Tag: religion

Pam Bondi’s Ties to Scientology Explained

Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General Pam Bondi has held ties to the Church of Scientology at various points throughout her career.

Bondi made history in 2010 when she was elected as Florida’s first female attorney general, a job she held until 2019.

During her tenure she accepted campaign contributions from Scientologists and attended multiple fundraisers organized by prominent members of the church.

A fundraiser for Bondi’s reelection campaign in 2014 in Clearwater, Florida, was organized by six prominent Scientologists, the Tampa Bay Times reported at the time. Christina Johnson, Bondi’s campaign spokeswoman, told the newspaper that Bondi was aware that Scientologists were staging the event.

Johnson said that Bondi first connected with Scientologists in 2010 when she and other elected officials toured some of the church’s facilities in Clearwater. She added that Bondi had spoken to a group of Scientologists about human trafficking and antidrug initiatives.

Ahead of the fundraiser in 2014, Johnson said: “It’s like-minded folks sharing the same goals: Protecting children against drug overdoses and human trafficking.”

Bondi’s office also cited the importance of speaking about the same issues before she addressed a group with ties to Scientology in 2016.

“Considering the seriousness of this issue, the Attorney General is open to talking to any organization about what our office is doing to combat this awful crime and educate them on what they can do to help,” Bondi’s spokeswoman Kylie Mason told the Tampa Bay Times.

Newsweek has contacted Bondi for comment outside of normal working hours.

A Trump spokesperson and The Church of Scientology have also been contacted for comment.

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Crackdown on the Church ‘Beginning of the End’ for Armenia’s Pashinyan: Academic

The Armenian government’s clampdown on the Church and opposition is growing wider, targeting an archbishop, deacons and scores of opposition activists in a wave of mass arrests this week. Sputnik asked a local academic to help get to the bottom of just what’s taking place in Armenia.

“This person [Pashinyan, ed.] does not understand the psychology of the people. He only knows that they can be intimidated. But he doesn’t understand that this can be done once, twice, [and only to] part of the people,” Aikazun Alvrtsyan, director of the Center for the Study of Armenian Issues in Western Armenia, said, commenting on the wave of repression.

“When you go against the Church, against everything holy that the Armenian people have,” it cannot end well. “This is the beginning of the end for this government,” Alvrtsyan stressed, commenting on the events, which began with the detention of Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, and has now escalated to arrests of leading Church figures.

“The Church plays a special role in our lives. This prime minister has declared himself prime minister only in the Republic of Armenia, and is afraid of the authority of the Church and the Catholicos” and priests in general, whose authority among the people is “very great,” Alvrtsyan explained.

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The psychological and neurological parallels between sports fandom and religious devotion

An in-depth exploration of the psychology of sports fandom has revealed striking similarities between the neurological and psychological patterns of devoted sports fans and religious dedication.

These similarities are explored in a new book, “The Psychology of Sports Fans,” which demonstrates how, for nearly 5 billion people globally, sport fulfills fundamental psychological needs for belonging, identity, and meaning.

The comprehensive analysis shows that sports fandom stems from evolutionarily ingrained tendencies which enhance social unity and therefore survival.

Professor Aaron C. T. Smith explains, “Our minds possess an incredible ability to believe; an ability that has been crucial for survival throughout human history. Now, like a muscle that’s been trained to the extreme, we can’t resist flexing our beliefs. Investing in certain beliefs, particularly those associated sports and players, brings us significant personal and social rewards.”

From Japanese baseball to New Zealand rugby, the psychological phenomenon is not unique to any one culture or nation, Smith argues, but creates powerful emotional connections that bind communities together globally.

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Churches Can Endorse Political Candidates to Their Members: IRS

The IRS on July 7 outlined an exception to a decades-old rule, the Johnson Amendment, which had banned tax-exempt religious organizations from campaigning for political candidates.

In a court filing regarding a lawsuit against the government by two Texas churches and the National Religious Broadcasters Association, the federal agency said the ban would not apply to faith organizations when they are campaigning to their own members.

The Christian groups sought reforms to nonprofit law that bans tax-exempt groups from political campaigning, arguing that the rule “unconstitutionally prohibits § 501(c)(3) [non-profit, tax-exempt] organizations from engaging in political speech.”

When campaigning for his first presidential term, President Donald Trump told the “evangelical and religious community” he wanted to repeal the law that “threatens religious institutions with a loss of their tax-exempt status if they openly advocate their political views.”

“Their voice has been taken away,” he said at the time.

“I am going to work very hard to repeal that language and to protect free speech for all Americans.

