=== Life Space / Shakty Pat Gury Foundation
1. Ex-Life Space Leader Held
2. 8 Life Space members arrested in man's death
3. Japan Police Arrest Cult Leader, Seven Others

=== Life Space; Kaeda Juku
4. 'Mummy' cultists face charges

=== Waco / Branch Davidians
5. Attorney wants press at Mount Carmel re-enactment
6. Flashes on infrared video won't mean government liability, U.S.
attorney says

=== Falun Gong
7. Banned Sect Member Dies in China
8. Chinese police detain sect member involved in knife attack

=== Scientology
9. Church member's death now called accident
10. Scientologist's death 'accidental'
11. Paris Match Exposes Scientology Front Group
12. 'Scientology has punishment camp in Denmark'
13. Experts: Influence from Scientology growing

=== Mormonism
14. Mormon genealogy spawns new computer businesses

=== Hate Groups / Hate Crimes
15. KKK can't fund public radio, court upholds
16. Man on a mission sues Aryan Nations
17. Devil Dogs escape close public scrutiny
18. Terrorists use Islamic charities, relief groups, American
investigators say
19. Feds seek death for race-linked shootings (Bufford)
20. Farrakhan son charged in domestic case

=== Other News
21. NZ lawyer warning on John Avanzini Ministries
22. Man convicted of murdering stepdaughter in exorcism attempt
23. Self-described vampire sentenced for murder of homeless woman
24. Fortunetellers see green in city's future
25. Controversy erupts over ad (SDA-related)
26. Pat Robertson's '700 Club' fuels clergy protest
27. Muslim fights to make three wives legal
28. Iran Court Overturns Death Sentences (Baha'i)

=== Pokemon
29. Pokepervs?
30. Christian school bans kids' craze

=== Religious Freedom
31. Aggressive evangelism stirs anger among faiths

=== Noted
32. Churches give hell a makeover
33. Voicing His Faith (M.C. Hammer / Trend among blacks)

=== Books
34. New Evidence may not be strong enough to convert readers

=== The physicians around the corner
35. Drilling a hole in my head cured my fatigue


=== Life Space

1. Ex-Life Space Leader Held
Asahi News (Japan), Feb. 22, 2000
http://www.asahi.com/english/asahi/0222/asahi022202.html
Police this morning arrested the former leader of Life Space, a group that
conducts self-enlightenment seminars, and six others in connection with the
death of a man whose mummified body was found last fall at a Narita hotel,
officials said.

Chiba prefectural police arrested Koji Takahashi, 61, at a hotel in Oarai,
Ibaraki Prefecture, on suspicion of failing to take adequate care of the
66-year-old man, who was suffering from cerebral hemorrhage, resulting in his
death.

The mummified body of Shinichi Kobayashi, an unemployed man in Kawanishi,
Hyogo Prefecture, was found Nov. 11, about four months after his death.

Takahashi and Kobayashi's family members have maintained that Kobayashi had
been receiving medical treatment from Takahashi at the hotel. Using the
so-called Shakty Pat treatment, the cult leader gave the patient continuous
pats on his head.

Kobayashi's family paid 8 million yen to the Shakty Pat Guru Foundation
(SPGF), a group affiliated with Life Space, for the treatment, investigation
sources said.
(...)

Takahashi, a licensed tax accountant, established Life Space in 1983. The
group has hosted a number of self-enlightenment seminars, with each
participant paying several tens of thousands of yen to participate, the
sources said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


2. 8 Life Space members arrested in man's death
Daily Yomiuri (Japan), Feb. 23, 2000
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/0223cr02.htm
Police arrested eight members of the Life Space cult, including its former
leader, Koji Takahashi, on Tuesday morning on suspicion of abandoning a man
to die.
(...)

Police are questioning the suspects on details concerning Kobayashi's death
and are trying to discover more about the cult. According to police, the
suspects removed Kobayashi from the hospital without the doctors' approval
and flew him to Narita.

At a hotel in Narita, Takahashi administered to Kobayashi what the cult calls
''shakty pat'' therapy, in which the patient's head is struck, and the patient
is not given any medicine or water, the officials said. Kobayashi choked to
death the next day on his own phlegm, the officials said.

Kobayashi's mummified body was found in one of the hotel rooms on the evening
of Nov. 11, but the suspects insisted that Kobayashi did not die until the
police conducted an autopsy, the officials said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


3. Japan Police Arrest Cult Leader, Seven Others
Yahoo/Dow Jones, Feb. 22, 2000
http://asia.biz.yahoo.com/news/asian_markets/dowjones/article.html?
s=asiafinance/news/000222/asian_markets/dowjones/Japan_Police_
Arrest_Cult_Leader__Seven_Others.html
(...) Besides Koji Takahashi, 61, the leader of Life Space, police arrested
on Tuesday seven of his followers, including Takahashi's 38-year-old wife
Nobuko, and the wife and son of Shinichi Kobayashi, the man who had died.
(...)

Takahashi, a silver-bearded former tax accountant, told reporters later that
Kobayashi was undergoing treatment for an illness and required ''complete
rest.'' Kobayashi had been receiving treatment for a stroke at a hospital
when Life Space followers forcibly took him out last July, police said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Life Space / Kaeda Juku

4. 'Mummy' cultists face charges
Hong Kong Standard/AFP, Feb. 23, 2000
http://online.hkstandard.com/today/default.asp?PageType=aas4
(...) The Life Space guru and his disciples astounded the public at the time
by insisting they had been taking care of the body for four months because
Kobayashi was supposedly still alive.
(...)

''We have decided to arrest the members after interviewing the doctors and
examining what the group's members did to the sick man,'' he said. The cult
leader appeared to be ''relaxed'' when he was taken into police custody in
the seaside resport of Ooarai, northeast of Tokyo, the police spokesman said.
(...)

Following the discovery of the body in November, Takahashi told news a
conferences that Kobayashi was ''absolutely alive.'' ''He was alive when
police said they would conduct an autopsy on him. I am absolutely sure about
it,'' he said.
(...)

In a separate case, police in southern Japan's Miyazaki city served fresh
arrest warrants on an another cult's leader and a disciple for failing to
help a dying child whose mummified body was discovered last month.

