================================================================
Religion News Report - December 10, 1999 (Vol. 3, Issue 142)
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=== Scientology
1. Sect loses battle to become a charity
2. Church 'fails test' for charity status
3. Church ruled out for charity status
4. Scientology Denied Charitable Status
5. Scientologists are refused charitable status
6. Prosecutors argue to keep charges against Scientology
7. When can a church be accused of a crime?
8. Crisis Counseling

=== Aum Shinrikyo
9. Japan Police Say Doomsday Cult Still Capable Of Terrorism

=== Jehovah's Witnesses
10. Italian government may sign agreement with Jehovah's Witnesses

=== Falun Gong
11. Chinese use split in media over sect
12. Clinton lashes out at clamp on Falun Gong
13. Clinton's defence of sect infuriates Beijing
14. 1,000 expected at 'sensitive' HK Falun Gong conference
15. Hong Kong: Falun Gong conference 'slap in the face'
16. Banned Chinese group to gather for Hong Kong conference
17. China: 'Father of atomic bomb' backs Falun Gong ban

=== Concerned Christians
18. Greece ousts total of 25 Colo. cult members

=== Waco / Branch Davidians
19. Davidian lawyers start questioning FBI agents about cameras, bugging

=== Hate Groups
20. Four Nabbed in Nevada Temple Bombing
21. KKK 'Adopt a Highway' Leader on the Lam

=== Other News
22. China Detains Non-Mainstream Christians, Targets 'Cults'
23. 103 Christians detained in China
24. Three Sentenced to Death for Child Sacrifice
25. Storm over Diana 'Madonna' statue
26. God and government
27. A Nigerian State Turns to the Koran for Law

=== Noted
28. Two Out of Three Americans Say God Is Very Important In Their Personal
29. Millennium myths are made in America, Duke profs say
30. Modesty and Modernity (Islam)
31. Philosophy of death (Peter Singer)
32. Catholic, Jewish Leaders Target Death Penalty in National Effort
33. Human Rights report criticizes U.S. for police brutality, other alleged
abuses

=== Interfaith
34. Parliament of World Religions told Defining Religions not Easy (Melton)

=== Religious Freedom / Religious Intolerance
35. Religious extremism on the rise: UN

=== The Believers Around The Corner
36. Man wants his 'Christ is myth' sign part of Christmas display


=== Scientology

1. Sect loses battle to become a charity
The Guardian (England), Dec. 10, 1999
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,112970,00.html
The controversial Church of Scientology had its application to be recognised
as a religion turned down yesterday. After more than three years'
deliberation, the Charity Commissioners rejected the organisation's claim
saying that it did not qualify because it was not a religion and did not
benefit the public.
(...)

The sect has won recognition in the US, Australia and Sweden with the help of celebrity followers such as John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Kirstie Alley. Its status in Britain is as an overseas arm of a charity registered in Australia.

Other countries regard it as a dangerous cult. In France one of its former
leaders was convicted of fraud last month, and members are closely watched by the government. Germany also refuses to recognise it as a genuine religion.

In Britain, there is no independent verification of the Scientologists' claim
to have 100,000 adherents The sect says that it has more than 8m followers
worldwide.

UK Scientology spokesman Graeme Wilson said yesterday: "This is a biased and
discriminatory decision, which is wrong on the law and wrong on the facts."
He said that the Church of Scientology would appeal to the high court against
the ruling.

The charity commissioners said in a statement yesterday that the sect was not
charitable "as an organisation established for the advancement of religion"
or "to promote the moral and spiritual welfare or improvement of the
community".

Its core activities were "auditing" and "training" adherents, the
commissioners ruled, which were of private, not public benefit.
(...)

Initiates to Scientology are taken through a series of steps to reach higher
levels of knowledge, which critics say is brainwashing for which adherents
have to pay through the nose.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


2. Church 'fails test' for charity status
The Times (England), Dec. 10, 1999
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/12/10/timnwsnws01027.html?999
The Church of Scientology was yesterday barred from charitable status after
the Charity Commission ruled that it failed to promote the "moral and
spiritual welfare" of the community.

The commission rejected the church's application to become a registered
charity on the grounds that it did not confer a "public benefit" and it had
not been established "for the advancement of religion".
(...)

The decision is the latest in a series of blows to the church in Europe. Last
month, a former official was jailed for six months after a French court found
him guilty of defrauding disciples with bogus and expensive treatments for
stress. The conviction was the third of its kind involving Scientologists in
France.
(...)

The commissioners also decided that Scientology was not an organisation for
the advancement of religion because, while accepting that Scientologists
believe in a supreme being, adherents do not worship this being.
(...)

The church described the British ruling as "biased and discriminatory", and
said it was "flying in the face of the European Convention on Human Rights".

Graeme Wilson, public affairs director, said: "The decision is the equivalent
of a medieval Pope saying that the earth is flat and that the sun revolves
around it."

But John Stoker, Chief Charity Commissioner for England and Wales, defended
the decision, saying: "We would accept that Scientologists acknowledge a
supreme being, but it comes back to auditing and training, which are the
practices they regard as worship.
(...)

"They can certainly go to the courts to appeal," Mr Stoker said. "But we did
spend an awful lot of time and effort on this and we think this decision we
have reached is the correct one in law. "It has taken considerably longer
than the average case. There are a lot of issues of importance and we went
through them extremely thoroughly."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


3. Church ruled out for charity status
The Scotsman (Scotland), Dec. 10, 1999
http://www.scotsman.com/cgi-bin/t3.cgi/taf/uk.taf?function=detail
&Scotsman_uid1=TS99070512&desk=News&cat=uk&sec=0
(...) The Charity Commission’s ruling was welcomed last night by groups
concerned at scientology’s practices.
(...)