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Bombshell report exposes attempts by Muslim Council of Britain group to censor UK media

The Muslim Council of Britain’s media monitoring unit “acted in bad faith” by trying to suppress accurate reporting about terrorism and risks curtailing press freedom, a bombshell report has claimed.

Policy Exchange tonight released its 94-page report, titled ‘Bad Faith Actor: A study of the Centre for Media Monitoring’, which exposed the organisation’s inadequate methods of documenting Islamophobia and its partisan agenda.

Despite the CfMM claiming that 60 per cent of stories about Muslims are “offending” and negative, Policy Exchange found that just one complaint made by the group resulted in a newspaper being required to make a correction.

Policy Exchange revealed that CfMM, which sat on a working group at press regulator Ipso, counted factual reports of Islamist terror attacks in its 60 per cent figure of Islamophobic journalism, including a Manchester terror attack report by agency AP that accurately used the phrase “knife-wielding man yelling Islamic slogans”.

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Germany: Muslim University Group Events Barred Amid Claims of Sex Segregation

A Muslim student organisation has been barred from holding any further events at Germany’s prestigious Charité University over accusations of segregating events by sex.

Medislam Collective, an Islamic student group, has been accused of violating the anti-discrimination policies of the Charité University of Medicine of Berlin after footage emerged of men and women being separated by their sex during a lecture.

The Medislam group had also reportedly held sex-specific events, including “Activity Day for Sisters” for female students and “Brothers Activity Day” for male students, Bild reported.

Other events included in-depth recitals of the Qur’an. It is currently unclear if the group mandated the segregation or if it was self-imposed by the students.

In a statement to the German paper, a Charité spokesman said that the university did not organise the previous events and that planned events have been barred during an official investigation.

“Based on the current indications and to ensure a non-discriminatory, inclusive and values-based Higher education space from now until further notice, and until further notice, the group will be prohibited from holding activities and events in the premises of the Charité,” the spokesman said.

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Ukrainian Government Targets Orthodox Church in Controversial Crackdown

In a move that has sparked outrage among religious communities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has escalated his administration’s campaign against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), a cornerstone of spiritual life for millions of Ukrainians.

The latest blow came when Zelensky signed a decree stripping the revered 80-year-old leader of the UOC, of his Ukrainian citizenship, according to Ukraine’s SBU security service agency.

The SBU claims Onufriy, also known as Orest Berezovsky, acquired Russian citizenship in 2002, a charge the metropolitan has denied. In April 2023, Onufriy admitted to briefly holding a Russian passport but insisted he relinquished it, affirming his loyalty to Ukraine.

“I spoke out against Russia’s war with Ukraine and condemned Russian aggression. I consider myself a citizen only of Ukraine,” he declared. Despite this, the Zelensky government has used a new law on multiple citizenship, which flags Russian passport holders for denaturalization, to target the cleric.

For years, Zelensky’s administration has waged a relentless campaign against the UOC, Ukraine’s largest religious body, citing its historical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. These ties, which date back to the era of Imperial Russia, have been weaponized to justify a sweeping crackdown.

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the SBU reports that over 100 UOC clergy have faced criminal probes for alleged collaboration with Russian forces or spreading pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Nearly 50 have been charged, with 26 convictions handed down.

The government’s actions extend beyond legal measures. Supporters of the state-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established in 2019 with recognition from the Patriarch of Constantinople, have seized UOC properties, often with apparent impunity.

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Judge Awards $4 Million to St. Louis Public School Employees Who Sued Over Vaccine Mandate

A jury ruled on Thursday in favor of 13 employees with the St. Louis Public Schools System who were forced to take the COVID vaccine despite religious objections.

The court awarded the 13 employees $4 million for the injustice.

According to Schrag on Law, the plaintiffs Wanda Brandon and over a dozen other current and former employees in the St. Louis Public Schools system,  sued the Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, Superintendent Kelvin Adams, and Chief Human Resources Officer Charles Burton in the Eastern District of Missouri raising claims of violations of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, Title VII religious discrimination, and the Missouri Human Rights Act.

In fall of 2021 during the height of the COVID pandemic, the St. Louis Board of Education adopted Policy 4624, requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 15, 2021, or obtain an approved exemption.

The sixteen original plaintiffs submitted religious exemption forms to their employer. The employees cited their Christian, Islamic and Pentacostal beliefs that conflicted with the vaccine that was developed from fetal cell lines.

The St. Louis Board denied all 189 of the religious exemption requests and forced the employees to take the experimental vaccine.

