=== Waco / Branch Davidians
1. Judge Won't Reopen Davidian Lawsuit

=== World Message Last Warning Church
2. Bushara Followers Get Ready for 'Last Supper'

=== Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
3. Bushes engulf Kanungu grave

=== Aum Shinrikyo
4. Drugs charges against Aum's Asahara dropped
5. 4 charges to be dropped to hasten Matsumoto's trial
6. Court to drop AUM drug charges
7. Children of Aum's disciples caught in crossfire
8. Nagoya ward accepts residence of regional AUM leader

=== Raelians
9. Group's human cloning plan a case of too much, too soon

=== Falun Gong
10. US concerned at latest Falungong crackdown
11. Falun Gong Supporters Hit out at China
12. Falungong comes to Thailand in wake of Beijing crackdown
13. Thailand urges visiting Falungong not to stage political activities
14. Beating the Falun Gong
15. Key dates in emergence of China's banned Falungong movement

=== Scientology
16. Founder of Florida's Digital Lightwave Flexes Power from the Outside

=== Unification Church
17. Moons face 2nd hearing over fish

=== Buddhism
18. Followers fear monk may be deported because of traffic fatality

=== Mungiki
19. Mungiki men and MP held
20. Religious Bodies Trade Accusations Over Devil-Worship

=== Nation of Islam
21. Nation of Islam leaders prepare for family march in capital

=== Catholicism
22. Pope upholds assertion of Roman Catholic Church as mother church
23. China Says Vatican Opens Scars with New Saints
24. China accuses Vatican of trying to overthrow communist government
25. China's State Administration of Religious Affairs Spokesman on Vatican's
''Canonization of Saints''

» Part 2
=== Mormonism
26. Inmate says he's no prophet
27. Woman: Mormon Bishop Dismissed Abuse
28. N.Y. temple loses zoning battle
29. Mormon Milestone: 100th temple dedicated in Boston, but rancor remains

=== Jehovah's Witnesses
30. Father gets court order for son's transfusion
31. Canadian Jehovah's Witnesses Challenge Permit Law

=== Witchcraft
32. Witchcraft used on job, suit claims

=== Hate Groups
33. Keep Butler verdict intact, team argues
34. The Sea Monkeys and the White Supremacist

=== Militia Groups
35. Negotiator: Gray family resolution ''close'

=== Other News
36. Cops put pinch on starvation cult heads
37. Two arrested for starving children to death
38. Living in because of sin
39. The gurus who fell from grace
40. 'Ramtha' may take stand in rape case
41. Church can't distribute copyrighted book, federal appeals panel rules
42. Ruling doesn't faze Baptist Temple
43. FBI sniper at Ruby Ridge siege may face trial
44. Haile Selassie funeral moves closer
45. China enacts sweeping rules on Internet firms

=== Religious Freedom / Religious Intolerance
46. RSS proposes `sarkari' church
47. US Condemns Russia on Intolerance

=== Noted
48. Colorado Springs, Colo., Health Care Firms Seek Healing Help
from Labyrinths
49. Purging 'evil' spirits
50. Mary Baker Eddy's staying power evident in exhibits


+== Waco / Branch Davidians

1. Judge Won't Reopen Davidian Lawsuit
The Associated Press, Oct. 1, 2000
http://my.aol.com/news/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
WACO, Texas (AP)- A federal judge rejected a second attempt by plaintiffs to reopen the Branch Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit against the government.

Attorneys David T. Hardy and Jim Brannon asked U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. to reconsider his ruling that rejected the notion that flashes picked up on FBI infrared video on the final day of the 51-day standoff at the sect's Waco compound were blasts from FBI weapons.

In a ruling last week, the judge said the lawyers' request was without merit.

Brannon said Sunday that it was his impression that ``the judge was not going to let anything get in the way of his ruling, including the facts. His mind was made up a long time ago.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== World Message Last Warning Church

2. Bushara Followers Get Ready for 'Last Supper'
New Vision (Uganda), Oct. 3, 2000
http://www.allafrica.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Police is investigating reports that Wilson Bushara's World Message Last Warning Church followers are fundraising for a 'last' supper, which all the cult followers are to attend before December 25.

Police spokesman Asuman Mugenyi yesterday said local authorities in Katoke and Wansalanji in Luweero said, ''The believers are secretly soliciting funds from the cult members in preparation for a last supper they say will take place before December 25.''

He said each believer is required to pay sh23,000, which will be used in preparation of the supper and administration costs.

According to Mugenyi, the believers of the defunct World Message Last Warning Church are preparing an event similar to that of Kanungu.

''These people believe and are preaching that Bushara will soon be released and that they will have a last supper similar to that of Kanungu before they go to heaven,'' Mugenyi said.

He said the Police were trying to find out where the supper is to be held and who is involved in the preparations.

