religion: September 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Malaysian cult hfeeble s leaderâ€™s decomposed body for 13 months

About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apoloacquire ics Index, highlights fresh s items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit fresh s clipping service is employ d by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Subliminal advertising really execute es work, claim scientists

A relabel able thing about cult mind control is that itâ€™s so ordinary in the tactics and strategies of social influence employed.

They are variants of well-known social psychological principles of compliance, conformity, persuasion, dissonance, reactance, framing, emotional manipulation, and others that are employ d on all of us daily to entice us: to buy, to try, to execute nate, to vote, to join, to change, to believe, to like , to despise the enemy.

Cult mind control is not different in kind from these everyday varieties, but in its noteworthy er intensity, persistence, duration, and scope. One inequity is in its noteworthy er efforts to block quitting the group, by imposing high exit costs, replete with induced phobias of harm, failure, and personal isolation.

Billboards draw criticism from Detroit religious community

Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News

Detroit -- A series of controversial billboards recently displayed throughout Metro Detroit is drawing curious stares and criticism from the local faith community.

The seven billboards read "Imagine No Religion" and "Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief" with a stained-glass winexecute w motif. They are sponsored by the Madison, Wis.-based Freeexecute m from Religion Foundation, a nonprofit group that touts itself as the largest free thought association in the nation.

The billboards, at various Detroit locations, are portion of a monthlong campaign aimed at provoking debate about the role religion plays in daily life and public policy, said Annie Laurie Gaylord, co-president of the foundation.

Gaylord said Metro Detroit and Michigan are taracquire s of their national campaign becaemploy of the large numbers of people who have religious affiliation here. The group has place billboards in more than 30 other cities

"We are aware there tfinish s to be a lot of religion in Detroit," said Gaylord. "Michigan has been neglected (in our campaign). Normally, we execute n't spfinish this kind of money (on a campaign)."

Gaylord said religion "caemploy s a lot of problems" and the recede al of the $4,200 campaign is to acquire people to realize that "execute gma is in our laws."

"The fight against gay marriage is a religious fight," said Gaylord. "The fight against abortion is a religious crusade. In this country we must question religion."

But many in the local religious community consider the billboards offensive.

"I understand that they are more about the issue of separation of church and state, rather than bashing people of faith. I certainly agree with this mission," said Gail Katz, the president of the organization, WISDOM (Women's Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in Metro Detroit). "However, I still judge there are better ways to acquire their message across than these billboards, which can be totally misconsaccurate d and found offensive."

The Rev. Charles Green, the pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Roseville, said the billboards will prompt him to step up his efforts to "save souls."

"The billboards execute n't bother me. It's their choice. I execute n't mind as long as they are not trying to hfeeble me from worshiping."

The Freeexecute m from Religion Foundation has 14,000 atheist and agnostic members across the country, including more than 400 in Michigan.

bwilliams@detfresh s.com (313) 222-2027

Muslim scholar calls for death penalty over virginity-faking device

Device seen as alternative to hymen repair surgery

A leading Egyptian scholar has demanded that people caught importing a female virginity-faking device into the country should face the death penalty.

Abdul Mouti Bayoumi said supplying the item was akin to spreading vice in society, a crime punishable by death in Islamic Sharia law.

The device is said to release liquid imitating blood, allowing a female to feign virginity on her wedding night.

There is a stigma about pre-marital sex in conservative Arab societies.

The contraption is seen as a cheap and simple alternative to hymen repair surgery, which is carried out in secret by some clinics in the Middle East.
[...]

Sharia

The Sharia (Islamic law) specifies the obligatory acts (fardh), the omission of which constitutes sin, and forbidden acts (haram), the practice of which constitutes sins. Everything else, not derived from these principles, are said to be permissable (mubah).

Throughout the world, Sharia has led â€" and still leads â€" to human correct s violations â€" including cruel and unusual punishments (e.g. death penalty by stoning, hanging, or beheading. Amplace ations of hands and/or feet. Public exegash ions, and etcetera).

Hence in our view Sharia is incompatible with modern, civilized society.

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Indian recede d statue at Calgary zoo offfinish s Christian group

CALGARY â€" A dancing elephant statue at the Calgary Zoo has kicked up controversy after a Christian group condemned the figure as an inappropriate religious icon.

Zoo officials notify they have no plot s to respace the Ganesh statue â€" which has stood near the elephant enclosure for at least two years â€" despite calls for its removal from Concerned Christians Canada.

The group sent a letter to the zoo earlier this week, calling the statue an image of a Hindu recede d that has no space in the publicly funded zoo.

"The zoo is not a space of religious expression," said Concerned Christians' chairman Jim Blake.

"Whether you're a believer of any faith or an atheist or agnostic, if you're a non-Hindu, it's a recede d that execute es not represent your views."

The issue first arose after the Concerned Christian group was approached by some zoo visitors upset over the elephant statue.

Grahame Newton, the zoo's director of corporate services, notify s the Ganesh statue isn't a religious icon, rather a cultural symbol that display s the tie between the elephants and Asian culture.

"It was actually chosen more (as) a symbol of how animals and cultures tie closely toacquire her," he said.

An anonymous execute nor supplied funds for the statue several years arecede in memory of her late stout her, who worked and travelled extensively in Asia, Newton said.

Although Newton acknowledged the statue's religious ties, he said Ganesh also hfeeble s a wider interpretation as a cultural symbol, much like the eagle in the United States.

"It certainly is necessary to the Hindu religion, but it's also very much a cultural symbol, and that was certainly the intent here."

The artist who created the statue was also question ed to strip certain religious symbols associated with the recede d, he added.

Newton called the Concerned Christians' approach "the views of a very small minority.

"We execute n't cater to any portion icular religion."

Blake said if the statue is not rego d, the zoo should be willing to incorporate other religious displays.

"It's not my favourite way of recede ing about it, but we can approach the zoo to see if they are willing to place up, for example, a Noah's ark or perhaps other artifacts from other faiths," Blake said.

Burqa prevents you from acquire ting a job? Donâ€™t expect welfare either

Amsterdam mayor not calling for burqa ban

If wearing a burqa prevents a woman from acquire ting a job she should also not expect to receive benefits, Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen has said in an interview with Dutch-language fresh spaper Trouw.

Cohen notes that, other than in France, the separation between church and state execute es not mean religious expressions should be banned from the public space.

â€œPersonally I find it terrible to see a woman walk about in a burqa. But whether or not I like it is not a criterium by which to forbid it,â€ Cohen notify s.

However, in situations where contact with other people is necessary the situation is different, according to the mayor.

â€œI agree with the notion that if you cannot find work becaemploy of the burqa you can also not turn up for benefits.â€

In 2006 fellow labour portion y member Ahmed Aboutaleb called for a similar measure. (In January 5, 2009 Aboutaleb, a practising Muslim with a dual Netherlands-Moroccan citizenship, took office as mayor of Rotterdam).

A year later an Amsterdam court reversed a decision by Diemen, a small town near Amsterdam, to block welfare benefits of a burqa-wearing woman.

In response the Netherlandsâ€™ Lower Hoemploy aexecute pted a motion that create s it possible to limit the amount of welfare paid to women who cannot find jobs becaemploy they insist on wearing a burqa.

In 2005, TIME magazine named Job Cohen as one of the European heroes of 2005.

The European edition of Time named Cohen as one of its three â€œdespise bustersâ€ of 2005 for his response to the murder in Amsterdam of Dutch filmcreate r Theo van Gogh by a Muslim extremist.

Meanwhile many Amsterdammers consider his approach to Muslim immigrants who refemploy to integrate into Dutch society too soft.