"In the absence of public benefit, the Church of Scientology would not be
charitable in English law, regardless of whether or not it was a religion or
otherwise established for a potentially charitable purpose."
(...)

A recent court ruling in Switzerland declared that scientology should be
considered a business, not a religion. In Germany, where practising
scientologists are barred from being civil servants or elected politicians,
the group is legally deemed to be a commercial venture.

Ian Haworth, the founder and director of the Cult Information Centre, said:
"I am absolutely delighted with this decision, and hope that this is the
result each time this group applies. Scientology is a group about which we
are very concerned.

"Money seems to be an extremely important part of scientology. Members end up
paying thousands of pounds for course, which go on and on until they run out
of money."
(...)

Monique Yingling, the lawyer representing the church in the United States,
where it was granted charitable status in 1993, said that the ruling was open
to challenge under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ms Yingling said: "The church does not believe this decision can stand up
either under English law or the convention. The ruling is so anachronistic,
because it seems to declare that only a Judaeo-Christian form of worship can
be seen as a religion."

The Washington DC-based attorney added that the church might now attempt to
become a charity in Scotland. "There has been no application in Scotland yet,
but that is not to say it is something that will not happen," she said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* Compare Ms. Yingling's comment with the reality reported in the next
item:


4. Scientology Denied Charitable Status
Washington Post, Dec. 9, 1999
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991209/aponline122357_000.htm
(...) Some 187,000 charities are registered with the commission – including
many associated with religions, both mainstream and otherwise. Registered
charities receive tax benefits.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


5. Scientologists are refused charitable status
The Independent (England), Dec. 10, 1999
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/This_Britain/scientology101299.shtml
(...) The organisation's failure to achieve charity status follows a
high-profile advertising campaign launched by the group in Britain this
summer.
(...)

On their path to spiritual enlightenment, followers are given intense
one-to-one counselling by people known as "auditors", who attempt to identify
areas of trauma in the brain. The Church of Scientology says it has 15,000
people attending its churches in Britain.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


6. Prosecutors argue to keep charges against Scientology
Tampa Tribune, Dec. 8, 1999
http://tampatrib.com/news/wedn1022.htm
Freedom of religion should not protect the Church of Scientology Flag Service
Organization from facing criminal charges in the death of a parishioner after
17 days of isolation in the Fort Harrison Hotel, prosecutors contend.

In a series of responses filed seven months after church lawyers first asked
that charges of abuse of a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a
license be dismissed, State Attorney Bernie McCabe said that Lisa McPherson
was denied proper medical attention out of greed and fear on the part of
church officials.
(...)

In McPherson's case, the Church of Scientology violated its own rules against
treating mental illness, prosecutors contend. And church officials had twin
fears of losing McPherson's business to conventional doctors and of garnering
bad publicity when church critics learned McPherson suffered a mental
breakdown just months after being declared "clear," a state in which
Scientology deems adherents free of psychic disorders, the prosecutors wrote.

In the year before her death on Dec. 5, 1995, McPherson paid $58,000 for
"treatment" to become "clear," which church literature defines as an
almost superhuman state, prosecutors said. When McPherson died, her bank
accounts contained about $151, they wrote.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


7. When can a church be accused of a crime?
St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 8, 1999
http://www.sptimes.com/News/120899/TampaBay/When_can_a_church_be_.shtml
(...) Florida politicians, pay attention. This is your doing. This argument
is based in part on the state Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1998,
which the Legislature passed as a sop to the Christian Coalition. I'll bet
nobody had the Scientologists in mind.

This law says that the state must have a "compelling interest" before
imposing a burden on the exercise of religion. Even then, the state must use
the "least restrictive means necessary."

Bernie McCabe, the Pinellas-Pasco state attorney, and his assistants have
filed a vigorous counter-argument. First, Flag's treatment of McPherson is
not about religious freedom, they argue. It was not consistent with the
church's own doctrine.

Second, even if there is a legitimate claim of religious freedom, that
freedom does not protect a crime. The most famous example is that Mormons can
be prosecuted for bigamy.

Third, even if the religious-freedom law applies, these charges are not a
"substantial burden" on the church. Mere bad publicity is not an
impermissible burden. Neither are the minimal potential fines involved.

Finally, the state argues that Flag should be charged because the
organization as a whole, many of its officers and staffers, were involved in
or aware of McPherson's case. This was not a case of one or two loose
cannons.

"The complicity in the crimes arising out of Lisa's stay at the Fort Harrison
is widespread," the state argues, "and the responsibility for the failure to
act is collective."

How would you rule? Like the Scientologists' lawyers, I am not keen on the
idea of charging churches with crimes. But not many people die in a church's
care because of alleged negligence, either. I would deny the motion to
dismiss and let a jury decide the central question of fact -- did Flag as an
institution break the law in Lisa McPherson's death?
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


8. Crisis Counseling
Erlanger-Hoechstadt (Germany), Dec. 7, 1999
Translation: CISAR
http://cisar.org/991207c.htm
The Bavarian state administration has established a crisis counseling center
for victims and people affected by the Scientology sect. That was announced
by state assembly representative Christa Matschl. [...]

