=== Waco / Branch Davidians
1. Panel faults Reno, Clinton on Waco
2. Three buildings destroyed by fire at former Branch Davidian site
3. Judge to testify in inquiry by Waco counsel

=== Falun Gong
4. 3 More Chinese Sect Members Die In Crackdown - Report
5. Two Falun Gong Members Missing
6. Ala. Couple To Return From China

=== Scientology
7. French judge moved off "missing files" Scientology case
8. Travolta Sets Sights on 'Battlefield Earth' Sequel

=== Mungiki
9. Mungiki Protest At Police
10. Imams In Plea Over Mosque

=== Islam / Hoaxes
11. American companies targeted for boycott

=== Catholicism
12. Lutherans ready to accept Pope as "spokesman"

=== Mormonism
13. At BYU, Banking On Blood for Genetic History

=== Attleboro Cult
14. Hearing slated on cult baby's future
15. Lawyer suggests baby go to mother

» Part 2

=== Paganism / Witchcraft
16. Campus Witches May Wear Black, but Don't Look for Hats or Broomsticks
17. Finding goddess within, threesome creates spiritual game
18. Witches seek to halt church's Baptist-flavored Halloween production

=== Occult / Satanism
19. Scarred girl tells of Satanic cult
20. Hollywood Pushing Satanic Themes

=== Hate Groups
21. ADL Launches Online Database of Hate Symbols
22. 'Hate.com' : New Documentary Tracks White Supremacists Online
23. Executive buys home for Butler, report says

=== Other News
24. Bones found; tests awaited
25. Religious Sect Vows to Honor Alien
26. Court hears freemasons challenge
27. 'Bride of Christ' sacked from teaching job
28. Chinese Christian Reportedly Beat
29. Christian Group Official Resigns
30. The Sins of the Fathers

» Part 3

=== Noted
31. The New Gospel of Academia
32. Born to Believe (Church of the First Born)
33. Drive-thru Deliverance (Landmark)
34. Pokémon founder deals a winner
35. From ancient Eden to the hippie era - searching for utopia
36. Motivational speakers

=== Books, Film, Internet
37. Watch Out Harry Potter -- the Hobbit Is Back
38. Religious themes dominate 'Second Coming'
39. Anonymous Net Posting Not Protected

=== The Bishop Around The Corner
40. Bishop attacks floral tributes


=== Waco / Branch Davidians

1. Panel faults Reno, Clinton on Waco
Dallas Morning News, Oct. 20, 2000
http://www.dallasnews.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A congressional report released Thursday alleges that President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno misled the public for years with claims that military experts endorsed the ''flawed'' FBI tear-gas attack that ended the Branch Davidian siege.

''President Clinton and Attorney General Reno have deceived the American people for over seven years by misrepresenting that the military endorsed, sanctioned or otherwise approvingly evaluated the plan,'' stated the report by the Republican-led House Government Reform Committee.

The report also vigorously criticizes the Justice Department's response in the aftermath of the tragedy, contending that the agency's actions ''were consistent with an organization that was not eager to learn the full truth about what happened on April 19, 1993.''

Justice Department officials took issue with the report's main thrusts: That Ms. Reno misled the American people about whether the military had approved the FBI tear-gas plan and that she was less than vigorous in ordering an internal investigation of the Waco tragedy or rushed it for political reasons.
(...)

An opposing report by the committee's Democratic minority also disputed the Republican majority's criticism of Ms. Reno. Committee Democrats contended that the attorney general acted properly during and after the siege and said the committee had wasted more than a year of investigative resources on the Waco tragedy.

Democrats said that the committee's findings duplicate earlier investigations or were unsupported.

Both reports cap a yearlong investigation by the same committee that conducted highly partisan hearings in 1995 on the Waco tragedy.

Inquiry reopened
The committee reopened its inquiry in September 1999 after FBI and Justice officials were forced to reverse years of public denials and acknowledge that military pyrotechnic tear-gas grenades had been used at the end of the siege.

