Theists in the news

Modern stories and links of the many weird things religious people do that make news.

See Also

• Theists in the news (archive) for many more stories
• Republicans in the news
• Democrats in the news
• Christian terrorists in the news
• Priest Abuse
• It's a miracle

Theists in the news

• NC Pastor Jesse Hursey yells "White Power" out of his vehicle at a Trump rally.[1]
• List: Every abusive Catholic church priest, clergy member named in every state in past year[2]
• A high-ranking Vatican priest, Monsignor Luigi Capozzi who is a secretary to one of Pope Francis’ closest collaborators was arrested by Vatican police after they caught him hosting a cocaine-fueled homosexual orgy in a building right next to St. Peter’s Basilica.[3]
• Kentucky principal, Phillip Todd Wilson, an outspoken Christian who campaigned to ban books deemed inappropriate from classrooms, was arrested for possessing and distributing child pornography.[4][5]
• Idaho pastor, Bret Allen Welty, charged with child sex abuse.[6]
• Oklahoma State Senator Ralph Shortey, who voted for anti-trans ‘bathroom bill’ busted in hotel with underage boy, charged with child prostitution.[7]
• Florida minister, Frederic Sterry Smith, 62, of St. Augustine, president of Servant’s Heart Disaster Relief, a St. Augustine-based nonprofit and "evangelical hands-on ministry devoted to helping hurricane victims in North America and the Caribbean, was charged with simple battery after writing a homophobic slur in a restaurant receipt and shoving it down the shirt of the restaurant's female manager.[8]
• A Christian school kindergarten teacher in the Chicago suburbs is facing charges related to sexual assault and child pornography after investigators say that she sent explicit material to minors for years. Shannon Griffin is the wife of the pastor of Jordan Baptist Church and is a teacher at the associated Jordan Baptist school in Oak Lawn, a suburb of Chicago. Christian school teacher who scolded girls to be modest was molesting male students. She was a moral scold who told girls they were dressing like sluts & the entire time she was sending naked photos of herself to male students. [9][10][11]
• A principal in Louisiana has resigned after being arrested at a Washington, DC strip club. Holy Family Principal Michael Comeau was chaperoning a middle school trip to the nation's capital when he was arrested at Archibald's Gentlemen's Club in Northwest DC. Police were called to the club, just blocks from the White House, to found Comeau “standing in the roadway, refusing to move." Comeau reportedly refused to settle up with the club.[12]
• The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $8 million to a teenager who was sexually abused and kidnapped by a teacher at her Catholic high school.The teenager's attorney, David Ring, said that the settlement — finalized by a court last week — is the largest that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has ever paid to a single victim, The Associated Press reports. Over the past 15 years, the archdiocese has paid more than $740 million in sexual abuse settlements.[13]
• A large majority of priests in the Vatican are gay, although many are not sexually active, a new book claims. A total of about 80 percent of the most revered clerics in the Roman Catholic Church are homosexual despite the church’s opposition to gay rights, according to the extensively researched book by French journalist Frédéric Martel. The gay priests adhere to an unspoken code called “the closet,” where it is understood that, for instance, a cardinal or bishop who denounces homosexuality is more likely to be gay, according to the book “In the Closet of the Vatican.”[14]
• 7-year old boy killed after court-appointed guardian punishes him for not knowing 13 bible verses[15]
• Evangelicals sue for right to deny shelter to homeless transgender people.Alliance Defending Freedom, the far-right evangelical legal group that defended the “right” of a baker to deny service to gay couples before the Supreme Court, has a new target.This time they’re suing to give a homeless shelter in Anchorage, Alaska, the “right” to deny help to transgender people. The federal court lawsuit seeks to overturn the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance that prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ people.[16]
• Male Escort Exposes 36 Gay Priests in File Sent to Vatican Containing Explicit WhatsApp Chats and Erotic Photos[17]
• Vatican’s Third-Most Powerful Official Cardinal George Pell Convicted on All Charges He Sexually Abused Choir Boys in the 1990s[18]
• “Aryan Pride” for Jesus: An Oklahoma pastor is under arrest after being caught running a prostitution ring with a white supremacist. Pastor Walter Eugene Brazington Jr. is “being charged with procuring for prostitution and possession of a firearm while in the commission of a felony,” according to a report from Tulsa World.[19]
