But those states also have Republican governors, who would have raised holy hell if their constituents had been menaced by these roving mobs of mendicants.
Some clerics control enormous charitable foundations worth billions of dollars through donations from followers and budgets from the state, while others operate modest local mosques with minimal resources.
—
Narges Bajoghli,
Time,
13 Jan. 2026
Iran has been a theocracy since 1979, when clerics toppled a secular monarch allied with the West, leading to the formation of the Islamic Republic led by Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Smith belongs to a generation of preachers who first came to prominence in the aughts.
—
Sam Kestenbaum,
Vulture,
2 Jan. 2026
The Australian Federal Police are also looking into alleged hate preachers as part of their investigation and will execute further search warrants in the coming days, police commissioner Krissy Barrett said on Thursday.
Last December, they were ordained to be transitional deacons by Cardinal Robert McElroy, who was then head of the San Diego diocese and is both a controversial and consequential figure in the Catholic church.
—
Alex Riggins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
25 Dec. 2025
As eight priests, two deacons and the Milwaukee archbishop celebrated Mass at the altar, Grunwaldt skirted the back, quietly keeping the operation running.
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