=== World Message Last Warning
1. Fugitive Cult Boss Arrested
2. Prophet Bushara netted in Iganga
3. Prophet' Bushara transferred to Luweero, faces seven counts

=== Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
4. Uganda police say final cult death toll is 780

=== Waco / Branch Davidians
5. Lessons from Waco's Final Chapter
6. Put Waco tragedy to rest

=== Aum Shinrikyo
7. AUM vacates facility in Tochigi Pref.
8. AUM death sentences

=== Falun Gong
9. Police arrest Falun Gong members in Tiananmen
10. Chinese envoy says Falun Gong used by West as excuse to interfere
11. China: Party paper calls for stronger anti- Falun Gong campaign
12. Two more Falun Gong members die in China custody
13. China Braces for Falun Gong Struggle

=== Scientology
14. Scientology critic Renate Hartwig has written a novel for young people

=== International Churches of Christ
15. Pandora

=== Jesus Christians
16. Judge bans cult boy's interviews

=== Islam
17. Mayor Vetoes Plan To Buy Out Muslims

=== Catholicism
18. Church accused over paedophile priest

=== Mormonism
19. Leaving Mormon Church difficult

=== Satanism
20. Kids caught in satanism, dad feared

=== Hate Groups / Hate Crimes
21. World Church of the Creator Claims to Infiltrate Anti-Hate Groups
22. Klansman beaten by blacks gets $55,000 in lawsuit
23. Stopping the Hate Online

=== Other News
24. Manson Associate Denied Parole
25. TBN film draws writer's copyright suit

=== Religious Freedom / Religious Intolerance
26. School religious classes called discriminatory

=== Lifestyles / Homosexuality
27. Healing for Gays, or a New Hurt?

=== Noted
28. Coffeehouse Conversions

=== Books, Film, The Internet, Other Media
29. Shirley MacLaine Goes High Tech
30. Harry Potter and the Devil's Plan
31. Deeper darkness through ignorance


=== World Message Last Warning

1. Fugitive Cult Boss Arrested
New Vision (Uganda)/Africa News Online, July 19, 2000
http://www.africanews.org/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Iganga - Wilson Bushara, the 10th most wanted man by the Police, was on Monday night arrested in Iganga town with 29 followers. He told the Police and journalists that he had changed his name to Yosam Kataabe to evade arrest. Followers bought him an MTN-connected mobile phone and he kept in touch with them.

Bushara, 41, a self-styled prophet and leader of the World Message Last Warning cult, went into hiding after the Police stormed his camp at Bukoto, Nakaseke county, Luweero district, on September 18, 1999. Bushara and followers were yesterday detained at the Iganga Police Station. The group comprised his family and a father in-law.

He denied any connection with Joseph Kibwetere, the Kanungu cult leader, who murdered about 1,000 followers on March 17. The Police said Bushara would be transferred to Luweero where they had a camp for prosecution. All the suspects belong to one ethnic group in south- western Uganda.
(...)

He left Hoima when the Kanungu news broke in March. He said he was frightened by the pictures of him and Kibwetere, the Kanungu cult leader Joseph Kibwetere published in The New Vision. He said he shifted to Busia where he and his followers disguised themselves as milk vendors and hotel waitresses. The group left Busia for Iganga in May. The Police said Bushara's cases are recorded as CRB 389/99 and 401/99 in which he is accused of defilement and managing an unlawful society.

The Police have said seven defilement victims have been identified. About 250 heavily armed Policemen evicted about 1,000 of his followers from their camp last year. They had been there eight months.

Bushara fled the camp just before the raid. Over 400 malnourished children were found in the camp, which also accommodated about 500 women, teenagers and 400 men.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


2. Prophet Bushara netted in Iganga
The Monitor (Uganda), July 18, 2000
http://www.monitor.co.ug/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Fugitive ''prophet'' and leader of the World Last Message Warning Church, Wilson Bushara was yesterday arrested in Iganga.
(...)

He attracted media attention when he proclaimed that the World would end on June 30, 1999 and convinced his followers to sell off their property and buy places in heaven.
(...)
.
Bushara has been wanted by police on charges of defilement, rape, abduction and theft.
(...)

Bushara joined five other members of the sect already under arrest.

Bushara and his over 1,000 followers were dispersed from their camp on September 18, last year after police had received reports that they committed crimes ranging from defilement, rape, abduction and theft.

The prophet had nine wives at the time, and one of them, a 15-year-old girl, delivered while police was dispersing the camp.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


3. Prophet' Bushara transferred to Luweero, faces seven counts
New Vision (Uganda), July 20, 2000
http://www.newvision.co.ug/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Self-proclaimed prophet and leader of the World Message Last Warning cult, Wilson Bushara and 28 others were yesterday transferred to Luweero Police station, awaiting prosecution.
(...)

He said he started preaching in 1995. He blamed his woes on rival churches, saying they plotted against him because he had a bigger following.

He told The New Vision at Iganga Central Police Station on Tuesday, that he wanted to register his organisation so as to operate in a recognised manner 1996. He reportedly sought clearance from the LCs up to the district level but lacked useful contacts.
(...)

Bushara denied asking his followers to handover their properties to him.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God

4. Uganda police say final cult death toll is 780
AOL/Reuters, July 20, 2000
http://my.aol.com/news/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
KAMPALA, July 20 (Reuters) - Ugandan police said on Thursday the final death toll from a doomsday cult massacre and mass suicide earlier this year was 780.
(...)

''According to police pathologists, 780 people died not only in the church but in the other graves we unearthed around the country,'' police spokesman Assuman Mugenyi told Reuters. He gave no further details, but said they were convinced they had discovered all the graves.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Waco / Branch Davidians

5. Lessons from Waco's Final Chapter
MSNBC, July 17, 2000 (Editorial)
http://www.msnbc.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
July 17 - A federal jury took just two hours Friday to decide that the U.S. government bore no blame for the gruesome burning deaths of 81 Branch Davidian cult members, including 26 children, in April 1993.

The grisly facts support the verdict. Autopsy reports on 22 sect members demonstrated that 21 died of gunshots fired at close range. Another child autopsied was found to have died of stab wounds. And the cult members themselves apparently set the fires that consumed them.

Does this mean their family members and anti-Clinton fanatics will finally accept reality and give their conspiracies a rest? Don't bet on it.

''I'm terribly, terribly frustrated by the way this case has gone,'' claims plaintiffs' attorney Ramsey Clark. The former U.S. attorney general was once a hero to progressive causes, but of late he has turned into an apologist for just about anyone with a beef against the government, left or right. ''How do you drive a tank into a church dozens of times and then call it negligence? The government has made the victims into the violators,'' he said.