• Lawsuit: At least 14 kids abused at hands of North Charleston church volunteer. Jacop Robert Lee Hazlett, 28, of Proximity Drive in West Ashley, faces one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 11 years old, according to his arrest affidavit and court records. Hazlett had worked as a volunteer chaperone and day care provider since March for NewSpring Church, located at 5101 Ashley Phosphate Road, supervising children ages 3 to 5 in a room called "the Tree House."[20]
• An Illinois priest who spent time in prison for manufacturing and selling a date-rape drug has been removed from ministry again for getting involved in a criminal case without telling his superiors. Peoria Diocese Bishop Daniel Jenky removed the Rev. Jeffrey Windy from his post serving three Ottawa parishes in March.[21]
• Gun-related tragedy struck once again this week, this time at a Catholic Supply store in Ballwin, Missouri, a suburb of St. Lous. USA Today reports that a former pastor has been arrested after allegedly attempting to coerce three women into having sex with him at gunpoint. When one of them resisted, he shot 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt in the head and forced the other two to submit to his “deviant” demands. The shooter, 53-year-old Thomas Bruce, has a reputation for right-wing tirades on social media and has ranted against gun-free zones in the past. He was a huge fan of President Trump, attended his rallies, and regularly tweeted about Republican politics. His last tweet read “I’ve already forgotten you. #promisesmade #promiseskept #trump2020 #BuildTheWall” and his feed was full of retweets from white nationalist FOX anchor Laura Ingraham.[22]
• Catholic Church Shielded Priests Who Raped Boys, but It Helped Lock Up a Priest Who Swiped Bucks. The monsignor who gambled and traveled on the Archdiocese’s dime remained behind bars as a grand jury reported on the crimes of his peers who preyed on children.[23]
• Grand jury report: Priests ran child porn ring in Pittsburgh Diocese[24]
• Pastor Timothy Lee Reddin did not practice what he preached, police claim. The Arkansas church leader was arrested this week for allegedly trying to meet with an underage boy to have sex, part of a police sting operation.[25]
• A former New Jersey pastor who co-founded the Creation Festival, which bills itself as the country's largest Christian music festival, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for sexually assaulting multiple young children. Harry Thomas, 75, who formerly pastored Come Alive New Testament Church in Medford and went on to help create the popular music festival, failed in withdrawing his guilty plea on Friday, the Associated Press reported.[26][27]
• Revelations that a prominent U.S. cardinal sexually abused and harassed his adult seminarians have exposed an egregious abuse of power that has shocked Catholics on both sides of the Atlantic. But the Vatican has long been aware of its heterosexual equivalent — the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops — and done little to stop it, an Associated Press analysis has found. An examination by the AP shows that cases of abused nuns have emerged in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, demonstrating that the problem is global and pervasive, thanks to the sisters' second-class status in the church and their ingrained subservience to the men who run it.[28]
• A longtime pastor of a Bogalusa church pleaded guilty to the theft of more than $95,000 in Social Security disability benefits, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans said Thursday. Jerry R. Newton, 54, of Slidell, is set for an Oct. 25 sentencing hearing before U. S. District Court Judge Jane Triche Milazzo.[29]
• The Vatican tribunal has convicted a former Holy See diplomat and sentenced him to 5 years in prison for possessing and distributing child pornography in the first such trial of its kind inside the Vatican.[30] Note that the Vatican refused to revoke the perpetrator's diplomatic immunity so he could be prosecuted in the United States.[31]
• A Catholic priest is behind bars after admitting to plying an underage boy with alcohol and molesting him. Father Steven Michael Guidry and his attorney reported to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office on June 13 and confessed to giving alcohol to the minor before sexually assaulting him.[32]
• Diocese knew priest arrested for child sex crimes was abusing boys, authorities say. The Diocese of Erie knew since at least May 2010 of the abuse, but this priest was still in active ministry as recently as 2 months ago. The Catholic Church knowingly allows pedophiles to have access to children.[33]
