Atheist News: China Put 800K Muslims in Camps 🧕 Nuns Stole $500K from Catholic School to Gamble 🎰

We discuss the latest news on religion and atheism in the past week 😃

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1. This week, State Department official Scott Busby told senators that China has detained at least 800,000 Muslim minorities in internment camps. Since April 2017 the Chinese authorities have indefinitely detained at least 800,000 and possibly more than 2 million ethnic Khazakhs, and other members of Muslim minorities. Reports suggest that most are not being charged with crimes and their families have little to no information about their whereabouts.

2. Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang stole $500,000 from a Catholic school where they worked so they could gamble in casinos. The nuns have been telling parents that the school was having budget concerns. The auditors have been able to trace in six year's of bank records and the nuns were involved in the personal use of a substantial amount of school funds. Both nuns had retired earlier this year and had expressed remorse. The church and the archdiocese are not pursuing criminal charges.

3. The latest version of "Smart Pakem", an app that allows Muslims in Jakarta, the capital of the largest Muslim country on earth, to report violations of Sharia law such as blasphemy and even heresy has been approved by the google Play Store. Using this app, the users can report people who practice unrecognized religions or unorthodox interpretations of Indonesia's six officially recognized faiths.

4. A French teacher, Peter Vlaming, was fired because he refused to call a transgender freshman with the pronouns "he" and "him." He said that his Christian faith prohibited him from treating the student with respect and dignity. Vlaming was told by the superintendent to call the student by the right pronouns but he refused. The board of the school later released a statement in defense of their action saying that they do not tolerate discrimination in any form.

5. The star of the Golden State Warriors and a two-time MVP, Steph Curry, said on the "Winging It" podcast that he did not believe we ever landed on the moon. He asked, "We ever been to the moon?" The others, in unison, agreed that the answer was no. A NASA spokesman politely invited Curry to check out the Johnson Space Center the next time he is in Houston.

6. A fire early Friday destroyed a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Lacey, a suburb of Olympia. No one was injured in the blaze and no arrests have been made. Three other Kingdom Halls in Thurston were torched, and a fourth Kingdom Hall was hit by gunfire. The sheriff said local Jehovah's Witnesses are "terrified."

7. Florida Bishop Donald J. Sanborn wrote on his blog In Veritate that women who are sexually abused probably did much to cause the assault.

8. Canadian Senate has voted to repeal the country's "blasphemous libel", as part of a bill intended to remove outdated legislation. Dating back to 1892 the crime of "blasphemous libel" was in principle punishable by a prison term up to two years under Section 296 of the Canadian Criminal Code. The law had historically been used to prosecute satire and criticism.

9. A Satanic group in Michigan will erect a haloed goat head statue on the state capitol grounds just four days before Christians celebrate Christmas. Commissioned by the West Michigan Friends of the Satanic Temple, the "Star of Reconciliation" display will replace the "snaketivity" that has gone up in the past. The new statue is filled with rich Satanic symbolism. The display is set to rival a Christian one by State Sen. Rick Jones who promised he would erect a Nativity scene outside the Capitol.

10. John Dowling, a 66 years old English language teacher was stabbed 13 times outside Pôle Universitaire Léonard de Vinci in northwest Paris as he left for lunch. The Pakistani man who brutally stabbed him is a former student, Alli R. He confessed that he held a personal grudge against the Dublin-born lecturer after being kicked out for failing exams last year. CCTV footage shows Mr. Dowling chatting with Ali outside the institution at around noon before the attacker took out a steak knife and plunged it into his throat and chest. Ali claimed to the French police that the lecturer had made fun of Islam during English classes at the university.