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In August, 2011, a Texas jury convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs of child sexual assault in a case stemming from two young followers he took as brides in what his church calls “spiritual marriages.”

Jeffs has appealed his conviction with 'revelations' in which Jesus Christ allegedly demands his release, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has turned down the appeal.

A California pastor's assault on a 13-year-old boy took place during a Bible study session as a circle of men watched, newly released court records say.

The pastor has other legal problems as well.

In today's issue: The widow of Rex Humbard, the world's first televangelist, dies. An Agape Ministries cult member gets his ammunition back. A court orders gated communities in Puerto Rico to provide access to Jehovah's Witnesses.

Plus a short, but though-provoking documentary on the Westboro Baptist Church -- a hate group that masquerades as a Christian church.

Gregory and Garnet JaLea Swezey have been found not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of their 17-year-old son.

They had been accused of relying on faith healing instead of getting their son proper medical attention

The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a jury's rejection of an insanity defense in the case of a woman who suffocated her 3-year-old son by forcing him to drink oil and vinegar because he was possessed by a demon.

In June 2011 Latisha Lawson was sentenced to 62 years in prison.

Pastor Charles O'Neal of Beaverton Grace Bible Church in Oregon is trying to silence critics by filing lawsuits against them -- even though the Bible teaches that Christians should not file lawsuits against other Christians.

The family being sued says it was shunned after leaving the church a few years ago.

A religious cult leader has been sentenced to six years to life for raping his daughter and allowing his friend to rape her as well.

Terrill Dalton, who called himself the 'Holy Ghost,' promised the girl "great blessings" if she had sex with him.

Gregory and Garnet Swezey of Carlton, Washington are on trial on charges of second-degree murder in the death of their 17-year-old son.

Their lawyer: if you ask the Swezeys what they would have done if they knew it was a ruptured appendix, and that their son was dying, “They both say, they don’t know."

In his appeal, Abram Harker Jeffs claimed that the state had insufficient evidence to prove that a sexual relationship had occurred between him and his wife, whom he married when she was 14 years old.

He was one of 12 men indicted after a 2008 law enforcement raid on the sect's Texas-based ranch.

The second-degree murder trial of a faith healing couple whose teenage son died of a burst appendix is underway.

17-year-old Zachary Swezey died of a burst appendix while his parents and other members of the Church of the First Born prayed for his recovery, and failed to call a doctor or ambulance.

A little over two years ago former Nazi Paul Schaefer, who founded a secretive German cult in Southern Chile in the 1960s and was later convicted of sexually abusing children, died of heart failure in a prison hospital.

But today, ten years after Chilean police raided Colonia Dignidad's properties, many of his victims are still seeking closure from the human rights abuses they experienced.

Kevin Hague, drugs spokesman for New Zealand's Green Party, has alleged in Parliament that the Church of Scientology is using tax-payer money to promote an anti-psychiatry agenda and messages against medication used to treat mental illness through charities disguised as social service organisations.

Through its front groups the cult wages an extended hate campaign against psychiatry and psychiatrists.

A decade-long court dispute over a child neglect case that spawned a legal battle over faith healing, ended Tuesday with two guilty convictions for the girls' mother and friend.

Sherman and Crank say they will appeal the conviction, and the case is expected to test Tennessee state laws that allow parents to make medical decisions based on their faith.

A man charged in April with raping a woman in a Santa Ana, California motel room under the pretense of performing a "spiritual cleansing" involving raw eggs has been charged with sexually assaulting a second woman using the same ruse.

The second victim came forward after seeing reports of the first case on a Spanish-language television station.

Fugitive Agape Mininstries cult leader Rocco Leo and former cult member Martin Penney have settled their lawsuits against each other.

Rocco Leo fled to Fiji in May 2010, just before police raided his Agape Ministries properties where they discovered thousands of rounds of ammunition and guns.

Amid global euphoria over reforms in Burman-majority parts of Burma, life has changed little for more than 3 million Christians and other minorities left to suffer from one of the world’s longest running civil wars.

While it is largely a struggle for self-determination in all ethnic states and all civilians suffer in the crossfire, the Burman-Buddhist dominated Burmese troops are often accused of being harsher on Christian civilians than on their Buddhist counterparts.

Cult leader Bert Potter dies; a look at how Jim Jones manipulated politicians in San Francisco; and Kate Bornstein is no longer afraid to speak out about Scientology.

Also in this religion news briefing: the rise of paid, online worship in India; plus: 15 years after committing suicide the website of the Heaven's Gate cult is still online.

Plus: why more Ugandans are turning to Witchcraft, and why a lawer thinks trafficking in brides might be OK.

Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times changed an anti-Scientology speech by Australian Senator Nick Xenophon into an anti-Islam speech by switching the terms.

Amid concerns for his safety, the senator says the paper's apology is too little, too late.

Judges says Samuel Mullet had prior knowledge of the attacks and that he defended the assaults in media interviews.

They also said Mullet exerts such complete control over his community that members have refused to talk to the FBI until he gives permission.

Followers of José Luis De Jesus Miranda -- a man who has claimed to be both Jesus Christ and the Antichrist -- claim they and their leader will be 'transformed' on June 30th.

And, according to one of the cult members, “All those that are not believers are going to be destroyed.”