Clark's terming of the cult members' compound a ''church'' ignores the singular fact that the jury appears to have found most persuasive: This church doubled as an arsenal. The Davidians were up to their eyebrows in guns, including about fifty illegal, fully automatic weapons.

Similarly, David Thibodeau, a Branch Davidian who survived the firestorm, cried conspiracy. ''It's outrageous that after two congressional hearings and the criminal trial they are still limiting what the public knows about this case. It'll be another 20 years before we find out what really happened.''

The jury's conclusion should stand as a clear vindication for the one person in this country not-named Clinton who has been most frequently vilified by the far-right conspiracy fanatics and the Waco wackos: Attorney General Janet Reno. She made some serious misjudgments in deciding to order the attack, which was based on cryptic and possibly misleading reports of child abuse. The FBI's experts also told Reno that CS gas could be safely used, even against children, and that it was extremely unlikely that cult members would engage in a mass suicide. All three of these assurances turned out to be wrong. Reno was barely a month on the job when she made the decision and made the mistake of trusting her experts.

But as columnist Lars-Erik Nelson has aptly pointed out, when the whole operation went south Reno stepped up to the national spotlight and took full responsibility. She did not whine that ''mistakes were made'' in the style of Ronald Reagan or lapse into Clinton/Gore legalese regarding the meaning of ''is'' or ''controlling legal authorities.''
(...)

During the entire Waco affair, Reno has been undercut by the FBI. First they gave her bad advice and information that let to the raid itself, and next they were less than forthcoming about the nature of their participation and the evidence that remained of their behavior. She then had to deal with the unwelcome disclosure that the FBI had been less than honest with her and Congress both about the procedures it undertook and the evidence it had amassed about what took place.
(...)

According to court testimony, Koresh told his followers, ''If you can't kill for God, you can't die for God.''

They died but not for God. They died, like so many before them, for their own blindness and fanaticism. It's unlikely Reno or the U.S. government could have done much to save them from that. It's time to turn this tragedy over to the historians.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


6. Put Waco tragedy to rest
The Herald Rock Hill, July 19, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Last week's jury verdict clearing the government of blame in the deaths of Branch Davidian cult members in 1993 will do little, if anything, to satisfy those convinced that federal agents are guilty of murder. For more rational observers, however, the verdict should be the final word on this terrible event.
(...)

This trial caps seven years of congressional investigations, criminal proceedings, books, documentaries and conspiracy theories. But what the trial reinforced was that cult members incited the government's actions, killed federal agents and set the fire within the compound.

The verdict does not answer the criticism that the initial decision by the government to mount a siege was a disproportionate response to the threat posed by the Branch Davidians. But the fact remains that the cultists could have surrendered rather than offering armed resistance, and many of those 80 victims would be alive today.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Aum Shinrikyo

7. AUM vacates facility in Tochigi Pref.
Kyodo News Service/Associated Press, July 20, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
UTSUNOMIYA, Japan, July 20 (Kyodo) -- Members of the AUM Shinrikyo religious cult, including the children of founder Shoko Asahara who is on trial for murder and other charges, on Thursday left their facility in Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture.

A ceremony marking the pullout, which the cult first announced in June last year, was carried out by AUM's bankruptcy administrator Saburo Abe, who oversaw the handover of the property to a local group.

Cult spokesman Hiroshi Araki said, "The group regrets bringing about a situation that disrupted peace in the district."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


8. AUM death sentences
Mainichi Daily News (Japan), July 18, 2000 (Editorial)
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Tokyo District Court sentenced two former members of the AUM Shinrikyo sect to death on Monday for their roles in the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system in 1995.
(...)

The court has now handed down verdicts in the trials of all five men who were directly involved in releasing deadly gas in the carriages. Four of them have received death sentences and one was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The defendant who received the life sentence managed to escape the death penalty by making a full confession to police at an early stage of the investigation. But the Tokyo District Court has come down harshly on the others, handing them the ultimate penalty for the atrocious nature of the crimes that they committed.

While the death penalty has come under criticism here, life terms do not exist in practice because those sentenced to life imprisonment are usually paroled in less than 20 years. The Tokyo District Court has been forced to make grave decisions based on the severity of the crimes committed and the realities of the current system of criminal justice.

Each death penalty handed down in the AUM trials has reminded us, to paraphrase an observation made in a white paper on science and technology, that ''science and technology had been used in ways that departed from their original purposes.'' Of the two defendants who received death sentences on Monday, Toyoda had studied physics in a doctoral program at Tokyo University, and Hirose had studied physics in a masters program at Waseda University. Why did these men, who had received high-level science training at prestigious universities, find AUM so appealing?

Toyoda and Hirose expressed remorse for their actions before the court. The court said that their expressions of remorse were sincere but ruled that both men deserve to die for their crimes. We can only conclude that their remorse came too late.

Why did the sarin gassings occur in ''peaceful Japan?'' Are we forced to accept the explanation that the sarin attacks were manifestations of the pathologies of modern society? Although the court is charged with getting to the truth of these crimes, there are limits to how much can actually be achieved in a criminal trial. Society as a whole must make an effort to answer these unsolved mysteries.

While verdicts have now been handed down in the trials of all of the men who were directly involved in implementing the sarin gas attacks, the trial of the alleged mastermind behind the gassings, cult leader Chizuo Matsumoto - also known as Shoko Asahara, drags on due to the tactics employed by both his defense team and prosecutors. Both sides must be reminded that justice delayed is justice denied.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong

9. Police arrest Falun Gong members in Tiananmen
South China Morning Post/AP (Hong Kong), July 20, 2000
http://www.scmp.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Police broke up scattered Falun Gong protests on Thursday, punching some protesters, dragging others into vans and rounding up more than 90 persons in Tiananmen Square on the first anniversary of the government crackdown on the group.

Most of the protesters in Tiananmen Square demonstrated individually or in small groups - unfurling small banners, sitting in the cross-legged lotus position or raising their arms in an ''O'' shape, a popular meditation pose for the sect.

The display showed that one of China's biggest political campaigns in years may have thinned the resilient group's ranks but has failed to wipe out the movement, branded an unprecedented threat to communist rule.
(...)

At a routine news conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao spoke at great length about Falun Gong. He called the group a ''scourge of society'' and an ''evil sect that has brought calamity to the country and the people.''
(...)

