Religion News, Opinion & P.R.
In the study of religion, we long ago gave up on creating a taxonomy that would—once and for all—allow us to demarcate the sacred from the profane and religious groups from secular. Nevertheless, there is something profoundly unreligious about Kopimism, and it is hard to overlook this glaring reality. »
Boko Haram • Hate Groups • Islam • Nigeria • Religious Persecution:
Early morning attacks in Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi state on Sunday left at least seven Christians dead and a church building destroyed. The attack on the Evangelical Church Winning All Church 2 was carried out by area Islamic extremists alongside members of the Boko Haram sect, with the church building and surrounding houses bombed. »
Religious Persecution • Sudan:
Christians in Sudan and newly created South Sudan face possible detention, beatings and even death amid a “deteriorating humanitarian situation” with thousands of people being killed this year alone, aid workers and Christians say. In Sudan’s capital Kharthoum, minority Christians have also been pressured to leave the country towards South Sudan, with reports of detentions and beatings, church leaders said. »
Religious Persecution • Sudan:
Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information. The warning arrived a few days after Sudan President Omar al-Bashir told cheering crowds that the country’s constitution will be more deeply entrenched in sharia (Islamic law). »
Religious Persecution • Uganda:
A 15-year-old Christian girl in western Uganda who lost the use of her legs after her father locked her in a room for six months for leaving Islam has begun to take tentative steps. Susan Ithungu had been hospitalized since September 2010 after neighbors along with police rescued her. »
al-Shabab | Al Shabaab • Hate Groups • Religious Persecution:
A Somali convert from Islam was paraded before a cheering crowd last month and publicly flogged as a punishment for embracing a “foreign religion,” sources said. Sofia Osman, a 28-year-old Christian from Janale city in Somali’as Lower Shabelle region, had been taken into custody by Islamic extremist al Shabaab militants in November; the public whipping was meant to mark her release. »
Indonesia • Religious Intolerance • Religious Persecution:
Acts of violence and intolerance against Christians in Indonesia almost doubled in 2011, with an Islamist campaign to close down churches symbolizing the plight of the religious minority. The worst is perhaps yet to come if authorities continue to overlook the threat of extremism, said a representative from the Jakarta-based Wahid Institute, a Muslim organization that promotes tolerance. »
Calvary Chapel:
The congregation at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, California, were stunned last Sunday when Pastor Chuck Smith, its senior pastor, announced during his Sunday morning services that he has lung cancer and will have a biopsy on Tuesday and surgery the following week. Chuck Smith, now in his eighties and the father of the Jesus People Revolution in Southern California, said that he has never smoked in his life. »
Other News
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Religion News Blog
Joshua Cookson, convicted of murdering an acquaintance at his mobile home in 1999 wants a federal court judge to require Maine prison officials to allow him to practice Satanism as a religion.
Cookson was sentenced in 2000 to 30 years in prison for murdering Portsmouth, N.H., resident Robin Rainville, following an evening of drinking and taking drugs.
Cookson said in his complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, that he has been practicing Satanism on a daily basis at the Maine State Prison since 2007.
In 2009, he began his quest to get prison officials to allow him to practice in the prison’s activities building, where group practices of other religions take place. According to Assistant Attorney General James Fortin, these include not only so-called mainstream religions, but also paganism and American Indian spirituality.
Cookson doesn’t deny that he is allowed to practice Satanism in his own cell, but he wants permission to practice with others. In his brief, he said Satanism “answers fundamental questions about life, death, purpose and overall conception of the universe.” He also believes “in using only nonviolent practices and rituals … and that no aspect of his religious practice requires him to jeopardize the safety and security” of staff or inmates.
He said performing a ceremony with others “is one of the fundamental parts of his religious beliefs.” [...]
Earlier this month, federal Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk wrote in a 23-page recommendation that she concurred with corrections officials. She said the risks to the safety of inmates was too great to allow a group practice.
Cookson last week filed an objection to her recommendation, which will be part of the record when U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock makes a final decision. If Woodcock decides against him, Cookson can appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. [...more...]

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Aa Salt Lake City-based nonprofit for people leaving polygamous groups held a fundraiser Friday. The organization has seen its numbers grow significantly in the past year as dozens of people have been excommunicated from the state’s largest polygamous sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints led by Warren Jeffs »
Winston Blackmore may have finally met his match: the taxwomen — whom he is facing in a landmark Tax Court trial. Also on his case: Canadian author and columnist Daphne Branham. »
Canadian polygamist Winston Blackmore revealed in a Tax Court he was compelled to pay money to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to prepare for the end of world as prophecied by the sect’s leader, Warren Jeffs. To date at least 15 different deadlines set by Jeffs have gone and gone. »
People wearing burqas, balaclavas or all-in-one motorbike helmets in public in the Netherlands will soon face fines. On Friday, government ministers voted to outlaw all clothing which covers the face. “People must be able to look each other in the face and be recognisable to one another. The wearing of face-covering clothing does not fit in with the Netherlands’ open society, in which participation in social traffic is actually crucial,” the cabinet said Friday. »

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