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News about cults, sects, and alternative religions An Apologetics Index research resource |
Religion News ReportReligion News Report - Mar. 9, 2000 (Vol. 4, Issue 176) - 1/2 ![]() ![]()
=== Aum Shinrikyo / Aleph
1. AUM tries to shirk payouts 2. City to register Aum followers 3. From Sarin to Software 4. AUM-linked security lapse 5. Japan Cult Trial Symbol of Slow Court System === Falun Gong 6. Tokyo govt rejects Falun Gong's NPO bid 7. Jiang likens Falun Gong to Tokyo gas-attack cult 8. More Falun Gong Followers Detained 9. HK, Australian sect members may face trial 10. Beijing holds Bay Area members of Falun Gong 11. Close eye kept on Falun Gong === Scientology 12. Church-paid defense experts: Scientologist's death unavoidable 13. Pathologists say clot killed Scientologist 14. Doctors paid by church give defense === Hate Groups 15. Patriot movement leader acquitted of conspiracy, attempted kidnapping 16. Lawmaker targeting hate group leaders 17. White power winning ears with pop rock 18. New ways to combat web racism === Christian Identity 19. The FBI calls it the nation's most dangerous hate group. And it's growing in Missouri 20. Reporters manage to get in conference of Christian Identity, but they stand out 21. Inside the Christian Identity Movement 22. Jewish man who has attended gatherings of group says, ''These guys are very smart'' 23. The movement ''is not Christian,'' says minister who heads ecumenical group in St. Louis 24. Christian Identity beliefs 25. What is the Christian Identity Church movement? » Part 2 === Bob Jones University 26. Interracial dating? Get a note from Mom === Jehovah's Witnesses 27. Jehovah's Witnesses considering lawsuit over blood transfusion 28. Two principles in conflict over blood transfusions 29. Patients must be informed before donating organs === Mormonism 30. LDS prophet's book targets mainstream readers === Islam 31. While some overcome Islamic law, others are bound by it === Other 32. Cultists heed experts' warning, to abandon tunnels by mid-year 33. Cultists Shoot LASU Student 34. Religious Group Under Scrutiny 35. Ethnic Russian Religious Sect Seeks Swedish Asylum 36. Chopra Defeats Sex Harassment Suit 37. Vegetarian Antichrist is 'walking among us' 38. 'Devil' talk loses pastor TV slot 39. Mass Hysteria Causes School's Temporary Closure 40. Sikh Wins Discrimination Suit === Death Penalty 41. Court Voids Death Sentence After Jury Heard Bible References === Science 42. Evolution-creation debate grows louder with Kansas controversy === Noted 43. Why the X-Files is becoming our new religion 44. fromUSAlive.com Launches New Program to Explore the Mind and Spirit 45. Power of the Kabbalah === Aum Shinrikyo / Aleph 1. AUM tries to shirk payouts Mainichi Daily News (Japan), Mar. 7, 2000 http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/news03.html Aum Shinrikyo has designated its software companies as being privately owned in an apparent bid to evade legal requirements to compensate victims of their terrorist activities. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officials who are investigating five AUM-run computer software companies have gleaned through e-mails that the cult had ordered the firms to be established privately. (...) The five companies were set up but not registered with authorities, the officials said. ''With no funds, [the companies] will not be covered by the law,'' the e-mails said. The e-mails were allegedly sent in November last year immediately after a bill requiring AUM-run businesses to pay compensation was submitted to the Diet. Under the law, businesses affiliated with the cult have to pay compensation to victims of AUM's crimes, such as the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. (...) In a related development, the Public Security Investigation Agency plans to order the cult to resubmit reports on their members and assets. Those reports were submitted earlier this month under a law that regulates the cult. But the content of the reports was not consistent with figures calculated by the agency. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 2. City to register Aum followers Asahi News (Japan), Mar. 8, 2000 http://www.asahi.com/english/asahi/0308/asahi030807.html Officials in Ootawara, Tochigi Prefecture, decided Tuesday to register followers of the Aum Shinrikyo cult currently living in a former minshuku as residents of the city, but only until July 20. Ootawara will be the first municipality to register Aum followers as residents since the start last spring of a nationwide movement to stop cultists from moving in. (...) The decision, reached through a compromise between the followers and city officials demanding their immediate departure, will be processed March 24. In June, Ootawara officials rejected a request for residency registration from the 19-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son of cult founder Chizuo Matsumoto, and have yet to approve their move out of concern for public welfare.'' We will serve as a test to see if the cult can maintain a harmonious relationship with the municipalities,'' Ootawara Mayor Kazuo Senbo said. