=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. Japan Says Three Convicted Murderers Hanged

=== Falun Gong
2. Canadian-Chinese sentenced for membership in Falun Gong

=== Scientology
3. Scientology critics plan protest this weekend
4. City teen's killer still on the loose
5. Police: Scientology video links suspects to car break-ins, BB shootings

=== Unification Church
6. Koreas Sun Moon setting up in Marshall Islands

=== Islam
7. Mosque burnt in traders fury
8. Fighting was planned, says faiths group
9. Religious leaders see state role in Kenya clashes

=== Catholicism
10. Pope Wants His Cultural Center In D.C. To Be A Religious Experience

=== Mormonism
11. LDS copyright, Internet suit settled
12. Settlement of LDS Church v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry
13. LDS Suit Nearing Settlement
14. Tanners say LDS suit is settled
15. AT&T To Sell Salt Lake Tribune
16. Suit Aims to Stop Tribune Sale
17. Federal suit over LDS scriptures is possible
18. BYU Gene Data May Shed Light On Origin Of Book of Mormon's Lamanites

» Continued in Part 2

=== Paganism / Witchcraft
19. Teenagers search for spells and the meaning of life
20. Court Denies Haun's Bid for New Trial in Dally Slaying

=== Satanism
21. Church arsonist pleads innocent in 3 more fires
22. Cemetery damage 'hard to fathom'

=== Hate Groups / Hate Crimes
23. A lifetime to think about hate
24. Motel won't let Butler preach in conference room
25. Skinheads Sentenced for Temple Bomb
26. Mother's e-mail access cited in spread of hate
27. State decides not to investigate religious harassment complaint

=== Other News
28. Sikh leader facing murder charge loses top religious post in India
29. Native American Church leader, wife arrested on drug charges
30. Medicine men or drug dealers?
31. Ogden Man Waives Preliminary Hearing In Religious Peyote Distribution Case
32. Coalinga faith healer pleads no contest to charges of sex crimes
33. Man who believed wife was practicing voodoo sentenced for her murder
34. Psychics and wizards said battling for Russian minds
35. Kazakh sect follower commits suicide near southern capital
36. Judge sees this in woman's future: no refund from psychic

=== Noted
37. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo Elected APA President For 2002
38. Childhood of Shame
39. Uriella suffers for Mankind (Fiat Lux)

=== Death Penalty / Human Rights Abuses
40. Scandals Damage Cop Credibility, According to National Juror Poll
41. Execution Opposition to Meet


=== Aum Shinrikyo

1. Japan Says Three Convicted Murderers Hanged
Reuters, Nov. 30, 2000
http://news.excite.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan hanged three convicted murderers on Thursday, the eighth straight year it has carried out the death penalty, to the protest of human rights groups which said the executions were speeded up because of Tokyo's political calendar.

The Justice Ministry confirmed the executions, but following recent practice did not disclose the identities of those hanged.
(...)

Thursday's hanging brings the total number of executions to 39 since 1993, when Japan resumed carrying out the death penalty after refraining from it for nearly three and a half years.

Amnesty International, which opposes the death penalty, accused the authorities of rushing to carry out the hangings before a cabinet reshuffle expected as early as next week.

Lawmakers belonging to Forum '90, another group calling for the end of the death penalty, handed a letter of protest to the Vice Justice Minister.

''Today's executions were aimed at avoiding setting a precedent of a year without an execution and a justice minister who did not carry out one. It's very political,'' the group and Amnesty said in a statement to a told a news conference after their meeting with the vice minister.
(...)

''They run counter to the global trend of abolishing the death penalty and trample on the United Nations Convention Against the Death Penalty. It cannot be tolerated,'' the groups added.
(...)

Thursday's hangings were the first since two convicted murderers were executed last December.

But domestic public support for capital punishment has risen in Japan since the doomsday cult Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect) staged a nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subway in 1995, which killed 12 and left thousands ill.

Seven former Aum members have received the death sentence for their role.

About 80 percent of respondents to a nationwide poll last year backed the death penalty, the highest level of support since the government started conducting such surveys in 1956.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong

2. Canadian-Chinese sentenced for membership in Falun Gong
The Canadian Press, Dec. 1, 2000
http://cbc.ca/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BEIJING (AP) - China has sent a Chinese-Canadian Falun Gong follower to labor camp for three years, Canada said Friday, the first practitioner of the banned sect with foreign citizenship to be imprisoned.

Zhang Kunlun was sentenced Nov. 15 by a court in eastern Shandong province and is now in the Liuchangshan labor camp outside the provincial capital of Jinan, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. He went on a hunger strike before he was sentenced.