Even if the dangerous sect is apparently not so active in our region, said
the representative, we should make our offer of help known. The counselling
center is meant primarily for those ready to leave the sect and for friends
and relatives of Scientologists. "Everything must be done to free the victims
of their dependency on this sect, and that can also affect people from our
county.

As a starting place for general questions on the theme of Scientology,
Christl Matschl gave the Coordination and Information Center of the Bavarian
Culture Ministry. Those who want other important addresses can order the free
brochure "The Scientology System". It is made available by the Bavarian State
Ministry of the Interior.
[...entire item as posted...]


=== Aum Shinrikyo

9. Japan Police Say Doomsday Cult Still Capable Of Terrorism
Yahoo! Asia/Dow Jones, Dec. 8, 1999
http://asia.biz.yahoo.com/news/asian_markets/dowjones/article.html?
s=asiafinance/news/991208/asian_markets/dowjones/Japan_Police_Say_
Doomsday_Cult_Still_Capable_Of_Terrorism.html
The doomsday cult that spewed deadly nerve gas into Tokyo's subways is still
capable of terrorism, Japanese police have concluded, Kyodo News agency
reported Wednesday.

"There is a fear of possible cyber-terrorism in the future," given the cult
membership's professional skills and its network of affiliated computer
companies, Kyodo quoted a National Police Agency report as saying.
(...)

Aum Shinri Kyo plans to regroup around former spokesman Fumihiro Joyu, 36,
who will be freed from prison at the end of this year after serving a
three-year sentence, Kyodo reported.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Jehovah's Witnesses

10. Italian government may sign agreement with Jehovah's Witnesses
EWTN/Zenith, Dec. 8, 1999
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=44336
The Italian government is studying the possibility of signing an agreement
with the Jehovah's Witnesses, the third largest religious group in the
country. If nothing else, the decision is controversial, since many Witness
doctrines tend to isolate members from society, such as the prohibition on
blood transfusions, rejection of military service, and other legal
dispositions.
(...)

Since 1976, this group has the status of an Institute of Worship in Italy,
with all the prerogatives such status implies: their ministers can preside at
civilly valid marriages, can carry out their prison apostolate, and have
freedom to visit homes and spread their doctrine.

In a recent article in the Jesuit magazine "Civiltà Cattolica," Fr. Giuseppe
De Rosa wrote that Jehovah's Witnesses "are not Christians" because they have
falsified Sacred Scripture; they do not have "a truly religious" life and,
perhaps worse, as an organization, they suffer from "a form of mental
conformism" that leads to breaking all human relations with those who are not
members of the organization. All these are characteristics of a sect or
destructive group.

In an article in today's issue of the Italian newspaper "Avvenire," Elio
Bromuri says that the Italian government would do well to reflect before
signing an agreement with a group that "interferes in a negative or contrary
way with the rules of civil life."
(...)

For some time now, there have been a number of observation groups and study
and investigation committees in Europe on new religious movements and sects.
These organizations have compiled extensive documentation. Bromuri said the
Italian State should study the situation well by making use of these
commissions, which include lawyers, psychologists, and experts in the
religious field, to avoid crimes and abuses being committed with its support.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong

11. Chinese use split in media over sect
The Times (England), Dec. 7, 1999
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/12/07/timfgnfar01001.html?999
Chinese athorities are trying to exploit differences of opinion among foreign
ournalists over how to report the Falun Gong crackdown to justify the arrest
of members of the spiritual movement.

The group has staged the biggest civil protests in China since the 1989
pro-democracy movement and many followers interviewed by journalists have
asked to be identified by name to demonstrate their determination.
Journalists working for The New York Times, Reuters and other media have
named the followers, possibly risking their imprisonment. Other
correspondents have sharply attacked the practice.

One Chinese official said: "This only proves how divisive Falun Gong can be
... Even the foreign journalists cannot agree how to deal with this group ...
They obviously want to be arrested to become martyrs. Journalists are their
tool."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


12. Clinton lashes out at clamp on Falun Gong
South China Morning Post, Dec. 8, 1999
http://www.scmp.com/News/China/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-19991208031040363.asp
United States President Bill Clinton has criticised the mainland crackdown on
the Falun Gong. The President called it a "troubling example" of the
Government acting against those "who test the limits of freedom". "Its
targets are not political dissidents and their practices and beliefs are
unfamiliar to us," Mr Clinton said. "But the principle still surely must be
the same - freedom of conscience and freedom of association.
(...)

Mr Clinton's comments were made in a speech when he and wife Hillary marked
the 51st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at the urging of former US
first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to assert that "all human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights".

US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said the administration
had criticised China's actions against the Falun Gong, but Monday's speech in
Washington represented Mr Clinton's first direct remarks.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


13. Clinton's defence of sect infuriates Beijing
The Guardian (England), Dec. 8, 1999
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,111850,00.html
China accused the US government yesterday of ignoring the dangers it says are
posed by the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, following criticism from
President Bill Clinton.
(...)

Without mentioning Mr Clinton by name, the Chinese foreign ministry
spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said the US government was ignoring the dangers posed
by the multi-million member spiritual movement.

"The US government has adopted a double standard on the cult and also turned
a deaf ear to the adverse effect and the damage of Falun Gong to the Chinese
people and society and even tried to interfere in China's internal affairs,"
Ms Zhang said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


14. 1,000 expected at 'sensitive' HK Falun Gong conference
South China Morning Post, Dec. 8, 1999
http://www.scmp.com/News/Front/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-19991208012914168.asp
Hong Kong members of the Falun Gong sect banned on the mainland are to host a
high-profile in ternational conference for hundreds of overseas followers at
the weekend. Organisers said last night that up to 1,000 local and overseas
members would attend the meeting at the Convention Centre on Sunday.

