Religion

The Windy City Times reports: A Far South Side grade school will not co-host a haunted house that contained, among other depictions, a representation of the June 2016 shootings at the Pulse nightclub, according to CPS officials. Fernwood Elementary School, 10041 S. Union Ave., was advertised by promoters as the location of a haunted house entitled The Room: A Journey …

The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Just as court staff prepared to draw names of retired judges to hear suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore’s appeal of his ethics convictions last month, Philip Jauregui, an attorney for Moore, introduced a motion to continue the lottery. The Alabama Supreme Court recused itself from hearing Moore’s appeal earlier this week. But with Moore looking on …

Brian Tashman reports at Right Wing Watch: Last weekend, televangelist Pat Robertson hosted a rally for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump at his Regent University, where he emphatically placed his bets on Trump winning the election. On his “The 700 Club” program today, Robertson explained that the polls showing Trump trailing Hillary Clinton have been “skewed.” “These polls have been …

NJ.com reports: A Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey has been arrested on child pornography charges. Kevin Gugliotta, 54, of Mahwah allegedly uploaded illicit images from a computer in his vacation home in Lehigh Township, Pa. on July 9, the Wayne County District Attorney said in a news release on Wednesday. Gugliotta worked at Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church in …

Brian Tashman reports at Right Wing Watch: One of Bakker’s guests, End Times author John Shorey, said that President Obama wants to become “the head of the world,” while nefarious elites are manufacturing international crises in order to drive up support for globalism. Such moves, he said, will fulfill biblical prophecies about the creation of a one-world government and the …

The alarm sounds much like a high-pitched air raid siren. Gothamist reports: Long-time Brooklynites may be familiar with the siren noises that resound on Friday evenings in neighborhoods across the borough. This noise, which signals the beginning of Shabbat, gives observant Jews a heads up that it’s time to head home before sundown. The sirens are especially common in neighborhoods …

Kyle Mantyla reports at Right Wing Watch: Last weekend, Religious Right activist and pseudo-historian David Barton spoke at Harvest New Beginnings church in Illinois, where he absurdly claimed that for the first 200 years of the United States’ existence, the country regularly had 100 percent voter turnout. Barton was making his standard case that Christians have a responsibility to vote …

The Guardian reports: Catholics are forbidden from keeping the ashes of cremated loved ones at home, scattering them, dividing them between family members or turning them into mementoes, the Vatican has ruled. Ashes must be stored in a sacred place, such as a cemetery, according to instructions disclosed at a press conference in Rome on Tuesday. Acknowledging that an increasing …

Just in from Monica Cole: 1MM is joining countless churches, organizations, and individuals in calling for a national day of prayer and fasting. It is time that we, as Christians, recognize our need to repent of our own wickedness and cry out to the Lord for forgiveness – and that He might heal our broken land (2 Chronicles 7:14). We …

Kyle Mantyla reports at Right Wing Watch: On recent episodes of his “Life Today” program, televangelist James Robison has been airing portions of a gathering that he hosted featuring dozens of Religious Right pastors and activists urging conservative Christians to vote in the upcoming election. Robison has addressed Donald Trump campaign events in the past and has vocally supported the …

Nutjob evangelist Jack Chick, creator of the vicious (and often laughable) Chick Tracts, has died at the age of 92 according to his company’s Facebook page. From his Wikipedia entry: Many of Chick’s views were controversial, as he accused Roman Catholics, Freemasons, Muslims, Jews, and many other groups of murder and conspiracies, while Chick maintained his views were simply politically …

Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue argues that rising STD rates are proof that sex education and STD prevention efforts are a waste of time. Only Jesus can stop the clap. He writes: Religious beliefs and practices have proven to be a better deterrent to STDs than education and technology. Yet we are doing nothing to husband the resources of faith …

Kyle Mantyla reports at Right Wing Watch: The televangelist recounted meeting Trump for the first time years ago while attending an Evander Holyfield fight. At the time, Trump was facing financial difficulties, but assured Robertson that he would recover … and he did, which prompted Robertson to send a warning to the professional bookies in Las Vegas. “I want to …

Via Salon: Dinesh D’Souza isn’t just a convicted felon and adulterer. The filmmaker, right-wing pundit, defender of Donald Trump’s right to access beauty pageant contestants’ dressing rooms, and world’s most racist amateur comedian is also generous in his praise toward those who are in his estimation great judges of character — in babies. And just when you thought this election …

Via press release from hate group leader Tony Perkins: It’s hard enough to win a government contract. Now imagine that your beliefs are a disqualifying factor! In Louisiana, that’s exactly the hostile environment Governor John Bel Edwards (D) was trying to create when he issued an executive order excluding conservatives from state partnerships. Like President Obama, Governor Edwards thinks there …

Last week the Alabama Supreme Court fired Roy Moore’s three law clerks and told him to clean out his office and turn in his keys. Here’s his response via Liberty Counsel press release: Chief Justice Roy Moore filed a Motion to Countermand in response to Justice Lyn Stuart’s two letters sent last week stating he needs to clean out his …

Rex Wockner recaps today’s report from El Universal: The National Front for the Family will go to Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies Tuesday to deliver more than half a million signatures opposing President Enrique Peña Nieto’s initiatives on marriage equality and on inclusion of what opponents call “the ideology of gender” in school teaching. The announcement came from the Archdiocese of …

Via press release from Christian Newswire: In God We Trust. The message is simple, powerful, and universal, crossing racial, political and socio-economic lines. The television special In God We Trust declares it is time for Christians to pray, fast, and then to vote for the candidates of their choice in the upcoming election. Facing the stark reality that over 27 …

Via press release: Before Election Day, Family Research Council Action (FRC Action), announced that it plans to finish distributing nearly 4 million voter guides targeting supporters, churches, activist groups, and state/local organizations. The voter guide outlines how the candidates stand on pivotal issues like Supreme Court nominations, religious liberty, Obamacare, marriage, abortion, taxes, education, the military, and free speech. A …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: Opponents of a newly enacted Massachusetts law that prohibits anti-trans discrimination in public accommodations have obtained enough signatures to place the measure on the ballot in 2018, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin certified Tuesday. Brian McNaff, a Galvin spokesperson, affirmed for the Washington Blade Wednesday opponents of the law submitted 34,231 …