The Falun Gong's resilience was acknowledged in an editorial published on Thursday in the Communist party's flagship People's Daily.

''The cult will not voluntarily step down from the historical stage,'' Xinhua news agency quoted the article as saying.

The fight against Falun Gong will be a ''long-lasting, complicated and acute struggle,'' it said, and pledged to crack down on members with a ''firm hand.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


10. Chinese envoy says Falun Gong used by West as excuse to interfere
BBC Monitoring, July 20, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Text of report entitled: ''Acting Consul-General Qiu Shaofang says 'Falun Gong' has degenerated into a tool to oppose China''; carried by the Chinese news agency Zhongguo Xinwen She

New York, 18th July: PRC [People's Republic of China] acting Consul-General in New York Qiu Shaofang has said that individual Western nations are using the ''Falun Gong'' issue to interfere with Chinese internal affairs, taking the Chinese government's handling of a cult and changing it into a human rights violation. As this is without any substantial basis, it should be condemned by the international community.

He said that the Chinese government's decision to suppress the ''Falun Gong'' organization had the support of the vast majority of the Chinese people. However, difficult and meticulous work is required in order to clear out the spreading poison of the ''Falun Gong'' and its severe harm.
(...)

The consulate's Information Office chief, Tang Yinlong, who chaired the meeting, said that the US suppression of the Branch Davidians, or the Japanese judgment on the Aum Shinrikyo, were both more severe than the Chinese suppression of the Falun Gong, but had not been criticized. Moreover, the fact that China's movement had been criticized by various people is worthy of deep reflection.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


11. China: Party paper calls for stronger anti- Falun Gong campaign
BBC Monitoring, July 19, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Beijing, 19th July: The 'People's Daily' will publish a commentator's article tomorrow, calling for consolidating and furthering the fight against the ''Falun Gong'' cult.

It says that China has achieved a decisive victory in the fight after unremitting and determined efforts. However, the cult will not voluntarily step down from the historical stage.

Li Hongzhi and his followers, like any evil force, have never stopped doing illegal things, the article says, adding that Li has even made some new remarks to instigate people to confront the government after frequent frustrations.

What they have been doing is to prove that they still have some value for the Western anti-China forces, the article says.

Nonetheless, ''Falun Gong'' has already lost its ''power'', and Li and his followers are doomed to fail, the article stresses.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


12. Two more Falun Gong members die in China custody
AOL/Reuters, July 19, 2000
http://my.aol.com/news/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BEIJING, July 19 (Reuters) - Two members of the Falun Gong spiritual group died in police custody this month, bringing to 24 the number of deaths from abuse since China outlawed the group last year, a Hong Kong human rights group said on Wednesday.

The reports came as Chinese police braced for Falun Gong agitation to mark the first anniversary on Saturday of the draconian ban Communist authorities slapped on the group.

The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said it had confirmed with relatives or fellow adherents the July 7 beating death of 44-year-old Li Zaiji and the July 12 death by apparent suffocation of 68-year-old Wang Peisheng.
(...)

The government, which claims the group had two million members at its peak, says membership has dwindled to roughly 40,000. Falun Gong says it has tens of millions of followers in China and 40 other countries.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


13. China Braces for Falun Gong Struggle
AOL/AP, July 19, 2000
http://my.aol.com/news/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
BEIJING (AP) - China's leaders are settling in for a prolonged struggle against the banned Falun Gong sect, acknowledging in an official editorial that a year of arrests, harassment and political campaigns have failed to wipe out the group.

The statement followed a burst of protests Wednesday by scores of sect followers on the eve of the anniversary of a government crackdown on the Falun Gong - proving the group remains a force in China despite being targeted by one of the biggest political campaigns in years.

The group's resilience was grudgingly acknowledged in an editorial to be published Thursday in the Communist Party's flagship People's Daily. Excerpts were carried Wednesday on the official Xinhua News Agency.
(...)

A media smear campaign, the jailings of thousands of members and pressure on followers to renounce ties to the group have thinned Falun Gong's ranks. But the group has continued to launch defiant protests, mounting the most sustained public challenge to the Communist Party in 51 years.

In Beijing on Wednesday, scores of Falun Gong followers raised banners in Tiananmen Square, prompting a frenzied response by police who swarmed on groups of protesters, wresting away banners and knocking them to the ground.

Police dragged protesters by the arms or clothes - middle-aged women and children among them. A uniformed officer locked his arms around a woman's neck, pulling her away.

More than 100 Falun Gong members were detained during the protest, a 10-minute explosion of seemingly coordinated action across the vast plaza.

That the protests happened - and in such numbers - was particularly impressive in the face of police alertness in the days before Thursday's anniversary on the crackdown on Falun Gong.
(...)

Police in Beijing and other cities have watched airports and railroad and bus stations to prevent followers from reaching the capital, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Followers have been put under surveillance or detained, he said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Scientology

14. Scientology critic Renate Hartwig has written a novel for young people
Suedwest Press (Germany), July 19, 2000
Translation: CISAR
http://cisar.org/000719b.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) Even though the name "Scientology" appears nowhere in "Dangerous Curiosity," even if the forward states that all persons and the plot are sheer fabrication: the way the OfAP is organized, how it recruits new members, its system of informants and the secret goings-on are strongly reminiscent of Scientology, an organization about which Renate Hartwig has been warning people for the past ten years. Why not call a spade a spade? "Because it is not just about Scientology," said the author. "In the meantime there are a great deal of these psycho-groups which operate in a similar way and are exactly as dangerous," she said. And why a teen novel? "Because young people are at risk. The psycho-groups have this age group right in their sights." And also up to now there is little material which is written at the level of a 16-year-old, said the author. A teacher can only go so far in his instruction in explaining the Scientologists' primary material. With the result that some students want to get a look for themselves at what the deal is with Scientology.

And that risk is exactly what the book warns about, packaged in a suspenseful detective story, and shows how subtly psycho-groups recruit, and how quickly young people can get entangled during an allegedly harmless adventure.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* Consumer Alert: Scientology
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/s04.html
[Story no longer online? Read this]


=== International Churches of Christ

15. Pandora
The Independent (England), July 17, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Religious consternation in Birmingham last week, when the city council alerted all its schools to the activities of a dangerous religious cult. The warning, sent out by a Mr John Smail, said: ''I am seriously concerned that the religious cult known as the Central, West, International or Birmingham Church of Christ is attempting contact with Birmingham schools and hospitals at this moment in time.'' Much hand-wringing focused on the fact that the church ''may be trying to recruit children as young as three''. But all, of course, is not as it seems. The outfit trying to contact schools and hospitals actually turned out to be nothing more demonic than the Church of Christ - without the all-important ''International'' prefix. The local group is, in fact, a fairly benign group of Christians who have in mind nothing more sinister than teaching music and drama. A key member is even vice chairman of one school's board of governors. But all this has not gone down well with the more controversial International Church of Christ, which is now calling out its lawyers and demanding apologies. ''We do not 'target' anybody and certainly do not want to harm three- or four-year-olds,'' said a spokesperson. But city councils move in mysterious ways. Especially, it seems, in Birmingham.
[...entire item...]