A mass outdoor exercise may be staged on Saturday outside Xinhua headquarters
in Happy Valley, according to the sect's SAR spokesman, Kan Hung-chung.
"That's one option I have heard people discussing," he said.
(...)

Fellow member Tony Chan Wing-kwong said such meetings were organised every
year. "It is a bit sensitive to organise the meeting now," he said. "But
that is the psychological barrier we have to overcome in order to further
improve ourselves in the training."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


15. Hong Kong: Falun Gong conference 'slap in the face'
Thursday, December 9 10:40 AM SGT
Yahoo! Asia/South China Morning Post, Dec. 9, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/newspapers/scmp/article.html?
s=asia/headlines/991209/newspapers/scmp/HONG_KONG__
Falun_Gong_conference__slap_in_the_face_.html
Pro-Beijing politicians yesterday criticised plans for an international Falun
Gong conference in Hong Kong this weekend as "inappropriate" and a "slap in
the face for China".

More than 1,000 local and overseas followers of the religious group, which
has been banned as an "evil cult" on the mainland, will hold a day-long
conference at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday.
(...)

"It's a provocation. It's a slap in the face for China," former provisional
legislator Elsie Tu said. "They have failed to make an impression on the
mainland and so they are trying to do it here in Hong Kong."

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee member
Xu Simin said the international conference was inappropriate.
(...)

But both said there should not be any interference under the "one country two
systems" principle.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


16. Banned Chinese group to gather for Hong Kong conference
CNN/AP, Dec. 8, 1999
http://www.cnn.com/1999/ASIANOW/east/12/07/hongkong.sect.ap/index.html
(...) Falun Gong members from Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, the United
States and possibly mainland China will attend the two-day Asia-Pacific
conference, sect spokesman Tony Chan said Wednesday.

The group has also applied for a permit to stage a "gathering" of about 1,000
people Saturday outside the headquarters of Xinhua News Agency, which
represents Beijing in Hong Kong, Chan said.

Organizers said it is a "sensitive" time for the sect, but attempted to
downplay any political significance of the conference. China has banned the
sect as a menacing cult, but it is still legal in Hong Kong.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


17. China: 'Father of atomic bomb' backs Falun Gong ban
Yahoo!/South China Morning Post, Dec. 9, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/newspapers/scmp/article.html?
s=asia/headlines/991209/newspapers/scmp/CHINA___Father_o
f_atomic_bomb__backs_Falun_Gong_ban.html
China's most famous scientist was rolled out by the authorities yesterday to
condemn the outlawed Falun Gong sect. Official media reported that
President Jiang Zemin and Vice-Premier Li Lanqing visited Qian Xuesen at his
home in Beijing. Professor Qian helped design and test China's nuclear bombs
and missiles in the 1950s.

The President praised the 88-year-old professor for his contribution to
China's scientific developments and discussed with him its recent successful
launch and recovery of an unmanned spacecraft. In response, the professor
gave his "unreserved support" to the leaders' decision to crackdown on the
Falun Gong.
(...)

There have been rumours that Professor Qian is an enthusiastic supporter of
qi gong. He reportedly told scientists in Beijing they could achieve a major
breakthrough if they could harness supernatural forces through qi gong.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Concerned Christians

18. Greece ousts total of 25 Colo. cult members
Denver Rocky Mountain News/Scripps Howard News Service, Dec. 8, 1999
http://insidedenver.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=CULT-12-08-99&cat=AN
(...) Still, authorities report having no hint as to the whereabouts of
45-year-old Monte Kim Miller, the leader of the group called Concerned
Christians.

"According to the police headquarters in Athens, Greece, the number of those
deported so far on the basis of expired travel documents has reached 25,"
said Dimitris Gemelos, press consular for the Greek mission to the United
Nations. "Included in this number are nine children."

Gemelos said estimates are that at least 60 more cult members may still be in
Greece.
(...)

There appears to be no organized effort to find Miller. "I don't think they
(Greek officials) are looking to behead their leader or anything," said
Gemelos. Miller's whereabouts is also of no pressing interest to the FBI.
"The FBI is not actively looking for Mr. Miller," said Jane Quinby, a special
agent in Denver.

Christopher Lamora, a press officer for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the
Department of State, said the department is unaware of Miller's whereabouts _
and doesn't see a need to know. "The Department of State has no reason to be
searching for this individual," Lamora said.

There have been persistent but unconfirmed reports that Miller is in Britain.
Eileen Barker, a professor of sociology at the London School of Economics,
has had contact with Concerned Christians members. But she doesn't know where
Miller is. And, she said, she doubts he or his followers pose a threat.

"If you read the theology, Miller is quite clear that until Jesus returns,
they should not do anything," Barker said. "It's only when Jesus returns
which is an event I presume will be very obvious to you and me. Until then,
I'm not particularly worried. But one never knows."

Gershom Gorenberg, senior editor for The Jerusalem Report and a resident
of Jerusalem, has been following the Concerned Christians closely for more
than a year. He also cautioned against assuming the worst about Miller.

"Nobody from the outside has talked to this guy in a long time," Gorenberg
said of Miller. "We don't know what's going through his mind."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Waco / Branch Davidians

19. Davidian lawyers start questioning FBI agents about cameras, bugging
Dallas Morning News, Dec. 9, 1999
http://dallasnews.com/specials/waco/1209wa1co.htm
Lawyers for the Branch Davidians began questioning FBI agents under oath in
Washington Wednesday in the first of a series of depositions aimed at
determining what happened on the tragic final day of the 1993 Waco siege.