• The Rev. William Thomas Faucher, accused of child porn and drug crimes, was role playing with a fellow author in some of the chatroom conversations in which he’s alleged to have said he wanted to rape and kill children, his attorney said in court Friday.[34]
• A well-known Alabama evangelist, public speaker and author was arrested in Hoover Tuesday on child sex charges. Paul Edward Acton Bowen, a 37-year-old Gadsden native who now lives in Etowah County's Southside community, was taken into custody by Hoover police about 12:35 p.m. The founder of Acton Bowen Outreach Ministries is charged with second-degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house for immoral purposes, and second-degree sex abuse. The victim was a young male, but police did not release his age except to say he is over 12 and under 16.[35]
• As they back Trump, evangelical leaders face their own sex scandals.[36]
• A former Bossier Parish pastor has been arrested after admitting to police he had meth at his Bossier City home. Andy C. Harris, 56, of 2406 Benton Road in Bossier City, was charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance (methamphetamine) and possession of drug paraphernalia. [37]
• A 1,200-page dossier containing the names of 34 ‘actively gay’ priests and six seminarians in Italy has been sent to the Vatican by the archdiocese of Naples.The allegations were compiled by Francesco Mangiacapra, a gay male escort who told local media he couldn’t put up with the priests’ "hypocrisy" any longer.[38]
• Mari Lopez Lopez credited veganism and a faith in God as the cure for her breast cancer last year, just months before her breast cancer returned. She later died from cancer.[39]
• Pastor George Nelson Gregory, 61, of Munhall, Pa., was caught by cops in the backseat of a car with another man who was completely naked and bound with nylon rope in the front seat. Gregory says he was counseling the man, who is battling a drug problem.[40]
• 100s of child porn images, LSD, ecstasy found in Boise priest’s home, prosecutor says. Longtime Catholic Rev. W. Thomas Faucher, 72, was brought into court in a wheelchair Monday evening for his arraignment on 14 different charges.[41]
• Memphis mega-church pastor Andy Savage admits he molested a minor days before his ‘True Love Waits’ workshop.[42]
• An Ohio priest under investigation for questionable communications with a minor took his life in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune reports that Father James Csaszar jumped from the 82-story Aqua Hotel in downtown Chicago and the death was ruled a suicide on Thursday by the Cook County medical examiner's office.[43]
• Co-founder of nation’s largest Christian rock festival abused minors for 16 years, authorities say, Harry L. Thomas, 74, of Medford Township, faces charges of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. [44]
• Ralph Shortey, former Trump campaign chairman, Anti-Gay 'Family Values' Former GOP State Senator Guilty of Child Sex Trafficking After Being Found With Teen Boy.[45]
• Conservative megachurch founder Bob Coy accused of molesting 4-year-old[46]
• Devin Patrick Kelley, a vocational bible instructor, and ex Air Force soldier, opened fire in a Texas church, killing 26 people including children.[47]
• Amber James, the mother who killed her nine-year-old son on Halloween, says she prayed, thought about it, and cried before she strangled him to death to “save” him.[48]
• A Middletown mother will spend 21/2 to 5 years in state prison for assaulting her daughter because the teen didn't recite Bible verses correctly.Rhonda Shoffner, 41, was sentenced by Dauphin County Judge John F. Cherry after she pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault, strangulation, child endangerment and making terroristic threats.[49]
• The Vatican trial over $500,000 in donations to the pope’s pediatric hospital that were diverted to renovate a cardinal’s penthouse is reaching its conclusion, with neither the cardinal who benefited nor the contractor who was apparently paid twice for the work facing trial.[50]
• Shattered faith: Nearly 100 sex abuse suits against Catholic priests rock island of Guam.[51]
• Vatican blames women for pedophile priest scandals. [52]
• Vatican rocked: Police raid drug-fuelled gay orgy at cardinal's apartment.[53]
• Christian fundamentalist pastor to stand trial over death of two-year-old granddaughter from pneumonia.[54]
• Faith-healing parents charged with murder in death of premature twin baby[55]
• North Carolina televangelist Todd Coontz – author of numerous books on faith and finances – has been indicted on charges of tax fraud spanning more than a decade.[56]
• Ferndale Mother Arrested For Attempted Homicide After ‘Trying to Remove the Demons’ from Her 11-Year-Old Child.[57]
• Juror jailed for contempt in mistrial of minister, Brooke Covington, who is accused of kidnapping and beating a parishioner to expel his 'homosexual demons'[58]
