=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. Memorial held for sarin victims; bitterness lingers
2. Sarin gas victims press for state help
3. Group urges state to aid survivors of sarin gassing

=== Falun Gong
4. Sect ban pressure is denied by Tung

=== Falun Gong - China's Government-Controlled Media
5. Reports from China's government-controlled media
6. Religion, cult different terms

=== Scientology
7. Cruise Dogged by Scientology Split Rumors
8. Columbine Counselor's Teen Sex Abuse Prompts CCHR's New Website Tracking System of Mental Health Criminals

=== Islam
9. Call to spread Islam's message on tolerance
10. Taliban Bans New Year's Celebration

=== Catholicism
11. Report: Priests, Missionaries Sexually Abuse Nuns
12. Reports of abuse

=== Mormonism
13. Mormons' Long, Strange Trip to the Mainstream

=== Hate Groups
14. Judge Sentences Supremacist Pastor in Abduction of Grandchildren.
15. Racist church heads to court
16. Calif. Supremacist Pleads Guilty
17. Brown Students Steal Univ. Paper
18. Brown Protest Targets Ad
19. State House passes hate-crimes measure
20. Germany Won't Stop Yahoo! Auction

=== House of Prayer, Atlanta
21. Pastor, 5 followers arrested in child beatings
22. Defendants have criminal records
23. Church faces abuse probe over whipping of children

=== John and Carrie Davis
24. Jailed father found dead
25. Torture suspect 'upbeat' before his death

=== Recovered Memory Therapy
26. New trial ordered in recovered-memory case
27. Brain: Some choose to lose memory

=== Other News
28. End Near For Ex-Devil Church
29. Some in Egypt shun religious freedom panel
30. Three held for distributing Christian literature

=== Science
31. Skull may alter theory of human evolution

=== Death Penalty & Other Human Rights Violations
32. Convicted Killer is Freed After His Sister Finds DNA Evidence
33. Judge bans use of electric chair

=== Noted
34. Worshippers in Paris flock to Afro-Christian cults
35. Exorcism thriving in Australia
36. A Herd of Psychics on Larry King
37. When a body can be worth $220,000

=== Books
38. Sects, death and the spirit of the age
39. Mainstream Publishers Get Religion for Christian Audience
40. Take a Web site test on religion


=== Aum Shinrikyo

1. Memorial held for sarin victims; bitterness lingers
Asahi News (Japan), Mar. 21, 2001
http://www.asahi.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A memorial for the 12 people who died in the 1995 sarin gas attack was held Tuesday at Kasumigaseki subway station in Tokyo.

More than 5,000 people were also sickened in the attack by the Aum Shinrikyo cult. It was one of Japan's worst incidences of terrorism.

Station employees observed a moment of silence for the victims.

Flowers were accepted in memory of the victims at the station as well as at five other stations where people died from the deadly nerve gas.

But there were no flowers this year from the prime minister or the chief Cabinet secretary.

Last year then-Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi attended the ceremony and presented flowers.

Also, no one from Aum Shinrikyo was present. Last year a representative from the group brought flowers.
(...)

A former station official said the number of people presenting flowers at Kasumigaseki on anniversaries has dwindled and he hoped the public would not forget the incident.

Meanwhile, victims of the attack still suffering from aftereffects remain critical of the government, saying it has not done enough to help them.

A private support group, which conducted free medical checkups for sarin victims last year, said that of 362 people who underwent checkups, 96 percent complained of physical disorders including vision problems and headaches as well as continuing mental trauma.

The group's plans to hold checkups this year have been shelved because of a lack of funds.

The government has refused to help with defraying the cost.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


2. Sarin gas victims press for state help
Asahi News (Japan), Mar. 21, 2001
http://www.asahi.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Although hundreds continue to suffer from aftereffects of the March 20, 1995, sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, victims and families of the deceased are concerned that interest in their plight is waning.

Speaking at a news conference at the Tokyo District Court on Monday-the eve of the sixth anniversary of the attack by the Aum Shinrikyo cult that left 12 people dead and thousands injured- victims reiterated their desire that the government help pay for ongoing medical checkups and counseling.
(...)

Kenji Utsunomiya, a lawyer representing victims, said that while he and other lawyers have been pressing for government subsidies, he acknowledged it was difficult to persuade the government to act.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


3. Group urges state to aid survivors of sarin gassing
Japan Times (Japan), Mar. 21, 2001
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A support group for survivors of the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system is urging the central government to provide support for those who still suffer from physical and psychological pain from the incident.
(...)

The group said it has been forced to indefinitely postpone its offer of free medical examinations for victims of the attack, allegedly committed by Aum Shinrikyo members, because the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry was reluctant to offer support.

At a news conference in Tokyo on Monday, group representative Saburo Abe said that in mid-February it asked the ministry to fund its free medical examination plan, but the ministry replied that it would be ''impossible.''

''Treatment for victims of sarin gas has not been established. It is thus important to build up data (on patients) every year (through examination),'' he said.
(...)

Abe said that more than 60 percent of those examined showed ailments ranging from headaches to numbness of the hands and legs and deterioration of vision.
Some also complained of posttraumatic stress disorder, symptoms of which include sleep disorders, depression and anxiety, saying they were haunted by vivid images of the attack.
(...)

Investigators believe the attack was perpetrated by Aum to disrupt police probes into the cult, which had been accused of a series of crimes, including the confinement of members who tried to defect.
(...)

Tatsuko Muraoka, a representative of the cult, apologized Monday for the ''grave consequences'' of the subway attack and its ''incalculable damage to the lives of several thousand innocent citizens and for causing tremendous fear and trepidation in the nation.''

The cult ''will continue making efforts to compensate and apologize to the next of kin and to the survivors,'' she said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]
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