Justice Department lawyers imposed strict secrecy, using a court order to
prohibit the release of even the names of witnesses being called for the
series of depositions, scheduled to continue through next week. A department
spokesman declined to comment.
(...)

Among the key questions are why it took more than six years for authorities
to admit that pyrotechnic tear gas was used during the FBI's final assault
and whether any government agents fired their guns at the compound during the
last hours of the siege.
(...)

Michael Caddell, lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians, said last week that he
planned to show agents being deposed segments of the FBI's infrared tape from
April 19.

He said he also planned to question FBI infrared operators and pilots and
seek explanations for what appear to be gaps and erasures in infrared
videotapes made on April 19. The tapes also captured repeated orders by FBI
pilots to shut off the camera's audio recording capability.

In a letter last week to government lawyers, Mr. Caddell indicated that he
also is challenging their efforts to block public access to most of the
thousands of documents that they have turned over to the Branch Davidian
legal team.

Even government reports, statements and other documents previously
surrendered to Congress or submitted to defense lawyers during a 1994
criminal trial have been stamped "Confidential" and "Attorney's Eyes Only"
before being surrendered to the lawyers involved in the wrongful death case,
Mr. Caddell wrote.

Justice Department lawyers also marked confidential their refusal to answer
questions about the number and identities of U.S. Army Special Forces
personnel sent to Waco during the siege, he noted.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that this overzealous use of the
'Confidential' and 'Attorney's Eyes Only' stamps are not for the legitimate
protection of law enforcement personnel involved in ongoing operations, but
rather to keep information concerning the FBI's missteps and bad acts at
[Waco] from the American people," Mr. Caddell wrote.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Hate Groups

20. Four Nabbed in Nevada Temple Bombing
APBonline, Dec. 7 ,1999
http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/1999/12/07/synagogue1207_01.html
Four people have been arrested in connection with last week's firebombing of
a Jewish synagogue. The police department's gang unit received information
through the Secret Witness program and worked over the weekend with federal
agents, the sheriff's department and the Reno fire department to track down
the four people arrested.

"These are people who mainly are against anybody that isn't white," Lt. Jake
Wiskerschen of the gang unit said Monday. He said hate literature was found
during two searches conducted in connection with the arrests.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


21. KKK 'Adopt a Highway' Leader on the Lam
APBonline, Dec. 6, 1999
http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/1999/12/06/klan1206_01.html
As a battle brews between the Ku Klux Klan and the vandals who keep removing
its "Adopt-a-Highway" signs, authorities today said the KKK member who led
the court fight to post the signs is now considered a fugitive.

Michael Cuffley, 42, failed to appear in court on a felony burglary charge
after he was arrested Aug. 23 at the scene of a home burglary in this small
community 30 miles west of St. Louis, Police Chief Wayne Prince said.
(...)

Missouri State Patrol Sgt. Terry St. Clair told APBnews.com today that the
signs stayed up for about 12 hours the first time.

"Someone used a chain saw to cut both signs off their 4-by-4-inch wooden
posts," St. Clair said. "The first time, they left the signs lying there and
the highway department came back the next day to install new posts and put
the signs back up. On the second night, the persons responsible took the
signs completely.
(...)

The State Patrol has received "a couple" of phone calls from KKK supporters
complaining that a trooper should be assigned to guard the signs 24 hours a
day. "We don't have the manpower for that," St. Clair said.
(...)

"Regardless of who put up that sign, we can't leave a crash scene to go check
on a highway sign," St. Clair said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

=== Other News

22. China Detains Non-Mainstream Christians, Targets 'Cults'
Yahoo! Asia/Dow Jones, Dec. 10, 1999
http://asia.biz.yahoo.com/news/asian_markets/dowjones/article.html?
s=asiafinance/news/991210/asian_markets/dowjones/China_Detains
_Non-Mainstream_Christians__Targets__Cults_.html
Chinese authorities have detained 103 people who belong to non-mainstream
Christian sects, expanding the state crackdown on groups it regards as cults,
a human rights group said Thursday.

Authorities targeted sects that mixed Western Christian doctrines with
elements taken from Chinese culture, the Hong Kong-based Information Center
of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. Some of the groups
held mainstream beliefs, while others were more unorthodox.

Officially, China is atheist, but allows state-registered churches on the
mainland. Communist authorities have long harassed and suppressed Christians
who worship outside the registered churches.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


23. 103 Christians detained in China
Nando Times/AP, Dec. 9, 1999
http://www.nando.net/noframes/story/0,2107,500140379-500165759-500604175-0,00.html
(...) It said 75 members of one of the 10 groups, the All Scope sect, were
detained Nov. 19 in southern Hunan province.

In central Henan province, 15 members of the Orient Lightning sect were
detained Nov. 23, and an additional 13 members of the Zhu Shen sect were
detained in southern Guangdong province on Nov. 22, the group said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


24. Three Sentenced to Death for Child Sacrifice
Excite/Reuters, Dec. 8, 1999
http://news.excite.com/news/r/991208/07/odd-sorceress
An Ethiopian court sentenced a flour mill owner, a sorceress and her friend
to death for murdering a seven-year-old girl in a witchcraft rite, the
state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported on Tuesday.

Struggling miller Abametcha Abageda was so desperate to rid himself of the
gremlins in his malfunctioning mill that he sought the advice of a local
sorceress, the court heard.

