[Tarrccrys]

This is yet another reason why people have a moral obligation to accept only that which we have good evidential basis as the grounding for our beliefs.

Home circumcision of 4-year-old ends in conviction
This story contains disturbing details

CBC News - British Columbia - Home circumcision of 4-year-old ends in conviction

A Vancouver-area father has been found guilty of negligence causing bodily harm after botching a home-circumcision attempt on his four-year-old son as part of a spiritual quest to make things right with God.

The bizarre case centred on a battle over the religious freedoms of the former Jehovah's Witness, who was trying to follow a literal interpretation of the Bible after a series of misfortunes hit his family.

[PetrZimin]

Churches involved in torture, murder of thousands of African children denounced as witches


EKET, Nigeria (AP) — The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.

His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him — Mount Zion Lighthouse.

A month later, he died.

Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Churches involved in torture, murder of thousands of African children denounced as witches -- latimes.com

[skydaypat]

Village 'witches' beaten in India


Five women were paraded naked, beaten and forced to eat human excrement by villagers after being branded as witches in India's Jharkhand state.

Local police said the victims were Muslim widows who had been labelled as witches by a local cleric.

The incident occurred on Sunday in a remote village in Deoghar district.

Correspondents say the abuse of women who are branded as witches is common, but rare footage of the incident has caused outrage across India.

These women recently identified five women from the same village as being witches who practised witchcraft and brought miseries to the area," a police official said.

Soon, an unruly mob broke into their huts, dragged them out and started beating them up.

Footage of the incident has been aired on television channels in India prompting outrage.

Hundreds of people, mostly women, have been killed in India because their neighbours thought they were witches.
click here for video

[mxzjxluwst]

Village 'witches' beaten in India




click here for video

That's just despicable!!!!!! Back to the 17th century!

[espenijij]

Iraqi Man Runs Over Westernized Daughter

Police in Arizona are seeking an Iraqi man who mowed down his daughter and her female friend Tuesday because the young woman had become “too Westernized.” The two women live together, although the nature of their relationship is unclear.

The man, Faleh Hassan Almaleki, struck his 20-year-old daughter, Noor Faleh Almaleki, and her friend, Amal Edan Khalaf, 43, in a parking lot near Phoenix, according to CNN.

“Faleh Hassan Almaleki was angry with his daughter ‘as she had become too 'Westernized' and was not living according to [the family's] traditional Iraq[i] values,’” said a police statement reported by CNN.

Noor Faleh Almaleki is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Khalaf’s injuries are less severe. Police said the women live together, but did not elaborate on how they know each other, according to CNN.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki was last seen in a gray of silver Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Iraqi Man Runs Over Westernized Daughter | News | Advocate.com

[Arr34ston]

Texas Polygamist Women Called "Pimps"
Former Sect Member Assails Them Ahead of First Trial of Fundamentalist Group's Men on Child Sex Abuse Counts

Jury selection is slated to begin Monday in the trial of the first of 12 male members of a Texas polygamist sect whose ranch state officials raided last year.

Raymond Jessop, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was indicted after the April 2008 raid and pleaded not guilty to allegations including sexual assault, bigamy, and being married to underage girls.

The other eleven defendants are scheduled to be tried separately later this year.

***

Flora works to get other girls out, including her sister. She's also writing a book about the sect.

"Everyone (in the sect) views (Raymond) as a hero and martyr," she tells CBS News. "Being on trial has not and will not hurt his image at all. All 12 of these guys are viewed that way."

She told "The Early Show Saturday Edition" co-anchor Chris Wragge "it really doesn't" surprise her that the men are being put on trial, "because of the nature of the abuses that we've been talking about for years. And I'm just happy to see that they are going to trial. What I'm upset the most about, I think, is the fact that none of the women have been indicted, as well.

" ... I think that the women were nothing but pimps on that compound and giving their daughters over to these perverts knowing what was going to happen to them."

Flora added, "I think the nature of the abuse and the severity of the abuse is going to shock people. I spent a month in Texas in June, when I just traveled through the state, and I wanted to know firsthand what was discovered, and spoke with hundreds of CPS (Child Protective Service) caseworkers, and the sense I got was that the local CPS workers felt just as betrayed as the children, and (I) felt they just quit believing in the system, because they were told they couldn't protect these kids." Texas Polygamist Women Called "Pimps" - The Early Show - CBS News

[Liabmeasez]

Animal slaughter for the World Cup?

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African traditional leaders plan to perform ritual animal slaughters to bless stadiums for the 2010 World Cup tournament ahead of the start of the showcase event next June, they said on Friday.

Zolani Mkiva, chairman of the Makhonya Royal Trust, a grouping responsible for co-ordinating cultural activities, said the tournament, the first to be held in Africa, needed to be blessed in true "African style."