* The International Churches of Christ is an offshoot of the mainline Church of
Christ denomination, whose name it has usurped. The mainline Church of Christ
has distanced itself from the cult.

=== Jesus Christians

16. Judge bans cult boy's interviews
Daily Mail (England), July 19, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A judge yesterday banned the publication of interviews with missing teenager Bobby Kelly because of fears that his words are being controlled by the religious cult he has joined.

The 16-year-old left his home in Essex three weeks ago after meeting a member of the obscure Jesus Christians group.

His family fears the cult, which is based in Australia, is using Bobby as a means of generating publicity.
(...)

His mother Jessica, who lives in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, said: 'He is a different person. He used to be open and easy to talk to, but he became quiet and just stared as though transfixed.' Ian Howarth, of the Cult Information Centre, said it was important Bobby's words were stifled because members of such groups would say whatever they were told to, including claims about their upbringing.

'If Bobby did say such things and later goes back to his family, it would add to all the other problems he'd have to overcome when being counselled back to reality,' he said.

Mr Howarth, who has 21 years' experience studying cults, said the Jesus Christians, who have only a handful of members in this country, were a 'nomadic' organisation with no HQ.
(...)

Cult leader David Mackay, who founded the Jesus Christians in 1981, at first denied Bobby was with his members. But on Monday he said he was willing to return him to his family in exchange for continued access. He refused to disclose Bobby's whereabouts other than that he is England.

The BBC launched an appeal against the ruling yesterday but the hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Islam

17. Mayor Vetoes Plan To Buy Out Muslims
AP, July 19, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) -- The mayor vetoed a measure to pay a Muslim group $200,000 to drop plans to convert a church into a mosque, calling the proposal ''fiscally irresponsible.''

Mayor Dean Koldenhoven, who had previously called the City Council plan ''embarrassing'' and an insult to Muslims, struck it down Tuesday night.

The proposal has raised issues of religious bigotry in this mostly white and Christian south Chicago suburb of about 12,000 residents.

After the veto, the Rev. Edward Cronin, a local Catholic priest, called for the community to ''heal the hurt.'' He said the debate has made Palos Heights appear bigoted and intolerant of non-Christian religions.

''There may be some truth to that perception,'' he said.

Many of the town's 450 Muslim families attend an overflowing mosque in Bridgeview, a few miles to the north. They had agreed to purchase a Christian Reformed church for $2.1 million, but met with resistance from residents and some council members.

At one City Council meeting, a resident suggested that Muslims needed to be converted to Christianity and told them to ''go back to your own countries.''

Council members maintain they want the city to buy the church instead so it can be converted to a recreation center annex.

The council eventually came up with the plan to give the group $200,000 to cancel the sale.

The council decided not to try to override Koldenhoven's veto.

Rouhy Shalabi, an attorney for the Al Salam Mosque Foundation, did not attend the meeting and was not available for comment. He has said the foundation might sue if the city rescinded the offer.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Catholicism

18. Church accused over paedophile priest
BBC (England), July 19, 2000
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The new head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales let a paedophile continue as a priest amid warnings he would re-offend, the BBC has learned.
A BBC investigation found evidence that Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor played a crucial role in allowing Father Michael Hill to continue working despite complaints.

Documents seen by the corporation relate to the time when the archbishop was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton in the early 1980s. They show he ignored the advice of doctors and therapists who warned that the priest was likely to re-offend.

Archbishop Murphy-O'Connor has now agreed that boys abused by the priest should receive compensation, but the church has imposed a gagging order on the victims to stop them telling their story.

A spokesman for the Catholic Church, Nicholas Coote, told BBC Breakfast News that the then bishop ''acted sensibly, wisely and responsibly''.

He maintained that Archbishop Murphy-O'Connor followed the advice of professionals by sending Father Hill away for therapy, but added the priest was then posted to another parish where he was closely monitored.

On the issue of compensation, Mr Cootes said the families concerned were not stopped from going to the police, and that the offer of compensation was ''not blackmail or armtwisting'' on the part of the Catholic Church.

A BBC News investigation in 1999 revealed evidence that some Catholic bishops in the UK were failing to follow the church's child protection guidelines, allowing priests accused of child abuse to continue working.

Since 1994 the Catholic Church has had strict rules in place which state that if a complaint is made against a priest, social services should be informed and the priest removed from parish duties.

Father Michael Hill was eventually jailed in 1997 after admitting nine counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency relating to abuse over a 20-year period.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Mormonism

19. Leaving Mormon Church difficult
San Francisco Examiner, July 17, 2000
http://www.sfgate.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Joining the Mormon Church is easy. Getting out can be hell.

So says Owen Edwards, a 28-year-old San Francisco masseur and student aesthetician.

Born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Edwards faces a disciplinary hearing and possible excommunication for submitting his resignation, explaining his reasons and asking to have his name removed from the Mormon Church's membership records.

That was 4-1/2 months ago - and some 13 years since he had stopped attending church. Edwards charges he is being kept against his will in a church that doesn't even want him because he is gay.

''I just feel like this is very hurtful to me - that I can't just walk away. I have to fight tooth and nail,'' Edwards said.

''I personally believe the Mormon Church is a vindictive bunch of cult members,'' he added.

Edwards believes he faces a disciplinary hearing because, in his resignation letter, he said he was gay, had a partner and wanted his name removed because of the church's all-out campaign for Proposition 22, the Knight Initiative against legal gay marriage that Californians passed last year. The Mormon Church considers having gay sex, like murder, grounds for excommunication.
(...)

The Mormon Church's Bay Area spokesman, Jay Pimentel of Alameda, said he could not comment on Edwards' case because it's confidential.

Edwards is far from alone. Quitting the Mormon Church has long been difficult. Excommunication was the only way to sever ties until the 1980s, when a lawsuit forced the church to allow members to have their names stricken from membership rolls.

