Month: May 2023
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Money-laundering probe launched against a pastor who ‘disrespected’ Lord Buddha
Bling’s the thing in “The Miracle Dome” in Sri Lanka, and authorities now want to know where self-styled prophet Jerome Fernando, above right, got the dosh to pay for it all. Fernando hurriedly left the Buddhist country on May 16, ahead of an overseas travel ban placed on him by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID)…
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Whoops! Vatican forced to withdraw a ‘terribly bad taste’ World Youth Day stamp
TWO days was all it took for the Vatican to realise it had made a massive blunder by issuing a stamp created to celebrate World Youth Day in Portugal in August, 2023. After its release this week, the stamp was scrapped in the face of outrage over what many, including Catholics, saw as a celebration…
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US church that lost almost $800,000 to a scammer started a fundraiser to recoup its losses. Response is dismal.
IN a heartfelt plea for $793,848, pastor Johnny Blevins, above, of North Carolina’s Elkin Valley Baptist Church, relates in a GoFundMe video how the church had “prayerfully saved toward a new worship center for over ten years”, then lost more than half of its savings. But the appeal, launched after the church fell victim to…
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RCC must do more to oppose a bill that would decriminalise homosexuality in Sri Lanka
INTERFERING with progressive legislative processes in countries across the world is something the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical organisations are particularly adept at. But in Buddhist Sri Lanka the Catholic church, led by Archbishop of Colombo—His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, above—stands accused of failing to adequately oppose a bill that that would do away with…
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Bolivian priest’s nephew discovered that he kept a diary, detailing sexual abuse of ‘at least’ 85 minors
JESUIT priest, Alfonso Pedrajas, above, was exposed as a serial abuser by Spanish newspaper El País back in 2018 when it ran an expose headlined “The Diary of a Paedohile Priest.” Its report was gleaned from information discovered on Pedrajas’ computer after the Bolivian-based priest’s death in 2009. But in a new development El País…
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Same-sex marriage was only introduced to ‘own’ Christians, says Islamophobic, neo-fascist gay commentator
MUSLIMS are bent on using America’s religious liberties to further the Islamisation of the country, “conservative commentator” Pax Hart, above, told a Proud Boys member in a video back in 2017. Speaking to Proud Boy New York Resident Geoff Young during a “Ride for Homeland Security” Hart declared: The worst thing we have going for…
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Top UK cleric suspended from active ministry over the way he handled abuse claim
JOHN Sentamu, former Archbishop of York and a member of the House of Lords, has reacted with anger to his suspension, claiming that “safeguarding is very important but it does not trump Church Law.” The suspension of the “arrogant bully” is centred on Sentamu’s mishandling of a rape allegation made against Anglican priest Trevor Devamanikkam. Devamanikkam,…
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Holocaust school text books are the latest to fall foul of Florida’s anti-education laws
GOVERNOR Ron DeSantis’s administration’s crackdown on “woke” teaching and “indoctrination” took a worrying new turn when it was reported that two new Holocaust textbooks have been rejected, and another— The Hebrew Bible— was compelled to alter a passage. Modern Genocides was rejected, in part, for its discussion of “special topics” prohibited by the state. The…
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Euthanasia law passed in Portugal despite strong religious opposition and a presidential veto
BACK in March of this year, Portugal’s Catholic bishops got a bit ahead of themselves when they congratulated the country’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, above, for vetoing a proposed euthanasia bill. De Sousa is a “devout churchgoer.” Their joy was short-lived. Despite the veto, the lawmakers yesterday (Friday) passed a law that will enable…
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Godless and godly: a tale of two cities named Norwich
UNTIL 2011, Norwich in Norfolk proudly held the title of the least religious city in England, and today it boast the 3rd-highest number of LGBT+ people outside London. But Norwich in Ontario presents a very different picture. And it’s not pretty! Here municipal matters are deeply influenced by The Netherlands Reformed Congregation (NRC), and it…
Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist 