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Pontifical University to Take on the Devil Thu Dec 9, 2004 12:54 PM ET By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - Forget the new "Exorcist" film, the Vatican is offering the real thing. A Vatican university said on Thursday it will hold a special "theoretical and practical" course for Roman Catholic priests on Satanism and exorcism in response to what the Church says is a worrying interest in the occult, particularly among the young. This year, Italy was gripped by the story of two teenage members of a heavy metal rock band called the "Beasts of Satan" who were killed by...

TRENTON -- The alleged gunman who was cut in half by an enraged father’s SUV Sunday was an escapee from an East Orange halfway house, police said yesterday. Police confirmed the identity of the dead suspect as Jose Alvarez, of Trenton, who would have celebrated his 20th birthday yesterday. Police said Alvarez was mowed down by Robert O’Neal, 54, in his Dodge Durango Sunday night, following an alleged robbery, shooting and car chase that ended with Alvarez killed along a southbound lane of Route 29. The identity of the dead suspect was just one of the new details which emerged...

A TECHNICIAN in the Royal Navy has become the first serviceman in Britain's armed forces to be officially recognised as a Satanist, the defence ministry said. HMS Cumberland Satanist on board ... the "bad" ship HMS Cumberland / File Chris Cranmer, 24, has been given the go-ahead by his captain to perform Satanic rituals on board the HMS Cumberland and is reportedly lobbying his employers to register Satanism as an official religion in the armed forces. "There is a guy who has asked to practice his (Satanic) beliefs on a Royal Navy ship," a defence ministry spokesman said. "His request...

Navy approves first ever Satanist Mr Cranmer will be allowed to perform Satanic rituals The British Armed Forces has officially recognised its first registered Satanist, according to a newspaper report. Naval technician Chris Cranmer, 24, has been allowed to register by the captain of HMS Cumberland. The move will mean that he will now be allowed to perform Satanic rituals on board the vessel. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Cranmer realised he was a Satanist nine years ago. Religious values At the time he stumbled across a copy of the Satanic Bible, written by Church of Satan founder Anton...

The British Armed Forces has officially recognised its first registered Satanist, a newspaper reports. Naval technician Chris Cranmer, 24, has been allowed to register by the captain of HMS Cumberland, based at Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth. The move will mean that he will now be allowed to perform Satanic rituals on board the vessel. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Cranmer realised he was a Satanist nine years ago. Religious values Mr Cranmer said that was when he stumbled across a copy of the Satanic Bible, written by Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey. He said: "I then...

SANTIAGO, Chile, Aug. 27, 2004 (CNA) - Cardinal Jorge Medina, ex-Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, warned Chileans that the devil is present in the world and that he uses euphemisms to destroy respect for life and the family. “The devil is very present, and he uses lies and euphemisms to deceive. He calls abortion the termination of pregnancy and children burdens. He fosters homosexual marriage and laws allowing for divorce, presenting evil as good and making money a god,” said the Chilean Cardinal. His comments came as part of a presentation on...

DENVER — Hell House, the controversial morality play first staged at a suburban church for Halloween, is set to be spoofed in a new stage production in Los Angeles starting Aug. 28. With Bill Maher playing Satan and Andy Richter as Jesus, the production will use the original play's script and special effects "to lampoon (Christian) fundamentalist beliefs about hell," producer Maggie Rowe said Monday. "It will be a parody of itself. It will be very funny. We're having a hoot," said Rowe, who represents the Center for Inquiry-West, which says it promotes and defends reason and science. The original...

VATICAN CITY, JULY 29, 2004 (Zenit.org).- We should take the devil "very seriously," but without losing confidence in the love of God, says the theologian of the Pontifical Household. Cardinal Georges Cottier gave this interview in the wake of last Saturday's murder of a priest in the cathedral of Santiago, Chile. The killing was linked to Satanism. Q: In the great mystery of evil, how much does the action of the devil count and how much responsibility does man bear? Cardinal Cottier: The devil is without a doubt the great seducer because he tries to lead man to sin by...

p>Satanism Linked to Priest's Murder in Chilean Cathedral Assailant Invoked Devil's Name, Says Servite Superior SANTIAGO, Chile, JULY 26, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Santiago decried the existence of Satanic groups in Chile in the wake of the weekend murder of a priest in the metropolitan cathedral. Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz, archbishop of Santiago and president of the country's episcopate, made that observation Sunday, a day after Servite Father Faustino Gazziero de Stefani, 68, was slain after he had celebrated Mass. The cardinal lamented that legislative proposals to curb Satanic groups have not been addressed with greater care. "They have killed...

I teach courses in humanities and military history at Grove City College, an “enthusiastically Christian” college in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. This morning I concluded my Humanities 302 course with the Home Box Office movie Conspiracy which depicts a conference held on January 20, 1942 in a mansion in the posh Berlin suburb of Wannsee. In the dining room of this mansion, which once belonged to a wealthy Jewish businessman, SS Obengruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, hosted 14 other top Nazi officials charged with devising the final solution to the Jewish problem. In two hours, while enjoying a sumptuous buffet, they determined what...