That admission and a federal prosecutor's warnings to the attorney general of a possible cover-up of the use of pyrotechnic tear gas prompted Ms. Reno to appoint Waco special prosecutor John C. Danforth.

Mr. Danforth issued a preliminary report in July exonerating the government of ''bad acts'' and clearing Ms. Reno of wrongdoing.
(...)

While the committee report diverges from the Danforth report with its intense criticism of the attorney general, its conclusions mirror several key findings of the special counsel.

Like Mr. Danforth and a federal court in Waco that recently threw out a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by surviving Davidians, the congressional committee found no evidence that government agents fired at the sect at the end of the siege.

But the report notes, ''It is extremely unlikely that anyone will ever be able to prove, scientifically, that no government agent ever fired a shot at the Davidians on April 19, 1993.''

Lawyers criticized
The report criticizes Justice Department lawyers who prosecuted Davidians after the siege, contending that lead prosecutors Ray and LeRoy Jahn of San Antonio and former prosecutor Bill Johnston of Waco were told in 1993 that the FBI had used pyrotechnic tear gas.
(...)

The congressional report notes that recent admissions about the use of pyrotechnic gas were largely due to Mr. Johnston's public warnings to Ms. Reno of a possible cover-up.

But it noted that Mr. Johnston withheld personal notes from the committee that show he was told in the fall of 1993 that ''incind'' or incendiary military gas rounds were fired at a bunker near the compound.

''While Johnston deserves credit for his role in bringing to light the use of pyrotechnic devices on April 19, 1993, a secret that lasted for seven years, his record in this matter is a mixed one,'' the report states. ''Johnston performed a public service for which he suffered undeserved reprisals from the Department of Justice. On the other hand, Johnston's apparent decision to withhold his handwritten notes ... cannot be overlooked or excused.''

A lawyer for the former prosecutor has said that the Waco special counsel has threatened to prosecute Mr. Johnston for withholding the notes. The lawyer has said that Mr. Danforth's office tried to convince Mr. Johnston to plead guilty and testify against the Jahns. Mr. Johnston has refused.
(...)

Among other findings of the report:
• The committee disagreed with a recent court ruling that the FBI did not deviate improperly from a Washington-approved plan. ''The plan, as executed, was more aggressive and destructive than the plan that was approved, and resembled closely earlier plans which had not been approved,'' the report contends.

• Ms. Reno failed to explain why she approved the plan after initially rejecting it - a charge that Democrats and Justice officials dispute.

• Ms. Reno promised a comprehensive review, but her department's investigation ''was negligent and was improperly rushed to its conclusion solely for political purposes.'' Democrats and Justice officials also dispute that.

• Department of Defense officials did not conduct an after-action report to account for assistance that state National Guard units and federal military personnel provided to law enforcement agencies during the incident. This contributed to the failure of both the military and the FBI to account for 250 high-explosive rounds that records indicate were distributed to FBI personnel from Fort Hood during the siege.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* A sidebar presents the following links:
• Committee on Government Reform report on Waco
• Draft minority report by Democrats on the committee


2. Three buildings destroyed by fire at former Branch Davidian site
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 18, 2000
http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
WACO, Texas (AP) -- Suspicious fires destroyed three small buildings at the former Branch Davidian compound where cult leader David Koresh and 75 followers died after their 51-day standoff with federal agents.

No one was injured in the fires at the Mount Carmel site 10 miles east of Waco.

The blazes leveled the home of Amo Bishop Roden, former common-law wife of one-time Branch Davidian leader George Roden, and two museums she used to chronicle the group's history, including the deadly 1993 standoff.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


3. Judge to testify in inquiry by Waco counsel
Dallas Morning News, Oct. 18, 2000
http://www.dallasnews.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The federal judge who has presided over seven years of litigation arising from the Branch Davidian siege will go to St. Louis this week to appear before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the ongoing Waco special counsel's investigation.

U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. volunteered to testify after being served on Oct. 11 with a federal grand jury subpoena by the office of Waco special counsel John C. Danforth, the judge's lawyer said Tuesday.

