Tag: religion

Church of Scientology ignored woman’s ‘very real psychosis,’ stopped her from receiving mental health care before suicide, lawsuit claims

The mother of a Florida woman who died by suicide has slapped the Church of Scientology with a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging the church “brainwashed” her daughter who struggled with her mental health, into thinking traditional therapy or medical treatments were “unnecessary and abhorrent.”

Whitney Mills, 40, of Clearwater, died by suicide in May 2022, according to the civil lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Pinellas County.

Leila Mills alleges the church knew quite well that her daughter — who was among the highest ranks in the church after shelling out “hundreds of thousands of dollars to attain her status,” the lawsuit claims — was struggling to cope.

But “upon learning of her problems, the Scientology defendants took control of Mills’ medical care, thus foreclosing her from obtaining the exact treatment she needed,” her family claims.

Instead, she was “misinformed and misdiagnosed with Lyme disease and a cancerous ovarian cyst” while the church, and specifically one doctor was “largely ignoring her very real psychosis and mental health crisis.”

Whitney Mills was “extorted” by the church, her mother says, and everything the church “foisted” on her daughter was “outside the field of mental health treatment, and everything failed,” the family’s attorney Ramon Rasco wrote.

Stopped from seeking any real help, Whitney Mills “felt she had no other choice,” but to kill herself.

“Not only did they not properly care for her, contrary to the duty they undertook, they actually suggested she ‘drop the body,’” the lawsuit emphasizes repeatedly, using a phrase coined by Church of Scientology leaders including founder L. Ron Hubbard.

The phrase means suicide or death or to leave one’s corporal body, according to the lawsuit.

Keep reading

Reality Check for ‘Queers for Palestine’ Delivered Directly From Palestinian Leaders-“Homosexuals Should Be Thrown Head First From The Rooftop Of The Tallest Building”

Since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks against civilians, groups like “Gays for Palestine” and “Queers for Palestine” have become a vocal and visible part of pro-Hamas rallies on American college campuses and in protests in the streets of American cities.

Recently, “Queers for Palestine” blocked the exit to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, while chanting“Free, free Palestine!” and holding up banners.

And while these groups may passionately and enthusiastically yell anti-Semitic genocidal chats like “From the River to the Sea,” perhaps they should take a beat and really listen to what prominent Palestinian Islamic, political, and cultural figures really think about them.

MEMRI shared a collection of statements from Palestinian leaders, which state, in the strongest terms, that the Palestinian people “will not accept a single homosexual” on the land of Palestine and that homosexuals “should be thrown head first from the rooftop of the tallest building.”

Keep reading

Woman, 24, who grew up in a CULT lifts the lid on all the ‘extremist’ rules she was forced to follow as a member of the religious sect

A young woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, has taken to TikTok to speak out about her upbringing in a Christian cult.

Marissa Martin, 24, was spurred to address her childhood after admitting she was lucky for the lack of ‘hate’ she has usually received on her posts – but with one major exception: Christians on the defensive.

‘I want to talk about the fact that I don’t ever get hate on my videos, which is amazing, I have really amazing viewers,’ she began, also simultaneously testing out a recipe combining raspberry syrup and iced matcha.

‘But the one kind of video that I make that I get hate on every time is when I talk about the cult I grew up in,’ she described.

‘This cult I grew up in, yes it was a Christian cult. So a lot of Christians that watch my videos or see the video get personally offended by me saying, “I grew up in a cult,”‘ she went on.

‘But here’s the thing – it was an extremist Christian religion. Extremist, okay?’

Specifically, her family had been in the Independent Fundamental Baptist church.

The organization, composed of local churches preaching deeply fundamentalist Christian messaging, was the subject of 2023 docuseries Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals.

The harrowing docuseries highlighted in particular the unchecked sexual abuse of women and children running rampant across the congregations.

Marissa went on to elaborate on the strict dress code that only permitted ‘solid white’ casual shoes – while ‘dress shoes’ could be solid black.

She continued: ‘We had to wear skirts down to the mids of our calves. We couldn’t show our ankles. We had to wear crew socks. We also had to wear pantyhose [under skirts].

‘We couldn’t show our shoulders. We couldn’t show our collarbones.’

Keep reading

Amish Farmer Threatened for Not Giving Up Traditional Farming

Armed federal agents were used to threaten a traditional Amish farmer just 150 miles outside Washington, D.C., who does not use pesticides, fertilizer, or gas to run his farm.

