Church’ hategroup
- Aum victim keeps memory alive via film
- Australia: More Scientology accusations exposed
- Jeffrey and Marci Beagley sentenced to 16 months of prison for their son’s faith-healing death
- Social Science Research Council Releases Report on the Religion Blogosphere
- Satan worshipers possible suspects in Kimberly Simon slaying
More Religion News
Newspapers Religion News
Akron Beacon Journal![]()
Atlanta Journal-Constitution![]()
Baltimore Sun![]()
Baton Rouge Advocate![]()
Boulder Daily Camera![]()
Charlotte Observer![]()
Chicago Sun-Times![]()
Chicago Tribune![]()
Cleveland Plain Dealer![]()
Dallas Morning News![]()
Detroit News![]()
Houston Chronicle![]()
Kansas City Star![]()
Los Angeles Times![]()
Minneapolis Star Tribune![]()
Modesto Bee![]()
New York Times![]()
Oklahoman![]()
Post and Courier![]()
Sacramento Bee![]()
Salt Lake Tribune![]()
San Antonio Express-News![]()
The Ledger![]()
The Times (London)![]()
Toledo Blade![]()
Toronto Star![]()
Washington Post
Minister in Amsterdam

The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry in Amsterdam, Netherlands is looking for people to join their ministry team for 3, 6, 9, or 12 months
>>> Click for details
Christian Apologetics
Apologetics Index![]()
Apologia![]()
Chr. Answers for the New Age![]()
CARM![]()
Center for Biblical Apologetics![]()
CFAR![]()
Inst. for Religious Research![]()
Midwest Christian Outreach![]()
Spiritual Counterfeits Project
Walter Martin's Religious InfoNet![]()
Watchman Fellowship![]()
Cult Info
CultFAQ
Cult FAQ
Cult Definition
What is a cult?
CultExperts
Cult Experts
FACTNet![]()
Freedom of Mind![]()
ICSA
Blogs We Like
Articles of Faith![]()
Bene Diction Blogs On![]()
Contemplative Spirituality
Evangelical Resources![]()
GetReligion![]()
Good News Blog![]()
Joy of Christmas![]()
SmartChristian.com![]()
Thunderstruck![]()
Underground Apologetics
Publishers
Religion News Blog is published by Janet and Anton Hein with the help of the Apologetics Index team.