The attorney, Baylor Law School professor Bill Underwood, declined to discuss when the judge will appear before the secret investigative panel or specifics of his testimony.

Jan Diltz, a spokeswoman for Mr. Danforth's office, declined to comment on the matter Tuesday.

But people familiar with the inquiry say the judge is scheduled to appear Friday and will be questioned about former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston. Mr. Johnston, a longtime friend of Judge Smith's who helped prosecute surviving Branch Davidians, gained national attention last summer after complaining publicly that the government withheld evidence from the 1993 siege.

Mr. Johnston's lawyer said he was notified late this summer that the special counsel's office was preparing to indict Mr. Johnston on charges ranging from perjury to obstruction of justice and lying to federal prosecutors.
(...)

Associates of the former prosecutor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the move appeared to be aimed at increasing pressure on Mr. Johnston to plead guilty to a felony - an act that would mean the loss of his law license.
(...)

Mr. Johnston was among five federal prosecutors who brought federal criminal charges against survivors of the 51-day Davidian siege, which began with a gunfight in which four federal agents died.
(...)

The case then drew new national attention after a former FBI official told The Dallas Morning News that bureau agents had used gas grenades capable of sparking fires on the last day of the siege.

Justice Department officials initially ridiculed the former FBI official's statement, but they later acknowledged that pyrotechnic devices were used in the FBI's final tank and tear gas assault.

Mr. Johnston then wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno to warn that some of her subordinates may have withheld evidence about the use of pyrotechnic grenades. Ms. Reno had banned anything that might spark a fire in the final assault.
(...)

Mr. Johnston resigned in February from the U.S. attorney's office and was summoned twice before Mr. Danforth's federal grand jury in St. Louis.

Mr. Johnston was questioned intensively about three pages that he took from a notebook before turning it over to his superiors in San Antonio, friends and associates said. Mr. Johnston had been ordered last fall to send all of his Davidian records to the U.S. attorney's office in San Antonio after Judge Smith issued his order for the turnover of all government Davidian evidence to his court.

Mr. Johnston acknowledged that he removed several pages before sending one notebook to superiors because one of the pages included a specific reference to the FBI's use of a ''military incind'' - or incendiary gas round -against a Davidian bunker adjacent to the compound.

Friends said Mr. Johnston did not recall writing the phrase and withheld the pages out of fear that hostile colleagues might try to use what he had written to discredit him.

Friends said Mr. Johnston surrendered the missing pages to the special counsel's office in July. They said he told Mr. Danforth's investigators that he had not disclosed the notes sooner because he had been accused of wrongdoing from his earliest dealings with the special counsel's office.

Susan N. Kelly, a Waco lawyer who went to St. Louis in July to advise Mr. Johnston after he surrendered his notes, said the special counsel's staff threatened to indict him if he received more favorable publicity as a whistle-blower and also declared that his life ''was basically over.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong

4. 3 More Chinese Sect Members Die In Crackdown - Report
Yahoo/AP, Oct. 18, 2000
http://asia.biz.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BEIJING (AP)--A 62-year-old man and two other members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement have died following their arrest by Chinese authorities, a human rights group said Wednesday.

Government officials in Yuhe township in eastern Shandong province took turns pummeling Xuan Chengxi after he was picked up for distributing the sect's literature on Oct. 12, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported.

After his death, authorities cremated Xuan's remains without informing his family, the center said.

The death of Xuan and the other two brings to at least 57 the numbers of sect members who have died in custody during a nearly 15-month crackdown on Falun Gong, the Information Center said.

That figure, the center said, is probably just the ''tip of the iceberg,'' since China suppresses news of such deaths.
(...)

In the other deaths, 45-year-old Zhang Zhifa, being escorted back to Yuhe township after he was arrested in Beijing on Oct. 4, jumped from the train taking him home, the group said.

Zhuang Guangxin, 21, plunged from the seventh floor of a downtown office building in southern Qionghai city, where he was being interrogated by police, on Oct. 7, it said. Police claimed Zhuang committed suicide, the center said.