Followers of the cult, mostly women and children, have regrouped in Nakaseke, Luweero after they were dispersed by the Police last year.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God

3. Bushes engulf Kanungu grave
New Vision (Uganda), Oct. 2, 2000
http://www.newvision.co.ug/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Six months after the massacre, the mass grave at Kanungu where followers of the restoration of the Ten Commandments were buried after they were burnt in their Church is now bushy and deserted.

The Kanungu incident is now talked about less and less each day that passes.

Even tourists who used to make a stop-over to have a glimpse of the former cult headquarters where over 500, nearly half of the murdered cult members were buried, have also dried up.
(...)

The only living person The New Vision found in the compound over the weekend was a dirty man in worn out sandals.

The man introduced himself as Abel Timwiine one of the several Policemen guarding the place.

The place is guarded 24 hours because locals had started vandalising the property.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Aum Shinrikyo

4. Drugs charges against Aum's Asahara dropped
Japan Times (Japan), Oct. 5, 2000
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Prosecutors on Wednesday notified the Tokyo District Court that they have dropped four drug-manufacturing related charges against Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara in an attempt to speed up his trial.
(...)

The court is expected to approve all withdrawals, meaning Asahara's trial will be shortened by several months, legal sources said.

In December 1997, prosecutors cut the number of victims named in the indictment of Asahara over the Tokyo sarin gas attack from some 4,000 to 18, also to speed up the trial.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


5. 4 charges to be dropped to hasten Matsumoto's trial
Daily Yomiuri (Japan), Oct. 3, 2000
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is planning to drop four of 17 charges against Aum Supreme Truth cult founder and former guru Chizuo Matsumoto, 45, to speed up his trial, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Monday.

According to sources, the prosecutors are likely to drop charges in mid-October that Matsumoto, also known by the assumed name Shoko Asahara, illicitly manufactured four kinds of drugs--amphetamines, the hallucinogens mescaline and LSD, and the barbiturate thiopental.

It is said to be quite unusual for prosecutors to drop chargesonce they have been filed. After considering public opinion and the feelings of Aum victims, however, the prosecutors concluded it would be better to avoid prolonged court hearings by scrapping the four charges for crimes in which no one was victimized, the sources said.

Although 4-1/2 years have passed since Matsumoto's first court hearing was held in April 1996, procedures have been started on only 12 of the 17 charges on which he was indicted.

The Tokyo District Court so far has held a total of 169 hearings on charges involving Matsumoto.
(...)

As for the trial of Matsumoto himself, however, it is still difficult to tell when the prosecutors will finish establishing the facts in the cases, which is viewed as half the battle. The question of when he will be sentenced is even more unpredictable.

Victims of Aum crimes and bereaved family members reportedly have expressed a strong desire to see the entire process sped up.

Therefore, the prosecutors have put priority on establishing facts related to the murder and attempted murder charges including the two sarin gas attacks. Since last spring, however, prosecutors were looking into the possibility of dropping charges for crimes in which nobody was victimized.

As a result, they reached a conclusion that the four drug charges could be dropped for the following reasons:

-- Their scrapping will not affect the assessment of the other charges against Matsumoto.

-- Matsumoto already has been recognized as the mastermind in the cases in which his followers were sentenced.

-- Only two people among those charged with the illicit manufacture of drugs are still on trial at the Tokyo District Court.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


6. Court to drop AUM drug charges
Mainichi Daily News (Japan), Oct. 4, 2000
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
In a rare move, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has decided to drop four drug-related charges against AUM Shinrikyo cult founder Chizuo Matsumoto to hasten his sentencing, it has been learned.

Four charges that Matsumoto, who is also known as Shoko Asahara, was involved in the illegal manufacture of amphetamines, mescaline, thiopental and LSD, will likely be dropped in mid-October, prosecution sources said.

Prosecutors said they took into consideration the feelings of victims of the cult's illegal activities when making the decision, which is expected to hasten Matsumoto's sentencing by about six months.

They added that the dropping of the charges would not likely affect Asahara's final sentencing, as no one was victimized as a result of the manufacture of the drugs.
(...)

The 12th charge against Matsumoto, involving the cult's alleged production of automatic assault rifles, began in July this year. Several other trials against AUM members, including those involved in the gas attacks that killed 12 people and injured thousands, were completed in June and July, with sentences including death and life imprisonment being handed down.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


7. Children of Aum's disciples caught in crossfire
Asahi News (Japan), Oct. 4, 2000
http://www.asahi.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Public hatred for the Aum Shinrikyo religious sect dies hard. The latest symbol of this is the fact that the children of one of its key leaders have been prevented from attending school, even though formal education is guaranteed by the Constitution.

The children are those of Chizuo Matsumoto, 43, currently on trial for murder: he is accused of being the mastermind behind a number of murders linked to the sect. Four of his children live with three women in a two-story house, part of a complex in the city of Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Prefecture. Three of the children are elementary school students-two boys, aged 6 and 7; and a girl, 11.
(...)

