=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. AUM guru may undergo mental tests

=== Falun Gong
2. falungong leader savages ''wicked'' Chinese leadership
3. China's crackdown on falungong sect rooted in fear and ignorance: members
4. China Jails 13 More Falun Gong Activists

=== Unification Church
5. Ministers upset by Moon visit
6. Rev. Moon's event raises local hackles
7. In Oakland, Moon Stresses Family
8. Rev. Moon delivers message in Oakland
9. The Reverend Moon's Comeback

=== Islam
10. 2 Bamyan Buddhas completely destroyed, reports AIP
11. Taliban vows to keep thumbing nose at the world
12. Taliban close BBC Kabul office
13. The anti-Buddhist fury in Afghanistan

=== Catholicism
14. Ranking Congressmen Support Suspect Religious Group

=== Mormonism
15. Skinhead Church
16. 'It Isn't A Sunday Religion. It's A Lifetime Change.'

=== Hate Groups
17. FindLaw Forum: Court should have heard KKK case
18. Haider the Rightist Is Firing Up Vienna's Election With Slurs

=== Other News
19. Novato 'Diploma Mill' Shut Down by State
20. Leader Of Religious Group, Son Charged With Molestation
21. Man charged with DUI and fired after drinking kava sues employer
22. Elementary may be closed due to polygamists withdrawal
23. 'Fairy' pictures fetch £6,000

=== Faith-Based Initiatives

24. Christian leaders pan Bush's faith plan
25. Cult fear hits Bush plan to fund by faith
26. Poll: Americans approve of Bush
27. Delay on Faith-Aid Plan Puts Time on Bush's Side
28. Senate To Introduce Religion Plan

=== Human Rights Violations

29. Amnesty International Condemns Sentencing of 14-year-old Boy to Life Imprisonment Without Possibility of Parole

=== Noted
30. Hearing From Dearly Departed Proves a Hit on Sci-Fi Channel

=== Trends
31. Claim of 'Post-Denominational Era' Defied
32. It's chic to be a Protestant in France


=== Faith-Based Initiatives

24. Christian leaders pan Bush's faith plan
Boston Globe, Mar. 13, 2001
http://www.boston.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
WASHINGTON - A political storm has gathered over the new White House faith-based office, as President Bush is tested by Christian conservative leaders who fervently supported his candidacy but now are voicing loud objections to his outreach to other religious groups.

''This is turning into the worst trip of the administration's first 50 days.

They seem to have hit a big pothole,'' said Gary Bauer, a religious conservative who ran against Bush in the Republican primaries.

''I think Bush's original idea - that faith-based groups would receive direct government grants - is in the process of being destroyed,'' Bauer said. ''It's a classic example of the difference between campaigning on an issue and governing.''

Groups on the right and left that are tracking Bush's faith-based initiative were abuzz about comments The Washington Post attributed to Don Eberly, the deputy director of the faith-based office, in yesterday's editions. Eberly was quoted as saying the office was revising the administration's policy of aiding social ministries and was ''postponing'' delivery of a legislative package to Capitol Hill.

Asked by reporters yesterday if he was retreating from his initiative, President Bush said, ''Not at all.''

''There's a lot of bipartisan support on the Hill,'' said Bush, who was traveling in Florida. ''I'm proud of our faith-based initiative. We're moving forward. It's the right thing to do.''

White House officials yesterday rejected requests for interviews with Eberly and John DiIulio Jr., the director of the faith-based office. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer said Eberly did not believe that the Post article was an ''accurate reflection'' of his remarks, and Fleischer called the story ''puzzling.''

But Marvin Olasky, the University of Texas professor who helped Bush craft his campaign message of compassionate conservatism, said the story was a signal that the concerns he and other conservatives have about the direction of the office under DiIulio - a Philadelphia criminologist whose academic focus has been on the social work of black, inner-city churches - were going to be addressed.

''They realized their position was crumbling and it was time to make a change. If they follow through, I welcome this and applaud it,'' said Olasky, who has become a critic of the faith-based intiative as it has appeared to evolve into a plan that would make evangelical ministries emphasizing conversion to Christianity ineligible for direct grants.
(...)

The initiative came under quick attack from some civil libertarians who said it violated the constitutional separation of church and state. But the administration was blindsided by the dissents from Christian Right leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who said they could not endorse a plan that allowed federal money to support the prison ministries or housing programs of groups like the Hare Krishnas, the Church of Scientology, or Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.

''No matter that some may use brainwashing techniques, or that the founder of one claims to be the messiah and another that he was Buddha reincarnated. Under the proposed faith-based initiative, all must receive taxpayer funds if they provide `effective' service to the poor,'' Robertson wrote in a commentary published in The Wall Street Journal yesterday. ''In my mind, this creates an intolerable situation.''
(...)

Bush received more than 80 percent of the vote of evangelical Christians in November and was warmly embraced by their church leaders for, among other things, his profession of faith in Jesus and pledge that as president he would give religious groups a more active role in meeting social needs.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


25. Cult fear hits Bush plan to fund by faith
The Guardian (England), Mar. 13, 2001
http://www.societyguardian.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
George Bush's plan to channel US government aid to ''faith-based'' religious charities is being held back by the fear that it could end up funding controversial groups such as The Church of Scientology, Hare Krishna and the Unification Church - the Moonies.

The initiative, launched with great fanfare at a White House prayer breakfast in the president's second week in office, has stirred up a hornet's nest of accusations across the spectrum of religious groups and is being radically redrafted.
(...)

