|
 |
News for: August 11, 2002
Alleged Polygamists Host Students
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- Two Japanese teenagers on an exchange program were inadvertently placed with a host family of alleged polygamists.
FLORIDA
Growing complaints force new inquiry into Palm Beach County psychic
Sun-Sentinel
For more than a decade, the heartbroken, the ill and those desperate for answers to the unknown sought Linda Marks’ counsel. The self-proclaimed psychic, astrologer and woman of faith became the center of their universe. And they gave her money. Lots of it.
NLRB charges nursing home that alleged use of voodoo
The Associated Press
MIAMI -- A nursing home that accused union organizers of using voodoo tactics has been accused by federal officials of mistreating workers.
KENTUCKY
Jehovah's Witnesses accused of hiding child abuse
The New York Times
William Bowen always considered himself a devout Jehovah's Witness. As a child, he felt it was his duty to go door to door passing out the church's magazine, The Watchtower. Later, as an elder in his Kentucky congregation, he said he saw it as his duty to inform church officials that a fellow elder had abused a child.
NORTH CAROLINA
Quran Assignment Sparks Controversy
The Associated Press
RALEIGH -- A state legislative committee voted to ban the use of public funds for a University of North Carolina reading assignment on the Quran unless other religions get equal time.
Book author, Muslim group, react to committee's vote on Quran textbook
The Associated Press
RALEIGH -- A college religion professor defended his book on the Quran on Thursday, a day after state legislators voted to ban public money for a freshman reading assignment centered on the text.
Ban of Quran Study Funds Criticized
The Associated Press
RALEIGH -- A proposed ban on the use of public funds for a university reading assignment on the Quran threatens academic freedom and could jeopardize accreditation, critics say.
OHIO
County court to get religion case
Tribune Chronicle
BROOKFIELD - A lawsuit filed in federal court against Brookfield Local Schools on behalf of a Masury boy who said he was not allowed to write a letter to Jesus will be withdrawn and refiled in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
PENNSYLVANIA
God in the Brain
The Salt Lake Tribune
To those who believe, prayer can be a mysterious distillation of adoration, gratitude, pain and hope. Science prefers what is "real," and thus subject to measurement, analysis and explanation.
TEXAS
Waco man wins land
news.com.au
A former Australian government worker has won control of the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco, Texas, that was the scene of a 1993 stand-off with US authorities that ended in the deaths of 80 sect members.
UTAH
Lafferty can pick defense lawyer
Deseret News
PROVO - A judge endured vitriolic verbal attacks from convicted killer Ron Lafferty before granting him the chance to pick a top-notch defense attorney for his death-sentence appeal in Utah's courts.
Film Challenges LDS Translation
The Salt Lake Tribune
A documentary film challenging the translation of an LDS book of scripture is being shown at several Utah locations this week. "The Lost Book of Abraham: Investigating a Remarkable Mormon Claim" was produced by the Institute for Religious Research, a non-denominational Christian group in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Ex-LDS Members' Narratives Reflect Similar Pattern, Speaker Says
The Salt Lake Tribune
Each story of leaving the LDS Church may be unique, but the tales often follow a certain pattern, said a speaker at the annual Sunstone Symposium on Thursday.
Sunstone Panel Discusses Mormons, Muslims, Middle East
The Salt Lake Tribune
The first thing Ali Choucair was told by the nice missionary couple in Beirut was that Jews were God's chosen people. The young Muslim bristled with indignation and said that God does not favor any single race of people.
Mormon Apologists Paint Pretty Picture of Polygamy
The Salt Lake Tribune
OREM -- The fourth annual FAIR Conference, a gathering of defenders of the Mormon faith, got under way Friday with about 70 people attending presentations on links between The Book of Mormon and the Bible, Joseph Smith's mystical attributes and the purpose of polygamy in early Mormon times.
Mormon Home Life Is Likened to Evangelical Sects
The Salt Lake Tribune
OREM -- When statistics are stacked up on a national scale, the home life of Mormons is most like that of evangelical Christians, a Brigham Young University researcher said Saturday.
Historian Takes New Look at Massacre
The Associated Press
Almost 145 years after the darkest chapter in Utah's history -- the murders of 120 California-bound pioneers by a group of Mormon settlers and their Indian allies -- a new book laying blame for the massacre at the feet of Mormon prophet Brigham Young is causing a sensation in Salt Lake City.
LDS Founder Smith Becomes a Magnet for Biographers
The Salt Lake Tribune
Mormon founder Joseph Smith was a polarizing figure, reviled by his enemies, revered by his followers. The 19th century leader was visionary, revolutionary, ambitious, energetic, enigmatic, possibly manipulative and deceptive.
EGYPT
Mullahs and Medicine:
Religion, medicine inseparable in case of Egyptian twins
The Associated Press
CAIRO -- Assured that Egyptian twins conjoined at the head could be separated, Dr. Nasser Abdel Al convened 30 doctors and nurses at the Abu el-Reesh Hospital a few weeks ago and asked if they favored going ahead with the surgery.
INDIA
Outrage over India ritual burning
BBC News
The Indian government's top women's body has strongly condemned the burning of a woman on her husband's funeral pyre. The National Commission of Women has described the incident as "atrocious" and is sending a team to investigate the incident.
Indian temple revives 'human sacrifice'
BBC News
Followers of a Hindu cult in India's north-eastern state of Assam have revived the ancient practice of human sacrifice.
NEW ZEALAND
Speaker allows Falun Gong art
New Zealand Herald
Chinese Embassy complaints to the Speaker's Office about a Falun Gong art exhibition have fallen on deaf ears.
NIGERIA
Duke Goes Tough On Cultism
This Day
Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State yesterday read the riot act to cultists who have been on a killing spree in the last two weeks in Calabar.