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 3. From Sarin to Software A doomsday cult's secret weapon: high tech Newsweek, Mar. 13, 2000 http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/in/a17040-2000mar5.htm The M Group served some of the giants of Japanese industry and government. (...) No one had any complaints-until last week, when investigators in Tokyo linked the M Group's five software firms to the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. Police suspect that Aum followers wrote programs for more than 90 unwitting government and corporate clients. (...) Was Japan on the verge of an Aum cyberattack? Managers of compromised systems didn't wait to find out. They blocked Web sites, shut down networks and closed databases. They have reason to be nervous. This year alone, hackers have vandalized 11 government Web sites with messages denouncing Japan's past militarism. Those attacks, plus Aum's violent past, stoked fears that the quasi-Buddhist cult was plotting to cripple the country's computer systems. Cult spokesman Fumihiro Joyu described Aum's software work as ''merely economic and not based on any malicious intent.'' Few Japanese were reassured. Technology has always been Aum's secret weapon. In the 1980s its efforts to peddle bargain PCs through cult-owned electronics shops blossomed into a $1 billion empire. The cult's half-blind guru, founder Shoko Asahara, lured engineers, chemists and computer scientists from Japan's elite universities, then put them to work developing weapons of mass destruction. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 4. AUM-linked security lapse Mainichi Daily News (Japan), Mar. 8, 2000 (Mar. 6 in printed edition) - Editorial http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/opinion.html (...) The police investigation has exposed an unanticipated flaw in government-procurement policies in this technological age. Police officials discovered AUM Shinrikyo's role in building government computer systems because the group had been placed under police surveillance under a new law passed in December. The government ministries and agencies, as well as the private corporations, failed to discover the involvement of the AUM-related company on their own. This oversight can only be attributed to sheer carelessness. A computer security plan compiled this January by the government proposed that more sophisticated equipment and techniques be adopted to secure new computer systems and to make them impervious to hackers and other invaders. But what is the point in talking about computer security if an undesirable group can become involved in installing computer systems that are to be used by the government? (...) Police believe that AUM Shinrikyo could have engaged in cyber-terrorism and infiltrated the Defense Agency's communications system if it had so desired. The Defense Agency has pledged to beef up its screening of subcontractors for all of its contracts. While performing software work for a private company, cult members also removed a disc containing personnel data on several thousand senior company officials. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 5. Japan Cult Trial Symbol of Slow Court System AOL/Reuters, Mar. 8, 2000 http://my.aol.com/news/story.tmpl?table=n &cat=01&id=0003081022788547 Five years after a fatal gas attack on Tokyo's subway system, the guru of a doomsday cult accused of the killing is still on trial, in what has come to symbolize the country's snail-paced judicial system. Shoko Asahara, leader of the Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect), stood in court for the 148th time on Thursday, on charges of masterminding the March 20, 1995 gas attack which killed 12 people and made thousands ill. The trial, which is now in its fifth year, promises to go on much longer, with legal experts saying it may be well over 15 years before the final verdict. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] === Falun Gong 6. Tokyo govt rejects Falun Gong's NPO bid Daily Yomiuri (Japan), Mar. 9, 2000 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/0309so08.htm The Tokyo metropolitan government decided Wednesday to turn down a request for nonprofit organization status from Japanese members of Falun Gong, a meditation group that has been outlawed in China. The metropolitan government decided to deny the group NPO status on the grounds that it could not rule out the possibility of the group's being a religious organization. Such groups are not eligible for NPO status under the law. The Chinese government had asked Tokyo not to approve the group's request. Sources close to the metropolitan government said the decision had been made after taking into consideration relations with the Chinese government. