Robert Morris, of Greenway church in Dallas, accused of sexual abuse of girl in 1980s, beginning when she was 12
A Texas evangelical pastor and former spiritual adviser to Donald Trump has confessed to sexually assaulting a young girl in his past.
Robert Morris, a founding pastor of the Dallas-based Gateway megachurch, was accused by an Oklahoma woman of sexual abuse in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12 and continuing until the age of 16.
Continue reading...Jordanians died in Saudi Arabia after suffering heatstroke, said officials, with temperatures reaching 47C in Mecca
At least 14 Jordanian pilgrims have died while on the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as temperatures soar in the kingdom.
Jordan’s foreign ministry said “14 Jordanian pilgrims died and 17 others were missing” during the performance of hajj rituals. It said its nationals had died “after suffering sun stroke due to the extreme heatwave” and that it had coordinated with Saudi authorities to bury the dead in Saudi Arabia, or transfer them to Jordan.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Disabled people, DV victims also at risk after broken promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws, advocates say
The Queensland government will renege on its promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws before the October state election – a move advocates say will leave women fleeing domestic violence, people with disabilities and members the LGBTQ+ community at risk.
Guardian Australia revealed on Monday that the state government was considering watering down reforms proposed by a review of the 33-year-old act.
Continue reading...Destroyed artefacts in St Anne’s Anglican church include unique paintings by Group of Seven art collective
An early morning fire at a Toronto church has destroyed both a historic site and rare paintings by an acclaimed group of Canadian artists, leaving the city reeling from a “heartbreaking” loss.
Fire crews responded on Sunday to a blaze engulfing St Anne’s Anglican church, a national historic site in the city’s Little Portugal neighbourhood.
Continue reading...Figurine sits in front garden of family that previously claimed to have seen tears of blood from another statue
In the front garden of the Gregori family home on the outskirts of Civitavecchia, a port city close to Rome, is a well-curated grotto containing a tiny, rusting statue of the Virgin Mary surrounded by plants and flowers. The figurine was bought from a souvenir shop at the Catholic pilgrimage site in Medjugorje, Bosnia.
In late April, as a group of pilgrims huddled around the grotto to pray, the statue purportedly exuded a scented oil. It was not the first time it was said to have sweated oil, but the moment, filmed by some of those present and shared on social media, reignited fascination in Italy over claims of the supernatural, pitting believers against naysayers. The story was all the more intriguing because the Gregoris were the protagonists of another mysterious weeping statue case in the mid-1990s.
Continue reading...Exit polls had projected overwhelming victory for the BJP and an even stronger mandate for India’s strongman
India’s elections may return Narendra Modi to power for a third term but Tuesday’s results did not have the flavour of victory for the strongman prime minister.
Indeed, as the early counts of the votes began to roll in, it was clear this was going to be one of the most humbling moments for Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) in over a decade.
Continue reading...Two million Texas kids could see new curriculum emphasizing Bible stories to instruct them in the ‘American cultural experience’
Texas elementary school students would get a significant dose of Bible knowledge with their reading instruction under a sweeping curriculum redesign unveiled on Wednesday.
From the story of Queen Esther – who convinced her husband, the Persian king, to spare the Jews – to the depiction of Christ’s last supper, the material is designed to draw connections between classroom content and religious texts.
Continue reading...Lambeth Palace documents show purchase of enslaved people in 18th century approved by Anglican archbishop
An archbishop of Canterbury in the 18th century approved payments for the purchase of enslaved people for two sugar plantations in Barbados, documents seen by the Observer have revealed.
Thomas Secker agreed to reimburse a payment for £1,093 for the purchase of enslaved people on the Codrington Plantations, as well as hiring enslaved people from a third party. It was stated the measures were “calculated for the future lasting advantages of the estates”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Experts say changes to Grand Mosque of Shadian mark completion of five-year sinification campaign
The last major mosque in China to have retained Arabic-style features has lost its domes and had its minarets radically modified, marking what experts say is the completion of a government campaign to sinicise the country’s Muslim places of worship.
The Grand Mosque of Shadian, one of China’s biggest and grandest mosques, towers over the small town from which it takes its name in south-western Yunnan province.
Continue reading...Second posthumous miracle attributed to leukaemia victim Carlo Acutis, qualifying him for canonisation
A London-born teenager who died of leukaemia aged 15 is to become the Catholic church’s first millennial saint.
Carlo Acutis was a computer prodigy who helped to spread Roman Catholic teaching online before his death in 2006. On Thursday, Pope Francis decreed that a second posthumous miracle has been attributed to Acutis, qualifying the teenager for canonisation.
Continue reading...It is not known if decision to shutter division of secretive sect’s umbrella company has any link to raid reportedly conducted ‘without prior notice’
The accounting firm controlled by the secretive Exclusive Brethren church has announced it will close after an extraordinary raid conducted by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Universal Business Team’s Australian accounting division, known as UBTA, sent an email to clients on Wednesday advising them that its accounting division would close.
