Tag: religion

Media Twist Opposition to Land Theft Into Hatred of a Religion

As revelations about the Catholic Church abuse scandals emerged in the early 2000s, protests at churches grew. In Los Angeles, protesters “defiantly entered” a “church with a wooden cross covered with photographs of abuse victims,” according to the LA Times (6/2/03). An AP report (9/23/02) covered what was then “the largest protest” in response to the sex abuse scandal at “the cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Boston, in months.”

The protests continued for years; in 2018, the National Catholic Reporter (8/26/18) recounted, about “30 protesters, including survivors of clergy sex abuse, stood outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC,” to call for an “end to cover-ups.”

The widespread molestation of children by priests who had the protection of the church hierarchy angered Catholics and non-Catholics alike. And at no point did any reasonable observer misinterpret these protests as attempts to intimidate Catholic mass goers or spread anti-Catholicism.

Today in New York City, the press is focusing on a series of protests against real estate events that promote “properties for sale in the occupied Palestinian territories” (Intercept, 5/11/26), settlements that are widely recognized as illegal under international law (Amnesty International, 1/30/19). Several such events have taken place at synagogues; the first protest against these illegal land sales, at the Park East Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in November 2025, sparked so much outcry it inspired a new law giving police authority to restrict demonstrations near houses of worship (Politico, 4/24/26).

The local media have fanned the misconception that these are anti-Jewish protests, meant to intimidate Jewish worshippers attending synagogue, when in fact they are pro-Palestine protests against illegal land sales that are strategically held inside a house of worship.

In the Catholic sex scandal case, it was easy for most people to see that the protests were not about religion or bigotry, but about an injustice committed within a religious order. In the occupied land sales case, the press entertained the notion that any condemnation of Israel that happens within earshot of a synagogue must be rooted in anti-Jewish sentiment.

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Senator John Kennedy Reveals That California’s Medicaid System Will Pay for EXORCISMS

Apparently, the state of California cares about the health of your soul.

During a recent hearing, Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana revealed that in California, the state will reimburse a provider for exorcisms. Yes, really.

Even if you are a person of faith who believes the forces of darkness are real, you would probably have trouble buying the idea that this should be covered by a state’s Medicaid system.

Wouldn’t you love to know how many of these are covered in a year?

FOX News reports:

Taxpayer spending on ‘exorcisms’ derails Senate testimony: ‘What the hell are we doing about it?’

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., railed against California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, which is facing scrutiny from the Trump administration over fraud allegations, as Kennedy highlighted reports during a Tuesday hearing that the state covers exorcisms and other faith-based healing practices.

Medi-Cal’s spending practices have faced growing scrutiny as California’s Medicaid spending has more than doubled since 2019, rising from roughly $100.7 billion to a projected $222 billion in 2026.

Just last week, the Trump administration suspended $1.4 billion in federal funding for California home health and hospice programs after Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force identified an estimated $600 million in suspected fraud within the state’s Medicaid system.

Kennedy alleged during his line of questioning to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that taxpayer dollars were being used to cover the cost of exorcisms, a religious practice most commonly associated with the Catholic Church, and other indigenous spiritual practices.

“California’s got 12% of the population in the last 10 years,” Kennedy told Blanche. “They’re responsible for half of these new so-called health providers to provide exorcisms and other things. Now, what the hell are we doing about it? Why has this gone on for so long?”

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Canadian ‘anti-hate’ group targeting Christians runs out of federal funding

A Canadian so-called “anti-hate network” is allegedly out of federal funding for the first time in six years, following complaints by pro-life MPs and groups that it exhibited anti-Catholic bias and spread “polarization.”

As noted by Blacklock’s Reporter, the activist group known as the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) is out of grants from Canada’s Heritage Department, following multiple complaints of “bias and anti-Catholic messages,” which say that it was “spurring greater polarization.”

According to Access To Information records, CAHN, which gets hundreds of thousands in taxpayer funding each year, saw its funding cut after it was questioned by MPs, notably, pro-life Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Rachael Thomas, about its bias in going after Catholics.

“We have an active multi-year agreement where the three years have been paid so far, leaving only a small amount still on hold pending final reports. Allegations are about spreading hate regarding religion and beliefs and further polarization,” reads a Heritage Department memo from 2025.

