=== Falun Gong
1. China says Taiwan leader colluding with falungong
2. Falun Gong members speak out

=== Falun Gong - China's Government-Controlled Media
3. Reports from China's government-controlled media

=== Scientology
4. Scientology guilty of libel and enjoined in Germany
5. Protecting sources
6. Razzies Scorch the ''Earth''

=== Unification Church
7. News And Notes

=== Raelians
8. House Sets the Stage for Debate on the Cloning of Humans

=== Buddhism
9. Sect 'planned mass suicide'
10. Sri Lanka to 'build' Bamiyan Buddhas

=== Catholicism
11. Faith or folly?
12. Former believer turns his efforts toward exposure
13. More Catholics turning to Mary
14. Pope Makes Appeal for Catholic Zeal

=== Mormonism
15. Mormons in charm offensive

=== Paganism / Witchcraft
16. Battle brewing over Nessie hunt
17. Wizard curse? I've had spell of good luck, says Whelan

=== Hate Groups
18. Man Gets Life for Calif. Hate Crime
19. Saudi Arabia bans Pokemon

=== Rebirthing
20. Video a key piece in abuse trial

=== Other News
21. Teen-age monk confesses to killing nun, police say
22. 'This is the place for a village,' decides a rich sect (Bruderhof)
23. Procter & Gamble Suit Over Satan Rumor Resurrected
24. Southern Baptists ending talks with Catholic Church

=== Science
25. Enlisting Science to Find the Fingerprints of a Creator

=== Death Penalty & Other Human Rights Violations
26. Court will hear second mentally retarded case

=== Media
27. Why do we think Christ was white?
28. Purging Flame

=== The Investors Around The Corner
29. Four-year-old beats City expert


=== Scientology

4. Scientology guilty of libel and enjoined in Germany
From: Stacy Brooks <stacybrooks@lisatrust.net>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Scientology guilty of libel and enjoined in Germany
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 16:46:29 -0500
Organization: The Lisa McPherson Trust, 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue,
Clearwater, Florida 33755 Telephone: (727) 467-9335 Fax: (727) 467-9345
Message-ID: <td22ctcql8qhb7pn3bujamag02fu9cb0ob@4ax.com>

Today in Berlin, Bob Minton won his libel suit against the Church of
Scientology in Germany; Sabina Weber, the head of OSA in Germany; and Freheit,
Scientology's Freedom magazine in Germany.

As a result of this decision, Scientology is enjoined from distributing the
three editions of Freheit that contain libelous statements about Bob. The
court's formal statement will be posted as soon as it becomes available.

Stacy Brooks
[...entire message...]

Bob Minton and his organization, the Lisa McPherson Trust, are critical of the
Scientology business, and are therefore constant targets of the cult's hate and
harassment campaigns.

» Lisa McPherson Trust

5. Protecting sources
Bund (Switzerland), Mar. 20, 2001
Translation: CISAR
http://cisar.org/010320a.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
sda. Journalists do not have to reveal their sources even if those affected by the accusations of the informant are not able to respond without being aware of his identity. Protecting the source in founded cases takes precedence over the obligation to complete revelation of sources.

With that the Press Council dismissed a complaint by the Narconon Association against an article by sect specialist Hugo Stamm in the ''Tages-Anzeiger'' about the controversial drug therapy at Narconon. In it was quoted an anonymous informant who ended her therapy because, in her opinion, questionable methods were being used. The president of Narconon filed a complaint against this article with the Press Council. It accused Stamm in particular of having had no direct contact with the person cited and of using non-genuine quotes. The Press Council found, on information presented to it by the newspaper, that Stamm himself had spoken with the informant. The journalist subsequently confronted the complainant with the informant's most serious accusations and took her most important answers for his article. In addition Stamm, correctly, refused to reveal the identity of his informant to Narconon. This was, according to statements from the ''Tages-Anzeiger,'' due to annoyances from representatives from the area of Narconon and Scientology in connection to the publication of the article.
[...entire item...]

Narconon is one of Scientology's front groups, and thus shares Scientology's ''ethics.''

6. Razzies Scorch the ''Earth''
E Online, Mar. 25, 2001
http://www.eonline.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) The mercilessly maligned sci-fi stinker Battlefield Earth reached a new level of diss-stink-shun Saturday, ''winning'' a record-tying seven awards at the 21st Annual Golden Raspberry Awards, which honor the year's most [***] flicks.

The film--based on the 1980 novel by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and starring John Travolta as a badly coiffed alien--was singled out for Worst Movie, Actor (Travolta), Screen Couple (Travolta and ''anyone sharing the screen with him''), Supporting Actor (Barry Pepper), Supporting Actress (Kelly Preston), Director (Roger Christian) and Screenplay. The near-sweep helped Battlefield tie with 1996 winner Showgirls as the all-time Razzie champ.

Unlike the wide-open Oscar race, Battlefield Earth seemed pre-ordained to take this year's Razzies, handed out Saturday in Santa Monica by Golden Raspberry Foundation founder John Wilson. Critics delighted in trashing the bloated flick when it came out last year, and 93 percent of all Razzie ballots picked it as the worst film.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Unification Church

7. News And Notes
Virginian - Pilot, Mar. 24, 2001
Publication date: 2001-03-24
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the controversial Unification Church, visited Norfolk this week as part of a 50-state tour soliciting attention to his bedrock theme of ending racial and religious division.
(...)

According to organizers, the tour reflects the growth of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, a group of 120 American clergy that Moon organized the last year to promote the need to ''rebuild'' the family, communities and the nation.
(...)

His critics include Virginia Beach-based evangelist Pat Robertson, who warned this month that President Bush's plan to fund faith-based charities was flawed because it could channel federal money to groups like the Hare Krishnas and the Unification Church.

Such criticism is rejected by Moon supporters like Milton A. Reid and Thelma Brown, both of whom are active in the American Clergy Leadership Conference.

Reid, pastor of Gideon's Riverside Fellowship church in Norfolk and a former publisher of the New Journal and Guide, said that in the 20 years he has collaborated with Moon he has seen no sign that the church brain-washed members, as critics have charged.

Brown, with Miracle Tabernacle Church in Portsmouth, said she embraces Moon's vision of spurring Christian clergy to collaborate in ''rebuilding the family structure.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


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