=== Waco / Branch Davidians
1. Subpoenas upheld in Waco case
2. Grand jury witnesses allege testimony isn't needed

=== Attleboro Cult / The Body
3. DSS keeps custody of cultists' 4 children

=== Falun Gong
4. Falun Gong Demonstrates in Tiananmen Square
5. Two more Falungong followers die in Chinese police custody: rights body
6. Taiwan embraces the spiritual movement that terrifies Peking

=== Scientology
7. Interior Agency Booklet on sect penitential camp
8. Press Release - Dialog Zentrum Berlin

=== ''Heaven's Gate''
9. American Suicide Cult Invade Kenya

=== Unification Church
10. Unification Church launches auto venture in North Korea
11. Moon and his ballet stars

=== Buddhism
12. Thai Buddhism faces crisis after monks' scandals
13. Sixth Qoizang Hutuktu Living Buddha Cremated in Qinghai
14. Britain Says Shown Photos Of Missing Tibetan Lama

=== Mungiki
15. Abong'o outlaws Mungiki meetings

» Part 2

=== Paganism / Witchcraft
16. Christians and witches face off in historic Salem
17. Salem profits as witching hour nears
18. Not-So-Practical Magic
19. Wiccans strive to shake satanic image
20. The way of the Wiccan
21. Halloween's Pagan Origins Are Pretty Scary, Kids

=== Hate Groups
22. Judge refuses Butler's request for new trial
23. Darkness ought not cloak doings of thugs
24. Anti-hate walk set for Sunday
25. Dutch Jews and Muslims talk to prevent violence
26. German states want ban on extreme-right party
27. Germans Protest Neo-Nazi Marches

=== Other News
28. Wonder Valley witness says she saw nothing criminal
29. Nigerian Church Ordered Out of Kenyan District
30. Complaint against Church dismissed
31. Group Moves to End Cultism, Communal Clashes
32. [T.D. Jakes]

=== Noted
33. A higher degree Hare Krishnas take learning to new level in KC seminary
34. Those memories can be made or simply borrowed
35. What would Jesus do -- about copyright?


=== Waco / Branch Davidians

1. Subpoenas upheld in Waco case
Dallas Morning News, Oct. 26, 2000
http://www.dallasnews.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A federal court in St. Louis on Wednesday refused to quash subpoenas forcing five supporters of former Waco prosecutor Bill Johnston to testify before a federal grand jury investigating government actions in the 1993 Branch Davidian siege.

Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who filed a motion on behalf of the five Waco men, said U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh ruled after an hourlong closed-door hearing that he lacked legal grounds to throw out the subpoenas. They were issued late last week at the request of the Waco special counsel's office.

Judge Limbaugh agreed to grant each of the five men immunity before they are called on Thursday before the grand jury, Mr. DeGuerin said.

''He made it clear that he saw what was going on, but at this point, there was not much he could do,'' Mr. DeGuerin said. ''This is retaliation and punishment of these guys for supporting Bill Johnston, as well as an effort to chill any other potential support.''

His motion on behalf of two deputy U.S. Marshals, a former Waco city manager a Waco lawyer and a wealthy Waco businessman had alleged that the subpoenas were part of an ongoing effort to intimidate them and Mr. Johnston.
(...)

Mr. Kennedy filed a separate motion Wednesday arguing that the subpoenas were ''an abuse of the grand jury process.'' He noted that the subpoenas were issued two months after the special counsel's office formally told Mr. Johnston that it had enough evidence to indict him. The defense filing included an Aug. 30 letter in which Mr. Danforth's chief investigator announced that ''our office will indict Bill Johnston in both St. Louis, Missouri, and in Texas.''

''They're trying to anticipate the defense and neutralize our witnesses,'' Mr. Kennedy said. ''Bill is disturbed by the fact that people who have been supporters of his and allies of his and are potential witnesses on his behalf are being threatened and harassed and dragged all the way from Texas to Missouri. All of this is designed to coerce Bill to plead guilty to a crime that he didn't commit.''