Authorities have not permitted Canadian diplomats to visit Zhang, said embassy spokeswoman Jennifer May. She said Zhang entered China on a Chinese passport and officials here don't recognize his Canadian citizenship.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Scientology

3. Scientology critics plan protest this weekend
St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 2, 2000
http://www.sptimes.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
CLEARWATER -- Critics of the Church of Scientology will take to downtown streets this weekend and march in a protest that has become an annual ritual.

They will picket against a backdrop of special community events celebrating the holidays and the 10th anniversary of the Pinellas Trail. As it was last year, the protest will be tempered by a court order issued Thursday stipulating specific locations where the critics can and cannot picket.

The protesters target this weekend each year, they say, to commemorate the death of Lisa McPherson, the 36-year-old Scientologist who died Dec. 5, 1995, after a 17-day stay at the church's Fort Harrison Hotel.
(...)

Police also said they plan to enforce Thursday's court order, which they discussed Friday with both the church and the critics.

''Everyone is aware of the rules, and we expect them to abide by them,'' said police spokesman Wayne Shelor. ''We'll brook no friction, but I don't think that there's going to be much.''

This is the sixth protest staged by critics of the Church of Scientology, which calls Clearwater its spiritual headquarters.

Organizer Jeff Jacobsen said he expects about 40 protesters, some from as far away as Germany.

He said the critics want the Church of Scientology ''to stop hurting people. With Lisa's case, it's the ultimate example of Scientology hurting someone. There's no evidence anywhere Scientology has learned anything from Lisa's case, which means it can happen again.''
(...)

Church spokesman Ben Shaw said Friday the protest is being led by ''hatemongers'' who have lied to the public and the media about the church.
(...)

Still, Shaw said, the church was pleased Circuit Court Judge Thomas Penick granted an order restricting the protest. The order also names a handful of known church critics and the Lisa McPherson Trust, an anti-Scientology watchdog group that in January set up offices downtown.

''We're happy the judge granted us some protection,'' Shaw said. ''I'm actually concerned about security.''

The injunction includes 10 maps of church facilities with color codes designating where critics may stage their protest.
(...)

Jacobsen said he expects the protesters to abide by the injunction, even though they disagree with it.

''It's a huge violation of our First Amendment and free speech rights,'' Jacobsen said. ''Every year they do something to try and stop us. This year, they relied heavily on the injunction.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

The Scientology organization, which increasingly acts like a hate group, is known for its harassment of the cults critics

The cult is under government and law enforcement observation in a number of countries due to its extremist and anti-constitutional nature.

4. City teen's killer still on the loose
Edmonton Sun (Canada), Dec. 2, 2000
http://www.canoe.ca/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A city teen found shot execution-style in his car on a quiet north Edmonton street was likely slain in a drug deal gone bad, say homicide detectives.

''This young man may have been involved in the drug trade and with that ... we don't have anyone narrowed down as a hard suspect,'' said homicide Det. Ralph Godfrey.

Andrew Fletcher Buttnor, 18, was fatally shot in the head on 115 Avenue near 139 Street before 5 a.m. on Oct. 3. The gruesome discovery was made by a Sun newspaper carrier.

Detectives believe the shot came from inside Buttnor's 1992 navy Ford Escort LX, which was on display for media yesterday at the police impound lot, 12230 124 Ave.
(...)

Buttnor was known to police but has not been identified as a gang member.
(...)

Buttnor is the son of Allan Buttnor, a Church of Scientology minister. The teen was not a member of the church.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


5. Police: Scientology video links suspects to car break-ins, BB shootings
Tampa Tribune, Nov. 29, 2000
http://www.tampatrib.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
This is a story about three surveillance videos.
One, outside Largo Middle School, captured a car driving up and some people getting out. At least one of them is suspected of then throwing a piece of steel reinforcement bar through the window of a car in the school parking lot to steal a purse.

Another video, at an Albertsons supermarket in Clearwater, captured one of the three suspects using a check stolen from another car to buy cigarettes, authorities say.

But without the third video - one taken outside the Church of Scientology in downtown Clearwater - investigators say they would have had no idea as to the owner of the green Saturn spotted in the previous two videos, or the two men and one woman using it.

Unlike the video cassette recorders at the school and supermarket, the one at the Church of Scientology was a lot more high-tech, with the ability to blow up its image, investigators say. In this way, it zeroed in on the license tag of the Saturn, from which BB shots had been fired, striking two people just before midnight on Thanksgiving.

