=== 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


=== Other News

29. LA County Pays $85,000 Settlement
The Associated Press, Mar. 20, 2001
http://www.worldnews.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles County has agreed to pay two employees a total of $85,000 because someone wrote their names on pieces of paper stuck to a cow tongue hung up at their office.

The two social service workers claimed that was a Santeria ritual meant as a death threat. Santeria is a Caribbean religion that combines elements of Roman Catholicism and West African spiritualism and sometimes uses animal sacrifices.

The $85,000 will settle claims by Julie Scheuer and Kathryn Sierra that they suffered religious harassment and workplace death threats in 1997.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


30. Muslims fear for their lives as cannibal cult leader escapes
South China Morning Post, Mar .24, 2001
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Muslim residents and political candidates in central Mindanao are now in fear for their lives following the escape from prison of convicted cannibal Norberto Manero.

Manero was sentenced to life for murdering Italian Catholic priest Tullio Favali in 1985, then eating parts of his brain in public while drunkenly singing a folk song.

During the Marcos dictatorship, he had led the notorious Tadtad cult, which the military armed and funded as part of civilian militia in order to fight Muslim secessionists and communist rebels. The cult terrified the Muslim community because cannibalism was part of its murder ritual.

At the time of Manero's escape early on Thursday morning from Sarangani provincial jail, he was being tried for the murder of the Mamalumpong brothers in 1980.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


31. Fortunetelling legal again in Coeur d'Alene
The Spokesman-Review, Mar. 22, 2001
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Coeur d'Alene City Council has repealed a 1957 law that outlawed any form of fortunetelling.

The council voted 5-1 Tuesday night to repeal the law, City Councilman Ron Edinger said.
(...)

The law came under scrutiny by downtown business owners who wanted to offer palm readings.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


32. School rejected girl's religious cards, suit says
Journal Sentinel, Mar. 21, 2001
http://www.jsonline.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A school that allowed students to exchange valentines featuring Britney Spears and boy band 'N Sync violated a second-grader's constitutional rights by rejecting her homemade cards celebrating Jesus, a religious liberty organization alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Kettle Moraine School District student Morgan Nyman, 8, was told she couldn't distribute Valentine's Day cards with such sayings as ''Jesus loves you'' and ''Freely rely on God'' because they were religious, according to the federal lawsuit filed in Milwaukee by the Longwood, Fla.-based Liberty Counsel.

Last fall, Morgan was forced to take back Halloween candy she had given to classmates at Cushing Elementary School in Delafield because the candy was attached to a religious tract that also featured the words: ''Costumes are cool but heaven is awesome.'' The response upset Morgan so much that she cried for the remainder of the day and eventually threw up, the lawsuit alleges.
(...)

But the attorney for the Waukesha County school district said Morgan does not have the right to distribute religious material at the school during class time, which is when the Valentine's Day and Halloween exchanges occurred.

''We think that violates the separation of church and state and would be unconstitutional and impermissible for us to do,'' attorney Mark Vetter said.

If Morgan had wanted to pass out her valentines or other religious materials before or after school or during lunchtime, she could have done so, he said.

''The request in this case was to distribute materials during or in the classroom during school time,'' he said, ''and that would not be permissible under the policy or under the federal law.''

The Liberty Counsel argues otherwise.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees students' free-speech rights as well as their freedom to express their religious views, said Mathew Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel and the lead attorney in the lawsuit against Kettle Moraine.

The school district and its policies violate those rights because they require students to gain the permission of their principal or the district
superintendent before they can distribute materials to their classmates and then reject those requests if the material is religious, he said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


33. Woman Detained After Vampire Assaults
Reuters, Mar. 22, 2001
http://news.excite.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BERLIN (Reuters) - German police have detained a Berlin woman who screamed she was a vampire and thirsty as she attempted to bite people.
(...)

The 21-year-old woman, identified only as Laura E., was put under psychiatric observation after she also tried to bite her fingers off, police said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


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