Atheist Republic News - Feb 10th, 2018

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Ron MiscavigeEscape from Scientology

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Utah lawmakers tried passing a bill that would make recording people illegal without alerting all parties involved. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who did not want church leaders to be recorded secretly, heavily supported this bill. It became obvious very quickly that the people of Utah did not support it, as calls, emails, and texts poured into Legislator’s offices strongly opposing the bill. Lawmakers are still debating sending through a revised version.

Meanwhile in Chile, outrage has broken out over the Pope defending Bishop Barros. Barros has been accused of covering up sex abuse committed by cleric Fernando Karadima in the 80’s. A man abused by Karadima, Juan Carols Cruz, wrote the Pope a letter detailing the abuse he faced while Barros watched. The Pope said that these allegations were slander and he’d continue to see them as such until proof was provided. While the Pope did apologize for possibly hurting people’s feelings, he still insisted there was no evidence to support any allegations made against Barros. With so much pressure being placed on him for the way he made the victims feel, he agreed to send Archbishop Charles Scicluna to Chili. Scicluna is the Vatican’s “top expert” on sexual abuse and will investigate claims made against Barros.

People may think that their pilgrimage to Mecca should be safe and memorable, but it may not be safe for women carrying out tawaf around the Kabba. Many women are speaking out about sexual harassment and inappropriate touching they face. While women are scared that they won’t be taken seriously or will hurt religious sentiments, they bravely tell of their experiences on social media.

Humanists UK, formally known as the British Humanist Association, is calling for a ban on “conversion therapy” throughout the UK. The former UK Minister for Women and Equalities asked for a ban on such pseudoscientific practices, and Humanists UK believe the current government needs to step up and do something to end it.

A 24 year old San Diego woman is filing a law suit against her pastor for promising to heal her PTSD through “sex therapy”, which did not work. The pastor is counter suing her for making graphic sexual communications public, allegedly for revenge, after he ended the relationship. The pastor preached at Mid-City Church of Nazarene at the time with his wife.

Mostly we only hear of people who leave religion, or people who have religion, but what about the people who no longer believe and stay in their church? In a new study published by Society and Mental Health, it is suggested that sticking with religion when you have doubts can lead to greater depressive symptoms than others may experience. There were four groups considered: those who had no doubts of leaving the church, church members with doubts, people never affiliated with church, and people who left church. There has been criticism over the limitations on the study.

In a widely criticized move, Poland signed a law which would make it illegal to accuse Poland of complicity in Nazi crimes while they were occupied by the Third German Reich. The law states that "whoever accuses, publicly and against the facts, the Polish nation, or the Polish state, of being responsible or complicit in the Nazi crimes committed by the Third German Reich… shall be subject to a fine or a penalty of imprisonment of up to three years". It makes exceptions for “artistic or scientific activities”.

After 29 people have been arrested in Iran over protesting the mandatory hijab law, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani announced that almost half of the country opposed mandatory head coverings for women and believed the government should not be dictating what women should wear. The information was taken from a three-year-old report, and has brought both hope and doubt of the law changing.

Generation Z is the generation of people born between 1999-2015, and is being called the first “post-Christian” generation. Atheists in this generation are doubled compared to Generation X. 37% of Generation Z says there is no certainty that a god exists, and the religious communities are alarmed over these statistics.

With so much controversy surrounding Scientology right now and its allegations of abuse within its ranks, people were outraged that NBC aired their commercial during the Super Bowl. The Church of Scientology has now aired commercials during the game for 6 consecutive years. They have denied being a cult, being abusive towards members, and have made bold claims against people speaking out against them.