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Jehovah's Witness Jumps To Death In Brooklyn
“I thought someone had thrown an air conditioner off the roof. I screamed and screamed for a minute straight,” said witness Antoinette George, who also lives in the building. A ledge above the the building’s entrance broke Fagan’s fall before he hit the ground. “I saw him land—it was so loud,” she added. “All his limbs were broken. He was lifeless.” Police say Fagan, who
was said to be a devout Jehovah's Witness, had warned a family member
he was planning to hurt himself in a series of texts messages before
his death. More
Tioga preacher pleads guilty to sex crimes The sexual encounters started when the girl was 11 and ended when she was 14. The victim, who has not been identified by name, is now 16 and has undergone counseling. "You ruined her. You ruined her," her mother told McMorris Monday in 9th District Court before the 64-year-old gray-haired man with two master's degrees was sentenced to 25 years in prison. (The Town Talk has opted not to use the name of the mother or the victim's family connection to McMorris.) Judge Thomas Yeager asked McMorris if he was guilty. "Yes I am," he
said, wearing the orange jumpsuit of a Rapides Parish prisoner, hands
and feet shackled together. More
If You Go to Church, Heed This Warning Conspicuously, the end of the invitation read: “This call is off the record and is not for press purposes” -- but it became public when it showed up on the HHS website. Fortunately one of our staff was able to get on the call. The focus of the call was on getting faith-based organizations to sponsor flu clinics with Walgreens. Basically, they want to move inside your church, mosque or synagogue,
and set up shop, with your pastor, priest, imam and rabbi on hand to
convince you to get a flu shot. More
Baptist Church Leaders Cover-Up Sex Scandal The alleged sexual abuse involved a teacher at Hilltop Baptist School. First reported in December 2010, the police say that the boy was in a sexual relationship with a female teacher in 2007 and 2008. Terah Allyn Rawlings, 32, is charged with eight counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in position of trust and obscenity-promotion. Franklin “Wayne” Knight, 63, is the senior pastor at Hilltop Baptist Church and former superintendent of Hilltop Baptist School. He is charged with failure to report child abuse or neglect and accessory to a crime. He is also the uncle to Terah Allyn Rawlings. Raymond “Allen” Knight, 57, is the associate pastor of Hilltop Baptist Church and former athletic director at Hilltop Baptist School. He is charged with failure to report child abuse or neglect. He is also Terah Allyn Rawlings' father. Jan Ocvirk, 51, is the former principal of Hilltop Baptist School.
She is charged with failure to report child abuse or neglect. More
Alleged Ponzi scheme cons Jehovah's Witnesses Some investors call it a “salt-in-the-wound” effort to wring money from those who were scammed out of their savings. But the bankruptcy trustee pursuing this aptly named “claw-back” litigation said it may be the only way to ensure a fair payout. Cash collected from investors who received any kind of payment from Little Loan Shoppe will be pooled with other recoveries and redistributed equitably. The company collapsed into bankruptcy in 2009; the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission alleged in a civil complaint filed this week
that founder Doris “Dee” Nelson raised about $135 million from more
than 650 investors from 1999 to 2008. About 75 percent of the investors
were members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses denomination, court records
say. More
Pat Robertson Asks If Mac And Cheese Is a 'Black Thing' Robertson made the statement during the Wednesday show, after a clip in which another host, Kristi Watts, interviews former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Both women are of African descent. In the clip, Watts asked Rice what dish she "just has to have" on Thanksgiving. "It's mac and cheese," Rice replied. "Sister, that is my dish, that is the one thing I can rock," the host reacted enthusiastically, clapping her hands. "But only once, once a year," Rice added. When the clip ended, Robertson was again in the studio with Watts, but looked confused. "What is this mac and cheese?" Robertson asked Watts. "Is that a black
thing?" More
Police Blotter: Jehovah's Witnesses Want Woman Back She did not report the incidents until someone from the group said he has been watching her and her house for two weeks. Police determined who the calls were coming from. They said they would
call the man and tell him to stop bothering her. More
White House shooting suspect thought himself Jesus, Obama antichrist Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, was charged Thursday with attempting to assassinate the president or his staff. He is accused of firing nine rounds at the White House last Friday night -- one of them cracking a window of the first family's living quarters -- when Obama and the first lady were away. If convicted, Ortega faces up to life in prison. He was arrested Wednesday at a western Pennsylvania hotel when a desk clerk there recognized him and called police. Ortega's public defender, Christopher Brown, declined to comment after
his first court hearing in Pennsylvania. Ortega's mother has said he
has no history of mental illness, though authorities had reported he
had "mental health issues" when they were looking for him. More
Ohio Amish leader: Beard-cutting religious matter Sam Mullet said he didn't order the hair-cutting but didn't stop two of his sons and another man from carrying it out last week on a 74-year-old man in his home in rural eastern Ohio. Amish men typically grow beards as adults and stop trimming them when they marry, and the beards are held in high esteem. Mullet, 66, said the goal of the hair-cutting was to send a message
to local Amish that they should be ashamed of themselves for the way
they were treating Mullet and his community. "They changed the rulings
of our church here, and they're trying to force their way down our throat,
make us do like they want us to do, and we're not going to do that,"
Mullet told The Associated Press outside his house on the outskirts
of Bergholz, a village of about 700 residents. More
OC Couple Threatened With $500-Per-Meeting Fines For Home Bible Study Homeowners Chuck and Stephanie Fromm, of San Juan Capistrano, were fined $300 earlier this month for holding what city officials called “a regular gathering of more than three people”. That type of meeting would require a conditional use permit as defined by the city, according to Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), the couple’s legal representation. The Fromms also reportedly face subsequent fines of $500 per meeting
for any further “religious gatherings” in their home, according to PJI.
