Free Republic

This year's conference of the Francophone European Association for Bahá’í Studies (Association francophone européenne des études bahá’íes, AFEEB) on 24 and 25 October 2009 in Luxembourg discussed the future world order and global governance. The programme included a presentation of the concept of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) by the Chairman of the Committee for a Democratic U.N., Andreas Bummel. Outlining the path towards a directly elected world parliament, Mr Bummel stressed the "spiritual dimension" of the efforts. "The establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly would represent a changed consciousness. For the first time in human history such a...

Vatican Condemns Hallowe'en As Anti-Christian The Vatican has condemned Hallowe'en as anti-Christian, saying it is based on a sinister and dangerous "undercurrent of occultism". By Nick Squires in Rome 30 Oct 2009 The Roman Catholic Church has become alarmed in recent years by the spread of Hallowe'en traditions from the US to other countries around the world. The Holy See has warned that parents should not allow their children to dress up as ghosts and ghouls on Saturday, calling Hallowe'en a pagan celebration of "terror, fear and death". The Roman Catholic Church has become alarmed in recent years by the...

A SATANIST obsessed with teenage schoolgirls invented a fake gothic society online to groom them for sex in the grounds of Sydney's Rookwood Cemetery. Daniel William Peckham, 24, lured at least three girls, aged from 13 to 17, into the cemetery on his MySpace blog, "Rookwood Gothic Society". A message on the site read: "If you have hang-ups about getting naked ... you are not welcome." Peckham pleaded guilty yesterday to the aggravated sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl and to using the internet to solicit and transmit naked pictures of young girls between 2005 and 2007. The opening day...

Folks, EWTN has made available on-line a very interesting series originally published in L'Osservatore Romano, entitled, Sects and Satanic Cults. It consists of six articles dealing with various aspects (phenomenological, anthropological, psychological, legal, doctrinal and pastoral) of the growing and disturbing phenomenon of practices connected with the cult of satanic sects. The essays have been prepared in collaboration with the Bologna-based Organization for Research and Information on Sects, while adoctrinal reflection has been written by Bishop Angelo Scola through the good offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What follows is EWTN's summary of each article. I...

Coffin Exhumed Monday After Investigators Link Body To Connecticut Family; 2-Year-Old Found In Plastic Bag Cops: Dumping May Be Part Of Some Bizarre Grave-Digging Ritual STAMFORD, Conn. (CBS) ― Police believe the body of the 2-year-old child discovered in the Passaic River on Sunday may have been removed from a grave at a Connecticut cemetery. The body was discovered by a fisherman on the river's bank and was wrapped in a plastic bag. Officer Richard Conklin said a coffin at Stamford Cemetery was exhumed after New Jersey medical examiners linked the body to a Connecticut family. "On Monday, July 6,...

WASHINGTON, DC – Defying some of his fellow conservative Christian critics, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country told several thousand American Muslims on Saturday that "the two largest faiths on the planet" must work together to combat stereotypes and solve global problems. "Some problems are so big you have to team tackle them," evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren addressed the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Warren said Muslims and Christians should be partners in working to end what he calls "the five global giants" of war, poverty, corruption, disease, and illiteracy....

The Dark Backward: Demons in the Real World by Tom Hoopes    2/14/09     "The lunatic is on the grass."   It was an hour before midnight. Ten-year-old James was in his bedroom, alone, when he was suddenly gripped by terror. A Pink Floyd song rang out through the empty room. The radio turned on by itself.   "The lunatic is on the grass. The lunatic is in the hall."   James lay paralyzed, locked in that helpless state that is itself as terrifying as whatever causes it. He wanted to move or cry out but couldn't. So...

According to The Sun, Russia has experienced a series of murders, rapes, mutilations, and desecrations linked to Satanists.  No, I did not say Stalinists, although, given how communists will persecute Christians, one could be forgiven for confusing the two.  And a most horrific example of such ritualistic murder has just taken place in the nation's hinterlands, as a ring of Satanists has just killed and cannibalized four teens, three girls, and a boy.  Writes The Sun:The gang of Devil worshippers butchered their victims and roasted them on a bonfire before devouring their flesh.... Their private parts had also been cut...