With that information, investigators from the Largo and Clearwater police departments tracked down the trio. The three - Jose Muzaurieta, 22; his live-in girlfriend, Brandy Morrison, 21; and Joseph Barnes, 20 - all of Largo - were arrested late Monday night.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

Several European countries are keeping an eye on the extremist Scientology organization for breaches of privacy laws.

» Is Scientology breaking the law?
Invasion of Privacy

Scientology's systematische schending van de privacy [Dutch language only]
(Scientology's systematic breach of privacy)

=== Unification Church

6. Koreas Sun Moon setting up in Marshall Islands
AFP, Nov. 30, 2000
http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Sputh Korean cult leader, Sun Myung Moon, has offered to fund a Pacific government task force in the Marshall Islands, officials confirmed here Thursday.

Moon has pledged 10 million dollars for the development of education and fisheries programmes in the region.

Plans for the task force and the offer of multi-million dollar aid, were among key results of an international conference, co-sponsored by the Marshall Islands government and the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace, which Moon founded.

Peter Murray, executive chairman of the Murray Group, an international business management company based in Tasmania, Australia, said that the Moon group pledged substantial funding to assist with education and fisheries development in the region.

The proposed task force would oversee the projects, he indicated.
(...)

Despite criticism of Moons recent emergence in the Marshall Islands from some local churches and government leaders, Murray said there was no ''cult'' flavor to the conference, officially titled ''Building a Culture of Peace in the Pacific Region: Character Education, Family and Global Cooperation.''

''It was a straightforward meeting that brought Pacific people together'' to discuss problems and solutions, he said.

Murray said that he ''received an invitation on the basis that I had met President Note at a UN meeting (earlier this year).''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Islam

7. Mosque burnt in traders fury
The Nation (Kenya), Dec. 1, 2000
http://www.nationaudio.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A mosque was burnt to the ground and hundreds of slum dwellers were left homeless when Muslim youths and traders fought running battles in a city estate yesterday.

Scores of people were injured as the mosque, an entertainment centre called Makuti Park and part of the Mukuru Fuata Nyayo slum in Nairobi were set on fire.

The rival groups, fighting over a disputed plot in the capital's South B Estate, faced each other with petrol bombs, rungus, stones, pangas and swords.

Among the casualties was a child and a man, both of whom were slashed with pangas.

The fighting broke out shortly after 1pm after prayers. The youths confronted traders and tenants who had built temporary structures in and around the 12-acre-plot and attempted to flush them out by burning their wares, mostly second hand clothes.

They wanted to fence off the plot which contains their mosque and several madrassa buildings as well as the traders' temporary kiosks.

The traders challenged the youths to evict them and a full scale fighting developed before riot police arrived and fired teargas in an attempt to disperse the mob.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


8. Fighting was planned, says faiths group
The Nation (Kenya), Dec. 2, 2000
http://www.nationaudio.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Wednesday's burning of a city mosque and church is part of a wider scheme to spark countrywide religious clashes, top religious leaders said yesterday.

The plot is aimed at frustrating efforts for a people-driven constitutional review, said the leaders, who are heading the Ufungamano constitutional review initiative.

The scheme is aimed at pitting Muslims against Christians countrywide, they claimed.

At a press conference in which they stopped short of naming the Government as the force behind the scheme, the religious leaders said in a statement: ''We suspect there could be a scheme to shift from the painful ethnic clashes of the past to equally devastating religious clashes.''

The statement was read by the National Council of Churches of Kenya Secretary-General Mutava Musyimi after a lengthy closed-door meeting at the Ufungamano House, Nairobi.

Speaking separately, Redeemed Gospel bishop Arthur Kitonga said the violence reeked of political undertones.

Christians and Muslims are among other faiths that have solidly stood behind Ufungamano, the rival review initiative to the Kanu-NDP-led Parliamentary process.

''There has been several attempts in the past by these forces to drive a wedge between us, but they will not succeed,'' said Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) official Sheikh Abdullahi Abdi.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


9. Religious leaders see state role in Kenya clashes
Reuters, Dec. 2, 2000
http://www.alertnet.org/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
NAIROBI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The violence-torn slums of Nairobi were calm on Saturday following two days of running battles between Muslim and Christian youths, Kenyan police said.

But religious leaders saw a state hand in the clashes, linking them to differences over a stalled review of the constitution which is pitting them against a parliamentary team supported by the governing KANU party and its allies.
(...)

A church and a clinic were burnt to the ground, two vehicles were reduced to ashes while the windows of the International Christian Centre and two other churches and a library were shattered, a police statement issued late on Friday night said.
(...)

The fighting began when Muslim teenagers pulled down wooden kiosks which they said had been erected too close to a mosque in the South B housing estate on the south side of the capital.