“We’re just gathering and enjoying each other’s company and fellowship.
And we enjoy studying God’s word.” Stephanie Fromm said. More
Christian pastor in Iran faces execution for apostasy The panel of five judges will decide within a week whether to confirm his execution for apostasy, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, his lawyer, told The (London) Times. William Hague said he "deplored" Pastor Nadarkhani's plight, and a senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office diplomat telephoned the Iranian charge d'affaires in London to protest. "This demonstrates the Iranian regime's continued unwillingness to
abide by its constitutional and international obligations to respect
religious freedom," Mr Hague said. "I pay tribute to the courage shown
by Pastor Nadarkhani, who has no case to answer, and call on the Iranian
authorities to overturn his sentence." More
Jehovah's Witness stands trial for pedophile sex offenses The girl, who was hit in the face while the Witness attempted to rape her, kept the trauma of the incident to herself for three years before she and another young victim told Jehovah's Witnesses elders. But the Jehovah's Witnesses elders did not intervene. They simply left it to the girls to decide for themselves whether to go to the police. The girls could not find the courage to go to the police till 2009
when they learned that church leaders had appointed Paul Wood to a role
in another part of the country which would bring him in contact with
young women. More
'Amish Bernie Madoff' accused of stealing $17 million from his fellow worshippers An Ohio man dubbed the "Amish Bernie Madoff" was accused by federal prosecutors of defrauding his fellow worshippers out of nearly $17 million. Monroe Beachy, 77, was charged in Ohio Federal Court with mail fraud for bilking Amish investors in 29 states, federal prosecutors said. Beachy moved his investors' money from safe securities to risky investments - and routinely sent out bogus account statements indicating a profit, prosecutors said. "These representations were false and made to lead investors to believe
they were earning interest and had an account balance that was over-inflated
compared to actual assets," the indictment charged. Beachy, owner of
A&M Investments in Sugarcreek, Ohio, told The Associated Press that
he was unaware of any indictment and declined comment. More
Two men charged with sexually assaulting a handicapped woman during a Bible study A Union County Grand Jury Wednesday returned an eight count indictment against Edward Woodson, 31, and Marcal Campbell, 30, charging both men with sexual assault and Woodson with an additional count of kidnapping, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow announced this morning. Woodson and Campbell are accused of holding the woman for nearly 12 hours in the basement of Woodson's family home on East Front Street in Plainfield, Romankow said. The woman — identified in the indictment only as "S.S." — apparently knew Woodson from her church. Around 9 p.m. on Jan. 31, "S.S." was preparing for a baptism when
Woodson invited her to his home for a Bible-study, according to Assistant
Prosecutor Patricia L. Cronin, who is trying the case. Woodson brought
her back to his home where they met up with Campbell and led her to
the basement, where they sexually assaulted the victim together, Cronin
said. More
'Cult members made me starve my one-year-old boy' Speaking for the first time, Ria Ramkissoon, who was 19 when her son died, said she wanted to save her son but was convinced she would be defying God's will if she did so. The cult's leader, who called herself Queen Antoinette, had told Miss Ramkissoon that her 15-month-old son Javon Thompson needed to be starved as he was possessed by an evil spirit. Miss Ramkissoon said that she thought she would be guaranteed eternal damnation if she did not follow Antoinette who cited the Bible as her authority. 'It's like it's somebody else's life, but it's not,' Miss Ramkissoon
said in her first interview since Javon's death. More
Pat Robertson's remarks on divorce, Alzheimer's on '700 Club' spark outrage Robertson, 81, made the controversial remarks Tuesday during his "700 Club" show when a viewer asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife was diagnosed with the neurological disorder. "I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," said the one-time Republican presidential candidate. He added he wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on anyone who divorces a spouse
suffering from the illness. Robertson's preacher peers have been quick
to condemn his statement, saying it doesn't gibe with the Bible. More
War of words breaks out among Jehovah's Witnesses An article published in July's edition of The Watchtower warns followers to stay clear of "false teachers" who are condemned as being "mentally diseased" apostates who should be avoided at all costs. "Suppose that a doctor told you to avoid contact with someone who is infected with a contagious, deadly disease," the article reads. "You would know what the doctor means, and you would strictly heed his warning. Well, apostates are 'mentally diseased', and they seek to infect others with their disloyal teachings." A copy of the magazine, distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses around
the world, was given to The Independent by a current member of the church
who has become unhappy with official teaching but is afraid to leave
for fear of losing his family. More
Phoenix Goddess Temple raided by police Authorities are still searching for 17 more people -- all of whom have been indicted -- in connection with the prostitution enterprise, said Sgt. Steve Martos, a Phoenix police spokesman. The 20 people arrested so far have been charged with prostitution or other offenses, police said. During a Wednesday search of the Phoenix temple and two church-related
sites in nearby Sedona, police seized evidence showing that "male and
female 'practitioners' working at the Temple were performing sexual
acts in exchange for monetary 'donations,' all on the pretense of providing
'neo tantric' healing therapies," Phoenix police said. More
Vicar fury at new home for Jehovahs The religious group has been given permission to relocate from the Kingdom Hall in Tweedmouth’s West End to Scremerston. Rev Matthew Knox, Vicar of Tweedmouth and priest in charge of St Peter’s Church in Scremerston, argued the plan should be turned down because it is not a place of Christian worship as stated in the application. He said: “This is not a Christian denomination and so it is misleading to use the phrase ‘Christian place of worship’ in its application. “This new religious movement, adopting its name in 1931, departs from key traditional Christian doctrines and practices and disassociates itself from all main Christian denominations. “It is not part of Churches Together in Berwick, it has its own translation
of the bible and to my knowledge discourages independent thinking with
the real threat of members being shunned by all other members if they
dispute their governing body’s official doctrine. More
Teen girl was raped, impregnated by fellow church-member & then forced to apologize Jury selection starts Monday at Merrimack Superior Court in New Hampshire in the case against Ernest Willis, who prosecutors charge raped Tina Anderson twice in her home in 1997, leaving her pregnant, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported. The then-teenager was then compelled by leaders of the Trinity Baptist Church to apologize for becoming pregnant with a married man's child, the Concord Monitor reported. Willis, now 52, has admitted to the sex, but claims it was consensual.