The warrants accused 56-year-old Kaida-juku cult leader Junichiro Higashi and
a 49-year-old female member of leaving a six-year-old boy with kidney disease
to die without proper medical treatment in January 1998.

''I am the agent for the creator,'' Higashi reportedly told investigators
when he was arrested. He said that the boy might be ''dead in your world''
but ''there is the possibility of his resurrection. We are good people''.

The pair had already been detained for allegedly abandoning the boy's body,
which was mummified when it was discovered by police on January 20 in a
luxury villa in Miyazaki.

''They did not give necessary medical treatment to keep the boy alive,''
police said in a statement.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Waco / Branch Davidians

5. Attorney wants press at Mount Carmel re-enactment
Waco Tribune-Herald, Feb. 21, 2000
http://www.accesswaco.com/auto/feed/news/local/
2000/02/21/951191917.00891.0022.0356.html
Houston attorney Mike Caddell said Monday that he's confident an agreement
will be reached to let the press view the re-enactment of the final day at
Mount Carmel scheduled to be staged in mid-March at Fort Hood.
(...)

''It's beginning to look like everyone but the press will be there,'' Caddell
said. ''That serves no purpose but to create unnecessary suspicion. I believe
everyone will eventually see the wisdom of having the press at the
demonstration.''

Both the plaintiffs and the government have stated they support opening the
re-enactment to the media. Danforth, however, filed a motion Friday in Waco
opposing such a move.
(...)

Caddell pledged to make videos of the test available.

''If we do the tapes and they don't show a damn thing, we're going to release
them,'' he said. ''If we do the tapes and they show gunfire, we're going to
release them. If we do the tapes and they show swamp gas from Venus, we're
going to release them. Good or bad, we're going to release them. If we're
going to do that, why shouldn't we have the press there?''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


6. Flashes on infrared video won't mean government liability, U.S. attorney
says
Waco Herald-Tribune, Feb. 18, 2000
http://www.accesswaco.com/auto/feed/news/local/
2000/02/18/950926040.00891.3719.0140.html
Showing that infrared video can detect weapons fire won't constitute a
smoking gun proving that government agents shot at the Branch Davidians on
April 19, 1993, said U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford of Beaumont.
(...)

The Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) video from Mount Carmel shows repeated
flashes, but no people are visible. ''If there's a flash in the testing, you
can't just conclude that means there was gunfire on April 19th,'' Bradford
said. ''To me, that would mean the opposite. It would indicate it's not a gun
flash because you can't see a person there. There's more to be analyzed than
just the flashes.''
(...)

''No one has suggested the FBI was so stupid as to run around Mount Carmel
firing weapons in an exposed, standing position,'' said Caddell, lead attorney
for the plaintiffs. ''The protocol will start out with guys in a prone
position on the ground. If those people disappear from the thermal imaging
after a few minutes, I think the government's got no case. What's Michael
Bradford going to say then?''

Caddell also has questioned whether the clothing worn by government agents
shielded them from detection.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong

7. Banned Sect Member Dies in China
AOL/AP, Feb. 22, 2000
http://my.aol.com/news/story.tmpl?table=n&cat=01&id=2000022212149986
Chinese authorities force-fed a hunger-striking member of the banned Falun
Gong spiritual movement, injuring his wind pipe, infecting his lungs and
eventually causing his death, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Liu Xuguo, a Falun Gong practitioner from the eastern province of Shandong,
went on a hunger strike over the Lunar New Year holiday, which began Feb. 5,
to protest his imprisonment in a labor camp, the Information Center of Human
Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.
(...)

Before the Lunar New Year, Liu was sentenced to three years in a labor camp -
a punishment police can hand down without trial, the Information Center said.
It said he started his hunger strike to protest the sentence.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


8. Chinese police detain sect member involved in knife attack
Court TV/AP, Feb. 18, 2000
http://www.courttv.com/world/2000/0218/falun-gong_ap.html
Chinese police detained a member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement
after she allegedly attacked and injured a man with a knife, an official
newspaper said.

The 22-year-old woman had dreamt that the man she attacked in his sleep had
previously attacked her, so she decided to kill him, the Yangcheng Evening
News said in its Thursday edition, seen Friday in Beijing.
(...)

The woman, identified in the report only by her surname, Yuan, said she was
''prompted by a type of Falun Gong thinking,'' thenewspaper claimed.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Scientology

9. Church member's death now called accident
St. Petersburg Times, Feb. 23, 2000
http://www.sptimes.com/News/022300/TampaBay/Church_member_s_death.shtml
Medical examiner Joan Wood now is calling the 1995 death of Scientologist
Lisa McPherson an ''accident,'' a change that is causing prosecutors to rethink
their case against the Church of Scientology.

Wood's original ruling called the manner of death ''undetermined.''

Scientology's top executives, clearly pleased Tuesday, called the switch
''extremely significant and a huge development that dramatically affects the
state's case.''

They said it supports their view that McPherson's death while in the care of
Scientology staffers in Clearwater was sudden, unpredictable, ''undiagnosable''
and not the church's fault.

Assistant State Attorney Doug Crow, the lead prosecutor in the case, called
the change ''something of major significance we need to review.'' He declined
to discuss how the case might be affected, adding: ''We really need to
evaluate that, and we'll take some time to do that.''

The church is charged with two felony counts -- abuse of a disabled adult and
practicing medicine without a license. McPherson, 36, had become psychotic as
church staffers tried for 17 days to quiet her during an unusual Scientology
''isolation watch.''
(...)

The civil case against Scientology, filed in Hillsborough County, is a
different matter. Tampa lawyer Ken Dandar, who represents McPherson's family,
said his wrongful-death case against the church is not diminished by Wood's
change, though he added she needs to explain it.
(...)

Gone from the new report is the original reference to the bed rest and
dehydration. Wood still traces the death to a blood clot behind McPherson's
knee. But she lists McPherson's psychosis and a minor auto accident as major
factors.

The latter reference is significant because it suggests support for the
church's view that the cause of the blood clot that killed McPherson was a
bruise she suffered in a minor auto accident just before church staffers
began to care for her at Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel.
(...)

Dandar, whose experts were present for the re-tests, disputed Rathbun's
statements on the eye fluid, the dehydration and the source of the blood
clot.

If anything, Dandar said, the new eye fluid tests show McPherson was more
dehydrated than Wood originally thought. He said his experts say that
dehydration causes blood clots, despite what Scientology says.

He also disputes the church's theory that a bruise from McPherson's auto
accident caused her fatal blood clot. His experts say there is no way a clot
could have remained behind her knee for 17 days without causing some effect
sooner.

In addition, a blood clot in one lung would not have been enough to cause
death in a healthy adult such as McPherson, Dandar said. The medical
evidence ''destroys everything they say,'' Dandar said. ''They can't get around
that.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


10. Scientologist's death 'accidental'
Tampa Tribune, Feb. 23, 2000
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGI0IFQD05C.html
(...) Prosecutors had charged church officials with practicing medicine
without a license and abusing a disabled adult. They now will decide whether
to dismiss those charges.

The ruling could affect a civil case pending in Tampa in which McPherson's
relatives are seeking millions in compensation from the church.
(...)

Wood's decision also prompted a bid by the church to stop the release of an
estimated 10,000 pages of investigative reports and witness statements just
hours before they were due to become public record Tuesday.

The church wants to give prosecutors time to decide whether to withdraw the
criminal charges before the documents become public, defense attorney Sandy
Weinberg said.
(...)

The criminal charges contend that the 36-year-old McPherson was force-fed
unprescribed medicine and forcibly restrained by church officials during the
last 17 days of her life. Prosecutors have alleged that she lost 57 pounds in
that time, but Weinberg said Tuesday the only evidence to back that up was
Wood's original autopsy report.
(...)

McPherson, a Scientologist for 13 years, was involved in a minor traffic
accident Nov. 18, 1995. She then disrobed and began walking down the street.
Police took her to a downtown Clearwater hospital, where a psychiatric nurse
was called. She subsequently checked out and left with church officials.

She spent the next 17 days inside the church's spiritual headquarters, the
Fort Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater. Church officials eventually took
her to a hospital in New Port Richey that had a Scientologist doctor. She was
pronounced dead on arrival.
(...)

Weinberg and church director Mike Rinder both predicted the criminal case
will now unravel. If prosecutors do not dismiss the two felony charges, in
which the church faces a maximum $15,000 fine, then the case will be
dismissed by a judge on freedom of religion grounds, Weinberg said.
(...)

But Ken Dandar, the family's lawyer, said the new autopsy findings could work
against the church.

Wood still lists ''severe dehydration'' as part of her ''final anatomic
diagnosis.'' Dandar said that shows that McPherson was mistreated at the Fort
Harrison Hotel. Also, by adding psychosis as a significant condition, Wood
has made it clear that McPherson was unable to exercise her freedom of
religion in her final days, Dandar said.

The church does not believe in psychiatric care, its officials have said.
McPherson, who moved to Clearwater from Texas to study advanced church
teachings at the Fort Harrison Hotel, did not want to be treated in a
hospital that provided psychiatric care following her car accident, church
members said.

Church critics contend McPherson was trying to leave the church, which they
argue is actually a cult created by the late science fiction writer L. Ron
Hubbard as a way to make money.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* For background information regarding Lisa McPherson, see:

Lisa McPherson Memorial Page
http://www.lisamcpherson.org/

Why are these people dead Scientology?
http://www.xenu.net/archive/deaths/


11. Paris Match Exposes Scientology Front Group
From: K. Gordon Neufeld <gordon_neufeld@my-deja.com>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.unification,alt.religion.scientology
Date: 19 Feb 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <88n690$bbv$1@nnrp1.deja.com>
Full text: http://www.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=587391840&fmt=text

(...)
Modus Operandi: Infiltration
An Investigative Report by Thomas Lardeur
PARIS MATCH , February 17, 2000
[Translated from the French by Gordon Neufeld]

(...)
This, then, is how it all came out. Some outside informants called us to let
us know that one of the commercial documents of Valgo makes reference to Ron
Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. We immediately terminated our
relationship. Until then, at no time was I informed of any link with
Scientology. I felt terribly guilty as a result, because it was me that
brought them into the company.''

This story is not an isolated case. Other French enterprises have recently
decided not to work any longer with Valgo, after discovering their connection
with Scientology. It is easy to understand why they fell so ill-used: Valgo
presented itself in effect as a management consulting firm like all the
others. Except that it was not in fact like the others.

Valgo appears in an unedited document which we obtained titled, ''Annual
International Report of Scientology Businesses.'' Dated from 1999, this
internal guide for the cult numbered 2,427 Scientology-related businesses
presently operating in all areas of business: management, marketing,
communications, hospitality, education, music, administrative services, media
- One half of them are domiciled in the United States, which is not
surprising for a movement which began there and which receives considerable
political support and financial advantages because of being recognized by the
American authorities as a religion. But as well, more surprisingly, the
document reveals that Scientology-related businesses are active in the
majority of European countries. And this even in nations that have openly
denounced the cult-like character of Scientology, for example, Germany. In
this latter country, the document enumerates 160 businesses, even though
certain states have forbidden German Scientologists from working in
government positions. In France, again according to the guide, there are 34
Scientology-related businesses, more than three times as many as in 1991.
This in spite of many court judgments against leading members of the cult, in
Lyon in 1995 and in Marseille in 1999, not counting the two parliamentary
reports in 1995 and 1999 which were very critical of the Church of
Scientology.
(...)

The position of the Church of Scientology itself is ambiguous towards WISE.
For Marc Bromberg, Director of Inter-religious Affairs for Europe, WISE is an
''independent association that protects the copyrights of L.R.H.'' and which
has ''no ties whatever with the Church of Scientology.'' One would certainly
have a right to doubt this.

The majority of the members of WISE are prominent Scientologists who are
not shy of working with other Scientologists.
(...)

The second link is financial. In order to practice, consultants must buy a
licence from WISE, in exchange for which the agree to remit, in the form of
royalties, between 6% and 9% of their profits. Which means that companies
that work with these consultants contribute indirectly, under the guise of
royalties, to the house of Scientology.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

[Thomas Lardeur is the author of the book, ''Les sectes dans l'entreprise'',
editions d'Organization, 1999]


12. 'Scientology has punishment camp in Denmark'
alt.religion.scientology,alt.religion.scientology.new-church,alt.religion.scientology.xenu, alt.scientology,talk.religion.scientology
Subject: NEWS in DK: 'Scientology has punishment camp in Denmark'!
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 11:01:36 +0100
Message-ID: <88r2mg$ms8$1@news.cybercity.dk>

[From the article series in the major danish newspaper 'Jyllands Posten' on
the crimes of the 'Scientology' cult. The index page, in danish, is now
counting 15 very critical articles:


http://www.jp.dk/

Some of the pages require a membership of the Internet version of this
excellent newspaper. -A free 30 days membership is available here:

http://www.jp.dk/cgi-bin/dbpublish.dll?page=abonnent/bestilling/prove]

(...) [Short resume in english]

Former members of Scientology are comparing the sects European Headquarter
[AOSH-EU] in Copenhagen with the punishment camps in the old Sovjet. Where
hard work, imprisonment and constant supervision made people into 'living
wrecks'.
(...)

At the moment are approximately 700 Scientologists from foreign countries in
Scientologys danish headquarter for Europe and Africa. [Translator. AOSH-EU:
Advanced Organisation Saint Hill for EU and Africa.]
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


13. Experts: Influence from Scientology growing
Berliner Morgenpost (Germany), Feb. 12, 2000
Translation: CISAR
http://cisar.org/000212a.htm
Sect experts have warned of increased activity by the Scientology
organization in Germany. The group has also been gaining footholds in the new
federal states, said Ursula Caberta y Diaz, Director of the Work Group on
Scientology at the Hamburg Interior agency. Primarily in Sachsen, there is
strong activities by the U.S. organization, which is trying to make contacts
in companies and government agencies.
(...)

Caberta referred to Scientology's growing influence on the U.S. government.
Since President Bill Clinton took office, the organization has frequently
been supported by American agencies. In Hamburg, she said, there were open
connections between the Scientology foreign office and the General Consulate.
At the end of 1998 in Berlin, the U.S. Embassy financed a concert for jazz
pianist Chick Corea, who is a professed Scientologist. The support for
Scientology by U.S. agencies has taken on frightening proportions.

Canadian Scientology expert Steven Kent also stated that the U.S. government
was backing Scientology because the organization is acknowledged in the USA
as a church, and it can therefore invoke religious freedom.
(...)

The sect commissioner for the SPD federal assembly faction, Renate Rennebach,
said that the activities of Scientology are a good example of why consumer
rights must be protected on the so-called psycho-market. Besides Scientology,
similarly dubious groups are often behind many seminars given to strengthen
personality. She said that consumers must have the right to withdraw from
psycho-seminars. Rennebach announced that a piece of legislation proposed by
the State of Hamburg in the past legislative period will be revamped.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Mormonism

14. Mormon genealogy spawns new computer businesses
Billing Gazette, Feb. 19, 2000
http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/20000219_r9genlgy.html
(...) Dotted along the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains are Ancestry.com,
Heritage Quest, FAMware, NickleWare, Incline Software, and Timeless Software,
all competing for attention from the estimated 113 million Americans
interested in family history.

And the Mormon church is the granddaddy of them all.

Every year about 800,000 researchers like Sollami visit the Family History
Library here, while the church's genealogy Web site received an astounding
1.5 million hits in its first six months of operation.

In fact, genealogy combines with theology for members of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, who believe dead ancestors can be brought into
the church through retroactive baptism, a sacred ordinance.

To make finding dead ancestors easier, the church has sent missionaries
around the world to track down genealogical data, hoarded millions of feet of
microfilm in a granite vault in the Wasatch Mountains, and set up 3,200
library branches to distribute it to members and nonmembers alike.

To handle that mountain of research, the church designed software in the
1980s to transmit data from system to system (Genealogical Data
Communication, or GEDCOM) and to organize and search that information (the
Personal Ancestral File, or PAF).
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Hate Groups / Hate Crimes

15. KKK can't fund public radio, court upholds
Mediacentral, Feb. 22, 2000
http://www.mediacentral.com/channels//allnews/951260742_346.html
A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling allowing a public radio station
to turn down the Ku Klux Klan as potential underwriters, the station reported
Thursday.
(...)

The ruling upholds a decision in 1998 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas
Mummert, who said KWMU was free to turn down the Klan's offer to pay for
airing 15-second announcements during ''All Things Considered,'' a news program
from National Public Radio, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.
(...)

Robert Herman, the Klan's lawyer, said he may ask the Supreme Court to hear
the case. The 8th Circuit's ruling is the KKK's second court defeat on the
issue. ''When you represent people who have opinions that are vilified, . . .
it's difficult to establish their rights,'' he said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


16. Man on a mission sues Aryan Nations
MSNBC/KHQ, Feb. 18, 2000
http://www.msnbc.com/local/KHQ/30994.asp
One of America's best-known civil rights attorneys says there's a battle
raging over the future face of America. Morris Dees says it's a war between
those who want a whites-only nation and others who dream of a diverse and
inclusive country. Dees spoke out Friday about views and how to overcome the
hate. Dees has devoted his career to suing hate groups.
(...)

Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center are suing the Aryan Nations. The
civil lawsuit will be tried in Kootenai County, and it alleges that in the
summer of 1998, an innocent mother and her son were shot at, assaulted and
then threatened by at least three aryan nations guards. ''Basically,'' he says,
''they were a bunch of ex-convicts brought into that organization.'' The case
won't go to court until this summer.
(...)

Dees has past successes to point to in his fight. He won a $12.5 million
civil lawsuit for the family of an Ethiopian immigrant killed by Neo-Nazi
skinheads in Oregon. That hate group is now in shambles. Dees hopes his suit
will have the same effect on the Aryan Nations.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


17. Devil Dogs escape close public scrutiny
Arizona Republic, Feb. 20, 2000
http://www.azcentral.com/news/0220devildogs.shtml
A violent, White supremacist gang has thrived in Gilbert, masked by the
trappings of middle-class respectability and the notion that boys from good
homes couldn't be thugs.

