SORCERY KILLING

'Witch' burned alive in S. Pacific

Associated Press

PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA - A mob stripped, tortured and bound a woman accused of witchcraft, then burned her alive in front of hundreds of horrified witnesses in a Papua New Guinea town, police said. It was the latest sorcery-related killing in the South Pacific island nation.

Some took photos of Wednesday's brutal slaying. Pictures were published on the front page of the country's two largest newspapers, while the prime minister, police and diplomats condemned the killing.

Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old mother, had been accused of sorcery by relatives of a 6-year-old boy who died in a hospital on Tuesday.

She was tortured with a hot iron rod, bound, doused in gasoline, and then set alight on a pile of car tires and trash in the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mount Hagen, police spokesman Dominic Kakas said.

2-9-13

This 1998 photo of a Huli Tribesman in Papua New Guinea was among more than 200 recently auctioned by Christie's. The photos fetched $3.7 million, including the "Afghan girl" ($178,900).

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2-8-13

OHIO
ACLU files lawsuit over Jesus portrait

A portrait of Jesus that hangs prominently in an entranceway at a rural Ohio public school is in violation of the U.S. Constitution and should be removed, a federal lawsuit filed Thursday says. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation say the large portrait at Jackson Middle School unconstitutionally promotes religion.

BISHOP THOMAS W. WEEKS III AND JUANITA BYNUM
From 'Hallelujah' to 'Aw, Hell!'

They tied the knot in a lavish, million-dollar wedding with 1,000 guests, a wedding party of 80, a 12-piece orchestra and a nearly eight-carat diamond ring. Every aspect of televangelist Juanita Bynum's 2002 wedding to Bishop Thomas Weeks III seemed like a blessing from on high, and the duo went on to take the Christian world by storm building their Duluth, Ga., church, Global Destiny Ministries, which became one of the largest in the South. But the fairy tale was short-lived. Fast-forward to August 2007, when Weeks attacked Bynum in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel. Bynum told officers that Weeks "choked her, pushed her down, kicked and stomped her...until a bellman pulled him off her." After denying any wrongdoing, Weeks later pleaded guilty to assault charges to avoid a messy public trial and was then sentenced to three years' probation. The prominent prophetess and women's empowerment speaker told reports that she saw signs of trouble in her marriage well before the assault. The God-fearing couple filed for divorce in late 2007. The next year, Bynum ramped up her message of confidence and empowerment to speak out about her own domestic violence by appearing on two episodes of Divorce Court. On the show, she admitted, "Suicide crossed my mind... You know, I felt hopeless. I didn't because if I had done that, I would have given too much power to an individual to not just wipe me out but to wipe out the integrity of the legacy I was born in." In 2009, Bishop Weeks went on to marry a second time in a private ceremony, opting to stay away from the media spotlight that shined so brightly with Bynum.

THE REV. FREDERICK K.C. PRICE
When: 2007
WTH: When an episode of ABC's 20/20 about well-heeled televangelists aired a sound bite from one of Price's sermons stating, "I have my own private jet, and I have my own helicopter, and I have seven luxury automobiles", the church community saw red. The quote was taken out of context, according to Price, 75, senior pastor of the 23,000-member Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles, who later filed a defamation suit against the network explaining he had actually been giving an example of bad success in his sermon.
The Outcome: ABC issued a full retraction and gave an on-air apology.

PASTOR CREFLO DOLLAR
When: 2007
WTH: Dollar, founder and senior pastor of World Changers International in College Park, Ga., an 85,000 seat sanctuary with 30,000 members, was one of five televangelists at the focus of a congressional investigation to determine if church-owned airplanes, luxury homes and credit cards were being utilized for personal use.
The Outcome: On Jan. 6, 2011, the Senate Finance Committee found no proof of wrongdoing on the part of Dollar and the other televangelists.

THE REV. JEREMIAH A. WRIGHT JR.
When: 2008
WTH: When a video surfaced of then-Sen. Barack Obama's pastor screaming, "God damn America!" from the pulpit, Republicans and political pundits took to airwaves and lambasted the former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago for being anti-American and racist.
The Outcome: Wright's comments were denounced by Obama.

BISHOP CLARENCE E. MCCLENDON
When: 2003
WTH: In 1991, McClendon became the senior pastor of Full Harvest International Church in South Bay, Calif. In 2003, after 16 years of marriage, he divorced his wife, Tammera, stating that he was not called to marriage but to preach. Seven days after his divorce, he married his second wife, Priscilla Delgado.
The Outcome: McClendon still presides over Full Harvest and Clarence E. McClendon Ministries, which produces a weekly international television broadcast.

BISHOP HEZEKIAH WALKER
When: 2006
WTH: Walker, a preacher and Grammy-winning gospel artist, was accused by an online media outlet of being a closeted gay man and of leaving his wife, Monique, to be with his male lover. Walker denounced the allegations of homosexuality, stating that they were lies.
The Outcome: Walker and his wife eventually divorced, and in 2008, he became Bishop Walker.

"I am not a perfect man, but this thing - I'm going to fight"
Bishop Eddie Long