Tag: religion

Unhinged teacher threatens to behead girl who asked about his Israeli flag: witnesses

A Georgia teacher allegedly threatened to behead a middle-school student for commenting on his Israeli flag.

Benjamin Reese, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Warner Robins Middle School, allegedly became angry Dec. 7 when the girl asked about the flag as students were leaving after class and said she found it offensive.

He followed her into the hallway and told the student he was Jewish and had family members who live in Israel, reported WMAZ-TV.

“You don’t make an antisemitic comment like that to a Jew,” Reese said, according to another faculty member.

The girl responded negatively but did not raise her voice, the faculty member said, and Reese allegedly threatened to drag the student outside and brutally murder her.

“You mother—–ng piece of s–t, I’ll kick your a–,” Reese said, according to multiple witnesses. “I should cut your mother—–ng head off.”

Witnesses said Reese returned to his classroom cursing and yelling that she should not speak that way to a Jew, and he allegedly continued making violent threats.

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New York can’t stop churchgoers from bringing guns to worship: appeals court

An appeals court panel has ruled against a New York law that prohibits the carrying of firearms into houses of worship, upholding a lower court decision that blocked the law from taking effect.

On Friday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit released a 261-page opinion regarding four cases centered on multiple challenges to New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act.

Regarding the Act’s provision banning concealed carry in places of worship, the panel ruled that “Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that the CCIA burdens their sincerely held religious practice.”

“CCIA is not neutral because it allows the owners of many forms of private property, including many types of retail businesses open to the public, to decide for themselves whether to allow firearms on the premises while denying the same autonomy to places of worship,” stated the ruling.

“By adopting a law that applies differently as to places of worship (alongside the other enumerated sensitive places) than to most other privately owned businesses and properties, the CCIA is, on its face, neither neutral nor generally applicable.”

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‘Tell you a secret’: Speaker compares himself to Moses at event he thought was media free

Mike Johnson’s calling to serve as House Speaker reportedly came from the heavens.

Appearing as the keynote speaker during Tuesday night’s award fete for the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C., the newly appointed speaker from Louisiana opened up about his direct channel to God and how he was directed to become the next speaker after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was unceremoniously sacked.

“Look, I’m a Southern Baptist, I don’t wanna get too spooky on you,” he told attendees who apparently chuckled, according to Rolling Stone. “But, you know, the Lord speaks to your heart.”

Johnson explained how he was readying to prepare for his “Red Sea moment”.

Apparently he assumed that he was talking in an intimate, media-free setting at the NACL, an organization said to be aiming to push for right-wing fundamentalism to be adopted into law.

As Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson points out, he may have been oblivious that his speech was being recorded and streamed on the NACL Facebook page.

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Wieambilla shooting: Arizona man arrested in the United States over ambush that killed two cops and a neighbour is identified as religious conspiracy theorist

A religious conspiracy theorist has been arrested in the US in relation to the tragic shooting a year ago of two Queensland police officers and a Good Samaritan neighbour.

The man has been identified as Donald Day, of Arizona, who had connected online with the ‘doomsday’ trio who planned the chilling pre-mediated attack at Wieambilla in western Queensland last December 12.

He is mentioned by name in a creepy final video talking about ‘devils’ and demons’ made by Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train. 

In the 41-second clip, Gareth Train says, ‘We’ll see you when we get home, Don’.

The three shot dead Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, and Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, shortly after the officers arrived at their Wieambilla property in the state’s Western Downs to inquire about Nathaniel’s whereabouts as part of a missing person’s report.

Neighbour Alan Dare was also killed in the siege before Nathan, Gareth and Stacey were all shot dead by police hours later.

In the video which sent a message to ‘Don’, Gareth Train says ‘they came to kill us, and we killed them. If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward.’

A police investigation later found that the two slain constables were fatally ambushed by the Trains who had links to the sovereign citizen movement and subscribed to a Christian fundamentalist belief system known as premillennialism.

FBI agents on Wednesday arrested Day, 58, near Heber Overgaard, north-east of Phoenix in Arizona following an extensive investigation in partnership with Queensland Police.

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Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims

Paul Rytting listened as a woman, voice quavering, told him her story.

When she was a child, her father, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused, she said.

It was March 2017 and Rytting offered his sympathies as 31-year-old Chelsea Goodrich spoke. A Utah attorney and head of the church’s Risk Management Division, Rytting had spent about 15 years protecting the organization, widely known as the Mormon church, from costly claims, including sexual abuse lawsuits.

