The pastor in Kazakhstan who was arrested on a charge of
putting hallucinogens in the Communion wine has finally been freed after eight
months in jail awaiting trial. The court gave him a suspended four-year
sentence for “psychological manipulation” of a 34 year old woman in his
congregation, and ordered him to pay several thousand pounds in damages to her.
The alleged victim claimed no harm had befallen her, and other members of the
congregation supported the claim that the drink was a non-alcoholic beverage
used for Communion, but the victim’s mother had complained (in 2011) that the
church was damaging her daughter’s mental health. The pastor is expected to
appeal; his lawyer said there had been multiple violations of court procedures,
and the church say they have been pressurised by the State on several
occasions.
A candidate for a small party in the forthcoming European
elections decided to quote a book by Winston Churchill about Islam, using a
megaphone in the centre of Winchester. The passage he quoted included the phrases:
“Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in
a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy”; “The fact that in Mohammedan
law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a
child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery”;
and “Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.”
Shortly afterwards, the candidate was arrested by the police.
The law of India now recognises three sexes: men, women and
eunuchs. The latter group, which includes effeminate boys and people born with
indeterminate genitals as well as castrated men, has been officially listed as
disadvantaged which entitles it to jobs and university places under a
government quota scheme.
The US state of New Hampshire has formally repealed a 223
year old law banning adultery. Although the penalties are now much less severe
than when the law was first passed, the main reason for the repeal is that it
discriminated against heterosexuals, because a court ruled in 2003 than
homosexual trysts were not covered by the law.
In technology news, a Chinese company has used giant 3D
printers to make ten full-sized single-storey houses in one day. The houses
were built of successive layers of cement and construction waste, and cost less
than $5,000 each to produce.
And finally, a 9 year old boy who was kidnapped from his
driveway in Atlanta, Georgia, escaped by singing the same gospel song over and
over again until the kidnapper threw him out of the car. Willie Myrick said as
he sang “Every Praise” during the three hour drive, the kidnapper kept cursing
him and telling him to shut up before finally opening the car door and ejecting
him. The author of the song heard the story and flew from New York City to meet
Willie; they hugged and then sang the song together to a crowded church.
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