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British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus
2008-05-09 22:42:00
British Airways redefines 'religious insanity.' Again.
More About: British , Beef , Menu , Avoid

Few who are left at polygamist ranch try to make sense of it all
2008-05-09 22:19:00
"This has turned from a thriving city into a ghost town," Utah-based FLDS leader Willie Jessop said as he navigated a luxury Mercedes SUV past a herd of hapless dairy cows, their unused milk being dumped out in the garden. "What do you build homes for if you don't have children to put in them? What do you grow a garden for if you don't have anybody to feed? Will life return out here? That has yet to be seen."
More About: Sense , Left , Make , Ranch

Scientology losing its hold on James Packer, friends say
2008-05-09 22:05:00
Members of Mr Packer 's inner circle have confirmed that the billionaire, Scientology 's wealthiest member in the world, was no longer undertaking Scientology courses and had slowly moved away from the religion, telling his closest friends he no longer "needs it".
More About: Friends , James , Hold

The internet pranksters who started a war
2008-05-09 09:58:00
They've become the sworn enemies of a controversial religion, famous for unsettling online video attacks and protesting en masse in creepy masks. But the elusive internet group known as Anonymous didn't start out with a concrete plan to bring down Scientology. Before they got serious, Anonymous members say, they were only in it for laughs.
More About: Internet , The Internet

Church records offer rare look inside polygamist families
2008-05-09 09:34:00
An Associated Press analysis of the records, which authorities seized in a raid last month, show that by the time a girl reached 16, she was more likely to be married than to live as a child in her father's household. The same was not true for boys.
More About: Church , Inside , Rare , Families , Records

Bond lowered for N.M. sect leader accused of sex crimes
2008-05-08 22:31:00
Bent, 66, is the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, whose members moved in 2000 to a remote former ranch near the Colorado line that they call Strong City. He has acknowledged having sex with followers and lying naked with virgins, but denies any children or adults were molested. He has said the virgins asked for sex and he refused.
More About: Bond , Crimes , Leader

Don?t speak: doomsday cult communicates using psalms and notes
2008-05-08 18:51:00
Authorities say the only subject that cult members agree to discuss is about living conditions in the cave. They answer to all other questions by singing psalms or writing.
More About: Cult , Notes , Speak , Psalms , True Russian Orthodox Church

Raid on Sect in Texas Rattles Other Polygamists
2008-05-08 13:55:00
Fierce winds of change ? from national political attitudes about polygamy to new economic stress and even down to the personal decisions about where to live in a post-Eldorado world ? are buffeting the polygamist faithful.
More About: Texas , Raid

Christian leaders question D.C. probe of prosperity televangelists
2008-05-08 11:21:00
Nearly two-dozen conservative Christian leaders have signed a letter to the Senate Finance Committee questioning an investigation into six large ministries that preach a gospel of prosperity.
More About: Question , Televangelists , Leaders , Probe

Reclusive Penza sect members dig out well in underground cave
2008-05-08 10:42:00
Sect members still staying in the cave have not signaled any date of their possible coming out.
More About: Russia , Underground , Members , Cave

Girl, 13, hangs herself after becoming obsessed with Emo ?suicide cult? roc
2008-05-08 03:11:00
On her Bebo page Miss Bond, who used the online name Living Disaster and has internet friends with names like Sam Suicide , said she was obsessed with the hugely popular My Chemical Romance band, whose hit number one with their last album The Black Parade. Her mother, Heather Bond, told the court how she learned The Black Parade is "where you go when you die" as she researched the emo fad.
More About: Cult , Girl

Internet Group Schedules Another Protest Of Scientology
2008-05-08 02:55:00
For the fourth time in as many months, the Internet -based group Anonymous will stage a protest against the Church of Scientology in downtown Clearwater.
More About: Protest , Group

Fringe sect?s lawsuit delays monument to fallen WWII soldiers
2008-05-08 02:50:00
A Utah religion whose followers practice mummification is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case that is delaying a permanent home for a World War II monument honoring fallen American servicemen.
More About: Lawsuit , Fringe , Soldiers , Fallen , Delays

N.M. sect leader, jailed awaiting court appearance, refuses food
2008-05-08 02:47:00
Bent?whose adopted name Travesser is the name of a creek in the area?is a former Seventh-day Adventist minister who separated from that church in 1987 and formed The Lord Our Righteousness movement. He announced in 2000 that he is the Messiah.
More About: Food , Appearance , Court , Leader

New Mexico Compound?s Enraptured Believers
2008-05-08 02:38:00
There is much to make the jaw drop in ?Inside a Cult,? a timely documentary about the Strong City sect in New Mexico being shown on Wednesday on the National Geographic Channel. But by its end you may feel that the most stunning thing is that this film exists at all. Why would these people have let a documentarian get so close to their exceedingly eccentric world?
More About: New Mexico , Believers

