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☆ Rubens painting ‘lost’ for centuries could sell for $7.7 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A Rubens painting lost to history and misidentified for almost 300 years has re-emerged with the help of X-ray analysis and could now fetch up to £6 million ($7.7 million) at auction next month. Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens completed “Saint Sebastian Tended by Two Angels” more than 400 years ago. X-Ray analysis revealed Rubens' changes to the painting. Sotheby'sAnalysis revealed changes beneath the final painting as Rubens sculpted and molded his design to perfection for the first time. Initially, for example, Rubens painted Saint Sebastian facing the other way while he omitted another arrow piercing the saint’s right thigh in the painting’s final form.

Persons: CNN —, Rubens, Peter Paul Rubens, “, Sebastian, George Gordon, Sotheby’s, ” Gordon, Ambrogio Spinola, “ Ambrogio Spinola, …, Spinola, ”, Gordon, Laurent de la, Saint Sebastian, “ Rubens Organizations: CNN Locations: Flemish, Italian, Italy, Antwerp, Missouri, French, Rome, London

Malindi, Kenya CNN —The reddish soil of the Shakahola forest is still giving up its terrible secrets. The cult was preparing for the end of the world under the instruction of their its powerful pastor, say investigators. Many find it difficult to comprehend the dark path that Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie allegedly took his followers along. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty ImagesAt a recent hearing Mackenzie denied all knowledge of the horrors that witnesses, inspectors, and survivors believe happened in the Shakahola forest. ‘Intoxicating power’To understand the Shakahola cult, the focus must be on Mackenzie, says Rick Ross, a leading American cult expert who has studied destructive cults for decades.

Persons: Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, Paul Mackenzie, David McKenzie, ’ ”, Agnes, Mackenzie, “, ”, Yasuyoshi Chiba, Rick Ross, “ It’s, Ross, Charles Manson, David Koresh, Joseph Kibwetere, Geoffrey Wango, Wango, Ruto, Nxivm, God, Naomi Kahindi's, Mwangi, Francis Wanje, Wanje’s, It’s, Wanje, Khalid Hussein, Mackenzie's, Monicah Mwangi, Jesus, couldn’t, didn’t, David Man’ong’o Organizations: Kenya CNN, CNN, Good News International Ministry, Criminal Investigations, Getty, Nairobi University, Kenyan, Reuters, . Police, Public Prosecutions Locations: Malindi, Kenya, Galilee, Bethlehem, Shakahola, AFP, American, Africa

CNN —Robert Bowers, the gunman who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, was convicted by a federal jury Friday on all 63 charges against him. Bowers was also convicted of 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death. The shooting unfolded on a day when the synagogue was hosting three congregations, Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light, for weekly Shabbat services. In addition to the 11 killed, two worshippers and four responding police officers were wounded. Before the shooting, Bowers spent years posting about attacks on immigrants and Jewish people on Gab, a small social media platform used by far-right extremists.

Persons: Robert Bowers, Bowers, David Klug Diane Rosenthal, Cecil, David Rosenthal, ‘, ’, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, ” Myers, ” “, ”, Jonathan Greenblatt, that’s, ” Greenblatt, Dan Frankel, “, Frankel, ” Bowers, Robert Bowers David Klug, Robert Colville, Elisa Long, ” Long, Eric Olshan, ” Olshan, Dor Hadash, Andrea Wedner, Rose Mallinger, ’ ”, Mary Hahn, – Organizations: CNN, U.S, Attorney, Defamation League, Pennsylvania, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Police, Immigrant Aid Society Locations: Maryland, New York

☆ How 150,000 people are fed during Onam in Kerala, India
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( David Valerio | Nicole Raucheisen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Onam is a 10-day harvest festival celebrated in Kerala, India. It marks the first month of the Malayalam calendar and commemorates the return of the mythical King Mahabali from the underworld to his home in Kerala. Mahabali's return and the harvest are celebrated with floral artwork, traditional dances, boat races, and a traditional feast known as the Onam sadya. While the traditions of Onam are rooted in Hinduism, Keralites across the state, regardless of religion or caste, enjoy the festivities and a traditional meal. We visited Vinayaka Caterers in Kerala, India, to see how it prepares sadyas for 150,000 people.