More
Churchgoer dumped bacon outside a mosque: jailed for race hate crimes John White, 63, left rashers of bacon outside the religious building in South Shields, and similar products outside worshippers' homes. Newcastle Crown Court heard that despite the distress caused to the members of the Jam-E-Masjid mosque, chairman Mohammed Miah has told police he bears no grudge. Stuart Graham, defending White, said: 'The chairman of the mosque has said everything has calmed down and they don't wish him any ill. 'Something has triggered this, but they certainly don't wish him any
harm.' More
Former Jehovah's Witness taking on Watch Tower His action is in protest at its refusal to require church elders to submit to Working With Children police checks in Victoria. Steven Unthank, who says he was a victim of sexual assault by a church elder in Queensland, says he is taking the drastic step to protect children within the religion and at homes where Jehovah's Witnesses doorknock. Mr Unthank, from Toongabbie in Gippsland, says he is frustrated over inaction by police and the Justice Department after the religion decided its ministers were not required to undergo police checks. He hopes the state will take over the prosecution after court documents are filed on April 19. Mr Unthank, 43, quit the religion in late 2009 after waging a long campaign to persuade the Watch Tower Society, the religion's administrative arm, that elders and door-to-door preachers needed to get police checks before working with children. Although Jehovah's Witnesses say all members become ordained ministers
at baptism, a spokesman for the Watch Tower Society said elders or other
evangelists were not required to gain a police clearance. "We don't
typically work with children, we don't have Sunday schools, so that
law doesn't apply to us," the spokesman said. More
An Israeli algorithm sheds light on the Bible The program, part of a sub-field of artificial intelligence studies known as authorship attribution, has a range of potential applications - from helping law enforcement to developing new computer programs for writers. But the Bible provided a tempting test case for the algorithm's creators. For millions of Jews and Christians, it's a tenet of their faith that God is the author of the core text of the Hebrew Bible - the Torah, also known as the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses. But since the advent of modern biblical scholarship, academic researchers
have believed the text was written by a number of different authors
whose work could be identified by seemingly different ideological agendas
and linguistic styles and the different names they used for God. More
Women’s Bible study ends with bloody nose and arrest While there are two versions of what happened, deputies say that Hiedi Rhodes was nearly too drunk to tell her version, and that it was vague and didn’t match what the other three witnesses told them. That inconsistency, and the testimony of the other three women gathered for the Bible study, is likely what led to her arrest. Deputies arrived to a call for help to find two women in a physical
fight inside a home on Laureno Place, in the Laguna Beach area. After
breaking up the fight, two deputies separated the women to hear both
sides of the story. During what deputies describe as a “rambling” testimony,
Rhodes said that the other woman had attacked her because she’d called
her boyfriend earlier, and told him that his dog was roaming the neighborhood.