Religious leaders have appealed for calm and are blaming the clashes on attempts to derail a church-led review of the constitution which has been opposed by the government.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Catholicism

10. Pope Wants His Cultural Center In D.C. To Be A Religious Experience
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 30, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
His home is Poland, and his office is in Rome, but when Pope John Paul II was asked where he wanted to be commemorated, he chose Washington, D.C.

So now, the city that is home to the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian Institution is about to welcome a new, and decidedly less secular, attraction: the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

Modeled after structures such as the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, the $65 million center is part art museum, with treasures from the Vatican, part interactive exhibit on Catholicism and world religions, and part think tank for religious scholars.

Although the pope has been insistent that the cultural center not wind up as a monument to him, it has features that are sure to contribute to the sense of celebrity associated with this first pope of the Information Age.

Among artifacts at the cultural center are a pair of the pope's Dynastar skis, as well as a miter, photos of the pope's family and a bronze casting of his hand.

The heart of the center, which will open in April, is a series of interactive exhibits designed by Edwin Schlossberg, the husband of Caroline Kennedy. Varied gizmos allow visitors to design a stained- glass window, ring church bells, learn about world religions, talk about their own faith, and get hooked up with volunteer opportunities in their hometowns. Audio devices in the cafeteria try to persuade people to talk about their experiences at the museum, while repeat visitors are to be quizzed about whether they put their faith into action since they first visited.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Mormonism

11. LDS copyright, Internet suit settled
The Standard-Examiner, Dec. 1, 2000
http://www1.standard.net/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
SALT LAKE CITY -- Rather than challenge a Utah court-ordered restriction on Internet users, Mormon critics Jerald and Sandra Tanner have agreed to settle a federal copyright lawsuit filed against them by the LDS Church.
(...)

The LDS Church last year filed a copyright infringement suit against the Tanners after they put 17 pages of the Church Handbook for Instruction on their Utah Lighthouse Ministry Web site. The Tanners removed the pages but then put a note on their Web site referring to a Web site in Australia containing the entire 160 page handbook.

Campbell then ruled that posting of another Internet address which may contain copyrighted material, ''was contributory copyright infringement,'' Barnard said. ''This would have been a very dangerous precedent because that's how the Internet operates. It's success is all based on links from one Web site to another.''
(...)

''That opinion which affected the rights of people that use the Internet had to be removed by an appeal or by this agreement,'' Barnard said.

The settlement requires the Tanners to refrain from using Church Handbook of Instruction information on their Web site or referring to other places where it can be found. Both sides will pay their own legal costs.
(...)

And Jerald Tanner said, ''We have entered into this settlement only to end unnecessary, prolonged and expensive litigation and not because we did anything wrong.''

The 17 pages of information the Tanners placed on their Web site explained how Mormons could terminate their LDS Church memberships. ''People need to be informed that they do not have to be excommunicated,'' Sandra Tanner said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

» Information on how to have the your name removed from the Mormon Church's membership rolls - and links to site that still carry the Church Handbook of Instruction.

Theologically, Mormonism is a cult of Christianity. It does not respresent historical, biblical Christianity in any way. In certain respects, the religious movement also has sociological cultic aspects, including its habit of making it difficult for people to have their names removed from the church's membership records.

In posting excerpts from the Handbook, the Tanners did not violate copyright. However, just like the extremist Scientology organization and other cults, the LDS church does not like certain facts to be publicly available, and thus vigourously pursues its critics.

» Utah Lighthouse Ministry (Tanners)
http://www.utlm.org/

12. Settlement of LDS Church v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry
Utah Lighthouse Ministry, Nov. 30, 2000 (Press Release)
http://www.utlm.org/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Utah Lighthouse Ministry and Jerald and Sandra Tanner entered into a settlement agreement subject to Court approval with Intellectual Reserve, Inc., the copyright owner for LDS Church publications as to a federal lawsuit alleging a copyright violation filed in October, 1999.

''We did not violate any copyright law,'' stated Sandra Tanner. ''We have agreed to put this matter behind us. Our resources are better spent for their intended purpose: to examine the claims of the LDS Church and contrast those teachings with Christianity.''

''We have and will continue to comply with copyright laws.''

''The posting of the 17 pages from the Church Handbook of Instruction on our web site, www.utlm.org was protected by § 107 of the U.S. Copyright law, commonly known as the fair use doctrine. Section 107 allows excerpts from copyrighted materials to be published for educational purposes and criticism. That is exactly what we did. That is not a violation of copyright laws.'' ''We did not sell the material and we made no profit from its posting. The LDS Church did not sell the material and lost no income because of our posting.''

