All Posts Tagged as 'Religion'

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a quasi-independent agency of the federal government, is suing grocery chain Kroger, alleging that two employees were fired because they refused to wear aprons bearing a rainbow heart.

“The women believed the emblem endorsed LGBTQ values and that wearing it would violate their religious beliefs,” says an EEOC press release. The suit alleges the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans religious discrimination in employment.

The two, Brenda Lawson and Trudy Rickerd, worked at a Kroger store in Conway, Ark., near Little Rock. They have “sincerely held religious beliefs that homosexuality is a sin,” according to the EEOC complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

'When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... for 400 years?' told TMZ then. 'That sounds like a choice. We're mentally imprisoned.'

He later apologized for the remarks but appeared to take it back again Tuesday as he continued by asking for 'an army of angels to cover me while I pull this sword out of the stone'.

'I need everyone's prayers ... I promise we will be free and own our masters but we must be faithful to God this time,' West added.

'No more killing each other. No more threatening to take each other's girls and wives ... let's show the world how great we truly are. We are God's chosen people.

Netflix’s “Cuties” may be receiving a torrent of backlash out of North America, but France’s film industry is standing in support of Maimouna Doucouré’s feature debut. On Tuesday, the country’s authors, directors and producers guild, La Société civile des Auteurs Réalisateurs et Producteurs, known as ARP, said calls for the film’s boycott are a “grave attack on freedom of creation” carried on by the “most conservative of Americans.”

A campaign waged against Netflix over “Cuties” and the film’s sexualized portrayal of children produced a surge in U.S. subscription cancellations over the weekend, according to research company YipitData, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations out of Washington, D.C., is the latest org to call on the streaming giant to pull the film due to, it claims, a stereotypical portrayal of Muslims.

In France, the film was released on Aug. 19 without any restrictions and was considered suitable for all audiences. It triggered some debate, but not any backlash. We received unanimous praise in the local press, from L’Humanité to Le Figaro, Telerama and Le Monde. We want people to watch the film and realize it’s about many issues: It’s about being Black and living in France, in a society dominated by white people; it’s about being a woman; it’s about the identity conflict that a child can feel between a traditional, conservative upbringing and everyday life at school. Twerking is a small part of the movie. (The film is rated TV MA — Mature Audiences by Netflix in the U.S.).

Let’s imagine we were giving an award for the worst social problem in the world today. Do you have any nominations?

Did I hear someone say international conflict? Racial prejudice maybe? Environmental destruction anyone? Millions of homeless refugees? Exploitation of women? Turns out there’s one problem that connects all of those, and it’s one you hardly ever hear politicians talk about.

Overpopulation may not be root of all evil, but it is indeed at the root of many of the world’s other miseries.

Just do the math. As a minimum, every additional person needs a certain quantity of food to eat and clean water to drink. Extra people could, in theory, live without clothes on their backs or roofs over their heads, but most of us would not wish for a world with more people, if they had to live homeless and naked against the elements. Beyond basic needs for food, water, and shelter, more people need more energy -- to light their homes and cook their food, and if that level is reached, they’ll be in the market for still more -- to power their refrigerators and washing machines. At moderate levels of economic development, people start to desire cell phones, big screen televisions, and cars to drive. And at the highest levels, they want second homes and vacations in far-away destinations, which they reach by flying on gas-guzzling airplanes.

One solution is to simply open our borders, to allow more of the world’s desperate people to come to the United States, England, the Netherlands, and Germany. That is the case Samantha Power made in her painful stories of the desperate people she encountered as a journalist and later as U.N. ambassador, which triggered the earlier open letter. The statistics seem to indicate that most immigrants are not criminals or terrorists, but are, compared to those who grow up in first world countries, actually more eager to work long and hard hours. Cafaro acknowledges the obvious -- that the opportunities in a first world country are substantially greater than those in a third world country. And if you are rich or middle class American, there are benefits from immigrants – cheaper labor and better bottom-lines on stock dividends (as large corporations have used the availability of cheaper immigrant labor to break unions, and drastically cut salaries and benefits for their employees). But Cafaro notes that those economic benefits to middle and upper-class Americans translate into severe costs for the poorest Americans. Middle-class people are generally out of touch with how those economic benefits to them translate into the hefty costs associated with unemployment or underemployment among African-Americans, poor whites, and native Hispanics. Many of these less fortunate groups have lost the union jobs that permitted their parents to live reasonably comfortable lives. This in turn leads to loss of health care benefits, and many other unpleasant downstream consequences.

The LGBT+ community in the Cayman Islands is on high alert after leaked messages revealed a Christian group threatening to “hang one or two” gay people.

The “disturbing and dangerous” messages, first reported by the Cayman Compass, were anonymously leaked by a member of a Christian WhatsApp group.

In one, a member suggests “maybe hang one or two [gay people] in a loving way” as a warning to others.

Another message suggested implementing teachings from the Quran to criminalise homosexuality, reading: “If this was a Muslim country, they’d be [thrown] out by the thousands.”

Candace Cameron Bure has addressed the heavy criticism she received after posting what some fans deemed an “inappropriate” photo of herself with husband, Valeri Bure.

The offending image showed Val, 46, resting his hand on the 44-year-old “Fuller House” star’s breast, apparently offending her more conservative supporters who chose to call her out for the snap. Candace eventually deleted the photo from her Instagram page, venting her frustration over being judged for being affectionate with her husband of over two decades. She later re-uploaded the image to her Instagram Stories.

