Hamas Detains and Beats Couple for Walking TogetherB

AP

An attempt by Hamas police to detain a young woman walking with a man along the Gaza beach has raised alarms that the Islamic militant group is seeking to match its political control of the coastal territory with a strict enforcement of Islamic law.

The man she walked with and two of his peers were detained, beaten and ordered to sign statements promising not to engage in immoral activities, said the woman and one of the men.

The incident was the first known case of Hamas openly trying to punish a woman for behaving in a way it views as un-Islamic since seizing power two years ago. But it follows months of quiet pressure on Gaza's overwhelmingly conservative 1.4 million residents to abide by its strict religious mores.

While I am a supporter of a two state solution to the Israel/Palestine issue, Hamas is not the sort of political party I would ideally support. This sort of morality should never be a concern of the state, and efforts to bend the population to their will can only end in needless suffering. I hope that any solution to this complicated issue complies with the UN Declaration on Human Rights in defending personal freedom and rights for all

Exorcism is More Common than you think

'Exorcism on teenager'
A South Australian police officer has been charged with trying to perform an exorcism on a teenager at a church youth camp. The 28-year-old off-duty senior constable and two other adults have been charged following a camp run by the Lutheran church in the Barossa Valley in April, Adelaide's The Advertiser reports on Tuesday. It's alleged the three restrained the boy after he complained of stomach pains in an incident that allegedly went for about 12 hours. The police officer has been charged with false imprisonment and aggravated assault, and suspended pending the outcome of the charges. All three have been released on bail to appear in Adelaide Magistrates' Court on a date to be set. The police officer was arrested and charged on Thursday 2 July, but the details of the exorcism allegations were revealed in The Advertiser on Tuesday.

smh

More articles on exorcism here.

Kenyan Witch Burnings

Superstition rears its ugly head.

Villagers, many straight from their farms, and armed with machetes, sticks and axes, are shouting and crowding round in a big group in Kenya's fertile Kisii district.
I can't see clearly what is going on, but heavy smoke is rising from the ground and a horrible stench fills the air.
More people are streaming up the hill, some of them with firewood and maize stalks.
Suddenly an old woman breaks from the crowd, screaming for mercy. Three or four people go after her, beat her and drag her back, pushing her onto - what I can now see - is a raging fire.
I was witnessing a horrific practice which appears to be on the increase in Kenya - the lynching of people accused of being witches.
I personally saw the burning alive of five elderly men and women in Itii village.
I had been visiting relatives in a nearby town, when I heard what was happening. I dashed to the scene, accompanied by a village elder.
He reacted as if what we were watching was quite normal, which was shocking for me.
As a stranger I felt I had no choice but to stand by and watch. My fear was that if I showed any sign of disapproval, or made any false move, the angry mob could turn on me.
Not one person was protesting or trying to stop the killing.
Hours later, the police came and removed the charred bodies.

BBC News

Jordanian Sentenced to 1 year in Prison for Blasphemous poem

Theocratic societies have to keep a pretty firm grasp on the artists in their community, and even the most minor of an aspersion against the state is cause for a incarceration.

CAIRO, June 25, 2009 (ANHRI) — The Jordanian court issued a ruling sentencing poet Islam Samhan, 27-years-old, to one year in prison and fining him 10,000 Jordanian Dinars (14,000 US). He was accused of ridiculing Islam and not registering his publication at the Jordanian department of printing and publishing.

In March 2008, Islam published his collection of poems "Rahaqet Dhel," (Gracefulness of a Shadow). He faced a campaign led by Muslim Brotherhood and the Jordanian Mufti accusing him of blasphemy because of some verses he wrote. The campaign resulted in Samhan being prosecuted and detained for 15 days on October 19, 2008.
...
"It is not at all about blasphemy, but because of the poem " When features are that clear," which described dim-witted intelligence people, who convince Arab rulers that their own people are but a senseless pile of lumber."

Menassat

It doesn't really sound like this poem was really very offensive, yet Islam Samhan will have to serve a year in prison. So sad.

Manifested Glory Ministries Talks About Gay Exorcism and Spirits

Listen to this self-proclaimed "End Times" prophet rant. She lives in a demon haunted world.
The most offensive part of her non-nonsensical rant was equating alcoholism, and drug addiction with homosexuality, claiming that they were caused by evil spirits.

Clergy Sentenced in Exorcism Death of 15-Year-Old

Beating and Crucifying an epileptic is not how to best treat a mental disorder.
If you are member of the Celestial Church of Christ, leave before you get taken in by this insidious cult.

A French Guyana court has sentenced four members of the Celestial Church of Christ on Wednesday for performing an exorcism on an epileptic teen in 2005 that ended in his death. The members were handed down terms of three to 12 years for "wilful violence that caused death" for 15-year-old Roger Bosse.
Bosse was tortured for three days by church members, who slapped him, beat him with reeds and straps and he was attached to a cross for the final two nights before his death.
Bosse's mother, who suffered from mental illness, approached church members at the end of 2004 in order to get treatment for her son, who she considered "possessed by the devil." They decided to exorcise him.
The head of the parish, Maurice Sainte-Pierre, discovered him dead, gagged, and still attached to the cross. The autopsy revealed multiple bruises, a large hematoma over one eye and blows to the head. The coroner concluded that he could have been suffocated.
Sainte-Pierre was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while the others were handed down sentences of 9, 7 and 3 years, including two with suspended sentences.
Their lawyer announced after the verdict that he would appeal the court decision.
The Celestial Church of Christ was founded in Benin in 1947, and claims millions of followers worldwide.

RFI
and StraitsTimes

Germany: Man Kills Daughter for 'Not Following Islamic Customs'

Berlin - A 45-year-old Turkish man has admitted stabbing his 15-year-old daughter to death because she did not follow Islamic customs, German police said on Thursday.
The man, a kebab shop owner in Schweinfurt, southern Germany, stabbed the teen several times with a kitchen knife as she lay sleeping on her grandmother's couch in what police said was a premeditated act.
"As a motive for the terrible crime, the 45-year-old admitted that he had problems with the fact that his daughter did not want to follow the Muslim way," police said in a statement.
"He seemed visibly unaffected by the crime," the statement added.
Germany has been shocked by around 50 "honour killings" since 1996, mainly in the country's large Turkish community.

IOL

The practice of honor killing is becoming more prevalent the world over. As global immigration spreads culture and religion, so too spreads this horrific act. Human rights must be enforced to protect individuals from the intolerant faiths that would use murder in defense of their own religious proclivities.