Continue reading...Updated guidelines strip bishops of power to recognise ‘supernatural’ nature of purportedly divine events
Apparitions of the Virgin Mary and weeping statues have been part of Catholicism for centuries, but the age of social media has prompted the Vatican to issue a crackdown against potential scams and hoaxes.
New rules issued on Friday say that only a pope, rather than local bishops, can declare apparitions and revelations to be “supernatural”. The document, Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, updates previous guidance issued in 1978 that is now considered “inadequate”.
Continue reading...Russian president attends service led by one of his staunchest backers while Zelenskiy asserts God is on Kyiv’s side
Orthodox Easter services in Ukraine and Russia have taken on a political tone, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy asserted that God had a “Ukrainian flag on his shoulder” and Vladimir Putin attended a church service led by a staunch supporter of Moscow’s invasion.
Noting that Ukraine had now been fighting Russia for 802 days, Zelenskiy called on Ukrainians to pray for each other and the soldiers on the frontline. “And we believe: God has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder,” said the president, dressed in a traditional embroidered Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirt and khaki trousers. “So with such an ally, life will definitely win over death.”
Continue reading...Muslim organisations say they were not consulted before counter-terrorism raids that resulted in arrests relating to a church stabbing in Sydney
Representatives of the Australian Muslim community have called out what they called “questionable law enforcement tactics” after seven minors were arrested and six of them charged with counter-terrorism-related offences this week.
Three major bodies, the Australian National Imams Council, the Alliance of Australian Muslims and the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network, have also demanded the government revise Australia’scounter-terrorism laws, saying they “target specific communities”.
Continue reading...Video evidence shows multiple arrests after regime launched new draconian campaign against women and girls
Harrowing first-hand accounts of women being dragged from the streets of Iran and detained by security services have emerged as human rights groups say country’s hijab rules have been brutally enforced since the country’s drone strikes on Israel on 13 April.
A new campaign, called Noor (“light” in Persian), was announced the same day the Iranian regime launched drone attacks against Israel, to crack down on “violations” of the country’s draconian hijab rules, which dictate that all women must cover their heads in public.
Continue reading...Retired Lawrence Hecker, 92, charged in New Orleans, has memory loss and should be re-evaluated at later date, report finds
A 92-year-old retired Catholic priest charged with strangling a teenager and raping him in a New Orleans church in 1975 has short-term memory loss that prevents him from assisting in his defense, according to a team of forensic psychiatrists whose findings could influence whether one of Louisiana’s most prominent cases of clergy abuse is ever tried.
In a report which has not been publicly released but was reviewed Tuesday by WWL Louisiana and the Guardian, the psychiatrists said the priest – Lawrence Hecker – should not be tried for now on rape, kidnapping, crimes against nature and theft charges until he is re-evaluated later.
Continue reading...Regular worshippers joined by newcomers for first 15-minute service at St David’s in Penllergaer
Outside, the hustle and bustle of everyday life carried but for a few minutes – precisely 15 actually – there was a little bit of space for a calm coming together and reflection in the church of St David’s in Swansea.
Regular worshippers were joined by commuters and families who had popped in to sample the first “micro service” being led by the Rev John Gillibrand, the vicar of Pontarddulais with Penllergaer.
Continue reading...Opposition says prime minister targeting Muslim minority with ‘hate speech’ and violating election rules
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been accused of hate speech during a campaign rally where he called Muslims “infiltrators” who had “many children” and claimed they would take people’s hard-earned money.
The opposition accused Modi of “blatantly targeting” India’s 200 million Muslim minority with comments made while addressing voters at a speech in Rajasthan on Sunday.
Continue reading...Pope Francis to attend installation that includes short film featuring Zoë Saldaña and Giudecca inmates
Originally a convent dating to the 13th century, and once a reformatory for prostitutes, the Giudecca women’s prison, set on an island in the Venetian lagoon, will this summer perform a quite different role: as the official pavilion for the Vatican at this year’s Venice Biennale.
Pope Francis is due to attend on 28 April – the first pontifical visit to the Biennale since it was founded in 1895. In the women’s prison he will see a work by Maurizio Cattelan, who notoriously created a hyper-real sculpture in 1999 depicting Pope John Paul II struck down by a meteorite.
Continue reading...Muslim pupil loses case against Michaela community school, run by former government social mobility tsar Katharine Birbalsingh
A ban on prayer rituals at one of the highest-performing state schools in England, famous for its strict discipline and high-profile headteacher, has been upheld by a high court judge.
The case against Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, was brought by a Muslim pupil, known only as TTT in court proceedings, who claimed the ban was discriminatory and breached her right to religious freedom.
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