» Continued from Part 1

=== Unification Church
12. Koreas Unification Church dipping its toe into South Pacific

=== Hinduism
13. 3,000 naked novices sign up with fierce sect at Indian pilgrimage

=== Islam
14. Nigerian girl flogged for having sex, despite Canadian and other protests
15. Nigerian girl flogged in spite of international outcry

=== Mungiki
16. Kenya: Sect members arrested in Nairobi slum area after clash with police

=== Other News
17. God's Army Twins Admit No Powers
18. Children rescued as parents are arrested
19. Parents Starved Children 'On God's Orders'
20. Marrying Minors Into Polygamy May Become Crime

=== Science
21. British parliament approves cloning of embryos

=== Noted
22. Commentary: Even conspiracy theories can be true
23. Workshop to mine past for healing (VanPraagh)

=== CD-ROM
24. Encyclopaedia of Sikhism on CD


=== Unification Church

12. Koreas Unification Church dipping its toe into South Pacific
AFP, Jan. 19, 2001
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/

South Koreas Unification Church is spreading through the Pacific amid allegations it nearly brought down one government and has links to the military-backed regime in Fiji.

Known as the ''Moonies'' after its leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon, it is following a well-worn missionary route through the Pacific where it is competing with the deeply entrenched Christian church and with Christian values enshrined in the constitution.

Last week President Kessai Note of the Marshall Islands survived a no-confidence vote bought on, in part, by his new-found Unification connections.

This week Fiji Information Minister Inoke Kubuabola attended a World Media Conference (WMA) in Tokyo, sponsored and funded by the Unification Church.

But in a press statement afterwards, he made no mention of the connections between the church and the conference.
(...)

It is known for its cult-like behaviour, including mass marriages in major sporting venues around the world.

Politically very right-wing, the organisation has also been criticised for its business practices, alleged tax evasion and manipulation of public opinion.

Last November, Unification officials showed up in the Marshalls saying they were setting up a Pacific government task-force, pledging 10 million dollars for Pacific education and fisheries development.
(...)

Last week president Note survived a no confidence motion 19-14 which was promoted by rival Senator Justin deBrums opposition to Moon.

DeBrum said Christians throughout the Marshall Islands strongly disagreed with Moons self-proclaimed status as the ''Messiah.''

Meanwhile, in Fiji, the information ministry announced that Kubuabola, a strong critic of the local media, had gone to the church's World Media Conference along with Information Director Eliki Bomani and the editor of the part government-owned Daily Post, Mesake Koroi.
(...)

The Unification Church website says the WMA conference brings journalists together to ''discuss the role of the media in resolving conflict and promoting understanding.''
[...more...]

* The Unification Church is a cult that has does not in any way represent historical, biblical Christianity.

=== Hinduism

13. 3,000 naked novices sign up with fierce sect at Indian pilgrimage
AFP, Jan. 22, 2001
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/

About 3,000 young men between 20 and 30 were inducted Monday into the Juna sect of the exotic and fierce Naga (unclothed) sadhus at the great Kumbh fair, the holiest of Hindu pilgrimages.

According to the head of the sect, Mahant Ravi Giri, the young men joined after a special initiation ceremony that combined a 24-hour fast, a tonsured pate and a dip in the holy Ganges river before the consecration.
(...)

Naked, prone to aggression and partial to copious quantities of hashish, the Naga sadhus call the shots at India's Great Kumbh Mela pilgrimage.
(...)

Although sadhus can generally be characterised as peace-loving, these ''warrior ascetics,'' who trace their roots back thousands of years, used to be extremely militant, fighting against rivals sects, the Muslims and later the British.

Trappings of that past remain. The Nagas are divided into regiment-like ''akharas'' and most still carry tridents, spears or swords, although these now retain a purely symbolic function.
(...)