''Unlike other churches, the Mormon Church does not make their operating manual readily available to people. We provided the quotes from the Church Handbook due to the many inquiries we have received from people seeking information on how to terminate their LDS Church membership. People need to be informed that they do not have to be excommunicated, that they can write a letter to their bishop and resign.''

Jerald Tanner commented, ''We have entered into this settlement only to end unnecessary, prolonged and expensive litigation and not because we did anything wrong.''

''Even before this lawsuit was filed Utah Lighthouse Ministry had removed the 17 pages from its web site. This was done while we researched the Tanners' legal position. The Church filed the lawsuit anyway asking for money damages and attorney fees,'' said Brian M. Barnard, attorney for Utah Lighthouse Ministry. ''Neither IRI (Intellectual Reserve Inc.) nor the LDS Church receive any money damages, attorney fees or court costs in the settlement,'' he continued. ''There is no admission, determination nor agreement that the Tanners did anything wrong,'' he said.

Barnard stated, ''Having researched our legal rights, we are convinced that no violation of copyright law occurred. However, we wanted to end this litigation especially as it goes into uncharted internet law. Settlement of the case includes a withdrawal of the court's opinion as to the posting of internet addresses (URLs) which may contain copyrighted material. That opinion which affected the rights of people that use the internet had to be removed either by an appeal or by this agreement.''

''The posting of URLs on our web site did not violate copyright law as it was protected by fair use and was no more than what a librarian does on a daily basis. The Salt Lake Tribune printed the URLs of web sites which contained the Church Handbook in their regular newspaper and on their electronic edition prior to our posting. No legal action was taken against the newspaper.

''Our position is that the trial court erred in issuing a restraining order. However, while concerned with internet law as it affects this new emerging medium of communication, Utah Lighthouse Ministry does not wish to expend vital resources to serve as a 'test case.' That is why we have agreed not to post URLs of sites that we know to contain material from the 1998 Church Handbook of Instruction.''

Sandra Tanner stated, ''Utah Lighthouse Ministry did not encourage nor otherwise assist the dissemination of material from the Church Handbook of Instructions on other sites on the World Wide Web. We believe these actions were the result of the LDS Church's attempt to keep this information secret from both the public and its own members. This secrecy was brought to people's attention by IRI's very public lawsuit against us and has only fueled interest in this 'secret' information on the Mormon Church's rules and procedures.

''In early 1999 we received a computer disk containing the entire 160 page 1998 version of the Church Handbook of Instruction, which was anonymously delivered to our office. Apparently that electronic version was not authorized by the LDS Church. As they have requested, we have destroyed our copy of the 1998 Church Handbook,'' she continued.

''This settlement by Utah Lighthouse Ministry is not an admission of wrongdoing or liability. This settlement is the means by which we can end this costly litigation and continue with our original goal and purpose: to provide critical research and information to the public on the LDS Church through our books, newsletters, and on our web site www.utlm.org.''
[...entire item...]


13. LDS Suit Nearing Settlement
Salt Lake Tribune, Dec. 1, 2000
http://www.sltrib.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Two longtime LDS Church critics who posted part of a handbook for Mormon clergy on the Internet agreed to a settlement offer Thursday in a federal copyright lawsuit filed against them.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, however, appeared hesitant to sign off on the deal, even though church attorneys drafted the offer.

''The church has not yet signed an agreement, but we are hopeful that a settlement is at hand,'' church spokesman Dale Bills said in a statement.

Under the tentative settlement, ex-Mormons Jerald and Sandra Tanner, who have spent nearly four decades in the critical study of Mormonism through their Salt Lake-based Utah Lighthouse Ministry, agreed to destroy copies of the handbook.

The couple also agreed to remove links to or any mention of Internet sites carrying the Church Handbook of Instruction.

In exchange, the church will drop its claims for damages and attorneys fees.

At a news conference Thursday outside their small ministry on West Temple, the Tanners insisted they did not violate copyright law.

''We have entered into this settlement only to end unnecessary, prolonged and expensive litigation,'' Jerald Tanner said.

Added his wife: ''Our resources are better spent for their intended purpose: to examine the claims of the LDS Church and contrast those teachings with Christianity.''

Bills said in a statement the church remained firm ''in its position -- as recognized by the federal court -- that the Tanners illegally published church copyrighted materials.''
(...)

The church, through its Intellectual Reserve Inc., that holds the rights to its intellectual property, sued the Tanners three months later, alleging copyright infringement.

The couple, faced with a temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell, removed the pages. However, they later posted an e-mail message from a reader containing Internet addresses where the entire handbook could be viewed.