Shenfo Alenchena, the sorceress, told him the only way out of his problems
was to sacrifice a suitable girl child and sprinkle her blood on the floor of
the mill and mill house.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


25. Storm over Diana 'Madonna' statue
BBC News, Dec. 8, 1999
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_555000/555606.stm
A controversial statue of Diana, Princess of Wales portrayed as the Virgin
Mary is to go on show in Liverpool on Thursday.
(...)

Lord Alton, professor of citizenship at Liverpool John Moores University,
said many people would find the exhibition "deeply offensive".

But Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, called the exhibition a reflection of
today's society. He said: "This controversial exhibition is a sign of our
times. It reflects our culture and shows the huge gap that exists between
traditional beliefs and the spirit of a new age."
(...)

The Bishop added: "Like it or not, the church has to face up to the fact that
although people are spiritual, many do not find the church fulfils their
hopes. "I see this exhibition as a challenge to Christians to communicate
our faith at the end of this millennium with great imagination and
compassion."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


26. God and government
Tampa Tribune, Dec. 8, 1999
http://www.tampatrib.com/mt120803.htm
The separation of church and state narrowed Tuesday as political and
religious leaders from across Florida gathered in the historic Old Capitol to
explore the role of God and spirituality in government.

Cast in patriotic themes and filled with inspirational vignettes, the first
Summit of Faith sought to tackle what many view as society's moral decay by
bringing two of its most powerful institutions closer. The participant list
read like a who's who of Florida's religious and political circles.
(...)

It marked the first time the leaders of every branch of state government had
gathered in the same room as the leaders of many of the state's religious
faiths to talk about God, social problems and what they expect from one
another.
(...)

"We showed today in Florida that Jews and Christians can come together,''
said summit organizer Jim Towey, director of an advocacy group for the
elderly and U.S. legal counsel to the late Mother Teresa. ``We showed that it
can be done.''

Sponsored by Towey's nonprofit group Aging with Dignity and funded with about
$20,000 in private contributions, the summit comes at a time of increasing
tolerance among Americans toward the blending of God and government.

Political observers, however, say it's unclear just how far that tolerance
extends.
(...)

Rob Boston, a spokesman for the Washington-based group Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, said the summit raises eyebrows but poses no
major concerns. "There's certainly no problem entering into a dialogue,''
said Boston, explaining there's no reason religious leaders should be denied
the same access to politicians that lobbyists and special interest groups
already have. "But going into something like this, both sides need to
recognize the constitutional limitations," he added. "Talking isn't a
problem. It's what comes of that discussion that we're interested in
watching."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


27. A Nigerian State Turns to the Koran for Law
New York Times, Dec. 8, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/120899nigeria-muslims.html
Zamfara, the North Dakota of Nigeria, has suddenly become this West African
nation's most famous state.
(...)

In October, the state government announced it would introduce Shariah, the
Islamic social and penal code, raising near-hysteria in a country already
divided nearly evenly -- and uneasily -- between a Muslim north and a
Christian south.
(...)

As other states in the heavily Muslim north declared their intentions to
follow suit, Nigeria's young civilian government faced a fresh, unexpected
challenge to this old question: How do you keep the 110 million people in
Nigeria -- an artificial creation of British colonialists in 1914, an
impossible patchwork of religions, languages and 400 ethnic groups --
together in a democracy?
(...)

Deputy Gov. Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi said Zamfara's actions should have no
national repercussions, and that none had been intended. "Shariah is not
going to cause havoc to the country," he said from his official residence,
where a mosque is being built in the courtyard. "It will bring peace and
unity here. It is entirely a local affair. "Shariah is fundamental human
rights," he added. "Now we are in a democracy. Whatever we want, we have the
right to."

Politicians outside Zamfara, especially those from the predominantly
Christian south, do not see it his way. To many of them, Zamfara's
introduction of Shariah is the stirring of a militant Islam in the north
that, if unchecked, will lead to a north unified politically and religiously
against the south.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Noted

28. Two Out of Three Americans Say God Is Very Important In Their Personal
Lives In Global Millennium Survey
Yahoo!/PR Newswire, Dec. 3, 1999 (Press Release)
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/991209/pa_kcsa_go_1.html
(...) The final results of a global millennium study released today by Taylor
Nelson Sofres Intersearch (TNS Intersearch) and GIA revealed that while 63
percent of Americans believe God is very important in their personal lives,
43 percent of the population attend religious services at least once a week.

The compiled responses to issues of religion and the Y2K problem from a cross
section of 1,000 U.S. residents, follows the initial release earlier this
month on issues of government, the United Nations and human rights.
(...)

Almost one-quarter (23 percent) of respondents, who are familiar with the Y2K
problem, agreed that the Y2K problems would result in the loss of human life
in the country.
(...)

The complete U.S. and Canada survey results as well as information about the
other regions of the world in the study will be available on the Internet at
http://www.intersearch.tnsofres.com.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


29. Millennium myths are made in America, Duke profs say
Excite/U-Wire, Dec. 7, 1999
http://news.excite.com/news/uw/991207/tech-170
The sun will shine on New Year's Day. And while certain religious radicals
hold up their Bibles to prove their conviction that the Day of Judgment is
imminent, several Duke University professors say the Bible contains nothing
of the sort.

"These groups ostensibly look to the Bible as the authority, but the Bible
doesn't have anything about this [in it]...," said Grant Wacker, an associate
professor at the Divinity School who studies evangelical and Pentecostal
Christianity. "The millennium is much more a reporter's creation, not a
religious creation."