The deaths and their circumstances could not be independently confirmed.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


5. Two Falun Gong Members Missing
AP, Oct. 19, 2000
http://news.excite.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
HONG KONG (AP) - Two members of the Falun Gong spiritual sect who were detained after suing Chinese President Jiang Zemin for banning the group have mysteriously disappeared, followers in Hong Kong said Thursday.

The Falun Gong adherents said they don't know what happened to Chu O-ming or Wang Jie, who were missing in mainland China.

Falun Gong followers and human rights groups have made numerous allegations of other adherents dying while in custody in China. But Sharon Xu, a spokeswoman for Falun Gong in Hong Kong, said sect members were not immediately assuming the worst for Chu and Wang.
(...)

Falun Gong is banned in mainland China but remains legal in Hong Kong, where citizens enjoy considerably more freedom under a largely autonomous local government.

Falun Gong said Chu, a Hong Kong resident who worked as a furniture dealer in Beijing, and Wang, who worked in a mapmaking bureau there, were illegally detained more than a month ago after they mailed their lawsuit against Jiang and two aides to the Chinese courts.
(...)

Falun Gong followers have said Chu and Wang received no response to the lawsuit they filed through the mail in late August. But on Sept. 7, police raided a home where they were staying in the Chinese capital and took them into custody.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


6. Ala. Couple To Return From China
The Associated Press, Oct. 19, 2000
http://my.aol.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A researcher who was detained with his wife in China because of links to an outlawed sect is being allowed to return to the United States.

Shean Lin, a microbiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Xiaohua Du, his wife, should be returning this weekend, said a statement from the office of Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Scientology

7. French judge moved off ''missing files'' Scientology case
AFP, Oct. 18, 2000
http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Appeal Court in Paris has ordered the judge in a long-running investigation into the Scientology movement to be pulled off the case, two years after important files in the case vanished from court.

Wednesday's court ruling ordered Judge Marie-Paule Moracchini off the case, which unites 15 different plaintiffs and includes charges of fraud and the illegal exercise of medicine.
(...)

The scandal broke in June 1998, when court officials discovered that one and a half volumes of the case's 10-volume dossier had gone missing.

The discovery was only made after a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs had successfully pushed for a hearing to try and get the case to court.

Moracchini insists that the file was complete when she transferred it out of her office for the hearing. But she had failed to keep a complete copy, as she is obliged to.

In the row that followed, prosecutors in the case tried to have Moracchini taken off the case, while lawyers for Scientology tried to have the case thrown out.

Judges denied both applications in a ruling in September, 1999.

In January, a French court fined the French state 20,000 francs (3,100 euros, 2,600 dollars) and ordered damages to be paid to two of the plaintiffs because of the disappearance of the documents.

President of the court Marie-Claude Domb said the error could not be blamed on Moracchini, but described the incident as an ''inexcusable mistake'' that was down to the failure to keep properly recorded copies.

At the time, the Church of Scientology demanded ''public apologies from political figures who challenged the integrity of Scientologists in the matter of the missing papers.''

A month later, it denounced a government report describing the Church of Scientology as a dangerous organization and calling for its dissolution.
(...)

Then in June, Justice Minister Elizabeth Guigou announced she was opening an inquiry after receiving the report of an internal investigation on the affair. It had concluded: ''The most probable hypothesis is that the files disappeared in a fraudulent fashion.''

Moracchini herself recently asked to be taken off the case, saying that the investigation into her handling of it was aimed a ''destabilising'' her.

The affair comes against the background of a controversial anti-cult bill that is going through the French parliament, which has been fiercely attacked by human rights groups and religious leaders.

The Church of Scientology spokesman in France Jean Dupuis has condemned the bill as a ''fascist exercise worthy of a totalitarian state.''
(...)

