> Continued from Part 1
=== Scientology
14. Scientology: ties to Bush team?
15. The Bogey of a Cult

=== Buddhism
16. China warning over Karmapa Lama
17. India Grants Refugee Status to Monk

=== Islam
18. Christian 'decline' in north Nigeria
19. Bangladesh Muslim groups protest against anti-fatwa ruling
20. Afghanistan and the gods of little things

=== Jehovah's Witnesses
21. Jehovah's Witnesses' policy on child molesters attacked
22. Molestation victim, parents think church elders let them down
23. Policies on reporting abuse allegations vary among religious denominations

> Part 3
=== Hate Groups
24. Bertollini plans suit over arrest
25. Situation warrants independent probe (Bertollini)
26. It's ironic, but Aryans have their rights
27. White supremacist David Duke takes crusade to Russia
28. Dog's Owner Says Victim Failed to Save Self
29. Controversial anti-gay preacher leads protest in Traverse City

=== Rebirthing
30. Seeking Child's Love, a Child's Life is Lost
31. `Candace's Law' to be introduced this week

=== Other News
32. Church cult 'taxed members at £2,000 a month' (Peniel Pentecostal Church)
33. Psychics link Indonesia's political rumblings to volcanoes
34. Astrology fuels panic in quake city
35. Police arrest Indian astrologer who predicted new quake
36. The Presidential Corruption Index (Clinton)
37. Behind 4 Pardons, a Sect Eager for Political Friends

> Part 4
=== Noted
38. A Desire to Duplicate (Raelians)
39. Go forth ... by 2000? (AD2000 & Beyond)
40. Praise the Lord and gas up the Harley

=== Films
41. 'Left Behind' leaves the audience behind as well
42. Complaints Against Harry Potter Series Triple

=== The theme park critics around the corner
43. Christian theme park opens amid controversy


=== Scientology

14. Scientology: ties to Bush team?
MSNBC, Feb. 5, 2001
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Will the Bush administration be a friend to Scientology? Officials at the controversial religion which many critics have called a cult have been boasting about its ties to the current administration, and are saying that the presidents support of faith-based social programs could mean that the government will funnel tax money its way.

One such program is Applied Scholastics, a Los Angeles-based operation that promotes the teaching methods of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Applied Scholastics has been successful with church and community tutoring programs, especially in some inner cities in California but Scientology foes have charged that its a front for the church and a recruiting tool.

A recent issue of Freedom, the official Scientology magazine, features a picture, taken back at the Presidents Summit for Americas Future, with Barbara and George H. Bush embracing both a high-ranking executive of the Church of Scientology and John Travolta, the actor who is a member and vocal advocate of Scientology. Colin and Alma Powell are also in the photo, which was taken when the church officials went to the summit in Philadelphia, during the Clinton years, to promote Applied Scholastics.
(...)

The Bushes have long been associated with faith-based programs that address the needs of our society, says cult and alternative religion expert Rick Ross, whose Web site, www.rickross.com, outlines the Bushes connections to the Rev. Moon and his various programs. Some of these groups are very controversial and may have alternative agendas. So when we talk about funding faith-based programs, we should proceed very cautiously.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* As a critic of Scientology, Rick Ross is among many people victimized by the cult's hate and harrasment practices

15. The Bogey of a Cult
TheNEWS (Nigeria), Feb. 12, 2001 (web posted, Feb. 5, 2001) (Editorial)
http://allafrica.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
For some top shots in Obasanjos's government, the fear of the Church of Scientology ensures freedom from problems.

Robert Minton, retired American investment banker and debt buy-back guru is undoubtedly a man of means. His business dealings with Nigeria's debt buy-back scheme between 1988 and 1993 must have left him well-heeled, as the deal is alleged to have run into billions of dollars. However, when the details of the deal came to light, Minton accused the whistle-blower, ex-footballer, John Fashanu of being a tool in the hands of the scientology organisation. This is a vendetta on scientology's part against me: Fashanu has been hired by the scientologists to tarnish my reputation,'' said Minton, who also explained that he was being hounded as a result of his sponsorship of a multi-million dollar law suit against the group for the death of one of their members, Lisa Macpherson. A Nigerian journalist who did several stories attacking Fashanu and the group, had his telephone bugged and his character assassinated, with agents of scientology telling his neighbours that he is a fraudster working for a gang that is fleecing Nigeria

Recently too, when TheNEWS published a story on the alleged involvement of the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Alhaji Mahey Rafindadi Rasheed, in an advance fee fraud scam (popularly known as 419) in the US, another senior official of the apex bank pleaded that his name should not be acknowledged, as according to him, there were signs of the dreaded scientology group's involvement in the case. For him, the fear of the scientologists is the beginning of a stress-free life.
(...)

