Hello,

Due to time constraints I am unable to stay on top of the news stories for this blog. If you would like to become a contributor to this site please send me a recent news story involving the harmful effects of religion along with a short (less than 10 sentences) commentary pointing out the role of religion in the problem.

Please send it to brian @ religionisaproblem . com.

Thanks for your help,

Brian

“LYNCHBURG, Va. – A Liberty University student who told a family member he had made bombs and planned to attend the funeral of the Rev. Jerry Falwell was apparently upset about an anti-gay fringe group that protested at the funeral, authorities said.

Officials were still trying to figure out what Mark David Uhl planned to do with the bombs. Police do not believe he intended to disrupt the funeral Tuesday or harm the Falwell family, Campbell County Sheriff Terry Gaddy said.

Uhl, 19, was being held without bond in the Campbell County Adult Detention Center on charges of manufacturing an explosive device. It was not known if he had a lawyer, and messages seeking comment left at numbers believed to belong to his family were not returned.

Uhl, of Amissville, was arrested Monday night after a family member contacted authorities, who found homemade bombs in the trunk of Uhl’s car, Major Steve Hutcherson said.

Gaddy described the five bombs as “sort of like napalm” and about the size of soda cans.”

Read more @ The Star >

In this case, Mr. Uhl is clearly the perpetrator of violence and he is wrong. I’m posting this story because his actions were in response to hate messages founded on religious beliefs.

“GALVESTON, Texas — A baby girl was released from a hospital 11 days after police say she was burned in a motel microwave oven.
The infant’s mother blamed the devil for what happened, saying Satan compelled her husband to put the baby in the microwave. The devil “saw my husband as a threat” because of his efforts to become a preacher, Eva Marie Mauldin, 20, told Houston television station KHOU.

“He would never do anything to hurt her,” she said. “Satan was working through his weaknesses.”

Mauldin said her husband had a mental disability and her efforts to get him help have failed.

Doctors at the Shriners Burn Hospital performed at least two skin grafts on two-month-old Ana Marie Mauldin, who suffered burns on her face and hand May 10. She was released Monday and placed in foster care, and a custody hearing was scheduled later this week.

The baby’s father, Joshua Mauldin, 19, was charged with felony injury to a child and was jailed on US$250,000 bond.

If found guilty, he could face up to 99 years in prison.

Mauldin, of Warren, Ark., came to Galveston with his family earlier this month to be a preacher, authorities said.

When he first called 911, he said the baby had been burned when he tripped while carrying a pot of hot water in their motel room, police said.

He later told police he put his daughter in the microwave because he was under stress.

Police said the infant was in the oven for 10 to 20 seconds while her mother and grandmother were away.”

Read more @ The Edmonton Sun >

Just to be clear, I’m not posting this because it is a problem caused by religion - obviously this fellow has a mental illness that needs treatment. Rather, I’m posting it because it is an example of people blaming the influence of the devil; a particularly archaic and medieval point of view that needs to be left in the past.

The idea that there is an invisible being influencing our thoughts and actions is beyond ignorant and uneducated… its stupid.

“ONE in four young American Muslims thinks suicide bombing of civilians is justified to defend their religion, at least sometimes, according to a new report.

The survey by the authoritative Pew Research Centre finds that American Muslims are generally middle class and mostly mainstream, but Muslims under 30 are more prone to radical ideas.

The survey, one of the most exhaustive of American Muslims, found that only 25 per cent thought the US war on terrorism sincere, and only 40 per cent believed that Arabs carried out the September 11 attacks.

American attitudes are relevant because the Muslim communities there are the most similar to Australia.”

Read more @ the Age >

“Members of the Gig Harbor Church of Nazarene are deeply shocked. Their former pastor Stephen Kerr, who they had trusted to teach them religion and values, now sits in jail, accused of molesting a 7-year-old girl.”

“Stephen Kerr was arrested for allegedly trying to have sex with a 7-year-old girl while making her watch videos of children playing with men’s private parts.

Kerr pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday. Hughes said he was surprised by the plea, because Kerr told him something different.

“He openly confessed it, you know,” said Hughes. “There was no question to the fact that he had admitted to his guilt. But it was explained to me that there are technical, legal reason for that.”

Prosecutors believe the sexual abuse had been going on for at least two years.”

From KOMO TV >

After creating the “Abuse of Power” category for the last post I decided to search the web for similiar stories because I realized that “clergy abuse” is something that I had, up to this point, neglected. I’ve got to say, I’m not sure I have the stomach for this. I don’t think that I am capable of actively searching out stories like this one. It saddens me and it sickens me. If I run across them, that is one thing and I will post them, but this is too much.

“A Fort Worth pastor accused of paddling and raping women under the guise of scriptural teaching has been suspended by the national body of the Church of God in Christ.

The suspension comes more than three months after a Fort Worth woman sued the Rev. Sherman C. Gee Allen of the Shiloh Institutional Church of God in Christ, contending that he repeatedly beat her with a paddle from 2001 to 2005 and forced her to have sex with him.

Since then, eight more women have come forward with similar stories, according to the woman’s lawyers.”

From Dallas News >

What is even more disturbing than beating and raping women is using your supposedly sacred authority as leverage. Sickening. People innocently trust “men of God” almost by default. To take advantage of that to do harm to someone is corrupt in the worst kind of way. These women will be haunted by the memories of this abuse for the rest of their lives and may never be quite the same again. It’s too bad that there isn’t a hell for this fellow to burn in.

Thank you to reader Kriscinda for sending this story in. I decided to create a new “abuse of power” category just for this type story which is dissappointingly common.

“Religiously justified violence is first and foremost a problem of “sacred” texts and not a problem of misinterpretation of texts.”

- Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Anti-War Activist

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - “Hamas gunmen fatally shot six bodyguards from the rival Fatah movement and mistakenly ambushed a jeep carrying their own fighters, killing five. In all, 16 people were killed in the bloodiest day of Palestinian infighting since violence broke out in the Gaza Strip four days ago.”

“Israel launched an airstrike at a Hamas building after the organization’s militants launched barrage after barrage of rockets at Israeli towns. Palestinian officials said at least four gunmen were killed.”

“In four days of fighting, 41 people have been killed and dozens more have been injured. Most of the dead have been from Fatah.”

From Fox News >

“Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.” Isaiah 13:15-16

EDITED: An apparently made up Bible verse was removed and replaced with this one (which is correct).

A great interview of Hitchens, author of “God is Not Great,” can be found here.