=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. 1,000 attend Ibaraki rally to demand AUM pullout
2. Underground

=== Scientology
3. Commentary from Joe Cisar on the 2001 US State Department report on Germany

=== Falun Gong
4. Hong Kong leader reiterates that the Falun Gong is a cult
5. Activists Decry HK Government Attack on Falun Gong
6. Premier Zhu Steers Clear of Falun Gong in Hong Kong
7. China calls for action against Falun Gong
8. Banned in China, sect honored here

=== Falun Gong - China's Government-Controlled Media
9. Reports from China's government-controlled media
9a. Chongqing Sets up Anti-Cult Association

=== Unification Church
10. The Rev. Moon coming to S.L. on March 10

=== Islam
11. Taliban use arsenal against relics
12. EU condemns Taliban's 'cultural barbarism'
13. Islamic intellectuals condemn Taliban

» Part 2

=== Mormonism
14. Russian religious claims to be branch of the Church of Jesus Christ

=== Hate Groups
15. Prosecutor Discusses N.H. Deaths
16. Hate crimes bill hits wall

=== Other News
17. Court Nixes Student's Speech Appeal
18. DiIulio Works on Religious Issues
19. Chinese Scholars Condemn U.S. Annual Report on Human Rights
20. Russia Blasts Critical U.S. Human Rights Report
21. New Status Fortifies Salvation Army
22. Benin Maintains Homage to Voodoo

=== Science
23. To Biblical Experts, He's a Voice in the Wilderness
24. Assault on evolution

» Part 3

=== Noted
25. Polygamy prevails in remote Ariz. town
26. Diet program looks to religion


=== Aum Shinrikyo

1. 1,000 attend Ibaraki rally to demand AUM pullout
Kyodo (Japan), Mar. 4, 2001
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
MITO, Japan March 4 Kyodo - About 1,000 residents attended a rally in the town of Sanwa, Ibaraki Prefecture on Sunday, demanding the AUM Shinrikyo cult leave the town, where it continues to maintain a facility despite the expiry of the land lease at the end of February.

Sanwa Mayor Kijyuro Tateno said at the rally that townspeople should join forces to get the cult to leave their town. He later delivered letters of request to that effect to AUM spokesman Hiroshi Araki and other AUM members.

Araki responded that AUM has apologized for ''past incidents'' and taken remedial steps.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


2. Underground
The Independent (England), Mar. 4, 2001 (Book Review)
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
To help him understand the causes and effects of such massive, senseless violence, and to discover a side of the story that wasn't told by the Japanese media at the time, novelist Haruki Murakami tracked down as many of the thousands of victims of the Tokyo Gas Attack as he could. The result is this collection of 60 interviews with the commuters who found themselves inhaling sarin nerve gas on 20 March 1995, plus subway workers, doctors and members of the Aum religious cult responsible for the incident. Out of this confusing mosaic of responses emerges a portrait of a society barely recovering from the shock and unwilling to comprehend how the attack could have come from within. It's a repetitive but compelling read and Murakami is an unobtrusive, sensitive interviewer, and an incisive and honest writer.
[...entire item...]


=== Scientology

3. Commentary from Joe Cisar on the 2001 US State Department report on Germany
Critical Interpretation of Scientology & Alternative Religions (Germany), Mar. 3, 2001
http://cisar.org/010303c.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) The following section of the US report could have been written by Scientology chief David Miscavige:

[Open Quote]
The Federal Government uses its ''Defense Clause'' (commonly referred to as a ''sect filter'') for procurement involving some training and consulting contracts, specifically those that may provide opportunities for mental manipulation or behavior modification. The sect filter requires a bidder to declare that the firm rejects and will not employ the ''technology of L. Ron Hubbard'' within the framework of the contract, and that the firm does not require or permit employees to attend courses and seminars conducted via this ''technology'' as part of its business function. Some state and local agencies, businesses (including several major international corporations), and other organizations require job applicants and bidders on contracts to sign similar ''sect filters.''
[Close Quote]

The people who use the ''technology declaration'' do not call it a ''sect filter.'' The people who wrote the ''technology declaration'' do not call it a ''sect filter.'' The German media do not call the ''technology declaration'' a ''sect filter.'' The only people who call the ''technology statement'' a ''sect filter'' are Scientologists and those who are fed information by Scientologists.

