Alabama priest ‘groomed young girls’ before fleeing to Italy with 18-year-old

Alex Crow was previously accused of acting inappropriately with students and remains under orders by archdiocese to return home

A Roman Catholic priest in Alabama who fled to Europe with a recent high school graduate whom he met through his work has drawn scrutiny from law enforcement and been told to stop presenting himself in public as a cleric.

Alex Crow, an expert in the theological study of demons and exorcism, is suspected of having “groomed [multiple] young girls” before going to Italy with an 18-year-old, according to an interview that local sheriff Paul Burch recently gave to Fox Nation’s Nancy Grace. The teen’s family has been trying to convince her to return home.

In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International.

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Catholic church uses death of paedophile priest in bid to stop survivor suing NSW diocese, court hears

Church claims it cannot get fair trial over alleged abuse by the notorious David Joseph Perrett in legal tactic that has drawn widespread criticism

The Catholic church is seeking to use using the death of a “prolific paedophile” priest to permanently prevent a dying Indigenous man from seeking justice for alleged abuse suffered on camping trips in rural New South Wales.

Two survivors are suing the church’s Armidale diocese for the alleged abuse by notorious priest David Joseph Perrett during camping trips from an Aboriginal mission in the mid-1970s.

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Mob attacks churches in eastern Pakistan after blasphemy claim

Christian family accused of desecrating copy of Qur’an, setting off rampage in Faisalabad

Hundreds of Muslim men have attacked a Christian community in eastern Pakistan, vandalising several churches and a cemetery and setting scores of houses on fire, after accusing its members of desecrating a copy of the Qur’an.

Hundreds of people armed with sticks and rocks stormed a predominantly Christian area in Faisalabad on Wednesday. Images on social media showed smoke rising from church buildings and people setting fire to furniture.

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Lebanon in move to ban Barbie film for ‘promoting homosexuality’

Culture minister asks general security agency to act to prevent screening as anti-LGBT rhetoric ramps up

Lebanon’s culture minister moved to ban the film Barbie from the country’s cinemas on Wednesday, saying it “promoted homosexuality” and contradicted religious values.

Mohammad Mortada is backed by the powerful Shia Muslim armed group Hezbollah, whose head, Hassan Nasrallah, has ramped up his rhetoric against the LGBT community, saying it poses an “imminent danger” to Lebanon and should be “confronted”.

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‘How will any Muslim feel safe?’ Spate of attacks increases tensions in India

With elections due next year, there are fears unrest will grow as the ruling BJP faces criticism over its alleged inaction

An imam stabbed and shot to death in a mosque that was then burned to the ground. A young doctor, walking home, set upon by an armed mob who thrashed and molested her. A railway officer, boarding a train, prowled the carriages for his targets and shot dead three men. The incidents, which all took place in India this week, were seemingly unconnected, yet the victims were united by a common factor: they were all Muslim.

Since the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came to power in 2014, led by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, incidents of sectarian violence targeting the Muslim minority, who make up about 14% of the population, have become increasingly frequent.

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‘Our biggest challenge is simply to exist’: atheist society fights for legal recognition in God-fearing Kenya

Non-believers say their civil liberties are at stake in a court battle against a bishop who wants to strip them of legal recognition

Kenya’s first atheist group is battling to keep legal recognition in a case filed by a Christian bishop seeking to suspend its registration.

The Atheists in Kenya Society (AKS) said basic civil liberties hung in the balance as it prepares to file a submission on Monday in response to a petition presented against the group and the Kenyan registrar of societies by Stephen Ndichu.

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Rare stamp that offered fast track to heaven to go on display in UK

Stamp for papers that enabled ‘fast-track’ through purgatory will be on show at a Hampshire priory

A seal matrix used to authenticate medieval indulgences and offer a fast track to heaven in exchange for cash is to go on display at a Hampshire priory after spending 500 years buried in a field.

The small carved mould, dating between 1470 and 1520, was found by a metal detectorist two miles from Mottisfont, an Augustine priory and site of pilgrimage near Romsey, Hampshire, that is now owned by the National Trust.

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Swedish PM ‘extremely worried’ as more apply to burn Qur’an

Ulf Kristersson says ‘there is a clear risk of something serious happening’ amid growing Muslim anger at the attacks on Islam’s holy book

The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has said that he is “extremely worried” about the consequences if more demonstrations go ahead in which the Qur’an is desecrated, amid growing Muslim anger at a series of attacks on Islam’s holy book.

Attacks on the Qur’an in Sweden and Denmark have offended many Muslim countries, including Turkey, whose backing Sweden needs to join Nato – a goal of Stockholm’s after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Russia ‘using disinformation’ to imply Sweden supported Qur’an burnings

Swedish government says ‘Russia-backed actors’ attempting to damage country’s bid to join Nato

Sweden has been the target of a disinformation campaign by “Russia-backed actors” attempting to damage the image of the Nato candidate country by implying it supported recent burnings of the Qur’an, its government has said.

“Sweden is right now the target of influence campaigns, supported by states and state-like actors, whose purpose is to harm Sweden and Swedish interests,” the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, wrote on Instagram on Wednesday.

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Barbie release delayed in Pakistan’s Punjab province over ‘objectionable content’

Film being reviewed to ensure it is not violating the country’s social, cultural and religious values

The launch of the highly anticipated Hollywood movie Barbie has been delayed in Pakistan’s Punjab province over “objectionable content”.

