Tag: religion

GOP legislator blocks bill requiring clergy to report child sex abuse

An Arizona Republican is refusing to require clergy to report confessions of child abuse despite a horrific case involving the Mormon Church.

A Bisbee father of six admitted to his bishop during a counseling session that he was raping his then-5-year-old daughter, but court records show that Bishop John Herrod, and then his replacement Bishop Robert “Kim” Mauzy, were advised by attorney Merrill Nelson not to alert anyone outside the church — and the man then started raping his 6-week-old daughter, reported the Arizona Republic.

Arizona law requires teachers and doctors to report suspected abuse, there is no requirement for churches to do the same. In fact, many argue that confidentiality is essential.

“The seal of confession is a sacred, sacred part of the Catholic church,” said state Rep. Quang Nguyen, who is Catholic.

A Cochise County judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by three of the children of the man, stating that the church is not responsible for the ongoing abuse. The man was finally arrested in 2017 and later killed himself while awaiting trial in jail.

State Rep. Stacey Travers (D-Phoenix) introduced a bill earlier this year requiring clergy members to report abuse discovered during confessions or confidential communications “if there is a reasonable suspicion to believe that the abuse is ongoing, will continue or may be a threat to other minors.”

But Nguyen refuses to allow it to receive a hearing because he said it is “an attack on the church.”

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Nashville Covenant School Trans Shooter’s Manifesto Has Been Leaked

Nashville Police told FOX News in late April that they will finally release the manifesto of the trans shooter that they recovered from her car following the attack on March 27, 2023.

28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a transgender former student murdered three 9-year-olds and three adults last month in a mass shooting at the school. Hale fired off 152 rounds during the targeted attack at the Covenant School, in Nashville, Tennessee.

The attack appears to be a deadly hate crime by a deranged trans shooter against Christian Americans. The media has largely ignored the attack that resulted in six deaths including three children.

The local authorities and FBI refused to release the manifesto to the public following the mass shooting by Hale in March.

The release of the manifesto was delayed again in early May. Michael LaChance reported, “The excuse this time is that there is ‘pending litigation’ around the document. Does anyone believe any of this?”

The Daily Mail reported in May that the manifesto is now in the judge’s hands.

A judge in Nashville has been provided with an unredacted copy of the trans shooter manifesto. And it could be soon released to the public.

According to Fox News 17, the judge was given two versions of the manifesto to review: one with no redactions and another with proposed redactions made by city attorneys.

However, lawyers at The Covenant School filed a motion of intervention to prevent the release of trans shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto, arguing that doing so would compromise the safety of the school, its staff, and its students.

The fight to pull the manifesto of school shooter Audrey Hale from the grip of authorities brought danger to one journalist-businessman who has filed a lawsuit to learn what the killer wrote before the massacre at a Nashville Christian school in March that left three children and three adults dead.

Radio talk show host Michael Patrick Leahy, who has filed a lawsuit to release the manifesto, received an ugly threat July 9, according to Just the News.

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City council candidate doubles down on saying Holocaust was Israel’s ‘advance punishment’

A Michigan candidate for city council is doubling down on comments he made about Jews and the Holocaust as well as child marriage and homosexuality, the Detroit Metro Times reported.

Nasr Hussain, who is running for a seat on the Hamtramck City Council, made posts on Facebook where he said the Holocaust was “advance punishment” for Israel’s “savagery” against Palestinians in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas.

“A heinous act proving that they’re as savage and cruel as the Nazis themselves who tormented them, or maybe even worse,” Hussain posted in a Facebook group.

He also defended child marriage.

“She was betrothed at six, marriage consummated at nine after reaching puberty and giving her consent,” Hussain wrote in response to a news story about a child getting married to an adult man. “Women reach puberty between 8 and 12. If she was ok with it and her parents were ok with it why does it bother you.”

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Meet the evangelical activist who’s had a ‘profound influence’ on Speaker Mike Johnson

Two years before going from a relatively unknown congressman to speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana spoke at a national gathering of Christian lawmakers in North Texas and shared his deep admiration for the man behind the conference: the evangelical activist and self-styled historian David Barton.

“I was introduced to David and his ministry a quarter-century ago,” Johnson said at the ProFamily Legislators Conference, which was being hosted by Barton’s nonprofit WallBuilders, a Texas group dedicated to promoting the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation whose laws should be based on a conservative reading of the Bible.

Johnson told the audience at the December 2021 gathering that Barton’s teachings — which are disputed by many historians — have had “a profound influence on me, and my work, and my life and everything I do.”

Johnson’s effusive praise for Barton, an influential background figure in the conservative evangelical political movement, sends an unmistakable signal about how the devout Christian Republican lawmaker — now second in the line to the presidency — views the role of religion in government and public life, said John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah University in Pennsylvania.

