=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. Outcast Aum aids landlord's plan

=== Falun Gong
2. China Sect Members Ask Singapore Aid
3. News Corp. Heir Woos China With Show of Support

=== Scientology
4. A church for celebrities, but what about me?
5. Police work for Scientology

=== Unification Church
6. Clergy split over controversial Moon's visit
7. Chief of Moonies stops in Jackson on U.S. tour
8. Reverend Moon goes mainstream in 50-state tour
9. Moon plans to speak at revival in W. Baltimore
10. Moon, in D.M., pushes marriage

=== Islam
11. Muslims demand halal foods be served in Dearborn schools

=== Militia Groups / Hate Groups
12. Texas farm standoff enters second year
13. 100 held as Met launches dawn raids on hate crime
14. Nobody enjoys an apologist

=== ISCKON / Hare Krishna
15. Living with Krishna
16. Spiritual school
17. Food of the gods
18. Chic Krishna

=== Hinduism
19. Boutique Deities Offend

=== House of Prayer (Atlanta)
20. Minister has prior conviction for beating
21. Abuse claims not new, files say
22. 19 children to remain in state custody
23. Pastor says he'll take chance with jury
24. 'Who's supposed to be the villain?'
25. Child Beatings: 'They'd beat them for every simple little thing they'd do'
26. Corporal punishment part of black American culture
27. Welfare officials acknowledge the value of spanking

=== False Memory Syndrome
28. Fairlie sues over daughter's 'false memory' claims

=== Other News
29. LA County Pays $85,000 Settlement
30. Muslims fear for their lives as cannibal cult leader escapes
31. Fortunetelling legal again in Coeur d'Alene
32. School rejected girl's religious cards, suit says
33. Woman Detained After Vampire Assaults

=== Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
34. Bush's initiative could help groups that promote faith healing

=== Death Penalty and other Human Rights Abuses
35. Texas fight takes on race and death penalty


=== Falun Gong

2. China Sect Members Ask Singapore Aid
AP, Mar. 22, 2001
http://news.excite.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
SINGAPORE (AP) - Thirteen Falun Gong followers arrested for holding a vigil in a park pleaded Thursday to be fined rather sentenced to jail, saying prison records might get them sent back to China.

The 13 Chinese citizens, along with two Singaporeans, pleaded guilty to illegally holding a vigil in Singapore on Dec. 31 in memory of Falun Gong followers they say died in custody in China.

They face up to three months in jail and maximum fines of $2,800.
(...)

Lawyers for the Chinese defendants asked the Singaporean judge to limit their punishment to fines. Jail terms might give immigration officials a reason to revoke their visas or make it harder for them to get visas elsewhere, they said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


3. News Corp. Heir Woos China With Show of Support
Los Angeles Times, Feb. 23, 2001
http://www.latimes.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
In what appeared to some to be a blatant effort to curry favor with China, James Murdoch, heir to the News Corp. media empire, called the Falun Gong spiritual movement a ''dangerous'' and ''apocalyptic cult'' and lambasted the Western press for its negative portrayal of that giant Asian nation.

Eight years after his powerful father, Rupert, offended officials in Beijing by proclaiming satellite television a weapon to attack ''totalitarian'' governments, his 28-year-old son demonstrated in a speech this week in Los Angeles just how far News Corp. is willing to go to make amends.

The elder Murdoch has long viewed China as a critical piece of his global agenda. That nation's pending entry to the World Trade Organization promises to crack open a telecommunications sector that is already one of the world's largest and erode tight constraints on an exploding cable and satellite television market.

Speaking at the Milken Institute's annual business conference in Beverly Hills, the younger Murdoch startled even China's supporters with his zealous defense of that government's harsh crackdown on Falun Gong and criticism of Hong Kong democracy supporters.
(...)

With his prominent father in the audience, the chairman of News Corp.'s Hong Kong-based Star Group said the spiritual group ''clearly does not have the success of China at heart.''

After describing himself as ''apolitical,'' Murdoch--whose family's $30-billion corporate empire includes Fox Television, the Dodgers, the New York Post and Star TV, Asia's largest satellite network--also said Hong Kong democracy advocates should accept the reality of life under a strong-willed ''absolutist'' government.

And the outspoken chief executive didn't spare his own employees, accusing the Hong Kong press and Western newsmagazines of painting a falsely negative portrayal of China through their focus on controversial issues such as human rights and Taiwan.

''I think these destabilizing forces today are very, very dangerous for the Chinese government,'' he said.

Even those who share Murdoch's sentiments that China's complex political and economic landscape are not well understood abroad were taken aback by his ardent boosterism of the darker side of China's governance.
(...)

To those familiar with News Corp.'s torturous path into the China market, the younger Murdoch's comments presented a striking contrast to the fateful remarks uttered by his father. In a speech made shortly after he acquired Star TV in 1993, the elder Murdoch declared satellite television an ''unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere.''

Within weeks, unhappy Chinese leaders had declared war on Murdoch and pronounced satellite dishes illegal. It wasn't long before the contrite Australian was paying conciliatory visits to Beijing and bending over backward to satisfy the Chinese government in exchange for access to that nation's exploding media market. Today, China's cable and satellite advertising market is worth more than $800 million a year and is growing at 30% annually.

Under pressure from China, he pulled BBC off Star TV and canceled his book division's plans to publish the memoirs of Chris Patten, the outspoken British governor who oversaw Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule in 1997.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

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