Religion

Proposed legislation in Ireland that would make it a crime not to report child abuse does not cover “sacerdotal privilege”, a right conferred upon clergymen in 1945 which allows them to keep private any “confidential communication whatever made to him as a priest.” This exception was noted in a briefing paper prepared by the Oireachtas ... read more »

A Texas Judge has shot down a parental decision to withhold life saving treatment from their infant son, Gabriel Zepeda, 2-months-old. The infant is in need of heart surgery and blood transfusions in order to sustain his life. The baby’s parents, who have not yet been identified, are Jehovah’s Witness and refused the treatment based ... read more »

Parents at a Pennsylvania church were not amused after leaders there pretended to kidnap its youth group and forced the teens to undergo interrogations. Pastor John Lanza of the Glad Tidings Assembly of God church in Middletown, Pa., said that the staged kidnapping was to prep the young adults for what they might experience working ... read more »

Rev. Tyrone D. Gordon, 55, is reportedly a devoted husband, a father of two grown daughters, and a former school Wichita, Kan. board member. He has become one of the most popular pastors in Wichita, Kansas. Over the course of 14 years, St. Mark United Methodist Church in Wichita grew from 250 members to more than 2,500 to become ... read more »

An Iranian father of two has recently been sentenced to death after spending the last 2 1/2 years in prison after converting to Christianity at the age of 19. Youcef Nadarkhani, now 34-years-old, was reportedly arrested in 2009, after being accused of  ‘apostasy’. Apostasy is the denouncement or abandonment of one’s state’s religion, in this ... read more »

A group of neighbors in Hudsonville, Michigan, are scratching their heads wondering who sent a letter chastising them for their Christmas decorations. But the passive-aggressive note isn’t complaining about Clark Griswold-esque over-the-top displays, but rather took issue with the fact that they had put up lights to begin with. “Hi neighbor — You have a ... read more »

An Irvine couple, who thought their teenage son might be smoking, gave a fellow church member permission to beat him, according to police. Paul Kim, 39 has been charged with a felony in relation to the incident. On Monday, the school reported that the teen had bruises on the back of his legs to Child Protective ... read more »

The halls of Stow-Munroe Falls High School are no doubt abuzz with the news that classmate Brogan Rafferty is being accused of attempted murder, and the teen’s friends are speaking out. Brogan Rafferty, 16 has been charged with one count each of attempted murder and complicity to attempted murder and is being held in the Muskingum County ... read more »

Breaking News: Friends of Brogan Rafferty speak out, new developments Two more victims have been identified in the Craigslist job scam in Ohio. One body may be Timothy Kern and the other has been identified as that of David Pauley, both suspected to have answered a Craigslist ad for farm help in Noble County. The remains were ... read more »

An unidentified Chicago teenager has filed a lawsuit against Daniel McCormack, a former St. Agatha Catholic Church priest, accusing him of sexual abuse. In 2007, McCormack pleaded guilty to sexually abusing five boys, for which he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Afterwards, many other alleged victims came forward with similar stories of abuse. The lawsuit of this latest person ... read more »

On Sunday, protesters descended on the Wat Dhammaram Theravada Buddhist  temple in in Chicago in response to a report of accusations against a former monk at the temple for sexually attacking two girls (allegedly impregnating one of them).  The accused still serves as a monk in a temple in Long Beach, California. The Survivors Network of those Abused ... read more »

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA (BNO NEWS) — A North Carolina religious leader killed a 4-year-old boy because he showed he thought he was gay and another 28-year-old woman, prosecutors said Friday. Peter Lucas Moses, 27, of Durham, North Carolina and leader of a religious cult group, shot and killed Jadon Higganbothan, 4, because he believed he ... read more »

Policy 5.45 has sparked significant backlash with a group known as Parents Voice. The policy is Burnaby School District’s new initiative to battle homophobia and protect staff and students from homophobic bullying and harassment. The parents group criticizes the policy for infringing on their right to educate their children according to their own morality, and ... read more »

A judge ruled Monday that a 9-year-old boy from Clarendon Hills, Illinois can attend religious services with his mother in spites of objections from his father, who argued it could harm his son’s chances of becoming a scientist. The father, David Stone, filed a court request last month to stop his son from attending Sunday services with his mother at Harvard ... read more »

The Governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber, has signed a new bill removing the right(s) and legal defense of parents who withhold lifesaving, medical treatment for their children on the grounds of their religious beliefs. The bill comes on the heels of a criminal lawsuit filed by the state of Oregon against the parents who belong ... read more »