The Board then suspended or terminated the employees who refused to take the COVID vaccine.

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Colorado Christian Camp Wins Legal Victory Against State’s Radical Transgender Rules

Colorado officials have reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit with a Christian summer camp, allowing the camp to continue operating according to its religious beliefs on biological sex.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) announced a new regulation early this year requiring resident camps to provide access to restrooms, showers, dressing areas, and sleeping facilities that align with campers’ gender identities rather than their biological sex. The CDEC said the regulation was based on rules from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission implementing the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.

The Federalist recently reported the story of IdRaHaJe, a cherished Christian camp in Colorado that has embraced children of all faiths for 77 years. This camp sought a religious exemption from the CDEC to maintain its biblical beliefs about biological sex. Unfortunately, the CDEC not only denied this request but also directed the camp to seek legal assistance, putting IdRaHaJe at risk of losing its license and facing closure due to its refusal to conform to the state’s leftist gender regulations.

In response, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), serving as IdRaHaJe’s legal counsel, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. ADF aimed to protect IdRaHaJe’s right to religious freedom and its mission to operate according to its core beliefs.

Just a month following the lawsuit, ADF announced a significant victory: IdRaHaJe and the state of Colorado reached a favorable settlement. As part of this agreement, Colorado committed not to take any enforcement action against Camp IdRaHaJe for alleged violations of the gender identity requirements. The CDEC clarified on its website that “churches, synagogues, mosques, or any other place that is principally used for religious purposes, including Camp IdRaHaJe,” are exempt from the requirements. This outcome is crucial. It allows IdRaHaJe and other religious organizations to continue their vital work of ministering in alignment with their faith and understanding of biological sex.

The settlement is welcoming news for Cathy, a Colorado mom who has sent her two kids to Camp IdRaHaJe multiple times over the years. She shared that her kids attending IdRaHaJe was “an experience like no other summer camp, helped build on the foundation of faith we have, and encouraged them to make their own choices in their faith journey!”

The response from the CDEC was noteworthy. On its website, it attempted to spin its loss as a win, highlighting that Camp IdRaHaJe voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit. Yet, the CDEC conveniently ignored the crucial fact that the ADF filed a voluntary notice of dismissal as a direct result of the settlement. Furthermore, the CDEC shifted its narrative, asserting that its gender-identity regulation has never targeted or restricted religious organizations like Camp IdRaHaJe.

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Christopher Wray referred to FBI by Oversight Project for lying to congress

The Oversight Project has submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice and the FBI, requesting that federal authorities investigate former FBI Director Christopher Wray for allegedly making false and misleading statements to Congress during his time in office. 

The statements noted by the Oversight Project were made on September 24, 2020; March 2, 2021; July 12, 2023; and December 5, 2023. The comments were in relation to voter fraud and his agency targeting Catholic Americans. 

In a September 2020 hearing before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee,” Wray said that “we have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election whether it’s by mail or otherwise.” 

He said during the March 2021 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, “We are not aware of any widespread evidence of voter fraud, much less that would have affected the outcome in the Presidential election.”

This comes after current FBI Director Kash Patel handed over an FBI intelligence report dated August 2020 to Congress that raised concerns over China mass-producing fake US driver’s licenses to fraudulently cast mail-in ballots for then-candidate Joe Biden. Around 20,000 counterfeit driver’s licenses had been seized by Border Patrol on August 5, 2020.

Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said in a joint statement on Tuesday, “Based on our continued review and production of FBI documents related to the CCP’s plot to interfere in the 2020 US Presidential election, previous FBI leadership chose to play politics and withhold key information from the American people – exposing the weaponization of law enforcement for political purposes during the height of the 2020 election season.”

The Oversight Project also noted testimony from then-Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism at the FBI Nikki Floris from October 2019, in which she said, “[m]ake no mistake, China is aggressively pursuing foreign influence operations,” and said that the FBI was focusing on countering these threats. 

Floris “routinely, if not daily, briefed FBI Director Christopher Wray on threats to the integrity of the 2020 election,” the Oversight Project wrote. 

“Ultimately, Wray was the FBI Director. He was briefed constantly by Floris on this specific topic, and he was certainly aware this topic was a matter of burning national interest and would be raised in any oversight hearing,” they later added, writing that statements made in a 2020 and 2023 hearing showed that Wray was aware of the threats that China posted to the US, including in relation to elections.

The Oversight Project also highlighted the FBI’s targeting of Catholic Americans with a memo released that identified them as possible domestic terrorists.

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