Persons: King Mahabali, Mahabali's Organizations: Caterers Locations: Kerala, India

☆ How a quest for identity made China the luxury powerhouse that it is today
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

"Traditions provide identity. As CCP has destroyed Chinese traditions, luxury brands step in to provide that," he tweeted. Consider this: The country's luxury market is set to hit 816 billion yuan, or $115 billion, by 2025. "Traditions provide identity. Rapid urbanization and consumerism did more to fuel China's luxury boom than a lack of religion, he said.

Persons: Desmond Shum, —, That's, PwC, Bernard Arnault —, Shum —, Shum, Simon & Schuster, Pierre Xiao Lu, Lu, Karl Gerth, Gerth, Yuwan Hu, Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton Organizations: CCP, Service, Privacy, Shanghai's Fudan University, Wharton, University of California, Daxue Consulting Locations: China, Europe, Today's China, San Diego, Beijing

☆ Opinion | Why These Six Americans Moved Away from Organized Religion
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“Nones” — the term of art for those who say they have no particular religious affiliation — is an unsatisfying label. I’m not the first to notice that it sounds like “nuns” when said aloud, and that, as a result, it can confuse people who aren’t steeped in sociological jargon. But more crucially, “nones” obscures the diversity of backgrounds and beliefs among the millions of Americans who fall into this very broad category. Previously, nones had been defined by what they aren’t — adherents to a religious tradition — rather than who they are or what they believe. “They haven’t really thought about truth, meaning, etc.,” he said.

Persons: “, I’m, ”, nones, David Campbell, Geoffrey Layman, John Green, Campbell, religionists, Secularists “ Organizations: Notre Dame

☆ Erdogan survived the biggest test of his political career. What’s next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Official results showed Erdogan winning with 52.1% of the vote, while opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu emerged with 47.9%. Murat Somer, a political science professor at Koc University in Istanbul, expects a hardened approach by Erdogan towards the opposition and his critics. “[Erdogan is] likely to continue his unorthodox economic policies because these actually serve his interests,” Somer told CNN. Becky Anderson's full interview with Turkish President Erdogan 20:52 - Source: CNNKorhan Kocak, an assistant professor of political science at New York University Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, worries about Erdogan’s moves after the election. And Erdogan is the man that delivered that to them.”Cagaptay said that Erdogan’s foreign policy is unlikely to change.

☆ Opinion | If You’re Reading This, You’re Probably ‘WEIRD’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +83 min

You’re probably very weird, and not just for all the obvious reasons you’re thinking of. Because, obviously, there’s going to be some overlap in the curve here. How you’re going to behave with your professor is quite different than how you’re going to behave with your friends. But it’s really kind of faceless, and you’re not really helping anybody you know. I think things are dynamic, and directions are changing, and that sort of thing.

☆ Christians caught with a Bible in North Korea have faced death and had their families, including children, thrown in prison for life, a new report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

North Korea offers freedom of religion to its citizens on paper but not in practice. A recently released Department of State report notes that while North Korea constitutionally allows for religious freedom, there is no such thing in practice. One NGO, Open Doors USA, has reported that for Christians in North Korea, life is a "constant cauldron of pressure" and "capture or death is only a mistake away." The North Korea flag flutters next to barbed wire at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That report found that North Korea "denied the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion" and engaged in "crimes against humanity."

☆ What’s Happening to Tunisia Is a Tragedy - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Nadia Marzouki | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Many of my friends and family were among the nearly three million people who voted for Mr. Saied. Yet from the outset, I found Mr. Saied’s project terrifying. Mr. Saied’s goal is to purify society from corrupt influence: Social hygiene, not social justice, is the point. In April the children of numerous political prisoners, speaking from Geneva, called on the European Union to impose sanctions on Mr. Saied’s regime. The goal is not simply to crush dissent but also to dehumanize political prisoners and their families.

But for the next two weeks, he may become the most important figure in Turkish politics, potentially deciding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political fate. Preliminary results from the YSK showed Erdogan as having received 49.51% of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu had 44.88%. Ogan, the third candidate, received 5.17%, enough to swing the runoff vote in favor of either of the candidates. But his political career began with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), where he spent six years before splitting with it, partly due to its growing closeness with Erdogan’s AK Party, according to Turkish media. Formerly in the opposition, the MHP joined the People Alliance that is led by Erdogan’s AK Party in this election.