Known as the Devil Dogs, the gang has recruited the sons of prominent
families to help insulate it from public scrutiny, according to a jailed
member and a former police chief.

So many Mormons were members of the gang in the mid-1990s, for example, that
a Taco Bell that became a gang hangout would call church leaders instead of
police when trouble started.
(...)

''They're shrewd,'' said Fred Dees, who retired two years ago after 24 years
as Gilbert police chief. ''They're not like any other gangs I've ever seen.
''This White Power group already has power and money. They're out for hatred,
which is sick.''
(...)

The Arizona Attorney General's Office is now focusing attention on Gilbert
''because we are very concerned about the alleged White supremacist nature of
this group, the assaults and the potential for further assaults,'' Lee Stein
said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


18. Terrorists use Islamic charities, relief groups, American investigators
say
San Diego Union-Tribune/NY Times News Service, Feb. 19, 2000
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/sat/news/news_1n19charity.html
U.S. officials investigating a decade of international terrorist attacks say
they have found a common thread -- Islamic charities and relief organizations
that they suspect are being used to move men, money and weapons across
borders.
(...)

''These charities and relief groups are a crucial part of terrorism's
infrastructure,'' said one official. ''Money people give for worthy causes
should not wind up buying explosives or phony passports. But we still know
too little about how Islamic fundamentalists use and abuse these groups.''

Most of the 6,000 Islamic groups operating worldwide are considered
legitimate and provide emergency relief in dangerous and desperate places
with the support of friendly states. In addition, the officials said, the
charities often are unaware that terrorists have used them as cover.

''Most of these groups do some good works in some places,'' one official
said. ''And often, only a few officials or a single chapter involving a small
part of the charity's leadership or resources is being used.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


19. Feds seek death for race-linked shootings
San Diego Union-Tribune, Feb. 19, 2000
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/sat/index.html
Raising the stakes in one of the most highly publicized hate crimes in the
nation, prosecutors announced yesterday they will seek the death penalty
against a white supremacist who allegedly killed a Filipino-American postman
out of racial hatred and shot up a Jewish community center filled with
children.
(...)

Furrow, a Washington state mechanic associated with the neo-Nazi Aryan
Nations group, is accused of going on a shooting spree at the North Valley
Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills on Aug. 10, 1999. He wounded three
boys, a teen-age counselor and a grandmother working as a receptionist. He
fled the scene and then reportedly drove to Chatsworth, where he confronted
letter carrier Joseph Santos Ileto, then shot and killed him.

He later allegedly told authorities he attacked the Jewish center as a
''wake-up call'' for Americans to kill Jews and that he killed Ileto because
he was a ''target of opportunity.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


20. Farrakhan son charged in domestic case
Daily Southtown, Feb. 22, 2000
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/224nd3.htm
The son of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan faces a domestic battery
charge after an assault on his wife in their Crete home, police said.
(...)

Police were called to the Farrakhan home on the 3500 block of Ronald Road, in
the Lincolnshire East subdivision, at 5:06 p.m. Friday. They found
Farrakhan's wife, Lesil, 42, with a gash to the right temple, Wegmann said.

Lesil Farrakhan told police her husband hit her with a metal serving tray.
[...more...]

=== Other News

21. NZ lawyer warning on John Avanzini Ministries
The Age/NZPA (Australia), Feb. 21, 2000
http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/0002/21/A30710-2000Feb21.shtml
A Texan-based group was using the religious beliefs of some Australians and
New Zealanders to unfairly extract money from them, a New Zealand lawyer said
today.

John Avanzini Ministries, which has branches in Lower Hutt, New Zealand and
Brighton in South Australia, promised donors an abundant financial return
from God if their offering was divinely guided, said lawyer Peter McLeod.
(...)

McLeod, a parishioner at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Lower Hutt,
said the scheme 'preyed' on people's spirituality.
(...)

He had recently received a manuscript from John Avanzini Ministries called
The Offering God Must Multiply. In a covering letter, Avanzini said the
manuscript, when published, would be 'one of the most powerful books God has
ever given me'.
(...)

He had never heard of Avanzini before. He said the manuscript used carefully
selected quotations to distort Bible teachings by highlighting money.

In the 19-page manuscript, Avanzini told potential donors ' ... God has a
portion of this world's wealth set aside for you'. To receive it, people had
to make their offering to Avanzini's Christian ministry both cheerfully and
willingly.

''However, if you allow the pressure from your insufficiency to influence the
amount of your offering, God will not accept it ... you must never allow your
concern over the temporary shortage or insufficiency you are facing to
decrease the amount of your offering.''

The manuscript also said the amount of money given was the visible evidence
of the intensity of a donor's faith in God.

The Office of Fair Trading in Victoria was warning people about the scheme
just over a year ago.

At that time, the group was promising to set people 'financially free' if
they sent in a donation with copies of their bills and mortgages which would
be burnt in a special ceremony .
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


22. Man convicted of murdering stepdaughter in exorcism attempt
San Diego Union-Tribune/AP, Feb. 19, 2000
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/state/20000219-991200-exorcismdeat.html
A man accused of killing his 5-year-old stepdaughter by forcing her to drink
bleach in an apparent exorcism attempt faces 40 years to life in prison
following his conviction on second-degree murder charges.
(...)

Jessica, now 15, told jurors that she and her little sister, Alexia Reale,
were forced by their parents to drink bleach cocktails each day over the
course of several days in 1997. The cocktails, made with vanilla ice cream
and other ingredients, were supposed to remove ''demons and vampires.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


23. Self-described vampire sentenced for murder of homeless woman
San Diego Union-Tribune/AP, Feb. 18, 2000
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/state/20000218-991401-homelessslas.html
A self-described vampire has been sentenced to 23 years to life in prison for
killing a homeless woman and slashing the throats of three other people.

Joshua Rudiger, 22, of Oakland, claimed he was a 2,000-year-old vampire in
search of sustenance -- needing the blood of his victims to remain immortal.

