“JAKARTA, Indonesia — A dozen Christian men were convicted Thursday and sentenced to up to 14 years in jail for beating to death and beheading two Muslims to avenge the government executions of three Christians in Indonesia last year.

Five other Christians received eight-year terms for burying the pair, who were set upon by a mob as they drove though a Christian neighborhood on Sulawesi island a day after the Sept. 22, 2006, executions of Fabianus Tibo and two other Christian militants.

The three executed Christians had been found guilty of leading a militia that killed at least 70 Muslims during a 1999-2002 religious war on the island that led to the deaths of at least 1,000 people from both faiths.”

Full article here (WashingtonPost.com) >

“No, not by radical Muslims but by our own military. This email was forwarded to me from a soldier in Iraq whose friend is being harassed at another base for organizing a meeting of atheists on the base. The email was originally sent to Kathleen Johnson, the military director for American Atheists, who is currently serving in Iraq herself. The full email is below the fold:

Kathleen Johnson:
Thought you’d be interested in this report of the first-ever meeting of Atheist service-members in Iraq under the umbrella of the MAAF-Iraq chapter of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. This meeting was put together by the same young MAAF member who recently had his second letter published in the Stars and Stripes.

One of our members, a young Atheist enlisted soldier, thought he would like to see if he could generate some interest in MAAF meetings at his Forward Operating Base (FOB) here in Iraq (not the base I’m at, by the way). He got things coordinated and started hanging flyers, and after weeks of having to re-hang his flyers almost daily because some vandal kept tearing them down, he finally succeeded in having a small MAAF meeting.”… (cont’d)

Read the rest here.

It’s sad that religion can even break down the ties and sense of “being-on-the-same-team” that exist between a tight knit, fraternal group like the military.

“In scenes reminiscent of medieval witchhunts, Catholic pilgrims in Glastonbury have attacked pagans and threatened to “cleanse” them from the town.

Local pagans were pelted with salt and branded witches who “would burn in hell” during a procession organised by Youth 2000, a conservative Catholic lay group. The Magick Box, a pagan shop on the route of the march, was also singled out and attacked.

Maya Pinder, the owner of the shop, said: “We’ve had to hear comments such as ‘burn the witches’, we’ve had salt thrown in our faces and at our shop, people were openly saying they were ‘cleansing Glastonbury of paganism’.”

“”It was as if we had returned to the dark ages. This is hugely damaging to Glastonbury … it is hard enough to trade in Glastonbury as it is, if you were to take away the pagan element it would be a dead town.” The Somerset town is known for having a large population of resident and visiting pagans.”

From The Guardian >

This isn’t a current news story (it’s actually from November of 2006) but I couldn’t resist posting it simply because it is stupefyingly medieval what happened here. We really haven’t progressed much intellectually as a species over the last thousand thousand years if people can still say things like “burn the witches” and not be laughed at as they are hauled away to the mental hospital.

“Cairo - Fifty years ago, no Egyptian would have believed that a fight between two children - a Muslim and a Christian - could ignite violence requiring the presence of truckloads of heavily-armed riot police to contain it.

But this happened last month in the once cosmopolitan Mediterranean city of Alexandria, albeit in one of the city’s poorer districts. There, a fist fight between two boys in front of a church turned into a full-blown sectarian clash between Muslims and Christians.

As religious zealots and angry mobs fanned the flames, the incident could have escalated had it not been for police which arrived quickly on the scene and contained the clash.

‘This situation is not unique to Alexandria. The tension is everywhere,’ says Father Yohanna Naseef, a Christian Coptic priest and an Alexandrine.”

“Claims of discrimination and even religious persecution against Copts are on the rise. Egyptian authorities claim radical Coptic communities resident abroad, especially in the United States, are fanning the flames, and asking foreign powers to intervene to empower Egypt’s Christian minority.”

From Monsters and Critics >

Here are the rules:

We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Don’t forget to leave them each a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I am/was Mormon. In other words, I was raised Mormon. I don’t consider myself Mormon anymore - obviously - but technically I am because I haven’t sent in my letter of resignation yet. Not sure why to be honest. I have it written (it’s 5 pages) and I’ll post it here as soon as I send it in and get back confirmation that my name has been removed from their member list.

2. I have to wear a white t-shirt. I can be naked (I’m not a never nude), but if I’m wearing a shirt, I always have to wear a white t-shirt underneath it… even if it looks terrible.

3. I love Desperate Housewives.

4. I recently broke up with my girlfriend of 4 years.

5. I am obsessed with the iphone - more than is healthy - and have considered how long I would be willing to wait in line to make sure that I get one… 4 hours. I’m not the biggest apple fanboy out there but… still pathetic.

6. For some reason, I have no desire to have children. Maybe this will change as some point (I’m still young) but it is strange to me that my peers talk about wanting kids at some point. I have nothing against kids, it’s just not something that I think about and say to myself, “That would be nice, I want that.”

7. I have a BA in psychology and tell everyone I’m just taking time off before grad school. I would like to get my PhD eventually but, I don’t think that I want to go to grad school in the near to medium-far future. I think I just don’t like telling people I don’t have any grandiose plans at the moment.

8. I have a fear that I am boring to be around in social situations. Which is strange because I know that I am an interesting person. I’m just not very outgoing I suppose.

It is late and I don’t read enough blogs to come up with 8 to tag. I’ll have to put this on my todo list for tomorrow. Don’t mean to cheat but I need my sleep

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.