The church asked Campbell to order the couple to remove the addresses on the theory they were encouraging others to view and make illegal copies of the handbook pages. Campbell ordered the addresses taken down.

The decision, which the Tanners were appealing in the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, sent a shock wave through the Internet community. Free-speech advocates and cybergroups, including the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the ruling threatened the free exchange of ideas and information on the global Internet.
(...)

The settlement agreement stipulates that ''the temporary restraining orders and the preliminary injunction entered in this action are dissolved, withdrawn and vacated.''

Barnard said that provision, if Campbell agrees to it, would withdraw her opinion restricting the posting of the Internet addresses.

''That opinion is going to have a devastating effect on the Internet, so we want to get it off the books,'' Barnard said, adding that Campbell's ruling has already been cited in the Napster copyright lawsuit.

But the church specifically said in its statement that ''any agreement must include a continuation of the injunction against ULM that prohibits unauthorized copy- righted materials produced by the church.''

The issue may be a simple matter of confusion. Bills said the statement referred to a permanent injunction that would be put in place (as opposed to continued) by the agreement. The Tanners remained critical of the church for targeting them and not going after other sites carrying the handbook or links to it.

''The Salt Lake Tribune printed the URLs of Web sites which contained the Church Handbook in their regular newspaper and on their electronic edition prior to our posting. No legal action was taken against the newspaper,'' Barnard said.

And even now, the handbook can be found by typing it into Internet search engines.
(...)

The Tanners asked to be removed from membership rolls in the 1960s and were excommunicated for apostasy, she said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


14. Tanners say LDS suit is settled
Deseret News, Dec. 1, 2000
http://www.deseretnews.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]

A couple critical of the LDS Church who were sued by the church's legal copyright holder for posting portions of its procedures handbook on their ministry Web site announced Thursday that they have reached a settlement agreement.

But the LDS Church issued a statement late Thursday saying it had not yet signed an agreement. ''We are hopeful that a settlement is at hand,'' the church statement said.

''The church remains firm in its position - as recognized by the federal court - that the Tanners illegally published church copyrighted materials,'' the statement said. ''Any agreement must include a continuation of the injunction against (Utah Lighthouse Ministry) that prohibits unauthorized use of copyrighted materials produced by the church.''

Brian Barnard, attorney for Jerald and Sandra Tanner of Utah Lighthouse Ministry, said Friday morning the Tanners signed a settlement offer given to them by the church and thus, ''we have a valid, enforceable agreement to settle.''

The settlement contains a provision that the couple will not continue to post the 17 pages of the handbook that they had posted on the Internet. Barnard said that should satisfy the church. He doesn't want the prohibition carried out through a court injunction, as the church wants, in order to prevent it from becoming legal precedent.
(...)

Conditions of Thursday's proposed settlement include several restrictions on the Utah Lighthouse Ministry.

It cannot post any site materials from the 1998 handbook, ''or from any earlier or subsequent versions.''

It cannot post the addresses of any Web sites of third parties using such materials.

It cannot reproduce, display or distribute, in any medium, materials in whole or in part from the handbook - with one exception. The organization can paraphrase or quote no more than 50 words from a single chapter of the handbook, if it is accompanied by comment.

It must destroy all copies of the handbook, except one, which may be kept as a legal archive copy. In return, ITI's complaint against the Tanners will be dropped and the temporary restraining orders dissolved.

Barnard, the Tanners' attorney, said neither IRI nor the LDS Church received any monetary damages, attorney fees or court costs in relationship to the settlement.

''There is no admission, determination nor agreement that the Tanners did anything wrong,'' he said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


15. AT&T To Sell Salt Lake Tribune
Washington Post/AP, Dec. 1, 2000
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
SALT LAKE CITY -- AT&T Corp. has agreed to sell The Salt Lake Tribune to MediaNews Group Inc., but managers of Utah's largest newspaper said Friday they would try to block the deal.
(...)

General manager Randy Frisch linked the sale to a long-running dispute with Salt Lake City's other paper, the afternoon Deseret News, which is owned by the Mormon church and has a joint operating agreement with the Tribune.

He accused MediaNews president and chief executive officer W. Dean Singleton - who is Baptist - of working on behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has expressed interest in moving the Deseret News to morning publication to compete head-to-head with the Tribune. The Tribune's daily circulation is about 135,000, the Deseret News' about 66,000.

The Tribune says the Deseret News would then have to pay it an unspecified amount for increased operating costs and loss of profits. The joint operating agreement's terms give the Tribune 58 percent of the earnings and the Deseret News 42 percent. The two share printing, circulation and advertising departments.