Rytting had flown into Hailey, Idaho, that morning from Salt Lake City, where the church is based, to meet in person with Chelsea and her mother, Lorraine.

After a quick prayer, he introduced himself and said he was there “to look into” Chelsea’s “tragic and horrendous” story.

Chelsea and Lorraine had come to the meeting with one clear request: Would the church allow a local Idaho bishop, which in the Mormon church is akin to a Catholic priest, to testify at John Goodrich’s trial? Bishop Michael Miller, who accompanied Rytting to the meeting, had heard a spiritual confession from Chelsea’s father shortly before John Goodrich was arrested on charges of sexually abusing her.

While the details of his confession remain private, the church swiftly excommunicated Goodrich.

Audio recordings of the meetings over the next four months, obtained by The Associated Press, show how Rytting, despite expressing concern for what he called John’s “significant sexual transgression,” would employ the risk management playbook that has helped the church keep child sexual abuse cases secret. In particular, the church would discourage Miller from testifying, citing a law that exempts clergy from having to divulge information about child sex abuse that is gleaned in a confession. Without Miller’s testimony, prosecutors dropped the charges, telling Lorraine that her impending divorce and the years that had passed since Chelsea’s alleged abuse might prejudice jurors.

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Oklahoma teen testifies how a former pastor referenced the Bible during abuse

A teen who says she was sexually abused testified for almost two hours on Tuesday. She told the court how a former pastor would dialogue with her about biblical issues while allegedly abusing her.

Fred Gammon, Jr, 42, of Miami, is charged with child sexual abuse.  His trial in Ottawa County began its second day on Wednesday (11//29) before a 7-woman, 5-man jury.

At the time of the alleged abuse, Gammon was serving as Wayside Assembly of God pastor. 

The jury listened to prosecutor Chris Garner methodically question the teen as she outlined the abusive behavior that began when she was 15 years old, allegedly at the hands of Gammon. Three witnesses, including the teen, testified for the state on Tuesday.

The accuser, now 19 years old, is studying to be a missionary at a faith-based college..

“He would come into my bedroom and make small talk about the Bible while touching me,” the teen testified.

The alleged sexual abuse began after Gammon saw photographs of the teen wearing a bikini, according to the accuser’s testimony.

She said they were photographs sent to her boyfriend.

“He treated me differently – he was more interested in me,” according to her testimony.

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Trad Catholic Family Dragged Out of Home at Gunpoint, Locked in Van After FBI ‘Goaded’ Teen to Post Offensive Memes, Dad Says

Atraditional Catholic family was allegedly “dragged out of their home at gunpoint, handcuffed and locked in a van” earlier this year after the FBI “goaded” their 15-year-old son to post  “offensive memes” online. The teen, a volunteer firefighter and altar boy, was then hospitalized on mental health pretenses, according to his father, Jeremiah Rufini.

The FBI’s aggressive “investigation” only resulted in a misdemeanor conviction against the boy for breach of peace, but financially devastated the family with substantial legal expenses.

The FBI targeted the boy as part of a sting operation catfishing traditionalist Catholic teenagers with “extreme political content,” Rufini explained in the family’s GiveSendGo crowdfunding site. 

The family’s difficulties began early in 2023 when Rufini’s father became too ill from chemotherapy to work at the family business or care for his 93 year-old grandmother who lives in an in-law apartment at his home.

The home-schooled 15 year-old took on the responsibility of caring for his great grandmother until his father got home from work each day.

“It was a very stressful time, compounded by several unrelated deaths in the family that happened in the same time period,” Rufini explained. The long hours alone with his grandmother led the boy, equipped with a brand new cell phone, to become ensnared in an FBI scheme targeting trad Catholics.

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NY Governor’s Veto of Life-Saving Substance Treatment Bill is Shameful and Misguided

American Atheists rebuked New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to again veto a life-saving bill that has twice passed in the New York Assembly and Senate with bipartisan support. The Recovery Options Bill (A.5074) would have required that New Yorkers ordered to enter a substance abuse treatment program be informed of their right to not be forced into religious programming against their will. For example, many atheists choose nonreligious, evidence-based recovery options, such as SMART Recovery or LifeRing.