Mr. Kennedy noted that Judge Smith, one of Mr. Johnston's friends, was subpoenaed to testify an hour after the special counsel was told that Mr. Johnston would not accept a felony plea.

''There is no question that this new round of subpoenas is a further effort to punish Bill for refusing St. Jack's offer,'' he said.

Mr. DeGuerin, who represented Davidian leader David Koresh and tried to negotiate his surrender during the 1993 standoff, said he agreed to represent five of Mr. Johnston's supporters because of concerns about ''bullying'' by the special counsel.

''The fact is, if you cross somebody in the Justice Department, there's going to be hell to pay, and that's what's going on here,'' he said.
(...)

''Some people would say, 'You're switching sides here, and getting on the side of people who persecuted or prosecuted the Davidians.' I don't see it that way at all,'' Mr. DeGuerin said. ''All of my career has been fighting bullies.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


2. Grand jury witnesses allege testimony isn't needed
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 27, 2000
http://www.postnet.com/postnet/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Supporters of former Waco siege prosecutor Bill Johnston say their appearances Thursday before a federal grand jury in St. Louis were unnecessary and an effort to intimidate them.

''Nothing of merit was discussed in there,'' said one witness, Rod Goble, a lawyer in Waco, Texas. ''I hope we were able to shed light ... on what an outstanding person (Johnston) is.''

Goble is among seven people who testified before the special grand jury, empaneled in St. Louis by former Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo. Danforth is the special counsel investigating the government's handling of the standoff at the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco.
(...)

The FBI acknowledged in August 1999 that despite earlier denials, federal agents fired one or more incendiary tear gas rounds during the standoff with Davidians.

Later, Johnston, a former federal prosecutor in Waco, sent a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno saying government lawyers had known for years about the use of pyrotechnic tear gas rounds.

Investigators for Danforth allege that Johnston may have obstructed justice by failing to turn over to investigators his personal notes about use of the pyrotechnic rounds.

Dick DeGuerin, the lawyer for Johnston's supporters, said Thursday that Johnston either did not understand the significance of his notes, made in 1993, or simply forgot about them.

''The irony is that this is a classic case of a whistleblower being turned into a scapegoat,'' DeGuerin said of Johnston.

DeGuerin, the Houston lawyer who had represented cult leader David Koresh, added that the grand jury subpoenas issued to Johnston's supporters were ''an effort to frighten any other supporters ... and punish them for being supportive.''

Officials of the Danforth inquiry have consistently refused to discuss the Johnston matter.
(...)

Goble said he suspects he was ordered to testify because of his comment, published in Dallas, in which he wondered what the Danforth investigators ''were smoking'' to go after Johnston.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Attleboro Cult / The Body

3. DSS keeps custody of cultists' 4 children
Boston Herald, Oct. 27, 2000
http://www.bostonherald.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
As more signs surfaced that an Attleboro cult's solidarity may be crumbling, state officials said two members will have to visit a deprogrammer before they can get their kids back.

``They must demonstrate they're getting the help they need and come to grips with what's happened,'' Department of Social Services spokeswoman Carol Yelverton said of David and Rebecca Corneau. ``It's been made quite clear to them what they have to do.''

Yelverton said the Corneaus, who are fighting for custody of their four children - including a newborn - may have to undergo ``exit counseling'' before the state would consider reinstating their parental rights. The DSS has taken 13 children away from the fundamentalist sect since a criminal probe began last year into the deaths of the Corneaus' son, Jeremiah, and his 10-month-old cousin, Samuel Robidoux.
(...)

David Corneau, 33, is expected to testify before the grand jury next week as part of an immunity deal struck with Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr.
(...)

Under the terms of the deal, the couple have been granted immunity, in exchange for David Corneau's testimony. The deal also calls for Walsh's office to pay for the boys' burials once medical exams of the remains are complete. Forensic and DNA testing is expected to take several weeks.

