Atheist News Sep 8 2018: Bishop Groped Ariana Grande, Hilton Kicks Out Ex-Muslims

Armin discusses the latest news on religion and atheism in the past week 😃

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During the funeral of Aretha Franklin, Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, a pastor of the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, is caught in a video groping Ariana Grande's breast. He apologized and said that it was not his intention to touch her and that he was just being too "friendly."

A Christian College in Missouri, the College of the Ozarks, has a handbook that says students who support LGBTQ are subject to "disciplinary action". Just last year, the school announced that students are forced to stand for the National Anthem. After Nike's ad of Colin Kaepernick, the school decides that they will no longer be using any product of Nike. Their reason was that they believe Nike is promoting division and disrespect towards the US.

Pope Francis thinks the best response to the allegations of child sex abuse in the church is prayer and silence. His answer to sexual abuse victims is to be silent while they are begging for change.

“SCIENCE falsely so called”, a movie that debunks evolution, will be out later this month. In the official trailer, one preacher says that Charles Darwin is a racist. Creationist Kent Hovind is also in the movie.

Karen Smith, a 60 year old middle school teacher in Colorado, assaulted a student last February. The teacher was charged with child abuse with injury and also a third-degree assault as she forced a student who refused to stand. She accepted a plea deal last week and was sentenced to an 18-month deferred sentence.

Rev. Robert DeLand, a Catholic priest, was arrested for abusing young males sexually. He said one of the victims tried to seduce him. He was sentenced to a year in jail for his crimes, a five-year probation term, and will be registered as a sex offender.

Women are not to get a divorce under any circumstances even physical abuse. That is an advice to women in abusive relationships from the Watchtower, a monthly magazine by the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Two women who were convicted of sexual relations between women were canned six times in Malaysia. A Muslim cleric says that it will invite Allah's blessings to the state and its people. He added that there should be a demand of the implementation of Shariah caning in civil cases.

During a Fast and Testimony meeting at a Mormon church, McKenna Denson, shared her testimony that she was raped in the center’s basement by the man who ran the Mormon Church's main Missionary Training Center, Joseph L. Bishop, in 1984. Mckenna claimed that the Church knows of Bishop’s assault towards women but did nothing. Bishop confessed to molesting another woman. Church leaders removed McKenna from the microphone.

Members of Ex-Muslims of North America shared their testimonies of leaving the faith during the annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America that was held in Houston, Texas. The EXMNA members wore shirts that said “I’m an Ex-Muslim, Ask Me Why” and “God Love is Greatest.” As few members went to a Starbucks at a nearby Hilton, they were kicked out by hotel security. The security man did not know why they needed to go. He just knew they had to get off the property as ordered by the Hilton.