But in many cases, so-called name removal can wind up taking months or years, require repeated letters and inquiries, and prompt persistent and ongoing visits and calls from fellow Mormons that, some ex-Mormons say, approach harassment and invasion of privacy.

In some cases, like Edwards', disciplinary hearings are called. Members are investigated, their families and acquaintances are questioned, and any transgression and its punishment can be announced by church leaders.

Members like Edwards who are gay appear especially vulnerable to discipline and excommunication when they try to leave - although the evidence is anecdotal.

The church's campaign for Prop. 22 prompted a spate of resignations, including Edwards'. Since then, at least 300 Mormons have contacted Kathy Worthington, an ex-Mormon activist in Utah who helps members navigate the name-removal process.

At least three, all of them gay, have been excommunicated.

How many people resign yearly, or try to, is impossible to assess. Through Pimentel, the church declined to provide statistics on name-removal requests - how many are submitted, if that number is growing, how many end up in disciplinary hearings or lead to excommunication - or explain why. A call to the membership records director at church headquarters in Salt Lake City was not returned.

Pimentel said name removals are handled locally and each case is different. He denied that the church can try to make it hard for people to leave.

Members who write letters seeking to resign will be contacted by church leaders to make sure they're not being pressured, and that they understand the consequences for their souls, he said.

If there is a suspicion that the member has committed some transgression, however, disciplinary hearings can be called. Such transgressions include criminal behavior and sex out of marriage.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* Theologically, Mormonism is a cult of Christianity. By making it difficult for people to leave, the Mormon Church also displays one of the sociological characteristic of cults.

How to have your name removed from Mormon Church Records

=== Satanism

20. Kids caught in satanism, dad feared
The Ottawa Sun (Canada), July 20, 2000
http://www.canoe.ca/OttawaNews/OS.OS-07-20-0034.html
[Story no longer online? Read this]
KITCHENER -- Bill Luft's once-estranged wife was part of a satanic cult, exposing their children to bizarre rituals with candles and a ''big star on the floor,'' according to allegations made in court documents during a brief 1997 custody dispute.

The documents were contained in a family court file that was sealed July 6, 2000 -- hours after Luft shot to death his wife Bohumila, daughter Nicol, 5, and sons Daniel, 7, Peter, 2, and David, 21/2 months. He then killed himself.

Luft -- a diagnosed manic-depressive who returned to Kitchener with Daniel, then 4, while his wife, Bohumila, stayed in the Czech Republic with Nicol, then 2, following their August 1997 divorce -- also alleged his son suffered nightmares that his sister was dead.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Hate Groups / Hate Crimes

21. World Church of the Creator Claims to Infiltrate Anti-Hate Groups
Hatewatch.org, July 18, 2000
http://hatewatch.org/frames.html
[Story no longer online? Read this]
In a press release dated July 17, Matt Hale of the World Church of the Creator, makes the claim that his group has infiltrated and misled anti-hate organizations. At this time Hale is still living with his parents, and is dealing with his denial of a law license in Illinois because a state hearing board decided his beliefs and character make him ill-suited to practice law, and unable to follow the state's rules of conduct for lawyers.

(Press Release) HALE: WCOTC HAS FURNISHED FALSE INFORMATION TO THE ADL AND OTHERS FOR YEARS - July 17, 2000 - Reverend Matt Hale, leader of the fastest growing racist and anti-semitic organization in the world, the World Church of the Creator, today admitted that agents of the church have for years been furnishing false intelligence information to ''anti-hate groups'' such as the Anti-Defamation League and that the church has successfully infiltrated the ADL and others as part of a ''counter-intelligence'' effort.

His comments came today following a closed-door conference in the city of Pekin, Illinois with several of these agents in which it was decided that it was time to go public with the counter-intelligence effort. Reverend Hale said this today: ''The Anti-Defamation League, Southern Poverty Law Center, Center for New Community, and other so-called ''anti-hate'' groups have been very smug in their belief that they know a great deal about the operations of our Church. The reality is that they only know what we want them to know. We have furnished these groups false intelligence information for over two years now--information that has clouded their ridiculous efforts to stop our great racist struggle. Also, we have people on the inside of these organizations reporting back to me what they are up to, and these people are close to those at the highest levels. In other words, there isn't much that Morris Dees, Richard Hirschaut, and Devin Burghart do that I don't know about.''

When asked why he decided to go public with this news, Hale stated: ''The reason why I am announcing our counter-intelligence efforts today is because I am frankly tired of reading the silly claims by the ''anti-hate'' organizations in the newspapers and watching these ''know-it-alls'' on television speak with such certainty about things they have been duped about. I think that the public is entitled to know that the ADL, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Center for New Community are completely off-base about our efforts at this time.''
[...entire item...]


22. Klansman beaten by blacks gets $55,000 in lawsuit
AOL/Reuters, July 19, 2000
http://my.aol.com/news/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - A Ku Klux Klansman who was beaten up by black inmates while behind bars has been awarded $55,000 in damages by a jury in federal court, officials said Wednesday.

Larry Webster, 42, who acted as his own attorney in the case, said jailers in Galveston County endangered him by putting him in a cell with blacks even though his Klan affiliation was well known.

Webster was kicked in the face and suffered an elbow injury when his fellow inmates ganged up on him in a 1993 attack he said was racially motivated, said Galveston County attorney Don Glywasky.
(...)

Texas jail regulations forbid the racial segregation of prisoners, Glywasky said. He also argued that the attack on Webster was motivated not by race, but the finding of a homemade knife, or ''shank,'' in his cell.

''Some inmates felt he had a shank and that it might be used against them,'' he said. ''This wasn't about race, it was about the shank.''

Webster was jailed for kidnapping and robbing a 75-year-old man who had helped him and his family after reading a Christmas-season hard-luck story about them in the newspaper. He got a 10-year sentence and was released on parole in 1997, but is currently back in jail on a parole violation.
(...)

The 12-person jury, made up of whites and Hispanics, last Thursday awarded him $5,000 in actual damages and $50,000 in punitive damages. Glywasky said he would appeal the verdict or ask Webster to settle for a lesser amount.

Glywasky said he thought the jury's decision was based not on race, but the jurors' concern about the ''harshness of jail life'' as presented by Webster.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


23. Stopping the Hate Online
The Standard, July 17, 2000
http://www.thestandard.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Tafeni English spends her work day using language she detests. ''Fag, nigger, spic, slavery,'' she deadpans. ''These are the words I know.'' As the Southern Poverty Law Center's white-supremacist research analyst, English devotes herself to reading hate literature, summarizing news on racial incidents and checking the Web sites of various hate groups.