Officials said the film would be reviewed and needed clearance from the provincial boards that censor scenes violating the country’s social, cultural and religious values.

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Manipur: why is there conflict and how is the government responding?

As violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities continues in north-east India, campaigners criticise the authorities’ reaction and both sides warn of civil war

Manipur is a state in north-east India with a population of more than three million. It has been embroiled in an ethnic conflict since early May, fought between the majority Meitei community and the minority Kuki tribe.

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Protests across Muslim nations after Sweden allows second attack on Qur’an

Stockholm apologetic amid fears Turkey may delay lifting Nato veto following desecration of holy book

Thousands of people took part in protests across Muslim majority nations on Friday after a second incident in Sweden involving the desecration of the Qur’an.

The episode left the Swedish government apologetic and fearing that the outrage in the Middle East may delay Turkey lifting its veto on Sweden’s membership of Nato.

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Iraq expels Swedish ambassador after desecration of Qur’an in Stockholm

Baghdad also recalls chargé d’affaires from Sweden as protesters storm Swedish embassy in Iraq

Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador on Thursday in protest at a planned burning of the Qur’an in Stockholm that had prompted hundreds of protesters to storm and set alight the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

A government statement said Baghdad had also recalled its chargé d’affaires in Sweden, and Iraq’s state news agency reported that Iraq had suspended working permits for Swedish businesses such as telecom giant Ericsson on Iraqi soil.

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UK must label Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terror group, says thinktank

Report from rightwing thinktank calls for tougher sanctions on Iran as October expiry of UN sanctions looms

The October expiry of UN sanctions limiting Iran’s missile programme must become a hard deadline for the UK to adopt a tougher policy that includes proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a rightwing thinktank has warned.

The report from the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is the second from a right-of-centre thinktank in two days demanding tougher action on Iran, and suggests that the UK ministers’ preferred strategy of introducing an Iran-specific sanctions regime that could lead to sanctions for activities outside Iran has fallen flat with Tory hawks.

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Iran’s ‘morality police’ resume patrols 10 months after nationwide protests

Authorities announce new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf, after period of scaled-back policing

Almost 10 months after Mahsa Amini died in police custody, triggering weeks of protest across Iran, police vans are again patrolling the country’s streets looking for women who are not wearing the hijab “correctly”. Now, however, the vans and officers will not bear the name “morality police”, and patrolmen will be wearing body cameras.

The announcement on Sunday followed widespread reports that unmarked vans had been spotted on the streets of cities such as Tehran and Shiraz, stopping people not wearing the hijab. The move has already prompted demonstrations: on Sunday, protesters took to the streets in Rasht after three women were reportedly arrested.

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Indigenous voice no campaign targets religious voters who opposed marriage equality

The no campaign plans to tap into the ‘unheard majority’ in Sydney, believing there is a bloc of socially conservative religious voters ripe for its messages

The no campaign in the referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament is targeting migrant communities and parts of Sydney that voted strongly against marriage equality in the 2017 postal vote, Warren Mundine has said.

The campaign believes there is a cohort of religious and socially conservative voters who are open to its messaging on implications of the voice.

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Justin Welby says it was ‘a privilege to be her son’, after mother dies at 93

Archbishop of Canterbury says he had a messy childhood due to alcoholism in the family but he loved Jane Williams deeply

The archbishop of Canterbury has paid tribute to his mother, Jane Williams, who has died at 93, saying she had “lived a full human life, with all its ups and downs”.

Justin Welby said it had been “a privilege to be her son. I am the person I am in part because of her love, example and encouragement.”

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Labor’s refusal to extend school chaplaincy tax deduction will cause cuts, Christian group says

Parents’ secular education group wants chaplains scrapped and student wellbeing officers employed instead

Australia’s largest supplier of school chaplains has labelled the Albanese government’s decision not to extend its eligibility to receive tax deductible gifts “disappointing and unexpected”.

Scripture Union Australia has warned the decision would probably result in cuts to chaplaincy services after Labor allowed its deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, previously granted by the Morrison government, to lapse.

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Queensland Uniting church minister opposed to same-sex marriage loses unfair dismissal claim

Fair Work Commission rules Hedley Wycliff Atunaisa Fihaki was not employed by the church but sacking would remain valid even if he had been

A Uniting church minister who was sacked for public statements opposing the church’s position on same-sex marriage has lost his unfair dismissal claim.

Hedley Wycliff Atunaisa Fihaki was inducted as a minister of the Mooloolaba Uniting church in 2013, but was dismissed after anti-same-sex marriage statements in social and mainstream media between January 2019 and August 2021.

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Safeguarding in ‘crisis’ in Church of England, says archbishop of York

Stephen Cottrell tells General Synod ‘mistakes have been made’, while sacked safeguarding board member says ‘we did our job too well’

The archbishop of York has said there is a “crisis of safeguarding” within the Church of England after its executive disbanded an independent body on abuse.

Stephen Cottrell told the C of E’s ruling body, the General Synod, on Sunday that “mistakes have been made” and that Jesus would be weeping at the events of recent weeks. “We recognise things have gone wrong,” he said. “This is a watershed moment for us. We can’t get this wrong again.”

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