Tag: religion

Beheadings, crucifixions and heads on spikes: Inside Saudi Arabia’s ‘relentless killing spree’ of medieval-style executions – including 81 in one day – that has seen record numbers put to death under Crown Prince MBS

Brutal executions are on the rise in Saudi Arabia under the reign of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with human rights activists calling the score of beheadings and crucifixions a ‘relentless killing spree’.

The Saudi authorities have killed hundreds in capital punishments since the Crown Prince’s tenure started in 2015, hitting a new milestone that Amnesty International said reveals the kingdom’s ‘chilling disregard for the right to life’. 

Despite bin Salman promising he would limit the use of capital punishments, the number nearly doubled since he took the throne, according to NGO Reprieve. From 2010 to 2014 there was an average of 70.8 executions per year but from 2015 to 2022 there was an average of 129.5 executions per year – a rise of 82 per cent. 

Last year, the kingdom carried out at least 172 executions, despite renewed promises from bin Salman to limit the scope of capital punishment. 

Saudi Arabia even beheaded 81 people in a single day in March 2022 as part of the 193 executions Amnesty International said were carried out in the country – despite authorities saying it had been just 147.

The majority of state executions in Saudi Arabia are still carried out by sword decapitation – sometimes followed by the crucifixion of the body as the heads are displayed on a stick – but there have also been reports of prisoners sentenced to death by stoning.

Beheadings are only carried out by Saudi Arabia and the Taliban and can be used for a variety of crimes including murder, apostasy (abandoning Islam), homosexuality, witchcraft or sorcery, and ‘waging war on God’.

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St. Louis Officials Condemn South City Swahili-Speaking Church that Caters to African Migrants After Woman Is Found Beaten, Bloody, and Tied with Ropes

A South St. Louis Church that caters to African refugees and migrants was shut down this week. City officials closed the church after a young woman was found beaten, bloody, and tied up with ropes. The victim said she was kidnapped by church officials.

The church caters to Africans who have resettled in St. Louis. Many of the congregants do not speak English but still speak Swahili.

As reported earlier – Three men were arrested this past weekend in St. Louis City after after a woman was found bound by ropes and bleeding from the head. The incident took place at Mount of Olives Ministry on Minnesota Avenue in the city.

The woman said she was held captive and was beaten by the men at the church. Inside the room police found a bottle of water and a bucket that had been used as a toilet.

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Frozen Embryos Are Now Children Under Alabama Law

Frozen embryos are “children” under Alabama law, the state’s Supreme Court says. Its decision could have major implications for the future of fertility treatments in the state.

Frozen embryos are “unborn children” and “unborn children are ‘children,'” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the court’s main opinion. Only two of nine justices dissented from the holding that an 1872 wrongful death statute applies to the destruction of frozen embryos.

The ruling seems to represent a turn toward judicial activism among members of Alabama’s Supreme Court, which for a long time held that the law’s text could not justify reading it to include “unborn children”—let alone frozen embryos.

It also portends a creeping Christian conservatism into court decisions, with Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker citing the Bible in his legal reasoning. In a concurring opinion, Parker justifies prohibitions on murder not by invoking classical liberal principles, like natural rights, but rather on the basis of “Man’s creation in God’s image” and the “you shall not murder” edict of the Sixth Commandment. “Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself,” Parker writes.

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Powerful LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign welcomes man they know is convicted PEDOPHILE to gala, after previously handing him prestigious award

A prominent North Carolina LGBTQ advocacy group welcomed a known-convicted pedophile to their gala – despite knowing about his criminal past. 

Chad Turner, 45, was one of the attendees at the February 10 Human Right Campaign annual event, called ‘Without Exception,’ that was sponsored by Bank of America.

HRC Press Secretary Brandon Wolf and Democrat State Senator Lisa Grafstein both spoke at the dinner that was held at the Le Meridien Charlotte. Turner was previously awarded an honor by the HRC, who refused to say at the time whether they knew of his child abuser past, Reduxx reported. 

Turner, a former youth minister, was accused by three boys of sexual abuse in 1998 when he was 20 or 21 years old. The victim he was convicted of attacking was 14 and woke up to find the predator fondling his genitals. 

He served only two years of a 10-year sentence for committing the lewd acts on a minor under the age of 16. After his parole, he was ordered to enroll in North Carolina’s sex offender registry.

Despite his criminal past, Turner, who is the Chief Executive Officer at the Carolina LGBT + Chamber of Commerce, has managed to become a prominent member of the Charlotte LGBTQ advocacy community.