Scientology pastoral counselling could be easily mistaken for an accounting procedure. This is known as auditing. Here, an individual (called Preclear) is allegedly helped through confessional unburdening (in stages) to recover his complete self-determination by an auditor, using inter-personal communication and other carefully devised questions and skills. At the end of this structured exercise, ''when no part of the mind remains , not under the individual's own control and direction,'' a state of supra-human awareness and ability (the state of clear) has been achieved. Expectedly, the auditing sessions cost money and usually range between $25 (about N3,000) for the early stages, to $5,000 (N600,000) for advanced stages and $12,000 (over N1 million) to reach the state of clear.

These funds, alongside contributions from its mainly wealthy supporters and members as well as sales of literature, make up the source of the church's wealth. And the movement has snapped up for itself, the high-up in society. According to Hubbard when he was still on earth, scientologists should target prominent individuals as their ''quarry'' and bring them back like trophies for Scientology.
(...)

The church has consistently moved swiftly and sometimes deadly to defend itself against attackers. Such enemies, labelled suppressive persons (SP in Scientology jargon) or those that actively seek to suppress or damage Scientology are designated ''fair game.'' Their punishment ranges from loss of property to injury by any means, either by trickery, legal action, deceit or outright destruction. For scientologists, the best form of defence is attack: Total attack through exposure is Scientology's watchword; harassment and not victory, the prize. A stinging indictment of Hubbard and his movement and a condemnation of their tactics in silencing critics came from a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul Breckenridge: ''In addition to violating and abusing its own members' civil rights, the organisation over the years with its ''fair game'' doctrine has harassed and abused those persons not in the church whom it perceives as enemies. The organisation clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder.''

However, Scientology has risen in stoical defence of its teachings and tactics. ''Scientology seeks a civilisation without criminality and has worked toward this goal through programmes to reduce crime, and drug abuse as well as re-educate former criminal offenders,'' said spokesman for the movement. Faced with the groundswell of opposition, on one hand and influential backers on the other, the last obviously, has not been heard about the Church of Scientology.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* While it claims to promote high ethical standards, the Church of Scientology
is well-known for its harrassment of critics. In fact, the Scientology
organization is increasingly acting like a hate group

The Unofficial Minton Papers

The Lisa McPherson Trust

=== Buddhism

16. China warning over Karmapa Lama
BBC, Feb. 5, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
China has warned India against allowing the Karmapa Lama to engage in anti-Chinese activities following Delhi's decision to grant him refugee status.

India announced last week that it would allow the 17th Karmapa Lama to stay in India, more than a year after he made a dramatic escape from his homeland.
(...)

The teenage Karmapa ranks third in the Tibetan Buddhism hierarchy behind the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.

Since his flight he has been living in a monastery near the hill town of Dharamsala which is the headquarters of the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile.
(...)

Indian officials tread very carefully over the issue of Tibet's government-in-exile, and have yet to comment on the latest decision.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


17. India Grants Refugee Status to Monk
AP, Feb. 3, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
NEW DELHI, India -- A teen-age monk who escaped Chinese-controlled Tibet last year has been granted refugee status in India, giving him more freedom to travel in India, the Dalai Lama's exile government said Saturday.

The 17th Karmapa - one of the most senior monks, or lamas, in Tibetan Buddhism and head of the Karma Kagyu sect - eluded the Chinese guards at his monastery in Tibet and trekked across the Himalayan Mountains to India last year.

His movements were restricted after his arrival. India's decision, made Thursday, gives the 15-year-old permission to travel within the country,
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Islam

18. Christian 'decline' in north Nigeria
BBC, Feb. 5, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has said Christianity has been in decline in Nigeria's northern state of Zamfara since the adoption of Islamic law.

Archbishop Carey told the BBC that many Christians in the state had left in despair because they were unable to build churches or teach religion in schools.

Dr Carey, the spiritual leader of the world's 70 million Anglicans, is currently on a two week pastoral tour of Nigeria.

