» Continued from Part 1

=== Islam
10. Nigeria Judge Sets Date for Flogging
11. Nigerian teen mother fears lashing
12. Women's group seeks to stop girl's terrible ordeal
13. Ban on fatwas on hold in Bangladesh
14. Islamic groups urged to shun militant image
15. Shariat to be made supreme law: Moin

=== Mormonism
16. Shipps' LDS essays honest, objective
17. Scholar's passion: studying LDS faith

=== Hate Groups
18. Bertollini says police beat him up

=== Rebirthing
19. Trial Delayed For 2 Therapists
20. Journalists Fight For Open Trial

» Part 3

=== Other News
21. Cannibalism Alleged in Disappearance
22. Guru shrugs off sex allegations (Sai Baba)
23. Purging of 'demons' nets millions (UCKG)
24. Yogic flyers crash out of British politics
25. Yogic fliers come down to earth
26. The faithful stand watch over Temple
27. Religious Theme Park to Open near Orlando, Fla.

=== Noted
28. Power in the pulpit (T.D. Jakes)
29. Garden of Eden in Turkey, says Bible scholar
30. The Rastafarians are receiving


=== Islam

10. Nigeria Judge Sets Date for Flogging
Associated Press, Jan. 5, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
ABUJA, Nigeria -- A 17-year-old Muslim girl who rights groups say was forced by her father to have sex with three men will be flogged this month for breaking a law against premarital sex, a judge said Friday.

Judge Idris Usman Gusau said the sentence - 180 lashes with a cane - would be carried out Jan. 27, despite an appeal by the federal government to suspend the punishment.

The sentence has prompted an outcry from human rights groups, which fear that the girl, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, might die during the administering of the sentence. Gusau said her condition would be monitored throughout the flogging, which could be halted if she is not able to cope with it all at once.

The girl was charged after it was discovered that she was pregnant. According to the rights group Amnesty International, the girl said she was impregnated by one of the three middle-aged men. The sentence had been delayed until she delivered her baby.

The girl was sentenced in September by an Islamic court in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara, prompting an outcry by human rights groups. The Canadian High Commission in the capital, Abuja, delivered a diplomatic rebuke to the Nigerian government.

No immediate charges were brought against the baby's father. Officials said he had not been identified.
(...)

According to Amnesty, the girl had no representation at her trial.
Decisions taken under Islamic law are subject to appeal, but the judge said the girl had not filed an objection.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]
* Amnesty International has documented many cases of human rights abuses committed under the guise of so-called Islamic ''justice''


11. Nigerian teen mother fears lashing
Toronto Star (Canada), Jan. 14, 2001
http://www.thestar.com/a
[Story no longer online? Read this]
ZAMFARA STATE, Nigeria - Seventeen-year-old Bariya Magazu crouched on the floor of her father's house, cradling her crying child.

The teenager and the baby, who was born five weeks ago and has yet to be named, drew a crowd of about 50 villagers who gathered yesterday to watch them through the small building's open doorway.

Magazu, found guilty in September of engaging in premarital sex, faces a flogging that human rights groups fear will kill her. The sentence has been reduced to 100 lashes from 180 and it has been postponed indefinitely.

However, for the young mother, the impending punishment is frightening. Speaking through a translator yesterday, she said she is afraid but accepts she is guilty of breaking the strict Islamic legal code known as sharia law.
(...)

While pregnant with her baby in September, a local judge sentenced her to be flogged with a cane 180 times. Local authorities said it would happen when a doctor declared her medically fit.

However, Judge Idris Usman Gusau, who convicted Magazu and first said she would be caned Jan. 27, later said the sentence has been postponed indefinitely.

On Friday, Zamfara State's chief judicial registrar, Muhammed Tukur Anka, reduced Magazu's sentence to 100 lashes. And come flogging day, the authorities said, they will take into account the girl's youth and adjust the force of the strokes on her back.
(...)

Critics argue that the caning would break international treaties signed by the Nigerian government, including the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

Baobab, a women's human rights organization, tried to launch a legal appeal to overturn Magazu's conviction on the grounds she had no legal representation in court and that the flogging could kill the teenage mother.
(...)

