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I can't post this story direct because of copyright issues but the "Las Cruces Sun-News" is reporting TWO EXPLOSIONS NEAR CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH AND HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CHURCH IN LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO THIS MORNING. THE EXPLOSION CALLS CAME IN BETWEEN 8 AND 9AM LOCAL TIME. NO APPARENT INJURIES WITH A POLICE SPOKESMAN SAYING THE EXPLOSIONS INVOLVED A LOT OF SHREDDED PAPER APPARENTLY FIREWORKS. SERVICES WERE GOING ON AT BOTH CHURCHES AT THE TIME OF EXPLOSIONS. CHURCHGOERS WERE EVACUATED AND TOLD NOT TO USE THEIR CARS TO LEAVE.......

The FBI is reported to be investigating bombs that exploded minutes apart at two Las Cruces, New Mexico churches Sunday morning.

Investigators continue their examination of a fire at the Glover Grove Baptist Church of Warrenville, S.C. Fires damaged Glover Grove and some other black churches in the days following nine shooting deaths at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, raising concerns that the incidents were hate-inspired arsons. Now, in the case of Glover Grove, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has released the following statement, saying it still doesn't know how the blaze started. "Based upon the scene examination and the evidence collected, agents were unable to determine an exact origin or fire cause. As a result, agents were unable to...

The state of Israel is blocking the release of details on the recent arson attack against a historical Catholic church by the Sea of Galilee, namely the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish in Tabgha. It resides at the site where Christ miraculously multiplied loaves and fish to feed 5,000 people.Aside from being damaged by the fire, the church was also vandalized with Hebrew graffiti messages such as "Death to non-Jews" and "False idols will be eliminated." The incident marked the second time since last year the building has been attacked.Sixteen Jewish seminary students were arrested,...

<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Investigators with the Charlotte Fire Department in North Carolina say a fire at a predominantly black church is arson.</p> <p>A statement from the fire department said it took about an hour Wednesday to get the fire at Briar Creek Road Baptist Church under control. Two firefighters were treated for heat-related injuries.</p>

A possible hate crime is under investigation after a fire was set at a Central Florida church, where vandals also spray-painted "Allahu Akbar." The incident happened around 3 a.m. Monday at the New Shiloh Christian Church in Melbourne. About 1,500 members attend the church. Melbourne police said officers and firefighters discovered the blaze after a fire alarm sounded. Arson was the expected cause, police said. Fire sprinklers helped contain the flames to a storage unit connected to the 125,000-square-foot building. The words "Allahu Akbar" were spray-painted on the storage unit. "Allahu Akbar" is an Arabic phrase typically translated as "God...

Eyewitnesses have given a harrowing account of the murder in Cairo of a young Coptic Christian woman, hauled out of her car and beaten and stabbed to death by a Muslim mob, apparently targeted because of a cross hanging from her rear-view mirror. The incident occurred in the Cairo suburb of Ain Shams after mosque prayer services on Friday, ... 25-year-old Mary Sameh George was attacked in her car near a church, where she planned to deliver medicine to an ill and elderly woman. Protestors climbed onto her car, collapsing the roof, then hauled her from the vehicle, beating and...

A video uploaded to YouTube by a pro-life organization appears to show a university student verbally attacking a campus pro-life group on Thursday. Students For Life said in an email that the video, which has garnered a little over 2k views since it was posted Thursday, captures “one of the most disturbing ones our team has yet to take on a college campus.” The 26-second clip appears to show an unidentified student at Indiana University approaching the pro-life college group, allegedly upset with a display they had erected on the campus. “You’re in conflict with the world that I want...

Editor's note: On Sunday morning, officials with the fire department confirmed that the sanctuary was actually spared.The bells at Trinity Presbyterian Church will not toll this morning as flames engulfed the historic church Saturday night after a fire spread from the attic and brought the roof down. Capt. Scott McBurney of the Opelika Fire Department said he believed the church was struck by lightning. McBurney, who lives near Trinity, said he heard thunder and then a pop an hour before the station received a call at approximately 6:46 p.m. "We were on the scene in three minutes," McBurney said. "Smoke...