He said he had expressed his concerns over Christians' rights to the governor of Zamfara state, Ahmed Sani.

Zamfara was the first Nigerian state to impose the Islamic legal code, or Sharia, which includes punishments such as stoning to death, amputation and flogging.
(...)

According to the Muslims in Zamfara, the fear of Sharia punishments has already made for a better society.
(...)

Attempts to introduce Sharia in the neighbouring state of Kaduna - with its much larger Christian population - led to terrible bloodshed last year.

At least 2,000 people died in fighting between Christians and Moslems and Nigeria's Christian minority says the fear of Sharia is driving their numbers even lower.

However, Dr Carey told the BBC: ''The Christians say they have been living with Muslims for many years and believe its not religion which is the issue.''

He added that he had spoken to people during his visit who feel that the religious division of Nigerian society is being driven by politicians seeking to capitalise on the situation.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


19. Bangladesh Muslim groups protest against anti-fatwa ruling
Radio Australia, Feb. 3, 2001
http://www.abc.net.au/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Tens of thousands of Muslim protesters have marched in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, to protest against a recent court verdict banning certain Islamic edicts, or fatwa relating to women.
(...)

The High Court in December banned fatwa by Islamic clerics that allowed women to be tortured for alleged adultery and preventedthem from mixing with men outside the family.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


20. Afghanistan and the gods of little things
Japan Times (Japan), Feb. 3, 2001
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
God's preferences on dietary matters are well-known: no pork for Jews or Muslims, no beef for Hindus, and no saturated fats or refined sugar for the Western upper-middle class. But this is the first time he has taken such a strong line on haircuts.

True, it is the sort of haircut that would offend any deity of taste: a Leonardo DiCaprio-style haircut, with the gorgeous locks flopping boyishly over the forehead. It's called a ''Titanic'' in Kabul, and over the past week the Taliban government of Afghanistan has arrested 22 barbers for giving it to their clients.

It's hard enough to earn a crust of bread in Kabul nowadays anyway, what with 20 years of war and no modern economy apart from the drug trade. The barbers were already being tempted into crime by customers sneaking in asking to have their beards trimmed, even though the trimming of beards is also banned by the Taliban. And now comes the Leonardo DiCaprio haircut.

This really annoys the Taliban because it means the proud owners of the haircuts must have seen a video of ''Titanic'' to get the idea. (The Taliban regime has banned all films, television and even music as contrary to their particularly rigorous interpretation of religion, and has even hanged a couple of TVs in symbolic public executions.) So the guilty barbers are in deep trouble, and so are their clients.
(...)

No need to flog it to death: There are some very petty-minded people in charge of Afghanistan at the moment. The indignities that they inflict on barbers and their customers are nothing compared to what they have done to their female fellow-citizens, who have been driven from almost all employment outside the home, denied any chance of a higher education and subjected to even more minute regulation of every aspect of their dress and behavior. But why is the Taliban so concerned about petty things?

It's not because they are Afghans, or because they are Muslims either. Every country and every religion has some people who get permanently lost in their obsession with rituals and minor details of dress, appearance and etiquette. It's just that in Afghanistan, they happen to be running the place.

In every major religion, there is a kind of schizophrenia between the Big Ideas and the Little Things. The big philosophical ideas like reverence for life are not identical from one religion to another, but they do bear a strong family resemblance. Whereas the Little Things are very specific and local, and they almost always came first.

Depending on your own religious beliefs or lack of them, you may see the similarities among the philosophies as evidence of the divine will at work in the world, or as evidence for the similarity of all human beings. But there is almost always a revelation involved, a moment in history when these universal ideas and values were communicated to the believers. Whereas the Little Things hail back to the long tribal past. The pagan past, if you want to be pejorative.

Christmas is not a Christian feast; it is the old pagan mid-winter festival redefined. The veiling of women, now seen by many Muslims as an Islamic tradition, was commonplace among the upper classes of ancient Greece, Rome and Byzantium, though rare among the Arabs until they conquered the Byzantines. Circumcision and other forms of ritual physical mutilation are even older.
Fasting, offering up sacrifices, saying special formulas, making special gestures, and scarring yourself in special ways -- all these Little Things come from the time before the revelations. From a time, in fact, when religion was humanity's only plausible means of influencing how the world worked. If we get all the rituals just right, then the gods will make the sun come back, or make it rain, or whatever it is we need right now.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* Some Christians also engage in such foolishness, quibbling about such things as what music to listen to, what day to worship on, and what not to eat. On this, see: Handling Grey Issues

=== Jehovah's Witnesses

21. Jehovah's Witnesses' policy on child molesters attacked
The Courier Journal, Feb. 4, 2001
http://www.courier-journal.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Jehovah's Witnesses church is under growing attack by some of its members for policies they say can allow child molesters to go unreported, putting church members and the public at increased risk.

