=== 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

=== Noted

34. Worshippers in Paris flock to Afro-Christian cults
The Daily Telegraph (England), Mar. 18, 2001
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A large increase in the number of evangelical cults in France is drawing black worshippers away from the orthodox established churches for an exotic new vision of ''Afro-Christianity''.

Every Sunday, large crowds flock to a grimy northern suburb of Paris to take part in services that feature throbbing drums and swaying choirs, all-action sermons and prayer sessions devoted to faith-healing and clairvoyance. Dressed in their best, families throng the pavements of La Plaine Saint-Denis, which is jokingly referred to as ''Harlem-sur-Seine'', peering at posters directing them to a converted factory complex that provides meeting rooms for the cults.
(...)

The competition for souls is fierce: one sect claims to possess ''exclusive access to the word of God'' and guarantees its followers that they alone will be raised by Him. An adherent said: ''We are a step ahead of the rest because we will emulate the prophet Elijah in ascending to heaven, while others will only be saved.''

Another sect promises redemption for all who turn their backs on the material world, abjuring alcohol, cigarettes and ''television programmes that stupefy and degrade us''. In some congregations, candles, bottled water, fruit and flowers are offered up for a blessing; in others, men and women are strictly segregated and forbidden to wear red or black clothes.

Although the vast majority of those visiting Saint-Denis are from France's African and Caribbean communities, there is a scattering of white faces among the worshippers. Recent surveys suggest that many French Catholics have become deeply disillusioned with their authoritarian faith but still hunger for spiritual comfort.

According to Dave Brown, a British Protestant missionary who ministers near Paris, about 400 evangelical churches have sprung up during the past decade while attendance at Catholic services has plummeted. He said: ''Evangelical Christianity appeals to a lot of people as a third way between Catholicism and secularism.''

The close links between the ''Afro-Christian'' churches and the world of the occult also attract the many French - black and white alike - who cling to a belief in magic in its varied forms (there are more practising mediums in France than registered doctors).
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


35. Exorcism thriving in Australia
Herald Sun (Australia), Mar. 17, 2001
http://news.com.au/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Exorcism is still common in mainstream Christianity in Australia, with the Catholic and Anglican churches leading the way.

Catholic and Anglican leaders say the demand for deliverance from satanic possession is as strong as it has ever been.

But a leading psychologist said he was surprised to learn official exorcisms were still being conducted and said it was a dangerous throwback to the Middle Ages.

The third force in Australian christianity, the Uniting Church, conceded the practice still occurred despite an official view it had no place in the modern church.
(...)

The Catholic Church revised its exorcism rite in 1998, the first change for almost 400 years.

At the same time the Vatican ordered priests to ensure psychiatric or medical treatment was not the best response before attempting an exorcism.
(...)

The Anglican Church said exorcism was embraced in its evangelical wings but, unlike the Catholic Church, was not official doctrine.

''There is a personal power of evil called Satan who uses demonic forces and people can be oppressed by them,'' Anglican theologian Gordon Preece said.

The Rev Dr Preece, director of Ridley College, Parkville, said: ''Some people become oppressed after involvement in the occult; with ouija boards, black magic, tarot cards,''

Uniting Church president the Rev Professor James Haire said exorcism was very rare within the church but it existed.

''We don't believe it fits with our theology but on very rare occasions it can be used,'' he said.

''It is the absolute last resort if someone comes saying they are possessed. All other alternatives would first be exhausted.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


36. A Herd of Psychics on Larry King
James Randi - Commentary, Mar. 9, 2001
http://www.randi.org/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) We received a large number of inquiries by phone, e-mail, and fax regarding the Larry King Live show last Tuesday that featured ''psychics'' John Edward, James Van Praagh, and Sylvia Browne, along with Paul Kurtz of CSICOP, Leon Jaroff of TIME, rabbi Shmuley Boteach (a friend of Uri Geller), and a physicist, plus an ex-FBI officer. It was a look at the currently popular talking-to-dead-folks fad. King, a little to my surprise - since he has catered to these performers rather easily recently - was appropriately critical. But as expected, when viewers were allowed to call in to the show with questions and comments, the only ones accepted by the staff who filtered the calls, were those who wanted ''readings'' from the psychics. Those were certainly flops as evidence for the claimed powers, and there was much whining and many accusations offered in place of evidence.