A ''technology declaration'' is a means whereby you can make sure you are not doing business with someone who operates according to the technology of L. Ron Hubbard. Here's an example of how it works. Suppose you are doing business with Chinese companies, which means signing contracts. You like getting clothes cheap, but you do not like the idea of people performing slave labor to produce your goods. So you have the Chinese company representative sign a declaration that the company you are signing the contract with does not operate according to slave technology. If you later find out the company has been in violation of that ''technology declaration'' you can end the contract. You could not have figured that out from reading the Scientologists' explanation of what a ''sect filter'' is. As you may have guessed, this ''sect filter,'' which may be defined basically as any piece of paper a Scientologist does not want to sign, is discussed further:

[Open Quote]
... in April the Hamburg administrative court dismissed the suit of two Scientology members against the city-state for its use of ''sect filters.''
[Close Quote]

The above statement does not sound very significant, especially as it is only part of a sentence. Also it is in the midst of paragraphs of text maligning ''sect filters.''

First of all, the Hamburg Administrative Court did dismiss the suit of two Scientology members. That much is accurate. Scientology's report, however, does not mention that one of the parties suing was the Church of Scientology. In other words, there were three parties to the one side of the law suit: a woman who operated a ''wrapping salon,'' the Church of Scientology Munich, and a woman who did not get a sales job several years earlier.

The party who was being sued was not specifically the City of Hamburg, not specifically the Office of the Interior, but one small department, the Task Force on Scientology. The Task Force on Scientology is renowned for many things having to do with Scientology. One of those things is that this department wrote the ''technology declaration.'' It is the author of the above described ''sect filter.'' It is the source of the document to which Scientology had the US State Department devote more space in its report than it did to Nazi freedom of speech in Germany. The Task Force is Scientology's Satan in Germany.

So it was not the city of Hamburg that was sued, but the Task Force on Scientology. There is another discrepancy in the State Department's lone clause on this case. It says the city of Hamburg was sued for its use of the ''technology declaration.'' That is not true. The Task Force on Scientology was sued by a Scientologist because the private company with which she was doing business gave her a copy of the ''technology declaration'' to sign.

She argued that regardless of whether anyone thought Scientology was a religion or not, she was suffering monetary damage. What happened anyway?

A ''wrapping salon'' is an establishment whereby a customer pays money to the operator to do a whole body wrap. This is supposed to improve the customer's figure. The wrapping salon operator, the Scientologist woman, said that in order for this process to work, the customers needed to take vitamins. She got her vitamins from a certain company. One time a company representative sent her a ''technology declaration'' to sign. She did not sign it. Her contract was terminated.

Why? Why would a German company not want to do business with someone who operated according to the technology of L. Ron Hubbard? The technology of L. Ron Hubbard includes the following: 10-15 percent of the gross sale goes to the International Association for Scientologists (IAS). The IAS then sends the money to the USA, where full page advertisements are taken out in international newspapers depicting anti-German hate propaganda. The reason they do that is that is technology according to L. Ron Hubbard. So if you are a German who does not want a tenth of the total money you pay for a product to go to anti-German propaganda, you have the people you do business with sign a piece of paper that says they do not operate according to the technology of L. Ron Hubbard. That is legal, as has been demonstrated in German courts time and time again.

Again why? But this time why did the Scientologist woman sue the Task Force on Scientology and not the company which handed her the ''technology declaration'' to sign? As mentioned, the company did nothing illegal. The reason she gave in her suit was that the Scientology Task Force issued the form which the company representative handed to her. She said that violated her rights to do business.

She was wrong. The reason she lost the suit is because the form made up by the Task Force on Scientology had nothing to do with the German company's decision not to finance any anti-German hate campaign being carried out in accordance to the technology of L. Ron Hubbard. That much is not clear from the less than twenty-five words dedicated to that topic in the report.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

There is an important lesson here (aside from the often-noted fact that the U.S. government works vigorously on behalf of the extremist Scientology organization): one can not blindly trust information provided by the U.S. government.

The Task Force on Scientology is a frequent target of Scientology's hate and harassment practices

The cult's behavior toward Ursula Caberta alone (she heads the Task Force on Scientology), justifies the identification of Scientology as a ''hate group''

The publisher of Religion News Report agrees with the German government's view of Scientology:

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

=== Falun Gong

4. Hong Kong leader reiterates that the Falun Gong is a cult
AP, Mar, 5, 2001
http://www.individual.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said Sunday that the activities of the Falun Gong meditation sect _ which he again described as a cult _ will be watched ``very carefully'' in Hong Kong.

Tung told reporters upon his arrival in Beijing earlier in the day to attend a meeting of the National People's Congress that the authorities will not allow ``anybody including Falun Gong to create any disorder or instability in Hong Kong or on the mainland of China.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


5. Activists Decry HK Government Attack on Falun Gong
Reuters, Mar. 4, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Protesters accused the Hong Kong government on Sunday of undermining the territory's autonomy by toeing Beijing's line in criticizing the controversial Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Eight pro-democracy activists condemned senior officials' recent criticism of the Falun Gong, with the latest being remarks by Security Secretary Regina Ip this week that the group was ``heretical'' and encouraged superstition.

``(They are) spreading evil fallacies to deceive people!'' the protesters chanted as they marched to the government's headquarters.

