ARIZONA
Pride Day aimed at bringing Valley pagans 'out of the broom closet'
The Arizona Republic
There are pagans among us. It's just that they can be hard to spot. Odd-looking raiments do not distinguish them, nor do they carry wands and cauldrons. Paganism is a broad term referring to faiths called nature or Earth religions.

ILLINOIS
Sect combines Tibetan rituals, Chinese custom
The Chicago Tribune
Inside the Ling Shen Ching Tze temple, a bald nun clad in Tibetan maroon robes carries out rituals with a brass bell and a dorje--a stylized thunderbolt--twisting in her hands. Above a platform filled with colorful statues of deities hangs a yellow banner whose message is written in the angular letters of the Tibetan language. Ten-foot thanka meditation paintings line the walls, depicting Tibetan-style sacred mandalas.

INDIANA
Religion enters rental dispute;
Court case cites 'practicing unholy witchcraft' in eviction suit
South Bend Tribune
SOUTH BEND -- To South Bend landlord Thomas Zakrowski, it seemed like a simple enough case. His tenants in the 50000 block of Lilac Road, Larry and Stephanie Gray, have overstayed their lease and refused to move. So he contacted an attorney to begin eviction proceedings, as well as file a claim for $3,000 in property damage.

MICHIGAN
Rift in church is blamed for departure
Detroit Free Press
Spiritual superstar Marianne Williamson said Tuesday that, after five years, she's learned a tough lesson: It's a lot easier writing best-sellers about finding inner peace than it is making peace among factions in a big church.

NEBRASKA
Feminist Muslim:Moderate Islam needs a chance to be heard
Lincoln Journal Star
Strengthening the Muslim middle -- that vast majority of people who embrace both Islam and progressive ideas of human rights -- offers the best chance to win the war on terrorism, an Islamic feminist theologian said Thursday in Lincoln.

TENNESSEE
Faith healers and a dead 15-year-old
Scripps Howard News Service
LOUDON -- Members of a religious group who believed prayer would heal a terminally ill teenager called on God to raise the girl from the dead this week. That didn't happen, and Jessica Lynn Crank, 15, was laid to rest in a local cemetery.

UTAH
LDS Church called fastest-growing during '90s
The Deseret News
A new comprehensive study of religion in America shows The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the fastest-growing church in the nation during the 1990s.

Group complains about LDS security
The Deseret News
Salt Lake City prosecutors are reviewing allegations of harassment by LDS Church security on public property near the church's Main Street Plaza. Representatives from an evangelical group registered their complaints to the Salt Lake City Council Tuesday night.

VIRGINIA
Demon controversy heats up at meeting
The Roanoke Times
It could have been a lively church service as people shouted "Amen!" and "That's right!" to speakers at the lectern. But it was a packed Montgomery County School Board meeting Tuesday at which several speakers told the board that the Blue Demon mascot at Christiansburg middle and high schools offends their Christian beliefs and violates the board's mascot policy.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Evangelical and charismatic congregations fill more pews
The Washington Post
Evangelical and charismatic churches drew larger numbers of believers in the United States during the 1990s, while mainline Protestant denominations struggled to stem an exodus from their pews, according to a new census compiled by a broad association of religious bodies.

CANADA
'Wicked' testimony: Church sex-abuse suit
The Toronto Sun
An elder in the Jehovah's Witness church told court yesterday he was assured a report of sexual abuse had been passed on to the proper provincial authorities.

ENGLAND
New lead in torso murder inquiry
BBC News
Police are investigating a new lead in the murder of a boy whose torso was found in the River Thames. Forensic scientists say they have found a "foreign substance" in his digestive system and are now trying to identify it.

FRANCE
Calling Islam stupid lands author in court
The Guardian
Michel Houellebecq, whose new novel Platform was released in Britain this month, appeared in a Paris court yesterday charged with inciting religious and racial hatred in an interview about the book, in which he dismissed Islam as "stupid".

Author defends right to criticise religions
ABC News Online
A provocative French writer who called Islam "the stupidest religion" has denied inciting racism but argued in court the Koran was inferior to the Bible as a literary work.

SIERRA LEONE
Occultism Infiltrates Student Campuses
Standard Times
FREETOWN -- Facts have revealed that University students are now very much interested in cult unionism than what was known as student solidarity. Although many people have not taken cognizance of the changes of such a sharp decline, occultism has eaten deep into the very fabric of student solidarity, so much that confrontation and the fight for supremacy has become the order of the day.

SOUTH AFRICA
Mbeki Condemns Death By Stoning in Nigeria
BuaNews
President Thabo Mbeki has objected to the sentencing to death by stoning of a Nigerian woman, by an Islamic court, for having a baby out of wedlock.

THAILAND
Thousands flock to see Buddha's footprint guarded by frog
Ananova
Thousands of people in Thailand are flocking to see a puddle which they say is in the shape of Buddha's footprint. They believe the water in the puddle will relieve pain and bring good fortune and say it is being guarded by a frog.

UNITED KINGDOM
Spiritualist scam uncovered
BBC News
Black communities in Britain are being tricked into paying self-styled spiritualists after being told any problem can be fixed, the BBC has learned. Victims are likely to fall prey to the scams after seeing adverts in the specialist press or being handed a flyer in the street.

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