March

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March 1, 1562
Catholics attacked a Calvinist service in Wassy-sur-Blaise in Champagne and massacred the worshipers. This triggered the first of eight wars know as the French Wars of Religion. Between 2 million and 4 million people died before it ended.

March 3, 2007
Several conservative Christian groups are urging the National Association of Evangelicals to force its director to stop speaking out on global warming. The conservative leaders say they are not convinced that global warming is human-induced or that human intervention can prevent it. And they accuse the director of diverting the evangelical movement from issues, like abortion and homosexuality. Updated on our blog.

March 5, 2001
Thirty-five Hajj pilgrims were trampled to death in a stampede during the stoning of the Devil ritual during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

March 6 to March 25
Aztec flaying of captives. Priests wear the victim's skin for 20 days. Update on the skins.

March 6, 1475
Michelangelo is born. Go to our blog to see three of his masterpieces.

March 7, 2008
A recent study by Mental Health America, the country's oldest independent mental health advocacy organization, ranked Utah the most depressed state in the country. Seventy percent of Utah's residents are Mormon. And they love their porn, too. See our blog.

March 8, 2007
Sixty percent of Americans can't name five of the Ten Commandments, and 50% of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married.

March 9, 2007
Mayan priests in Guatemala will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said.


March 10, 1993
Michael Frederick Griffin (left) murdered Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Florida. This was the first killing of an OB-GYN for performing abortions. Griffin was sentenced to life in prison.

March 11 2008
Police raided a wedding between a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl in Pakistan's largest city, arresting the Muslim cleric officiating at the ceremony and the children's parents.

March 11, 2004
Madrid train bombings by a Muslim al-Qaeda-inspired terrorists cell. One hundred and ninety one people were killed and 1,755 were wounded.

March 12, 1993
Bombay stock exchange bombed by Muslims.

March 13, 2007
Rep. Pete Stark of California announced he is an atheist. He is the first and only congressman to proclaim to be an atheist. Maybe some of the others are fibbing?

March 14, 2007
Some Muslim cashiers at Target in Minneapolis refuse to handle pork, setting off another debate over the place of religion in society.

March 15, 2002
Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress.

March 16, 1190
The Jews in York England are massacred by the Crusaders in Clifford's Tower. Another English massacre and expulsion of Jews on our blog.

March 16, 2003
Good news. Those Internet posting about Barack Obama being the AntiChrist are not true according to Pastor John Hagee. The AntiChrist will be gay and part Jewish, Hagee said. See a CNN report on our blog.

March 17, 2000
Seven hundred and seventy-eight members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God commit mass suicide in Uganda. Updated on our blog.

March 18, 2008
Negotiations are underway to build the first Catholic church in Saudi Arabia. Currently, no religion other than Islam is allowed to schedule public services, and even the possession of bibles, rosaries, and crucifixes is forbidden. There are around 800,000 Catholics in Saudi Arabia, virtually all of who are foreign workers. Updated on our blog.



March 19, 2007
Scores of students waited outside the Supreme Court for a chance to listen to arguments in a test of student speech rights - a high school senior's display of a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Updated on our blog.

March 20, 1995
Sarin nerve gas released in Tokyo subway by Aum Shinrikyo a Japanese "new religious movement." Updated on our blog.

March 21 2001
Destruction of Buddhas Statue of Bamiyan (right) in Afghanistan by Muslim extremist. Video of the destruction.

March 22, 2005 (publication date)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel denounce an ultra-Orthodox Israeli scholar and science writer because he doesn't believe the earth is 6,000 years old.

March 23, 2006
Bosses at a Stockholm hospital have asked a nurse called Jesus to change his name, after concerns that it might cause confusion among patients. According to Jesus, his superiors were worried that patients told "Jesus will be coming soon," might get the wrong idea.

March 24, 2006 (publication date)
The judge presiding over the prosecution of an Afghan man facing death for converting from Islam to Christianity said that he would resist any interference, despite mounting international condemnation. The case was dismissed two days later. Afghan student receives 20-years for blasphemy (see our blog).

March 25, 2005 (use photo)
A chocolate cross is being sold this Easter by Russell Stover Candies in about 5,000 stores nationwide, over the objections of some religious officials.

March 26, 1997
Thirty-eight members of Heaven's Gate kill themselves in California. They decided to "shed their containers" and get on a companion craft hiding in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet.

March 27, 1991 (publication date)
At regular intervals -- sometimes weekly -- Sheik Jaber of Kuwait was said to marry a young virgin on Thursday night, the eve of the Islamic sabbath, only to divorce on Friday.

March 28, 1984
Seth Ian Glaser, 17 months, died in Culver City, California of bacterial meningitis. His parents used only a Christian Science "practitioner" and obtained no medical care for Seth.

March 29, 2002
Pictures (link) of the yearly crucifixion and flagellation in the Philippines. It happens every Easter. They don't do bunnies. See our blog for Mexico's Good Friday Passion plays.

March 30, 2005 (day of meeting)
In a rare show of unity, Christian, Jewish and Islamic leaders unite to try to stop a gay pride festival in Jerusalem.

March 31, 1685
Johann Sebastian Bach, the greatest western composer of religious music is born. See our blog for a cut from Bach's Mass in B minor and samples of religious music from around the world.

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