Christians, Satanists offer dueling displays
LANSING, Mich. – Christians and Satanists put up competing displays Sunday on the Michigan Capitol grounds as Christmas week got underway.
The Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple set up its “Snaketivity Scene” featuring a snake offering a book called “Revolt of the Angels” as a gift. The snake is wrapped around the Satanic cross on the 3-feet by 3-feet display. Capitol rules require that displays have to be taken down each night.
In a videotaped interview with the Lansing State Journal, Satanic Temple spokeswoman Jex Blackmore said her group doesn’t worship Satan but does promote individuality, compassion and views that differ from Christian and conservative beliefs.
Word of the Satanic Temple’s plans led state Sen. Rick Jones, a Grand Ledge Republican, to erect a Nativity scene on Friday featuring baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary. He put it back up Sunday morning.
Jones said he was happy to “represent the light and not the darkness.”
Precipitous plunge continues with gas
CAMARILLO, Calif. – The average price of regular gasoline nationwide has dropped another 25 cents a gallon in the past two weeks, to $2.47.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that prices will likely keep falling.
Lundberg says the average price of regular gasoline is the lowest it’s been in more than five years.
She says lower crude oil prices are driving prices down, along with an abundant oil supply and the rising value of the U.S. dollar.
The highest-priced gas in the Lower 48 was found in Long Island, New York, at $2.82 a gallon. The lowest was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at $2.06 a gallon.
Pakistan arrests suspects in attack
ISLAMABAD – Authorities made several arrests in the case of the Taliban school attack that killed 148 in the northwestern city of Peshawar, on Sunday, officials said.
“Quite a few suspects who were facilitators in one way or the other have been taken into custody,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said, adding that the interrogations were “moving ahead in a positive manner.” He did not disclose their identities or say how many they were.
Seven Taliban gunmen wearing explosives belts stunned the world Tuesday by storming into the military-run school and slaughtering 148 people, including 132 students. Another nearly 121 students were wounded in the ensuing eight-hour siege of the school, located in an area where many military families live.
The group claims it attacks to establish a ruling system based on its own harsh brand of Islam. It has killed thousands over nearly a decade.
The Taliban say they attacked the school in revenge for an army operation against them in North Waziristan, launched in mid-June. The army says it has so far killed over 1,200 militants in the operation.
Associated Press