☆ Erdogan's milestones as Turkey faces May 28 runoff vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

[1/2] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets supporters at the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey May 15, 2023. August 2001: He establishes the Justice and Development Party, or AK Party (AKP), and is elected chairman. November 2002: The AKP wins elections with nearly 35% of votes after the worst economic slump since the 1970s, promising to break with past mismanagement and recessions. June 2018: Erdogan wins snap presidential elections. Though his popularity has suffered due to a cost-of-living crisis, Erdogan wins more votes than his rival but falls short of the 50% threshold needed to win in the first round, teeing up a May 28 runoff.

☆ 19 Republican states accuse JPMorgan of closing bank accounts and discriminating against customers due to their religious or political beliefs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

19 Republican states accused JPMorgan of closing bank accounts on political or religious grounds. Republican attorneys general from 19 states have accused JPMorgan Chase of closing accounts and discriminating against customers due to their political or religious beliefs, a report says. Further, the letter claimed JPMorgan asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to ignore a proposal for the bank to disclose its policy for closing accounts. A JPMorgan representative told The Journal: "We have never and would never exit a client relationship due to their political or religious affiliation." A spokesperson for JPMorgan said: "We do not close accounts due to religious or political affiliations, and did not in these cases."

☆ Iran executes two people convicted of blasphemy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Mostafa Salem | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Iran hanged two people on Monday who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy, according to the judiciary news agency Mizan. Authorities convicted both after they were found to be members of a Telegram channel titled “Critique of Superstition and Religion,” according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. One member allegedly said that they set religious books on fire, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom claimed. The executions come days after the execution of a dual Swedish-Iranian national, Habib Chaab, who was convicted for leading a national Arab separatist group accused of attacks in Iran. The report found there was a “surge” of executions in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September.

☆ Erdogan's milestones before Turkey's election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

August 2001: He establishes the Justice and Development Party, or AK Party (AKP), and is elected chairman. In his early days, Erdogan tours Europe and the United States to promote his policies and advance Turkey's bid to join the European Union. May 2013: Protests against Erdogan's plans to redevelop Istanbul's Gezi Park accelerate into unprecedented nationwide demonstrations over what critics see as his authoritarianism. March 2019: Nationwide municipal elections produce Erdogan's first electoral defeat in nearly two decades. The lira hits all-time lows, inflation soars to its highest levels during Erdogan's rule, and his approval ratings sink.

April 28 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Denver on Friday rejected a Catholic medical center's bid to block Colorado from banning an unproven treatment meant to reverse the effects of a medication abortion drug. Medication abortion begins with the drug mifepristone, which blocks action of the hormone progesterone, crucial for sustaining pregnancy, and is completed with a second drug, misoprostol. Proponents of medication abortion reversal say that if a woman changes her mind after taking mifepristone but before taking misoprostol, the pregnancy can be continued by administering a high dose of progesterone. Mifepristone is the subject of a heated legal battle as anti-abortion groups seek to pull it from the market. Republican state legislatures have also taken steps to restrict access to the drug, while Democratic legislatures have sought to protect it.

☆ The Surprising Surge of Faith Among Young People
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Clare Ansberry | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A greater share of young adults say they believe in a higher power or God. About one-third of 18-to-25-year-olds say they believe—more than doubt—the existence of a higher power, up from about one-quarter in 2021, according to a recent survey of young adults. The findings, based on December polling, are part of an annual report on the state of religion and youth from the Springtide Research Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit.

☆ South Asian Muslims Herald Eid al-Fitr With a Night of Communal Revelry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Sadiba Hasan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Eliyah Haque, 6, was getting her hands painted with henna in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens. Asked what her favorite part of Eid celebrations was, she said: “We come together.”South Asian Muslims both local to the area and from other boroughs and states flocked to Jackson Heights on Thursday evening to celebrate Chand Raat, a festival on the night before Eid al-Fitr to herald the holiday. Chand Raat, a South Asian Muslim celebration that encapsulates the intersection of religion and culture, translates to “night of the moon” in Urdu and Hindi. It’s observed on the last night of Ramadan, when the new moon is sighted, indicating the end of the month of fasting.