Frisch claimed Deseret News managers gave him a list of demands that included sharing control of the Newspaper Agency Corp., which runs the papers' joint operations.

''They said if we didn't agree to those demands, then Dean Singleton had and would front for them to buy the paper,'' Frisch said.

Jody Lodovic, MediaNews' chief financial officer, called Frisch's claims ''absolutely false.''

''We have long wanted to buy The Salt Lake Tribune, and quite frankly it hasn't been for sale until now,'' he said. ''We have a very good relationship with the Mormons, but we are doing this as a business decision and will run the paper as we would any other paper we own.''

However, he added that MediaNews had agreed to revisit the terms of the JOA and would consider the Deseret News' request to go mornings.
(...)

Denver-based MediaNews, which was founded by Singleton and Richard B. Scudder in 1983, is the nation's seventh-largest newspaper company.

Including the Tribune, it publishes 48 daily papers and 94 non-daily publications in 12 states with a combined daily circulation of 2.1 million, with 2.2 million in Sunday circulation.

MediaNews Group said acquiring the Tribune, along with owning The Denver Post, would enhance its presence in the Rocky Mountain region.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


16. Suit Aims to Stop Tribune Sale
Salt Lake Tribune, Dec. 2, 2000
http://www.sltrib.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
AT&T announced Friday it has agreed to sell The Salt Lake Tribune and its holding company, Kearns-Tribune, to Denver-based MediaNews Group, Inc. for an undisclosed price.

Within hours, managers of The Salt Lake Tribune sued AT&T in Utah's federal court to block the sale, charging the deal was illegal under the terms of their contracts with AT&T. A hearing on The Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co.'s request for a temporary restraining order is scheduled for Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell.

The sale, purportedly in the range of $185 million, already has been approved by the AT&T board and the Deseret News Publishing Co. The Deseret News would be a 50-50 partner with MediaNews in the Newspaper Agency Corp., which controls the printing, distribution and advertising of the two newspapers under a joint operating agreement [JOA].

But Tribune managers say the sale is far from a done deal.

In its request for a temporary injunction blocking the sale, Tribune attorneys said there was overwhelming evidence that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the church-owned Deseret News Publishing Co. were seeking to control the NAC to the detriment of The Tribune.
(...)

The LDS Church claims at least nominal membership of 70 percent of Utah residents and an even larger percentage of elected leaders. U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a practicing Mormon and chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, in 1999 phoned AT&T at the request of an unnamed ''Utah constituent'' to say he would have no objection to the Deseret News obtaining a controlling interest in the NAC.

Hatch spokesman Chris Rosche said Friday the senator had no prior knowledge of the pending sale to MediaNews. ''He was surprised,'' Rosche said.

Frisch said the sale was the ''next step'' in what he described as a three-year campaign by the Deseret News to ''wrest control of the NAC'' from the longtime owners. He portrayed AT&T as a willing partner in the Deseret News' plan.

''What AT&T initially tried to do was to sell NAC to the [Mormon] church. It found out it wasn't able to do that. So Dean Singleton [MediaNews president and chief executive officer] now is acting as a kind of front man for them.''

The First Presidency of the LDS Church issued a brief statement Friday, saying it ''denied any and all alleged accusations that Mr. Dean Singleton and MediaNews Group, who are reported to have purchased The Salt Lake Tribune, are acting as a front for the Church.''
(...)

Singleton, who Friday morning was turned away from the Tribune building when he asked to enter to address newsroom employees, later was admitted to a meeting with a smaller group of employees, editors and managers.

He forcefully denied any conspiracy with the Deseret News or its owner. ''We are not a front for the Mormon church,'' Singleton said, adding he had received no money or agreements for compensation from the Deseret News.

''There is no exchange of money of any kind between us and the Deseret News,'' said Singleton, a Baptist. ''There is no financial involvement now or in the future between us and the Deseret News, other than as the owner of the Kearns-Tribune we will be their partner in a JOA.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


17. Federal suit over LDS scriptures is possible
Deseret News, Nov. 29, 2000
http://deseretnews.com/?
The Salt Lake City School District attributes a Book of Mormon controversy at West High School to misunderstanding and miscommunication, but parents of the students kicked out of class disagree.

''I feel the school district feels like this is the conclusion, but I don't think it's solved anything,'' parent Sharon Durr said. ''I don't want my child accused of being so disruptive in class. What did she do? I want to know that, because she feels she was removed because of her Book of Mormon, which violates her rights.''