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 7. Jiang likens Falun Gong to Tokyo gas-attack cult Hong Kong Standard, Mar. 8, 2000 http://online.hkstandard.com/today/default.asp?PageType=aho7 The Central Government treats the Falun Gong in the same way the Japanese government treats the fanatical Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth cult). President Jiang Zemin gave this explanation yesterday of why the sect is banned on the mainland. In a talk with Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress, Mr Jiang also disclosed that he had never heard of the group until his secretary burst into his residence while he was having breakfast on April 15 last year, crying, something bad is happening.'' At that time, Falun Gong members had surrounded the leadership compound at Zhongnanhai in the mass demonstration that led to the crackdown. (...) After seeing the group, Mr Jiang said he ordered police to buy all the books about the Falun Gong, and it was through these that he found the group was spreading evil''. (...) After reading all the books and studying what he observed, Mr Jiang said he was concerned that a great number of people had believed in the teachings of the cult''. He wanted to stop its activities and educate people about its dangers, Mr Ma said. The Central Government then immediately defined Falun Gong as a cult. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 8. More Falun Gong Followers Detained AOL/AP, Mar. 8, 2000 http://my.aol.com/news/story.tmpl?table=n &cat=01&id=0003081238577127 Chinese police have detained seven foreign followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement in the southern border city of Shenzhen, a human rights group reported Wednesday. The seven women, including three Australians and four from Hong Kong, planned to go to Beijing to appeal for an end to the communist government's ban on Falun Gong when they were detained Saturday, the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. (...) Information Center founder Lu Siqing said four U.S. citizens detained by Beijing police on Saturday in a sweep of Falun Gong followers remained in custody. The U.S. Embassy confirmed that two were U.S. citizens and was checking on the other two. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 9. HK, Australian sect members may face trial Yahoo/WISE News, Mar. 9, 2000 http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/newspapers/wisers/article.html? s=asia/headlines/000309/newspapers/wisers/HK__Australian_ sect_members_may_face_trial.html The mainland is planning to try Hong Kong and Australian members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a rights group said yesterday as authorities continued a crackdown to prevent protests marring the annual parliamentary session. ''Authorities have detained seven Falun Gong members, four from Hong Kong and three from Australia, in a sign of harsher treatment for non-mainland members,'' said Frank Lu, the head of the Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement. Before people from Hong Kong and Australia used to be released ''soon after being picked up'', Mr Lu said. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 10. Beijing holds Bay Area members of Falun Gong San Jose Mercury News, Mar. 8, 2000 http://www7.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/falun08.htm Eight Bay Area residents who practice Falun Gong remained under arrest in Beijing on Tuesday, days after they were rounded up in China's latest crackdown on the controversial spiritual movement. (...) At least two of the residents arrested are American citizens, and U.S. officials are inquiring with Beijing authorities to determine whether two more of the detained are also Americans, according to officials of the U.S. State Department. (...) They think it's the right thing to go to China and talk to officials about the crackdown and tell them that it's wrong,'' said Alan Zeng, a San Jose software engineer, whose brother, Johnson Zeng, was among four others arrested. (...) Zeng said he spoke with his brother about a week ago and knew that some members of the group were in China to try to appeal to People's Assembly'' about its ban on Falun Gong. Most of them knew of the risk for arrest, Zeng said. The group went to Beijing a week ago to try to engage the government of China in a dialogue about the practice of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that involves yoga-like exercises. Hundreds of Bay Area residents subscribe to the practice, which is said to have a following of millions of people around the world. Their arrival in Beijing was timed to coincide with the national legislature's annual session. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 11. Close eye kept on Falun Gong South China Morning Post, Mar. 7, 2000 http://www.scmp.com/Special/NPC2000/Article/FullText_asp_ ArticleID-20000307052524467.asp Hundreds of undercover and uniformed police clamped a ring of steel around Tiananmen Square yesterday to stamp out any protests by the banned Falun Gong movement after a number of the sect's members were arrested over the weekend. As the NPC started a second day of meetings in the Great Hall of the People on the west side of the square, police roamed the huge esplanade interrogating people. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] === Scientology 12. Church-paid defense experts: Scientologist's death unavoidable Naples News, Mar. 7, 2000 http://www.naplesnews.com/today/florida/d429486a.htm A Scientologist who died while under church care succumbed to an unpreventable, unusual condition associated with a common injury, two pathologists paid by the church said Monday. Michael Baden, a former member of the O.J. Simpson defense team, and Pittsburgh coroner Cyril Wecht are part of the Church of Scientology's defense as it fights charges it was responsible for the 1995 death of 36-year-old member Lisa McPherson. The two doctors said nothing the church did contributed to McPherson's death from a blood clot in her lungs. Both agreed McPherson's condition was one that can be missed in the best hospitals. (...) The church is fighting criminal charges of practicing medicine without a license and abusing a disabled adult for it's treatment of McPherson. (...) In an unusual news conference Monday, the experts said they are coming forward with their opinions now because they disagree with an editorial on the McPherson case recently published in the St. Petersburg Times. In most cases, defense expert witnesses do not discuss their opinions before testifying to them in court. (...) The Pinellas County State Attorney's Office refused to comment on the pathologists' opinions. McPherson, died on Dec. 5, 1995, 17 days after being involved in a minor traffic accident. She took off her clothes and began walking down the street. Police took her to a hospital, but she soon left with Scientology officials, who wanted her to avoid psychiatric treatment, which is against church teachings. (...) McPherson was under the care of fellow Scientologists for 2 1/2 weeks at Clearwater's Fort Harrison Hotel, the church's headquarters. Prosecutors have accused the church of force-feeding her unprescribed medicine and forcibly restraining her. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 13. Pathologists say clot killed Scientologist Tampa Tribune, Mar. 7, 2000 http://tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGIRYZO0J5C.html A few years ago, forensic pathologist Michael Baden was a defense witness for O.J. Simpson. On Monday, he went to bat for the Church of Scientology. (...) Baden and Wecht, who teamed up to write a book on the Simpson case after Baden testified there had to be two killers, said McPherson was suffering from neither malnutrition nor dehydration. Those conditions were key components of Medical Examiner Joan Wood's findings in McPherson's death Dec. 5, 1995, which occurred 17 days after a minor car accident. (...) Both men said they were not working for free for the church, but they would not disclose how much they were being paid. During Simpson's trial, Baden testified he was paid $1,500 a day instead of his customary $2,500 to $3,000 fee because of Simpson's dwindling financial resources. Wecht said Monday he was amused and offended by ysuggestions that Scientology officials were paying the pair to say what the church wanted to hear. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 14. Doctors paid by church give defense St. Petersburg Times, Mar. 7, 2000 http://www.sptimes.com/News/030700/TampaBay/Doctors_paid_by_churc.shtml A former member of O.J. Simpson's ''dream team'' defense says Lisa McPherson's As prosecutors consider whether to proceed with criminal charges in the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, the Church of Scientology on Monday presented two nationally known pathologists who said they have scientific evidence that the 1995 death was accidental. Drs. Michael M. Baden and Cyril H. Wecht also suggested their work is so conclusive the case should be dropped. Their primary conclusion: McPherson, 36, died suddenly and unpredictably of a blood clot in her left lung that originated from a knee bruise she suffered in a minor auto accident 17 days earlier. (...) Baden and Wecht said medical evidence proves McPherson did not die from anything done by staffers at Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel, who, after the auto accident, tried for 17 days to nurse McPherson through a severe mental breakdown. Prosecutors have questioned some of the methods of the Scientology staff, including forcing food and medication down McPherson's throat and giving her prescription medication and injections without medical licenses. But Wecht and Baden dismissed these as the harmless actions of people trying to help. They said they did not warrant criminal prosecution. The doctors, hired two years ago by Scientology, also asserted there is no evidence that McPherson was dehydrated or malnourished. Their statements at a news conference Monday come at an unusual juncture in a case that finds Scientology's Clearwater entity charged with two felonies in McPherson's death -- abuse of a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a license. (...) Baden and Wecht said they flew to Clearwater to respond to a recent St. Petersburg Times editorial about the case. In doing so, the two doctors provided insight into the size and scope of the church's defense team. Wecht said six additional forensic pathologists had independently reached the same conclusions he and Baden reached. (...) The church also must contend with testimony from one of its own members, Dr. David Minkoff, who told prosecutors in 1998 that McPherson was ''severely dehydrated'' when he pronounced her dead. In 1996, Wood said the blood clot that caused McPherson's death was due to ''bed rest and severe dehydration.'' She has since removed that phrase and listed ''severe dehydration'' as one of several ''final anatomical diagnoses.'' She has not explained her decision. (...) Both doctors said they spoke Monday because of a March 3 Times editorial that said the church's experts put pressure on Wood to change her findings. It also called for Wood to explain her revision and encouraged McCabe to continue the prosecution. Jack Reed, who edits Times editorials in north Pinellas, said the editorial board ''is the newspaper's voice on public issues.'' ''Our editorial position is that a jury should weigh the evidence and arrive at a verdict,'' Reed said. