News Roundup for June 21, 2011
The anti-Muslim hate group Stop the Islamization of America has its first 鈥淭rans-Atlantic Conference鈥 to be held in Strasbourg, France, on July 2. Participants include representatives of various far-right groups, including Stop the Islamisation of Europe, the English Defence League and the German-based Pax Europa.
A Kansas City couple 13 months in prison without parole on charges of fraud after attempting to withdraw funds from a fictitious account and use the money to pay off more than $220,000 in debt. Defendant Roderick Moore claimed the account had been assigned to him by the U.S. Treasury at birth. Such accounts are part of the bizarre belief system of antigovernment 鈥渟overeign citizens.鈥
Four Wisconsin teens were on hate crime charges for allegedly assaulting a 17-year-old girl after making derogatory remarks questioning her sexual orientation.
A special task force has announced a in anti-gay hate crimes in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico鈥檚 justice secretary reported that there have been 23 murders of gay and transgender people since 2009, when a transgender teen was decapitated, dismembered and set on fire.
A top figure in the Southern Baptist Convention a recent SBC resolution against the 鈥渋mposition鈥 of Shariah in the U.S. The head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Richard Land, previously stated his support for the Oklahoma ban on Shariah law, calling it a 鈥減re-emptive strike鈥 against 鈥渏udicial imperialists鈥 who would take Shariah into account in rulings.