=== 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

=== Other News

28. End Near For Ex-Devil Church
San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 22, 2001
http://www.sfgate.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
San Francisco -- The creaky black Victorian on California Street looks like hell, which may be appropriate, since it served so long as the devil's workshop.

But there is nothing particularly sinister about the future proposal for the building that once housed San Francisco's sordid Church of Satan in the Richmond District. The developer who has owned the structure since 1993 simply wants to tear it down.

''The place is in such a state of disrepair that there's no hope for it,'' said Todd Werby, an official with the Cass-Bagley Corp., which recently filed plans to demolish the infamous four-story structure. ''It might be a great place for a Halloween party, but it's so structurally unsound now I don't think that's a good idea.
(...)

The windows are boarded, the black paint is peeling and even the cyclone fence in front with the barbed wire on top is rusting. It still attracts an occasional gaggle of gothic freaks, but for the most part, LeVay's celebrated dark sanctuary is a dusty relic in San Francisco's museum of eccentric history.

The Black Pope, as LeVay liked to be called, was a self-proclaimed sorcerer with a devilish penchant for marketing. While the nation's media, led by the San Francisco papers, regularly descended upon the 1905 Victorian to pen the latest weird act to emanate from LeVay's bizarre chambers, his great contribution -- if that's the correct term -- to counterculture was a 1969 manifesto called the ''Satanic Bible,'' which his followers and publicists claimed sold more than 1 million copies.

But LeVay knew the devil was in the details, and he went out of his way to paint a dark portrait of the many rituals he and his fellow devil worshipers engaged in: a satanic baptism for his daughter Schreck which featured a naked 30-year-old priestess draped over an altar; a satanic wedding, involving a few friends, where the bride naturally wore black; and the startling presence of Togare, LeVay's 700-pound Nubian lion, who was regularly featured in Herb Caen's column until the neighbors' roars grew too loud and animal control officials forced LeVay to give it to the zoo.

LeVay's ability to attract a dark-hearted crowd did not result in great financial success and in 1991, a San Francisco judge ordered him to sell his gothic manse, which LeVay did, to Werby's father, an old friend. He was allowed to live there until his death, and a campaign by his former mistress to raise money to keep the Church of Satan from going under, went nowhere.
Ultimately his satanic business, as one might expect, came to an unfortunate end.

Following his death in 1997, his heirs, including his two oldest daughters and his common-law wife, found themselves in a court battle over his estate, including royalties from his satanic verses, which included such occult section favorites as ''The Devil's Notebook,'' ''The Complete Witch'' and ''Satan Takes a Holiday.''

A probate judge later split his belongings among his family members, including such items as a bed of nails, a skull, a coffin, a Vampire Boy painting, and an autographed Marilyn Monroe calendar -- one of several starlets LeVay claimed to have seduced.
(...)

LeVay's former live-in mate once called the church a priceless piece of satanic history, claiming that its roots ''went all the way to hell.'' But, in fact, it only extended to the assessor's office, which listed the last sale price of the dilapidated Victorian at $240,000.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


29. Some in Egypt shun religious freedom panel
Reuters, Mar. 21, 2001
http://www.boston.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
CAIRO - Members of a US commission that assesses religious freedom worldwide arrived in Cairo yesterday at the start of a visit that has prompted complaints about unwanted interference in Egyptian affairs.

A US Embassy official said the delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom would meet officials from the Foreign Ministry, from al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim seat of learning, and from the Egyptian Orthodox Church during the visit, which began yesterday and concludes Saturday.

Various groups in Egypt complain of human rights abuses, but not usually related to religious practice in the largely Muslim country of 64 million people, 10 percent of whom are Coptic Christians.

The visit from the independent commission, which advises the US government, has drawn anger from opposition parties, some human rights groups, and the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest fundamentalist group.

''It is a commission that gives itself the right to assault the Egyptian people's unity,'' said Noeman Gomaa, head of the Wafd Party, Egypt's biggest opposition party. He called on Egypt's government and people to boycott meetings with commission representatives.

Munir Fakhri Abdel Nor, a Christian Copt and the head of Wafd's parliamentary block, said, ''We don't accept any intervention in Egypt's affairs.''

Hafez Abu Se'da, secretary general of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, said, ''We can cooperate with the commission, on condition there will be no interference in Egypt's political affairs.''
[...entire item...]

» More on U.S. interference in foreign countries (and its refusal to address human right abuses within the USA).

30. Three held for distributing Christian literature
Gulf News, United Arab Emirates, Mar. 21, 2001
http://www.gulf-news.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Three American missionaries have been arrested in Dubai for allegedly distributing Christian CDs and videos. Non-Muslim religions are allowed to worship in this country, but it is illegal to promote religions other than Islam or try to seek converts.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


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