religion

A 'Christian' rock band called 'Starfield' was rocking out Jesus-style at a show in Canada over the weekend when the floor collapsed. This video from the concert shows hundreds of fans falling through the floor and into the basement below. Dozens of attendees were injured and at least one remains in a coma. Lesson: God will let you rock out, but not too hard.

The 'S.c.i.e.n.t.o.l.o.g.y. Bible' (periods added to make this post more difficult for church attorneys to find) has been leaked to Wikileaks.Org. This is the real deal, their 615 page instruction manual. Now we can all become 'Clears' without having to deal with the cult of S.c.i.e.n.t.o.l.o.g.y.

Of course, the cult of s.c.i.e.n.t.o.l.o.g.y. is about to take legal action against Wikileaks.Org, so download the PDF now while you still can.

Via Thurther

Pope Benedict XVI's wheels for his U.S. tour are sitting at the training headquarters for the U.S. Secret Service in Beltsville, Md. The car was shipped over from Rome two weeks ago, and when Newsweek was invited for a sneak peek this week, it was parked in one of the facility's empty lots beside other vehicles the agents are using to prepare for the pontiff's arrival tomorrow. But Benedict's car doesn't look like the others. In part that's because it's a Mercedes, which contrasts with the agency's mostly Chevy limousines and SUVs. But it's also hard to miss with a six-foot-tall glass enclosure built to showcase the pontiff.

The Vatican rejected on Thursday accusations by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that the publication of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad was part of a "new crusade" involving Pope Benedict.

"These accusations are totally unfounded," chief Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said in response to an audio recording by bin Laden which was posted on the Internet to coincide with the birthday of the founder of Islam.

Italian security officials are examining the bin Laden message and its impact on the Pope. The Vatican said the Pontiff's heavy schedule of Easter celebrations this weekend would not be changed.

A controversial young Nepali girl worshipped by many Buddhists and Hindus as a Kumari, or "living goddess", has given up her divine position following a request from her family, an official said on Sunday.

The 11-year-old Sajani Shakya was revered for nine years as the Kumari of the ancient temple-town of Bhaktapur, near Kathmandu, in a centuries-old tradition.

"She is no more a Kumari," said Dipak Pandey, a senior official of the state-run Trust Corporation that oversees the cultural affairs in the deeply religious nation.

People are not having enough sex. An epidemic of breakups prove the needs that lead to a great sex life are being overlooked. Dirty dishes, frumpy clothes, and a lack of authentic connections are killing the romance. A great sex life is a challenge and takes focus, determination, and planning. Some say it’s an unrealistic goal, but we [at Relevant Church] disagree. We believe you can have a great sex life, in fact we believe God wants you to have a great sex life.

The Church of Scientology has condemned a German newspaper after they published comments comparing Tom Cruise to World War II propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Leading Scientologist Cruise was embarrassed last week after a video of him making top secret religious speech was leaked onto the internet.

The 45-year-old actor delivered the sermon four years ago when he accepted the 'Freedom Medal of Valour' award at an International Association of Scientologists event.

The Dutch government is bracing itself for violent protests following the scheduled broadcast this week of a provocative anti-Muslim film by a radical right-wing politician who has threatened to broadcast images of the Koran being torn up and otherwise desecrated.

Cabinet ministers and officials, fearing a repetition of the crisis sparked by the publication of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper two years ago, have held a series of crisis meetings and ordered counter-terrorist services to draw up security plans. Dutch nationals overseas have been asked to register with their embassies and local mayors in the Netherlands have been put on standby.

A church and Christian newspaper in Malaysia are suing the government after it decreed that the word "Allah" can only be used by Muslims.

In the Malay language "Allah" is used to mean any god, and Christians say they have used the term for centuries.

Opponents of the ban say it is unconstitutional and unreasonable.

It is the latest in a series of religious rows in largely Muslim Malaysia, where minority groups claim their rights are being eroded.

The impressive images from the people who believe in faith.

"Hindus celebrate Christmas too. It's a great holiday for everyone living in Britain,"

Sikh spokesman Indarjit Singh said: 'Do I object to the celebration of Christmas?' It's an absurd question. As ever, my family and I will send out our Christmas cards to our Christian friends and others."