He had pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, but a jury rejected that claim
in December and Rudiger was convicted of second-degree murder and assault.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


24. Fortunetellers see green in city's future
The Tampa Tribune, Feb. 20, 2000
http://tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGIWT688W4C.html
Daytona Beach city commissioners are making a 45-year-old ban on
fortunetelling disappear. Interest in the little-used 1955 city ordinance on
fortunetelling, palmistry and similar activities was revived Jan. 21 with a
federal lawsuit against the city by a Daytona Beach business, Cruisin & Co.

The lawsuit claimed the old city ordinance violated constitutional guarantees
for freedom of expression.
(...)

Planning board members will discuss where fortunetelling businesses would be
appropriate and what standards should apply.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


25. Controversy erupts over ad
The Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 22, 2000
http://www.dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/feb00/185103.html
Fiery advertising by a Floridabased church has drawn the ire of denominations
it attacks and one that disowns it. The Eternal Gospel Church of Seventh-day
Adventists in West Palm Beach has bought full-page ads in newspapers
throughout the United States periodically since 1997, including one in the
Feb. 12 edition of The Dispatch.

Seventh-day Adventists nationally and locally have distanced themselves from
the Florida group, calling its members extremists who are wrongfully using
the church's name.

A lawsuit has been filed by the church's national headquarters in Silver
Spring, Md., asking the federal court in Miami to order that Eternal Gospel
cease using Seventh-day, Adventist and the initials SDA to identify itself.
(...)

Perez [pastor at Eternal Gospel] said the ads, which denounce Roman Catholics
and most Protestants for worshipping on Sunday, are based on the Bible and
Adventist teachings. Eternal Gospel is among the religious bodies that
observe Saturday as the Sabbath.
(...)

The Rev. Loren Seibold, pastor of the Worthington Seventh-day Adventist
Church, called the Eternal Gospel effort ''guerrilla advertising by a very,
very fanatic offshoot of the church. The claims they make simply do not
represent Seventh-day Adventists.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


26. Pat Robertson's '700 Club' fuels clergy protest
Orange County Register, Feb. 19, 2000
http://www.ocregister.com/community/religion/rnote019w.shtml
A group of Interfaith clergy from around Southern California has launched a
campaign against ''Fox Anti-family'' programs, especially what they say is
the Rev. Pat Robertson's and his 700 Club's ''inflammatory rhetoric against
minorities, various ethnic and religious groups, gender and homosexuals.''

On Wednesday, the group, which includes Muslims, Christians and Jews, will
descend on the executive office of Fox in Los Angeles to make their
sentiments known, according to the Rev. Mel White, a pastor with the
Universal Fellowship of Community Churches and an Orange County resident.

''With all the good things Mr. Robertson has to say, his 700 Club still
''leaks rhetoric of intolerance,'' White contends.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


27. Muslim fights to make three wives legal
The Observer (England), Feb. 20, 2000
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/observer/uk_news/story/0,3879,138812,00.html
Medi Siadatan has it all: nine children, two acclaimed restaurants, one faith
and three wives. But Siadatan is not happy. Though a respected Walsall
businessman, by being polygamous he is forced to live outside the law.

Siadatan wants the British legal system to recognise that a man has the right
to be married to four partners. And he wants the law to guarantee multiple
wives the same rights as any other spouse. He is launching a challenge to the
British laws against polygamy in a move regarded as a test case.

The Iranian-born restaurateur claims that the law violates his rights to
religious freedom and has hired a French lawyer to take his case to the
European Court of Human Rights.

He married each of his three wives, aged 38, 32 and 26 respectively, in a
simple Muslim ceremony. Under Islamic law, a man is permitted to have up to
four wives.
(...)

Many Muslims say the case encapsulates the debate over whether minorities
have the right to follow their own customs or should conform to established
British traditions.
(...)

The issue is also important to other ethnic and religious communities. Some
marriages conducted according to the rites of Judaism and Hinduism are also
not legally recognised. Children of such unions can find themselves deprived
of inheritance or other legal rights.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


28. Iran Court Overturns Death Sentences
AOL/AP, Feb. 17, 2000
http://my.aol.com/news/story.tmpl?
table=n&cat=01&id=2000021710336454
Iran's Supreme Court has rejected death sentences handed down to three
followers of the minority Bahai faith, a Tehran newspaper reported Thursday.

New sentences have not yet been issued for the three Bahais, who were
convicted of unspecified anti-security acts against the state, the daily
Sobh-e-Emrouz reported. The case has been under investigation in Iran's
northeastern Khorasan province for eight months.
(...)

Bahais are considered heretics in Iran and are not recognized in the Iranian
constitution as a religious minority. The faith is based on the belief that
the will of one God is progressively revealed through the prophets of the
great religions.
(...)

Reports out of Washington said the three were arrested in 1997 for violating
a government ban on religious gatherings and have been in prison for two
years.

A State Department report last year accused Iran of implementing policies to
eradicate the Bahai faith through prolonged imprisonment of Bahais,
confiscation and desecration of holy places and denial of the right to
assemble.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Pokemon

29. Pokepervs?
ABC/Reuters, Feb. 22, 2000
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/pokemon000222.html
The principal Roman Catholic archdiocese in Mexico attacked the hugely
popular Pokemon cartoon series Monday, saying the characters incited violence
and sexual perversity among children.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


30. Christian school bans kids' craze
The New Zealand Herald, Feb. 23, 2000
http://www.herald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=119713&thesection=news&thesubsection=general
A Christian school has banned Pokemon, claiming the toys are laced with
references to the occult and promote anti-social behaviour.
(...)

Co-principal John Burgess said that what some parents considered to be
harmless fun and innocent fantasy, if annoyingly addictive, was harming
children. In a newsletter to the parents of the school's 270 pupils, he said
he had grave concerns about ''spiritual and personality issues connected with
the 'game'.''
(...)

Mr Burgess said children were encouraged to role-play Pokemon characters with
traits that ''most parents and teachers would not accept in their own
children or their friends.''

He said promotional material described various Pokemon as ''stubborn,
headstrong, quibbling, self-centred, vindictive, obnoxious, hormonal,
sexually preoccupied, evil thieving, and cross-dressing.
(...)

