American Buddhist Net

DUBLIN – It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.

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By John Cooney
Saturday March 13 2010

A depressing week for Pope Benedict dramatically escalated last night into an unprecedented papal crisis when he was directly implicated in a cover-up of a German paedophile priest when he was Cardinal Archbishop of Munich 30 years ago.

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Catholic church investigates 170 allegations in Germany; justice minister cites Vatican 'wall of silence' set up by Benedict

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...But, to focus on sex and spirituality, ever since Osho Rajneesh's extraordinary success in teaching that sex could be transcended only through experience and not through its renunciation, many "swamis" appear to have rampantly and readily misunderstood what he said. Rajneesh's take on sex - he wrote the controversial book Sambhog se Samadhi (From Sex to Superconsciousness) - was backed by a cogently argued philosophy.

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In the wake of the latest sex abuse claims in the Catholic Church in Germany, a number of senior clergy have called for a debate on the issue of celibacy in the priesthood.

The Archbishop of Vienna called for a thorough examination of the link between celibacy and child sex abuse by priests and the Archbishop of Salzburg asked whether it was an appropriate way of life for priests today.

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Celibacy vow

A fairly large part of Indonesia's Aceh society feels ill-at-ease with the presence of transvestites. Religious circles even link them to the fable of Sodom and Gomorrah, a biblical story about the destruction of the towns because of their moral decadence, as indicated, among other things, by the emergence of transvestites, homosexuals and lesbians.

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Found this on a blog which had posted it for another reason. I want to step way back from current politics or religion for a moment. I am not posting this for political or religious reasons and not because of its explicit meaning, but rather because the video seems so revealing to me about the depth of human violence and passion, be they religious or otherwise. The speaker - girl or young woman - seems to me to be like a Jungian archetype of tribal values, group values. How many times in history have crowds been roused by a young face like this speaking so passionately? ABN

In a bizarre ritual, large number of devotees visit a temple in Bangalore's Chitradurga district and smoke cannabis during an annual festival as an expression of their devotion to the deity here.

The temple's main deity Nayakana Hatti Tipperudraswami is said to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva.

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KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN religious officials in the northern state of Kelantan are investigating two cases of child marriage involving girls under the age of 12, according to reports on Friday.

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Girl, 10, forced to marry

In what is being seen as a rather interesting twist in the Nityananda- Ranjitha sex scam, a statement has been reportedly given by Paramahamsa Nityananda. The guru who has been in the hiding has mentioned that soon he would be coming out into the open.

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Another Swami Nityananda ashram attacked

...The West Covina Buddhist Temple is offering a lecture series called "Buddhism and Christianity" by Baptist Missionary Dickson Yagi at 7 p.m. Tuesday [March 16].

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BANDUNG: An Indonesian court jailed six people under the country’s anti-pornography law for performing an erotic dance at a bar in the early hours of New Year’s Day, a prosecutor said Friday.

The four female dancers, the show promoter and bar manager received a two and half months each for a performance in Bandung, West Java, which violated a controversial anti-pornography law that came into effect in October 2008.

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Henry Judy, the pastor of Life Point Church in Bonita Springs, is being accused by parishioners of bilking them out of $60,000.

Judy could not be reached for comment, but the Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

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A cardinal seen as a future candidate for the papacy has broken a Vatican taboo by raising the possibility that priestly celibacy is among the causes of the sex abuse scandal sweeping the Roman Catholic Church.

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Many Catholic priests and religious have abused children in their care. But is the church's record worse than the world's?

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Seoul - South Korea's largest Buddhist order said Thursday it had asked the country's football governing body to stop Christian players from making prayer gestures after scoring a goal.

The Jogye Order has urged the Korea Football Association (KFA) to ban the practice especially during nationally televised games, an official of the order said.

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Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's High Court on Thursday granted a Hindu woman custody of her child after a bitter court battle with her estranged Muslim husband, who converted their children to Islam and then took possession of them.

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JOS, Nigeria (AP) - Nearly 3,000 people have fled to a neighboring state after hundreds were slaughtered in several mostly Christian villages over the weekend, aid officials said Thursday.

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The Devil is lurking in the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican's chief exorcist claimed on Wednesday.

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An Ames man was arrested for second-degree burglary after allegedly entering the First Christian Church while it was closed and using electronic equipment at the church to watch pornography in the church’s basement.

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A Brooklyn rabbi faces decades behind bars - and sentencing on the eve of Passover - after a jury quickly convicted him of sexually assaulting a teenage boy.

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Minorities in Madhya Pradesh have criticised plans to introduce the Bhagvad Gita in state-run schools, saying the scriptures of other religions should also be part of the syllabus, even as a section of Muslim leaders sees nothing wrong with it.

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Two glass vials purportedly containing the ghosts of two dead people sold for 2,830 New Zealand dollars (1,983 US dollars) at an auction.

The "ghosts" were put up for sale by Avie Woodbury from the southern city of Christchurch.

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Home-school mom Susan Mule wishes she hadn't taken a friend's advice and tried a textbook from a popular Christian publisher for her 10-year-old's biology lessons.

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Freedom of speech and expression, as well as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness must include the right to teach your beliefs and values to your children. These and more reasons can be given for not interfering in how parents educate their children. ABN

DOGO NAHAWA, Nigeria— The attackers came at night and surrounded this small farming village, firing shots in the air to scare residents from their homes. Men, women and children were hacked with machetes as they rushed out. Several houses were set on fire with residents still inside.

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MANILA (AFP) – Philippine Catholic bishops, already waging a bitter battle with the government over birth control, received an unwelcome gift Monday when female activists delivered them two baskets of condoms.

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GHAZIABAD, Uttar Pradesh - His silk robes, ornate turbans and high-end imported sedans belie his status as "god-man", a Hindu ascetic who guides people in their spiritual quest. In fact, the personalized carriage that chugs around a specially laid railway track in his ashram, as well as his sprawling farms, dairies, factories, bakeries, schools and floating, revolving restaurant, all point to a life of luxury.

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NEW YORK — A task force on intermarriage for the largest branch of American Judaism says the movement should create blessings marking major life events for interfaith couples.

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An Indian spiritual centre in Kuala Lumpur has been closed after it was revealed that ashram's spiritual guru Swami Paramahamsa Nithyananda was allegedly involved in a sex scandal.

The centre's spokesman claimed that the ashram has ceased operations until "the truth is revealed".

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MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A Mexican lawyer said Monday he has resigned from handling the case of a woman and her sons who claim the males were sexually abused as boys by the founder of a conservative Roman Catholic religious order.

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