In November last year, five French Scientologists were found guilty of fraud and attempted fraud. One of them was sentenced to six months in prison and fined 100,000 francs (16,000 dollars) for swindling people on behalf of the movement.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* France's proposed law is aimed at crimes committed by cults and extremist groups like the Scientology organization. Scientologists consistently misrepresent laws designed to address criminal behavior as ''human rights abuse.''

The publisher of Apologetics Index fully agrees with the German government's assessment of the Scientology organization:

''The German government considers the Scientology organization a commercial enterprise with a history of taking advantage of vulnerable individuals and an extreme dislike of any criticism. The government is also concerned that the organization's totalitarian structure and methods may pose a risk to Germany's democratic society. Several kinds of evidence have influenced this view of Scientology, including the organization's activities in the United States.''
[...more...]

8. Travolta Sets Sights on 'Battlefield Earth' Sequel
Reuters, Oct. 18, 2000
http://news.excite.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Believe it or not but John Travolta says he was delighted with ''Battlefield Earth'' -- the Scientology-inspired sci-fi thriller slammed by critics as one of the worst movies of all time -- and that plans are going ahead for a sequel.

''The bottom line is that I feel really good about it. Here I was taking big chances, breaking a new genre,'' said Travolta, one of Hollywood's leading followers of the Church of Scientology.

''I am so thrilled, believe it or not, at the outcome because I didn't believe I could get it done,'' an upbeat Travolta told journalists this week, adding that critics had a history of disliking sci-fi movies.

Asked whether there would be a ''Battlefield 2'', he said; ''Sure. Yeah.''

Based on the 1980 book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, ''Battlefield Earth'' stars 46-year-old Travolta as the leader of a manipulative race of aliens bent on world dominance. Travolta also produced the film which he said took 15 years to persuade studios to make.

Released in May, it was vilified by critics variously as ''deeply dumb'', ''laughably bad'' and a ''monolithic monstrosity.'' It has taken $21 million at the U.S. box office.

Travolta, star of ''Saturday Night Fever'' and ''Get Shorty'', said the movie was now winning fans on the Internet and growing on audiences.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Mungiki

9. Mungiki Protest At Police
The Nation (Kenya), Oct. 20, 2000
http://allafrica.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Mungiki sect leaders yesterday condemned the demolition of their shrine at the group's Laikipia headquarters by police.

Police are said to have raided Thiria village, Ng'arua Division, and arrested three suspects.

The leaders, who spoke to the Nation in Nakuru town, were Mr. Kimani Ruo (Rift Valley) coordinator, Mr. Mohammed Maina Njenga a founder member, Mr. Kimani Karuga (Laikipia coordinator), Hadija Wangare and Kamunya Njoroge.

They accused police and the provincial administration of waging a hate campaign against them.

Police demolished several semi permanent buildings including an incomplete mosque.

Laikipia police boss Simon Chogoo said the sect's members were suspected to have murdered a police officer in Murang'a.
(...)

The leaders also took issue with retired Anglican Church Archbishop Manasses Kuria for alleging that the controversial sect members were devil worshippers.

They said the sect members were people with a vision and wanted to see justice done.

Mr. Ruo told religious leaders to stop tarnishing the name of the sect and vowed that Mungiki would pursue such leaders as individuals.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


10. Imams In Plea Over Mosque
The Nation (Kenya), Oct. 19, 2000
http://allafrica.com/stories/200010190282.html
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Nairobi - Muslim preachers have asked the Rift Valley police boss to investigate the burning of a mosque by officers in Laikipia District last month.

They said police and other government officials who participated in burning the mosque, copies of the Holy Quran and other Islamic literature should be arrested and charged.
(...)

The timber-walled mosque was built by Mungiki members who recently converted to Islam.
(...)

Sheikh Shee said Mungiki members who have joined Islam are being taught the ideals of the religion and have been told to avoid confrontation with the authorities.

Some Mungiki members were recently reported to have invaded a Free Masonry temple in Nairobi, while others had threatened to declare Fatwa on former Anglican Church of Kenya(ACK) leader Archbishop Manasses Kuria for allegedly denigrating the sect faithful.