They burned a broom with a paper face, saying it symbolized Ip, whose nickname is ``Broom's Head'' due to her hair style.

``I hope Mrs. Ip, when she sees this, can understand the feeling members of Falun Gong have -- when you are accused of being superstitious and actually you just have your own religious belief,'' said Gary Fan, a spokesman for the protesters, who belonged to the Social Democracy Forum.

``We think Mrs. Ip doesn't have concrete evidence that members of Falun Gong violate Hong Kong law,'' he added.

``In human history, there have been so many tragedies being caused by different kinds of government who used the same excuse (that they are) superstitious, to control, to suppress ... their religious belief,'' Fan said.

They urged the administration to sack Ip, who is not the first government official to make unfavorable comments on Falun Gong.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


6. Premier Zhu Steers Clear of Falun Gong in Hong Kong
Reuters, Mar. 5, 2001
http://www.insidechina.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BEIJING, Mar 5, 2001 -- (Reuters) Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji lashed out hard at the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement on Monday but avoided criticism of the group's role in Hong Kong which would have fuelled anxiety there.

Falun Gong is legal in Hong Kong, and the territory had been watching to see if Zhu's speech would add to concerns about Beijing's commitment to its promise of a high degree of autonomy to the former British colony.

Senior Chinese officials accused the Falun Gong last month of using Hong Kong as a platform to ''point its spears'' at China's ruling Communist Party, the most recent cause for alarm.

Analysts said any such criticism from Zhu would have stoked fears of an erosion of the autonomy Hong Kong was promised under the ''one country, two systems'' deal that returned the territory to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

Its conspicuous absence triggered a sigh of relief.

''That says Beijing is letting the Hong Kong government take care of its own problems,'' said Allen Lee, a Hong Kong delegate to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament.

Political scientist Sonny Lo of Hong Kong University said: ''It gives the impression that the central government is avoiding interfering in Hong Kong affairs.''

In a speech opening the annual two-week session of the NPC, Zhu reiterated Beijing's hard line against Falun Gong, which he called a ''cult which has become a tool for domestic and overseas forces hostile to our socialist government''.

''We need to mete out severe punishment to the small number of criminals while making unremitting efforts to unite, educate and rescue the vast majority of people who have been taken in,'' he said of the movement China banned in July 1999.

He lumped Falun Gong together with terrorists, ethnic separatists and religious extremism as ''criminal activities that pose a threat to social order and national security''.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


7. China calls for action against Falun Gong
UPI, Mar. 5, 2001
http://www.vny.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BEIJING Mar. 5, (UPI) -- Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji called Monday for ''severe punishment'' for members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement and set ambitious economic goals at the opening of China's annual National People's Congress.
(...)

Among the many issues for which China is often criticized by human rights groups and foreign governments, Zhu made it clear that the Chinese government has no intention of changing current policies toward the separatist or religious groups that often run afoul of the communist party.

Receiving a round of applause, Zhu encouraged the Chinese people to ''combat ethnic separatist activities, religious extremist forces, violent and terrorist activities, cults and illegal activities carried out under guise of religions.''

''We need to continue our campaign against the Falun Gong cult ... which has become a tool for domestic and overseas forces hostile to our socialist government,'' he said. '' We need to mete out severe punishment to the small number of criminals while making unremitting efforts to unite, educate and rescue the vast majority of the people who have been taken in.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


8. Banned in China, sect honored here
The Detroit News, Mar. 4, 2001
http://detnews.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
MADISON HEIGHTS -- Banned and persecuted in China, the Falun Gong movement is finding a much friendlier reception in Oakland County.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a blend of exercises, meditation and quasi-Buddhist and Taoist principles. Banned in China since 1999, the sect has attracted devotees in Metro Detroit and racked up an impressive collection of proclamations and citations from local governments.

This week is Falun Dafa Week in the city of Madison Heights, where practitioners gave city council members a demonstration of the slow, graceful movements of Falun Gong exercises before collecting its latest honor.
(...)

In recent months, the Oakland County Commissioners, the cities of Rochester Hills, Farmington Hills, Troy and the township of West Bloomfield have issued similar proclamations and declared honorary Falun Dafa days of their own. Around Metro Detroit, Wayne and Washtenaw counties and the cities of Ann Arbor and Roseville also have honored the group, as have U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and U.S. Rep. John Conyers.

A local Falun Dafa Web site, www.umich.edu/falun, lists a dozen Falun exercise or study groups around the region.
(...)