An attorney for Durr and other parents said Wednesday that a federal lawsuit was possible.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


18. BYU Gene Data May Shed Light On Origin Of Book of Mormon's Lamanites
Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 30, 2000
http://www.sltrib.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Generations of Mormons grew up with the notion that American Indians are descended from a lost tribe from the House of Israel, offspring of a Book of Mormon figure named Lehi, who left Jerusalem and sailed to the Americas around 600 B.C.

For faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Lehi's story is neither fable nor parable. It is truth. Historical fact. Every bit as real as the Pilgrims dropping anchor at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

The problem is mainstream science has failed to back that story. Instead, archaeologists, linguists and genetic experts outside Mormon culture say all the evidence points to Asia as the place from which American Indians originated.

But science and faith could some day collide. And some say it might even happen at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University in Provo, where one of the largest genetic testing studies in the history of the world is under way.

As Mormon doctrine holds, Lehi's children split into two warring groups after arriving in the New World -- the kind-hearted, white-skinned Nephites and the marauding, brown-skinned Lamanites.

The Lamanites, Mormons believe, ultimately exterminated the Nephites in the 5th century A.D., and their offspring today are among the people the rest of the world commonly refers to as American Indians.

Because of that, Mormons believe American Indians have a special place in their church. It is a constant theme for their missionary efforts in South America and the Pacific Islands, and Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley even uses the story of Lehi to inspire converts at temple dedications abroad.
(...)

But most scientists outside LDS culture argue that if a band of Israelites did come to America 2,600 years ago, they left neither a linguistic nor an archaeological trace.

''I don't think there is one iota of evidence that suggests a lost tribe from Israel made it all the way to the New World. It is a great story, slain by ugly fact,'' says Michael Crawford, a University of Kansas professor of biological anthropology and author of Origins of Native Americans, published by Cambridge University Press.

BYU researchers are in the process of taking DNA samples from 100,000 volunteers around the world, including South America and Israel. The program will take the inherited ''genetic markers'' gleaned from the DNA and match them with volunteers' family histories. The genetic markers are passed down directly from generation to generation, so the pairing of that information with an individual's history of his ancestors' birth dates and birth places will allow researchers to create a map that puts certain genes at specific places and times. This will allow researchers to track migrations of people around the globe.
(...)

Research project director Scott Woodward stresses ''this is not a [LDS] church project,'' and Woodward says researchers have no intention of trying to prove or disprove anything contained in the Book of Mormon.

But some contend that the vast database he is compiling will underscore the fact that there is no evidence of American Indian/Israel connection.
(...)

Past DNA studies at other universities have shown no evidence of a connection between American Indians and Israel, notes Simon Southerton, a former Mormon bishop and molecular biolgogist who has extensive background in DNA research. He predicts BYU's data will show the same. He says it will also refute the Mormon belief that some Pacific Islanders can trace their roots to the Jews. The Book of Mormon states that some of Lehi's descendants set sail from the Americas, and LDS have traditionally believed that they eventually peopled the lands of Polynesia.
(...)

The BYU study is being funded with private dollars from Utah businessman James Sorenson and Arizona homebuilder Ira Fulton. Sorenson, a Mormon who made his fortune in the medical industry, says he believes the research may shed light on the American Indian-Lamanite connection, but that's not what is driving him to donate millions to the cause; he wants to bring humanity together by demonstrating how closely related all people are.
(...)

Some BYU researchers are already bracing for a fight. Scholars at BYU's Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), a group that tries to prove through historical research the stories told in the Book of Mormon, acknowledge that some people may be licking their chops at the prospect of using DNA evidence to refute the story LDS Church founder Joseph Smith told. They are drafting a paper to argue their point.

''Science will bring more information [on the issue], but when and how much remains to be seen,'' says FARMS' John Sorenson, no relation to James Sorenson. ''It will be a long time, or take a lot of effort and expense before a muddy picture is clarified.''

Others say the picture is already crystal clear.

Author Crawford said all the evidence gathered so far so powerfully demonstrates the Asian-American Indian connection that it is as close to a ''truth'' as science can get.
(...)

The Book of Mormon originally stated that once Lamanites convert they will become ''white and delightsome,'' though in 1981 church officials replaced the word ''white'' with ''pure,'' citing agreement with an early church manuscript.

That isn't the only thing that has changed in recent decades. Where once all Indians were referred to as Lamanites, researchers like Sorenson emphasize that only a small portion of American Indians are descendents of the man known as Lehi.

They also say most of the descendants of those people likely live in Central or South America.

Indeed, Sorenson says it is ''nonsense'' to believe that all Native Americans are Lamanites.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

» The Book of Mormon
by Robert Bowman

» Continued in Part 2