The Rev. Hugh King, a prominent Pensacola pastor and civic leader, has been charged with possession of cocaine. King posted a $1,000 bond early Saturday morning on the third-degree felony charge after he was booked into Escambia County Jail. Elvin McCorvey, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that King's arrest was a tragedy for the local community. "I'm very disappointed that this has happened, because Rev. King was a man that I held in high esteem," McCorvey said. "He always seemed to be a fine person." King could not be reached for comment. King, 53, is pastor of the Greater Union Baptist Church , one of the largest black churches in Pensacola, and also serves on the board of trustees for Community Maritime Park Associates Inc. The former Pensacola City Council member was arrested late Friday evening at A and Blount streets by Pensacola police, who reported finding a plastic bag with cocai...

Virgin Mary Spotted In Cherry Tree Leo Korte of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was cutting down his cherry tree with the help of a friend this past Good Friday, when they noticed something peculiar. Korte and his friend both noticed what they thought look like an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe , also known as the Virgin Mary, in the rings of the tree. They added some oil to the tree and the image became clearer. Then, one day after the cherry tree was cut down, it blossomed! (Note: Isn't this ironic? A virgin is found hiding, in of all places, within the rings of a "cherry" tree.) link

A former Holly Hill pastor was arrested in Marietta, Ga., on a Volusia warrant charging him with exploiting an 89-year-old woman he befriended through his church, prosecutors said Wednesday. Robert Nelson Riddle, 56, was arrested by the Cobb County Police Department, with the help of the FBI offices in Atlanta and Daytona Beach. His bail was set at $50,000. Investigators say Riddle, the former pastor of Ridgewood Avenue Community Church, had deceived Filordea Lelli of Ormond Beach and took more than $80,000 from her. State Attorney's Office officials said more charges are expected as investigators continue to probe other missing funds from the church and the alleged purchase of a twin-engine plane with church funds. link

My Sweet Lord , the chocolate Jesus by Cosimo Cavallaro The overwhelming force of the religious right was demonstrated this week when an exhibition by an international artist to be held in mid-town Manhattan was cancelled after a campaign was launched against it on the ground that it was disrespectful towards Christianity. My Sweet Lord, a 6ft representation of Jesus, was to have been unveiled over holy week in a gallery on Lexington Avenue but was withdrawn under fire from the Catholic League, an organisation of religious conservatives with 300,000 members. The group objected to the fact that the sculpture is made of more than 200lbs of chocolate and that the figure's genitalia are on display. On Thursday the league sent emails to 500 other religious groups - including Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist with a combined reach of millions - calling on them to boycott the Roger Smith hotel in which the gallery, the Lab, is based. Within 24 hours the hotel was so inundated with c...

During Holy Week we are treated to a variety of decent-sounding people in print and on the airwaves explaining that religion — or "faith" as they now prefer to call it —is basically all about shared moral values, making the world a better place and gaining a proper sense of awe at life's mystery. We are given to understand that the great world religions are all really fumbling towards the same truth. And by doveish voices we are urged to join what is essentially a campaign for increasing the amount of goodness in the world. Who could be against that? Such faith sounds so reasonable. Churlish nonbelievers like me are made to feel it is we who are being arrogant, dogmatic, closed-minded. How can we be so sure? And then this. A nun has apparently been cured of Parkinson’s disease through writing the name of John Paul II on a piece of paper. Ecclesiastical authorities in the Roman Catholic Church have been investigating the alleged miracle, interviewing neurologists, grapholo...

Warsaw, Poland - Polish politicians reacted angrily on Thursday to a series of photos of the late pope John Paul II published with satirical captions by German newspaper Die Welt . Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga said she was 'very upset' by the pictures, which are accompanied by texts claiming that they represent a series of miracles performed by the late pontiff. 'This does not demand a pronouncement from the Foreign Minister, but as a private person, especially at Easter, I must say I'm shocked,' Fotyga said according to the PAP news agency. President Lech Kaczynski called the satire disturbing, while the Catholic-conservative League of Polish Families called it scandalous and called for a boycott of the newspaper, the wire added. The series of pictures, posted on the website Welt Online on Tuesday, presents genuine photographic images of John Paul II taken at various stages of his pontificate. One picture shows an aged Pope holding up a communion wafer the size of ...

LUMBERTON N.C. — While teenagers were in one room learning Bible verses at Vacation Bible School, the Rev. Ronald Lee Simpson was in his office making sexual advances toward one of his youth members. The 14-year-old girl was called to Simpson's office at St. Matthews Missionary Baptist Church for arguing with her cousin during Bible class. The boy apologized, then Simpson sent him out of the office. He told the girl to stay. He later asked for a hug. "I didn't think anything of it. I thought he was a pastor, and he just wanted a hug from one of his members," said the girl, who is now 18. "When I hugged him, he grabbed my butt. I thought, ‘What is this man doing?'" The girl sat on the sofa at her home in Lumberton as she talked about what happened over a two-month period in 2004. It was the first time she has talked about the incident since Simpson, 42, pleaded guilty last week to statutory rape of a 12-year-old. The 12-year-old, who did not attend Simps...

A former Rice Lake pastor is charged with raping a 17-year-old boy 20 years ago. Now, that victim is speaking out. Doug Guillen says he struggled for years with drug and alcohol abuse before putting a gun to his head. He says before he could pull the trigger, he says he realized it's not his fault. It was a child that saved Doug Guillen from himself. "I wanted to shoot myself but I cant, I have a little girl. I'll be damned if I'm going to shoot myself and he's still out there," Guillen says. Guillen, who used to live in Rice Lake, now calls Fort Lauderdale, Florida home. He has a wife and 16-year-old daughter. Guillen was just 17, when he says his pastor raped him. The man charged with raping him and forcing him to perform sexual acts also now live in Florida. But, in the summer of 1987 their paths crossed in Wisconsin. "I think when I see him in court it's going to make me feel a lot better," Guillen says. 56-year-old Angel Toro was a pastor a...

A blast from a year ago: Christians pray for heart-surgery patients In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications. Researchers emphasized that their work can't address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another's behalf. The study can only look for an effect from prayers offered as part of the research, they said. They also said they had no explanation for the higher complication rate in patients who knew they were being prayed for, in comparison to patients who only knew it was possible prayers were being said for them. Critics said the question of God's reaction to prayers simply can't be explored by scientific study. The work, which followed about 1,800 patients at six medical centers, was financed by the Templeton Foundation, which supports research into science a...