“David Barton is a political propagandist, he’s a Christian-right activist who cherry picks from the past to promote political agendas in the present, to paint a picture of America’s history as evangelicals would like it to be,” said Fea, who’s also an evangelical. “Mike Johnson comes straight out of that Christian-right world, where Barton’s ideas are highly influential. It’s the air they breathe.”

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‘Scripture is very clear’: New House speaker tells Congress that God has ‘ordained’ him

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, in his first remarks after being elected Wednesday afternoon, told members of Congress that “Scripture” and “the Bible” are clear that he has been “ordained” by God.

“I want to tell all my colleagues here what I told the Republicans in that room last night,” Speaker Johnson declared.

“I don’t believe there are any coincidences in a manner like this. I believe that Scripture, the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you, all of us. And I believe that God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment in this time. This is my belief. I believe that each one of us has a huge responsibility today, to use the gifts that God has given us to serve the extraordinary people of this great country, and they deserve it.”

Later, speaking outside on the steps of Congress, Johnson again mentioned “Scripture.”

Critics have characterized Speaker Johnson, who hails from Louisiana, as a “Christian nationalist.”

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Woman raised in an incestuous polygamous cult lays bare the horrific abuse she faced – revealing how she was forced to marry her own COUSIN at 18

A woman who was raised in an incestuous polygamous cult has candidly laid bare the horrific abuse she endured at the hands of her own husband.

Shanell Snow Derieux appeared on a recent episode of the Cults To Consciousness podcast alongside host Shelise Ann Sola.

She revealed how she grew up in Utah as a member of The Order – a cult that decided to branch off from the original Mormon church when the mainstream religion ceased practicing polygamy.

Shanell said she was coerced into marrying her own cousin at just 18 who became verbally, physically and sexually abusive before she ultimately broke away.

In the podcast, Shanell revealed that she could have up to 200 siblings after losing count at 163.

The cult promotes incest in a bid to keep bloodlines ‘pure’ with the aim being to have as many children as possible.

Shanell said that they forced members to marry early to ‘lock you in as young as they possibly can to make it harder for you in the future if you did try to leave.’

Her father John Daniel Kingston – known as Daniel – married 14 women, four of which were his half-sisters, with others being his cousins.

Asked why The Order continues to be incestuous, even with the latest generations, Shanell said: ‘I honestly don’t know why they believe this but they believe that they are direct descendants from Jesus Christ and that’s why they want to keep the blood pure or clean.’

Elaborating further about her own experience with relationships in the cult, she explained: ‘They’ve ingrained it into us so hardcore from when we were two or three years old.

‘But I want to say that they started pressuring me to start making my list or have an idea of certain [boys] that might be my marital choices when I was 10 – maybe younger.

‘I remember being 12 or 13 when we were in one of our marriage preparation classes and I remember [Daniel] telling all of us that some of his own kids would marry each other.’

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Pennsylvania Police Charge Metaphysical Shop Owner With Practicing Witchcraft and No, We Aren’t Kidding

We have become accustomed in modern times to the term “witch-hunt” being metaphorical but a practicing witch with a retail shop has become an actual target of the police for “suspicions of witchcraft” charges, despite the fact that this is the year 2023. Her crime? Fortune-telling, in the form of tarot readings. The state has a history of persecuting witches though, back to the very founder William Penn who participated in hearings against two women accused of bewitching livestock to not produce and appearing in spectral form. Basically, in the years between 1683 and right now nobody has bothered to ask if this law is useful, so it remains there to be enforced whenever the police feel like some good ol’ fashioned religious persecution.

The shop owner, @thestitchingwitch, received an email from the Borough Manager alerting her that a recent article about her business had alerted the Chief of Police himself to her allegedly illegal activities. Social media became instantly outraged on her behalf because Americans expect to have religious freedom to practice whatever they choose. It’s also very specifically targeted from the perspective of those at all familiar with the Keystone State, famous for having a groundhog predict the future weather every February 2nd. 

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Prominent Settler Activist Says Spitting on Christians ‘Ancient Jewish Custom’

Israeli settler Elisha Yered, who is suspected of involvement in the killing of Palestinian teen Qosai Mi’tan, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday that spitting at Christians is “an ancient Jewish custom.”

The comment comes amid several incidents of Jews spitting on or near Christian worshippers in Jerusalem’s Old City , which were filmed on Sunday and Monday. This gives more evidence to the fact that these attacks have become widespread.

Tens of thousands of Jews joined in events and prayers for the Sukkot holiday in recent days, during which many of the spitting incidents were recorded. Most of the individuals filmed in the act were Jewish youths who spat on church buildings or at Christian worshipers they encountered.

Yered’s post says that “It’s a good time to mention that spitting near priests or churches is an ancient Jewish custom, and there’s even a special blessing in Jewish law that should be recited when you see a church,” which praises God for turning a blind eye to transgressors

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