Sylvia Browne, looking very fierce, was confronted by Leon Jaroff with her abysmal failure on her June 1989 appearance on my TV Special ''Exploring Psychic Powers - Live!'' and was asked to explain how that had gone so wrong for her. Just so you'll know, that audience twelve years ago had been told to only answer ''yes'' or ''no'' to Sylvia's guesses. The entire ''reading'' took 4 minutes, 51 seconds. Sylvia began by warning everyone that - in case she was wrong? - ''a lot of times these things are in the future,'' then repeated that same caveat later during the guessing game when it became evident she was missing badly.
(...)

So what did Sylvia Browne offer Jaroff and the CNN audience in explanation of this disaster? Indignantly, she told them:

They [the studio audience] were all Germans! And they couldn't understand a word I said! That was a setup, as you well know.... because they couldn't speak English. I found that out after, they were all Germanic!

No, Sylvia Browne, that is a blatant lie, as you well know. It may be what you have been offering your fans as an alibi, but it's not true. Only one member of that audience of 140 persons was German, and you spent a full one minute and seven seconds rattling off guesses for him, then found out he was German, only after he told you. Didn't you know that already, Ms. Browne? You conversed with the other four persons there in fluent English, didn't you? And yet you told the CNN viewers on Tuesday that they were ''all Germans''!
(...)

But - Sylvia Browne has agreed to be tested for the JREF million-dollar challenge, folks! She said so, live, on the Larry King Show! We all heard her! Wow! I accept gladly, and I await a call from Sylvia's handlers so we can make arrangements for this historical confrontation. I'm all a-twitter with excitement, since we all know that the Biggies in the business - Geller, Van Praagh, Edward, and all the others - have assiduously avoided being tested for the prize. This is a breakthrough! Larry King himself said on the program, ''She will meet with Randi and take the challenge.''
(...)

(I should add that I would also require Ms. Browne to provide appropriate evidence for other claims which she firmly stated on this show, that she (a) solved the World Trade Center bombing, (b) ''cracked the ski-mask murder'' case, (c) has ''saved babies' lives,'' (d) ''found people that were dead,'' (e) ''solved crimes,'' (f) ''worked with FBI,'' and (g) ''worked with police departments.'' These are wild claims simply thrown out without any offer of validation, in hopes that a certain percentage of an audience will believe them to be true. If Sylvia's recollection of these marvels is as accurate as her statements about the 1989 show on which she bombed out, I think we won't have to add any credits to her account. I'm not Montel Williams; I require evidence.)

That Larry King Live program provided us with an excellent cross-section of some of the techniques employed in ''cold reading.'' For example, when James Van Praagh came up with a total miss on a reading for a woman who called in to the show, both he and John Edward offered the excuse that perhaps the guesses James had made were actually for someone else! That's someone else in the audience, or someone - anyone - in another building, past, present, or future, known or unknown, even in another country! We begin to see that if such latitude is given, these operators simply can't be wrong!
(...)

Also, Van Praagh claimed that Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine said on an Oprah show, that Van Praagh ''actually had a computer system wired to every single home in the United States'' to gain information on subjects of his readings. And a TV camera in every light-bulb, perhaps? This is a fantasy of Van Praagh's, of course. No such claim was ever made by Shermer.

Please note that all these ''psychics'' came together to support one another's work, almost as if there is developing in the media and with the public the awareness that they're being flim-flammed, and it's now time for the miracle-mongers to co-operate to defend themselves against the dreaded forces of rationality and logic. Could that be?
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

The following transcript is on file:

Are Psychics for Real?
CNN / Larry King Live, Mar. 6, 2001
http://www.cnn.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...)
PRAAGH: OK, let's hear the skeptics then, Psy-cops, whatever. They're just here to destroy people. They're not here to encourage people, to enlighten people. They're here to destroy people.

