One in Four American Muslims Condone Suicide Bombings

A new survey of American Muslims has shown that one in four American Muslims believe that it is sometimes acceptable to commit suicide bombings on innocent civilians to protect your religion. Note how this is an indorsement of bombing innocent civilians, and not military targets.

Vatican tries to stop child abuse documentary airing on Italian TV

Bishops in Italy are putting pressure on Italian television's public broadcasting corporation, RAI, in an attempt to stop the broadcasting of BBC documentary examining the systematic cover up of child sex abuse cases involving members of the Church by the current Pope himself. The documentary claims that the current Pope ordered the renewal of measures specifically designed to protect those priests guilty of child abuse by relocating them and by pressuring victims into keeping quiet.
The Panorama documentary has already become one of the most watched videos on the Italian Google video, but now Catholic bishops are trying to prevent it from reaching an even larger audience.
The secret measures only came into the spotlight in 2003 when they became the focus of much media examination. When the documentary was shown in Britain, it caused the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy -O Conner to complain to the BBC about their decision to show it.

17 year old girl stoned to death for loving boy of different religion

A 17 year old girl was dragged from her home by eight men in Iraq and stoned to death for thirty minutes until she was dead. The girl was condemned to death by members of her own family and religious leaders for carrying on a relationship with with Sunni Muslim boy, ( she belonged to the Kurdish 'Yezidi').
As the stoning took place, a security force stood by and watched. An Amnesty International spokesman said that they frequently receive reports of honour killings like this one from Iraq, usually carried out by male relatives who feel that a female has somehow shamed the family by erring from their religious doctrines. Retaliatory attacks have already begun, as 23 Kurds were killed by Sunni insurgents last week. The victim's boyfriend is allegedly in hiding following the murder.

Mormon women in court over child torture charges.

Two Mormon women, Deidre Carrington and Maria Keable, have appeared in court charged with the torture of children in their care. The pair forced the children to eat red-hot chillies, punched and kicked them, gagged them, and whipped them with nettles, in order to instill discipline in them. The children, some as young as two years old, were awoken at 5am each morning to say prayers and read scripture. After this, they would be forced to do hours of housework, facing physical abuse as punishment if this was not done to a satisfactory standard. Ms Carrington responded by saying that 'she was a member of the church and had strict principles to teach the children how to work and be obedient.'

Group cleared over Iran murders

Iran's Supreme Court has acquitted a group of men charged over a series of gruesome killings in 2002, according to lawyers for the victims' families. The vigilantes were not guilty because their victims were involved in un-Islamic activities, the court found. The killers said they believed Islam let them spill the blood of anyone engaged in illicit activities if they issued two warnings to the victims. The serial killings took place in 2002 in the south-eastern city of Kerman.

According to their confessions, the killers put some of their victims in pits and stoned them to death. Others were suffocated. One man was even buried alive while others had their bodies dumped in the desert to be eaten by wild animals. The accused, who were all members of an Islamic paramilitary force, told the court their understanding of the teachings of one Islamic cleric allowed them to kill immoral people if they had ignored two warnings to stop their bad behaviour.

Lawyers for the victims' families say the Supreme Court has five times overturned the verdict of a lower court that found all the men guilty of murder. Now the Supreme Court is reported to have acquitted all the killers of the charge of murder on the grounds that their victims were all morally corrupt.

Aids Victims Risk Lives

Thousands of Aids and HIV patients are risking their lives by refusing medication in favour of holy water. The controversial treatment is offered by a church in Ethiopia which claims to have cured hundreds of believers.

The church claims that more than a thousand people have been cured in the past two years. Head priest Father Geberemedhen says "We don't allow patients to take medication if they want to receive holy water". That means they must stop taking the antiretrovirals which prevent the disease taking hold, and prolong the life of those who carry the HIV virus.

Religious students hold woman capture after 'brothel' accusations

Religious students in Pakistan have taken a woman prisoner after accusing her of running a brothel. The students also kidnapped two of the woman's relatives, and later, two police officers in retaliation for the arrest of two teachers from the school. The woman was forced to apologise and promise to live a 'pious life, ' 'in the name of God.' After her release, the woman spoke of the rough treatment she had been given. "They tied me, my daughter and daughter-in-law and my six-month-old grand-daughter up with rope," she said.
The woman denied running a brothel. Instead, she claimed she had rented a room to a woman, without knowing what it was to be used for. "I don't think Islam allows anyone to beat a woman and drag her through the streets like a dog," the Associated Press news agency quoted her as saying.
A spokesman for the students said that they had acted to stop the spread of obscenity, and that they considered the apology to represent a victory against Pakinstani liberals.