In the last 100 years, there have been significant changes in the way farming is carried out. Most significant was the development of genetically modified organisms and chemical pesticides. In 1982, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)[3] approved the first GMO product, which was developed to treat diabetes: human insulin. The first GMO foods available in the United States were alfalfa and sugar beets in 2005.

By 2015, the FDA had approved an application for genetically engineered salmon. Further bioengineered foods and plants include apples, pink pineapples, and, in 2020, the GalSafe pig, which is a genetically modified pig that eliminates detectable amounts of alpha-gal,[4] which is a sugar on the surface of pig cells that triggers a rare allergy.

As some applauded these scientific advancements, others began asking hard questions about how modifying genetic information and the application of large amounts of pesticides and herbicides will impact animal and human health. Miller[5] chose to use farming practices that have successfully provided healthy food for thousands of years.[6]

Keep reading

DEA Exemption Process For Religious Psychedelics Use Needs Clearer Timelines And Standards, Government Watchdog Agency Says

A federal government watchdog agency says in a new report that the Drug Enforcement Administration should improve the process through which it considers granting religious exemptions for psilocybin and other controlled substances, asserting that the existing route lacks clarity on timing, evaluation and other matters.

The 80-page report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) notes that although psilocybin remains a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), people may petition DEA for exemptions to use it—or other controlled substances—for religious purposes.

“DEA has established a process for these petitions, but its guidance doesn’t set clear timeframes for the decision-making,” it continues. “Exemption petitions have taken from 8 months to over 3 years to be resolved.”

GAO focused specifically on psilocybin use under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which is meant to protect religious practices from undue government burdens. The agency found that the DEA exemption procedure itself was burdensome.

“Selected stakeholders reported several barriers to the legal access and use of psilocybin for religious practices under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” GAO says. “For example, DEA established a process for parties to petition for a religious exemption from the Controlled Substances Act to use controlled substances for religious purposes. However, DEA’s guidance does not inform petitioners on its timeframes to make determinations on completed petitions.”

Keep reading

Trans school shooter Audrey Hale shared fantasies of killing family, children with therapist who failed to report ideation to law enforcement: report

A new report revealed that the psychologist who was reportedly part of the care team for trans Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale allegedly failed in her professional and legal duty to warn law enforcement that Hale expressed fantasies about murdering family members and carrying out a school shooting.

According to 99.7 WTN’s Brian Wilson, “The ongoing [MNPD] investigation apparently focuses on the shooter’s therapist.” He added, “Metro Nashville Police Department is remaining silent on this, but sources familiar with the investigation confirm that the search warrants were run on the home and office of the therapist in an effort to obtain notes of the therapy sessions with the Covenant School Shooter. One source says detectives have evidence that the shooter told the therapist about fantasies that involved, among other things, killing her parents and carrying out a school shooting of some kind.”

Retired MNPD officer Garet Davidson told Wilson, “I know there has been a search warrant served. One of the practitioner’s offices, I think home as well, regarding some documentation.” Davidson added, “I’m a little skeptical that it’s [the MNPD investigation into the Covenant killing] active, open, and actually being worked. And I don’t know, if it was, why it hasn’t already been presented to DA Funk to go ahead and see about an indictment on that individual in question.”

A source gave the name of the psychologist to The Tennesse Star, but the outlet is withholding it for privacy reasons. However, the outlet confirmed that the psychologist in question was previously licensed in Tennessee from August 1986 until December 1, 2022, has a PhD from George Peabody College, which is part of Vanderbilt University, and had no history of disciplinary action or professional complaints during her almost 40 years in the field.

The Starreported that the psychologist is now claiming that she closed her practice on December 31, 2022, before Hale’s shooting at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. The outlet reported that a search warrant was served and executed on the psychologist’s Nashville office in July 2023 and that documents found during the search revealed that Hale told the psychologist during treatment that she fantasized about killing her family and committing a school shooting.

According to the outlet, the psychologist could face criminal charges or be subject to civil claims for violating Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 33-3-206, which makes any “mental health professional or behavior analyst” a mandatory reporter stating that a “service recipient has communicated to a mental health professional or behavior analyst an actual threat of bodily harm against a clearly identified victim” and “has determined or reasonably should have determined that the service recipient has the apparent ability to commit such an act and is likely to carry out the threat unless prevented from doing so,” the mental health provider “shall take reasonable care to predict, warn of, or take precautions to protect the identified victim from the service recipient’s violent behavior.”

Keep reading

UK’s top UFO expert shares one major fallout from finding aliens

The discovery of alien life could turbocharge religious division and hatred, the UK’s leading UFO expert has warned.

