Bishop Pleads Guilty To Fraud Charges

Kevin Thomas, 51, plead guilty to five felonies for communications fraud, theft and unlawful activity, as well as three misdemeanors for theft and vehicle burglary. Thomas originally faced 20 charges spread across three separate cases, but those charges were reduced as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.

Thomas's largest group of charges stemmed from allegations that, among other things, he used his one-time position as an LDS bishop to con an elderly man out of his life savings. According to a police affidavit, Thomas used his leadership position in and knowledge of the LDS Church to earn the man's friendship. The man reportedly had saved more than $400,000 throughout the course of his life, and he turned it over to Thomas believing it was secured with property and promissory notes.

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Thomas made token payments to the man to convince him that he was making a great return on his investment, the affidavit reveals. However, the payments eventually stopped and the man learned of his losses.

Fertility Treatments Get Indiana Teacher Fired

In a federal lawsuit filed in a Fort Wayne, Ind., teacher Emily Herx claimed that she was fired and told by a senior church official that her attempt to become pregnant through in-vitro fertilization made her a "grave, immoral sinner."

Priest Arrested For Drug Trafficking

The Orthodox Christian Church of Cyprus said Friday that it is "deeply distressed" over the arrest of a parish priest on suspicion of trafficking drugs to the island from abroad.

Police arrested 38-year-old Father Panayiotis Triantafyllou at Cyprus' main Larnaca airport late Wednesday after discovering three kilograms of marijuana in his luggage. Triantafyllou had arrived on a flight from Greece.

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Local media reports said the priest told the court he was only transporting the drugs for others and that he needed the money because of financial problems he was having. He also told the court that he was remorseful and offered to assist police in their investigation.

Parents Seek Prayer Instead Of Medical Treatment

After 16-year-old Austin Sprout lost his life when his parents, Brandi and Russel Bellew, opted for prayer instead of medical treatment, their remaining six children are now wards of the state. Brian Sprout, Austin Sprout's father and Brandi Bellew's first husband, died in 2007 of sepsis after failing to seek medical treatment for a leg injury.

Blasphemy Charges For Revealing Secret Behind "Miracle"

Sanal Edamaruku, an Indian skeptic, went to Mumbai and revealed that a "miraculous" weeping cross was really just a leaky drain. The local Catholic Church demanded that he retract his statements, and when he refused, they had him arrested for blasphemy.
On 10th March, Sanal Edamaruku, President of the Rationalist International, flew to Mumbai. The TV channel TV-9 had invited him to investigate a “miracle” that caused local excitement. He went with the TV team to Irla in Vile Parle to inspect the crucifix standing there in front of the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni. This crucifix had become the centre of attraction for an ever growing crowd of believers coming from far and wide. The news of the miracle spread like wild fire. For some days, there were little droplets of water trickling from Jesus’ feet. Hundreds of people came every day to pray and collect some of the “holy water” in bottles and vessels. Sanal Edamaruku identified the source of the water (a drainage near a washing room) and the mechanism how it reached Jesus feet (capillary action).

The local church leaders, present during his investigation, appeared to be displeased. Some hours later, in a live program on TV-9, Sanal explained his findings and accused the concerned Catholic Church officials of miracle mongering, as they were beating the big drum for the drippling Jesus statue with aggressive PR measures and by distributing photographs certifying the “miracle”. A heated debate began, in which the five church people, among them Fr. Augustine Palett, the priest of Our Lady of Velankanni church, and representatives of the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) demanded that Sanal apologize. But Sanal refused and argued against them.

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When they saw Sanal refused to bow to their demands, they threatened to file a blasphemy case against him. And they did. Yesterday (10th April,2012) Sanal received a phone call from a Police official of Juhu Police Station in Mumbai directing him to come to the said police station to face the charges and get arrested.

Advocate Group Protests Former Atlanta Priest

Father Robert Poandl is a longtime Catholic Priest - but our friend Judy Jones says he's also a child predator.

Human Empanadas

SAO PAULO -- Police have arrested three people for allegedly killing at least two women, eating parts of their bodies and using their flesh to make stuffed pastries that they sold to neighbors. The three suspects – a man, his wife and his mistress – belonged to a sect that preached "the purification of the world and the reduction of its population".

Fired For Out-Of-Wedlock Pregnancy

A spokesman for the private school where the woman formerly taught says the woman violated a morals clause.

Tennessee’s Anti-Science Bill Becomes Law

After the US Supreme Court’s 1987 decision forbidding the teaching of creationism in science classes, those who objected to the teaching of evolution modified their ideas slightly. They relabeled these ideas “Intelligent Design.” In the wake of that tactic’s defeat in the courts, the opponents of science education retooled again.

This time, they targeted a number of state legislatures with two categories of bills that shared nearly identical wording. This tactic saw success in Louisiana, although a number of similar bills were considered in other states. They’ve now achieved their second success — the passage of a law in Tennessee.

The state’s governor, saying the bill doesn’t “bring clarity,” has decided not to sign it. But he’s decided not to veto it either, which will allow it to become law.

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Next up for discussion - Stork Theory vs Sexual Reproduction?