Yesterday, Attleboro Juvenile Court Judge Kenneth Nasif denied the Corneaus' request to have their 2-week-old daughter returned to them. The baby, who is now staying with a relative, was born while 32-year-old Rebecca Corneau was hospitalized against her will.

She and her husband, who was released from jail after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination last month, have since returned to the cult's Attleboro duplex and appeared in court yesterday hand-in-hand, along with two other members.

But in yet another sign that the group may be weakening, 24-year-old Karen Robidoux did not accompany the Corneaus to court, as she has on every other occasion. Also conspicuously absent from the proceeding was Vivian Daneau, wife of Roger Daneau, one of the group's founders.
(...)

Members of the insular group are reportedly in constant contact with Jacques Robidoux, the sect's 27-year-old leader, and his father, Roland Robidoux, another founder and leader, through letters and phone calls. The pair remain in prison because they refused to testify before a grand jury and chose not to invoke the Fifth Amendment.
(...)

David Corneau, an ``intelligent'' man with an engineering background, wants his children back and is ``doing what's best for his family,'' but is not ready to defect from the group, his attorney said.
(...)

``It's a very sad situation,'' added noted cult expert Robert Pardon, who was appointed a guardian for the newborn. ``If David and Rebecca were willing to get the help they need, they could definitely make good parents. I believe David has to make the right choices, and that he will.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong

4. Falun Gong Demonstrates in Tiananmen Square
Reuters, Oct. 27, 2000
http://news.excite.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BEIJING (Reuters) - Dozens of members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement demonstrated in Tiananmen Square on Friday and were hustled away by waiting police, a year after the Communist Party declared the group an ''evil cult.''

Police sprinted backwards and forwards around the vast plaza as small groups of protesters simultaneously pulled out red or yellow banners proclaiming support for the outlawed movement.
(...)

Police have tightened security in Beijing as Falun Gong members are expected to mark the anniversary of their cult status with a petition, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy said on Thursday.
(...)

Monday marks the anniversary of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, outlawing ''heretic'' cults, including the already banned Falun Gong.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


5. Two more Falungong followers die in Chinese police custody: rights body
AFP, Oct. 26, 2000
http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Two more followers of the outlawed Falungong mystical group have died in police custody, a Hong Kong-based rights group said Thursday.

The deaths bring to 59 the number of group members who are known to have died in suspicious circumstances in police custody since Falungong was banned in July last year, according to the Information Center on Human Rights and Democracy.

Qi Fengqin, 43, a former official in Liaocheng city, eastern Shandong province died on October 11 after police in the detention center where she was incarcerated tried to force feed her following a hunger strike, the center said.

Police attempted to force liquified food down her throat via tubes, but she died when the liquid got into her lungs, it said.

It was not immediately possible to confirm Qi's death with local authorities or her former employer, the local forestry department.

The center said she was arrested on September 10 for passing out materials documenting the government's ''persecution'' of Falungong.

Also dead was Zong Hengjie, 34, arrested by police in Shengyang city, northern Liaoning province in September and who was believed by his family to have died after repeated beatings in prison, the center said.

Tiexi district police confirmed to AFP that Zong had died, but denied he was beaten to death.

''He committed suicide because he wanted to escape punishment,'' an unnamed policeman at the Tiexi station told AFP.

Zong jumped from a fourth-storey window at the detention center where he was locked up. He was being held for passing out materials opposing the government crackdown on the group, the policeman said.
(...)

Since the ban, some 450 members have received prison sentences of up to 18 years, more than 600 have been sent to mental hospitals, 10,000 have been placed in labor camps and another 20,000 locked up in temporary detention centers, the center said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


6. Taiwan embraces the spiritual movement that terrifies Peking
The Independent (England), Oct. 27, 2000
http://www.independent.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) Ironically, the Chinese crackdown has pushed membership of the Taiwan Falun Gong Research Society to new heights. The Taiwanese branch, run by Tsao Huei-Ling and her husband, now has 30,000 members. While Peking wages war on the ''evil sect'' it accuses of subversion, Taipei happily condones the activities of the Falun Gong faithful.