• Monsignor William A. Dombrow was able to steal $500,000 from a church-owned retirement home, and used the money to pay for gambling, expensive dinners and concerts. He pleaded guilty to four federal wire fraud counts on Thursday. The maligned priest previously ran Villa St. Joseph in Darby for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, which housed aging priests and treated those accused of sexual abuse. Much of the stolen money came from insurance payments for priests who died and from the estates of parishioners.[59]
• Conservative Christian and Oklahoma lawmaker Ralph Shortey is charged with engaging in child prostitution and other felonies after being caught in a hotel room with an underage boy.[60]
• Oklahoma missionary sentenced to 40 years for sexually assaulting children in Upendo Children's Home in Nairobi, Kenya. Matthew Lane Durham, 21, was sentenced to four decades in prison by Judge David L. Russell on four counts of "engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places," according to court documents. "In a span of just 33 days," prosecutors wrote to the court, Durham "raped three girls -- ages 5, 9 and 15 -- at least eight times. During that same time period, he sexually molested a 12-year-old boy twice."[61]. Christian publications claim missionary was possessed by a Demon named "Luke". [62]
• Religious Parents Who Refused to Take Son to Hospital and Thought God Would Resurrect Him Found Guilty of First Degree Murder.[63]
• Word of Life Christian Church Pastor Tiffanie Irwin, her brother Joseph Irwin and mother and son church members Linda Morey and David Morey have entered guilty pleas in the church orchestrated beating of two teen boys, leaving one dead and the other severely injured. Reports indicate the teens were beaten because they discussed leaving the congregation. Lucas Leonard, 19, was severely beaten by members of the church last October, suffering injuries to the abdomen, genitals, back and thighs that ultimately proved to be fatal. At the time of the suspects arrest, police said the “spiritual counseling session” at the church was in reality an hours-long attack in which the teen boys were repeatedly whipped with cords, pummeled with fists, and kicked. They suffered severe injuries to the abdomen, genitals, back and thighs. A church member testified that the “counseling session” lasted for 14 hours and only stopped because Lucas “was dead at that point.”[64]
• Man Admits to Killing Cancer-Surviving Daughter, But Not Before Asking God to Intervene. 25-year-old Ryan Lawrence pleaded guilty to murdering his 21-month-old daughter, a survivor of eye cancer, in part because he may have been jealous of all the attention she was getting.[65]
• Christian who "dedicated his life to Jesus", Richard Keenan, who served as mayor of Hubbard in 2010 and 2011, was indicted last month eight counts of rape and 12 counts of attempted rape and gross sexual imposition of a 4 year old girl.[66]
• Brian Mitchell, a youth pastor at a North Olmsted church, a husband and father of three children under the age of 8, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday for raping an unnamed teenager.[67]
• 24-year-old “Christian Warrior” named Bryce Cuellar was arrested after posting a YouTube video detailing how he was going to kill “gays, faggots, lesbians and satanists.”[68]
• Pastor Who Said Pulse Victims Weren't Victims, Got 'What They Deserve' Arrested for Child Molestation. Controversial pastor Ken Adkins has been charged with two counts of child molestation in Georgia and is in the Glynn County jail, officials said.[69]
• Gunman fatally shoots Pennsylvania churchgoer after fight over seat at Sunday service.[70]
• Jerry Childress, a 75-year-old church organist from Florida, was arrested for indecent exposure after a glory hole attempt went wrong.[71]
• An Acadiana priest has been arrested for allegedly possessing over 500 images of child pornography, according to the Louisiana State Police. Father Felix David Broussard, a priest at St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge, was arrested today and booked into St. Martin Parish jail on 500 counts of pornography involving juveniles.[72]
• A 3-year-old boy died on Sunday after he was accidentally left in a hot car parked outside a church, according to police. The child’s family was attending an afternoon Bible study at Rehoboth Praise Assembly in Dallas.[73]
• London priest charged after allegedly gambling away more than $500,000 meant for Syrian refugees. [74]
• Man following "god's orders" tried to crush toddler daughter's skull with a bat to help her get to heaven.[75]
• Sam Sutter, A 26-year-old youth minister is facing sexual battery charges following his arrest. According to a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office report, Sutter was involved in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl he met through his job at the Openwater Church. [76]