Nick Pope, who investigated unidentified flying objects (UFOs) for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), warned of the fallout days after it was revealed that the UK government is investigating how it would reveal the discovery of extraterrestrial life to the public.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Mr Pope said the discovery of aliens could also reignite centuries-old tensions between science and religion.

‘The religious implications of finding alien life will be particularly tricky,’ he said. ‘History shows that the relationship between science and religion has always been difficult, and that differences in religious beliefs fuel divisions and hatreds that we see in the world today. 

‘Throwing alien life into this already volatile situation could be explosive. 

‘Some religious scholars have considered the theological implications of extraterrestrial life, but we won’t really know how this will play out until the rubber hits the road.’

Keep reading

Canadian measure would remove free speech protection for quoting Bible, sacred texts

Legislation introduced in Canada’s Parliament would eliminate the use of “belief in a religious text” as a defense against hate crime charges.

Repealing the exemption in Canada’s criminal code could criminalize sermons and messages using the Bible or other religious texts as the basis for critiquing other religions or addressing issues such as transgender rights, critics warn.

Yves-Francois Blanchet, leader of the minority Bloc Quebecois party, submitted the “private member’s bill” — defined as a measure not sponsored by a Cabinet minister or parliamentary secretary — in November and again last month. The measure received an initial reading in the lower chamber, but no action has followed.

Mr. Blanchet said when he introduced the bill that its purpose is to allow authorities to prosecute antisemitic speech. The measure is needed to “refrain from giving inappropriate and undue privileges to people within a society who use them to disturb the peace and harmony, especially if those privileges enable people to sow hatred or wish death upon others based on a belief in some divine power,” he told Parliament.

Two-thirds of Canadians surveyed Feb. 16-18 by the polling firm Leger said they support the measure.

But Jeff King, president of the Washington-based International Christian Concern, said Thursday the proposal is “designed to silence” people whose opinions differ from prevailing thought.

“We cannot urge direct violence against somebody,” he said, “but free speech means we all have very different opinions in a democracy [and] we’re supposed to have vigorous debates.”

He said the legislation could open the door to prosecuting anybody expressing sincere beliefs based on their religion’s sacred texts.

Under the proposal, he said, “you can’t say the Bible says so-and-so, or you could be arrested to be charged, you can be fined.” Despite labels, Mr. King said, “this [measure] has nothing to do” with combating antisemitism.

Keep reading

Parade of Pharisees: It’s Time to Separate Piety And Politics

Piety with a side of eggs

One of the most brazen if not most shameless “free exercise thereof” examples is the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Politicians gather to silently pray that the Lord will smite all their enemies — or at least get them indicted on multiple charges. And the common theme of comments at the event is that the political class is doing God’s work.

The prayer breakfast long ago turned into the type of “market” that Jesus castigated thousands of years ago. The prayer breakfast became notorious as “an international influence-peddling bazaar, where foreign dignitaries, religious leaders, diplomats and lobbyists jockey for access to the highest reaches of American power,” the New York Times reported. Maria Butina, who the media labeled as a Russian spy because she failed to register as a Russian agent, used the breakfast as a way “to establish a back channel of communication” with America’s top political leaders, according to a 2018 federal indictment. Franklin Graham described the prevailing motive at prayer breakfasts in 2018: “I can tell you right now, everybody in that room has the same agenda. They’re wanting to be able to rub elbows with somebody that they normally couldn’t rub elbows with.”

Controversy over the foreign spying spurred a newly formed organization to take over the prayer breakfast gig. It issued a revised mission statement: “The vision of the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation is to promote and share the idea of gathering together in the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth,” with participants “united in believing that by looking to the life of Jesus, people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs can join together, encourage and promote forgiveness and reconciliation.”

Politicians joyfully join together to con the rubes — to keep average Americans paying and obeying Uncle Sam. The national Prayer Breakfast is a keystone of civic religion in the nation’s capital. That religion is devoted to worshiping the government and pretending that federal agencies can perform miracles, regardless of their past records.

Keep reading

Prominent Islam Critic Wounded During Brutal Stabbing Rampage in Germany

Multiple people were seriously injured when a knife-wielding suspect ambushed a prominent critic of Islam during a public event in Germany on Friday, according to reports.

The shocking incident unfolded at around 11:30 a.m. local time in Mannheim, a city in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Michael Stürzenberger, a well-known political figure and opponent of the Islamization of Europe, was preparing for an event in the city’s central square when a crazed man brandishing a large blade launched a brutal stabbing rampage.

The entire episode was caught on camera by a member of Stürzenberger’s team who was live-streaming at the time.

Keep reading