Mr Burgess was also concerned that the game emphasised supernatural powers
and poisoning your opponent. ''It needs to be spelled out for the parents
that it isn't just the disruption. It is something far more insidious.''

The Internet is full of anti-Pokemon Websites, claiming it is linked to the
occult.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Religious Freedom

31. Aggressive evangelism stirs anger among faiths
Pioneer Planet/Religion News Service, Feb. 19, 2000
http://www.pioneerplanet.com/seven-days/4/living/docs/000057.htm
(...) In both instances, Baptists were hit by a flood of criticism. The
United States is more religiously diverse than at any time in history, and
Christians and non-Christians alike were outraged by what they see as one
group's aggressive efforts to target other faiths and convert its followers.

But even like-minded evangelicals who share the Baptist beliefs in the
exclusive truth of Jesus' message are wondering whether the old way of making
converts works. In this day of interfaith understanding, evangelicals are
caught in a bind: How do you tell non-Christians their faith is misguided
without offending them?
(...)

''We have to recognize we're all in glass houses these days,'' said Winfried
Courdan, a professor of religion and philosophy at Taylor University in
Upland, Ind., and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society's
interfaith study group. ''We live in a society that's heavily pluralistic,
with people of different faiths and persuasions. You don't publicly
distribute literature that says, 'You're sinful and live in darkness.' ''

That point of view is increasingly shared by a number of prominent
evangelicals who say sharing the faith with nonbelievers must be preceded by
a sincere attempt to listen to and respect the other person's point of view.
These evangelicals say their civic duty may precede their religious
obligation to find converts to Christianity.

But Paige Patterson, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention,
remains unmoved. Interfaith dialogue, he says, has only so much value,
''beyond which you can't go.''

''It comes down to a question of truth,'' Patterson said. ''Every false
religious expression is a religion of darkness. That doesn't mean there are
no good things in that faith. It's not an effort to fail to notice the value
of these things. But if Jesus is to be taken seriously when he says 'No one
comes to the Father but through me,' every other proposal is one of
darkness.''
(...)

Conservative Christians rely on another biblical verse they believe comes
from the mouth of Jesus: ''I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me (John 14:6).''

To many Christians, that means heaven is available only to those who trust in
Jesus. It is this verse, more than any other, that compels evangelicals to
push for conversions.

Matt Rice, the minister of evangelism at Apex Baptist Church, is one such
evangelical. He is among the group that stood at the edge of the Mormon
temple in December handing out pamphlets. His church also took out half a
dozen ads in local newspapers explaining the difference between what they see
as true Christianity and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

''In my heart of hearts, I know we are not the same, and I know we have to
take a stand and proclaim there is a difference,'' Rice said, referring to
other faiths. ''We see it as an opportunity to educate people.''
(...)

''You appear to desire religious liberty for Bible-believing evangelicals as
long as they agree not to exercise that freedom,'' Patterson wrote in letter
to a group of Chicago interfaith leaders who asked the Southern Baptist
Convention to skip their city on their evangelism push.
(...)

''If you concede to pluralism, then the doctrines of Christ are irrelevant,''
said Cky Carrigan, Atlantic Coast coordinator for interfaith evangelism for
the Southern Baptist Convention.

But a Lutheran who lives near Apex where Baptists targeted Mormons believes
America has long respected religious diversity and that tradition should
continue.

''I cringe to think this is a form of evangelism. To me, it's a form of
hate,'' said Linda Crandall of Holly Springs. ''Evangelism should be
positive. It shouldn't be about denouncing other people's beliefs.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* (John 3:16-18 NIV) ''For God so loved the world that he gave his one and
only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. {17} For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him. {18} Whoever believes in him is
not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.


=== Noted

32. Churches give hell a makeover
USA Today, Feb. 21, 2000
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000221/1954471s.htm
(...) Ironically, as much as popular culture sharpens our visual images of
hell and its torments, both what hell is and why we end up there are
undergoing a transformation in religion.

Most notably, Pope John Paul II told pilgrims this past summer that ''more
than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively
separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.''

Theology professor Lawrence Cunningham of Notre Dame University explains the
pope's message in the context of a trend within Catholicism, in which ''there
has been a shift away from emphasizing hell and damnation.''
(...)

A similar modification is occurring in Protestant denominations. The doctrine
commission of the Church of England recently recommended a hell of ''final
and irrevocable choosing of that which is opposed to God'' instead of
medieval fire and torment. And the newest Presbyterian catechism hardly
mentions the subject at all. The diminution of hell in this version was a
''theological choice by the committee that goods news is more faithful to the
gospel than bad news,'' according to George Hunsinger, director of the Center
for Barth Studies at Princeton and a member of the catechism committee.

Of course, Christian evangelical denominations still believe in hell as a
literal place and its tortures as real and eternal. Some host a play,
Heaven's Gate and Hell's Flames, which graphically dramatizes heaven's
rewards and hell's punishments.

Nevertheless, even among evangelicals, hell as a subject from the pulpit is
less ubiquitous than before. The Rev. E.V. Hill, Baptist minister of Mt. Zion
Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, explains that of the 500
congregations in his community, including many revivalists, he is part of a
very tiny minority of clergy who ever preach on the subject throughout the
whole year.
(...)

Why this growing disparity between a popular culture that obsesses with hell
and religions that increasingly mute or refashion hell?
[...more...


33. Voicing His Faith
Los Angeles Times, Feb. 19, 2000
http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20000219/t000016231.html
(...) With the same breath and body that rhymed and danced to the worldwide
rap hit ''Can't Touch This,'' M.C. Hammer is now preaching about God.
Every Sunday night at 6, Hammer leads a dynamic hip-hop gospel prayer service
at Jubilee Christian Center, one of the largest evangelical churches in
Northern California. ''Hammertime'' draws curious kids, families and
unchurched young people of all races with its straight-up message about God
and life that honors the street credo of ''keeping it real.''
(...)

