U.S. District Court Judge Steven Merryday warned Scientology's attorney that he wouldn't allow what he called "shenanigans" to interfere any further with the progress of a wrongful death case against the church now pending in his court.

In the process, one of the cult's most vocal critics may be spared the hate group's designs on him. more >>

Two members of a church that preaches faith-healing pleaded not guilty Monday to manslaughter charges for failing to provide medical care to their infant son, who died shortly after his premature birth.

Dale and Shannon Hickman are the third couple identified as members of the Followers of Christ Church to face criminal charges in the death of a child during the past two years. more >>

The Utah Supreme Court on Friday said a polygamous sect waited too long to object to a state takeover of its historic property trust, rejecting its bid to undo changes made to the United Effort Plan Trust.

The court sided with the Utah Attorney General’s Office, which argued that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ignored numerous opportunities to participate in the changes to and management of the trust. more >>

A Santa Fe congregation that uses a hallucinogenic brew of South American plants as a sacrament thought its battle with the government was over in early 2006.

It had won a unanimous ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that year that said federal drug regulators hadn't met their burden under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in trying to restrict importation and use of the tea.

But it wasn't until last week that the case actually ended. more >>

Pastors in southeast Nigeria claim illness and poverty are caused by witches who bring terrible misfortune to those around them. And those denounced as witches must be cleansed through deliverance or cast out.

As daylight breaks, and we travel out to the rural villages it becomes apparent the most vulnerable to this stigmatization of witchcraft are children. more >>

A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated televangelist Frederick Price's defamation lawsuit claiming ABC's "20/20" news program used a fictionalized sermon portraying himself as a wealthy braggart out of context.

The clip ABC aired of the prosperity preacher it aired was actually a sermon on greed in which the preacher slips into the role of a fictional character who is wealthy but unhappy. more >>

The American public continues to express conflicted views of Islam.

Favorable opinions of Islam have declined since 2005, but there has been virtually no change over the past year in the proportion of Americans saying that Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence. more >>

Girls in the polygamous community of Bountiful “were to be treated like poison snakes” and taught that their role was to “have lots of children and obey the men,” says an affidavit filed in the B.C. Supreme Court in connection to a landmark polygamy case.

“The boys were taught not to interact with the girls and that the girls were to be treated like ‘poison snakes,’ ” says the affidavit, filed earlier this month by Truman Oler, 28, who grew up in Bountiful and left the community when he was about 21. more >>

A Time magazine poll released Thursday found that 43 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of Muslims, far outpacing the numbers for Mormons (29 percent), Catholics (17 percent), Jews (13 percent) and Protestants (13 percent). Twenty-five percent of those polled said most Muslims in the United States are not patriotic Americans.

Although the overall level of anti-Muslim sentiment hasn't shifted much since the uproar over the mosque near Ground Zero, the change in tone has been striking, religious scholars and other experts say. more >>

Australian of the Year Prof Patrick McGorry is among a number of top psychiatrists who have been targeted by the Church of Scientology after they spoke out against the religion.

The University of Melbourne professor, with Monash University's Prof Louise Newman and Prof Ian Hickie, director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Sydney, publicly backed calls by South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon in March for a senate inquiry into Scientology. more >>

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