Aum Shinrikyo was stripped of its legal status as a religious organization following the 1995 sarin gassing of Tokyo subways and other acts of indiscriminate terrorism.

It was also declared bankrupt. It later renamed itself Aleph and presented itself as a volunteer entity, but society continues to shun its adult members and their children.
(...)

On Aug. 27, about 1,500 residents surrounded the house, demanding the children leave the neighborhood. ``Out with Aum,'' one shouted. ``You devils have no human rights,'' yelled another.

Just over a month earlier, on July 20, the children had left their previous home, in a dwelling occupied by the cult in the city of Otawara, in neighboring Tochigi Prefecture.

Next day, Ryugasaki City Hall announced it would not permit them to move into the municipality or attend school there.

In August last year, City Hall decided to refuse any applications for resident registration made by or on behalf of Aum followers. Children are prohibited from attending school in the city unless they are registered with the municipal office.

Council offices across the country began refusing entry applications from Aum cultists in the spring of last year.

Last spring in the Saitama Prefecture village of Tokigawa, children of the defendant Matsumoto and of his former aides became the first to be denied formal schooling due to such action. Minister at a loss

According to the sect, resident registration has been denied by village, town and city halls in at least 10 prefectures. As of last month, the fate of about 70 applications remained undecided.

A flurry of refusals in May followed the move of sect leader Tatsuko Muraoka to the city of Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture. Other official bodies in the vicinity quickly copied the municipality's lead, announcing that Aum members and their children would be barred from premises they controlled.

Education Minister Tadamori Oshima, 53, referring to Ryugasaki at a news conference Aug. 25, said: ``The bottom line is that the right to education must be fully respected.''

But he added: ``It is essential that residents' anxieties be removed. I hope the people concerned will make efforts aimed at bringing about a dialogue.'' He did not propose any specific step toward that end.

Anxiety is certainly a common thread running through the anti-Aum boycotts instigated by Ryugasaki City Hall and local residents. But any move toward ``dialogue'' seems to be going nowhere.
(...)

The right to education is spelled out not only in the Constitution but in the Education Basic Law as well. Yet municipal bodies and residents continue to reject Aum children, not just adult followers of the cult and their associates.

Despite such firmness, some Ryugasaki residents-while standing foursquare against Aum itself -acknowledge privately that barring Aum children from school attendance violates the Constitution and is discriminatory.
(...)

In Otawara, Matsumoto's children were allowed to attend school temporarily, on condition they left town after a set ``grace period.''

The arrangement had been brokered by the cult's bankruptcy administrator, Saburo Abe. At the time, Mayor Kazuo Chiho endorsed the deal, saying: ``We want to make it a test case of how to maintain a goodwill relationship between our community and the sect.''

No particular problems presented themselves during the semester that the children attended school there. ``My oldest child taught me a lesson,'' one parent said anonymously. ``When I called them Aum kids, my child snapped: `You ought to call them Matsumoto-san.'''

Ikuko Sato, principal of the elementary school where Matsumoto's children attended classes, said: ``If anyone asked me, I'd say they were quite fit to live with other people.''
(...)

But many in Ryugasaki consider the ``Otawara experiment'' a resounding failure.

``It just perpetuated the problem,'' said one of the protesters who preferred not to be named. ``We could put up with it if it's only for three months or so.''

Citizens petitioned Ibaraki's prefectural government to separate the children from the former cult members living with them and educate the children at a welfare institution. This request was formally rejected.

Meanwhile, the City of Niiza, Saitama Prefecture-in a notable departure from the national boycott of Aum disciples and their children-has adopted a new policy that states residence applications will be rejected only when they are framed with the purpose of converting particular premises into a communal dwelling.

Tetsuo Shimomura, a Waseda University professor of education, supports the policy change, saying: ``Even if children are not registered as Ryugasaki residents, the board of education there should permit them to attend school on an interim basis.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


8. Nagoya ward accepts residence of regional AUM leader
Kyodo News Service/Associated Press, Sep. 29, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
NAGOYA, Sept. 30 (Kyodo) -- Nagoya's Nishi Ward has accepted an application for residence in the ward filed by a 42-year-old female leader of AUM Shinrikyo's Nagoya branch, ward officials said Saturday.

The woman in mid-September submitted the application to move into the ward to live in a house suspected to belong to an AUM member. Such applications are required when people move from one municipality to another.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Raelians

9. Group's human cloning plan a case of too much, too soon
Daily Yomiuri (Japan), Oct. 4, 2000 (Opinion)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Why do attempts to make a human clone need to be banned? Few people, if asked this question, would be able to give a logical, convincing answer. Most would simply say they do not know.

The next most likely answer would probably be that producing a human being whose facial features, personality and physique were exactly the same as those of another person would simply be eerie.

But remember, identical twins are the same as each other in terms of facial features, personality and physique.

Anyone regarding identical twins in the same way as clones and referring to them as ''eerie'' would certainly be considered rude and irresponsible.