Gusau had convicted Magazu on two charges - the pregnancy provided evidence of premarital sex, resulting in 100 lashes. When Magazu named three men who had had sex with her, Gusau added an additional 80 lashes for making false accusations. She said she was coerced into having intercourse with three of her father's acquaintances and had a baby as a result.

According to Gusau, to indict an alleged lover under sharia law, at least four people would have to testify they witnessed the act.

As Magazu awaits her flogging, no man has been found guilty of sleeping with her, and no further investigation has been planned.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


12. Women's group seeks to stop girl's terrible ordeal
The Toronto Star (Canada), Jan. 14, 2001 (Column, Michele Landsberg)
http://www.thestar.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A remarkable women's rights organization in Nigeria has intervened in the shocking case of Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, who was sentenced to 180 lashes for the crime of premarital sex.

BAOBAB, a non-governmental organization working in education and advocacy for women's human rights, managed to visit the village where Magazu lives. They learned that the girl is probably only 13 or 14, not 17, as first reported in international news stories. She works in a marketplace, selling ground millet balls prepared by her mother. The latest news is that Magazu has been wed to a local farmer in his 30s, apparently in an attempt to stave off the looming punishment. The local judge who sentenced her, however, has vowed to carry out the flogging in any case.

Magazu's pregnancy triggered the nightmare. She was taken by her uncles to the village head, who asked her to name the father. She couldn't, saying that she had been compelled to have sex with three of her father's friends, men in their 30s. The men denied the allegation and went free, but Magazu was taken before the sharia court and convicted. According to BAOBAB, Magazu had no lawyer and her seven witnesses were dismissed. The court required that there be four eyewitnesses who could swear that they saw the man and woman in the act and would testify that ``a hair could not pass between their bodies.''
(...)

BAOBAB had hoped to appeal the case to a higher court, armed with more merciful and scholarly interpretations of Islamic law. So far, it seems that it has not succeeded in gaining the right to appeal. The punishment, however, may be delayed while Magazu is nursing her infant.

Despite the international uproar (Canada has formally lodged a complaint with the Nigerian government), the case has run into a brick wall. President Olusegun Obasanjo, struggling to keep together a religiously fractured and fractious nation, refuses to intervene. The state of Zamfara, which has declared sharia law and where Magazu lives, says it will not heed any but Islamic opinions.

In last Sunday's column, I implored Canadian Muslims to speak up to save Magazu from a deadly beating. Instantly, e-mails and letters came flooding in.

Significantly, the Canadian Islamic Congress pointed out that according to Islamic teaching, sharia, or Islamic sacred law, can be imposed only after years of education and social improvement, at a point when the populace is able to live willingly in compliance with the law. Furthermore, the congress said in its weekly newsletter, Islam calls on its followers to reject extremism and zealotry.

Tarek Fatah, who hosts The Muslim Chronicle weekly program on CTS-TV, has begun an international Islamic petition to stop the cruel punishment of Magazu.

Dr. Ayesha Iman, the executive director of BAOBAB, has urgently asked that Canadian Muslims concerned about the misapplication of sharia in Magazu's case write or fax to the Governor of Zamfara, with an e-mail copy to BAOBAB so it can forward the mail if there is difficulty getting through. (Addresses are at the end of this column.)
(...)

The dangers of state-imposed religion are as horrifying as any other anti-democratic tyranny, in my view. Just look at the example of Zambia, where Christians hold the upper hand.

Keep in mind that 16 million Africans have died of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, and 25.3 million African adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS.
(...)

In that atmosphere of crisis and catastrophe, a radio and television ad campaign was launched, urging sexually active youth to use condoms.

Almost at once, churches thundered against the ads, the education minister spread fear by telling Zambians to sue the condom manufacturers if they got the virus, and President Frederick Chiluba trumpeted his belief in total abstinence. Finally, the churches prevailed, and the government yanked the ad campaign.
(...)