☆ This 24-year-old wants to freeze dead pets with the hope that science can one day bring them back to life – and he's got backing from Peter Thiel to get started
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Kai Micah Mills is a rare cryonics entrepreneur in the latest batch of Thiel Fellows. His startup Cryopets aims to establish a chain of animal hospitals set up to freeze pets upon death. When he was 14, Kai Micah Mills brought home a long-haired tabby cat and named it Cat. Someday, he hopes to expand to human preservation, as the science matures and pet owners warm to the idea. Mills hasn't figured out a pricing structure yet, but says pet owners will make a payment that covers their pet's storage for as long as necessary.

Postal Service for alleged religious discrimination is set for U.S. Supreme Court review on April 18, poses in an undated handout image taken at an unknown location. Postal Service over his refusal to work on Sundays gives the Supreme Court another chance to widen religious rights but also has led to a debate over whether religious people are more legally deserving than others to weekend days off from work. The court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has a track record of expanding religious rights in recent years, often siding with Christian plaintiffs. The Postal Service in 2013, in a bid to remain profitable, contracted with Amazon.com to deliver packages, including on Sundays. His absences caused tension among other carriers who had to cover his shifts, the Postal Service said.

☆ A teacher who refused to call trans students by their preferred names because of his Christian beliefs can't have his job back, says court
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A US court has ruled that a high school did not violate the First Amendment rights of a music teacher. John Kluge refused on religious grounds to use transgender students' preferred names. "Kluge "stigmatized" transgender students, causing them "demonstrable emotional harm," said a judge. Music teacher John Kluge refused to use the student's preferred name and pronouns due to his Christian religious beliefs, according to a civil complaint filed in 2019, which said Kluge "believes encouraging students to present themselves as the opposite sex by calling them an opposite-sex first name is sinful." Students and fellow teachers complained, and the decision was reversed, according to court filings.

Feb 27 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center's challenge to a New York state law that prohibits retaliation against employees for getting abortions or making other reproductive health decisions. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state law violates Evergreen Association Inc's constitutional right to freedom of association by forcing the nonprofit, which counsels patients against getting abortions, to employ people who go against its message. The 2019 law makes it illegal to discriminate or retaliate against workers because of their "reproductive health decision making." The court sent the case back to a federal judge in Syracuse, New York, for further proceedings. The panel affirmed the judge's dismissal of Evergreen's other claims, including that the law violates its rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion.

☆ Jerusalem Christians say they feel growing harassment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Ammar Awad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Ammar AwadJERUSALEM, Feb 13 (Reuters) - For several weeks, members of the small Christian community in Jerusalem's Old City say they have felt under pressure from what they say is growing harassment and intimidation from violent Jewish ultranationalists. The church stands at the place where Christ is held to have taken the cross after being condemned to death by crucifixion. "In the past two months, I would say, since the beginning of the new government, attacks like this are becoming very, very usual," said Miran Krikorian, a restaurant owner in the Old City. Israeli police say they have stepped up patrols around Christian sites in Jerusalem as churches report abuse by Jews following the swearing-in of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government. The cramped warren of alleyways that makes up the Old City surrounds some of the holiest sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims, and the local communities have long developed ways of living together.

☆ Mob storms Pakistani police station, lynches man accused of blasphemy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Mubasher Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LAHORE, Pakistan, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A mob in eastern Pakistan stormed a police station on Saturday and lynched a man under custody and accused of blasphemy, police said, in the latest incident of religion-linked violence in the Islamic republic. However, the mob stormed the station, located in the city of Nankana Sahib, took Waris out of the premises, beat him to death and attempted to set his body on fire, Waqas added. Blasphemy is also a crime under Pakistani law, which can carry the death sentence. A number of police officials have been suspended because of their inability to stop the mob, a statement from the police said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry, the government said.

☆ I'm a 17-year-old trans kid in Utah, and I'm uprooting my life because of a law that bans gender-affirming care
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Yelena Dzhanova | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Luka, a 17-year-old trans kid living in Utah, is moving to Portland to evade the ramifications. Then I learned I'm trans. They really, really helped me figure out who I am and helped me feel comfortable living as who I am. So I'm planning to leave Utah. So I'm making the decision to leave Utah as soon as I can.

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