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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

New Mexico residents talk about apocalyptic church members
2008-05-01 22:04:00
Members of an apocalyptic church have had a mellow relationship with people in this northeastern New Mexico ranching community, now abuzz about the removal of three children from the church's secluded compound.
More About: Church , New Mexico , Talk , Members

Scientology Belgium formally charged in fake jobs case
2008-05-01 19:21:00
The investigating magistrate heading an investigation into alleged fake job offers by the Church of Scientology in Belgium has today formally charged the organization with fraud.
More About: Jobs , Fake , Case

Scientology cruiseship in asbestos controversy
2008-05-01 18:29:00
Scientology makes some fantastic healing claims, which many people consider to be nothing short of quackery. But can the cult handle asbestos?
More About: Scientology , Controversy

Russian doomsday sect members safe after ?cave-in?
2008-05-01 16:43:00
A police source later said that the 'cave-in' had in fact not put the sect members in any danger, saying that "nothing catastrophic has occurred - rescue workers are clearing the entrance of fallen clumps of earth."
More About: Russian , Safe , True Russian Orthodox Church , Cave In , Doomsday

Jury gets camp case; mom asked about book
2008-05-01 13:43:00
Prosecutor Michael Gordon agreed the teen was troubled but said it was no excuse for Flowers, who founded the camp with his wife, to resort to committing a crime.
More About: Book , Case , Camp

Pastor: Teen girl was not dragged
2008-05-01 13:38:00
A San Antonio church pastor on Tuesday denied accusations that he dragged a teen behind a van in Banquete during his Christian boot camp last summer.
More About: Girl , Pastor

Islam critic and evangelist author charged with arson
2008-05-01 13:29:00
Daphne Anis Shorrosh, a Palestinian Arab and author of Christian evangelist books critical of Islam , was arrested early Wednesday morning and accused of attempting to set fire to a plastic recycling bin at the Loma Alta Towers where he lives.
More About: Author , Arson , Critic

Texas: New FLDS mother is a minor; polygamous sect?s lawyer says she?s 18
2008-05-01 12:25:00
The count of FLDS children in Texas custody increased by one Tuesday after a female whose age is in dispute gave birth to a boy at a San Marcos, Texas, hospital.
More About: Lawyer , Mother , Minor

Polygamist sect builds compound in Four Corners
2008-05-01 12:14:00
With the heat on in Texas, some people in the Four Corners area are wondering if the sect is getting the compound ready for new arrivals.
More About: Four Corners , Builds

Girl tells court she had sex at 9
2008-05-01 11:45:00
By the time she was 9, Daniel Cormier, a self-proclaimed minister of a now-defunct downtown Montreal church, was having intercourse with her, the girl testified yesterday at Cormier's trial.
More About: Girl , Court , Tells

Feds: School bomb plotter wanted to kill Jesus
2008-05-01 11:39:00
"He said death was better than life," Craig Townsend said. "He told the sheriff he wanted to die and go to heaven and once he got there, he wanted to kill Jesus ."
More About: School , Bomb , Kill , Wanted

Guilty verdict in cult murder trial
2008-05-01 11:36:00
Taylor was on trial for shooting George Davis, 62, last April in the bedroom of Davis? Redwood Road apartment. Part of Taylor?s defense focused on Davis? study of black magic and his efforts to bring young people, including Taylor, into a cult based on his teachings.
More About: Murder , Cult , Trial , Verdict , Guilty

Child?s body found in Pa. raises fear of kin here
2008-05-01 09:54:00
Khadan does not know the name of the group but said its members identify themselves as Christian and do not believe in health care or formal education. She said that she fears that the boy was starved to death for some reason.
More About: Body , Fear , Child

?Feral thugs? jailed for murder of ?Goth? student Sophie Lancaster
2008-04-29 15:05:00
Two teenagers were jailed for life today for murdering a young woman in a park because she was dressed as a Goth .
More About: Murder , Student , Sophie

Boston: Scientology case headed to court
2008-04-29 12:24:00
A previously covert member of a controversial web-based group called Anonymous is headed for Boston Municipal Court this week to face misdemeanor harassment charges for his alleged role in anti-Church of Scientology demonstrations.
More About: Case

Inmates turn to Wicca after other faiths fail them: High priest
2008-04-29 12:15:00
The number of practising Wicca ns and Pagans behind bars in Canada has tripled in the last five years.
More About: High , Turn , Priest

Boot camp officials face lesser charges
2008-04-29 11:49:00
A judge Monday lowered charges against two Christian boot camp officials accused of dragging a teen behind a van in Banquete from a felony to a misdemeanor because of an issue with the indictment.
More About: Face , Camp , Boot Camp , Boot