Canadian Muslims who can enlarge on the proper application of sharia law are urged by BAOBAB to write to Governor Alhaji Ahmen Sani, Government House, PMB 01050, Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria. The fax number is 011-234-63-202178. E-mail a copy of your letter to BAOBAB at ayesha@baobab.com.ng
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


13. Ban on fatwas on hold in Bangladesh
Radio Australia, Jan. 15, 2001
http://www.abc.net.au/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has issued a six week stay on a recent High Court verdict banning Islamic religious edicts, or fatwas.

The decision handed on Sunday led to clashes between religious and rights groups in the capital Dhaka.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


14. Islamic groups urged to shun militant image
Gulf News (United Arab Emirates), Jan. 14, 2001
http://www.gulf-news.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider yesterday asked religious leaders of the country to promote sectarian harmony in the country, shun the militant image while promising to form Ulema commissions that would promote inter-faith trust.

The minister also said Islamic groups should put a quick end to their show of weapons and collecting donations to wage Jihad, or holy war, in the disputed region of Kashmir.

The daylong meeting of religious parties was called by the army-led government to try to curb the relentless bloodletting among rival Muslim groups that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people in recent years. It was also called to try to improve the country's deteriorating image as a state that promotes Islamic militancy.

If the Islamic parties want to collect donations, they should do it for humanitarian causes, not for the purpose of militancy, he said. The religious leaders disagreed. Samiul Haq, the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, warned the government not to crack down on religious schools that preach militancy saying Islamic scholars will not tolerate it.

''We will not accept the American hegemony. Religious parties are maintaining the country's Islamic image,'' said Haq. Without holy warriors there will be no one to fight for Kashmir's liberation from India, he said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


15. Shariat to be made supreme law: Moin
Dawn (Pakistan), Jan. 13, 2001
http://www.dawn.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: The government on Saturday agreed to set up ulema bodies from tehsil to national level to promote sectarian harmony and to amend the constitution to make Shariat country's supreme law.
(...)

The minister announced that the federal and provincial commissions would monitor the implementation of measures to be adopted for checking sectarianism in the country.

Though the participants unanimously supported the government's decision, they strongly criticized it for planning to interfere in the affairs of ''madaris'' (religious institutions).

There were also some defiant voices challenging the government's ban on display of arms, while a few questioned the writ of the government which, according to them, did not exist at all.

The United States remained the favourite target of almost every speaker for its anti-Muslim policies and they vowed to fight unitedly against Washington.

While no religious group was ready to concede its involvement in sectarian killing, several pointed their fingers at intelligence agencies for sectarian or ethnic related mess.
(...)

The minister said that sectarianism, if not curbed, might lead the country to anarchy. He told ulema that besides the Western nations, the Muslim countries were also protesting against Pakistan for imparting ''terrorism'' training in the country. ''We will not allow anyone to besmear the country's name,'' he said.

He said government's views on Jehad were clear to everyone but this act of Islam should not be misinterpreted for wrong means.

The minister lamented that some of the religious groups were still not obeying the government's ban on display of arm. He specifically referred to a meeting of ulema organized by JUI (S), to support Taliban against UN sanctions, where arms were openly displayed.
(...)

Maulana Samiul Haq of the JUI (S) said that the purpose of Akkora Khattak convention was to convey to the US a strong message of Islamic groups that they would not bow down to its (US) dictates and were ready to take up arms against Washington.

''It was a message for the USA. We will not defend ourselves with sling-shots but fight back with arms,'' Samiul Haq said, adding: ''We all are Osama bin Laden.'' He also threatened to march towards Islamabad if Islamic system was not enforced.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Mormonism

16. Shipps' LDS essays honest, objective
Deseret News, Jan. 7, 2001
http://www.deseretnews.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
SOJOURNER IN THE PROMISED LAND: FORTY YEARS AMONG THE MORMONS; by Jan Shipps; University of Illinois Press, 400 pages; $34.95.

From the pen of the best-known non-Mormon historian of Mormonism, Jan Shipps, comes a combination memoir and collection of some of her most important articles about the history and culture of the LDS Church. Some of these essays have been published before, but having all of them together in one volume is extremely valuable.

