tumbleweed41
Resident Liberal Hippie
(CNN) -- Authorities are negotiating with a religious cult in southwestern Mexico, trying to persuade leaders to allow public schools to operate in the isolated community, state media reported.
"It is a problem of fundamentalism," Michoacan state government secretary Jesus Reyna Garcia told Mexico's state-run Notimex news agency on Wedesday.
The talks came after residents of New Jerusalem blocked roads into the community and attacked children, parents and teachers trying to enter a house that had been converted into a school. Three people were injured in the clashes Monday, state officials said.
In July, members of the cult destroyed the only school building in the town, saying the Virgin of the Rosary, who they worship, told them school buildings were built by the devil and were to be demolished.
SOURCE
Children and parents attempting to attend school last Monday at a home converted to a public school, after the old school was burned down, were attacked and pelted with rocks by this group that broke off from the Catholic church years ago. They claim the public schools are the work of the Devil.
The isolated town is named New Jerusalem, and was founded by an ex-Catholic priest and his followers decades ago.
"It is a problem of fundamentalism," Michoacan state government secretary Jesus Reyna Garcia told Mexico's state-run Notimex news agency on Wedesday.
The talks came after residents of New Jerusalem blocked roads into the community and attacked children, parents and teachers trying to enter a house that had been converted into a school. Three people were injured in the clashes Monday, state officials said.
In July, members of the cult destroyed the only school building in the town, saying the Virgin of the Rosary, who they worship, told them school buildings were built by the devil and were to be demolished.
SOURCE
Children and parents attempting to attend school last Monday at a home converted to a public school, after the old school was burned down, were attacked and pelted with rocks by this group that broke off from the Catholic church years ago. They claim the public schools are the work of the Devil.
The isolated town is named New Jerusalem, and was founded by an ex-Catholic priest and his followers decades ago.