• Anti-gay pastor, Dave Reynolds, the recently fired pastor of the Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Sherwood, Arkansas is currently facing 70 counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing child pornography.[77]
• The Catholic church in Pennsylvania has been accused of employing “mafia-like” tactics in a campaign to put pressure on individual Catholic lawmakers who support state legislation that would give victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their abusers.[78]
• David James Brown, head pastor at First Christian Church of Jeffersonville, Indiana. was arrested after allegedly seeking sex with a minor.[79]
• A former Vatican archbishop, Jozef Wesolowski, accused of paedophilia stored tens of thousands of child porn videos and photos on a computer in his office at the Holy See diplomatic compound in the Dominican Republic, it has emerged.[80]
• John David Brock, 60, died after a snake bit him in the left arm and he refused medical treatment, according to the Bell County Sheriff's Office. Brock was handling a snake during a church service at Mossy Simpson Pentecostal Church in Jenson, Kentucky.[81]
• The president of a Christian charity in Iowa, Jon S. Petersen, of Cedar Rapids admitted that he embezzled nearly a half-million dollars in donations and used the money to pay for a sex addiction, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. [82]
• Virginia pastor, Christopher Alan Hogge, 48, has been charged eight counts of possession and distribution of child pornography, according to the Isle of Wight County Sheriff's Office.[83]
• A private Christian school in Kansas is reserving the right to expel students who have gay family members. [84]
• Grace Baptist Church children’s pastor arrested in sex trafficking operation.[85]
• Vehemently Anti-LGBT Pastor Arrested On Child Pornography Charges.[86]
• Ohio seminary student arrested for alleged plan to have sex with adopted baby in Mexico [87]
• Woman beats disabled man with his own cane for saying he doesn’t believe in God[88]
• Phoenix Woman Accused of Killing Atheist Victim, Then Keeping the Body as a “Shrine From God”[89]
• Lisa Biron, Anti-Gay Christian Lawyer, Arrested On Child Pornography Charges[90]
• Pastor Slept with Young Girls During Prayer Sessions as Part of their “Healing Process”[91]
• Sheriff's Office: Harvey catechism teacher promises students a photo of Santa, then shows them naked picture instead[92]
• Almost 800 babies and children were buried in a mass grave in Ireland near a home for unmarried mothers run by nuns.[93]
• Alabama Pastor Made Daughter Watch While He Sexually Abused Minors.[94]
• The pastor and two members of a Corona, CA church pleaded guilty on Monday to torturing a thirteen-year-old boy, including driving him into the desert and forcing him to dig his own grave. Lonny Lee Remmers, James Craig, and Darryll Duana Jeter Jr. abused the child at a group home run by Heart of Worship Community Church.[95]
• Minneapolis church struck by lightning, destroying cross[96]
• Six Brothers Raped Their Sister For Years While ‘Christian’ Homeschool Parents Did Nothing.[97]
• A Tennessee pastor who was recently admonished by police for having sex with another man in a church van parked in a parking lot, was arrested this week for embezzling an estimated $60,000 from his church’s coffers.[98]
• Four of six homeschooled brothers, including a pastor, admit to molesting their sister.[99]
• Antigay Michigan Pastor Outed by Grindr Messages[100]
• A Baptist preacher in Eureka Springs who features prominently in a new video urging repeal of the city's Ordinance 2223, which protects LGBT people from discrimination, pleaded guilty to a series of violent rapes in Oklahoma in 1977.[101]
• Texas church members accused of starving ‘demon-possessed’ toddler and then trying to resurrect him[102]
• Louisianal youth pastor is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old girl. Jonathan Bailey has been charged with one count of indecent relationship with a juvenile.[103]
• Ax-wielding hair designer burns down Michigan adult store to please God[104]
• An 11-year-old Canadian Aboriginal girl with leukaemia, who stopped chemotherapy after "seeing a vision of Jesus," has died.[105]
• Anti-LGBT Pastor Arrested for Grabbing Man’s Genitals at Indiana Park[106]
• Baptist church leader in Missouri arrested for soliciting "dog sex" on Craigslist.[107]
• Woman told police “she was driving and out of no where God told her that he would take it from here and she let go of the wheel and let him take it.” Shortly after letting go of the wheel she ran over a motorcyclist and drove off.[108]

• Florida woman accused of killing 2-year-old while re-enacting Bible story[109]