Welcome to the world of hate monitoring in the Internet age. English is part of a small cadre among civil-rights organizations who use the Net in their fight against bigotry. And while she sees it every day, racist material online still shocks her.
(...)

The civil-rights community's Internet efforts, while few, spring from well-established organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the SPLC as well as from smaller activist groups such as HateWatch, Political Research Associates and the Center for New Community. Keeping track of 400 to 600 sites (though there may be more), the monitors find comfort in what can be a deeply disturbing job by emphasizing, as ADL senior researcher Jordan Kessler puts it, ''that these [racists] really are that dangerous, really are that hateful, and it's vitally important that I do what I can.''

White supremacists, seizing on the advantages of computer technology, were among the Internet's earliest adopters. The Aryan Nations put up its first BBS in 1983. Don Black launched Stormfront, the first major white-supremacist site, in early 1995. Soon after, former Klansman David Duke predicted that the Web would power a revolution by affording ''white patriots'' room to coalesce outside the grip of the allegedly Jewish-controlled media.
(...)

What's worse is that xenophobic materials are growing more sophisticated. Skinhead-music MP3s and videogames, such as White-Power Doom and racist versions of Hangman, are slick inducements to impressionable teens. English fights back by searching Lexis-Nexis for murders and racist incidents, and Usenet for relevant postings, which she then summarizes in a weekly report for her office.

''Cut-and-paste sites,'' says David Goldman, executive director of HateWatch, ''are nasty, but not that important.'' Goldman instead looks for the extras that hint at sincere devotion to a cause: the purchase of a domain name, a post-office box, the presence of new content and multimedia files.
(...)

The ADL has historically concerned itself with anti-Semitism, while the SPLC has undertaken successful lawsuits. Every group forwards potentially criminal information to law enforcement agencies, but the law itself is unclear in this area.
(...)

Part of the day-to-day challenge is deciding where to draw the line. Mark Potok, editor of the SPLC's Intelligence Report, says SPLC monitors consider ''ideology, straight up,'' and anyone espousing hatred of a group goes on the list. Then, he says, the organization encourages Internet service providers to live up to their posted anti-hate policies - as the Wiesenthal Center did with Yahoo, which recently bumped 39 discussion groups from its lists.

Judgment involves many gray areas, so the monitors must, in a sense, consort with the very online groups they are investigating: Debate and constant engagement are key to choking off hate at its roots in resentment or misinformation.

Chip Berlet, senior analyst at Political Research Associates, is currently wrangling online at the Utne Reader and Salon.com sites with an admirer of perennial dark-horse presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche.

HateWatch's Goldman encourages surfers to visit the hate sites. While ''never a person to march in a parade'' himself, Goldman has found the experience both frightening and exhilarating. ''It's not the bigot who scares me,'' he says. ''It's the person who knows there's a problem and does nothing about it.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Other News

24. Manson Associate Denied Parole
AOL/AP, July 18, 2000
http://my.aol.com/news/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) - A state panel denied parole Tuesday to a former Manson Family member convicted of murdering two men.

Bruce Davis, an inmate at the California Men's Colony, was seeking his release for the 20th time.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


25. TBN film draws writer's copyright suit
Orange County Register, July 13, 2000
http://www.ocregister.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A West Virginia minister has filed suit against Tustin-based Trinity Broadcast Network, alleging televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch ''willfully copied'' portions of her work for their movie ''The Omega Code.''

The suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles is asking for $40 million, according to Daniel Quisenberry, Los Angeles attorney for Sylvia Fleener, 52.

Fleener was a supporter and contributor to TBN for many years. In 1989, she wrote an ''end times'' novel called the ''The Omega Syndrome,'' which she copyrighted in 1996.

The suit alleges that Fleener presented the novel to TBN through mutual friends and associates before the movie was produced, and that ''The Omega Code'' has many similarities to ''The Omega Syndrome'' in story, plot, characters and themes.
(...)

''The Omega Code,'' which TBN says cost $7 million to make, ''did well on a per screening basis'' when released last year, May said. ''But unfortunately it did not get widespread exposure. It has been well-received in the home video market.''

TBN is making a sequel, ''Omega Code II.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, is sometimes referred to as "The
Blasphemy Network" due to its support and dissemination of mostly
aberrant and heretical doctrines.

=== Religious Freedom / Religious Intolerance

26. School religious classes called discriminatory
The Dominion (New Zealand), July 17, 2000
[Religious Intolerance / Religious Freedom]
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
A Napier man, battling to stop a local school from teaching its pupils just Christian religion, is to take a civil action after having a case struck out by the Complaints Review Tribunal.

In denying the complaint by Wayne Church that Nelson Park primary school had breached the Human Rights Act by discriminating against pupils whose parents did not wish the instruction, the tribunal tipped him off to a provision in the act that could open the way to a renewal of his action.

The Human Rights Act could not override an Education Act provision allowing religious teaching, with normal classes technically being ''closed'' for the time of the lesson. Participation must be voluntary.

But in 2002, the Human Rights section limiting its power over other acts would expire and ''he may have a case at the beginning of the 2002 school year'', the tribunal said.

Unwilling to wait, Mr Church, president of the New Zealand Secular Society, has lodged a complaint with Education Minister Trevor Mallard and is now preparing a civil action against the school, claiming a covenant between it and parents.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Lifestyles / Homosexuality

27. Healing for Gays, or a New Hurt?
Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2000
http://www.latimes.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
ANAHEIM--The believers shook their tambourines and reached for the heavens. A woman fell to her knees as tears and mascara raced into the neckline of her cardigan. It was, in many ways, an old-fashioned church revival. Indeed, many of the 300 worshipers were seeking salvation that night--from their homosexuality.

The Rev. Andrew Comisky, who had been gay as a teen and young adult, nuzzled his wife--the mother of his four children and his partner in Desert Stream Ministries, an outreach group dedicated to ''healing'' homosexuals. Then he took the stage.

''We all need holy rescue,'' Comisky told the crowd at Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Anaheim. ''I've learned over the years that it's not a matter of whether you fall. It's just a matter of the direction in which you fall. I've just learned to fall forward.''

The subtext is unspoken but clear: ''Forward'' is heterosexuality. ''Back'' would be a reversion to homosexuality.

In a significant strategy shift, many conservative Christians who once denounced gays now welcome them to church in an effort to turn them away from their homosexuality and ''convert'' them to a straight sex life.

