More than 100 bodies have been unearthed since church leader was arrested on suspicion of luring his followers to their deaths
Two years ago, Issa Ali’s mother took all her belongings and left her family to join followers of the charismatic church leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge in the Shakahola forest in south-east Kenya.
“He told them that’s where Jesus’ second coming will happen,” the 16-year-old said.
Continue reading...Ezekiel Odero arrested and more than 100 people evacuated from church, days after discovery of bodies linked to another church
One of Kenya’s highest-profile pastors is facing charges over the “mass killing of his followers”, the government has said, just days after the discovery of dozens of bodies linked to another church.
Ezekiel Odero, the head of the New Life Prayer Centre and Church, “has been arrested and is being processed to face criminal charges related to the mass killing of his followers”, the interior minister, Kithure Kindiki, said in a statement.
Continue reading...Colin Bloom’s report expected to be most sweeping review of government’s relationship with religion in more than a generation
UK ministers’ efforts to stop forced marriages are failing because the unit set up to tackle them is undervalued, under-resourced and overly focused on Muslim families, according to a report from Michael Gove’s levelling up department.
The 165-page report by Colin Bloom, the government’s faith adviser, will highlight a range of areas in which ministers are ineffective because they are too wary of tackling problems that arise within religious communities. It is expected to be the most sweeping review of the government’s relationship with religion in more than a generation
Continue reading...The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, which is openly homophobic, is a direct recipient of UK aid money
The UK government is helping to fund the work of a virulently homophobic religious organisation in Uganda, whose leaders have backed a proposed law that would make identifying as gay a criminal offence, a report has found.
Analysing official data given to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), the report by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change (IJSC) found a “staggering” number of connections between anti-LGBTQ+ organisations in Uganda and international aid donors, including the UK.
Continue reading...Search continues for dead and alive as Kenyan Red Cross says 112 people have been reported missing
The death toll from a Christian cult in Kenya that practised starvation has risen to 67, after more bodies were recovered from mass graves in a forest in the south-east of the country.
A major search is under way in the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi, where dozens of corpses were exhumed over the weekend. The bodies are thought to be those of followers of a cult who reportedly believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves.
Continue reading...Singh surrendered in Punjab town of Moga, says a Sikh leader, as police appeal to public for calm
Indian police have arrested a separatist leader who revived calls for an independent Sikh homeland and the secession of India’s northern Punjab state, which has a history of violent insurgency.
Amritpal Singh had been on the run since March after capturing national attention in February when hundreds of his supporters stormed a police station in the Punjab town of Ajnala with wooden batons, swords and guns to demand the release of a jailed aide.
Continue reading...Paul Mackenzie Nthenge reportedly told followers to starve themselves to ‘meet Jesus’
Twenty-one bodies have been exhumed in eastern Kenya in an investigation into a cult whose followers are believed to have starved themselves to death, police sources have said.
On Saturday officials reported seven deaths in connection with the inquiry after the arrest of Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who reportedly told followers to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus”.
Continue reading...Under Guardianship, broadcast during Ramadan, highlights the issues faced by women and children after the death of a father
Two Egyptian MPs have called for a review of the country’s guardianship law, prompted by the success of a TV drama broadcast during Ramadan.
On thursday, House representatives Amira El Adly and Mohamed Ismail submitted separate requests to the speaker of the house and to the justice minister to examine the impact of a law that critics say unfairly targets women and harms families.
Continue reading...Convent in Oosterhout has been left with surplus of more than 60,000 bottles after hot and dry year
A Dutch convent is appealing to wine drinkers to support its endeavours as, thanks to an extremely hot and dry year, Sint-Catharinadal in Oosterhout has an excess of 64,000 bottles made from its vineyard.
“We had a lovely summer last year, warm temperatures, and it promises to be an excellent harvest of more than 60,000 bottles,” said Sister Maria Magdalena, prioress, in a video appeal.
Continue reading...New organisation will represent about 30% of British Jews who are affiliated to synagogues
Two bodies representing progressive Judaism in the UK have joined forces to give their movement greater reach and a stronger voice.
The Movement for Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism announced on Monday that they would put aside 120 years as separate organisations “to create one single unified progressive Jewish movement for the UK”.
Continue reading...Cathedral service overseen by clerics independent of Russian-affiliated patriarchate for first time since 17th century
Dawn did not break over wartime Kyiv on Orthodox Easter Sunday. It was more that the darkness gradually paled, leaving the pinnacle of the 18th-century bell tower wreathed in a wan mist.