KING: Thank you all very much. We promise to do more on this. It is a fascinating subject.

John Edward, Sylvia Browne, James Van Praagh, Paul Kurtz, Leon Jaroff, and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and we thank him for staying up so late in London.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

37. When a body can be worth $220,000
The Irish Times (Ireland), Mar. 15, 2001
http://www.ireland.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Far from being an 'urban myth', the lucrative trade in human organs is actually on the increase and it is the vulnerable who are most often the victims.

They were a professional couple, the Karayevs. He, a professor in the Bukhara Technological Institute in Uzbekistan. She, a surgeon. And they had a sideline, a small travel company offering trips to the West for a remarkable $200 (£169).
But customers never got to the West. When police searched the Karayevs' flat earlier this year they found parts of six bodies, 60 passports, and $40,000 in cash. They don't know how many people the couple killed, only that most of the missing body parts made their way to southeast Asia, the grisly extreme of the growing trade in human organs that has become a multi-million dollar trade.

Over the next decade, heart, liver, and heart-lung transplantation procedures are likely to become standard in medical care. But in many countries the supply of organs is severely limited, sometimes by religious taboo. The needy go elsewhere.

In an ideal world, a US report on the body parts trade, by the Bellagio Task Force, suggests it might be acceptable to encourage donor programmes by rewarding donors with cash in the same way some countries pay blood or semen or egg donors. But that option is unacceptable today, the report concludes, painting a picture of a trade currently so distorted by corruption that its legalisation would only contribute to further pressures to abuse the system.

One committee member went so far as to talk of ''the notion that we can eye each other greedily as a source of spare body parts'' as ''neo-cannibalism''. Prof Nancy Scheper-Hughes, an anthropologist at the University of California, established a group, Organs Watch, to monitor the trade.

Among the abuses she personally bore witness to in the 1980s, in Argentinian and Brazilian morgues, were the bodies of dead kidnap victims who'd had organs removed. Such stories fuelled public fears that police and soldiers were murdering street children and other civilians to supply organs for officials of the military dictatorships and the rich.

In Argentina, between 1976-1991, at the state institute of mental health, Montes de Oca, where many ''insane'' political dissidents were sent, some 1,321 patients died under mysterious circumstances and another 1,400 patients disappeared. Years later, according to a report in the British Medical Journal, when some of the bodies were exhumed, it was found that their eyes and other body parts had been removed.

The judicial authorities discovered in January 1992 that at the same hospital there was a traffic in blood taken by force from patients and that assassination of the sick was practised for the use and sale of their organs, particularly their corneas.

Prof Scheper-Hughes accepts that the evidence this happened elsewhere on a widespread or systematic basis is inconclusive, and many doctors believe it is an ''urban myth'', but such has been the fear engendered in several South American countries that crowds have been known to attack strangers, accusing them of childsnatching for the purpose of organ removal.

Yet the German intelligence service last year said it had received reports of killings of street children by the Russian Mafia and subsequent shipments under false papers of organs to clinics in the West. Similar suggestions have come from the Italian police about Albanian traffickers. What has been more authoritatively documented, however, is the flourishing trade in China in the organs of executed prisoners - the main source for transplant for rich foreign businessmen and party cadres. The Chinese admit the practice, but say it is small-scale and always with consent.

Not so, says Human Rights Watch. It quotes multiple Chinese sources describing the systematic harvesting of kidneys, corneas, liver tissue and heart valves, and claims that executions are even deliberately botched to postpone brain stem death and help the retrieval of organs while blood is still circulating.
(...)

In a major investigation last year on the harvesting of body parts from the dead, the Californian newspaper Orange County Register reported that skin, tendons, heart valves, veins and corneas are valued at about $110,000. Add bone from the same body, and one body can be worth about $220,000.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


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