The other version of the story does not paint Rhodes as the victim,
but rather as the aggressor. More
Amish Man Accused Of Sexting 12 y/o Girl Officers arrested 21-year-old William R. Yoder on Wednesday, June 15, after he rode up to the Takathemoke Restaurant in Milroy, Indiana, and approached an undercover agent. "The suspect arrived, in a one-horse carriage as he said he would, was identified by the undercover officer confirming his identity and was taken into custody without incident," said Connersville, Indiana, police Detective Craig Pennington. Yoder was taken to Fayette County Jail, about 60 miles east of Indianapolis,
where in a videotaped statement he confessed that he sent video messages,
naked pictures of himself and lewd text messages. He posted bail June
16. More
Actually, that's not in the Bible “Scripture tells you that all things shall pass,” a choked-up Ditka said after leading his team to only five wins during the previous season. “This, too, shall pass.” Ditka fumbled his biblical citation, though. The phrase “This, too, shall pass” doesn’t appear in the Bible. Ditka was quoting a phantom scripture that sounds like it belongs in the Bible, but look closer and it’s not there. Ditka’s biblical blunder is as common as preachers delivering long-winded
public prayers. The Bible may be the most revered book in America, but
it’s also one of the most misquoted. Politicians, motivational speakers,
coaches - all types of people - quote passages that actually have no
place in the Bible, religious scholars say. More
Man Arrested for Firing Gun at Man Distributing Religious Flyer Gino Salinas, 51, of an unincorporated portion of Riverside County, got into a verbal altercation with a man distributing religious literature in the 17,000 block of Dalke Lane at about 3 p.m. Sunday. When the man turned to get back into his car, Salinas displayed a
black handgun and fired one shot toward the vehicle. The man got into
the car, drove off and called police, according to a Riverside County
spokesperson. More
Was the Bible forged? Bart D Ehrman claims many books of the New Testament were forged by people pretending to be the apostles Peter, Paul or James. Writing in the Huffington Post, Professor Ehrman, best selling author of 'Misquoting Jesus' and 'Jesus, Interrupted', said religious scholars were well aware of the 'lies' of the Bible. While some were happy to acknowledge them others refer to them as 'pseudepigrapha' - meaning a falsely attributed work -, he wrote. In his new book , Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They
Are, Professor Ehrman claims The Second Epistle of Peter - or 2 Peter
- was forged. More
Tavares church's jarring billboard reaches out to 'scumbags' Lord, forgive them. "Our hope was that we would fill up the building, bring new people to the Cross and Jesus," explained Robbins, 42, the laid-back pastor of nondenominational SNL, which meets at the activity center of the First United Methodist Church of Tavares. Rooted in a modern translation of scripture, the billboard, erected about a month ago on the south side of U.S. Highway 441, has pulled in a few new members while irritating some passersby who think it's in bad taste. The city of Tavares recently dispatched its code-enforcement officer
to investigate after receiving complaints about the billboard, but officials
determined the message was constitutionally protected speech, spokeswoman
Joyce Ross said. More
Russian sect believes Putin reincarnation of St. Paul The sect, founded by one Mother Fotinya, is based in the Bolshaya Elnya village in the central Russian Nizhny Novgorod region. Fotinya was quoted by the paper as saying that there were certain parallels between the life of former president Putin and St. Paul. "According to the Bible, Paul the Apostle used to be a warlord and the fierce persecutor of Christians, and then he began preaching the Gospel. Putin also was not a saint during his service in the KGB. But when
he became president, the Holy Ghost descended on him," Fotinya was quoted
as saying. More
Jehovah's Witnesses face gunfire at 'Catholic home' That’s when her husband, William George Kalapach, came into the home and got his rifle. The women were walking to the car where three other people were waiting, when Kalapach said they weren’t moving fast enough, police said. Police said he fired four shots into the ground about 11 a.m. Saturday near the car with all five people inside. He is now in county prison, charged with aggravated assault and related charges. "This is a Catholic home," Rhonda Kalapach said. "This is a devout
home." More
Religious Young Adults Become Obese By Middle Age “We don’t know why frequent religious participation is associated with development of obesity, but the upshot is these findings highlight a group that could benefit from targeted efforts at obesity prevention,” said Matthew Feinstein, the study’s lead investigator and a fourth-year student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. ”It’s possible that getting together once a week and associating good
works and happiness with eating unhealthy foods could lead to the development
of habits that are associated with greater body weight and obesity.”
More
Birds of the same feather: Harold Camping, William Miller and Charles Taze Russell Camping's outrageous claim that May 21 was the chosen date for the Second Coming of Jesus now stands refuted. He predicted that the day would be punctuated with a massive earthquake and the heavenly transport (rapture) of 200 million believers. The U.S. Geological Society proved the quake claim bogus and a global census is sure to discredit the latter. Harold Camping, a civil engineer who graduated from UC Berkeley, bewitched his clan of followers by applying abstract math to his apocalyptic madness which is similar to what other naysayers like the founders of Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah Witness had used. The Seventh-day Adventist had its roots in the "Millerite" movement which was started by William Miller in the 19th century. Religionfacts records that Miller had predicted that the Second Coming of Jesus would take place between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. Similarly the founder of Jehovah Witness movement Charles Taze Russell
had predicted that Jesus would return in 1914. More
Rapture Fail - believers downcast, pastor silent After driving from Maryland in the hope of being taken up to heaven in the Rapture with a crowd of fellow believers, Keith Bauer admitted his disappointment Saturday as he stood in a near-empty parking lot outside the locked Family Radio headquarters in Oakland. "I was hoping," the 36-year-old trucker told reporters, who outnumbered believers at the grimy hub of worldwide speculation that Earth would end that very day at 6 p.m. "Heaven will be a lot better than this earth. Neither radio employees nor radio minister Harold Camping were in evidence on Hegenberger Road near the Oakland Airport. Although it wasn't yet 6 p.m., Bauer began having doubts about Camping's
prophecy when the predicted devastation and Rapture didn't happen in
places like New Zealand, where the deadline had already come and gone.
