Terry Firma, though born and Journalism-school-educated in Europe, has lived in the U.S. for the past 20-odd years. Stateside, his feature articles have been published in the New York Times, Reason, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Wired. Terry was the founder and Main Mischief Maker of Moral Compass, a now-dormant site that pokes fun at the delusional claim by people of faith that a belief in God equips them with superior moral standards. He was the Editor-in-Chief of two Manhattan-based magazines until he decided to give up commercial publishing for professional photography... with a lot of blogging on the side. These days, he lives in an old seaside farmhouse in Maine with his wife, three kids, and two big dogs.
What would Jesus do? Probably not this: The daughter of 93-year-old Olivia Blair couldn’t believe it when Fourth Missionary Baptist Church pastor Walter Houston refused to bury her mother. “It was like the last insult in the world,” Barbara Day told KRIV in Houston. Day said her only wish was for her mother to be buried “in the church that she loved and worshiped all of her life, even as a little girl.” Day explained her mother was a church member for 50 years but had been sick for nearly a decade, and in a coma for the last 24 months. Read more
One measure of Indian god-man Sant Rampal’s specialness is that he liked bathing in milk during his meditations, after which the same milk was used to make kheer, … which was served to the followers saying this will bring happiness in their lives. No disciples dared breathe an unkind word about this disgusting practice, as Rampal had long told them not to criticize him, and to consider any critic a liar. Non-followers go quite a bit farther than merely “criticizing” him, however; Rampal faces charges including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and hoarding illegal weapons. Read more
For years, people flocked to Salvation Healing Ministry, pastor Victor Kanyari’s church in Nairobi, and paid for the privilege — because the charismatic preacher healed the sick where doctors supposedly stood powerless. Visitors saw with their own eyes how Kanyari and his helpers would make believers’ feet ooze blood with the gentlest of touches — which, they concluded, was surely a miracle. What they didn’t know was that the “blood” was really potassium permanganate, a grey powder that is a known oxidizing agent. The substance turns water a purplish red,… Read more