The government wants to ban the production of human clones and is planning to present a bill to that effect to the current Diet session. However, matters such as whether human clones might be eerie or not will not be the focus of Diet deliberations.

A recent news report stated that a religious group active in Europe and the United States that has recently come to prominence announced in September that it would embark on a project to create a human clone, starting this month.

The group said the project was to be undertaken at the request of an American couple whose child died at the age of 10 months.

The planned process of cloning the baby will begin with replacing the nuclei of egg cells taken from one of the followers of the group, who has nothing to do with the baby's mother, with the nuclei of cells from the baby's body.

Thus, fertilized eggs will be created, according to the group. The eggs will then be placed in the wombs of 50 followers of the group, who will serve as surrogate mothers.

The women impregnated in this way will be placed under observation to see how their pregnancies progress. Only the woman considered the healthiest of the 50 will actually carry a baby to term, according to the group.

The project seems large-scale. But a closer look reveals that the attempt to create a human clone is astoundingly treacherous and will not pay off.

First of all, the task of producing fertilized eggs from the cells of the dead baby will be extremely laborious. Replacing the nuclei of the baby's cells with those of egg cells will not necessarily produce fertilized eggs. Even if fertilized eggs are produced, there is no guarantee that they will grow without problems.

Even if the fertilized eggs start to divide successfully, it is impossible to say how many of the eggs, after being placed in the wombs of the 50 surrogate mothers, will become implanted in the uterine wall to make the women pregnant.

Furthermore, even if the women are successfully impregnated, the probability of the embryos growing to a stage at which they would be viable is a mere 20 to 30 percent.

In addition, there are fears that a cloned baby born in this way may not grow normally.

I recently interviewed several animal-reproduction experts, and all of them were skeptical about the wisdom of the religious group's project.

They all agreed there can be almost no possibility of the project succeeding. Even if it were a success, the cloned baby would probably suffer from congenital abnormalities, they said.
(...)

Besides, in the case of the religious group's project, even if all goes well during the laborious process of creating a clone, there is no guarantee that the clone will be an exact copy of the dead baby.
(...)

In addition, there may be a risk for the woman who offers eggs for the project. She will have to be administered an ovulation-inducing drug, which can, albeit rarely, cause side effects or, in some cases, even death.

Problems may also arise for the 50 women followers of the group who are to serve as surrogate mothers. Their health may be at risk if they become pregnant but then miscarry. It has been shown that there is an alarmingly high probability of miscarriage when cloning cows.

The religious group has said only the woman considered healthiest will be allowed to carry a baby to term. Once that woman has been selected, all the others will have to have abortions.

In view of the importance that women attach to pregnancy and childbirth, the abortions may leave the women involved in the project with deep emotional scars.

Even if it is possible to create a cloned baby, how would the child, as it grew older, feel about the way it came into the world?

Is there no concern that the clone would feel extremely depressed to think that it was created as a substitute for a baby who died shortly before its birth?

Given all these problems, the religious group's attempt to produce a human clone is surely premature at this stage of scientific advancement.
(...)

Some believe the religious group planned the project in a bid to attract the world's attention. They suspect the cloning attempt was designed to serve the group's propaganda purposes.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong

10. US concerned at latest Falungong crackdown
AFP, Oct. 3, 2000
http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The United States said Monday it was disturbed by China's latest crackdown on the Falungong spiritual movement, as US-based supporters of the banned group lashed out at President Jiang Zemin.

''We find very disturbing, reports of China's use of increasingly harsh tactics to repress the Falungong spiritual movement,'' said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker.

''We will continue to call upon the Chinese government to uphold its obligations under international human rights instruments to respect those rights.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


11. Falun Gong Supporters Hit out at China
Inside China Today/AFP, Oct. 3, 2000
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=205495§ion=default
[Story no longer online? Read this]
WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) U.S.-based supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual movement on Monday lashed out at China's President Jiang Zemin, after the latest crackdown on the group which Beijing has branded an evil sect.

Falun Gong spokeswoman Gail Rachlin accused Jiang of launching a personal crusade against the banned movement born out of fears of political insecurity.

''We believe this is a personal vendetta on his part perhaps because his ban has not worked, and he has lost face to the leadership for the failure of his policy.''

''He is insecure -- and lashing out,'' she said.

Rachlin said in a statement that reports from Falun Gong practitioners inside China spoke of a ''massive reign of terror, including a dramatic increase in brutality and illegal searches and seizures.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


12. Falungong comes to Thailand in wake of Beijing crackdown
AFP, Oct. 2, 2000
http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Leaders of the Falungong spiritual group will tour Thailand this week to explain their group's principles, boost its image and gain new members in the wake of a crackdown in Beijing, group members said Monday.

Hong Chih-hong, secretary of Falungong, and 60 other leading members have arrived in Thailand, where they will embark on a public relations tour to defend their group against accusations it is a cult, Falungong member Noppadol Ekbutr told AFP.