Church officials say elders alert authorities to suspected abuse in states that require reporting. But in other states they prefer to take steps to protect children that don't breach what they see as confidential communication between elders and members.

Church policy also allows some confessed molesters -- whose offenses are usually kept secret -- to stay in the church community, sometimes with tragic results.

An examination by The Courier-Journal of court cases involving church members in Maine, New Hampshire and Texas showed that the confidential church disciplinary process was blamed by some victims for allowing molestation to continue.
(...)

The church's policies on sexual abuse have come under scrutiny following the resignation of a Western Kentucky church elder who objected to them.

The court cases have played out against the backdrop of a growing national consensus that all suspected child abuse must be reported and known molesters aggressively identified.

A lawyer for the Jehovah's Witnesses church, which has nearly 1 million members nationally and 6 million worldwide, said it complies with those state laws that require church elders to report abuse.

''If there is a law that mandates reporting, that takes precedent over any confidentiality, whether in church policy or statute,'' said Mario Moreno, associate general counsel for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, a legal corporation of the church.

''In states where there is no reporting requirement, it's a different scenario,'' Moreno said.

Elders might have the victim relocated away from the abuser or have the parent or guardian of the victim, or even the accused person, report the abuse to police, he said.

''The laws of this country, as well as people's moral values, tell you there are some things that should be kept private. That's why laws protect confidential communications between clergy and their flock.''

But Moreno said elders who contact the church's legal department with cases of suspected sexual abuse -- as they must do -- are often advised to refer victims to police or other outside help, even if the law doesn't require it.

Victims and their parents are free, Moreno said, to seek help from police or therapists and should not blame the church if they choose not to do so.

''Parents are encouraged to do whatever they need to do to protect their child,'' said Moreno.

However, some abuse victims and their advocates, in lawsuits and in interviews, said that fear of reprisals by church leaders, coupled with the importance of the church in their lives, made them reluctant to report abuse outside the church.

William H. Bowen resigned Dec. 31 as presiding overseer (chief elder) of the Draffenville congregation near Paducah, saying he could no longer support church policies that he felt allowed child molesters to go undetected.

''I refuse to support a pedophile refuge mentality that is promoted among bodies of elders around the world,'' wrote Bowen in his letter of resignation.

''Criminals should be ousted, identified and punished to protect the innocent and give closure to the victim.''

Woman felt punished for accusing husband
Sara Poisson of Claremont, N.H., said she never considered turning to anyone but her church elders when then-husband Paul Berry began physically abusing some of her children. Berry would eventually receive a 56-year prison term.
(...)

Bowen said members of the Jehovah's Witnesses are continually told that if they have any problems within the family, they are to go to the elders for help.

''You have to understand the Jehovah's Witnesses organization,'' Bowen said. ''Their life revolves around following the direction of what the local elders and the organization say.''

But Sam Neal, an elder in the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Jeffersontown, Ky., said church members are not sheltered.
(...)

Church attorney Moreno said church members know they can go to the authorities on a matter of abuse. ''They haven't committed a sin by turning in a Jehovah's Witness to the authorities,'' he said. ''It's a very personal decision.''

But Poisson said in Hillsborough County Superior Court at her ex-husband's sentencing that when she went to elders with her concerns, they repeatedly told her that she ''needed to be a better wife'' and ''needed to pray more.''

''Each time I spoke to the elders I was sanctioned in some way,'' Poisson told the court. ''Some privilege was removed because I had dared to usurp the authority of my husband.'' Poisson later told a reporter she was barred from speaking at some meetings and restricted in the amount of door-to-door evangelism she could do.

New Hampshire law since the late 1970s has said that any ''person having reason to suspect that a child has been abused or neglected shall report the same.''
There is no evidence in court records or elders' public comments that the church reported Poisson's allegations.

Poisson said in court that while she did not know of Berry's sexual abuse, she knew of and didn't report the physical abuse, and ''this I have to live with for the rest of my life.''
(...)