Religious intolerance against the Christian minority is intensifying in Tamil Nadu. Overnight a group of unknown people set fire to Bethel Bible Church, a Pentecostal church in the village Puthasanthai (district of Namakal). Thanks providential intervention of two members of the community, who were sleeping in the building, the fire was extinguished before demolishing the place of worship. Rev. Paul Arguman reported the matter to the police, who have placed surveillance units around the church and "vowed" to bring the perpetrators to justice. According to Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the Hindu Munnani,...

A Petersburg minister whose Chesterfield County house was set on fire last month and sparked a potential hate crime probe has been charged with setting the fires himself. Chesterfield police arrested and charged Olander D. Cuthrell, 41, of the 7800 block of Little Ridge Court, on two counts of felony arson. Cuthrell is a minister at Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Petersburg. At about 4:30 a.m. on March 15, police were called to Cuthrell's residence where it was reported that a car and a porch were on fire. Both fires were extinguished and no one was injured. A racial slur...

<p>CHESTERFIELD, Va. (CBSDC/AP) — A minister at a Virginia church faces charges of setting his house and car in Chesterfield County on fire.</p> <p>Chesterfield County police had investigated the fires as a possible hate crime because a racial slur had been painted on the house. Police believe 41-year-old Olander D. Cuthrell, who is black, painted the slurs on his home before he set it on fire.</p>

The 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue in the Syrian capital of Damascus was looted and burned to the ground. The Syrian army loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebel forces are blaming each other for the destruction of the historic synagogue ... The Jobar synagogue was built atop a cave that, according to tradition, was used by the prophet Elijah to conceal himself from prosecution. The synagogue is said to have been built by Elijah's successor, the prophet Elisha, and repaired during the first century by Eleazar ben Arach.

Three churches in the Austrian town of Amstetten (pop: 21,000) were burned this morning. All of the indications point to arson. Several eye-witnesses saw a suspect. As is their custom, the police and newspapers have given a detailed account of his stature and clothing, but fail to mention his skin colour. Amstetten has a large Mohammedan population.

Indiana Man Got 'Riled Up' Watching Fox News, Drank 45 Beers, And Then Set Fire To A Mosque Aleksi TzatzevDec. 21, 2012, 10:13 AMA 52-year-old truck driver has pleaded guilty to driving from his home in Indiana to set a mosque on fire in Ohio, Toledo Blade reported yesterday. Randolph Linn said he got "riled up" watching Fox News and drank 45 beers in seven hours before setting the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo on fire, according to The Sentinel-Tribune. The drive from his Indiana home to the mosque was nearly two hours. Linn said he wanted "to get some...

Islamic extremists have attacked an Anglican Church in Mardan Pakistan and an adjoining school. Some believe the stimulus was the government announced day of protest against an anti-Islam film. The attack occurred on Sept. 21. According to a news release from the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), protesters set the church and school on fire and looted the premises, taking everything from computers to chairs and whatever else seemed valuable from the school. The BPCA said that Muslims desecrated Bibles and religious artefacts, especially many of which were used in ceremonies within the Anglican church. Many were brought out into...

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- A Muslim mob set ablaze a Catholic church frequented by Southern Sudanese in the capital Khartoum, witnesses and media reports said on Sunday. The church in Khartoum's Al-Jiraif district was built on a disputed plot of land, but the Saturday night incident appeared to be part of the fallout from ongoing hostilities between Sudan and South Sudan over control of an oil town on their ill-defined border.

Atheists are using a music video that celebrates the burning of churches and synagogues to promote an upcoming atheist-themed festival at Fort Bragg. “Rock Beyond Belief” is scheduled to be held on the parade field at Fort Bragg in March. The event was created in part as a response to a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association event that was held last year. FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK! Justin Griffith, who organized “Rock Beyond Belief,” said he was personally offended that a Christian evangelical event like “Rock the Fort” was held on the base. “We felt it was entirely inappropriate for anyone to...

Islamists burned down a church on Zanzibar Island Saturday just three days after another church facility there was reduced to ashes.

Two house churches in Riau were burned down Tuesday, the latest of a series of attacks on minority religious groups in Indonesia.