So-called ''change ministries'' have existed in some form for more than two decades. Gay activists denounce them as fraudulent, and psychologists say the ministries are proceeding on a false premise that homosexuality is a disorder that can--or should--be reversed. The groups rarely claim conversion rates above 30%, and even those conversions are not independently verified.

Yet the groups are finding new acceptance, and drawing new vigor, from mainstream and conservative Christian denominations.
(...)

''A lot of people are devoting their energy to their church rather than the political arena. So it affects them daily--and every Sunday morning,'' said Anderson, who is backing a change ministries program called ''God's Love Changed Me.''

"This has become the Mason-Dixon line'' of current church theology, said Benjamin Hubbard, chairman of the Department of Comparative Religion at Cal State Fullerton.

Gay rights advocates argue that God made homosexuals the way they are, and therefore the churches of God should accept them. Conservative religious groups contend that homosexuals have made a choice, counter to Biblical injunctions, and that they can change.

Factions of the Episcopal Church and Reform Judaism have taken steps to welcome homosexuals this year. The rabbinical arm of Reform Judaism, for example, declared that leaders of the nation's largest Jewish movement can officiate over same-sex unions.

But many of the nation's prominent denominations are taking a firm stance against homosexuality.
(...)

Many leaders of those churches say there may be a place for gays in the church--but only if gays seek salvation through heterosexuality.
(...)

In 1997, the American Psychological Assn. took an aggressive stance against therapy that seeks to turn gays from their sexual orientations. The group issued a statement suggesting that attempts to turn homosexuals straight carry a ''potential for harm.''
(...)

''The premise that homosexuality is a disorder is one that is no longer debatable,'' said Clinton Anderson, the association's officer for lesbian, gay and bisexual concerns. ''But there is an issue when you say someone can change, but then they can't change, and that makes them a worse person. . . . There is a cycle of shame and humiliation.''

Douglas Weiss, executive director of the Garden Grove-based Gay and Lesbian Center of Orange County, said, ''You are telling people that they have failed to satisfy God. You are telling people that, in order to have value as a human being and to be loved by God, that they have to change. It is a horrible message to send. They are destroying people's lives.''

While some participants say a change ministry redeemed them from a life of self-loathing, others say the movement has merely put a revolving door on the closet of homosexuality.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Noted

28. Coffeehouse Conversions
Pioneer Press, July 15, 2000
http://www.pioneerplanet.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
It's almost dark when George Sawyer packs his black sack with a corn cob pipe, cell phone, a book to read, an appointment calendar and business cards. Then he jumps on his bike and heads out to a coffee shop to meet his friends.

This evening, a new coffeehouse, Rudies on West Seventh Street in St. Paul, shines white with a big photo of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack on the back wall. People in their early 20s sit at the bar or tables, talking and playing cards.

Warm greetings and a few high fives welcome Sawyer as he moves through the crowd. These old cheerful friends don't mind that Sawyer has arrived to save their mortal souls. They trust his good sense. He complies with a listening ear. Everybody gets along.

The gentlest faith
Sawyer, a 32-year old Baptist minister, three years ago embarked on a unique mission: to befriend young people who hang out in coffeehouses and lead them to a deeper life. He does not hard sell his religion. He listens, talks and hopes for a God-inspired moment.

He's had a couple of breakthroughs, one involving a young woman pulled from the practice of witchcraft.

The second happened before Easter this year when one of Sawyer's coffeehouse friends asked to be baptized. On Easter Sunday, Sawyer and the young man waded into the baptismal tank at House of Mercy Church, at Ninth and Wacouta streets in St. Paul, and brought the christened believer into the Kingdom of God.

''Dave came to me with questions about spirituality,'' Sawyer said. ''I think he was looking for an argument. He had questions. We talked. God was preparing him.

''And that's the thing. It's never the numbers. I don't care how many people get baptized. I could have done all kinds of things to get the numbers,'' Sawyer said.

''I just want to see these people exposed to the gentlest kind of Christianity.''

Music at the core
All over the Twin Cities, coffee-shop communities are sprouting. Some reach out to young people from alternative lifestyles, including gothics. These kids, labeled for the theatrical bent in their attire, don white makeup, black clothing and heavy accessories, such as chains and dog collars.
At Rudies, young people come mainly to hear Ska, pre-reggae music with avid followers in the Twin Cities. But the mix can be ecletic, too, moving from hard rock to Irish folk tunes.

Sawyers friends decorate their bodies with piercing, stretched ear lobes, tattoos and unconventional clothing. Amy Van Kampen sits at the coffee bar at Rudies talking with friends. The 20-year-old lesbian used porcupine quills to stretch holes in her ear lobes to the size of small pencils. Her view of religion and life can only be called progressive.

''Every coffee shop has its own communities. It's like a weird gang,'' Van Kampen says. ''A lot of people are into music, and the best is when George (Sawyer) brings his drums and we have a drum jam. We just sit and drum all night long.''

Besides being a Baptist missionary to coffee shops, Sawyer teaches computer skills and works as a musician, playing such instruments as the trombone, the sackbut, the recorder and the double reed krumhorn. He is married to Katherine, his partner in the mission, and they have two children, George and Sara Louise.

Respect and authenticity
Some Christian hardliners might criticize Sawyer for his relaxed approach to mission work. But he believes young people will respond best to a down-home method.

''We can ask young people to come into a church group, but that's a big leap for them,'' Sawyer said. ''So we have to take the message to them. It's really a missionary perspective -- missionary in the good sense. We have to live with them, be with them. The key is being authentic. They can spot a phony a mile away.''
(...)

Sara Hasledalen, 20, a regular coffee-shop patron, says Sawyer personifies the authentic adult and that's why he has managed to build some relationships.

''George doesn't act like most adults,'' said Hasledalen. ''He gives us respect, and he doesn't treat us like children.''

No easy way
But the mission to the coffeehouse crowd doesn't count on an easy formula. The Rev. Michelle Hargrave, a pastor at Centennial United Methodist Church in Roseville, has spent the past three years starting a congregation, Praxis, at Prairie Star Coffee House, 2399 University Ave., St. Paul. The congregation continues to worship at 6:30 p.m. Sundays.

''Maybe there is a formula for saving the church, but I didn't find it,'' Hargrave admits. ''I started out wanting to save the United Methodist Church. Now I just want to be faithful to God.''

The Praxis model builds on small groups with Hargrave as discussion facilitator and informal leader.

''There's a real mixture of people,'' Hargrave said. ''We talk about real things. And you can't do that on Sunday morning in a traditional congregation with all those people. But when you spend two years asking the big questions, it does have an effect on a person's life.''

