=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. Don't forget Tokyo subway gas attack: survivors and bereaved families
2. Subway staff remember victims of 1995 AUM gassing

=== Scientology
3. Tom Cruise Ends another Affair
4. Update: Cruise Still With Scientology
5. Cruise Dumps Scientology - NOT!
6. [harassment has become so commonplace that it is no longer newsworthy]
7. A Thorn in the MPAA's Side

=== Buddhism
8. 'Vietnam Buddhist burns herself to death'
9. Vietnam sect leader allowed home, status unclear

=== Islam
10. Cows slaughtered over delay in Buddha statues destruction
11. Taliban Explains Buddha Demolition
12. Muslim destroyers reach for the heart of Jewish holy sites

=== Mormonism
13. Visiting Reporters Complain Venues Tour Turned Into a Pitch for Church, State
14. Mormons under pressure on drink

=== Hate Groups
15. More teens buying white power music
16. Speakers with anti-Semitic ties coming to B.C. rally
17. Klan Highway Sign Isn't Welcome, Say Potosi, Mo., Residents

=== House of Prayer (Atlanta)
18. Church disputes claims of abuse
19. DFCS to take 10 more kids from members of Atlanta church in wake of abuse probe

=== Other News
20. French Sect Members Tried for Baby-Killing
21. Ex-dean of BU chapel on leave for illness
22. Families seek help from dangers of cults
23. 'Volatile' Prophetic Writings Set to Stir Further Controversy (Rick Joyner)

=== Noted
24. False Prophets in Poland
25. Christian ministers to embrace Rainbow
26. The Work, the FBI and a habit of silence (Opus Dei)

=== Books
27. Religion researcher's 40-year quest to tabulate every believer on earth



=== Aum Shinrikyo

1. Don't forget Tokyo subway gas attack: survivors and bereaved families
AFP, Mar. 19, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the doomsday cult Aum's nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway, survivors and bereaved families Monday urged the public to help them and not to forget the tragedy.

''The government has said that it will assist victims of the crime. But we have not received any,'' said Shizue Takahashi, 54, who lost her husband in the 1995 sarin-gas massacre.

''People say the time heals wounds. But that's not true,'' she said. ''In my ordinary, day-to-day life, I feel extreme sadness about the loss of my husband.''
''I just sit alone in my house and weep because I feel so empty,'' she said.

''There are many people who are like me or who were injured in the attack. I ask the government for more support.''

At 8 am on March 20, 1995, members of the Aum Supreme Truth released the Nazi-invented nerve gas in crowded subway trains, killing 12 people and injuring more than 5,500.
(...)

The gassing was staged as the cult, dabbling in Indian mysticism and primitive Buddhism, was braced for a police crackdown in connection with its earlier Sarin-gas attack in the provincial city of Matsumoto, 150 kilometres (90 miles) northwest of Tokyo.

In a press conference, the survivors and the bereaved families emphasized the need for monetary assistance from the government to compensate them or to help pay for medical costs.

Last year, a private fund set up in 1999 by volunteers offered free medical checkups to 360 survivors of the attack.

''However, the fund is not able to offer the same checkups due to the lack of funding,'' said Kenji Utsunomiya, a manager of the fund. He leads a team of lawyers representing about 160 survivors or relatives of those who died in the attack.

''That's why the government must do something to help the victims,'' he said.

A woman, who was injured in the subway attack, said she still suffers from chronic migraines and emotional problems.

''Without government support, many survivors cannot receive medical checkups,'' said the women, who asked for anonymity. ''Simple annual checkups would give many people peace of mind.''

Another woman, who lost her father in the attack expressed her frustration over the slow progress in Matsumoto's trial.
(...)

Almost all the cult's leaders have been jailed but it is still seen as a threat to society with about 1,200 followers. It changed its name to Aleph in January 2000.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


2. Subway staff remember victims of 1995 AUM gassing
Kyodo (Japan), Mar. 20, 2001
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
TOKYO March 20 Kyodo - Subway staff in Tokyo on Tuesday marked the sixth anniversary of the 1995 gas attack on the capital's subway system by the AUM Shinrikyo cult, which killed 12 people in one of Japan's worst incidents of terrorism.

About 30 employees observed 30 seconds of silence in front of a flower-covered plate set up in memory of the dead at Kasumigaseki Station on the Hibiya Line at 8 a.m., the time of the attack.

Two workers -- Kazumasa Takahashi, 50, and deputy station master Tsuneo Hishinuma, 51 -- died in the gassing at Kasumigaseki, one of the stations where sarin nerve gas was released.
(...)

The attack killed 12 and sickened more than 5,000.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

» Back to menu