There is some biblical basis, however, to the concept of 1,000 years as a
significant time period-specifically in the apocalyptic book of Revelation in
the New Testament.
(...)

"It's interesting to me that in our culture we talk about [the millennium] in
terms of Y2K and what's happening to our computers," he [Rev. Joe Vetter of
the University's Newman Catholic Student Center] said, "not what's
happening to our lives."
(...)

Although the factions counting the days until Armageddon do not make up the
majority of American society, the concept of Millennium-with-a-capital-M is a
distinctly American phenomenon, said Professor of Literature Kenneth Surin.

"[In the United States, there is] the kind of Protestantism that veers into
fundamentalism, that takes certain books of the Bible as being hugely
important and which has always found a deep affinity between religious
practice and the apocalypse...," said Surin, who studies religion and
critical theory. "Europeans are bemused that we have people hunkering
down... with weapons, waiting for Armageddon," he continued. "It's so
peculiarly American."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


30. Modesty and Modernity
Washington Post, Dec. 9, 1999
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/09/187l-120999-idx.html
(...) DeCuir and Ramadan represent dueling forces tugging at Islam's
heartstrings: The call of tradition and the clamor to be modern. Nowhere is
that tug of war more evident than in the increasingly robust debate over
whether the hijab, the Islamic head covering, is mandatory or not. And though
many young Muslims don the scarf and its acceptance in the workplace has
grown, the hijab is sometimes a division within the Muslim community.

Today, as an estimated 300,000 Washington area Muslims begin celebrating the
holy fasting month of Ramadan, this debate illustrates the diversity of views
within Islam--with some local Muslims concerned that there has been a
misplaced emphasis on the scarf as an indicator of personal piety and
communal identity.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


31. Philosophy of death
Washington Post, Dec. 9, 1999
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/09/168l-120999-idx.html
(...) American colleagues, accustomed to near-obscurity outside their
classrooms and journals, can only rub their eyes in disbelief at Singer's
flashbulb-illuminated entrance to Academe. "Name the last philosopher in the
U.S. who's gotten this sort of attention," says Dale Jamieson of Carleton
College, editor of a book of critical essays about Singer. "Philosophers go
around the world saying fairly crazy things--'How do I really know that you
exist?'--and nobody cares."

Not this philosopher. A specialist in ethics, he goes around the world saying
things that start out sounding quite reasonable, derived from a utilitarian
theory that dates to the 19th-century work of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart
Mill. Then his arguments take the next logical-seeming step and the next,
winding up at positions that are startling, to say the least.
(...)

Or consider--and this is what brought antiabortion demonstrators and members
of the anti-euthanasia group Not Dead Yet to the Princeton campus--Singer's
thoughts on when it may not be wrong to kill an innocent human being.
(...)

Small wonder that controversy trails Singer like diesel fumes behind a city
bus. He begins with the plausible and often concludes with the incendiary. He
offends basic precepts of many of the world's major religions. He would
permit actions currently illegal in virtually every state and country. He's
been saying all this, and more, in rafts of books and articles and lectures
for 25 years--but now he's saying them here, on a prestigious Ivy League
campus within spitting distance of the world's major media encampment.
(...)

The groups too infuriated to shrug at what Singer says--or what they think he
says--are antiabortion advocates and disability activists. "If he were a
madman raving on the corner, you could ignore him," says Nancy Weiss,
executive director of TASH, a Baltimore-based advocacy group for the
disabled. "But he's a sanctioned academic, and that's scary."
(...)

During a break between sessions, a middle-age man who called himself "a
budding theologian" politely came up carrying a few questions jotted on a
torn-out notebook page. He was wondering, among other things, how Singer
regarded "Judeo-Christian thinking."

The philosopher hesitated for no more than five seconds. "It contains some
advances and some flaws," Singer told him. "I wouldn't want to say it's the
best ethical statement that could be made. I'm not an uncritical fan of the
Judeo-Christian ethic."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


32. Catholic, Jewish Leaders Target Death Penalty in National Effort
Washington Post, Dec. 6, 1999
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/06/055l-120699-idx.html
Catholic and Jewish leaders today will jointly launch a national campaign to
abolish the death penalty, in an effort to reignite what they see as a
largely forgotten but urgent crusade.

By uniting their efforts, the nation's Catholic bishops and Reform and
Conservative rabbis hope to turn a sectarian concern of limited public
interest into the next abortion cause, as they vow to lobby statehouses,
activate local and national protest groups, and teach what they consider
irrefutable biblical truth in churches, temples and schools.

At a time when 70 percent to 80 percent of Americans say they support capital
punishment--viewing it as just, fair and a deterrent to crime--the new
campaign by the National Jewish/Catholic Consultation is meant to remind
Americans and their political leaders who support capital punishment of the
moral dimension of taking a human life.
(...)

For both religions, the crusade involves changing the thinking of their
faithful, too. Two-thirds of U.S. Catholics support the death penalty,
roughly the same percentage of Americans as a whole. Although Jewish support
for capital punishment is not that high, it is growing steadily, Pelavin
said.
(...)

The freshest arguments are the theological. In the statement, the Catholic
and Jewish leaders pick apart common religious myths about capital punishment
to demonstrate that Jewish sages and Jesus objected to the practice except in
very rare cases.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


33. Human Rights report criticizes U.S. for police brutality, other alleged
abuses
CNN/AP, Dec. 9, 1999
http://www.cnn.com/1999/US/12/09/us.human.rights/
Although President Clinton issued a 1998 executive order affirming the U.S.
commitment to uphold its obligations under human rights treaties, little
progress has been made since, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report
released Thursday.
(...)