A Christian school in Texas has expelled a student for coming out as gay, and the school principal is defending his decision saying that Jesus wanted him to expel the student.

Devin Bryant, 17, has attended the Covenant Christian Academy in Dallas since he was in kindergarten, but last month his mother Consolata got a call from the new headmaster, Tony Jeffrey, telling her that Devin won’t be allowed to attend the school for his senior year because he’s gay.

A Texas father — one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives — wanted for the slayings of his two teen daughters was busted after more than 12 years on the run, the federal law enforcement agency announced.

The teens were found shot multiple times in a cab outside an Irving motel after one of them called 911, saying she was dying, authorities said.

“Help,” the younger sister could be heard crying on a 911 recording. “I’m dying. Oh my God. Stop it.”

Relatives at the time told cops that Yaser threatened “bodily harm” against Sarah for going on a date with a non-Muslim.

A New Jersey Catholic high school teacher faces charges after allegedly having sex with a male student from the school when he was 17.

Bridget Sipera, 36, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is accused of initiating a sexual relationship with a 'recent graduate' of Camden Catholic High School - where she taught literature - in January 2019 that lasted 18 months.

The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said that the unnamed boy told local police about the relationship on August 6, which led to Sipera's arrest on multiple charges including second degree sexual assault on August 26.

Authorities said the sexual relationship began when the boy was in one of Sipera's classes and ended in March.

Loved ones of the victim, who wished to remain anonymous, told IOL how he was walking along Church Street in the Langa township on Saturday evening (22 August), some seven miles from the city, when he was approached by a man, asking if he could grab a smoke.

He complied, the mother claimed, and the two walked along the street before...

The mother said that at around 11pm, her son arrived home in tears, waking up her grandchildren. Shaking, he told the family what happened to him earlier that evening and hasn’t slept for days since, she said.

The 21-year-old YouTuber, real name Anthony Quintal, found internet fame as a sassy, swear-y, proudly gay teenager, but his latest video was in stark contrast to his previous persona.

Lohanthony posted a video titled “Jesus delivers – surviving sexuality” on Friday, 21 August, in which he discussed “sexuality and [his] call to Christian celibacy”.

He revealed in the video that that he had struggled with alcohol and drug dependency but was now sober, and that he had been sexually abused as a young child by an “older boy”.

He added: “It’s no coincidence that through pursuing my same-sex attraction, I was also addicted to alcohol, I was also addicted to weed, I was also trying hallucinogenics, I was also addicted to money, I was addicted to views, I was addicted to attention.”

Pastor John Gray is in hot water again after another woman alleging to be his mistress has come forward with shocking testimony about her relationship with the former OWN reality star. The woman in question has video evidence she says if of Pastor Gray complaining about his wife’s shortcomings and more.

News of Pastor Gray’s infidelity first hit the net in 2018. The internet gasped when he gifted his wife, Aventer, a Lamborghini. Rumors about Pastor Gray purchasing the luxury car for his wife because of his cheating ran rampant.

I married a woman two sizes too big. I have to grow into Aventer. She’s a coat. I still can’t fit her. She’s bigger than me and she’s had to cover me while I grow up. I gotta grow into her. She’s a covering, not a lid. Because if a man marries a lid she’ll stop your dream. But if you marrying a covering, she’ll push you to your destiny. Let me tell you something, my wife has endured more pain birthing me than both of our children. She has sacrificed these last eight years, uncovering the painful areas of my manhood and covering the areas that could have exposed me.

A woman says she and Gray were in communication for several months. During that time, she claims the two engaged in conversations sexual in nature and that he went out of his way to try and visit her, including sending her cash payments and inviting her on trips to Cabo during to the pandemic on his private plane.

A radio station in Ohio has fired a broadcaster who described Senator Kamala Harris as the nation's 'first colored vice presidential candidate'.

Kyle Cornell, 26, made the remark on air on Wednesday night.

He was fired by WTAM 1100, a Cleveland-based station, on Thursday, after a social media backlash.

Cornell has apologized for 'making a judgement in error', and said he never intended to cause offense.

Billy Vunipola has revealed he decided against taking a knee in support of Black Lives Matter last weekend because he considers elements of the organisation to be at odds with his religious beliefs. Discussing his controversial decision to support Israel Folau last year following the Australian’s homophobic outburst, Vunipola also admitted his views had not changed because “I’ve made my position clear”.

Vunipola told The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast that his views were based on what he perceived to be the “burning of churches and Bibles” in the name of Black Lives Matter. There is little evidence to support the claim that the movement has burned any churches.

“What I saw in terms of that movement was not aligned with what I believe in,” said Vunipola. “They were burning churches and Bibles. I can’t support that. Even though I am a person of colour, I’m still more a person of, I guess, Jesus.”

A trailer for an upcoming Netflix movie has sparked fury online for its overtly 'sexualized' portrayal of young girls, who are dressed in skimpy outfits and seen twerking on camera.

The French film, Cuties, tells the story of an 11-year-old Senegalese Muslim girl named Amy, who joins a school dance team and takes part in a 'twerking competition', upsetting her mother and going against her family's strict religious beliefs.

Cuties, which has been classified as NC-17 - the US's strictest movie rating that bans anyone under the age of 18 from watching it - has received major backlash for 'hyper-sexualizing' minors thanks to its incredibly provocative trailer and poster, which show a group of pre-adolescent girls twerking in skimpy outfits.