Hong Chih-hong ''comes to Thailand because we have few Falungong trainers here'' who can adequately explain what the group does, Noppadol said.

After a stop in Bangkok, the Falungong leaders will travel to the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chaing Rai, the Nation daily said Monday.

Some pundits had warned that the Falungong visit could damage the close ties between China and Thailand.
(...)

Close to 1,000 Falungong practitioners were arrested Sunday after holding the largest demonstration in Beijing's Tiananmen Square since the 1989 pro-democracy protests which were crushed by the army.

China's government considers the Falungong, which combines martial arts, Buddhism and sect founder Li Hongzhi's moral teachings, to be the biggest threat to its rule since the 1989 student demonstrations.

''If they (Falungong) come and hold some political activities, we won't be happy,'' said one Thai foreign ministry official.
(...)

Noppadol told AFP that Falungong had no intention of damaging Thai-Chinese relations.
(...)

According to the group's own estimates, there are 2,000 Falungong practitioners in Bangkok.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


13. Thailand urges visiting Falungong not to stage political activities
AFP, Oct. 3, 2000
http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Thailand does not oppose a visit to the country by Taiwanese members of the Falungong spiritual movement, but will not tolerate the group staging any political activities, a senior official said Tuesday.

''It's unacceptable to Thailand if the group uses Thai soil for any political gain or interfering in another country's affairs,'' said Oum Moalanond, deputy foreign ministry spokesman.

The same policy was applied to any other spiritual or religious group, he said.

China asked the Thai authorities to ''monitor'' the group's activities last year, Oum said, but he was unable to confirm whether or not that was this case this time.
(...)

Some 60 senior members of the Falungong spiritual group are touring Thailand this week to explain their group's principles, boost its image and gain new members in the wake of the latest crackdown by the Chinese authorities.
(...)

China has sentenced 450 members to prison for up to 18 years, sent more than 600 to mental hospitals, placed 10,000 in labor camps and locked up another 20,000 in temporary detention centers, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


14. Beating the Falun Gong
eCountries, Oct. 2, 2000
http://www.ecountries.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) For Beijing, Falun Gong's durability is both an embarrassment and a worry. The group's ability to evade the government's grasp exposes a weakness in the state security structure; and Falun Gong's emphasis on empowerment is a threat to the political control that the Chinese Communist Party holds dear. In Beijing's worst case, the movement's resilience might inspire China's countless ethnic and religious minorities, all looking for a way to mobilize.

Falun Gong's dogged survival is linked to several features. First, it is hard to target. It has few formal structures so there is no organization to crush. All the government can do is hack at websites, harass practitioners and stop public gatherings. Besides - in the words of one London-based devotee - ''You can't fight the grannies.'' Older Chinese people are some of the most stalwart followers of Falun Gong's exiled leader, Li Hongzhi. And who can blame them? As the government slowly weans its population off the socialized economy, healthcare is suffering. Those who can't afford medical care - and those who need it most - like Falun Gong's emphasis on self-healing. And after all, it looks a lot like the qi gong practice of mind-body exercises that have been around for centuries.

To the young and old, Falun Gong's spiritual message fills the ideological vacuum left by disillusionment with communism. The movement's emphasis on clean and simple living, moreover, stands in stark contrast to the Mercedes culture that has infiltrated China's go-go cities - and the Communist Party itself. And in a political system that offers few chances for choice, says one practitioner, feel ''more responsible for what happens in their life.'' For individuals, this is a source of personal liberation; for Beijing, it's a terrifying precedent. Only a very nervous government cracks down on meditating grandmothers.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


15. Key dates in emergence of China's banned Falungong movement
Yahoo/AFP, Oct. 1, 2000
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Following is a list of key events in 18 months, which have seen the banned Falungong spiritual movement branded the biggest threat to China's communist regime since the 1989 democracy protests.

April 25, 1999: More than 10,000 followers of the Buddhist-inspired sect sit down around the Chinese Communist Party headquarters in Beijing for an entire day, demanding the right to practise their meditation and breathing exercises. It was the largest demonstration in the capital since 1989, when democracy protestors were massacred on Tiananmen Square.

April 27: The authorities say they are prepared to listen to Falungong grievances but warn of strict measures against any attempt to destabilise society.

May 3: Li Hongzhi, the sect's US-based guru, calls on Beijing to start dialogue with the movement which claims it has 80 million followers in China (2 million according to the authorities).

June 6: First questioning of over 100 followers protesting in Beijing.

July 20-22: Thousands of followers rounded up throughout the country. By the end of the year at least 35,000 followers had been arrested, according to official statistics.

July 22: Falungong is formally declared an ''illegal organisation.'' The move coincides with the launch of a media campaign accusing the movement of causing 1,500 deaths.

July 27: US State Department calls on Beijing to exercise restraint.

