Ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionists Repudiate Neturei Karta

The Boston Globe reports on the travails of Neturei Karta, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish group that took part in Ahmadinejad’s recent Holocaust denial “conference”:
Now, the ultra-Orthodox group is being ostracized on three continents, denounced by rabbis, banned from synagogues and harassed in the streets.
Other religious anti-Zionist groups are among those appalled:
…”They brought shame on the Jewish [...]

Eau de Toilette

The BBC World Service’s Reporting Religion draws attention to the “Perfume of Resistance”, a new Lebanese product that is supposed to reflect the sanctity of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah (23:15). The New Republic’s Annia Ciezadlo answers questions on it:
It’s got a picture of an Israeli boat on fire. Does it smell like that then?
Actually, [...]

Yoga Ceremony in Indian Schools Protested by Christians and Muslims

Regional government promoting Swami Ramdev
Catholic news service AsiaNews reports from India:
The proposal by the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to have schools salute the Sun in a modern form of Sun worship is “disturbing to non Hindu communities, because ‘worship’ is a loaded term and [therefore] inappropriate, especially because the government has other more [...]

“Sanhedrin” (Allegedly) Implies that Israeli Maj.-Gen Should be Killed

The Israeli far-right’s revived “Sanhedrin” is back in the news; the Jerusalem Post reports:
A group of rabbis have issued a halachic opinion implying that OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh deserves to be killed.
The rabbis, all connected with a movement to resurrect the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish governing body, said in their halachic ruling this [...]

X Rated by Saudi Vice Commission

One of my all-time favourite films is the 1969 political thriller Z, set in a fictitious Mediterranean country loosely based on the Colonels’ Greece. The film famously ends with a narrator listing the various things banned by the repressive regime:
…Concurrently, the military banned long hair on males; mini-skirts; Sophocles; Tolstoy; Euripedes; smashing glasses after drinking [...]

Man Creates Woes for Televangelist with “Former Husband” Claim

A bizarre scandal has engulfed a Kenyan televangelist. The Nairobi Nation reports:
Renowned tele-evangelist Margaret Wanjiru yesterday disputed claims by a man who says he married her in 1979 under common law.
She said her wedding to her South African fiancee [sic] would go on as planned on February 10.
…Mr James Kamangu Ndimu, 51, made the claims [...]

Maria Sung Visits Zambia

The Times of Zambia reports on a visit to the country by Maria Sung, the Korean wife of former Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo:
Ms Sung said Archbishop Milingo was enjoying good health in America.
“He actually looks younger now and he has new black hair. I am happy that we are together and our marriage is in one [...]

Ellison the Second Muslim in Congress?

OneNewsNow, the new incarnation of Agape Press, wheels in “Christian historian” David Barton to put the Keith Ellison election into some supposed perspective:
He says the media got their facts all wrong when they declared that Ellison was the first Muslim elected to Congress…”Keith Ellison is second,” the author insists; “The first guy [of Muslim faith [...]

Unnamed “Western Institutions” Back War on Science in Kenya

The East African Standard carries an update on the war against science in Kenya:
The priceless National Museums of Kenya (NMK) fossils pointing to man’s evolution risk being relegated to the abyss as a section of the Church renews its war on science insisting that the evolution theory contradicts the biblical story of creation.
Bishop Boniface Adoyo [...]

Zion Oil Opens AMEX for 2007

Company founded by Christian Zionist is first new listing of the year
President claims spiritual beliefs “have been confirmed by the science”
From dBusiness:
NEW YORK — Eugene A. Soltero, Chief Executive Officer of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc., of Dallas, Texas and Caesarea, Israel, announced today that the company has issued 436,907 shares of common stock in [...]