May 1, 1492King Ferdinand of Spain (left) announced that all Jews had three months to leave Spain. It is estimated that about 250,000 people left. Other estimates run from 100,000 to 800,000 people leaving.
May 2, 2007
New Jersey's openly-gay former Governor, James E. McGreevey, has been accepted into a three-year Episcopal seminary program. He was formally a Roman Catholic.
May 3, 2006
Islamic militants massacred 35 Hindus in Doda and Udhampur districts in Jammu and Kashmir.
May 4, 2007 (publication date)
Three of the ten Republican candidates for the presidency in 2008 did not believe in evolution. See our blog about VP pick Sarah Palin.
May 5, 1821 (Napoleon Bonaparte dies)
“I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay hands on everything they can get.” Napoleon
May 6, 1989
Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo dies in Mexico. Constanzo was a Cuban-American bisexual cult leader and drug smuggler. He was in the habit of ritually sacrificing other smugglers. He flew below the radar until he killed an American college student, Mark Kilroy. Kilroy's body was dismembered and his heart, genitals and spine were used to make a magic stew.
May 7, 2007
Yahweh ben Yahweh (left) dies from prostate cancer. Yahweh was the founder of the Temple of Love, a black Israelite sect that believes blacks are the lost tribe of Israel and that true Jews and white people are devils. Yahweh and his followers killed more than 14 people.
May 8, 2007
Using cells derived from human embryos, scientists in Massachusetts say they have repaired damaged retinas in mice, saved other animals who suffered catastrophic heart attacks and restored blood flow in the limbs of mice damaged by blood clots. The Catholic Church is opposed to research involving human embryos. Update -- stem cell research ban overturned.
May 9, 1487
Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for "The Hammer Against Witches") was submitted to the University of Cologne's Faculty of Theology for their endorsement. The faculty condemned the book, but it eventually became the handbook for witch-hunters and Inquisitors throughout Late Medieval Europe. Tens of thousands of people were burned as witches.
May 10, 2007
Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse lookalike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination.
May 11, 1986
During Pentecostal evangelist Peter Popoff healing crusades he would call out the names, addresses, and illnesses of strangers who were in attendance. In 1986 the news broke that Popoff’s amazing “revelations” were actually broadcast to him by his wife after she had conversed with members of the audience.
May 12, 2006
A murder case unsolved for 26 years was brought to an unexpectedly quick and dramatic end yesterday after jurors convicted a 68-year-old Toledo priest, Gerald Robinson, in the brutal, ritualistic murder of a nun.
May 13, 2008
If aliens exist, they may be a different life form that does not need Christ's redemption, the Vatican's chief astronomer said. Jesuit Father Jose Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory, said Christians should consider alien life as an "extraterrestrial brother" and a part of God's creation.
May 14, 2004
Nigeria deploys soldiers to quell religious killing of Christians by Muslims. Several hundred civilians died. The bloody riots were sparked by Christian attacks on Muslims the previous week. Christian extremists with automatic weapons and machetes killed between 500 and 600 Muslims.
May 15, 2008
Joe Barron, (right) a minister at the Prestonwood Baptist Church, one of the largest churches in the United States, was arrested for solicitation of a minor after driving from the Dallas area to Bryan, Texas, in order to allegedly engage in sexual relations with what he thought to be a 13 year-old girl he had met online. The "girl" turned out to be an undercover law enforcement official.
May 16, 2008
Pastor John Hagee (left) explains the end of days, the Rapture and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ are imminent. In a 2006 interview, Hagee described Hurricane Katrina as "God's retribution for a planned gay pride parade."
May 17, 1977
“Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.” Reverend Jerry Falwell (right) on Crossfire.
May 17, 2004
Texas state comptroller Carole Strayhorn revoked the tax exempt status of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Denison, Texas by claiming that the church is not a religion because it has no set beliefs. She later reversed her decision.
May 18, 2006
When the ancestors of human beings and the ancestors of chimpanzees parted ways 6.3 million years ago, it was probably a very long goodbye. Some of their descendants may even have gone back for a final tryst.
May 19, 2008
Gambian President says he will “cut off the head” of any homosexual caught in his country. He said Gambia was a country of believers, indicating that no sinful and immoral act as homosexual would be tolerated in the country. Witch hunters are also terrorizing Gambians. See our blog.
May 20, 2006
A English woman who claimed she set fire to her apartment in a pagan ritual gone wrong was jailed for three years. Patricia Swift caused £50,000 worth of damage to her home, claiming she was burning everything a man who was trying to kill her had given her.
May 21, 2008 (print date)
John Hagee, the controversial evangelical leader, argued in a late 1990s sermon that the Nazis had operated on God's behalf to chase the Jews from Europe and shepherd them to Palestine.
May 22, 2007
A quarter of younger Muslim Americans support suicide bombings in some circumstances according to a Pew Research Center poll.
May 23, 1618
At Prague Castle, Protestants tried two Catholic governors for violating the Right of Freedom of Religion, found them guilty, and threw them out of the window. They landed on a large pile of manure and survived. Roman Catholic officials claimed they survived due to the mercy of angels. Protestants said that their survival had more to do with the horse excrement. This incident marked the beginning of the Thirty Year War which devastated Europe.
May 25, 1521
The Edict of Worms was issued. It declared Martin Luther to be a heretic and banned the reading or possession of his writings.
May 26, 1527
Anabaptist leader Michael Sattler was arrested by Roman Catholic authorities, along with his wife and several other Anabaptists. He was tried and sentenced to be executed as a heretic. As part of his execution, his tongue was cut out, and red hot tongs were used to tear two pieces of flesh from his body. He was then taken outside the city by wagon, and the tongs were used on him five more times. After that, he was burned at the stake. The other men in the group were executed by sword, and the women were executed by drowning.
May 26, 1643
Alse Young was the first person in the records executed for witchcraft in the thirteen American colonies. She was hanged in Hartford, Connecticut.
May 28, 2007
The Creation Museum opens in Petersburg, Kentucky. The museum presents the origins of the universe, life and mankind according to a literal reading of the book of Genesis. See a video on our blog.
May 29, 2007 More than three-quarters of Americans believe the Bible is literally the word of God or inspired by the word of God, according to a trio of Gallup surveys, with 19 percent saying the Bible is a compendium of myth and legend.
May 30, 1976
Anneliese Michel undergoes an exorcism in Germany and dies on July 1, 1976. Two Catholic priests and her parents were convicted of manslaughter resulting from negligence. They received suspended sentences. Two motion pictures are loosely based on the story. Our blog has a video of the exorcism.
May 31, 2008
Washington DC residence gather at a gas station to “Pray at the pump” for cheaper gas prices.
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