"To suggest celebrating Christmas and having decorations offends Muslims is absurd. Why can't we have more nativity scenes in Britain?"

Then who exactly is offended by Christmas? I think I know...

Batten down the hatches, lock the doors: anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders wants to make a film! It's bound to feature the Qur'an in ways that few Muslims would approve of, to put it mildly. But, as British comedian Catherine Tate would say: look at my face, am I bothered?

Any up-and-coming Hollywood star will tell you that the world of cinema is an unforgiving one. Maybe it's shortsighted to rule out that there is a budding Scorsese or Coppola underneath that trademark hairdo. But still, I'd be surprised if Mr Wilders' stab at making art turns out any more gripping than watching paint dry.

Now if Wilders is in a way - as the French would say - 'de trop', as far as I'm concerned Sooreh Hera is the nose on the great Durante. She's an Iranian photographer working in the Netherlands, and a real professional too. Yet her works were withdrawn from an exhibition in The Hague last week, because the Municipal Museum considered them offensive.

The Malaysian carmaker Proton has announced plans to develop an "Islamic car", designed for Muslim motorists.

Proton is planning on teaming up with manufacturers in Iran and Turkey to create the unique vehicle.

The car could boast special features like a compass pointing to Mecca and a dedicated space to keep a copy of the Koran and a headscarf.

The idea came during a visit to the Middle East by a delegation of Malaysian politicians and businessmen.

Malaysia's Muslim men are suffering sleepless nights and cannot pray properly because their thoughts are distracted by a growing number of women who wear sexy clothes in public, a prominent cleric said.

Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the spiritual leader of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said he wanted to speak about the "emotional abuse" that men face because it is seldom discussed, the party reported on its Web site Wednesday.

"We always [hear about] the abuse of children and wives in households, which is easily perceived by the eye, but the emotional abuse of men cannot be seen," Nik Abdul Aziz said in Kuala Lumpur. "Our prayers become unfocused and our sleep is often disturbed."

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Laura Bush forcefully dismissed conservatives who attacked her for wearing a Muslim headscarf during her visit last week to the Middle East. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she said, before disagreeing with one Weekly Standard columnist's claim that she had given "a tacit endorsement of Islam's subjugation of women."

"They saw this as giving me a gift from their culture," Bush said. "And it was the scarf with the pink ribbons and the pink edging on it, the breast cancer scarf, that I put on." She added later, "I think we all have these stereotypes of each other, Americans and Arabs, and it's a really good thing to be able to break those stereotypes down and get to know each other."

Romanian-born Antonio Petrescu believes you can worship God and Elvis at the same time: as a Catholic priest and Elvis Presley impersonator, he finds his spiritual inspiration in the late rock legend.

"People ask me 'How can you reconcile Elvis impersonations with your choice of professional work?'" said Petrescu, who puts on his glittery suits and swivels his hips when not working as a parish priest in the Italian town of Avezzano.

Appearing on Donny Deutsch's CNBC show, "The Big Idea," on Monday night, columnist/author Ann Coulter suggested that the U.S. would be a better place if there weren't any Jewish people and that they needed to "perfect" themselves into -- Christians.

It led Deutsch to suggest that surely she couldn't mean that, and when she insisted she did, he said this sounded "anti-Semitic."

Asked by Deutsch whether she wanted to be like "the head of Iran" and "wipe Israel off the Earth," Coulter stated: "No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. ... That's what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament."

New York's iconic Empire State Building is to be lit up green from Friday in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar marking the end of Ramadan, officials said.

"This is the first time that the Empire State Building will be illuminated for Eid, and the lighting will become an annual event in the same tradition of the yearly lightings for Christmas and Hannukah," according to a statement.

Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month, is expected to be celebrated in New York from Friday, depending on when the new moon is sighted, and the city's tallest skyscraper will remain green until Sunday.

A steam roller destroys bottles of alcohol, during a ceremony in Jakarta, 04 October 2007. Jakarta authorities destroyed some 35,065 bottles of alcohol seized by police in the capital from illegal alcohol vendors, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, when practicing devotees abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and any sexual activity from dawn to dusk

The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique is under fire after bizarre allegations he made, saying that condoms shipped to Mozambique by European manufacturer's are deliberately infected with HIV:
Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio claimed some anti-retroviral drugs were also infected "in order to finish quickly the African people".