He said that some churches were not happy to see their former members converting to Islam and cautioned the police against harassing Mungiki members at the behest of missionaries and church leaders.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Islam / Hoaxes

11. American companies targeted for boycott
Chicago Tribune, Oct. 16, 2000
http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
[Hoaxes]
CAIRO -- Has anyone seen the Star of David on a box of Ariel detergent? Or the name of Allah on a Nike shoe?

Look harder, militant Muslims say, and you will see how American companies insult Islam while selling their products to the Arab world. At the same time, they assert, these same companies support Israel against the Palestinians, who, the militants say, are only protesting for their rights.

These and similar charges are part of a campaign to persuade Egyptians to boycott 22 American-made goods and labels, all published in an unsigned blacklist distributed across the Egyptian capital over the weekend.

''The boycott is the simplest weapon to burn the forces of oppression,'' one young man cried as he pressed the leaflet into eager hands.

The call for a boycott of American products and fast food chains came only 12 hours after Cairo University students trashed a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet near campus. The Interior Ministry said 60 students were injured Saturday night in the melee; police detained 65 other protesting students Sunday night as they tried to leave the campus.

Crowds enraged by Israel's methods to quell Palestinian protests in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have beaten employees and stoned and raided Sainsbury stores, claiming the British supermarket chain is owned by Jews who work for the perpetuation of Israel.

As news of the boycott spread, Sainsbury took out advertisements in local newspapers pointing out that more attacks on its stores would leave 4,800 Egyptian employees jobless and their families without livelihoods.

''We have been subjected to evil rumors that led to severe attacks on many of our stores, injured workers and customers. We are not helping Israel financially or politically. We market 75 new Egyptian products, 100 percent made by Egyptian factories and we have 475 Egyptian suppliers,'' the advertisement read. It was signed: ''The 4,800 Sainsbury employees.''

Another supermarket chain ran a large advertisement Sunday to inform the public: ''We are proud to announce we are a 100 percent Egyptian company.''

Among other companies listed on the anonymous leaflet were Time magazine, McDonalds, Heinz, Tasty Foods, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Jack in the Box, American Express, Xerox, and Procter and Gamble.
(...)

At a restaurant named Mohammed, frequented by men in beards and long, traditional robes, a heated debate took place Sunday over whether the Islamic Star over the door in fact resembled the Star of David.

If it did, one patron argued, the restaurant owner must be in cahoots with the enemy.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

» More Islamic hoaxes

=== Catholicism

12. Lutherans ready to accept Pope as ''spokesman''
UPI (Moonie-owned), Oct. 18, 2000
http://www.vny.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
NEW YORK, OCT. 18 (UPI) -- Lutherans might be willing to accept the Pope as ''spokesman for all Christianity worldwide,'' their leading prelate in Germany said Wednesday.

The statement by Bishop Hans Christian Knuth came almost one year after representatives of the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) signed their historic accord on ''justification'' in Augsburg, Germany.

This issue had divided Roman Catholics and Protestants for almost five centuries. Now, Catholics and the LWF's member churches agree that only ''by grace through faith,'' but not good deeds, are Christians justified before God.

Knuth is the presiding bishop of the Union of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Germany.

In an address to his denomination's general synod in the eastern German resort town of Schneeberg, the bishop made it clear that the Pope would have to meet certain conditions to be accepted by non-Catholics as their spokesman. (...)

Furthermore, when speaking for non-Catholic Christians, the Pope would have to give up his claim of being the ultimate arbiter in matters of church law, Knuth said. ''He could not present himself as Christ's deputy nor pretend to be infallible in doctrinal matters,'' Knuth added, according to ''Idea,'' a Protestant news agency based in Germany. [...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* The pope does not speak for Christianity. Much of Catholicism distorts and/or makes unacceptable additions to biblical teachings.

=== Mormonism

13. At BYU, Banking On Blood for Genetic History
Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 19, 2000
http://www.sltrib.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A Brigham Young University scientist is dreaming of the day when a blood test can help a person with no recorded family history locate his ancestral homelands.