Last year, Hammer and Jubilee's Pastor Dick Bernal began talking about
starting a Sunday night service aimed at bringing the hip-hop generation to
church. The service, for which Hammer is not paid, made its debut in
September and has garnered a multicultural following of young and old from
across California. ''He's a natural. He brings in all kinds of people
because he's a celebrity and he's also an evangelist,'' said Bernal. ''He was
a casual Christian. Now, he's committed. He'll tell you himself. God had to
take his money away to get his heart.''

More people are beginning to take note. The Trinity Broadcasting Network,
for example, is collaborating with Hammer on a new Christian talk show. The
first program will be taped live from the church Sunday with Smokey Robinson
as Hammer's first guest. He also has a new album in production to be released
on his label, Worldhit Music.

Lately, there seems to be renewed interest in religion and spirituality
among the voices of the hip-hop generation--rappers. Besides Hammer's
example, rap legend Run of Run DMC was ordained as the Rev. Run and now
preaches from Zoe Ministry in New York. Lauryn Hill, the hip-hop diva from
New Jersey who snagged five Grammys last year, made her deep faith public
when she used her acceptance speech to thank God and read a passage from the
Bible. Other black artists such as Eryka Badu, Q-Tip and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
have also turned to religious narratives in their lyrics.

Some in the music industry attribute the trend to the deaths of Tupac Shakur
and Notorious B.I.G., which forced many young people to question their own
mortality. But scholars who have studied the history of the black church see
other reasons for the renaissance of religion among young African Americans.
Youths struggling in the inner city have always leaned on religion in hard
times as solace in a hostile world. But many felt uncomfortable in a
traditional church that they said dictated and judged the way they should
dress, walk and talk.

In her book, ''Reviving the Spirit: A Generation of African Americans Goes
Home to Church,'' author Beverly Hall Lawrence traces how scores of young
black professionals have begun rediscovering their roots by returning to God.
Some return for purely spiritual reasons, others see a way to make pro-black
political statements or to revive an institution for social change--one that
is still controlled by blacks.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Books

34. New Evidence may not be strong enough to convert readers
Arkasas Democrat-Gazette, Feb. 19, 2000
http://www.ardemgaz.com/week/sat/ark/rdnwrbook19.html
(...) The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict is a comprehensive overview of
the sorts of challenges likely to confront contemporary Christians.
(...)

While this fundamentalist perspective dominates the book's discussions,
McDowell includes the opinions of more liberal academics, though mostly so
that he can argue against their views.

In consequence, the chapters on modern theology and biblical criticism are
the weakest in the book.
(...)

But perhaps the best example of McDowell's problems with modern
biblical criticism occurs in his treatment of the Jesus Seminar.
(...)

In McDowell's words, ''The result of their work is the conclusion that only
15 sayings (2 percent) can absolutely be regarded as Jesus' actual words.
About 82 percent of what the canonical Gospels ascribe to Jesus are not
authentic. Another 16 percent of the words are of doubtful authenticity.''

Naturally, these findings are anathema to McDowell, who enlists the support
of Norman Geisler, who said, ''Truth is not determined by majority vote.''
But in actual fact, the truth of many of the doctrines and creeds of
Christianity was decided by the votes of bishops and other church officials,
and even the canonical books of the Bible were determined in this way.

It is odd, therefore, for McDowell to dismiss this procedure, just as it is
strange for him to charge these scholars with an ''anti-supernaturalist''
bias when his own ''pro-supernaturalist'' agenda is evident in every chapter
of The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict.

Some of the philosophical material in McDowell's book is decidedly complex,
especially those sections dealing with the thought of Kant and Hume. In
several instances, the author seems to be trying to convince readers of
biblical or theological truth through rational argument, though assent to
philosophical propositions is not the same thing as religious faith.

In fact, McDowell's book is largely intended for Christians who are already
in agreement with its literalist perspectives, and some of its evidence will
not seem especially conclusive to readers who are less fundamentalist in
their religious outlooks.

Most members of the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant
churches will find many things that are either irrelevant or unacceptable in
McDowell's book.
(...)

Whether he is right or wrong, Josh McDowell is obviously presenting the
evidence as he understands it in the cause of a verdict that is profoundly
important to him, and he just as clearly believes that he is telling the
truth. Readers might not agree with McDowell's religious understandings and
biblical interpretations, but they are likely to be impressed by his
compassionate honesty.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== The physicians around the corner

35. Drilling a hole in my head cured my fatigue
The Express, Feb. 22, 2000
http://www.lineone.net/express/00/02/22/news/n1220hole-d.html
A woman claims she was cured of chronic fatigue syndrome after drilling a
two-centimetre hole in her head.

Heather Perry, 29, who had been suffering from myalgic encephalo-myelitis
(ME), decided to carry out the ancient surgical technique of trepanning.
(...)

After recovering from the procedure, which she carried out in the US, Heather
has experienced a ''definite improvement'' in her health.
(...)

Heather, who is single, first became aware of trepanning eight years ago when
she saw it discussed by John Lennon in an old TV interview. She discovered
the website of self-proclaimed expert Peter Halvorson in America, and they
spent months e-mailing each other and swapping information.

Eventually she told Halvorson she wanted to be trepanned and flew to the US
last month against the wishes of her family and friends. They feared she was
being sucked into an evil cult and would be brain damaged or even killed
undergoing the operation.
(...)

An FBI spokesman said: ''Strange as the whole business sounds, Heather was
not breaking any laws and therefore we have no powers to intervene. It would
not be illegal in any way as long as she did it herself and was not coerced
in any way.''

Heather and Halvorson fled his home in Pennsylvania to a secret location on
the West coast after police began to investigate.
(...)

Trepanning is one of the oldest surgical techniques, dating back 10,000
years. The procedure, which normally lasts about 15 minutes, involves
drilling, cutting with a blade or scraping away a circular hole in the bone
at the side of the skull, approximately an inch square.
(...)

Trepanation was carried out on every continent through every time period and
by every race of mankind until the advent of brain surgery in this century.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* Peter Halverson's web site:

http://www.trepan.com/

Chronic Fatique (ME) FAQ:

http://www.cfs-news.org/faq.htm

Note: I have been have been declared disabled due to myalgic
encephalomyelitis. However, I won't be trying trepanning at home or
elsewhere :)