Things they’d have difficulty believing in Salt Lake City VIII

The week in fundie . . .

1. In that jewel of civilisation known as Saudi Arabia, an illiterate woman who had a fingerprint-signed confession (which she couldn’t read) beaten out of her, has been sentenced to death by beheading. For witchcraft. (via Pharyngula)
2. In Tonga, an elderly man accused of practising witchcraft has been hacked to death with bush knives. (News24)
3. In KwaZulu-Natal, a seven-year-old boy was beheaded and his testicles removed, in what police suspect is a “muti killing” (where body parts are extracted for medicinal/witchcraft purposes). (News24)
4. The Catholic Church in Poland is planning the construction of an “exorcism center,” after priests at the Institute for Studies on the Family “realized they needed an exorcist on staff after they encountered an increase in people suffering from evil.” (Sort of a “theo-epidemiology,” if you will. The article neglects to describe how exactly “evil” is measured.) (Catholic News Agency)
5. In Rwanda, an 84-year-old Hutu man baptised himself as a Christian after a Hutu pastor refused to lay hands on him, accusing the man of betraying his tribe because of the role he played protecting Tutsis during the 1994 genocide. (via Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion)
6. In Loudon, Virginia, a book called “And Tango Makes Three” has been removed from circulation in the county’s public elementary libraries. What’s the book about? It’s based on the true story of “two male penguins who took turns sitting on an orphaned egg at the Central Park Zoo. In the story, the penguins, Roy and Silo, start their family when the chick, Tango, is hatched.” In 2006, it topped the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books, given parents’ legitimate fear that if their kids read it, they will catch TEH GAY. (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
7. AFP reports on entrenched fundyism in the US military.
8. High-ranking members of the Exclusive Brethren, whose members are not allowed to vote in Australian elections, have been granted access to areas of Parliament House not open to the public, as a result of sponsorship by Coalition MPs including the Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson. (Sydney Morning Herald)
9. Church of Scientology: “Help! Help! I’m being oppressed!” (Santa Barbara Independent)
10. Christian apologists urge their sheep followers to “step up” their response to “Militant Atheists” (TM). The problem, argues one apologist, is that “many Christians are raised to believe in doctrine but are not adequately taught on why their faith is true or how to support their faith with evidence.” Apparently there exists “data that supports the good news as true.” Yes. Of course there does. Now it’s just a matter of remembering where they put it. Maybe it’s fallen behind the sofa. (Christianpost)