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Australian TV reports that the national Fair Work Ombudsman is alleging the Church of Scientology is guilty of false imprisonment of members and forced labor violating Australian slavery laws. The Ombudsman’s preliminary report found some Scientology workers paid as little as $10 a week by the church — forcing them to rely on government assistance —…

A Canadian judge, noting that a majority of Canadians support  unrestricted abortion, has freed a woman who strangled her newborn son. Katrina Effert of Wetaskiwin, Alberta gave birth secretly in her parents’ downstairs bathroom, then killed the boy and threw his body over a fence.  She was 19 at the time. She told the court that she was…

A shari’ah court based on Islamic law has been established for Muslims in Antwerp, Belgium, but has the same legal status as “Judge Judy” on American TV, according to officials. The Muslim court will handle marriage disputes and inheritance issues if requested by the parties involved in lieu of a civil court hearing. Both parties must agree…

South Carolina mega-church pastor Perry Noble had a hard-hitting message on the seriousness of sexual immorality in the church. For those who take sexual sins lightly, he made it clear to them: “You’re not saved,” according to Audrey Barrick reporting for the news site Christian Post. Noble tackled adultery, “friends with benefits,” pornography and homosexuality as…

Watching highly paced cartoons such as SpongeBob SquarePants hinders pre-schoolers’ abstract thinking, short-term memory and impulse control, according to the University of Virginia. “He may be one of the longest-running, best-loved cartoons in Nickelodeon history,” writes Courtney Hutchison for ABC News, “but SpongeBob SquarePants is getting no love from child psychologists.” According to research published…

While the United States was observing the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Japan on Sunday was marking the six-month anniversary of the March earthquake and tsunami that devasted a large portion of the island nation. The Japanese observed the anniversary with prayer services, bell ringing and chanting at 2:46 p.m., the time when the…

Dr. Rowan Williams is planning to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury by the end of next year – eight years early, London’s Daily Mail newspaper reported Monday. Rumors have been circulating that the 61-year-old Archbishop, who could remain in office until he is 70, feels the ten years he has served enough in such a demanding job —…

There on the game tapes, it’s unmistakable — Texas Aggie Trent Hunter intercepts the ball, but loses his helmet. Southern Methodist center Blake McJunkin takes him down — but deliberately protects Hunter’s head as SMU teammate Kelly Turner joins the fray. “Even in the nasty, brutal game of football, sportsmanship is alive and well,” marveled…

Prayer, scripture-reading and talk of the Almighty resounded as Americans stood together on the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on America. At the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania, a Navy tenor’s voice wafted clear the words of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”  in the morning stillness: “In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was…

The dedication of a 9/11 memorial in a grassy field near Shanksville, Pa., Saturday gave former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton a chance to appeal for unity. Neither “specifically mentioned the fractured state of relations in Washington,” observed Katherine Q. Seelye in the New York Times. “But their sharing of a stage and their comments…
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