More
'Lucky man': 39 wives, 94 kids not enough for sect leader They all live in a four-story building with 100 rooms in a mountainous village in Mizoram state, sharing borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, media reports said. "I once married 10 women in one year," he was quoted as saying. His wives share a dormitory near Ziona's private bedroom and locals said he likes to have seven or eight of them by his side at all times. The sons and their wives, and all their children, live in different
rooms in the same building, but share a common kitchen. More
JW Sex attacker preyed on 1,000 elderly victims Scotland Yard apologised for botching chances to catch Delroy Grant as he was found guilty of some of the "most depraved" crimes in its history. The father of 10 faces life in jail after Woolwich crown court convicted him of 29 offences dating back 17 years, including three rapes, an attempted rape, seven indecent assaults and 18 burglaries. Grant attacked victims aged between 68 and 93 in Warlingham, Shirley, Beckenham, Bromley, Addiscombe, Orpington and West Dulwich. But the force today issued a public apology as it admitted missing at least one major chance to snare him 10 years before his arrest. The Jehovah's Witness, 53, went on to attack 146 more victims - three
of whom were raped and 20 sexually assaulted. Seven victims died before
getting the chance to see justice done. More
Who's in hell? Pastor's new book sparks eternal debate Chad Holtz was dismissed from Marrow’s Chapel United Methodist Church at 2828 Morgan Road after writing a note on his Facebook page supporting a new book by Rob Bell, a prominent young evangelical pastor and critic of the traditional view of hell as a place of eternal torment for billions of damned souls. He preached his final sermon Sunday. An Associated Press story about Bell’s book and Holtz’s dismissal was posted on news websites around the world Thursday. Hotlz said the story was accurate, but the one thing he wants everyone to know is this: “The people at my church are good people.” In the book “Love Wins,” Bell criticizes the belief that a select number
of Christians will spend eternity in the bliss of heaven while everyone
else is tormented forever in hell. More
'Could codices prove 'the major discovery of Christian history'? Written on lead in Hebrew and Aramaic, the secretly coded books – or codices – were hidden for centuries in a remote Jordanian cave until a traveling Bedouin found them some five years ago, according to a statement released last week by British Egyptologist David Elkington. Depictions of crosses on the lead-bound leaves, coupled with metallurgical analysis, suggest to Mr. Elkington that these might be early Christian texts that pre-date even some letters in the New Testament. Others aren’t so sure. All evidence to date suggests Christians didn’t
use the cross as a symbol until the 4th century, according to Hershel
Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. The use of codices also
dates to a later period, he said, and metal analysis has yielded no
precise dating in this case. More
Woman Tries to Kill Children, Self to Avoid 'the Tribulation' Lyn Benedetto, 47, reportedly told her daughters to lie on a bed and proceeded to take a knife to their throats. The suspect then took the knife to her own throat before driving the victims to an unoccupied friend's house to die. Lancaster Station deputies responded to a call regarding an "assault
with knife" at about 5:32pm from the owner of the residence where the
victims had been taken. More
Biblical scholar's date for rapture: May 21, 2011
"That date has not one stitch of biblical authority," Camping says from the Oakland office where he runs Family Radio, an evangelical station that reaches listeners around the world. "It's like a fairy tale." The real date for the end of times, he says, is in 2011. The Mayans and the recent Hollywood movie "2012" have put the apocalypse in the popular mind this year, but Camping has been at this business for a long time. And while Armageddon is pop science or big-screen entertainment to many, Camping has followers from the Bay Area to China. Camping, 88, has scrutinized the Bible for almost 70 years and says
he has developed a mathematical system to interpret prophecies hidden
within the Good Book. One night a few years ago, Camping, a civil engineer
by trade, crunched the numbers and was stunned at what he'd found: The
world will end May 21, 2011. More
One dead after shots fired inside Jehovah's Kingdom Hall Shots were fired at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses on Pioneer Street. On Thursday morning the victim was identified as 47-year-old Kenneth Mort of Lowell. Robert Gonzales, 34, of Eugene was arrested on murder charges. Mort and Gonzales knew each other. Gonzales fled the scene, sparking a manhunt. Oregon State Police troopers found his abandoned vehicle three miles from the hall. The search involved Lane County sheriff's deputies, Oregon State Police
troopers, Eugene police officers, police dogs and the Lane County sheriff's
helicopter. More
Book publisher says televangelist Benny Hinn violated morality clause
In August, Hinn admitted to a friendship with evangelist Paula White after The National Enquirer published photos of them in Rome, holding hands. Hinn was married at the time. His wife, Suzanne, had filed for divorce a few months earlier. Three years earlier, Hinn had signed a three-book deal with Strang Communications Co. of Lake Mary. He was paid a $300,000 advance on the first one, "Blood in the Sand," according to the suit. Hinn acknowledged to his publisher "his inappropriate relationship"
with White in August, according to the suit, and agreed that the publisher
should get back its money, but he has yet to pay up. More
Confession app blessed by Catholic bishop
Confession: A Roman Catholic App, developed by Little iApps in South Bend, Ind., received an "imprimatur" — an official publication licence from the church — from Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Indiana Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, the company said in a news release. The release added that this is the first known imprimatur given to an iPhone or iPad app, even though a number of similar apps already exist. The app, which sells for $1.99, was the only religious app in the Top 10. Despite that, version 1.0.1, updated on Feb. 2, had not been rated enough times by users to display an average rating. The first version was released in December. "This app has already aided one man in returning to the sacrament
after 20 years," said Patrick Leinen, the app developer and co-founder
of the company in a statement. More
Jehovah's Witness paid 13-year-old girl to keep quiet about sex abuse
Liverpool Crown Court heard that 54-year-old Geoffrey Massey would pay the teenager after molesting her at his home in an attempt to keep her quiet. But his crimes eventually came to light after he confessed to his daughter, who told other relatives. In April, following the revelations, his young victim took an overdose and had to be treated at hospital. Jailing 54-year-old Massey, who is a Jehovah's Witness, Judge Adrian
Lyon said “I have regard for the totality of the offences and in particular
the last count, which dealt with a number of photographs you took of
the child, aged 13, on your behalf. More
Father sacrifices newborn girl child to please deity
"We have arrested the accused for this heinous crime," said MK Jadeja, police inspector of A-division police station, on Monday. "Narottam Devipujak was produced before the magistrate in Gandhidham court today." According to the details of the case, the incident took place on Janmashtami night. Narottam, who sells vegetables from a kiosk, had vowed that he would offer a male goat to the goddess if a son was born to him. But if a girl child was born, he had sworn that he would straightway offer the child to the deity. When his wife gave birth to a baby girl a day before Janmashtami, he
decided to give her as an offering to the goddess. When everyone was
glued to the TV watching the birth of Lord Krishna, he slipped away
with the baby and threw her in a gutter close to the temple of the deity.