Strict burden of proof needed for discipline
Taking a sexual abuse complaint to Jehovah's Witnesses church elders puts members in contact with a secretive church process that has a burden of proof that is much greater than in a civil court.

If a church member is accused of any offense, elders follow a strict biblical standard. They require either the member's confession or the testimony of at least two witnesses, including the accuser, to prove the member's guilt, according to church attorney Moreno and church publications.

This applies even in cases of sexual abuse, when there often are no ''outside'' witnesses.

For victims who can't produce witnesses or persuade the accused person to confess, elders are instructed to ''explain to the accuser that nothing more can be done in a judicial (church disciplinary) way,'' according to a 1995 article in the Jehovah's Witnesses' Watchtower -- a magazine with a circulation of 22 million in 132 languages.

''And the congregation will continue to view the one accused as an innocent person,'' the article continued.

The article offers one other avenue of justice: ''The question of his guilt or innocence can be safely left in Jehovah's (God's) hands.''

Moreno said that eventually, the truth comes out. ''Somebody else comes out of the woodwork and now you can take action,'' he said. Moreno said two separate accusers would count as two witnesses when making a sexual abuse accusation.
(...)

Members say church discouraged efforts
Church writings say members are allowed to seek outside help when they suspect abuse.

Some members, such as Poisson, say they were intimidated by elders when they tried.

In Keene, N.H., the guardian of a 15-year-old girl sued a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in 1987, alleging that elders threatened the girl's parents with ''religious excommunication and eternal damnation'' if they sought police intervention or counseling for their daughter, who was sexually abused from 1975 to 1985.

The lawsuit was settled, and the girl's lawyer, Charles Donahue, said he could not comment on it. The abuser -- the girl's father -- was later sentenced to three to eight years in prison in 1986 after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, according to records in Cheshire County Superior Court.

Church lawyer Moreno said it would be ''ridiculous'' for any elder to make such a threat, and if one did, it would contradict church policy.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


22. Molestation victim, parents think church elders let them down
The Courier-Journal, Feb. 4, 2001
http://www.courier-journal.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
When Corinne Pandelo was 12, court records show, she told her parents that her grandfather had molested her during a visit to his home in Paramus, N.J., in August 1988.

That episode launched a chain of events that ultimately alienated Corinne and her parents from the church to which they had been devoted.

Carl and Barbara Pandelo, now of Belmar, N.J., went to the elders in their Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in Fair Lawn, N.J., with their daughter's accusation, according to court records.

New Jersey law required clergy to report suspected child abuse. Elders told Carl Pandelo's father, Clement Pandelo, to turn himself in to authorities, Carl Pandelo said. Clement Pandelo confessed the molestation to police on Aug. 24, 1988.

But Carl and Barbara Pandelo said local elders also urged them to agree to a plea bargain for Clement Pandelo, saying they wanted to spare Corinne the trauma of a trial. The Pandelos agreed.

Anthony Valenti of Maywood, N.J., who was an elder in the Fair Lawn congregation at the time, said in an interview that was not his recollection. ''To my knowledge, we did not advise them that way,'' he said.
(...)

Carl and Barbara Pandelo said it was bad enough that the family saw Corinne's attacker at church meetings. They also became upset when members and an elder warned they would not ''make it through Armageddon'' unless they renewed ties with Clement Pandelo, Carl Pandelo said.
(...)

When Carl and Barbara Pandelo prepared to sue Clement Pandelo in 1993 to recover costs for Corinne's therapy, Valenti said he told them the Bible held that Christians shouldn't sue each other.

Valenti said the church allows members to sue to collect insurance payments -- Clement Pandelo would be paying out of homeowner's liability insurance -- but that elders tried to mediate the conflict outside of court.

Carl and Barbara Pandelo appealed to the Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters, which eventually gave them the green light to sue, according to a church letter.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


23. Policies on reporting abuse allegations vary among religious denominations
The Courier-Journal, Feb. 4, 2001
http://www.courier-journal.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Like the Jehovah's Witnesses, seven other religious denominations surveyed by The Courier-Journal expect their clergy to report all suspected child abuse in states where they are required to by law.

The approach among religions varies in states that do not mandate reporting.

Even in reporting states, variations are possible. For example, Kentucky and Indiana require citizens to report suspected child abuse. Indiana allows no exceptions. Kentucky allows exceptions for clergy-penitent and attorney-client privilege.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


> Part 3