Dixie Chicks' lead singer Natalie Maines is being sued for defamation over statements she allegedly made about the stepfather of one of three 8-year-old boys murdered in Crittenden County, Ark. in 1993. Arkansasbusiness.com reports that a complaint was filed November 25 in Pulaski County Circuit Court by Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the murdered boys, Steve Branch. The complaint alleges Maines wrongfully made a "false and reckless claim that [Hobbs] committed the murders of the three boys ..." Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore were found dead May 5, 1993 in a West Memphis, Ark. neighborhood. Damien...

Are witches real? Of course they are. Are they skinny old women with green skin, pointy chins and warts on their noses, who cackle over cauldrons? Of course not. Do they attend an academy called “Hogwarts,” play a form of hockey on their broomsticks and battle mythical beasts? Is “Samantha,” a pretty middle-class suburban wife with magical powers and a gaggle of kooky and spooky family members, a witch? Of course not. All of that is an attempt to make us believe that there are not really such things as witches.

- Angus & Co., WE SALUTE YOU!!! I'm not sure regarding the exact date, but at least I know Ac/Dc formed in Sydney back in 1973 (- does anyone here on the greatest Conservative site on the Internet happen to know the exact date?) AC/DC is one of my favorite rock bands and all of Australia indeed ought to be very, very proud of them. AC/DC are admirable out of many reasons. Three of them stands out from my point of view: 1. Their conservatism; while most bands that have been around for some time, sooner or later, tend to...

Another Democratic official charged in satanist sex crimes By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun DURHAM -- Police say they've arrested and charged a third person in connection with an ongoing rape and kidnapping investigation. Diana Palmer, 44, is charged with being an accessory after the fact, Durham Police Department spokeswoman Kammie Michael said Wednesday afternoon. Palmer is first vice chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party. Her arrest came five days after police arrested the party's third vice chairwoman, Joy Johnson, 30, and Johnson's husband, Joseph Scott Craig, 25. Craig faces three counts of second-degree kidnapping, one count of second-degree...

DURHAM - A husband and wife face more charges in a case that contains allegations of sexual assault and satanic rituals that include shackling, caging and depriving a man of food and water. Joseph Scott Craig, 25, and Joy Suzanne Johnson, 30, both of 2305 Albany St., are scheduled to appear in Durham County court this morning on the new charges in a case that has shocked acquaintances and former co-workers of the couple. Johnson resigned this week as third vice chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party and vice chairwoman of the Young Democrats. The charges stem from accusations...

Durham, N.C. — A Durham couple charged with kidnapping, rape and assault was involved with a satanic cult, a prosecutor said on Monday. Joy Johnson and Joseph Craig appeared at a bond hearing Monday. A judge set Craig's bond at $590,000, but refused a prosecution request to increase Johnson's bond from $270,000 to $500,000. Prosecutors said a man and a woman met Craig through a shared interest in Satan worship, but the pair never consented to physical abuse. Craig shackled his victims to beds, kept them in dog cages and starved them inside his Albany Street home, prosecutors said. He...

DURHAM, N.C., July 1 (UPI) -- A Durham, N.C., Democratic official and her husband face criminal charges in connection with alleged satanic rituals. Joy Johnson, 30, a third vice-chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party and vice chairwoman of the Young Democrats, was charged Friday with two counts of aiding and abetting. Her husband, Joseph Scott Craig, 25, was charged with second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon for incidents in January and May, the Raleigh News & Observer reported Tuesday. Mark McCullough, an assistant district attorney ...acknowledged that "part of the allegations are...

Allegations that a local Democratic official and her husband were involved in Satanic rituals that included shackling people to beds, caging them and depriving them of food and water have horrified county party leaders.

LIBREVILLE, gabon–When the body of 13-year-old Ralph Edang N'na was found drained of blood and with gaping wounds in his genitals, chest and neck last month, many in Gabon thought it was politicians who had ordered his killing. The murder of children and young adults, whose organs are eaten or used to make magical amulets, has increased in recent years in the oil-rich central African nation. Campaigners say some Gabonese politicians use the black magic rituals to boost their chances of winning lucrative government posts. With elections to municipal councils on Sunday, many fear a spate of gruesome child murders....