"The bread and wine representing Christ's broken body and lifegiving blood are replaced with sadomasochistic sex toys in this twisted version of Da Vinci's The Last Supper," CWA said on its Web site.

The real miracle would have been getting it past airport security.

Inspectors at Tarbes-Lourdes airport in France refused to give their blessing to holy water that passengers tried to bring on board the Vatican's new pilgrim flights this week, saying it was a security threat just like any other liquid.

The water, which is said to have miraculous healing powers, came from a sacred grotto where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared in 1858.

Last year at Christmastime, Rehan Seyam, a Muslim living in New Jersey, went to pick up some things at a local Wal-Mart. Seeing her distinctive traditional Muslim head covering called a "hijab," a man in the store, addressing her directly, sang "The 12 Days of Christmas" using insulting lyrics about terrorism and Osama bin Laden.

She was stunned.

"Do I look like a terrorist to you?" Seyam said she asked the man.

Lazaro Galindo -- accused murderer, amateur attorney and until Monday a proclaimed Satanist -- told a Miami-Dade Circuit judge Monday that he recently found God and was abandoning his plan to don special Satanic garb in court.

During a pretrial hearing last Thursday, Galindo, who is defending himself, was still professing his belief in the Church of Satan and insisting the First Amendment gives him the right to wear an all-black outfit, a cap he says is related to his religion and special Satanic jewelry, including a pentagram medallion and a ring.

An Arlington church volunteered to host a funeral Thursday, then reneged on the invitation when it became clear the dead man's homosexuality would be identified in the service.

The event placed High Point Church in the cross hairs of an issue many conservative Christian organizations are discussing: how to take a hard-line theological position on homosexuality while showing compassion toward gay people and their families.

But the dispute between High Point Church and the friends and family of Cecil Sinclair has left confusion and hard feelings on both sides.

Geert Wilders wants to ban the Koran. The leader of the Freedom Party PVV wrote this in a letter published in the Volkskrant today. The politician compares the Islamic holy book with Adolf Hilter's Mein Kampf, which has been banned from sale in the Netherlands since the end of World War II.

Although the Nazi text is banned from sale, it is available in some libraries and ownership of the text is not illegal.

Wilders is willing to allow the Koran as an object of study, but that should be the only exception to the ban. "A ban is a ban. Not only the sale, but also the use in mosques and ownership in a household context should be punishable. If the current legislation does not allow that then a new law on banning the book should be introduced."

Dozens of veiled women gathered outside the Old Bailey to protest against the jail sentences given to four Muslim men for encouraging terrorism.

Mizanur Rahman, 24, Umran Javed, 27, and Abdul Muhid, 25, were each jailed for six years for inciting murder and racial hatred during a demonstration against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

A fourth man, 32-year-old Abdul Saleem, was cleared of soliciting murder but convicted of inciting racial hatred. He was jailed for four years.

We, non-believers, atheists, and ex-Muslims, are establishing or joining the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain to insist that no one be pigeonholed as Muslims with culturally relative rights nor deemed to be represented by regressive Islamic organisations and 'Muslim community leaders'.

Those of us who have come forward with our names and photographs represent countless others who are unable or unwilling to do so because of the threats faced by those considered 'apostates' - punishable by death in countries under Islamic law.

By doing so, we are breaking the taboo that comes with renouncing Islam but also taking a stand for reason, universal rights and values, and secularism.

Polish-born Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica who emerged unhurt from a spectacular crash June 10, may be called by the Vatican to testify to alleged miracles performed by the late Polish- born Pope John Paul II, Poland's PAP news agency reported Thursday.

Kubica always races in a helmet emblazoned with the late pope's name and was wearing just such a helmet when his car spun out of control and crashed at the Canadian Grand Prix June 10. Few onlookers thought he had survived.

But race car experts say special cockpit technology called 'the Hans system' enabled the BMW-Sauber driver to escape with his life from the spectacular 230 kilometres per hour crash in Montreal.

More Formula 1

The makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler have been barred from filming at military sites in Germany because its star, Tom Cruise, is a Scientologist.

The German government does not recognise the Church of Scientology as a religion and says it masquerades as one to make money - a charge Scientology leaders reject.