• Evangelical Christians want access to more corpses … to hone their ‘raising the dead’ skills[110]
• Tennessee woman accused of drowning her baby says ‘Jesus came down’ and did it.[111]
• Files released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee reveal that in 2007, Cardinal Timothy F. Dolan, then the archbishop there, requested permission from the Vatican to move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation. [112]
• Belief in god associated with poor mental health.[113]
• The chaplain of Milan’s San Vittore prison, 51-year-old Fr Alberto Barin, has been arrested for sustained sexual assault with multiple aggravations and for abuse of authority. Six non-Italian prisoners have accused him of demanding sexual acts in exchange for favours ranging from items of food to living conditions in the prison. Officers investigating the allegations were able to document the incidents by placing a videocamera in the chaplain’s office in the prison.[114]
• Rev. Ryan J. Muelhauser, Ex-Gay Counsellor, Arrested For Molestation Of Two Young Men[115]

• Priest embroiled in ivory smuggling controversy.[116]
• New Orleans pastor who was appointed in April to a local economic development board charged with seven counts of molestation of a juvenile[117]
• Pregnant Teenager in Dominican Republic dies after doctors withold cancer treatment because the chemotherapy would harm her unborn child.[118]
• Christian musician Randy Travis, who claimed in 2009 his faith in god allowed him to quit drinking in his 20s, was found naked and drunk in Texas, and arrested after he threatened to kill a law enforcement officer[119]
• A Northern California jury has awarded $28 million in damages to a woman who said the Jehovah’s Witnesses allowed an adult member of a Fremont, Calif., church to molest her when she was a child. [120]
• Christian school rejects admission of Mormon pupil[121]
• Family Battle Offers Look Inside Lavish TV Ministry[122]
• Court ruling: Jesus doesn't cure cancer.[123]
• Heralded "Miracle" toddler found in the wreckage of tornado, dies in hospital[124]
• Christian fringe group intimidates Lowes into pulling advertisement from a reality show portrary Muslims as decent people[125]
• 6 HIV sufferers die after their pastor told them to stop taking their medication, because god would heal them.[126]
• Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim: Church excommunicates mother and doctors – but not accused rapist[127]
• Pentecostal Bishop Charles E. Brown indicted on rape, sexual battery charges[128]
• Killings in Norway spotlight anti-Muslim thought.[129]
• Austrian's religious headgear gives authorities a headache.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14135523" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Pray For Newark claims amazing results as its Christian volunteers "prayer walk" the Newark city streets, seeking to pray down crime. Then murders rose 71%http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/5/3/91235/90609/" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Preacher sells debt removal through prayer[130]
• Authorities have arrested a 52-year-old man they say committed a hate crime against a man he learned was a Muslim. They were having a conversation when the victim admitted he was a Muslim, which prompted the other man to stab him in the neck with a pocket knife.http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/st-pete-man-accused-of-hate-crime-against-muslim/1149809" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned Tuesday whether he can be fair to non-Christians.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_alabama_governor_christians" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• The Salvation Army says it refuses to distribute Harry Potter and Twilight toys collected for needy children because they're incompatible with the charity's Christian beliefs.http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/canada/2010/12/08/16478111.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• A couple who prayed for their sick toddler rather than take him to a doctor before his pneumonia death are on trial in Philadelphia, charged with involuntary manslaughter.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101207/ap_on_re_us/us_prayer_death_toddler" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Archdiocese wants to recoup legal fees after a suit alleging abuse by priest in Burnsville was dismissed.[131]
• Minister, elders guilty of not reporting sexual abuse of a child - sought to have immunity from criminal liability in failing to report the case of suspected child abuse, "arguing that they acted in good faith in persuading the parents and the perpetrator to make report of abuse."[132]