July 28: China issues an international arrest warrant against Li Hongzhi, accusing him of seeking to overturn the regime. Interpol refused to help with the warrant.

Oct 7: First case of Falungong follower dying in police custody, announced from abroad.

Oct 21: 11 senior figures in the movement arrested.

Oct 25-Nov 1: A week of protests in Tiananmen square in Beijing as parliament adopts law officially branding Falungong as an ''evil cult.''

Nov 12: First Falungong ''show trials'' end with four followers sentenced to between 2 and 12 years prison. Hundreds of others sent to ''reeducation through labour'' camps for three years.

Dec 26: Four senior figures in the group sentenced to prison terms of 7 to 18 years.

Feb 5, 2000: Dozens of followers protest in Tiananmen Square during the Chinese New Year.

Feb/March: Deaths in custody of 15 members disclosed. Several detained members stage hunger strike.

April 19: The official Xinhua news agency reports that a total of 84 Falungong supporters have been given prison terms.

April 25: At least 100 members defy a security net to protest in Tiananmen Square on the first anniversary of their landmark mass demonstration against the Chinese government.

May 11: About 200 members protest in Tiananmen Square to mark their founder's birthday are detained by police.

July 22: Falungong members are kicked and beaten bloody by police in Tiananmen Square in the most violent crackdown yet seen on the group since it was banned exactly one year ago.

October 1: Chinese police round up close to 1,000 protesting members of the Falungong group during clashes in Tiananmen Square on China's National Day.
[...entire item...]


=== Scientology

16. Founder of Florida's Digital Lightwave Flexes Power from the Outside
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News/St. Petersburg Times, Sep. 30, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Sep. 30--ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.--Digital Lightwave founder Bryan Zwan left the Clearwater company a year ago and resigned from its board a month ago. But he's not shy about reminding his former colleagues who's the majority stockholder.
He did just that during the company's annual meeting Friday morning at the Renaissance Vinoy resort in St. Petersburg.
(...)

In rebuilding Digital Lightwave into a profitable and popular tech company, Chastelet has tried to move the company beyond the Zwan era in more ways than one.

Chastelet talks of legal problems in the past tense after settling a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation accusing the company of filing false financial reports in 1997. Still pending, however, is an SEC suit against Zwan, who is accused of making false statements to auditors. Zwan has denied the charges.

Separately, Zwan's personal ties to the Church of Scientology had marked Digital Lightwave as a Scientology-affiliated business from its outset. Chastelet has severed any appearance of ties to the church group, even relocating the company to headquarters further away from Scientology's downtown Clearwater headquarters.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Unification Church

17. Moons face 2nd hearing over fish
Anchorage Daily news/AP, Sep. 29, 2000
http://www.adn.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Kodiak -- The legal problems of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife may not be over. The couple may have to hire a new attorney to handle charges they exceeded the legal limit for silver salmon.

Moon, head of the Unification Church, and his wife, Han Hak Ja, were cited Aug. 25 by undercover Fish and Wildlife Protection troopers who were acting on a tip. The couple was fishing from the shore of Marka Bay on Afognak Island when Moon was observed taking 10 silver salmon -- twice the legal limit. Han was seen taking six silver salmon.

The couple initially pleaded not guilty but changed their pleas to guilty on Sept. 19 in Kodiak District Court. The violations are misdemeanors.

However, the legality of the process is being questioned because Anchorage attorney Marcus Paine, who represented them, had been temporarily suspended from practicing law by the Alaska Supreme Court. The order went into effect four days before the change of plea hearing.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Buddhism

18. Followers fear monk may be deported because of traffic fatality
Star Tribune, Oct. 2, 2000
http://www.startribune.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A religious leader once described as a superstar among Buddhist monks could be deported to a hostile Thailand because of a fatal traffic accident in southwestern Minnesota, his followers say.

Phra Ajahn Yantra Amaro Bhikkhu, 48, was charged with criminal vehicular operation, a felony, in an accident in which the State Patrol said he blew through a stop sign and broadsided another vehicle.

Phra Ajahn, as he is known, was granted political asylum in the United States over objections of the Thai government.

However, ''any felony sentence makes a person deportable,'' said his attorney, Joy Bartscher of the Neighborhood Justice Center in St. Paul.

In Thailand, Phra Ajahn was known as a populist evangelical monk with a following in the millions, according to a 1996 profile in the Times of London. His spokesman, Krerkpong Csarnpratheep, said 200,000 people came to see Phra Ajahn on his birthday in the early '90s.

But then he was accused of breaking his vows of celibacy, frequenting brothels, seducing several female followers and fathering a child by one of them. His followers said the accusations were fabricated because he spoke out against government corruption, deforestation and prostitution.