State police say they found three dogs hanging and burned over a pile of burning tires in Fayette County. Police say the dogs were found about 5 a.m. Thursday in Redstone Township hanging by ropes from a tree. Theresa Linden, manager with the Fayette County Humane Society, says officials don't know if the dogs were alive when they were hanged. Linden says authorities also found the image of a pentagram on the ground, a five-pointed star commonly associated with Satanism. The back of one dog was burned off. Another had puncture wounds to its neck.

-snip- "Sin stands for beauty, sin stands for life. Sexual sin is every man's right!! He will exalt the wicked of man: our king the Antichrist!" Self-described Satanist Lord Ahriman, lead singer for the Swedish black-metal band Dark Funeral, is scream-growling at an internal-organ-rattling volume inside Jaxx's concert hall. Thrilled fans, many of them teenagers clad in black, shoot Devil-horn hand signs into the air. A horned, fang-toothed man-beast roars from a massive banner across the stage. Most common T-shirt of the night: "The day you die is the day I smile." Most common adjective: brutal (in a good way)....

Vandalism occurs after appearance of 'demons' By MATT COUGHLIN Bucks County Courier Times Two "demons" made an appearance at a Tullytown church a few weeks ago, according to the pastor. The two walked into St. Michael the Archangel Church on Levittown Parkway in Tullytown about five and a half weeks ago and introduced themselves as "demons," Rev. Michael C. DiIorio said Tuesday. DiIorio said the two individuals, whom he declined to describe, walked around after Sunday Mass asking to speak with the pastor. When parishioners pointed DiIorio out, the two walked up to him and said they were "demons" and...

Buenos Aires, Jan 28, 2008 / 11:34 am (CNA).- In Argentina the trial of Cesar Beguiristain has begun, the 20 year-old leader of an Afro-Brazilian, satanic cult accused of carrying out the ritual killing of a 12 year-old street boy. Last week Beguiristain confessed to killing “Ramoncito,” a street boy who the cult leader said “had agreed to sell his soul to the devil.”He was captured in the city of Lomas de Zamora near Buenos Aires and had been on the run for over year after fleeing the city of Corrientes where he was accused by a 14 year-old boy...

It's easy to forget that Halloween isn't the same carefree holiday for every child in our community.In the central city, some neighborhoods can be scary places all year round. These are not places where you feel comfortable allowing young children to go from house to house accepting treats.In areas where drug dealing, gunfire and other negative elements exist, you think twice before allowing young kids to knock on every door. Mac Weddle, executive director of Northcott Neighborhood House, 2460 N. 6th St., thinks some of today's children will never get to know about the kind of Halloween fun their parents...

CathNews alerts us to the potential problem: Nicole Kidman has denied that a new film she's making is anti-Catholic. The movie features an organisation known as "The Magisterium", which kidnaps children to remove their souls.The Brisbane Times reports that Kidman told a US magazine that her Catholic faith affected her consideration of the script for the film, which is titled The Golden Compass.The fantasy film is based on a novel by Philip Pullman called Northern Lights. It is already attracting attention in the US for avoiding much of the book's perceived anti-Catholic rhetoric.Kidman said some of the religious elements...

Anti-Christian Children's Novel Coming out as Time Warner Film in December starring Nicole Kidman By Elizabeth O'Brien LOS ANGELES, August 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The best selling novels of atheist author Philip Pullman, which were written specifically to indoctrinate children with anti-Christian values, have sparked the creation of a controversial new fantasy film to be released this December 7 by New Line Cinema - a Time Warner Company. Starring Nicole Kidman, "The Golden Compass," is based on Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, which includes "Northern Lights" (re-titled "The Golden Compass" in the United States), "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber...

On Dec. 7, 2007, the movie "The Golden Compass," based on the first book in the fantasy trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" by atheist Philip Pullman will be released in theaters throughout the world. Pullman wrote his fantasy trilogy because he was so upset by the Christian evangelism of C.S. Lewis in his wonderful series of Christian tales entitled "The Chronicles Of Narnia." Pullman is an avowed atheist who has dedicated his life to undermining Christianity and the Church among young readers. The film's release is only another example of a culture spiraling away from faith, a culture into which...

