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Sabbath uproar: El Al hit with 180 demands for compensation

November 22, 2018 By Barry Duke

Insisting they should not be flying on the Sabbath, a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews bound from New York to Israel reportedly forced an El-Al flight to make an unscheduled stop in Athens last week – and are now demanding compensation of $13,000 each. A letter sent by lawyers to the airline alleges that flight attendants had caused a delay of the departure, which the passengers said resulted in them: Observing the Shabbat in an inconvenient place causing them emotional distress…. Read more

Missionary killed in a bid to bring Jesus to a protected Indian tribe

November 21, 2018 By Barry Duke

52 Comments

When American missionary John Allen Chau, above, broke a law preventing all contact with protected tribesmen living on a remote Indian island, he paid for his transgression with his life. As soon as he set foot on North Sentinel Island, one of the world’s most isolated regions in India’s Andaman islands which is off limits to visitors, Chau found himself facing a flurry of arrows. Chau, 27, paid local fishermen to help him get to North Sentinel Island on November 16,… Read more

Prejudice, not pride: London school targeted for its inclusive agenda

November 21, 2018 By Barry Duke

19 Comments

Heavers Farm school in South Norwood holds a series of events that encourage pupils to be proud of themselves and their families, but this year’s ‘Proud to be Me’ unleashed fury among some Christian parents who claimed that it was a gay pride by stealth celebration. One immediate reaction was a call for the resignation of head teacher, Susan Papas, by an angry parent called Ruth Anderson who felt that Papas had abused her role by planning the event and… Read more

Jews accused of ‘infiltrating’ Muslim communities with … chicken soup

November 20, 2018 By Barry Duke

1 Comment

Mitzvah Day in the UK is an annual interfaith community programme – one which gained publicity at the weekend when the Guardian carried a report of chicken soup being prepared and served in a mosque. The outreach was seen as a sinister ploy to infiltate Islamic communities by Roshan Salih, above, who edits “Five Pillars” and and heads an Islamic news site in the UK, Press TV. Salih claimed at the weekend that the day of Jewish-led social action was … Read more

Fundraiser for disowned gay teen fast approaches $100,000 mark

November 20, 2018 By Barry Duke

12 Comments

Don’t you just love it when bigotry backfires? In the second case of its kind this year, an online funding campaign has raised a huge sum of money for a Buffalo, New York, student who was disowned for refusing to submit to a ‘pray-away-the-gay’ programme. The fundraiser for Canisius College cross-country and track athlete Emily Schreck, above, has surpassed $98,000. Her experience mirrors that of Florida teen Seth Owen who was made homeless after refusing his parents’ demands to continue… Read more

No gay marriage here: faith-based wedding magazine collapses

November 19, 2018 By Barry Duke

32 Comments

A leading wedding magazine in Australia, owned by devout Christians Luke and Carla Burrell, has gone belly up. Advertisers began shunning White Magazine after the couple made it clear that the publication had no place for same-sex wedddings, and they are now complaining that they are being unfairly judged. The Burrells said that they closed down White because they: Had no desire to create a social, political or legal war. In a farewell post on its website, which uses the… Read more

A bigot no more: Christians feel betrayed by ex-homophobe Jason Kenney

November 18, 2018 By Barry Duke

18 Comments

Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) Leader Jason Kenney, above, has ‘evolved’. He is no longer the man that Christian conservatives could count on to demonise homosexuals and abortion supporters – and they are not happy. Jeff Gunnarson, National President of Campaign Life Coalition complained: It’s very disappointing. Jason Kenney and the pro-life movement have a long history. He was part of the pro-life caucus at one time. He used to be known as a faithful Catholic, a church-going Catholic who… Read more

Class action against RC Church alleges racketeering and corruption

November 17, 2018 By Barry Duke

20 Comments

The Vatican and American bishops have been hit by a class action lawsuit which sites a federal anti-racketeering law known as RICO. The cction was brought against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Holy See by six plaintiffs who are suing on their own behalf and fellow victims of Catholic clerical abuse. The Vatican is being targeted as as a foreign state, an “unincorporated organization,” and as the “head of an international religious organization.” The preamble… Read more

Muslim denied an Islamic funeral because he sold property to Jews

November 17, 2018 By Barry Duke

4 Comments

Citing a fatwa issued in 1935 by Amin al-Husseini, the Nazi-supporting grand mufti of Jerusalem, the present mufti – Ekrima Said Sabr, above – refused to allow the burial of a Palestinian to take place at a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. Instead, the family of Alah Kirsh , who was killed in a traffic accident, were told they could plant him in a Jewish cemetery. Aryeh Stern, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel’s capital, ruled this week as a rabbinical… Read more

Mormon church may be sued for Utah cannabis ballot interference

November 16, 2018 By Barry Duke

12 Comments

The Mormon Church, with their long history of poking its nose into the political affairs in their home state of Utah and beyond, faces a possible lawsuit for interfering in the recent Proposition 2 ballot regarding medical cannabis. A week after Utah voters approved the initiative, a lawyer representing patients and advocates formally told the church to preserve records that may reveal its alleged attempts to undermine Proposition 2 which ultimately passed by roughly 52-46 percent, with some ballots still… Read more