Falun Dafa draws on the ancient breathing and meditation techniques of qi gong, the exercise movements of tai chi, a medly of spiritual teachings that aim to refine body, mind and moral character. The American Falun Dafa movement has distanced itself from the original movement, which also claims to help practitioners develop extrasensory perception and super-human powers.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong - China's Government-Controlled Media

9. Reports from China's government-controlled media

* China's government-controlled media has, in recent days, published dozens
of items denouncing Falun Gong. As these items are essentially press
releases meant as propaganda rather than news reporting, there is little
to be gained by including all of them in RNR. Those interested may access
the reports via this Falun Gong news page


9a. Chongqing Sets up Anti-Cult Association
People's Daily (China's communist party paper), Mar. 3, 2001
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Chongqing Municipal Anti-Cult Association has been founded in this metropolis in southwest China.

It is a non-government organization launched by 70 people in the fields of science, law, religion and media in Chongqing, the economic hub in western China.
(...)

The association was set up to give publicity to science, respect the freedom of religion, oppose cult which threatens the people's safety and disturbs social order and stability, and help ordinary people improve their sense of distinction.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Unification Church

10. The Rev. Moon coming to S.L. on March 10
Deseret News, Mar. 3, 2001
http://deseretnews.com/?
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, will visit Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 10, as part of a tour intended to unite the nation and stress faith and family. He plans to visit 50 states in almost 50 days.

''A bitter and divisive presidential election has aggravated differences of politics, class and race in America,'' the Rev. Moon said. ''The faith community must take a leading role in making a better reality for all our citizens.
''Our churches, temples and mosques remain the most segregated aspect of our society. Divided by race and religion, we lack the spiritual power to stop the breakdown of families, corruption of youth and the suffering in our communities.''

''We stand together for faith & family'' is the tour's theme.
(...)

The Rev. Moon hopes to meet with 70 clergy of diverse faiths during his nationwide tour. LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills said he is not aware of any plans for the Rev. Moon to meet with LDS Church officials during his visit.

Stovall said the Unification Church is very small in Utah and has just one congregation, which meets at 1969 S. View St. (1345 East) in Salt Lake City.
(...)

The Rev. Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in 1954. He said Jesus Christ had appeared to him in 1935 while he was praying in the Korean mountains. In that vision, Jesus asked him to complete the work he had started nearly 2,000 years before .

In 1971, the Rev. Moon said God told him to expand his ministry worldwide by coming to the United States. He's been persecuted and even thrown in jail during his religious career.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

Cult founder Moon was ''thrown in jail'' for tax evasion.

The Bible teaches that God does not contradict himself. Consequently, we can safely state that Jesus Christ never appeared to Moon, and that God did not tell him anything at all.

Theologically, the Unification Church is - at best - a cult of Christianity

Given Moon's heretical teachings - many of which border on religious insanity - Christians should not cooperate with any of his interfaith efforts.

=== Islam

11. Taliban use arsenal against relics
The Associated Press, Mar. 5, 2001
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban soldiers blasted two towering ancient statues of Buddha with anti-aircraft weapons, according to the first witness account from the area yesterday.

Other statues throughout the country were being demolished with rockets, tanks and explosives, ridding the nation of reminders of its pre-Islamic past.
(...)

''I could see the Taliban soldiers firing anti-aircraft weapons at the two statues. That was three days ago,'' said Safdar Ali, who arrived yesterday in the Afghan capital of Kabul from Bamiyan, about 80 miles away.
(...)

On Saturday, Quatradullah Jamal, the Taliban's Information and Culture Minister, said troops had destroyed two-thirds of all the statues in Afghanistan as well as large parts of the two giant statues of Buddha. Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil confirmed that.
(...)

The Taliban religious militia, which rules 95 percent of Afghanistan, adheres to a strict brand of Islamic law. The destruction of statues began after Omar ruled that they were idolatrous and against the tenets of Islam. Others argue Islam does not ban images, only the worship of them.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


12. EU condemns Taliban's 'cultural barbarism'
AFP, Mar. 5, 2001
http://www.timesofindia.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
STOCKHOLM: The European Union on Sunday condemned the destruction of ancient Buddhist relics by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, calling it an act of ''cultural barbarism.''

The Swedish presidency of the EU said in a statement it considered the destruction ''an act of cultural barbarism and religious intolerance which will, irreparably and irreversibly, deprive Afghanistan of a large part of its unique historical and cultural patrimony.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


13. Islamic intellectuals condemn Taliban
The Times Of India, Mar. 5, 2001
http://www.timesofindia.com/050301/05home3.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
NEW DELHI: Over 70 top-ranking Islamic intellectuals from across the world have unanimously condemned the destruction of the globally famous Buddha statues, including those at Bamiyan, and other idols in Afghanistan under the decree of the ruling Islamist fundamentalist Taliban.

Terming the destruction by guns and rockets as ``unwarranted'' and ``totally un-Islamic'', the body of Islamic intellectuals stressed: ``Islam orders us to respect the places of worship of other religions. Islam does not allow destruction of religious places of any community.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


» Part 2