• A Catholic Priest Charged with Sexually Assaulting Boy in ’08 Was Rearrested Last Week and Charged with Hiring Someone to Kill His Alleged Victim.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7307344.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Baby dies as family jumps out of window to get away from the devil.http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/10/24/15810081.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Lamar advertising company will sell billboards to hookers but not atheists.http://www.bnet.com/blog/advertising-business/lamar-sells-billboards-to-hookers-but-not-to-atheists/2412" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Religious teen shoots and murders an atheist teen over an argument; judge does not consider it a hate crime and reduces the murder charge; parents outrages.http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-doyle-family-shooting-100810,0,3732283.story" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Study shows atheists and agnostics are more knowledgeable about religion than religious people themselves.http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Bishop Eddie Long, a powerful anti-gay pastor becomes ensnared in his own sordid same-sex scandal[ref]
• Deaf victim of sex abuse is suing popehttp://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/23/deaf-victim-of-sex-abuse-is-suing-pope-and-going-public-with-his-story-for-the-first-time/" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• A fourth young male member of Bishop Eddie Long's megachurch is suing the prominent pastor, claiming Long coerced him into a sexual relationship. The lawsuit was filed by Spencer LeGrande, a member of New Birth Charlotte. New Birth Charlotte is a satellite church run by Long in Charlotte, N.C. The lawsuit said Long told LeGrande "I will be your dad" and invited the 17-year-old to journey to Kenya with him in July 2005. LeGrande said that Long gave him a sleeping pill on that trip and that the two engaged in sexual acts.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100924/ap_on_re_us/us_pastor_abuse_allegations_lawsuit" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]

• According to a recent study, religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article571206.ece" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Pastor George Randall "Randy" Scott, of the Bethel Temple Assembly Of God Church in Bryan, Texas, was arrested after returning from a trip to Sweden with his wife on for allegedly pretending to be a teenager online to meet other minor boys and then blackmailing them into having sex. http://www.kbtx.com/local/headlines/100500214.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Giant Jesus statue struck by lightning and destroyed. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/15/jesus-statue-struck-by-lightning/" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Thinking he was possessed by the devil, American cage fighter rips out still-beating heart of his training partner.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1282647/American-cage-fighter-rips-beating-heart-training-partner-fearing-possessed-devil.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Christian singer leaves his wife and family and admits hes gay, while continuing his Christian musical career.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/us/15religion.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Nun Excommunicated For Allowing life-saving Abortion[133]
• Janine Denomme, Woman Ordained As Catholic Priest, Denied Catholic Burial By Churchhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/19/janine-denomme-woman-orda_n_582423.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Guns, high-powered ammunition and explosives equipment have been seized in raids on 12 properties in and near Adelaide linked with the Agape Ministries of God.http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/20/2904812.htm" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• City of Miami uses prayer group to ward off bad weather.[ref]
• Jehovah's Witness Couple Disown Son For Receiving Blood Transfusion.http://news.peacefmonline.com/religion/201005/42722.php" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Noah's ark found, says evangelical filmmaker.http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/pc-certainty-of-noahs-ark-discovery-on-mount-ararat/story-e6frfku0-1225858591328" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• British court punishes atheist for leaving flyers in the prayer room of the John Lennon airport.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7624578/Atheist-given-Asbo-for-leaflets-mocking-Jesus.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Islamists have warned the creators of TV show South Park they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8636455.stm" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• An episode of “South Park” that continued a story line involving the Prophet Muhammad was shown Wednesday night on Comedy Central with audio bleeps and image blocks reading “CENSORED” after a Muslim group warned the show’s creators that they could face violence for depicting that holy Islamic prophet. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/south-park-episode-is-altered-after-muslim-groups-warning/" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Catholic church admits Norwegian Bishop resigned last year after admitting he was involved in child molestation.[134]