Their slogans beckon the curious on buses, between adverts for ways to a better life - business studies in the United States on one side, and a range of cosmetics on the other.
(...)

''There is religious freedom here,'' said Huang Ke-chang, director of Taiwan's Religious Affairs Department. ''More than 11 million people follow one of 16 different religions.

''As long as people obey the law, they can believe what they like. But we don't even think of Falun Gong as a religion. They registered as a sports organisation, and we have had no trouble from them,'' said Mr Huang.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Scientology

7. Interior Agency Booklet on sect penitential camp
Hamburger Morgen Post (Germany), Oct. 24, 2000
Translation: CISAR
http://cisar.org/001024a.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Does Scientology maintain penitential camps in which apostates are forcibly held and are subjected to brainwashing? A new booklet from the Work Group on Scientology in the Interior Agency has come to that conclusion.

Its author is Professor Stephen Kent from Alberta, Canada. For the initial presentation of the booklet he brought Stacy Brooks with him from the USA. She reported that she was dragged off to such an training camp herself.

''Even residents of Hamburg who are members of Scientology run the risk of ending up in one of the organization's penitential camps in Denmark or the USA,'' said Ursula Caberta, Hamburg's Scientology Commissioner. A handful of sect adherents were demonstrating in front of the Interior Agency as she was saying that. They distributed their printed party line, in which Caberta was described as having accepted bribes and in which Interior Senator Wrocklage was threatened with charges.

According to Stephen Kent, the penitential camps are the ''Rehabilitation Project Force'' (RPF) of Scientology. He said the camps were set up to break down the will of members critical of the organization. ''Witnesses have told me that they were held there an entire year,'' said Kent. He said such training camps existed not only in Los Angeles, but also in England and Denmark - and they have been for years. At this point, the government authorities have done nothing. Kent: ''They always say there is not enough proof to get involved.''
(...)

» The original English language version
» Brainwashing in Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF)
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.''

8. Press Release - Dialog Zentrum Berlin
Dialog Zentrum Berlin (Germany), Oct. 24, 2000,
http://cisar.org/001024d.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Prof. Stephen Kent of the University of Alberta, Canada, presented his study on Scientology penitential and re-education camps (RPF: Rehabilitation Project Force) today in a press conference at the Dialog Center Berlin in conjunction with the European-American Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the USA. The totalitarian Scientology organization maintains this kind of private penitential camp, according to Kent's findings, in the USA, Great Britain and Denmark. Members who do not adhere to Scientology's standards are punished in these camps and, according to Prof. Kent's findings, are subjected to systematic ''brainwashing.''

The study by the Canadian religious sociologist about the human rights violations in the Scientology penitential camps are being printed as a booklet in German and in English by the Hamburg Senate administration; the German-language booklet as well as a proof copy of the English version are available at the Senate administration for the Interior of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

The American Stacey Brooks, who herself used to be a Scientology staff member and a prisoner in the RPF camp, reported from her own experience that the punitive measures included unacceptably heavy physical labor and Hubbard ''study courses.''

Robert S. Minton, distinguished with the Alternative Charlemagne Award 2000 for his involvement on behalf of the victims of Scientology, reported on the Lisa McPherson Trust, which he established, and his goal, together with Dell Liebreich, the aunt of the deceased, to take legal measures to explain the death of Lisa McPherson, an American who passed away while under Scientology's ''care'' five years ago. In addition to that, the Lisa McPherson Trust is concerned with ending continued human rights violations by the Scientology organization.

Ursula Caberta y Diaz, director of the Work Group on Scientology in the Interior Administration of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, pointed out Scientology activities which were meant to worsen European-American relations. She praised France's involvement in the European discussion with Scientology in connection with prohibiting a Scientology march through Paris.