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Fired Ontario teachers return to labour board over union’s refusal to defend religious freedoms

Two Ontario teachers fired after refusing to “celebrate and affirm” LGBTQ-related school programming are back before the Ontario Labour Relations Board this week, arguing their union failed to defend their constitutional rights.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms says lawyers funded by the organization appeared Thursday on behalf of Matt and Nicole Alexander in their ongoing case against the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.

According to the Justice Centre, the Alexanders were terminated by the Renfrew County District School Board in October 2023 after declining to participate in school activities they say conflicted with their sincerely held Christian beliefs regarding sexuality and gender identity.

The couple alleges their union failed in its legal “duty of fair representation” by refusing to properly defend their Charter-protected freedoms of religion and expression.

In a statement released ahead of the hearing, the Justice Centre said the case raises broader questions about whether public sector employees can face professional consequences for declining to endorse ideological positions that conflict with their faith.

Lawyers representing the Alexanders argue the issue is not whether schools can support LGBTQ students, but whether teachers can be compelled to actively affirm beliefs that violate their religious convictions.

The hearing before the Ontario Labour Relations Board is expected to focus on whether the teachers’ union adequately represented the couple during the disciplinary and termination process.

The JCCF says the Alexanders are seeking accountability from the union and recognition that religious Canadians do not surrender their Charter rights when working in public education.

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Former ‘gay cure’ ministry leader set to face judge after arrest linked to underage sex sting

A former leader of an Orlando-based ministry that claimed for years it could cure homosexuality has been arrested in an underage sex sting, according to an Orange County arrest affidavit.

Alan Manning Chambers, 54, was arrested Tuesday in Winter Park and booked into the Orange County Jail without bond.

He’s expected to appear in front of a judge for the first time on Wednesday afternoon.

Chambers is charged with solicitation of a minor via computer, transmitting harmful material to a minor and unlawful use of a two-way communication device, according to the affidavit.

Undercover Snapchat investigation began in February

Investigators said an undercover detective operating a Snapchat account began communicating with a user in February.

According to the affidavit, the detective identified himself as a 14-year-old boy living in Orlando.

The user identified himself as a 50-year-old man named “John David,” and told the undercover detective he lived in Orlando and later moved the conversation to text messages and Telegram, investigators said.

Deputies said the conversations continued for several months.

According to the affidavit, the user repeatedly discussed meeting and engaging in sexual activity with the person he believed was a teenager.

Investigators said the user also repeatedly expressed concern about the age difference and the possibility of getting in trouble.

The affidavit said the user deleted some communications and told the undercover detective he did not want anyone to find out.

Investigators said the user discussed meeting multiple times, including in March, April and May.

According to the affidavit, the user told the undercover detective in April that he would meet him, but later said he had been pulled over on Interstate 4.

Investigators said the user then asked if the teen could take an Uber to meet near his office on Park Avenue in Winter Park.

The affidavit said the user also sent a photo of his office showing a brown table on a unique carpet.

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California takes girl after parents oppose ‘gender transition,’ moves to put her up for adoption

California seized a Christian woman’s teenage daughter for opposing her “gender transition,” and now the state is moving to put the girl up for adoption.

Alexandra Lyashchenko, an Orthodox Christian and legal Ukrainian immigrant, lost custody of her then-15-year-old daughter in 2024 after rejecting her “sudden desire to transition.”

Lyashchenko told NTD that California is “deciding that my daughter is going to be adopted out.”   

Her family was “forced out of California” and is now “hiding in Florida” because California also wants her younger son, she added.

The far-left state has legally separated the girl and her parents, according to Lyashchenko.

She also said that she believes that her daughter was sexually assaulted in the foster system, noting that the girl was housed with boys due to her supposed “gender identity.”

Lyashchenko has accused Dr. Michelle Sager, the director of psychiatry at Children’s Legacy Center in Redding, California, of indoctrinating her daughter. She told NTD that she believes that her daughter’s school “secretly indoctrinated” her as well.

Lyashchenko said that her daughter also used the online platform Discord, which hosts radical pro-LGBT servers and where the girl looked into “online psychology.” The mother said that she suspects that Sager led her daughter to a “particular LGBT server” on Discord.

The girl eventually asked for consent to undergo testosterone, which her parents refused.

Testosterone and other transgender hormones are linked to serious and even life-threatening side effects, including cancer, stroke, and sterilization.

