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Students at Spanish college forced to take exorcism class

A publically funded college in Spain has told students that it is compulsory to attend a course given by a priest who is an expert in exorcisms.

Students at Spanish college forced to take exorcism class
Father José Antonio Fortea Cucurull, who is leading the seminar on exorcism. Photo: Public domain/Wikimedia Commons.

The University College of Barberán and Collán (Colegio Mayor Universitario Barberán y Collán) is connected to the public research institute Complutense University of Madrid, and is also funded by Spain’s Defence Ministry.

But some of its curriculum doesn’t seem quite typical of a publicly-funded institute.

The college is requiring its 196 students – who are all members of military families – to attend a theological conference focused on “the fields related to the devil, exorcisms, being possessed and hell”, according to newspaper El Diario.

A woman who answered the phone at the college told The Local that there was seminar about exorcism, but could not immediately confirm other details.

The seminar called “The Evil” is set to take place on Thursday evening and will be led by Father José Antonio Fortea Cucurull, author of such works as “Summa dæmoniaca” – a treatise on demonology which includes a manual for exorcists.

The session is part of a series of lectures, which fall under organized activities that the students are required to attend, unless they have a valid excuse – as signs announcing the “obligatory” exorcism lecture remind students.

While El DIario writes that the required lecture has caused some outrage among students, no one has yet submitted a formal complaint.

The school does not have to disclose its activities to the Complutense University of Madrid.

The college receives funding in two ways: from monthly fees from the students, and through a subsidy from the Defence Ministry.

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RELIGION

Al-Azhar university calls for Sweden boycott over Koran burning

The Sunni Muslim world's most prestigious educational institution, Al-Azhar in Egypt, has called for the boycott of Swedish and Dutch products after far-right activists destroyed Korans in those countries.

Al-Azhar university calls for Sweden boycott over Koran burning

Al-Azhar, in a statement issued on Wednesday, called on “Muslims to boycott Dutch and Swedish products”.

It also urged “an appropriate response from the governments of these two countries” which it charged were “protecting despicable and barbaric crimes in the name of ‘freedom of expression'”.

Swedish-Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan on Saturday set fire to a copy of the Muslim holy book in front of Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm, raising tensions as Sweden courts Ankara over its bid to join Nato.

EXPLAINED:

The following day, Edwin Wagensveld, who heads the Dutch chapter of the German anti-Islam group Pegida, tore pages out of the Koran during a one-man protest outside parliament.

Images on social media also showed him walking on the torn pages of the holy book.

The desecration of the Koran sparked strong protests from Ankara and furious demonstrations in several capitals of the Muslim world including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned” the Koran burning, expressing “deep concern at the recurrence of such events and the recent Islamophobic escalation in a certain number of European countries”.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned Paludan’s actions as “deeply disrespectful”, while the United States called it “repugnant”.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price on Monday said the burning was the work of “a provocateur” who “may have deliberately sought to put distance between two close partners of ours – Turkey and Sweden”.

On Tuesday, Turkey postponed Nato accession talks with Sweden and Finland, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Stockholm for allowing weekend protests that included the burning of the Koran.

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