No statutory rape charges filed even though man admitted sexual affair with 16-year-old girlfriend COEUR d'ALENE -- The 20-year-old man who admitted torching the Lake City Junior Academy might not spend a day in prison, but his underage girlfriend could spend 20 years there thanks to his testimony. Jason Howry pleaded guilty to first-degree arson as a part of a plea deal. He'll be sentenced on Nov. 8 in 1st District Court. Howry's 16-year-old girlfriend, Jacqueline Smith, is being charged as an adult. She's facing conspiracy to commit arson and first-degree arson charges. Her attorney, Doug Phelps, said plea bargain...

17 July 2007, 11:54 Young Muscovite’s passion for Satanism drives her mother to lethal stroke Moscow, July 17, Interfax - 14-year old Muscovite Tatiana’s passion for Satanism has ended in a tragedy in her family. Another family row in which Tatiana threatened to cut her veins if her parents did not let her go to meet her friends drove her mother Lyubov Ivanovna to a stroke. A few days later she died in hospital, the Komsolomolskaya Pravda daily writes on Tuesday. ‘Yes, I pushed my mom too far. I am sorry, of course, though we kept abusing each other. I...

A North Carolina judge has ruled that any religious text can be used to swear in a witness or juror in the state's courtrooms, not just the Bible. State law currently allows witnesses preparing to testify in court to take their oath in three ways: by laying a hand over "the Holy Scriptures," by saying "so help me God" without the use of a religious book, or by an affirmation using no religious symbols. The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of a Muslim woman who wasn't allowed to take her oath on the Quran.

A controversial new public relations campaign by animal-rights group PETA proclaims Jesus Christ to have been a vegetarian, and portrays the Last Supper ? complete with 12 "disciples" including Beatle Paul McCartney and lesbian country-music singer k.d. lang ? as a spectacle meant to inspire mankind to forsake eating meat. The outreach has been built into a 28-foot 1955 Silver Streak Airstream trailer wherein the "Last Supper" is re-created, surrounding Jesus with famous vegetarians, officials of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told WND. Dallas artist Greg Metz's work first was displayed in his hometown, then in Columbia, S.C.,...

RIESTS are to work alongside Italian police officers to tackle a rising tide of crimes linked to devil worship. The clerics were seconded to the Squadra Anti Sette, the anti-sect squad, by the Vatican when church officials became worried about the number of churches being desecrated by satanists. In recent months there has also been a string of murders that have been linked to devil worship. One of the Vatican's leading experts on satanism and the occult, Don Oreste Benzi, said the curiosity of young people meant they were particularly attracted to the occult, and drugs were used to influence...

Black X Mass has been a San Francisco tradition since 1997. Over the years the audience has ranged from people who don't celebrate Christmas, to those who want to detox from a day of heavy dysfunction with their celebrating relatives and contemplate the possibility that they were adopted, to people who have recently moved to San Francisco and have no local family with whom to celebrate. Black X Mass is presented by the First Satanic Church and its founder and high priestess, Karla LaVey. "It's basically a variety show. There are outlandish acts that are really good musically. There's a...

Holloween is abomination to God almighty! A celebration of the occult and the worship of Satan! It is from Holloween that we get all of societies ills such as drug abuse, incest, abortion, homosexuality and the bird flu epidemic. What is Holloween? Holloween is an evil holiday that commemorates the birthday of Satan the god of this world. It's just like Christmas but instead of getting presents from a tree and singing carols, satanists sacrifice babies and molest little boys. They also drink blood and eat live animals! It originated in an evil country called Ireland. In the nineteenth century,...

Vatican's Chief Exorcist Repeats Condemnation of Harry Potter Novel ROME, March 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Vatican's chief exorcist, Rev. Gabriele Amorth, is reported to have repeated his condemnations of the Harry Potter novels yesterday.  According to press reports, Fr. Amorth, said of the books, "You start off with Harry Potter, who comes across as a likeable wizard, but you end up with the Devil. There is no doubt that the signature of the Prince of Darkness is clearly within these books."  "By reading Harry Potter a young child will be drawn into magic and from there it is a...