In fact, this volume is likely to become a classic to be read over and over by both LDS Church members and serious students of the LDS culture everywhere.
(...)

Not only is Shipps entirely knowledgeable about LDS history, she lived in Logan for nine months in 1960 and has returned to Utah time after time, both to research LDS topics and to associate with her numerous LDS friends, including several general authorities of the church. At no time has she been referred to as an ''anti-Mormon writer'' but rather as one who writes as carefully, honestly and fully as possible about a religion she respects.

Shipps comes as close to reaching objectivity in her studies of Mormonism as any scholar could be expected to.
(...)

Her essay in the fifth section, ''Is Mormonism Christian? Reflections on a Complicated Question,'' is possibly the best essay yet written on this question that is so often posed by Southern Baptists. Shipps looks at the question historically, with regard to the development of the word ''Mormon'' and the founding of the Campellites, who called themselves ''Christian'' at a time when Mormons wanted to draw a distinction between the two groups.
(...)

This book is a thoroughly interesting, scholarly and eloquent treatment of a thriving American religion.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

Theologically, Mormonism is a cult of Christianity. It does not represent historic, biblical Christianity, and can therefore not be called ''Christian.''

17. Scholar's passion: studying LDS faith
Deseret News, Jan. 7, 2001
http://www.deseretnews.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
As the most knowledgeable and best-known non-Mormon scholar of Mormonism, Jan Shipps, now 71 and a professor emeritus at Indiana University-Purdue University (what she calls ''the university with the long name''), has gained considerable prestige. Whenever any LDS news event calls for the opinion of an expert outside of Utah, Shipps is the one called by journalists from all over the country.

And with good reason. For 40 years, ''Indiana Jan'' - as she is known by her Mormon friends - has intensively studied the history and culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, resulting in numerous articles and three books.
(...)

When she accepted her first academic appointment at Indiana, the department of religious studies found she had written three articles on Mormonism, so she was invited to join the newly created department. She agreed on condition that she could also teach history half-time. ''I was teaching religious studies and I didn't know beans about it. I didn't even know what it was. So I started on-the-job training, reading books about comparative religion. The only example I had that made sense to me was Mormonism, so I used Mormonism as a case study.''

But in all the ensuing years, Shipps has never joined the LDS Church. ''The question I've been asked again, again and again is one first asked of me by Mormon historian Richard Poll: 'How can you know so much and not believe?' '' Simply put, she loves the culture and the history, but she is perfectly happy as a member of her own Methodist Church. ''Mormonism,'' she says, ''is a legitimate way to be religious - it just isn't my way.

''Profound religious experience drives you deeper into your own tradition or leads you away from your own and onto a new faith. For me, it drove me deeper into my own tradition.''
(...)

She tries to be a serious and objective student of Mormonism ''without ever trying to prove it is not true. An appreciation of the Mormon tradition allows me to be an outsider who doesn't always say, 'You don't measure up.' I've never felt threatened by the Book of Mormon. I think people appreciate my willingness not to explain it away.''

According to Shipps, there is a difference between what she does and what other non-Mormon scholars do. ''They take a clearly identified dimension of the subject, very often do it well, learn the bibliography for the time, then they go on building a career doing other things. So what you get is a snapshot. With someone who stays for 40 years, you get a moving picture.''

Yet Shipps takes her time in researching and writing. Besides her new book, ''A Sojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years Among the Mormons,'' she has also written ''Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition'' and acted as co-editor of ''The Journals of William E. McLellin.''
(...)

There are at least two Mormon-related books yet to come from her pen. She has written seven chapters of a book tentatively titled ''Being Mormon Since World War II,'' and she is close to finishing a book entitled ''See You in Church?
Religion and Culture in Urban America,'' a study of religious practice in five American cities - Indianapolis; Lynchburg, Va; Providence, R.I.; Seattle; and Salt Lake City.
(...)