The privately funded, multimillion-dollar ''molecular genealogy'' project aims to link traditional genealogy with cutting-edge DNA technology. The hope is to dig into human history in ways never before possible.

Researchers at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-owned university are in the process of taking blood samples from 100,000 volunteers. Along with those genetic fingerprints, volunteers are requested to provide researchers with a family tree stretching back at least four generations.

The program, funded by philanthropists James Sorenson and Arizona's Ira Fulton, will take the inherited ''genetic markers'' gleaned from the DNA and match them with the family genealogies.
(...)

Such information could assist individuals who have no recorded family history to locate their ancestral homelands simply by taking a blood test. Researchers also hope to be able to track the movement of gene pools as populations have migrated around the globe.
(...)

''I have one great theological goal, and it's not (related to) any one religion,'' said the 80-year-old Sorenson, a member of the LDS Church. ''It is peace on earth and brotherhood of men. And the better we understand how close we are, not how different we are, the more we tend to look at each other as brothers and sisters.''

But there may also be doctrinal applications for the study.

While Woodward notes, ''this is not a (LDS) church project,'' the faith does hold that deceased individuals can be baptized into the church by their living relatives. That is a major reason for Mormons' fascination with genealogy.
(...)

The study, however, could also assist in advancing the Mormon belief that Native Americans are descended from Jews. Volunteers are being recruited from a number of areas around the globe, including Israel.

Sorenson said that will be looked at, but he stressed it is only a sliver of a project meant to show ties among all types of people. If the study demonstrates there is no tie between Israelites and Native Americans, so be it, said Sorenson.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

» Theologically, Mormonism is a cult of Christianity

=== Attleboro Cult

14. Hearing slated on cult baby's future
Boston Herald, Oct. 18, 2000
http://www.bostonherald.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The cloudy future of a baby born to an Attleboro cultist hospitalized against her will could become clearer next week as prosecutors probing the suspicious death of the newborn's brother continue working toward a deal with the children's father.
(...)

After Corneau's wife, Rebecca, gave birth to a healthy baby girl Monday, the state Department of Social Services took immediate custody of the infant, as ordered by an Attleboro judge. Last night, the 7 pound, 15 ounce baby girl was still being evaluated in Children's Hospital.
(...)

The insular religious group rejects government, doctors and the health-care system.

The Corneaus, who returned to the sect's Attleboro home after the birth, are allowed supervised visits with the baby, but did not request to see the child yesterday, Yelverton said.

The couple is at the center of a criminal probe investigating the deaths of their son, Jeremiah, and his 10-month-old cousin, Samuel Robidoux. Samuel allegedly starved to death while Jeremiah is believed to have suffocated during a home birth.
(...)

One source said the ongoing grand jury probe could be a factor in the outcome of the custody hearing.

While women's groups have criticized Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr.'s handling of the ``baby Corneau'' case, the DA's office, is claiming victory.

``Paul Walsh did this for one reason only - to save that baby. Mission accomplished,'' Walsh spokesman Gerald FitzGerald said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


15. Lawyer suggests baby go to mother
Boston Globe, Oct. 18, 2000
http://www.boston.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
As the healthy baby girl born to a member of a controversial Attleboro religious group received routine checkups yesterday at Children's Hospital, the attorney representing her father continued to ask that the child be placed in her mother's care until a custody hearing next week.

The 7-pound, 15-ounce baby girl was born at the Neil J. Houston House in Roxbury on Monday afternoon, after her mother, Rebecca Corneau, spent more than a month in confinement under court order. After the birth of the child, Corneau was allowed to return home to her family.
(...)

After her birth, the child was technically placed in the care of DSS officials, pending a custody hearing before Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Kenneth Nasif on Oct. 26.

While DSS has legal custody of the child, physical custody of the child was granted to Corneau's aunt and uncle, neither of whom are sect members.

Robert A. George, the attorney representing Corneau's husband, David, said again yesterday that the child should remain with her mother until next week's hearing.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]