The spokeswoman for the European-American Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the USA, Solveig Prass of the Parents and Concerned Initiative against Psychic Dependency of Sachsen, Inc., announced that competition was open for the Alternative Charlemagne Award in 2001. The Committee's human rights prize will be bestowed in 2001 upon a person who excels in the trans-Atlantic area in the discussion about human rights and religious freedom and the totalitarian Scientology organization.

for the organizers:

Rev. Thomas Gandow,
Chairman, Dialog Zentrum Berlin

DIALOG ZENTRUM BERLIN
Heimat 27, D- 14165 Berlin
- Telefon +49 30/ 815 70 40 - Telefax +49 30/ 845 09 640
Email: berliner.dialog@dialogzentrum.de - Internet:
http://www.dialogzentrum.de
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Donations to the Dialog Center can be electronically
transferred to account: 15 51 3900 51
at the Bank fuer Kirche und Diakonie (BKD)
- BLZ 350 601 90 [this is the number of the financial instituion for
electronic transfer
[...entire item...]


=== ''Heaven's Gate''

9. American Suicide Cult Invade Kenya
Panafrican News Agency (Kenya), Oct. 27, 2000
http://allafrica.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A suspected suicide cult related to the infamous American Heavens Gate cult accused of mass suicide overseas has spread its tentacles in Nairobi, a local daily reported Friday.

In its lead article, The People Daily said two of the cult's ''ambassadors'' flew into the city early this week and dished out expensive books and magazines revealing the mysteries of life after death in a seventh orbit beyond the universe.

The magazines also narrate possible extraterrestrial existence in a heavenly universe beyond the solar system, the same theories upheld by the Heavens Gate cultists.

The ''ambassadors'' are said to have promised their followers free air travel tickets to America for a party to be held in Chicago in 2002.
(...)

A book, titled Uransia, was also issued free at the parties, which is suspected to have devastating mind effects.

The pamphlets distributed in Nairobi are said to have the same effect. The tracts were distributed to University of Nairobi students and thespians at the Kenya National Theatre.
(...)

The two ''ambassadors'' reportedly flew out of the country Thursday morning heading for Ethiopia, but promised to come back in two weeks' time.

''They use words that have meanings aimed at confusing the mind and do not make sense to make you read it over and over again, it is aimed at getting people lost in their faith with a high possibility of brainwashing,'' the paper quoted a source as saying.

The terms used in the publications include ''adjusters, progressors'', and pictorial representations of their ascension to the cult's belief of paradise - a journey through six solar systems beyond the universe.

There was word that the book - Uransia - had actually been confiscated by Customs officers at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport upon their arrival, and that on Wednesday evening the two managed to recruit a group of Rastafarian youths who agreed to later bring drums for celebrations.

Cases of ritual killings and child kidnappings have rocked Kenya recently leading to widespread claims that cultists are on the loose.

In March, the Kenyan government warned that a British cult targeting children had invaded the country. The Children of God cult, the government said, had established a base in Kenya and members were known for sexually molesting children and that they searched schools and estates recruting more members.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* The book referred to most likely is The Urantia Book


=== Unification Church

10. Unification Church launches auto venture in North Korea
UPI (Owned by the Unification Church), Oct. 26, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The South Korean government has allowed the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church to build a car-assembly plant in North Korea, officials said Thursday.

Pyongwha (Peace) Automobile Co., the automotive arm of Unification Church, was allowed to invest $54 million in an assembly line in North Korea's western port of Nampo, said an official at the Unification Ministry, which orchestrates South Korea's policy toward the North.
(...)

The Unification Church founded in April last year Pyongwha Automobile for the project in North Korea. The firm will hold a 70 percent stake in the joint venture for cash investment, while the North's Ryongbong owns the other 30 percent for offering land.