Soon after 5.30am, the faithful began to trickle into Dormition Cathedral, which stands at the heart of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, or Monastery of the Caves.
Continue reading...Holy Fire rite has traditionally attracted about 10,000 Christian worshippers but numbers have been limited in recent years
Thousands of Christians in Jerusalem have celebrated the traditional Holy Fire rite ahead of the Orthodox Easter, despite a security clampdown limiting access to their most holy site.
The ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the thousand-year-old rite takes place, was built over the site where Christian tradition says Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing policies are emboldening attacks on 2,000-year-old community, says Catholic regional leader
The head of the Roman Catholic church in the Holy Land has warned in an interview that Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has made life worse for Christians in the birthplace of Christianity.
The Vatican-appointed Latin Patriarch, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said that the region’s 2,000-year-old Christian community has come under increasing attack, with the most rightwing government in Israel’s history emboldening extremists who have harassed clergy and vandalised religious property at a quickening pace.
Continue reading...Al-Aqsa mosque closed to non-Muslims and tourists after gunmen who shot at an army post killed by security forces
Israel has halted visits by non-Muslims and tourists to a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, as its military said soldiers had shot dead two Palestinian gunmen in the occupied West Bank, as a wave of unrest showed no sign of subsiding.
Last week, an Israeli police raid at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, a tinder box in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, triggered rocket attacks from Gaza, south Lebanon and Syria that drew Israeli air and artillery strikes.
Continue reading...Maria Giuseppe Scarpulla investigated after claim blood stains on statue of Virgin Mary come from a pig
A woman nicknamed “the Saint” has mysteriously vanished from a small lakeside town near Rome where pilgrims have flocked for years to pray before a statue of the Virgin Mary that she claimed shed tears of blood.
Maria Giuseppe Scarpulla, originally from Sicily, and her husband reportedly fled Trevignano Romano last week after a private investigator triggered a judicial investigation against her based on his alleged finding that the blood stains on the statue came from a pig.
Continue reading...Interaction at temple in India seen in video that has gone viral condemned as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘scandalous’
The Dalai Lama has apologised after he faced allegations of inappropriate behaviour after kissing a young boy on the lips and asking him to “suck his tongue” at a public event in India.
The interaction, which took place in late February at the Dalai Lama’s temple in Dharamshala, was attended by about 100 young students who had just graduated from the Indian M3M Foundation.
Continue reading...Women who break Islamic dress code will be identified, warned on first instance and then taken to court
Police in Iran plan to use smart technology in public places to identify and then penalise women who violate the country’s strict Islamic dress code, the force said on Saturday.
A statement said police would “take action to identify norm-breaking people by using tools and smart cameras in public places and thoroughfares”.
Continue reading...Further violence feared after Arab-Israeli man drives his vehicle into busy city promenade following a West Bank shooting
On 8 April 2022, a Palestinian gunman entered a crowded bar in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital, and opened fire, killing three people and wounding 10. This weekend, on the anniversary of that attack, an Arab-Israeli man rammed his car into pedestrians on the city’s seaside promenade, killing an Italian tourist and injuring seven more people.
That attack followed a shooting earlier in the day in the north of the occupied West Bank that killed two British-Israeli sisters, aged 15 and 20, and left their 48-year-old mother in critical condition after their car veered off the road.
Continue reading...References to Muslim rulers, deadly riots connected to PM and Gandhi’s dislike of Hindu nationalism removed
The Indian government has been accused of rewriting history to fit its Hindu nationalist agenda after school textbooks were edited to remove references to Mahatma Gandhi’s opposition to Hindu nationalism, as well as mention of a controversial religious riot in which the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was implicated.
Textbooks were also revised to remove chapters on the history of the Mughals, the Muslim rulers who controlled much of India between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Continue reading...New law bans people from taking leavened food made from grain into medical centres during Jewish holiday
Passover celebrations in Israel this year are once again being overshadowed by a row over the consumption of leavened food such as bread in public buildings, in a symbolic fight about the role of religion in the state.
Last week, the Knesset passed the “chametz law”, which bans people from taking leavened food made from grain into hospitals during Passover. The law, sponsored by an ultra-Orthodox party, is in accordance with traditional Jewish teachings stipulating that observant Jews cannot eat chametz or have it in their homes during the week-long holiday.
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