ROME -- In a small room, well away from the street so that no one hears the screams, Father Gabriele Amorth does battle with Satan. He is a busy man. As the Vatican's top exorcist, Amorth performs the mysterious, ancient ritual dozens of times a week. A confused world engulfed in tragedy and chaos is turning increasingly to black magic, the occult and fortune-telling, he said, proof that the devil and his handmaidens are having a field day.

Sister Donna Quinn, a Palos Hills resident, attended the last two and is flying to this one with four other nuns. Rev. Nan Conser, a retired United Church of Christ minister in Golf, never went before but is going with a group of 10 clergy and lay people. Rev. Larry Greenfield, an American Baptist minister who leads Hyde Park Union Church, couldn't make it last time, but said he wouldn't miss this one for anything.

As a traditional Jew, I'm deeply concerned over the plight of the Roman Catholic Church, which I consider to be the largest and most influential repository of conservative Judeo-Christian values in America today. I believe that those of us who care about the furtherance of a moral society have a stake in the future of the church as a moral force. The American church is under siege today, not only from the usual external forces but also from the weight of its own internal contradictions. The scandal of corrupt homosexual priests violating the innocence of minors in their care is,...

NEW HAVEN -- As incense wafted into the wooden rafters at Christ Church Episcopal, The Most Rev, Frank T. Griswold III knelt on the floor and bathed parishioners’ feet in celebration of Maundy Thursday. "The night before his death Jesus set an example for his apostles by washing their feet, a humble service. We all need to understand his example," said Griswold with deep respect. For the first time, the 25th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church led the church in its Eucharistic Liturgy for the annual Easter Triduum, or three holy days before the Resurrection of Jesus...

Moviegoers at Stadium 16 Theater in Evansville attending a showing of “Passion of the Christ” got more than they bargained for Saturday night. They were greeted in the lobby of the theater by a man wearing a ‘red devil’ costume. Tyler Wendell, a 19 year old freshman at the University of Southern Indiana, caused quite a ruckus with his get-up. The audience, many who were part of church groups, was visibly upset by the antics of Wendell. ”I always like to push the limits,” Wendell said. Many were upset that Wendell chose to wear a devil costume to a religious...

A collaborative effort of Coleman C. Hatfield and Robert Y. Spence, The Tale of The Devil purports to be a biography of Anderson Hatfield, more commonly known as Devil Anse Hatfield, of Hatfield and McCoy fame, but it's more than that. Assisted by original manuscripts from Coleman A. Hatfield, a grandson of Devil Anse, the authors describe several significant members of the Hatfield family in their changing mileaus. Not intended as an account of the infamous Appalachian feud, The Tale of The Devil nevertheless describes the issues surrounding the feud from an insider's perspective, admittedly from the vantage point of...

MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) - At least 244 people were trampled to death and hundreds more hurt Sunday under the crush of worshippers in one of the deadliest disasters during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The stampede occurred during the stoning of the devil, an emotional and notoriously perilous hajj ritual. Pilgrims frantically throw rocks, shout insults or hurl their shoes at three stone pillars - acts that are supposed to demonstrate their deep disdain for Satan. Safety measures were in place at the site - one where fatal stampedes have been frequent - but "caution isn't stronger...

Billionaire and philanthropist George Soros plans to split his Open Society Institute in Russia into 12 separate foundations, Open Society president Yekaterina Geniyeva said in an interview published Wednesday. The 12 foundations will be jointly financed by Soros and Russian participants for three years and then switch to being 100 percent Russian-financed, Geniyeva told the Kommersant daily. She said the decision may have been prompted by an ongoing dispute over the building leased by the Soros institute in central Moscow. The building's owner tried to significantly hike the rent before seizing the property with the assistance of a group of...

Who's Lying to You About Early Feminism? Susan B. Anthony: Lucifer's Babe? December 1, 2003 by Art Lemasters Many people of scriptural faith have been duped into believing that Susan B. Anthony was a devout follower of the Word by feminist mentions that she was a Quaker, that Quakers were strict, and so forth. Those stories omit the truth. Anthony's family was with the liberal Hicksite Quakers, that is, until she stopped attending Quaker meetings. In liberal Quaker doctrine, scriptures are secondary to each person's "Inner Light." Some Quakers disagree with liberal thought against scripture, but Anthony could not have...

KATIE AND THE DEVIL Katie Couric asked James Carville this morning on NBC's Today show morning program if Democrats had 'sold their soul to the devil' by being too conservative.Carville was selling his umpteenth Simon and Schuster book 'Had Enough?'Certainly, anybody suffering from Clinton fatigue would look at the cover with James mussed up like a fighter and say, 'I've certainly had enough of you.'posted at 8:14 AM