The car factory is part of the church's campaign in North Korea launched in 1991 when the Rev. Moon met with the country's founding leader Kim Il-sung. Kim died in 1994, but his son and power successor Kim Jong-il has maintained ties with Moon. In February, Kim sent rare wild ginseng to Moon, along with a message congratulating him on his 80th birthday.

The Unification Church has played a role in promoting reconciliation between the two Koreas by organizing a performance tour in the South by the North's art troupe ahead of the historic inter-Korean summit in June. It runs a hotel, a restaurant and a construction-material trading company in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

The church was established in 1954 by Moon. Moon has established a number of publications worldwide, including the Washington Times newspaper, that are owned and operated by News World Communications Inc., which also owns United Press International.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


11. Moon and his ballet stars
Telegraph (England), Oct. 26, 2000
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
When the Rev Moon's son died in a car crash, the controversial religious leader formed a dance company for the young man's fiancée. With money no object, it has impressed critics around the world. As it prepares to visit London, Ismene Brown talks to its guiding forces
(...)

The theatre is the venue for the first visit to Britain of the Universal Ballet of Korea (proprietor Rev Sun Myung Moon, prima ballerina Julia H Moon). The ''Moonies'', as the Unification Church is popularly known, got more publicity than they could handle when their recruiting tactics began to be denounced in America in the Seventies by irate parents of students who now claimed they had new ''True Parents'' in the Rev and Mrs Moon.

The mass weddings of thousands of couples, allotted impersonally to each other by Rev Moon, made for spooky news photos: all those white bridal outfits, all those faces suffused with love, honour and obedience - directed at Moon rather than the relative strangers whose rings they were about to wear.

The Universal Ballet was created after Moon's 17-year-old son was killed in a car crash in 1984. The youth had been engaged to a gifted young ballet dancer called Julia Pak, the daughter of Moon's right-hand man. In a bizarre ceremony, she was married to her dead fiance's ghost, thus becoming Rev Moon's daughter-in-law, and the Universal Ballet was set up as a memorial to the dead man.
(...)

Is it, though, something more than simply a ballet company? When Julia Moon made her debut as a guest at the Kirov in 1990, Rev Moon interestingly described it as a significant step in the advancement of his hopes for Russia. Can we buy tickets for Universal Ballet next week at Sadler's Wells without qualms? Will the Moonies try to recruit us as we arrive, or get our details from the mailing database? Ian Albery, the chief executive of Sadler's Wells, says that no such thing is possible (though the street outside is apparently fair game for leafleting).

But still, Moon is a very powerful figure on the far Right, and the role that his ballet company plays in smoothing the way for him is germane to our enjoyment of it. Like L Ron Hubbard, the inventor of Scientology, Rev Moon believes that he has corrected the flaws of the world's major religions, Christianity in particular. Adam and Jesus Christ, it seems, were given a mission by God, but both failed to complete it.

Moon has completed it, by getting married and positioning marriage as central to morality, and therefore can claim to have wiped out Jesus's and Adam's inadequacies. Rev and Mrs Moon (his third wife) are Father and Mother to us all, our ''True Parents''. In this unifying spirit, he claims to have helped set in motion, through his formidable political contacts, the fall of communism and the reunion of the Koreas, among other things.

The Moons are also media moguls. They own the Washington Times, the UPI press agency and plentiful television interests. They are friends with past president George Bush and aspirant president George W Bush; they are involved in school programmes. There are thought to be more than 1,200 Unification-controlled enterprises, in the Far East, the Americas, Russia, Europe - a handful in England too. Moon, who is now 80, was jailed for tax evasion in 1985. The ballet company is an invaluable international corrective to any bad publicity.

The key figure in all this is Dr Bo Hi Pak. Julia Moon's father is as round and gung-ho as she is slender and reticent. On my trip to Geneva he was a courteous host, describing himself as the ''daddy'' of all 73 dancers, and displaying an attentive care for them. We met him in his role as the ballet-mad chairman of the Korean Cultural Foundation and president of the Universal Ballet.