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] === Hate Groups 15. Patriot movement leader acquitted of conspiracy, attempted kidnapping CNN/AP, Mar. 8, 2000 http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/03/08/gritz.kidnap.ap/index.html James ''Bo'' Gritz, a former Green Beret colonel and leader of the right-wing Patriot Movement, was acquitted Wednesday of attempting to snatch a 12-year-old boy and reunite him with his mother. (...) Gritz, 61, had used his short-wave radio show and Web site to promote the plight of Linda Wiegand, who accuses her ex-husband of sexually assaulting and threatening the boy and another son. (...) Wiegand is a fugitive wanted on custodial interference charges. She called The Associated Press on Wednesday to announce the verdict and said she still believes her children -- who remain in the custody of her ex-husband -- are in danger. (...) Gritz and his son, James Gritz, were arrested September 30, 1996, in the parking lot of the McAlister Middle School, where Wiegand's son was a student. James Gritz is being prosecuted separately, and prosecutor John Malone said he would decide later whether to continue that case. Prosecutors said the Gritzes planned to snatch the boy from school and reunite him with Wiegand. (...) Bo Gritz served as a negotiator in the FBI siege of separatist Randy Weaver and his family at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992. He also briefly was a mediator in the Montana Freemen standoff in 1996. In 1998, he attempted to locate alleged abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph in North Carolina. He ran for president in 1992 and is a leader of the so-called Patriot Movement, which rails against a United Nations-led ''New World Order'' and accuses the government of corruption and violence. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 16. Lawmaker targeting hate group leaders Chicago Tribune, Mar. 8, 2000 http://www.chicago.tribune.com/version1/article/0,1575,SAV-0003060134,00.html Seven months after Benjamin Smith's shooting rampage targeting minorities and Jews, state lawmakers are considering beefing up what some already consider the nation's toughest state hate crime law. The proposal is aimed at leaders of groups who now cannot be prosecuted for hate crimes they may have encouraged but did not directly participate in. Bill supporters say Matt Hale, leader of the white supremacist World Church of the Creator based in East Peoria, is the most visible target because of his outspoken views and his public attempts to recruit members. Smith was a Hale follower. The bill would create a new conspiracy crime that could earn up to 3 years in prison for leaders found guilty. It also would create harsher penalties for others who commit hate crimes. Hate crimes are defined in Illinois as acts of violence or harassment against a person or his or her property based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or heritage. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 17. White power winning ears with pop rock Christian Science Monitor, Mar. 8, 2000 http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/03/08/text/p1s4.html The sound is that of most other pop music - straight rock, heavy metal, folk ballads. But listen carefully, and the words can be disturbing, even shocking. Race war is advocated. Germany's Third Reich is glorified. Blacks and Jews are denigrated, sometimes targeted for violence and destruction. It's called ''white-power music,'' played by bands with names like ''Blue Eyed Devils,'' ''Plunder & Pillage,'' ''Bound for Glory,'' ''Skrewdriver,'' and ''Rahowa'' (the acronym for ''racial holy war''). As it gains in popularity and acceptance, human rights advocates warn that it is infiltrating mainstream youth culture as a recruiting tool for white supremacist and other hate groups. ''This is a movement that has grown from a few bands in the late 1980s to over 100 bands in the United States today, a movement that has grown from a handful of labels and distributors to over 50 in the US right now, and it has been able to move closer and closer to the mainstream,'' says Devin Burghart of the Center for New Community, a faith-based human rights organization in Chicago. Much of the activity is here in the Pacific Northwest, says Randy Blazak, a sociologist at Portland State University in Oregon who studies hate groups. But it is spreading throughout the country. (...) One particularly significant development, observers say, is the recent acquisition of Resistance Records and its affiliated white-power music magazine by William Pierce, head of the National Alliance. The West Virginia-based organization, perhaps the most powerful and active white supremacist group in the country, expects to sell at least 50,000 CDs this year, which will raise money for its cause as well as draw potential recruits among young listeners. ''Young people are not as interested