Violation of the sacred. The tractate Meilah in the *Talmud is concerned with the subject of sacrilege in the *Temple. Today *Torah *scrolls, *tefillin, *siddurim, *synagogues and their furnishings and cemeteries should all be treated with respect....

SACRILEGE is typically defined as "violation or theft of the sacred." It originates from the Latin sacrilegium or sacer (sacred) and lego (to gather or to steal). In addition to the literal theft of sacred objects or the violation of...

Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. In a less proper sense, any transgression against the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the...

A Muslim-born woman who was forced to spend six months in an Islamic rehabilitation center because she wants to live as a Hindu said Friday after her release that she will never return to her original faith.Revathi Masoosai, 29, said officials at the center tried...

Roman Catholic officials reminded the faithful Monday it is sacrilegious to buy or sell religious relics, after news reports and a church Web site suggested fans of Pope John Paul II could get a piece of his white cassock by making an online donation.For several...

Global Warming: A noted Canadian climatologist gets death threats for refusing to embrace climate-change orthodoxy -- what Czech President Vaclav Klaus calls a "religion." Will skeptics suffer the fate of Galileo?In 1633, Galileo Galilei was indicted by the church "for holding as true a false...

Royal Philips Electronics NV reported strong increases in fourth-quarter and full-year earnings Monday thanks to the sale of its semiconductor division, a move the technology conglomerate said has put it on the path to more stable earnings.Philips, which makes consumer electronics, high-end medical equipment, energy-saving...