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Satanic Temple Claims Abortion Is Part Of Their Religion In Effort To Block Abortion Bans

A satanic group is continuing attempts to overturn abortion bans in pro-life states by filing lawsuits claiming abortion is part of their religion.

The Satanic Temple (TST), a nonprofit based in Salem, Massachusetts, has filed lawsuits in Missouri, Indiana, Texas, and Idaho that so far have been unsuccessful.

That hasn’t stopped the headline-grabbing organization from plaintiff-shopping for new religious freedom lawsuits to stop abortion bans, according to its website.

The group doesn’t shy away from controversy. It made news recently for staging a satanic holiday display featuring a silver goat head atop blood-red robes during Christmas at the Iowa Capitol. The Baphomet statue shared space with a Christmas display until it was decapitated.

Michael Cassidy, a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot who ran for office in Mississippi, took credit for tearing it down. The Christian conservative raised $120,000 as of early February for legal fees after being charged with criminal mischief. Recently, prosecutors announced they are charging him with a felony hate crime.

TST created an abortion ritual that it claims will exempt women from their states’ laws. The ritual, along with TST’s new abortion clinic in New Mexico, was featured in November’s Cosmopolitan magazine.

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Freedom Caucus leader wants to limit religious freedom by barring Satanic displays in Arizona

In a bit of irony, the leader of Arizona’s far-right Freedom Caucus has sponsored a bill that clearly infringes on the right to religious freedom. 

Sen. Jake Hoffman, a Queen Creek Republican, wants to ban Satanic displays on public property in Arizona, claiming that Satanism is not a real religion, and therefore not owed protection under the First Amendment. 

Hoffman is the sponsor of Senate Bill 1279, which he’s named the RESPECT Act, short for Reject Escalating Satanism by Preserving Essential Core Traditions. 

“It’s the blatant unconstitutionality of it,” Hemant Mehta, editor of The Friendly Atheist, told the Arizona Mirror. “It just violates every intention of the First Amendment of the Constitution. 

Mehta doesn’t believe that Hoffman actually thinks that this bill will ever become law, with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs ready and willing to veto it, but that it’s simply sending a message to his followers. 

“It’s so hypocritical,” Mehta said. “This shows you how little Republicans like Hoffman actually care about freedom. He wants freedom for people like him and no freedom for people he disagrees with. It’s ridiculous.”

The bill was the subject of a heated debate during a Senate Government Committee meeting Wednesday, where Hoffman, who chairs the committee, repeatedly interrupted members of the public testifying against the bill. 

He spoke over them to correct them about what he said were their misinterpretation of it and admonished members of the audience for making faces and gestures at him and the other lawmakers on the committee. He also accused a member of The Satanic Temple of being disingenuous in her testimony, something that members of the public would not be allowed to say about Hoffman’s claims without being told they were in violation of the legislature’s rules against impugning the motivations of a lawmaker. 

The bill passed through the committee with a vote of 5-1, with the only Democrat present, Sen. Juan Mendez, of Tempe, voting against. The two other Democratic members of the committee were absent. 

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Daughter of ‘Mormon Manson’ Ervil LeBaron lifts the lid on what it was like to grow up under terrifying control of polygamous cult leader who ordered the MURDERS of multiple people as part of heinous ‘Blood Atonement’ killings to ‘cleanse their sins’

The daughter of polygamous cult leader Ervil LeBaron – who was dubbed the Mormon Manson for orchestrating more than two dozens murders both inside and outside of the sect – has revealed what her life was like growing up.

Celia LeBaron, now 57, was born into the Church of the Lamb of God – a fundamentalist Mormon breakaway group which continued to practice polygamy and even followed the ‘Blood Atonement’ teaching that stated the blood of sinners needed to be shed for them to ascend to heaven.

Her father was ultimately sentenced to life in prison but continued to create hit lists from behind bars for his followers to carry out.

Ervil, who died in a Utah state prison in 1981, is estimated to have had 25 people killed as a result of his orders – with deaths including that of his own pregnant daughter. 

Celia, who is now a mother of three, appeared on an episode of the Cults to Consciousness podcast to unravel her childhood memories.

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Man Who Destroyed Satanic Shrine In Iowa Capitol Charged With ‘Hate Crime’

Michael Cassidy, a Christian veteran who decapitated a Satanic shrine on display in the Iowa State Capitol building, has been charged with a ‘hate crime’.

Yes, really.

If you object to literal Satanic displays in public buildings you are now hateful.

Back in December, Cassidy, beheaded the caped figure placed in the building by The Satanic Temple, and threw the goat skull that was serving as its head in a bin.

