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Religion News Report - March 19, 2001 (Vol. 5, Issue 337)
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=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. Aum Doomsday Cult Shadows Japan
2. Key Members of the Aum Cult

=== Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
3. Uganda Cult Mass Murder Anniversary
4. Up in smoke or into thin air? Uganda's killer cult leaders a year on

=== Ho-no-hana Sanpogyo
5. Taxman sinks boot into foot cult
6. Bureaus put foot down over Honohana taxes
7. Foot cult leader failed to declare 750 million yen in income

=== Falun Gong
8. Girl Set Ablaze in Tiananmen Dies
9. Exhibition Targeting Falun Gong Begins in Hong Kong
10. Falun Gong puts spotlight on HK civil servants
11. Analysis: US, China still clash on Falun Gong

=== Scientology
12. Threat of Scientologists' Legal Wrath Prompts Slashdot to Censor a Posting
13. Scientologists Force Comment Off Slashdot
14. Slashdot buckles to Scientology loonies
15. Xenu Do, But Not on Slashdot
16. Holy? Or wholly without grounds

=== Buddhism
17. 'Buddha's hair' found in China

=== Islam
18. 400 Afghan clerics decided to destroy statues: Minister
19. Taliban Ways Under Question

=== Catholicism
20. Italy threatens to silence Vatican [Radio]
21. Few confessions

=== Mormonism
22. SLOC and the LDS Church downplay the church's involvement in the Olympics
23. From SLOC Leadership to Liquor, Church Has Long Had a Powerful Olympic Voice
24. Special Treatment for the Church?
25. Non-LDS Religious Leaders Cite Minimal Input
26. Courting Controversy
27. Sex change worshipper sues the Mormons

=== Hate Groups
28. Bertollini sues Coeur d'Alene newspaper
29. Parade foes to put best foot forward
30. Report Links Putin to Anti-Semitism
31. Estee Lauder's latest tangle
32. What's in a Name?

=== False Memory Syndrome
33. Jury awards family millions

=== Faith Healing
34. Senate Panel Backs Faith-Healing Ban When Kids At Risk
35. Mandatory medical aid for sick kids gets committee OK

=== Other News
36. Atheist leader's remains found on Texas ranch
37. China Extends Cult Crackdown to Protestants, Says Rights Group
38. Sect Not Allowed to Build Cult Hall [Universal Church of the Kingdom of God]
39. Man Shot Dead As Bulletproof Magic Fails
40. Moscow police make arrest in multiple murder
41. Poles rethink anti-sect moves after minority church complaints
42. Appeals court says Ohio motto is acceptable

=== Faith-Based & Community Initiatives
43. Conservatives call for ouster of director of faith-based charities


=== Faith Healing

34. Senate Panel Backs Faith-Healing Ban When Kids At Risk
Denver Rocky Mountain News, Mar. 16, 2001
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Colorado parents who rely solely on faith healing to cure their critically ill youngsters could wind up in court on felony child- abuse charges.

After hearing horror stories about youngsters such as 13-year-old Amanda Bates, who died last month in Mesa County when her parents used only prayer to treat her childhood diabetes, a Senate committee voted unanimously to support HB 1286.

''There are children whose lives and health are at risk today in Colorado,'' warned Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, the Senate sponsor of the legislation which now goes to the full Senate.

The bill would eliminate a section of the child-abuse law that currently provides an exemption from prosecution for parents or guardians who practice faith healing.

Most of the attack on the bill came from members of the Christian Science Church, who agreed the exemption should be eliminated from existing law, but who warned that the legislation goes too far and interferes with religious freedom.
(...)

Bates' family belonged to the General Assembly Church of the First Born, which believes that prayer rather than medicine and doctors are the best way to cure the sick.

Three children whose families are members of that church have died in the past three years, Daniels said, noting that Bates suffered from gangrene and swelling of the brain that caused a slow and excruciatingly painful death that Mesa County Coroner Dr. Rob Kurtzman ruled a homicide.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


35. Mandatory medical aid for sick kids gets committee OK
Gazette (Canada), Mar. 16, 2001
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
DENVER - The debate over faith healing has come down to the distinction between medical care and health care.

Is there a difference?

Members of the Christian Science Church think so.

''All too often, this very tough issue has been presented as children's rights versus religious rights,'' said Robert Doughtie, a spokesman for the First Church of Christ, Scientist.

''However, portraying the argument in this light misses the point: Should government specify one method of treatment over another?''

HB1286 would repeal an exemption for faith healing in the state's child abuse statute. It passed unanimously out of the Senate Education Committee Thursday after more than four hours of testimony.

''I believe strongly in the power of prayer and I believe in miracles,'' said Sen. Mary Ellen Epps, R-Colorado Springs, who voted for the bill. ''But you have to have both'' prayer and medical care.

Under the bill, parents would be required to get ''appropriate medical care'' for sick children, a mandate to seek treatment from a medical doctor when a child is at risk of death or serious injury.

Parents who believe in some form of faith healing and don't get medical care for seriously ill children would face child abuse charges under the bill.
(...)

House Bill 1286
SPONSORS: Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, and Rep. Kay Alexander, R- Montrose
WHAT IT WOULD DO: Repeal a 12-year-old law that exempts those who believe in faith healing from the state's child abuse laws.
PROGNOSIS: The bill passed the House. Now, Republicans in the Senate are trying to amend it so that some faith healing practices could continue.
WHAT'S NEXT:
A vote by the Senate Education Committee could come some time next week.
ON THE WEB: www.leg.state.co.us/2001/pubhome.nsf
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

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