• Pope coordinated assignment of pedophile priest back into circulation.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/world/europe/26church.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]

• The Roman Catholic Church’s account of Pope Benedict XVI’s handing of a serial paedophile was called into question today when new documents emerged suggesting that his office was kept informed of the offender’s rapid return to working with children. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7077196.ece" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Pope Sexual Abuse Scandal: Benedict Implicated In Cover-Up Of Wisconsin Abuse Casehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/pope-sexual-abuse-lawrence-murphy_n_512483.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Atheist group throws party for teens who had their prom canceled rather than allow a same-sex couple to attend the dance sponsored by religious schoolhttp://www.examiner.com/x-8928-Philadelphia-Atheism-Examiner~y2010m3d12-Atheist-group-offers-to-hold-gay-friendly-prom" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Religious massacres continue in Nigeriahttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704869304575109962258328770.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Vatican chorister sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for papal gentleman-in-waitinghttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/04/vatican-gay-sex-scandal" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Baby starved to death because he didn't say "amen."http://www.smh.com.au/world/baby-starved-to-death-because-he-did-not-say-amen-20100225-p4el.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Pakistan's president sacrifices a goat each day to keep evil awayhttp://www.palibandaily.com/2010/02/23/a-goat-a-day-keeps-the-evil-away-pakistans-president-and-his-addiction-to-sacrifices/" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Haiti's prime minister said Monday it's clear to him that the 10 U.S. Baptists who tried to take 33 children out of his quake-ravaged country without permission "knew what they were doing was wrong."http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100201/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_americans_detained" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• A jury has found Scott Philip Roeder, 51, of Merriam, Kansas, guilty of premeditated first-degree murder in the slaying of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller.http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/27216" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• Jeff and Marci Beagley have been charged with criminally negligent homicide for not providing medical treatment to their 16-year-old son, who died of an untreated urinary tract blockage. The family belongs to Followers of Christ Church, whose members shun medical care in favor of prayer.[135]
• A Republican member of the Iowa Legislature is proposing lawmakers should be required to say "so help me God" when being sworn into office.[136]
• Members of a Roanoke church have voted to leave the country's largest Lutheran denomination over its policy to allow gay clergy.[137]
• Matt Baker, 38, a former Baptist minister, has been indicted for allegedly drugging and suffocating his wife Kari, whose 2006 death was initially ruled a suicide.[138]
• A government witness said Wednesday that the five young woman who testified last year that evangelist Tony Alamo took them as a "wife" and sexually abused them as minors should receive $2.7 million each for physical and mental pain suffered.[139]
• Three American Evangelical Christians go to Uganda and teach thousands (including police, national politicians, etc.) how gays and their agenda are trying to destroy Ugandan families and sodomize their children. Result: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]
• School board opts to fire public school teacher who refused to teach evolution, taught creationism and burned crosses into the arms of studentshttp://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/06/21/Freshwater_decision.ART_ART_06-21-08_A1_ABAI539.html" rel="nofollow" title="Source">[ref]