Cassidy was quoted as stating that he took the action to “awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government.”

Instead of simply charging him with misdemeanor damage to property or vandalism, the Des Moines Register reports that Polk County prosecutors charged the veteran with felony third-degree criminal mischief, arguing that the act was “in violation of individual rights” under Iowa’s hate crime statue.

A statement from the Polk County Attorney’s Office claimed that “Evidence shows the defendant made statements to law enforcement and the public indicating he destroyed the property because of the victim’s religion.”

Cassidy is raising money for his legal defense on his GiveSendGo page, which notes “Out of the millions of Christians in this nation, Cassidy was the first to act in bravery and conviction. He was not willing to see God reviled, especially in a building where lawmakers are supposed to honor Jesus Christ as King and look to his law for wisdom as they legislate with justice and righteousness.”

[ZH:] And of course, leftists have been tearing down statues all over the country with impunity.

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Praying to a HIGH-er power! Inside the boom in psychedelic churches where former Republican senators, bankers and Mormons organize shroom and Ayahuasca ceremonies for thousands of Americans to connect with God

SWAT teams and helicopters descended on a ranch in Joshua Tree, California, following reports of a bloodcurdling scream.

When they arrived, the lights were out, smoke was coming out of the door, and a row of bodies lay strewn across the cabin floor, seemingly lifeless.

Agents thought it was the scene of a mass homicide.

To their great relief, it was merely one of America’s rapidly proliferating psychedelic churches, caught in the midst of a particularly intense Ayahuasca ceremony.

‘The officers just looked at us like we were a bunch of hippies stuffing crystals up our asses,’ says Colette Close, co-founder of the church, Hummingbird, who regales the story. 

‘They came in, did a wellness check and took off…Most cops have better things to do.’

Hummingbird is part of a global boom in people turning to hallucinogenic drugs in search of spiritual enlightenment, including NFL star Aaron Rodgers, actor Will Smith and Prince Harry.

Taking these substances – even for therapeutic purposes – remains illegal in most of the US, despite clamor for decriminalization.

But tens of thousands of Americans now say it is a sacrament that brings them closer to God – and that this religious freedom is protected in law.

It is thought anywhere between 200 to 2,000 psychedelic churches now exist across the US, from states with liberal drug laws such as California and Oregon, to resolutely conservative ones including Utah and Alabama.

Most are informal, underground networks, but some have public profiles and charge membership fees in exchange for drugs.

The majority are nomadic, hiring out retreats or Airbnbs in remote areas to avoid scrutiny, but some occupy permanent buildings in the mode of traditional churches.

Psychedelic preachers include a queer ‘Mushroom Pope’ in San Francisco and a former Mormon and Republican senator in Utah, while worshippers range from QAnon conspiracists to west coast hippies.

Some believe in a God, some do not.

But they all have one thing in common: they pray to a higher power.

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Advocates Outraged That Feds Asked Banks To Search Customers’ ‘Religious Texts’ Purchases

Faith leaders and religious liberty advocates are up in arms over news that the federal government encouraged banks and other financial institutions to search customers’ private accounts using the search term “religious texts.”

The “religious texts” search term was among those federal officials asked financial institutions to use following the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, a congressional source with direct knowledge confirmed to The Epoch Times on Jan. 18.

Other terms that banks, credit card companies, and financial firms were asked to use in the searches included “MAGA” and “Trump,” according to the House Judiciary Committee. Federal officials at the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department sought the data from such searches as part of their investigation of the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Religious liberty advocates interviewed by The Epoch Times were unanimous in condemning the searches, which were conducted without judicially authorized search warrants.

“This is beyond alarming,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins told The Epoch Times. “If we did a word search in history of the type of activities the Biden administration is engaged in, it would return words like ‘KGB,’ ’totalitarian,‘ ’repressive,’ ‘anti-democratic,’ and ‘grave threat to freedom.’”

Family Research Council is a Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group that works on behalf of traditional values, including and especially defense of the family and religious freedom.

“The last place you would anticipate this kind of government intrusion into freedom of speech is America and yet it is rife with this administration and with the ‘deep state,’” Liberty Counsel founder and Chairman Mat Staver told The Epoch Times.

“It is a very serious concern and it should be a serious concern, no matter your political beliefs because if this is permitted, then it just depends on who is in power. This is what despotic governments do to suppress people that they don’t agree with,” he said.

Mr. Staver’s organization, Liberty Counsel, is an Orlando, Florida-based nonprofit religious liberty defense foundation.

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