A man who said he worshipped Satan and enjoyed killing three people, stabbing and beating them and stomping on them with steel-toed boots, was executed Tuesday. Darrell Ferguson, 28, the youngest person put to death in Ohio since 1962, died by injection at 10:21 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. He had asked for the death penalty and chose not to pursue appeals, which could have delayed his execution for years. Ferguson was the second inmate executed using the state's new lethal injection protocol, adopted after an execution in May was delayed while prison staff struggled to find a...

Richard Ramirez Accused Of Killing 13 People In Mid-1980sLOS ANGELES -- The state Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence of "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, who is on death row for 13 murders he committed during a crime spree that terrorized the Southland in the 1980s. In a 104-page ruling, the state's highest court unanimously rejected Ramirez's claim that numerous errors were made in his trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. Ramirez, who is now 46 and on death row at San Quentin State Prison, was sentenced to die for the crimes after a high-profile trial. Along with the murders,...

America is in peril. Terrorism, illegal immigration, crime, drug abuse, hijackings, racism and the diminishing of our Judeo Christian heretige by government schools, Multi-national corporations, political correctness, and liberal Democrats are taking its toll on this nation. It's hard to imagine that God hasn’t destroyed us given the way we just stick our finger in his eye. Could it get any worse. Yes it does! All around America a dangerous trend from centuries past has begun to creep into our once proud Judeo Christian nation and it making a come back all across the nation. Square Boggle. (Or 2Boggle as...

All across Norway precautions are being mounted to prevent churches being torched on June 6, 2006 - 06.06.06. The Church Employer and Interest Organization (KA) has decided upon a safety first approach, and warned all responsible for Norwegian churches to be on guard on the day. "We do not wish to contribute to increased attention on this matter, but to signal a potential risk," KA division leader Øystein Dahle told newspaper Vårt Land. Dahle said he would have preferred to ignore the date, but must recognize that certain circles are fascinated by the date, and the association with the number...

Finnish Eurovision winners Lordi have been defended against claims of Satanism by their country's ambassador to the UK. "This is entertainment," Jaakko Laajava told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "Let's not take this too seriously." "They have produced an album called The Devil Is A Loser and maybe that tells a little bit about this," he continued. The mask-wearing hard rock band have been accused of promoting Satanism by some conservative Greek organisations. We are all very thrilled and encouraged by this Jaakko Laajava, Finnish ambassador Their win "shows that people are seeking something to prop themselves on and fill...

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. (AP) -- Almost half of a $273,000 grant awarded in 2002 to fight the Goth culture in Blue Springs has been returned because of a lack of interest -- and the absence of a real problem. Blue Springs received the grant two years ago from the Youth Outreach Unit, money the city and U.S. Rep. Sam Graves trumpeted proudly as a way to fight a perceived Goth problem. But $132,000 of the grant was returned because officials never found much of a problem with the Goth culture, which some students called a fad that most people eventually...

Week after week, federal agents pored over hundreds of leads in the Alabama church arson investigation, but again and again they led to dead ends. A month went by, and no arrest seemed imminent. Then in a frenzied few hours agents capped a month of tedious police work Wednesday when they arrested a pair of campus actors and a third college student in the string of nine church arsons that spread fear through rural Alabama.

This is just so hard to believe," said the state fire marshal, Richard W. Montgomery, after Alabama authorities caught the arsonists who burned nine churches. "My profile on these suspects is shot all to heck and back." The church burners were three bright college students from good families: Benjamin N. Moseley, Russell L. DeBusk Jr. (both 19, from the Methodist-related Birmingham-Southern College), and Matthew Lee Cloyd (age 20, from the University of Alabama, Birmingham). Mr. Moseley and Mr. DeBusk were theater majors, active in campus productions. They got roles in a movie and were making a film themselves. On the...

Church arsonists tied to Satanism College boys had dark side, dabbled in occult, say friends Posted: March 11, 2006 6:30 p.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com While the "all-American college boys" arrested for a series of church arsons claimed they had committed their crimes for the fun of it – with no religious or political motivation – new reports from friends say the students dabbled in the occult and Satanism. Benjamin Moseley, Russell Debusk, Matthew Lee Cloyd Benjamin Moseley and Russell DeBusk, 19, were theater students at Birmingham-Southern College. Matthew Cloyd, 20, lived in the same dorm as DeBusk, an academic...