Then he returned home, pretending as if nothing had happened. More
Hasidic Rabbi, Three Sons Accused of Rape, Incest
The 58-year-old father and his 21-year-old son fled to Israel two days ago and are wanted for questioning in the case, police said. They were apparently driven to the airport by the mother. Two other sons, a 24-year-old and a 15-year-old, were arrested on sexual abuse and rape charges. It was unclear whether they had attorneys, and a message left at the home wasn't immediately returned. The suspects' names are being withheld by The Associated Press to avoid identification of victims. Police say the abuse came to light after the oldest victim, now 20,
who worked as a teacher's aide at a yeshiva in Brooklyn, told a teacher
there she had been abused. Authorities believe she was assaulted by
her father repeatedly for 15 years. The other victims range in age from
8 to 19, and investigators believe the abuse was also repeated. More
Jehovah’s Witness Rapist evaded justice for years
Anthony Burns, aged 54, was confronted with his crimes against a young child in the 1980s but no action was taken by the religious organisation. Burns repeatedly abused a girl as young as nine years old, from 1977 until 1984 when she revealed what had been happening. Burns, of Back Road, Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire, denied four charges of indecent assault, attempted rape and rape but was convicted after a trial. The abuse took place in the 1970s and early 1980s in Eastbourne and Northamptonshire. He was jailed for 11 years and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life. Judge Charles Wide QC said: “It is very unfortunate the Jehovah’s
Witnesses community dealt with a complaint in 1984 in a wholly inappropriate
way, seemingly more concerned with their own reputation than doing justice,
but I acknowledge they were very different times. More
Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam
The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence. Residents of Qalqiliya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin — the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar — was leading a double life. Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly posting anti-religion rants on the Internet during his free time. Now, he faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for
"insulting the divine essence." Many in this conservative Muslim town
say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members
say he should remain behind bars for life. More
Jehovah’s Witness jailed for grooming and abusing boy
Thomas Gold, 45, of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh. He previously admitted committing indecency at a house in Tullibody between November 1996, when the boy was seven years old, and November in 2003. Unemployed Gold took the boy canvassing for the Jehovah's Witnesses and to the Kingdom Hall. When he became a teenager, the victim told elders at his church about the abuse. Advocate depute Alison Di Rollo said the church leaders told Gold his
behaviour was wrong and warned that if it continued he would be "disfellowshipped",
or expelled, because the church disapproved of homosexual behaviour.
More
The Church of Sit Up Cycling
Now the realm of worship has come to the aesthetic art and act of regular citizens riding upright bicycles. We like this theological uprighteousness. Reverend James Twowheeler is the 'nom de plume' of the church's founder. As stated on the church's website: Wearing their normal work and play clothes is an essential religious practice of members of the Church of Sit-Up Cycling. This may or may not include wearing plastic hats. Believers wholly endorse the use of such accident-preventing safety measures as lights, bells, height, strict compliance with traffic signals, a leisurely pace and the use of dedicated cycling streets and lanes. Reverend Twowheeler discovered a potential loophole in British Columbia's Motor Vehicle Act. British Columbia is one of the few places in the world that has all-ages mandatory helmet laws but there are exemptions from the law. Among them: 3 The following persons are exempt from the requirement under section
184 of the Act to wear a bicycle safety helmet: - a person for whom
the wearing of a helmet would interfere with an essential religious
practice; Among the individuals who could claim this exemption are Sikhs.