Time and again, courts across the nation have found that 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous are pervasively and overtly religious and cannot, therefore, be imposed on people by the government. The “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous includes a chapter that tells atheists and agnostics they are “doomed to an alcohol death” unless they “seek Him.” The chapter goes on to deride the nonreligious as “handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning prejudice.” According to the American Atheists-commissioned U.S. Secular Survey, 15.2% of respondents reported experiencing stigma and discrimination while undergoing religious substance recovery treatment.

Earlier this month, American Atheists officially announced the release of Andrew Miller, an atheist and Secular Humanist who was represented by the civil rights organization after he was repeatedly denied parole for his conscientious refusal to complete a religious substance treatment program that included the compulsory recitation of Christian prayers at meetings. In July of this year, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph R. Goodwin issued a sweeping 60-page decision, denying West Virginia’s motion to dismiss the case and finding Mr. Miller’s claims to be “likely—if not inevitable” to succeed. West Virginia has since agreed to remove religious requirements as a condition for parole and pay $80,000 in legal fees.

In New York, the legislation that Governor Hochul vetoed would have simply required courts to inform New Yorkers of their constitutional right to object to mandatory religious substance abuse programs. Subsequently, anyone who objected to these religious programs, including nonreligious people and religious minorities, could instead access evidence-based treatment programs free of religious coercion.

“Recovering from addiction is difficult enough without suffering through unwanted indoctrination and religious abuse,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists.

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Preacher who sold £91 ‘divine plague protection kits’ he said could cure Covid after he was visited by God loses appeal against fraud conviction

A preacher who sold £91 ‘divine plague protection kits’ as a cure for Covid-19 has lost his appeal against his conviction for fraud today. 

Bishop Climate Wiseman, 47, offered a package, containing a small bottle of hyssop, cedarwood and olive oil along with a prayer card and piece of scarlet yarn. 

The head of the Kingdom Church in Camberwell, south London, said he had a visitation from God and told jurors he had performed miracles. 

Wiseman denied he was a conman and insisted he was a ‘man of God’, despite being convicted of fraud at Inner London Crown Court last December after telling members of his flock that the kits could ward off and cure infection.

Southwark Trading Standards officers were alerted to his scam on 24 March 2020 – the day after the country was plunged into lockdown. 

Wiseman was sentenced to 12 months jail suspended for two years and ordered to complete 130 hours unpaid work. 

He was also ordered to pay £60,072 in costs to Southwark Borough Council and given three months to pay.  

Wiseman appealed against his conviction on the grounds the trial judge directed the jury inadequately on essential questions of knowledge and dishonesty.

Hyssop is mentioned in the Bible as a means of warding off plague, specifically leprosy, and has a history of use in remedies for nose, throat, and lung afflictions. 

However, the only modern use for the aromatic garden herb is for the flavouring of foods and beverages due to its sweet scent and bitter taste. 

He also claimed an error in his defence counsel’s closing speech should have led the judge to discharge the jury.

Wiseman also renewed his application for leave to appeal against the costs order.

But Lady Chief Justice Carr, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Foxton, threw out his appeal at the High Court.

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Mormon leaders ignored our family’s ‘rampant’ incest abuse: Devastating claims of two young sisters assaulted by the same family member – and accuse the church of a cover-up to PROTECT their abuser

A few months before her 18th birthday, Katie Wallace hatched a plan to overdose on heroin.

She and a male friend who had her hooked on the drug would do it together, ending years of misery to which the 17-year-old saw no way out.

It was not the path the Mormon church, in which Katie had been raised, had ordained for her.

But it was one that she holds the religion responsible for, after church leaders allegedly covered up years of rampant sexual abuse and incest within her family.

For Katie, now 39, it began when she was four. Unbeknown to her, her abuser, a close relative, had assaulted her older sister, Becky, years before.

The church knew but did nothing, allowing a ‘vicious circle’ of abuse to break out within the family, the sisters claim.

They have bravely shared their story with DailyMail.com to expose what they believe is an ‘epidemic’ of sexual abuse in Mormon homes, which they and countless other victims claim is buried by ecclesiastical leaders in a bid to protect the church’s reputation.

It comes after our investigation revealed last week that the church is facing legal action over allegations it has ‘maintained a pattern and practice’ of hiding abuse from authorities.

More than a dozen current and former members of the church have come forward with shocking claims of a culture of ‘cover ups’ – defying leaders who are alleged to have ‘silenced’ and ‘threatened’ those who speak out.

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