The report, covering developments in 68 countries, is released annually by
the New York-based organization in advance of Human Rights Day, which is
December 10.
(...)

"Unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and unnecessarily
rough treatment by police and sheriffs' officers occur in cities and towns
throughout the country," the report said.
(...)

On the domestic front, the report alleged U.S. human rights violations
through discrimination against minorities, executions of juvenile offenders
and the mentally ill, and overcrowded prisons.
(...)

Death penalty: " As of September 24, the United States set a new record by
executing 76 in 1999, more than in any year since the death penalty's
reinstatement in 1976. Nearly half of the 1999 executions through September
were carried out in Texas and Virginia. Among those executed in 1999 were
foreign nationals, a juvenile offender, and individuals who may have been
mentally ill or retarded. Approximately 3,500 people were on death row."
(...)

International human rights scrutiny: "In 1999, the U.S. continued to exempt
itself from many of its international human rights obligations ... in
ratifying international human rights treaties it typically carved away added
protections for those in the U.S. by adding reservations, declarations, and
understandings."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Interfaith

34. Parliament of World Religions told Defining Religions not Easy
World Faith News, Dec. 7, 1999 (CPWR Press Release)
http://www.wfn.org/conferences/wfn.news/entries/1470398431.html
How many religions are there in the world? How many are represented at the
1999 Parliament of the World's Religions? Those are difficult questions to
answer, but particularly at the massive event here ending Dec.8.

The cover of the thick program book for the eight-day Parliament displays
symbols for 12 major religious traditions---including the four largest:
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. The other eight range from Bahai
to Zoroastrianism.

However, the number of broad religious categories could be expanded to 15 or
so if you added the western esoteric traditions, humanistic philosophies, and
so-called "initiated," post-missionary churches in Africa, said religion
researcher J. Gordon Melton of Santa Barbara, Calif.
(...)

But the total number of denominations, sects, branches, schools of thought
and movements within those major traditions depends on who is making
the distinctions and determining how big is big enough, Melton said. As a
result, Parliament officials have not tried to tally the number of
distinctive religious groups assembled here.

However, for a planned "Encyclopedia of World Religions," co-edited by Ninian
Smart, Melton decided to start with 1,200 entries defined either by their
dominant influence in a particular country (like the Finnish Lutheran Church)
or their worldwide spread (such as the Church of Scientology). "Scientology
is not strong in any nation, but it exists in some 120 countries," Melton
said. "Even the number of 1,200 significant religious groups will grow in
time." Melton described at a Parliament workshop the encyclopedia project and
a separate "International Religions Directory"---short entries with mail and
electronic addresses proposed for print and Internet versions. Melton is
director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa
Barbara.

Although Melton is still seeking a publisher for his two global compendiums,
he is not without a track record in religious reference works. The sixth
edition of his massive Encyclopedia of American Religions, published last
year, contains descriptions of 2,300 different religious groups in the United
States. "New ones show up every week," he said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Religious Freedom / Religious Intolerance

35. Religious extremism on the rise: UN
Dawn/Inter Press Service (Pakistan), Dec. 8, 1999
http://dawn.com/daily/text/int12.htm
The United Nations says there is a significant rise in religious extremism
and intolerance throughout the world. "No religion is free from extremism,"
declares Abdelfattah Amor, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Religious
Intolerance.

In a 23-page report to the General Assembly, Amor points out that religious
ntolerance should be viewed in the larger context of the economic, social and
(...)

His report provides examples of overt and covert discrimination against
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Scientology, Seventh Day Adventists and
Jehovah's Witnesses.

Amor says that religious minorities, particularly Muslims, have been the butt
of prejudice and stereotyping. Islam continues to be associated with
religious extremism and terrorism - particularly in the media in the United
States, Germany and Australia.
(...)

The report notes the persistence of various types and degrees of Islamic
extremism - particularly in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Niger and
Pakistan.

"However, it is evident that this phenomenon has spread to other religions,
as seen by the rise of Hindu extremism directed against Christian and Muslim
communities and, potentially against religious minorities in India, and even
in Nepal."
(...)

Extremism, says the Special Rapporteur, may therefore be inter-religious
(directed against religious communities of different faiths); intra-religious
(within the same religion and, in particular, between different sects); or
even both at once.
(...)

Despite some limited progress in matters of freedom of religion and belief,
especially since the end of the Cold War 10 years ago, the Special Rapporteur
says that, not only do manifestations of intolerance and discrimination based
on religion and belief persist but religious extremism also is on the rise.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== The Believers Around The Corner

36. Man wants his 'Christ is myth' sign part of Christmas display
Detroit News, Dec. 7, 1999
http://detnews.com/1999/religion/9912/07/12080014.htm
The Colorado leader of the Freedom from Religion Foundation says he will sue
to allow his "Christ child is a myth" sign to be part of the annual Christmas
lights display at a government building.
(...)

Tiernan posted a sign shortly after noon on Sunday on a tripod at the site of
the traditional display. Tiernan's sign is similar to one he put up last year
that also was removed. It reads in part: "There are no gods, no devils, no
angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. ... The Christ
child is a religious myth."

Denver officials agreed that Tiernan has a right to express his views.
But they say he's not free to incorporate it into someone else's display. And
they said on this point, the law will be on their side.
[...more...]