Had we been introduced to Colonel Pak, chief aide to Rev Moon, president of the group that owns the Washington Times, former liaison officer of the Korean CIA, political lobbyist and mastermind of the Unification Church's multi-billion-dollar enterprises, we might have felt differently. Yet they are the same man.

It was Pak who decided that Universal Ballet in Korea should be a new Kirov and that his daughter must dance in certain key cities; Pak who decided that, after four obscure American directors, Universal needed the top man.
(...)

Since then, hey presto, the Universal Ballet, part Korean, part American, part Russian, has finally won backing from the Korean government and become a prominent addition to the world ballet scene. The graduates of the Kirov Academy (Moon bought the Kirov name with Vinogradov's blessing) now dominate world ballet competitions.
(...)

The West lets its ballet companies fight for money, he says disdainfully. But Universal is different: ''Here I never think about money. Dr Pak gives me whatever I need.''

At what price? Vinogradov says that none is paid to the Unification Church; there is no recruitment in the company or school, only Julia is a member, and he is still Christian Orthodox. Art, he says, is the only priority. And maybe it is.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Buddhism

12. Thai Buddhism faces crisis after monks' scandals
The Spokesman Review/AP, Oct. 28, 2000
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BANGKOK, Thailand _ A police raid on the secret residence where a Buddhist priest arranged trysts with women has caused new embarrassment for Thailand's Buddhist establishment, already plagued by exposures of wayward monks.

Thammathorn Wanchai, the abbot of a temple in central Thailand, had been trailed secretly for two days by the ITV television network as he frequented the house with several women.

When police -- acting on behalf of the government's religious affairs department -- raided the house Wednesday, they found pornographic magazines in the closets, women's underwear in drawers and a flask full of booze.

Hours later, Thammathorn, 43, was defrocked for breaking his monastic vows -- having sex, drinking alcohol and wearing clothes other than the monk's yellow robes. Because he disguised himself in an army uniform, he faces criminal charges of impersonating an official.

In another case on Thursday, two more monks were detained for hoarding large amounts of beer and whiskey in their home, ITV television reported.

The monks add to a growing list of Thai clergymen who have been caught violating Buddhism's code, which requires them to renounce material and bodily pleasures and embrace a life of poverty to attain enlightenment.

''This is a fatal problem for Thai Buddhism,'' said Chatsumarn Kabillasingha, a Buddhism lecturer at the Thammasat University.

Last week, two monks were caught in a karaoke bar, singing and drinking. One wore a wig to hide his shaved head.

Last month, another monk was reprimanded and forced to sell his collection of Mercedes-Benz cars. Others have been convicted of rape, murder and financial wrongdoing in the past.

The scandals have raised questions about the clergy's ability to discipline itself and the faithful's habit of pampering the priests with lavish gifts in the hope of winning spiritual merit.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


13. Sixth Qoizang Hutuktu Living Buddha Cremated in Qinghai
Xinhua (China's official news agency), Oct. 27, 2000
http://library.northernlight.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
XINING (Oct. 27) XINHUA - The sixth Qoizang Hutuktu living Buddha passed away and was cremated at Ta'er Monastery in northwest China's Qinghai Province Thursday.
(...)

The sixth Qoizang Hutuktu was born in Nanmenxia Township of Huzhu County in Qinghai Province in July 1913. He has obtained Gexe degree, the highest attainable in research of lama scriptures, and served in five monasteries in Qinghai.

He assumed the posts of council member of the Chinese Buddhist Association, member of the Standing Committee of the Qinghai Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference and vice- president of the Qinghai Buddhist Association.

During his lifetime, he presided over 10 abhisecas, a religious ceremony by pouring water on heads of Buddhist faithful, in various parts of the country. The last one took place at Mount Wutai, one of the four sacred mountains in China.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


14. Britain Says Shown Photos Of Missing Tibetan Lama
Inside China Today/Reuters, Oct. 27, 2000
http://www.insidechina.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
LONDON, Oct 27, 2000 -- (Reuters) China has shown British officials photographs which it says are of the 11-year-old Panchen Lama, Tibet's second holiest figure who disappeared with his family in 1995, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.