One of Britain's highest-profile jails is at "full stretch" to deal with the number of Muslim inmates facing terrorism charges, the Chief Inspector of Prisons has warned. Anne Owers raised fears about the treatment of Muslim prisoners at Belmarsh maximum security jail in London - including the men accused of the July 21 attempted bombings. She said prison officers did not understand Muslim inmates' social and religious behaviour. The chief inspector said: "The prison's high security and special security units were at full stretch, holding among others those suspected of the failed suicide bomb attempts of July." About 100 of...

The Marquis de Sade: The Left’s Man of Diverse ‘Sexual Orientations’ Sunday, March 05, 2006 America is undergoing an extreme makeover and the wrecking crews are Leftists. They believe that everything about our civilization is an illusion—including our created condition as either man or woman. In other words, because they do not believe that God exists or the Bible is true, our civilization and condition are merely social constructs. To the wreckers we are but plastic figures that can be melted down and remolded. The wrecking crews conceal their insane ambitions behind deceptive code words such as diversity, multiculturalism, sensitivity,...

BUSTO ARSIZIO, Italy (Reuters) - Five Satanic cult members received heavy prison sentences on Tuesday for killing the singer of their amateur rock band and two other women in brutal ritual murders that shocked Italy. Nicola Sapone, one of the leaders of the "Beasts of Satan" rock band, was sentenced to life behind bars for the double homicide in 1998 of singer Fabio Tollis and his girlfriend Chiara Marino. The group had apparently believed that Marino, who was stabbed to death under a full moon, was the personification of the Virgin Mary. She was 19. Tollis, 16, took a fatal...

Folks, EWTN has made available on-line a very interesting series originally published in L'Osservatore Romano, entitled, Sects and Satanic Cults. It consists of six articles dealing with various aspects (phenomenological, anthropological, psychological, legal, doctrinal and pastoral) of the growing and disturbing phenomenon of practices connected with the cult of satanic sects. The essays have been prepared in collaboration with the Bologna-based Organization for Research and Information on Sects, while adoctrinal reflection has been written by Bishop Angelo Scola through the good offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What follows is EWTN's summary of each article. I...

CHICAGO, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Chicago police held an 18-year-old self-described Satanist Sunday for allegedly kidnapping two children in a bizarre plot to win back his ex-girlfriend. David Rodriguez was charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping and ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail. Prosecutors said he planned get his girlfriend back by carving a pentagram into the chest of a 6-year-old girl. Authorities said Rodriguez and a 15-year-old boy grabbed the girl and her 8-year-old brother by the wrists Friday as they waited for their mother outside a library and dragged them away. The kidnapped boy was turned...

CHICAGO -- Authorities believe a teenager accused of abducting two young children in Chicago intended to perform a demonic ritual in order to get a former girlfriend back. Prosecutors said David Rodriguez, 18, and a companion snatched Erika Castillo, 6, and her older brother, Oscar, outside a Little Village library on Friday and planned to carve a pentagram in the girl's chest. Police said Rodriguez made up an errand to get rid of Oscar and took the Erika into his home. "He told me to take a paper to the doctor," Oscar told NBC5. Police said Rodriguez and a friend...

The fixation with the occult dates back to apartheid, writes Gavin du Venage in Cape Town A CHURCH custodian is murdered in the dead of night and his mutilated corpse, bearing vicious stab wounds to his head and side mimicking those of Jesus Christ on the cross, is left in front of the altar. On the ground, in the victim's blood, is written the word "Satun" (sic). The Halloween slaying of 53-year-old Charles Jacobs, janitor at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in the quiet, church-going town of Paarl, east of Cape Town, is the latest in...

The last time Don Glossop saw his customers they were ritually burning green candles, hoping voodoo would pierce the federal bureaucracy and hasten the arrival of desperately needed relief checks. Glossop's shop, New Orleans Mistic, has been closed since Hurricane Katrina swamped the city two months ago, and most of his clients, who practice a local variant of voodoo, have scattered across the country. He fears that Katrina, which laid waste to entire neighborhoods and claimed hundreds of lives here, may take another casualty: New Orleans' status as the country's voodoo capital. "As of today I would say it's pretty...