And now, perhaps, the Church of the Sit Up Cycling. More
Locals Protest Mosque That's Actually a Church
The backlash has been severe enough that the church's leaders have hung a giant banner over the dome: "IF YOU THINK DIFFERENT YOU ARE WRONG -- WE ARE BUILDING A CHRISTIAN HOUSE OF WORSHIP." The incident suggests that the widespread backlash against Muslim-American centers, which began this summer in reaction to the planned Cordoba House in New York, may still not have fully receded. Phoenix's CBS affiliate KPHO reports, "People behind a new church
in Phoenix are trying to stay ahead of any potential controversy or
hate that accompanied the announcement of a proposed mosque near Ground
Zero in New York City.". More
Jehovah’s Witness deal riles Aurora neighbors
The 50,000-square-foot hall would be built on about 22 acres on the southeast corner of East Smoky Hill Road and South Oak Hill Way in southeast Aurora. It would seat 2,900 people and have up to 1,000 parking spots, according to preliminary plans. The property had been slated for the second phase of the Serenity Ridge neighborhood, which was to include a pool and clubhouse. But the original developer went out of business and the new group that bought it from the bank is negotiating a sale to the Jehovah's Witnesses. "I'm angry at the situation," said Carrelle DeSimone, who lives in
Serenity Ridge, which is across the street from the proposed assembly
hall. "There's a right place to build that, and it's not here." Neighbors
worry the assembly hall will bring unwanted traffic and lower their
property values. More
Nose-stud controversy draws attention to church's beliefs
But spend a few minutes with Ivey, a bouncer at The Brewery on Hillsborough Street, and the quality that strikes you deeper than the holes in his body, or the ink under his skin, is his peacefulness. Speaking through a bushy orange beard, gazing through round spectacles, he shows the contentment of a cat resting in a sunbeam. It's not a quality you expect from a 22-year-old who earns his paycheck
knocking around with out-of-control punk rockers. But as a minister
in The Church of Body Modification, Ivey can find peace at the end of
a needle, or wholeness while dangling from hooks. He kills the pain
inside by creating more of it on the outside. More
Moral search engines squeeze out sin on internet
"We think that the other search engines are way too 'main street' oriented. We wanted to provide a solution to explore the web in a safe environment, where you won't bump into explicit content or immoral websites, like pornography," said Reza Sardeha, the Amsterdam-based founder of the Muslim-oriented search engine I'mHalal. If one types the world alcohol into imhalal.com, the search engine produces results that explain the Muslim viewpoint on drinking. Type in "pornography", and the search engine produces... nothing. The 21-year-old Kuwaiti says the site attracts users from places like
Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates as well as the
United States. More
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A
Jehovah's Witness jumped to his death from a Brooklyn rooftop yesterday.
According to police, Dwayne Fagan, 48, jumped from the top of his apartment
building in the Linden Houses in East New York just before 1 p.m. Wednesday
afternoon as bystanders looked on.
Tioga preacher Holland Farrell McMorris for years would stand in the
Paradise Baptist Church pulpit preaching the good word, then at night
sneak into the bedroom of a young female relative while her siblings
were asleep.
Recently the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,
held an invitation-only call. The call was co-sponsored by the U.S.
Health and Human Services, the Office of Minority Health, and CDC.
In Colorado, two pastors, a former principal and a teacher have been
arrested by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in a sexual assault
case involving a 15 year-old boy.
Hundreds of investors victimized in an alleged Spokane-based Ponzi scheme
are now being sued by bankruptcy officials attempting to unravel the
complicated case of Little Loan Shoppe.
Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, former
presidential candidate and the charismatic host of "The 700 Club," raised
eyebrows recently after he asked on air if macaroni and cheese was a
"black thing."
A
Sprague Road woman told police Oct. 26 that she is a former Jehovah's
Witness and the group has been calling her.
BOISE, Idaho -- An Idaho man accused of firing an assault rifle at the
White House believed he was Jesus and thought President Barack Obama
was the antichrist. He had become increasingly agitated with the federal
government, and at one point, he suggested Obama was planning to implant
computer tracking chips into children, according to court documents
and those who knew him.
BERGHOLZ, Ohio - The leader of an Amish group with members accused of
going into the home of another Amish man and cutting his hair and beard
said Monday it's a religious matter and police shouldn't be involved.
MISSION VIEJO — An Orange County couple has been ordered to stop holding
a Bible study in their home on the grounds that the meeting violates
a city ordinance as a “church” and not as a private gathering.
An Iranian court gave Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, a third and final chance
to avoid hanging, but he replied, "I am resolute in my faith and Christianity
and have no wish to recant."
A Jehovah's Witness in Suffolk, England, Paul Wood, has been accused
of sexually assaulting three girls and attempting to rape one of them.
According to reports, the Jehovah's Witness attempted to rape a 14 year-old
girl in his home in Sudbury.
Thou hath the right to remain silent.
A 30-year-old handicapped Plainfield woman was held hostage and raped
by two Union County men after coming over for a Bible study class, prosecutors
said today.
A mother who starved her one-year-old son to death on the orders of
a cult leader after he did not say 'amen' before a meal has said she
was paralysed by fear and was 'crazy'.
The official magazine for Jehovah's Witnesses has described those who
leave the church as "mentally diseased", prompting an outcry from former
members and insiders concerned about the shunning of those who question
official doctrine.
A church called the Phoenix Goddess Temple has been accused of being
a house of prostitution, and a six-month undercover investigation has
resulted in the arrests of 20 women and men who worked there, Phoenix
police said Friday.
A VICAR’S passionate plea for councillors to reject the Jehovah’s Witnesses
plans for a new place of worship has fallen on deaf ears.
A woman who says she was raped and impregnated as a 15-year-old by a
member of her church - and then forced to read a letter of apology aloud
to the congregation - is now seeking justice from the courts.
A
churchgoer who left pork products outside a mosque during a hate campaign
against Muslims has been put behind bars.
A
FORMER Jehovah's Witness is to launch a private criminal prosecution
against the religion's world headquarters.