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Rep. Chip Roy Files Bill to BAN Chinese Communists and Radical Islamists from Buying American Homes

Rep. Chip Roy has introduced new legislation to stop Chinese Communist Party members, radical Islamists, and other designated foreign adversaries from purchasing homes and real estate in the United States.

In an announcement on Tuesday, Roy declared that American property should belong to American citizens, not to geopolitical foes who seek to undermine the country from within.

The bill would explicitly prohibit individuals affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, Islamist groups, or other designated adversaries from acquiring residential property.

“American homes belong to American families — not the Chinese Communist Party, foreign Islamists, or our geopolitical foes,” Roy told the Daily Caller. “While Americans struggle to afford housing, hostile regimes are buying up our land and neighborhoods.”

“This bill slams the door on foreign adversaries owning American housing and forces them to sell what they already control,” Roy added. “We’re putting America’s homes back in American hands.”

Housing affordability is a top issue for American families struggling with high prices and limited inventory, while foreign entities, especially from China, continue to snap up homes and farmland in strategic locations.

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Shooters And Motives Revealed In San Diego Mosque Shooting That Killed Three

The two young alleged gunmen who descended upon a San Diego Islamic facility on Monday — killing three men and themselves — have been identified, along with early indications of their motives. Police sources have told multiple outlets that 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Velasquez — driven by hate — scrawled racist themes on their weapons and carried a gas can emblazoned with a Nazi SS sticker. One of them left a suicide note emphasizing “racial pride.” 

The attack was carried out on the Islamic Center of San Diego, which is roughly eight miles north of downtown and is home to the county’s largest mosque, and Bright Horizon Academy, a K-12 Islamic school. While the shooting began around 11:40 am, one of the shooter’s mothers contacted police at 9:42 am. She told them her son was missing, that he was suicidal, and that her firearms and her car were gone. She also reported that he was with a companion, both of them dressed in camouflage clothing. Police tried to track them down using license plate readers, at one point responding to a possible matching plate near a shopping mall. Other officers were dispatched to a high school that one of the alleged shooters attended. 

Police say that, after leaving the Islamic center, the alleged young murderers fired shots at a landscaper two blocks away, with one of the rounds grazing his helmet. He wasn’t wounded. Soon after, the two were found dead inside a white BMW another block away from the Islamic center, having apparently died of self-inflicted gunshots. Inside the vehicle, investigators found some type of anti-Islamic writing. In addition, the BMW contained a gasoline can that had a Nazi SS sticker on it, and police say unspecified “hate speech” was written on their firearms. They haven’t described the weapons yet.  

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San Diego mosque shooter Cain Clark identified as former high school wrestler

The alleged gunmen in a shooting rampage that left three people dead outside a San Diego mosque have been identified as 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Velasquez, according to a law enforcement source.

At least one of the suspects took a weapon from his parents’ home and left a suicide note that talked about racial pride, a law enforcement source told The Post.

Clark attended Madison High School and was a standout wrestler, according to the school’s social media page. His grandfather, David Clark, 78, said: ”We’re very sorry for what happened. We know as much as you do. It’s a shock.”

Clark and Velasquez were found dead inside a BMW from self-inflicted gunshot wounds only a few blocks from the Islamic Center of San Diego.

Anti-Islamic writings were found in the suspects’ vehicle and “hate speech” was written on the firearms used in the shooting, according to the source.

A shotgun and gas can with an “SS” sticker on the side were located at the scene where the gunmen’s bodies were discovered.

The “SS” sticker appears to represent the Schutzstaffel, the paramilitary organization led by Heinrich Himmler under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany.

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South Carolina County Unanimously Rejects Mosque Permit After Residents Protest: ‘Islam Is Not a Religion — It’s a Takeover’

South Carolina’s Lancaster County Council voted unanimously last week to deny a conditional-use permit for a proposed Islamic Mosque and community center in the Indian Land area after angry residents passionately spoke out against it.

The rejection came after more than two hours of intense public testimony in which multiple residents warned that the mosque would import Sharia law and represent an ideological takeover incompatible with American values.

One resident went viral after she declared, “This is not about a place of worship; this is not about religion; Islam is not a religion, it’s a takeover.”

She went on to read a passage from the Quran, which states, “Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood.”

“I just want to say this is not about a place of worship. This is not about religion. Islam is not a religion; it’s a takeover. And if you’ve done any studies, if you listen to any of the news media, you will find out that that is true,” she added.

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