"We must have a cultural ceremony of some sort, where we are going to slaughter a beast (cow)," said Mkiva.

"We sacrifice the cow for this great achievement and we call on our ancestors to bless, to grace, to ensure that all goes well. It's all about calling for the divinity to prevail for a fantastic atmosphere."

[AndreasLV]

Teacher charged with aggravated sex assault
Officials say Bexar Co. educator used Bible to persuade victims

Police were called to the school, and that's when the girl told authorities that Rosseau was trying to enlist her into the order and accused the teacher of having sex with the other two girls, the affidavit states.

The teen said the other girls told her that Rosseau had seen both of them nude, adding “this was a part of the trust that was needed for the ‘order' to operate,” the affidavit states. She also told authorities that the girls told her that Rosseau was in a lot “of pain” because she wouldn't join the group.

Initially, the two girls denied they were having sex with Rosseau. But on Oct. 21, one of the two told her parents that Rosseau had been sexually assaulting her since Jan. 9, when she was 16, according to the affidavit.

That teen told authorities she was persuaded into joining the order after being told it was “geared to help mankind,” the affidavit states.

She also acknowledged to authorities that she was encouraged to “demonstrate her trust and strict adherence to the society by engaging in sexual intercourse with (Rosseau),” the affidavit states, and that a sexual relationship ensued.

The affidavit states Rosseau would read Bible passages to the two girls “to legitimize his believed ability” to have sex with them.

Rosseau told the two girls they would need to engage in sexual activity with him if they wanted to maintain their friendship, and the girls complied, according to authorities.

[pymnConyelell]

Stepfather confesses to sticking 42 needles into boy's body

Two-year-old Brazilian boy found with metal sewing needles inside his body, including some in his lungs



The stepfather of a two-year-old boy found with 42 needles in his body has confessed to jabbing them into him as part of a religious ritual, Brazilian police said today.

Roberto Carlos Magalhaes claimed that a woman who went into a trance commanded him to stick the needles into the boy's body, a police inspector, Helder Fernandes Santana, said. He said three people, including the stepfather and the woman, had been arrested.

Doctors found 42 needles in the boy, who was in stable condition in the city of Salvador after a 240-mile flight to a hospital in Barreiras with a special heart unit.

[gomosopions]

Wtf

[apannamma]

This thread reminds me of a detail from Thomas Harris' novels which was left out of the movies: Hannibal Lecter collects photographs of church collapses.

[Mimsykzr]

I believe we are.

[Rnlvifov]

And yet there are billions of people who don't seem to find the slightest fault with similar actions all throughout their precious Bible. No person of Judeo/Christian/Muslim faith seems to think that the notion of say, Abraham being willing enough to murder his own son because some voice told him to is out of the ordinary at all. For them that is some sort of foundational essential that is meant to show what great faith this wonderful man had. Truly unbelievable...do you think that if Abraham tried that today he wouldn't be sentenced for attempted murder, or at the very least placed in a mental institution?

This is the problem I have with faithful Bible people. Countless stories of murder, rape, genocide, animal sacrifice, misogyny and regulated slavery mixed with some miraculous mumbo jumbo that all took place in some faraway time where any eyewitnesses would have been as credible as a two year old, and they seem to think it should be the foundation of a moral life.

[Zaxsdcxs]

And yet there are billions of people who don't seem to find the slightest fault with similar actions all throughout their precious Bible. No person of Judeo/Christian/Muslim faith seems to think that the notion of say, Abraham being willing enough to murder his own son because some voice told him to is out of the ordinary at all. For them that is some sort of foundational essential that is meant to show what great faith this wonderful man had. Truly unbelievable...do you think that if Abraham tried that today he wouldn't be sentenced for attempted murder, or at the very least placed in a mental institution?

This is the problem I have with faithful Bible people. Countless stories of murder, rape, genocide, animal sacrifice, misogyny and regulated slavery mixed with some miraculous mumbo jumbo that all took place in some faraway time where any eyewitnesses would have been as credible as a two year old, and they seem to think it should be the foundation of a moral life.

Woody Allen has a brilliant take on this very issue:

Stories For Speakers And Writers: Woody Allen on Abraham and Knowing the Voice of the Lord

[86GlSqSK]

Fishcatch makes an excellent point. I share his/her views.

I freely admit to being a member of an organized religion- though not the denomination I was raised in. I'm not a true believer but more of a seeker.

In my quest to believe in a higher power, there are times when I am awed by the things humankind has done to the glory of the God they worship. I can never visit St.Peter's in Rome or the Sistine Chapel without being moved to tears by the sheer beauty and majesty of what was created to honor an Almighty.

Then I read the stories posted here and am equally disgusted at the horrors committed in the name of a Supreme Being.

I think there is a fine line between being extremely religious and delusional. These atrocities are the work of delusional people whose delusions take on religious aspects.