The London-based Free Tibet Campaign said Foreign Secretary Robin Cook had told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on Wednesday that British officials were shown the pictures during a Chinese human rights delegation's visit last week.
(...)

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was recognized in 1995 as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Beijing later picked its own candidate and declared him the Panchen Lama, though many Tibetans regard him as an imposter.

The whereabouts of the original choice of Panchen Lama have been the focus of intense speculation within Tibet and among human rights groups, but the Free Tibet Campaign said the photographs offered no clues as to where he may be.
(...)

China allowed a religious revival in Buddhist Tibet in the 1980s and relaxed controls again in the mid-1990s. But it reacted swiftly to the Dalai Lama's recognition of the new Panchen Lama, arresting and jailing hundreds of monks.

Beijing has since tried to control organized religion through ''patriotic'' religious figures and institutions, leading to complaints in the West that it was abusing Tibetans' human rights.
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=== Mungiki

15. Abong'o outlaws Mungiki meetings
The Nation (Kenya), Oct. 26, 2000
http://www.nationaudio.com/
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The Mungiki sect will not be allowed to hold unlicensed meetings, Police Commissioner Philemon Abong'o has said.

Mr Abong'o gave instructions to the police to arrest sect members who violate the directive.
(...)

Mr Abong'o said the force was not going to allow the sect to conduct ''criminal-like'' activities.

He was particularly concerned about Sunday's violence in Kayole, Nairobi, where six women were stripped naked.
(...)

Meanwhile, Office of the President Minister Shariff Nassir said the government's crackdown on Mungiki followers would continue.
(...)

But police spokesman Peter Kimanthi, clarified that the crackdown was ''targeting criminal elements, not organisations''.

He said the general impression that the police were cracking down on the Mungiki was not correct.

In Central Province, Provincial Commissioner Peter Kiilu banned the movement in the region. ''I have instructed my officers to hunt them down and arrest all of them,'' he said.

Declaring Central Province ''a no-go zone'' for Mungiki followers, Mr Kiilu said the activities of the sect were illegal.

The government would use its powers to ensure that the sect's followers held no public meeting in the area, he said.

He accused the sect of infringing on the rights of Kenyans and advised that it seeks registration first before conducting its activities.
(...)

The Council of Imams and Preachers warned of bloodshed unless the government and churches stopped harassing Mungiki members.

The imams, led by Sheikh Ali Shee, claimed that a plot had been hatched to derail Mungiki activities.

''The government is courting bloodshed by continuously subjecting Mungiki followers to harassment and it should learn a lesson from what is happening in Israel now,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the three people pictured in yesterday's front page of the Nation waving trousers taken off women on Sunday, were yesterday identified by Mungiki coordinator, Mr Ibrahim Waruinge as Mr Evans Nyakundi, Ms Catherine Nyawira and Ms Jackline Mueni.
(...)

He said the three are not members of Mungiki, reiterating that the sect does not support violence against women.
(...)

He denied blaming the stripping incident on another hard-line traditional Kikuyu sect, Kenda Muiyuru (Nine Kikuyu Clans) as reported in yesterday's Nation.
(...)

However, the Buru Buru police boss Mr Nomwel Mochache could not confirm whether the faces in the three pictures were of those identified by Mungiki.
(...)

The imams said they were concerned by increased cases of harassment of Mungiki followers who converted to Islam especially incidents of them being beaten up and their holy books of Koran being confiscated and burnt while conducting prayers.

The imams took issue with the Minister in the Office of the President, Mr Marsden Madoka and Northern Eastern Provincial Commissioner, Mr Maurice Makhanu, for what they termed as their ''anti-Islam activities''.
(...)

However, the imams cautioned Mungiki supporters against involving themselves in activities that were against the law and religious teachings.
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