Greg Larson, pastor at The Rock, an evangelical church for 20-something singles and college students, says the ultimate search is for a deeper faith.

''We've got five to 20 people coming to worship with the white and black makeup, the gothic makeup. Some come to church wearing dog collars and with a lot of piercings. And some people are just leaning that way,'' Larson said.

''A lot of these people come from broken homes, and some are disillusioned with the times -- with society. It can seem hopeless at times. They got into this gothic culture, where they're told life sucks, and they listen to hopeless music: Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, and bands like Korn. All that music says life is hopeless.
(...)

''What I want is they get answers for their life and they come into a full relationship with Jesus Christ,'' Larson said. ''So if they dress differently or they wear white and black makeup -- that's not the big issue for me.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Books, Film, The Internet, Other Media

29. Shirley MacLaine Goes High Tech
ABCnews, July 18, 2000 (Column)
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/WolfFiles/wolffiles.html
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Just because you have past life experiences doesn't mean you live in the past. Just ask Shirley MacLaine.

The Oscar-winning actress now has a Web site to tell the world about her latest out-of-body adventures and UFO encounters. After a 500 mile trek across northern Spain this year to reinvigorate her spirit, MacLaine, who is 66 (in this lifetime), now wants to devote her self to teaching.
(...)

"I'm going to bring together the best of the Internet on spiritualism and help people seek truth about their past lives and the world around them,'' MacLaine says.
(...)

After a humble launch two months ago, ShirleyMacLaine.com is now getting its first PR thrust, as MacLaine begins meditation seminars in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Denver. She'll also be chatting online, appearing July 19 on Lifescape.com, one of the largest health sites on the Net.
(...)

Her show business friends and advisers once told her to keep her controversial beliefs to herself. But ever since her 1983 bestseller Out on a Limb, she's found a giant audience for her own brand of spirituality - a mixture of several religions with an emphasis on Eastern traditions and a dash of UFOs.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


30. Harry Potter and the Devil's Plan
The Birmingham News, July 14, 2000 (Editorial)
http://www.al.com/news/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
At first, I didn't believe what my friend was telling me.

The popular Harry Potter books, he said, have been denounced by some Christians as satanic. The books deal with witchcraft, sorcery and magic, all condemned in the Bible, he said, and author J.K. Rowling has been accused of leading millions of children astray by introducing them to these ''dark'' subjects.

Of course, I was skeptical. I'd read the first three Potter books, and they're nothing but great fun, with fabulously moral and uplifting messages. So I went in search of these people who think Potter is none other than the devil in a wizard outfit.
(...)

After my column last month where I wrote about being embarrassed to be a Baptist, I got more than a few pieces of mail telling me I'm certainly no Christian, and that I will surely spend eternity in Hell.

I'll have some pretty good company because, apparently, Harry Potter creator Ms. Rowling will be there burning with me.

Last October, a parent wrote a letter to the Focus on the Family Web site that the Harry Potter series ''is simply Satan's way of infecting the minds of our children.''

Christianity Today, after a spirited defense of the Harry Potter books last December (the magazine even went as far as recommending them as Christmas presents), took plenty of hits from readers wondering what was up.

''I have to tell you that I am shocked by the notion that a magazine ... called Christianity Today could recommend books about witchcraft and wizardry. My heart is saddened to see the wiles of the devil win the day again,'' read one letter.

Another Web site (www.exposingsatanism.org) puts it this way: ''There are many books out about Witchcraft, but none so cleverly packaged like the latest. Satan is up to his old tricks again, and the main focus is the children of the world. The latest craze is a series of books by author J.K. Rowling, known as Harry Potter ... The whole purpose of these books is to desensitize readers and introduce them to the occult ...''

It all makes you want to scream: GET A LIFE!

Can't things just be what they are?

Not long ago, evangelist Jerry Falwell said Tinky Winky, the purple Teletubby from the PBS children's show, was ''gay.'' Nooooo! He's a lovable character, one of four, on a TV program intended for 3-year-olds. That's all.

The Harry Potter books are fantasy, not unlike previous works (now clas sics) by J.R.R. Tolkein or C.S. Lewis. As Christianity Today put it: ''The literary witchcraft of the Harry Potter series has almost no resemblance to the I am-God mumbo jumbo of Wiccan circles. Author J.K. Rowling has created a world with real good and evil, and Harry is definitely on the side of light fighting the 'dark powers.'''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


31. Deeper darkness through ignorance
The Huntsville Times, July 17, 2000 (Column)
http://www.al.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books succeeded in doing what TV ads and tons of money to promote reading failed to: They magically enticed millions of children into the fascinating world of books.

But, not so fast, bookstore breath. If the little devils want to read these books, we better do something to stop them, right? They should be forced to read what they don't want or there's no point. If they're having fun, we're doing something wrong. Luckily, a small, very vocal group wants Rowling's books banned because they contain wizardry, witches and magic. Oh, my.

Pat Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers writes, ''Adults who object to Harry Potter's wizardry are right to feel threatened. Harry Potter is a magician of incredible power! He turns TV-watchers and video-game players into readers right under their parents noses. Any small boy who can accomplish in one stroke what legions of well-meaning adults haven't been able to do is a small boy to be reckoned with. Maybe he SHOULD be banished!

''After all, do we want a country full of little bookworms smuggling flashlights under bedcovers? And after Harry Potter, what then? The doings at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry can't continue forever and we all know where this kind of thing can lead. Just imagine hordes of small book-readers sneaking off to places like Oz, or Camelot, or Lilliput, or Narnia. It bears some thinking about.''

Bravo, Pat Scroeder. You are right to warn unsuspecting parents. I am the poster child of kids who read too much. I started dabbling in comic books when I first learned to read. Gullible, I thought Superman was real. I tried to leap a tall outhouse with a single bound and a dish towel cape. I landed on my head.

My neglectful parents should have taken books away then. I progressed to the harder stuff, like L. Frank Baum's ''The Wizard of Oz.'' A brainwashed child, I didn't realize anthropomorphic tin men, lions and scarecrows were pure evil.

The demon read-seed was planted deeply. I sunk to J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. Like dope, your first taste of sorcerers, goblins and mythical creatures is usually free. Then your eyes glaze over. You become an addicted fiend and you have to pay.

Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'' hooked me on ghosts. I tried to straighten up, but leftist public school English teachers insisted I read Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' (ghost), ''Macbeth'' (witches), ''The Tempest'' (a spirit) and ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (fairies).
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]