The church is ailing - send for Dr Who
2008-05-04 09:11:00
At a conference last week, vicars watched Doctor Who clips that were said to illustrate themes of resurrection, redemption and evil. It analysed the similarities between the Doctor and Christ, and whether daleks are capable of change.
More About: Christianity , Church , Send , The Church

Polygamous sect seeking help from governor of Utah
2008-05-04 08:55:00
The letter asks Huntsman to exercise his executive authority to assist in protecting the civil rights of native Uthans and FLDS members. FLDS parents claim they have been denied their due process by the Texas courts.
More About: Utah , Governor , Seeking

Cruise: ?Things have been misunderstood?
2008-05-03 17:45:00
Oprah provides Tom Cruise with damage control opportunity.
More About: Things

Dr. Phil: FLDS principles ?imminent danger? for children
2008-05-03 14:38:00
Now, clearly, the principles that seem to govern the FLDS would be imminent danger for these children. But somehow or another, you have to figure a way to train these people, create an open door policy, get monitoring, get access and try to get these children back with their biological mothers, but with protection, and monitoring.
More About: Children , Danger , Phil , Dr Phil , Principles

Uncle Of Missing Child Says Cult Pursued Him
2008-05-03 14:05:00
Ramkissoon had inside access to the group who tried to recruit him. He says they target young people with children.
More About: Cult , Child , Missing , Uncle

Mistrial declared in dragging case
2008-05-03 13:28:00
The jury deliberated more than 13 hours over two days and sent out about a dozen notes, many saying they were split but leaning toward not guilty verdicts.
More About: Case , Mistrial

Life in a sect
2008-05-03 12:08:00
She was raised by her father and his three wives, surrounded by 12 siblings. There was no TV, no radio. At school, she was taught that man never landed on the moon. She and other girls in the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were required to ?keep sweet,? free of jealousy or anger, or risk beatings or humiliation. And by the time Kathy Jo Nicholson turned 14, she was sewing her wedding dress, knowing that any day she could be thrown into marriage with a man three times her age.
More About: Life

Scientology foe?s notes shed light on suicide
2008-05-03 11:52:00
Shawn Lons­dale, who carried on a one-man crusade against Scientology in 2006, was "sick, depressed, broke and tired of it all" when he took his life in February, according to a suicide note released Friday.
More About: Notes , Suicide , Light

Ecleo trial may end in 60 days
2008-05-03 11:45:00
Ecleo, the supreme leader of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association and a former mayor of San Jose town in Dinagat Island in Surigao del Norte, is on trial in connection with the killing of his wife, at the time a medical student at one of the local universities in Cebu.
More About: Trial , Days

Polygamist sect mothers challenge custody ruling
2008-05-03 11:20:00
The children taken from the polygamist compound near San Angelo should be returned to the mothers because officials with Child Protective Services failed to prove the youngsters were in imminent danger when they were removed last month, 38 mothers said in new court documents.
More About: Challenge , Mothers , Custody , Ruling

Teens Taken From Cult at Center of New Film
2008-05-02 18:01:00
"Esther," a cult member, described her interaction with Travesser. "He took me to bed and laid me down and somehow it was like all of heaven was open to me, somehow I started to see God, after all he is the son of God," she told National Geographic.
More About: Teens , Film , Cult , Center

Former follower: Sect leader wanted to sleep with daughters
2008-05-02 17:44:00
Michael "said God told him that he was supposed to sleep with seven virgins," recalled Sayer, 36. Two were to be Sayer's daughters, then ages 14 and 15. "I just told him no. ... I'm not in agreement. I don't see it's right," Sayer said.
More About: Sleep , Wanted , Daughters , Leader , Follower

Report of Underage Sex Abuse Prompts Criminal Investigation Into Extremist
2008-05-02 16:56:00
Travesser, who also goes by the name Wayne Bent, broke from the Seven Day Adventist church in 1987 to form his Lord of Our Righteousness Church. On the group's Web site, Travesser, 66, describes being annointed the messiah by God in 2000, shortly after moving to the New Mexico property in the state's northeastern corner.
More About: Abuse , Report , Extremist , Investigation , Criminal

Lakeland Revival Attracting National Attention
2008-05-02 16:37:00
Whether healing in a medical sense is delivered here may be hard to measure, but more people each night are finding reason to believe and pouring into the 7,000-seat arena. The Lakeland movement, still in its first month, is drawing comparisons to the "Toronto Blessing" in 1994 and the Pensacola Brownsville Revival that fired up the next year.
More About: National , Attention

Judge orders FLDS newborn into state custody
2008-05-02 12:11:00
The girl has claimed to be 18 and based on a bishop's record used during the custody hearing two weeks ago, she would be 18 now. But officials believe she is younger and placed her in foster care with other children taken from the ranch.
More About: Judge , State , Custody , Orders