The prospect of the billion-dollar initiative channelling large sums of public funds into the coffers of fringe groups is a very real one.

The groups have made it clear that they are anxious to get a slice of any government funding. For example, the Church of Scientology has said it will seek government aid for its drug rehabilitation and literacy programmes, which are based on the ''dianetics'' theories of the group's founder L Ron Hubbard.

The Hare Krishnas are gearing up to solicit federal funds for their prison release halfway houses and shelters for the homeless.

And the Rev Sun Myung Moon's church, now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is planning to ask for taxpayers' money to promote its sexual abstinence programmes in schools.

Conservative Christian bodies have expressed anxiety that Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam organisation, which runs several rehabilitation and education schemes for black American prisoners, might also try to become a beneficiary of Mr Bush's initiative. Mr Farrakhan has said he is not interested, however.
(...)

The critics include the veteran conservatives Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, as well as Richard Land of the influential Southern Baptist Convention.

But perhaps the most remarkable opponent is Marvin Olasky, the guru of compassionate conservatism and a former Bush adviser whose ideas are at the root of the entire faith-based strategy.

In an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Mr Robertson described the prospect that Scientologists might be beneficiaries of the scheme as ''an intolerable situation''.

Mr Falwell, in an interview last week, objected to Islamic groups having access to federal funds.

But the main complaint, which they share with Professor Olasky, is the White House declaration that religious groups which receive federal funds must not proselytise for converts. Such a condition would threaten ''their very raison
d'[e]tre'', Mr Robertson says.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


26. Poll: Americans approve of Bush
AP, Mar. 14, 2001
http://salon.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
More than half of Americans generally approve of the job President Bush is doing and agree with his plans for the budget surplus, says a new poll.

That support tends to slip away, however, when they're asked more specific questions on his proposals, from the fairness of his tax cut to the approval of drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic to the idea of giving government money to less mainstream religious groups, according to the CBS-New York Times poll.

The poll highlights public opinion trends that were evident through much of the presidential campaign -- Americans tend to like Bush better than they like some of his policies.
(...)

On the question of funneling government money to religious organizations to provide social services, people thought it was a good idea by a two-to-one margin.

But when they were asked whether government money should also go to religious groups like the Nation of Islam, the Church of Scientology and the Hare Krishnas, they thought by a 2-1 margin that it was a bad idea.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


27. Delay on Faith-Aid Plan Puts Time on Bush's Side
Los Angeles Times, Mar. 14, 2001
http://www.latimes.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
WASHINGTON--Key senators on Tuesday put the brakes on President Bush's effort to channel more government money to religious charities, giving the White House time to fine-tune its proposal before the Senate acts on the more controversial parts of the package.

The decision to wait several months to a year to act on the ''charitable choice'' component of the package, which would allow government to fund religious-oriented social services, was made with the White House's agreement.

It comes after vehement protests from both conservatives and liberals who feared the grants would corrupt government, churches or both.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), the lead sponsor in the Senate of Bush's ''faith-based initiative,'' said he would split the proposal in two. He said he would introduce in the coming days a bill that includes various tax incentives to encourage charitable giving, the component of the faith-based plan that attracts mostly broad, bipartisan support.

The more controversial component of Bush's plan, expanding the charitable choice law, would face an ''incremental approach,'' Santorum said, with legislative action coming after the administration uses the current law as a ''proving ground'' for expansion. Charitable choice now applies to a few welfare programs; the new proposal would expand the provision to more programs in five Cabinet agencies. ''My sense is we're looking within the next year for them to work out the bugs,'' Santorum said of the charitable-choice expansion. ''The timing may be right then.''
(...)

On the left, civil libertarians worry that the expanded program, which has been in law in a limited way since 1996, would break down the separation between church and state and permit government-funded hiring discrimination. Critics on the right charge that the program would cause churches to become dependent on government funds and that objectionable sects could be funded.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


28. Senate To Introduce Religion Plan
AP, Mar. 14, 2001
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate supporters of a plan to boost faith-based groups are set to introduce legislation, but they're leaving out the core of President Bush's program - allowing religious groups to compete for government money without divorcing themselves from religion.

The decision comes amid mounting criticism from Christian conservatives, civil libertarians and religious groups that already provide social services.

Sens. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said Tuesday they would introduce a bill next week implementing one of the most popular aspects of the Bush plan, which is allowing tax filers who don't itemize to claim a deduction for contributions to charity. An independent analysis estimates this could produce an extra $14 billion in charitable giving each year.
The bill also would offer a tax break for banks that allow so-called individual development accounts, which match the money saved by poor people. And it would limit liability for corporations that make in-kind contributions, as Bush has proposed.

But they won't include in the bill an expansion of ``charitable choice,'' which allows religious groups to qualify for government money without changing the nature of their programs and without forming secular spin-off organizations, as most groups looking for funding do now.
(...)

In the meantime, DiIulio said his White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives would issue a guide attempting to clarify the legal issues surrounding charitable choice.

There was little criticism when Bush unveiled this plan during his presidential campaign.
(...)

But that changed after Bush put the issue atop his domestic agenda, highlighting it in his second week in office.

Among critics' complaints about the plan:
-Charitable choice allows religious groups to make hiring decisions based on religion, an exemption from anti-discrimination laws.
-Non-mainstream religions that offend some people, such as the Nation of Islam and the Church of Scientology, will be eligible for funding.
-People seeking services are supposed to be given a secular alternative, but these alternatives might not actually exist.
-Religious groups that take government money will have to open their books for audit and possibly alter the nature of their programs to meet government demands.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


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