He was defrocked and charged with defaming Thailand's Buddhist supreme patriarch, and he fled to the United States in 1995. He was granted political asylum in 1997 despite objections by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Now he is spiritual leader of a monastery in Escondido, Calif., and has conducted two U.S. speaking tours that included appearances at military installations and Christian churches.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Mungiki

19. Mungiki men and MP held
The Nation (Kenya), Oct. 4, 2000
http://www.nationaudio.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Chaos engulfed Machakos town yesterday as police and more than 100 Mungiki followers fought pitched street battles.

Controversial Embakasi MP David Mwenje was arrested and locked up at the Machakos police station.

The Mungiki followers had stormed the local law courts demanding that incitement charges against Mr Mwenje be dropped.

At least 17 Mungiki followers and four of Mr Mwenje's aides were arrested and thoroughly beaten by the policemen.
(...)

Trouble started outside the Machakos law courts, where Mr Mwenje was scheduled to appear for the hearing of the case, in which he is charged with inciting Nairobi City Council employees against the Minister for Local Authorities, Mr Joseph Kamotho, over delayed salaries in Nairobi last month.

But the Mungiki followers, who stormed Machakos town in hired vehicles, turned chaotic and started shouting: ''Mwenje aachiliwe... Kamotho ni msaliti (Release Mwenje..Kamotho is a traitor).''

This disrupted court proceedings, forcing the judge and the magistrates to suspend morning business.

It was at this stage that police, who appeared to have anticipated trouble, engaged the protesters in a bloody street battle.

Knives, swords and whips were confiscated from the fleeing Mungiki chaps as police flushed them out of their hideouts.

District Commissioner Hussein Dado warned Mungiki followers that force would be met with force if they dare disrupt the peace in the town.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


20. Religious Bodies Trade Accusations Over Devil-Worship
Panafrican News Agency, Oct. 3, 2000
http://www.allafrica.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Kenyan religious societies have found themselves on a collision course as evidence emerge that devil worshipping is fast taking root in a society where religion has led many people by the nose.

As the faithful were busy supplicating during a three-day prayer session declared by President Daniel arap Moi last week, church leaders and their Muslim counterparts took the podium to lash out at real or imagined devil worshippers.

The devil worshippers are believed to be rich and powerful, and believed to be responsible for child kidnapping and killings that have rocked Nairobi and Mombasa.

However, the clash has been more or less between the mainstream churches and the sects. Leaders of the controversial Mungiki sect Monday issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Anglican Church of Kenya to apologise over its retired Archbishop Mannasses Kuria's assertion that it is satanic.

Kuria last week described the Mungiki sect as a satanic organisation that goes about causing chaos and mayhem in its wake. This annoyed the sect members who now want the Anglican Church to disassociate itself from the prelate's remarks or ''we (Mungiki) in liaison with our Muslim brothers issue a fatwa (decree) on them.''

But in a show of defiance, the head of the Anglican Church in Kenya, Bishop David Gitari, has dismissed the Mungiki threat, saying his church would not want to engage in petty politics with a violent and unregistered group.

''The church could only respond to the threats of fatwa by the Mungiki sect upon receipt of a written decree duly signed by sect leaders and their Muslim brothers,'' the East African Standard newspaper Tuesday quoted Gitari as saying.

Started in central Kenya two years ago as a traditional group that observes old customs like inhaling raw tobacco and taking traditional beer in cow horns, the Mungiki sect is currently a thorn in the Kenya government's flesh, fighting running and unending battles with the police.

In the past month, members of the Mungiki sect have caused enough trouble with Moi's government, already worried that very soon the group could come up with an armed wing.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Nation of Islam

21. Nation of Islam leaders prepare for family march in capital
San Diego Union-Tribune/AP, Sep. 30, 2000
http://www.uniontrib.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
WASHINGTON -- A group of religious leaders rode into downtown Washington yesterday in the first wave of buses headed to the nation's capital for the Million Family March, organizers said.
(...)

The Million Family March will be Oct. 16, the fifth anniversary of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March.

Farrakhan has called for people of all races and religions to ''rise above their symbols'' and gather at the Washington Mall in support of the American family. Muhammad, formerly known as Ben Chavis and a former director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, helped organize the original march.

More than 100 pastors, imams and clerics from Washington met in Arlington, Va., for a prayer breakfast sponsored by the American Clergy Leadership Conference yesterday morning. Then they rode a bus together into Washington.

While Muhammad said the march would be nonpolitical and nonpartisan, he called it ''the largest gathering just before the national elections, so it will impact the outcome.''

Farrakhan has asked marchers to withhold their choice for president until the march, when he hinted that he may endorse a candidate.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Catholicism

22. Pope upholds assertion of Roman Catholic Church as mother church
Star-Telegram/AP, Oct. 1, 2000
[URL removed because it currently refers to inappropriate content]/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II took personal responsibility Sunday for a controversial Vatican assertion of the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, saying it was wrong to see it as a belittling of other religions.

''Our confession of Christ as the only son, the medium through which we see the face of God, isn't arrogance that deprecates other religions but an expression of joyous gratitude,'' John Paul said, saying that dialogue had to start with making one's position clear.
(...)