Even though Shipps' writing has tended to satisfy both Mormon and non-Mormon readers, she asserted that she has never tried to tailor her writing for anyone. ''I call it just as I see it.'' But her careful approach and her non-judgmental writing style allows her work to be fully appreciated by both Mormons and by academics trying to learn about Mormonism.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Hate Groups

18. Bertollini says police beat him up
The Spokesman-Reviews, Jan. 15, 2001
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
SANDPOINT -- Vincent Bertollini says the Sandpoint police gave him a beating Friday night.

The backer of the white supremacist organization 11th Hour Remnant Messenger and ally of Richard Butler, leader of the Aryan Nations, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Friday night.
(...)

Bertollini, who has been convicted of two drunken-driving charges in the past, wrote that officer Chris Bell called his name and ''came at me in a menacing manner on my private property as I was entering my own garage.''
(...)

Earlier that day, Bertollini said, he had had lunch with Butler and Carl Story, co-founder of the 11th Hour Remnant Messenger, at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

''I suspected that word got out to intimidate me or otherwise hassle me,'' Bertollini wrote.
Bertollini said he plans to sue the Police Department for police brutality, use of excessive force, violation of civil rights, harassment and oppression.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Rebirthing

19. Trial Delayed For 2 Therapists
Denver Rocky Mountain News, Jan. 10, 2001
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
[...rebirthing...]
The trial of two Evergreen therapists accused of killing 10-year- old Candace Newmaker was postponed Tuesday until April.

Questions about the legitimacy of the autopsy performed on the child and even the condition of her heart were raised during the hearing before Jefferson County District Court Judge Jane Tidball.

In asking for more time, defense attorneys offered a glimpse inside this unique, complicated case, the outcome of which could significantly affect future techniques used by psychotherapists.
(...)

The joint trial for Watkins, 54, and co-therapist Julie Ponder, 40, who faces the same charge, was originally set to begin Jan. 22.
(...)

The autopsy of Candace's body was conducted at Denver Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead the morning after the therapy session. The autopsy was not done by a forensic pathologist, Truman told the judge.

He is gearing up to question whether the listed cause of death - brainstem herniation brought on by mechanical asphyxiation, or smothering - was correct.

And Candace's heart could be used.

Newmaker had the child cremated after her organs were donated. Someone in Georgia was to receive Candace's heart, but the planned transplant was not successful, Truman said, without offering details.

Now the heart is back at Children's Hospital, and Truman is trying to find out how it was preserved. If it hasn't been frozen, a pathologist from Minneapolis has been lined up to examine the organ, Truman said.

Trial preparation has included consulting a number of expert witnesses.
(...)

In another unusual twist in the trial, a videotape made of Candace's fatal therapy session will be a key piece of evidence.
(...)

Earlier Tuesday, Tidball ruled that the tape can be shown to the full courtroom during the trial.

Defense attorneys, led by Newmaker's lawyer Pamela Mackey, had sought to bar reporters and the public from court during playing of the tape.
(...)

The postponement means two related trials will also be pushed back. St. Clair and another assistant, Jack McDaniel, are scheduled for trial Sept. 10.
Jeane Newmaker's trial, originally set for May 14, might be moved back to November.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


20. Journalists Fight For Open Trial
Denver Rocky Mountain News, Jan. 9, 2001
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Colorado news media organizations are fighting to keep the courtroom open to the public while the videotape of a child's rebirthing therapy death is played.

Candace Newmaker begs for air and warns therapists that she is going to die on the 70-minute tape. Prosecutors are expected to use the tape as evidence against Evergreen attachment therapists Connell Watkins, 54, and Julie Ponder, 40, in their upcoming child abuse trial.

The child's adoptive mother, Jeane Newmaker, 47, argues that a public showing would taint her chances for getting an impartial jury for her own trial in the death. It would also invade her privacy and violate psychotherapist-
patient privilege, Newmaker's attorney, Pamela Mackey, claims.

Newmaker, a Duke University nurse, was in the room during much of the fatal therapy session.
(...)

In a motion filed Monday, attorneys for a group of broadcast and print organizations, including the Denver Rocky Mountain News, argued that the First Amendment guarantees access to criminal trials.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


» Part 3