JERUSALEM — Software developed by an Israeli team is giving intriguing
new hints about what researchers believe to be the multiple hands that
wrote the Bible. The new software analyzes style and word choices to
distinguish parts of a single text written by different authors, and
when applied to the Bible its algorithm teased out distinct writerly
voices in the holy book.
Laguna
Beach -- What witnesses say started out with Bible study took a strange
turn before ending with the arrest of a 39-year-old Panama City Beach
woman.
Police
in Indiana say they arrested an Amish man who arrived in a horse-drawn
buggy for a presumed rendezvous with a 12-year-old girl to whom he had
sent sexually explicit cell phone messages.
NFL
legend Mike Ditka was giving a news conference one day after being fired
as the coach of the Chicago Bears when he decided to quote the Bible.
A
Riverside County man who fired a gun at a man passing out religious
literature in his neighborhood was arrested Sunday night after a stand-off
with Perris officers and the Riverside County Sheriff's Special Enforcement
Bureau.
Parts
of the Bible were written by people who lied about their identity, an
author has claimed.
Pastor
Moses Robbins and his fledgling Saturday Night Live Church have raised
Cain with a bold billboard along one of Lake County's busiest highways
that calls out, "Scumbags Welcome!"
A
founder of a religious cult glorifying Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin believes that the powerful premier is the reincarnation of Saint
Paul, the Russian tabloid Sobesednik reported on Wednesday.
Rhonda
Kalapach believes Jehovah's Witnesses have no place on her property.
When two of them came to her door, the 60-year-old Monroe County woman
asked them to leave. Her husband saw the women from across the street
and yelled at them, but they didn’t go.
CHICAGO
--- Could it be the potato salad? Young adults who frequently attend
religious activities are 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle
age as young adults with no religious involvement, according to new
Northwestern Medicine research. This is the first longitudinal study
to examine the development of obesity in people with various degrees
of religious involvement.
Doomsday
prophet Harold Camping's failed rapture theory was a product of numerical
manipulation which is based on the assumption that Biblical numbers
contain encoded spiritual truths.
Followers
of an Oakland radio minister who predicted that Saturday would mark
the start of the world's last days waited in vain for a religious homecoming
that never happened.
GUWAHATI,
India — The more, the merrier is certainly true for Ziona Chana, a 66-year-old
man in India's remote northeast who has 39 wives, 94 children and 33
grandchildren — and wouldn't mind having more. 
A
former taxi driver dubbed the Night Stalker may have carried out as
many as 1,000 sex attacks and burglaries.
A
local pastor who lost his job after losing his old belief in hell says
he hopes the controversy doesn’t harm his former church.
Experts
are responding with a mixture of caution, hope, and skepticism to new
claims that a recently discovered trove of 70 ancient sealed books may
represent some of the earliest Christian documents.
Palmdale
-- A woman slit her daughters' throats before slitting her own early
Friday evening, claiming that "the Tribulation" was going to occur and
she wanted to prevent them from suffering through it, officials said.
Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people
who believe the world will end in 2012.
LOWELL,
Ore. -- One person is dead after a fatal shooting in Lowell, Ore., Wednesday
night.
SANFORD - A Lake Mary book publisher is suing televangelist and faith
healer Benny Hinn, saying he violated a morality clause in their contract
when he began an "inappropriate relationship" with another evangelist,
and thus, must pay $250,000.
An iPhone and iPad app that helps Roman Catholics seek forgiveness for
their sins has been sanctioned by the Catholic Church.
A man who sexually abused a 13-year-old girl and took obscene photographs
of her has been jailed for three years four months.
In a shocking incident, a father scarified his newborn girl child to
keep his promise to his family deity Kitotarmata. The man, Narottam
Mana Devipujak, threw his child in a drain near his house in Sundarpuri,
a busy slum area of Gandhidham.
NEW YORK -- A Hasidic rabbi and three of his sons are suspected of sexually
abusing at least four female relatives after the eldest victim confided
in a co-worker at a Jewish school, police said Friday.
A RAPIST evaded justice for 25 years because Jehovah’s Witnesses did
nothing when told about his child sex abuse, a court heard.
QALQILIYA, West Bank — A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in
the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet
Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to
track him down.
A Jehovah's Witness who groomed and sexually abused a boy has been jailed
for six years and eight months.
A resident of Vancouver, Canada has started a new church. The Church
of Sit Up Cycling. Cycling 'enthusiasts' have long exhibited a passion
for their hobby or sport that resembles religious observance.
Some vigilant citizens in Phoenix, Arizona are up in arms over a domed
church that they wrongly believe to be a mosque. The large building,
still under construction along a busy interstate, is actually a nondenominational
church.
AURORA — Residents in the Serenity Ridge neighborhood are upset by plans
to sell nearby land for a massive Jehovah's Witness assembly hall, the
first such hall in Colorado.
RALEIGH -- With his split tongue, a tattooed scalp and earlobe piercings
the size of hockey pucks, it's easy to mistake Richard Ivey III for
a sinister character with angry, boiling insides - or a chap as peculiar
as Queequeg, the doomed Polynesian whaler from "Moby Dick."
Seek and ye shall find. A number of new internet search engines created
by Christian, Jewish or Muslim entities aim to filter out queries from
web users in a way that is more relevant to those users and keeps them
from temptation, alcohol and pornography.