The 36-page declaration had been issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's guardian of orthodoxy. Many questioned how much it reflected the pope's wishes.

John Paul specified Sunday the declaration had been ''approved by me.''

''It's my hope that this declaration that I hold dear, after many mistaken interpretations, can finally serve its function as clarification and at the same time as an overture,'' John Paul said, speaking to pilgrims gathered at St. Peter's for the canonization of 123 Catholics.

''The document clarifies the essential Christian elements, which serve as the basis for dialogue rather than as obstacles, because a dialogue without foundation would be destined to degenerate into empty verbosity,'' he said.

The Vatican said earlier it issued the document because some theologians have been hindering the church's missionary efforts by manipulating fundamental truths to depict all religions as equal.

The church's 1960s Second Vatican Council made the same assertion of primacy.

John Paul upheld it solidly, but said it was a matter of joy rather than pride for Catholics.

''If the document, with Vatican II, declares `the only Church of Christ is the Catholic Church,' it doesn't intend to express lack of consideration for the churches and ecclesiastic communities,'' the pope said.

''This conviction is accompanied by the knowledge that it comes not through human merit, but as a sign of the faith of God that is stronger than any human weakness and sin,'' he said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


23. China Says Vatican Opens Scars with New Saints
Reuters, Oct. 2, 2000
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BEIJING (Reuters) - China accused the Vatican on Monday of ''cutting open historical scars'' by canonizing 120 Roman Catholic martyrs and provided details of serial rapes and other crimes it alleged were committed in China by the saints.

The Chinese government has exploded in anger with the Vatican for canonizing 87 Chinese and 33 missionaries Sunday, saying the act glorified a century of Western imperialism in China. The canonization's, on the 51st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, also severely hampered chances for normalizing relations between Beijing and the Holy See, which do not have diplomatic ties, the government said.
(...)

Chinese Catholics are allowed to practice their faith only under a Communist Party-controlled church, which China says has four million members. The Vatican says there are eight million Chinese Catholics loyal to the Pope who worship in secret. The top bishop of China's state-backed church Sunday called the canonization's intolerable and urged the Vatican to repent for its past crimes against Chinese people.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


24. China accuses Vatican of trying to overthrow communist government
AFP, Oct. 2, 2000
http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
China on Monday continued its condemnation of the Vatican's canonization of 120 Chinese martyrs and accused Rome of inciting the country's religious faithful into opposition against China's atheist communist government.

An editorial in the Communist Party's People's Daily cited a comment in the March 17th issue of the Vatican news service Fides as proof that Rome was seeking to encourage political opposition in China.

''The canonization of the Chinese martyrs is a challenge to the courage of the Beijing government,'' the commentary, slated to appear in the daily Tuesday, quoted Fides as saying.

''Such a comment reveals the Vatican's scheme of trying to resume their control over the Chinese Catholic Church, encourage Chinese Catholics to counter the government and the law, oppose China's socialist system and interfere in China's internal affairs by using religious issues,'' it said.

Pope John Paul II Sunday defied fierce protests from Beijing, by canonizing the Chinese ''martyrs'' in a controversial ceremony that coincided with China's National Day celebrations.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


25. China's State Administration of Religious Affairs Spokesman on Vatican's ''Canonization of Saints''
People's Daily (China), Oct. 2, 2000
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) Disregarding strong opposition from the Chinese Government and the Chinese Catholic Church, the Vatican today held a ceremony to canonize 120 foreign missionaries and their followers who committed monstrous crimes in China.

Knowing that the so-called ''saints'' were preaching in China during a miserable time for Chinese people when they were invaded, humiliated, pillaged and slaughtered by colonists and imperialists, the Vatican still branded Chinese people's righteous struggle against aggressions as ''cruel persecution and threats'' and therefore made a ''judgment'' that severely distorted history in defense of the imperial and colonial invasion.
(...)

The spokesman noted that the Chinese Catholic Church and the Chinese Catholic Bishops College issued a solemn statement on September 26, which pointed out that the ''canonization'' was a blasphemy against Catholicism, because it had not only arbitrarily distorted history and intervened in China's internal affairs, but had also totally violated regulations and procedures of the Catholic Church, and therefore, it had been resolutely opposed by the 4 million Chinese Catholics.

The spokesman also pointed out that the Vatican had recently to some extent repented its errors in history. But it failed to express any remorse for the crimes it has committed against the Chinese people, such as participating in the colonist invasion, being the first to acknowledge the puppet regime of the state of Manchu backed by the fascist Japan and supporting Japan's militarist invasion of China.
(...)

The Vatican, while expressing its intention to improve its relations with China, has time and time again interfered in China's internal affairs, the spokesman said, pointing out that the Vatican's so-called ''canonization'' had severely damaged the basis for the normalization of China-Vatican relations, and the Vatican should be held responsible for all of this.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


» Part 2