with the details of ideology as they are with the resistance music,'' says Dr. Pierce, who taught physics at Oregon State University in the 1960s. (Pierce is better known for writing ''The Turner Diaries,'' a futuristic novel about race war thought to have inspired Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.) (...) Some experts say the trend has accelerated with the backlash against affirmative action for minorities and the growing perception that the economic boom (with its alleged ties to Jewish bankers) has bypassed the working class. Others note that it's attracting middle-class college students as well. A recent poll of 18- to 29-year-olds conducted for the NAACP found that nearly 53 percent of white respondents essentially agreed with a separate-but-equal philosophy regarding race in America. (...) In response, antihate groups are gathering in Chicago this weekend to promote a ''Turn it down'' campaign to educate parents, teachers, and young people about this growing trend. Here in Oregon, Dr. Blazak at Portland State University has started Oregon Spotlight, an organization that provides resources to fight hate crime. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 18. New ways to combat web racism Neue Zuercher Zeitung (Switzerland), Mar. 3, 2000 Translation: CISAR http://cisar.org/000303a.htm For several years, government agencies, private citizens and politicians have been trying to take measures against racism on the internet. With only limited success: as long as nations like the USA protect racist publications, the hands of Switzerland and other nations are tied. However, there are still solutions, as the author presents in the following: A year and a half ago, the Federal Police made their first attempt. They tried to force Swiss internet access providers to block racist pages from foreign countries. The attempt failed; since then providers and authorities have been working on a mutual solution to the problem - so far without success. (...) It is simple in principle: if illicit content is really to be prevented, then that must happen where it is put on the net. In matters of racism, that is primarily in the USA. Indeed, large providers like America Online have taken measures against racist offerings on their public systems when they have been made aware of it. Racist groups, however, can retreat to their own autonomous internet computers without problem because their provider has separated its own responsibility from that of the content put on the net by its customers. This circumstance is also being exploited by people in foreign countries who use computers on U.S. territory to globally distribute their propaganda. In this way, the USA has used the label of freedom of speech to develop into the world's leading ''safe harbor'' for racists. (...) However, private providers in the USA are not obligated to tolerate racist publications on their computers or in their ''connections.'' Therefore, one possible strategy would be to exert pressure on the individual provider. (...) Pressure upon American providers could also be used in other ways. One possibility would be to win key figures on the internet over to the fight against racism on the net: for instance, government agencies and larger providers could declare that they would give services to providers who do not support racism. Stormfront.org, for instance, one of the leading U.S. internet platforms for racists, is serviced by Sprint, a U.S. telecommunications company which is to be taken over by MCI Worldcom, which is also active here in Switzerland. (...) Dangers of Self-regulation (...) For instance, in the USA today, individual people in companies who make filter programs for the internet decide what should be accessible and what not for schools, libraries and government agencies in the American State of Utah. The filter in question blocks, for example, access to the Koran, the Adventures of Sherlock Homes and an essay against racism. In addition to that, there is a risk that, for example, an anti-democratic regime would use a filter and blocking mechanism under the pretext of the fight against racism for its own purposes to exercise censorship which would not be legitimate according to today's standards. The same goes for private organizations who do not wish text from the internet which is not accepted them to be accessed. For instance, Scientology managed to intimidate the provider Compuserve in Germany into shutting down a web site of a critic of the sect. [That was Tilman Hausherr. Details at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/cos_fun/parody_images.html - CISAR] (...) * The author of this article has written a working document for the combat of racism on the internet on commission of the UNO High Commission for Human Rights. It can be called up on the internet under www.rvo.ch/docs/unracism.pdf ![]() ![]() [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] === Christian Identity * All items under this heading as part of a special report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 19. The FBI calls it the nation's most dangerous hate group. And it's growing in Missouri St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 5, 2000 http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/ByDocID/ FBC2747240F6200A86256899003F00E0 The Christian Identity movement holds the distinction of being No. 1 on the FBI's list of most dangerous hate groups. Extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation and The Order have embraced the movement's racist, gay-bashing and anti-Semitic doctrines to justify acts of violence. Violence has followed Identity followers themselves. In the past year, claiming they were acting under the authority of ''God's Law,'' Identity followers have been charged in the slaying of a gay couple and the killing of a postal worker in a shooting spree at a Jewish day-care center. The movement is estimated by the FBI at 50,000 strong and growing, particularly in Missouri, where there are 17 Christian Identity affiliates. California is second with nine. (...) Post-Dispatch reporters Carolyn Tuft and Joe Holleman examine the beliefs of Identity members and their movement, and the implications it will have on race and ethnic issies in coming years. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 20. Reporters manage to get in conference of Christian Identity, but they stand out St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 5, 2000 http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/ByDocID/ 843A0B365E710B8186256899003708F1 Most religious denominations welcome visitors, trying to draw new members into the fold. The Christian Identity movement's conference held last weekend in Branson, Mo., seemed designed to keep outsiders out. (...) The reporters discovered the location by repeatedly driving down Highway 76, Branson's main strip. One small sign at the Lodge of the Ozarks simply stated ''Welcome, Songs for His People.'' (...) The two did not identify themselves as reporters, in hopes of not altering the event. (...) But they did not conduct any interviews. They simply observed, took notes of the presentations and bought Identity literature. By Saturday, both reporters felt they were being watched. On several occasions, they believed they were being photographed. As the reporters were leaving the conference Saturday night, Farnum and two Identity leaders, Ted Weiland and Michael Peebles, followed them down a narrow hallway to the steps leading to the hotel's lobby. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 21. Inside the Christian Identity Movement St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 5, 2000 http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/ByDocID/ FFC96FC5E9247B228625689900360617?OpenDocument Several crimes in the last decade have been linked to the Christian Identity movement. At a conference in Branson, Mo., adherents worked hard to convey a God-fearing wholesomeness. But a fundamental fierceness revealed itself. The Christian Identity movement -- its message often used by white supremacists and anti-Semites as religious justification for their violent acts -- is trying to soften its image as hard-core separatists. Some Identity leaders were selling their new image at a conference last weekend in Branson, Mo., although it is clear they still adhere to a whites-only, gay-bashing, Jew-hating doctrine. (...) The Bible Belt along the Missouri-Arkansas border is the center of the movement, and there are more Identity affiliates in Missouri than any other state, according to a count of known affiliates across the country. Over the past several years, Branson has become one of the movement's main gathering places. At last weekend's ''Songs for His People'' rally, members worked hard to convey a God-fearing wholesomeness. But on Saturday, the two faces of Christian Identity -- friendliness and fierceness -- revealed themselves. (...) Six hours later, many of the same children sat with their parents as speaker Charles A. Jennings called himself ''a strong racist'' and said he was pleased that ''the quality of our race is in this room.'' One audience member who applauded Jennings' speech was Thom Robb -- the Grand Dragon of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which includes Missouri and is the largest and most active chapter in the United States. Robb lives in Harrison, Ark., about 30 miles south of Branson. Robb, who dresses in conservative suits, has worked to soften the Klan's cross-burning, robe-wearing image. Taking a chapter from Robb's public relations strategy is Identity pastor Ted R. Weiland, another speaker at the weekend conference. (...) What they believe The roots of the Identity movement began in England in the late 1800s as Anglo-Israelism. Followers believed that England and the United States were the true Israel and that white Anglo-Saxons were God's chosen people. They believed that Jews were descendants of Satan and that blacks and other nonwhite races -- whom they called ''mud people'' -- were on the same spiritual level as animals. (...) Not only are Jews and minorities vilified by Identity followers, so are gays, lesbians and those who associate with them. Some of the more hard-core members believe that followers can enact an immediate death penalty on those who violate ''God's law,'' which they believe includes mixing races. Identity followers, like many members of the militias that were exposed after the Oklahoma City bombing, also hate the federal government. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 22. Jewish man who has attended gatherings of group says, ''These guys are very smart'' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 5, 2000 http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/ByDocID/ A0D6483FBFD98A688625689900373D40 Ten years ago, a middle-aged Jewish man walked down the driveway of his house near Springfield, Mo., to get his mail. Among the bills, he found a troubling pamphlet. It was from Gordon Winrod, a Christian Identity preacher from Gainesville, Mo. Winrod is one of the most radical of the white-supremacist Identity leaders. He is the son of the late Rev. Gerald B. Winrod of Wichita, Kan., a pro-Hitler propagandist so notorious in the 1940s that he earned the nickname ''Jayhawk Nazi.'' (...) He spoke to the Anti-Defamation League and began researching the Christian Identity's racist, anti-Semitic beliefs. (...) Increasingly troubled, he infiltrated the Identity ''Superconference'' last spring in Springfield. To the man, a Marine who served 2 1/2 years in Vietnam, the thought of entering a world where he was considered the offspring of the devil was not overly frightening. ''I figured these guys were goofs,'' he said. ''But these guys are very smart. I found them offensive and dangerous.'' At the conference, the man talked with Identity followers and heard diatribes about blacks, homosexuals, mixed races and -- most of all -- Jews. ''I just schmoozed them to find out whether they were planning to shoot someone or blow something up,'' he said. ''They laid out an apocalyptic plan to get rid of all the minorities and Jews.'' He also heard of a plan to make the Bible Belt of Missouri the Identity's promised land. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 23. The movement ''is not Christian,'' says minister who heads ecumenical group in St. Louis St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 5, 2000 http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/ByDocID/ 37E66D55ABF5E130862568990036A967 The constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and religion allows anyone to call an organization just about anything. But Christian leaders look beyond names to see whether groups that give themselves religious-sounding titles espouse Christian beliefs and theology. The Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, had this to say about the Christian Identity movement: ''Even though this cult group camouflages itself under the word Christian, its hate speech is not part of the Hebraic-Christian tradition.'' The council represents 35 Protestant and Orthodox denominations with a total U.S. membership of 50 million. (...) ''I'd like to go on record saying the Christian Identity movement is not a church and is not Christian,'' said the Rev. Martin Rafanan, a Lutheran minister and executive director of the St. Louis region's National Conference for Community and Justice, formerly the National Conference of Christians and Jews. [...more...] [Need the full story? Read this] 24. Christian Identity beliefs St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 5, 2000 http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/ByDocID/ 3F90169C27BE477C862568990036742B * White Anglo-Saxons, the supreme race, are God's chosen people because they were created by God and are the descendants of the lost ''12 Tribes of Israel.'' * Jews of today are false Jews and not the chosen people; instead they are the offspring of Satan as a result of Eve mating with the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. Some preachers say Jews ''must be killed.'' * God will send another savior to restore the state of Israel to the rightful people; all others will be condemned. * Nonwhites are soulless ''mud people.'' * Isolationism and segregation are required; socializing with Jews or people of other races is condemned. * Interracial marriage, or mating with a non-white, is a sin. * In some parishes, pastors call for the death penalty for homosexuals. * Other religions gloss over the true meaning of the Bible, therefore assisting in the erosion of society's morals. * The mass media, controlled by the Jews, further erode our society's moral standards. [...entire item...] 25. What is the Christian Identity Church movement? St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 5, 2000 http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/ByDocID/ 56D9C142F726A2C38625689900363099 (...) Size: Experts estimate that the Christian Identity movement has at least 102 active affiliates, with 50,000 followers or active pamphleteers working in 35 states. Missouri has 17 Identity affiliates, more than any other state, with California second with nine. The organization of the religion has no central authority, instead it is a ''leaderless resistance'' -- hard-to-infiltrate congregations around the country that adhere to the same doctrine but answer to no one. The message is disseminated through mass mailings of pamphlets and magazines, recruiting of the (disenfranchised) on college campuses and, in the 1990s, on the Internet. Some white supremacist hate groups who follow the Christian Identity doctrine: Aryan Nations, Posse Comitatus, the Ku Klux Klan, the New Order and the Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord. [...more...] » Part 2 |