The Nagas claim to have reached the highest form of tapasya (penance) in their abandonment of the material world, although some of their younger members have a slightly incongruous penchant for catchy Hindi film songs, which they listen to on cassette recorders.
[...more...]


=== Islam

14. Nigerian girl flogged for having sex, despite Canadian and other protests
AP, Jan. 22, 2001
http://cbc.ca/

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - A 17-year-old Muslim girl convicted of having premarital sex has been lashed 100 times with a cane, the Nigerian government announced Monday, a punishment widely condemned by the Canadian government and human-rights groups.

The flogging of Bariya Ibrahim Magazu - who said she was put under pressure by her father to have sex with three men - was quietly carried out Friday in the northern state Zamfara, a brief statement said.

She was in pain afterward but appeared to suffer no major injuries, reporters said.

The flogging was scheduled for Jan. 27, the first anniversary of the imposition of Islamic law, or sharia, in Zamfara, before being indefinitely postponed last week.

Explaining the unexpected timing, government spokesman Bashir Sanda said local authorities wanted to bring an early end to a storm of international controversy created by an Islamic court's guilty verdict and sentence in September.
(...)

The girl was charged after it was discovered she was pregnant. The London-based rights group Amnesty International said she had no representation at her trial. A sentence of 180 lashes was initially delayed until she delivered a baby boy Dec. 4.

The sentence was reduced to 100 lashes earlier this month amid vocal outcry from human-rights groups and the Canadian High Commission, which delivered a diplomatic rebuke to the Nigerian government.
[...more...]
* Islam, long known as ''the religion of the sword,'' is the driving force behind countless human rights violations, committed under the guise of ''sharia.''

15. Nigerian girl flogged in spite of international outcry
CBC News, Jan. 23, 2001
http://cbc.ca/

LAGOS - A Nigerian girl found guilty of having premarital sex has been publicly flogged in spite of protests by international human rights groups, including the Canadian government.

Bariya Magazu's case came to international attention when an Islamic court in her home state of Zamfara sentenced her to 180 lashes by cane. The 17-year-old girl said her father forced her to have sex with three men, one of whom impregnated her, according to Amnesty International.
(...)

Mahmoud Shinkafi said immediately after the punishment Magazu thanked Allah and was set free. Shinkafi said she was able to walk home from the courthouse in her village.
[...more...]


=== Mungiki

16. Kenya: Sect members arrested in Nairobi slum area after clash with police
BBC Monitoring, Jan. 22, 2001
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/

Text of report by Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation on 22 January

A Mungiki sect member was seriously injured and five others arrested when they clashed with police in Mathare, Nairobi, yesterday.
(...)

The sect's followers were holding prayers when police threw tear gas cannisters at them and fired rubber bullets.

They responded by pelting the police with stones. They fought for more than an hour.
[...more...]


=== Other News

17. God's Army Twins Admit No Powers
AP, Jan. 22, 2001
http://news.excite.com/

SUAN PHUNG, Thailand (AP) - The teen-age twins who led the God's Army rebel group acknowledged on Monday they have no mystical powers to repel bullets and said they want to give up fighting.

Wearing oversized soccer shirts, Johnny and Luther Htoo, who led a hit-and-run campaign for three years against the Myanmar military, said their days as soldiers are at an end.
(...)

Luther said the God's Army, a rag tag guerrilla group, had 150 soldiers at its peak while fighting to try to win autonomy for the ethnic Karen minority.

When they surrendered to the Thai army last week, driven by hunger and exhaustion, the God's Army had probably not more than 20 followers. Seventeen of them, including the twins, surrendered Jan. 16 and Jan. 17. Luther said he knows of only three comrades still in the jungles.

The twins' legend began around 1997 when Myanmar troops came to their village during a sweep of Karen areas. The mainstream guerrillas group, the Karen National Union, reportedly fled while the twins rallied some men and directed a successful counterattack.

After that, the twins' followers said the boys - who are Christians - had powers from God. Their followers believed bullets couldn't hit them and mines wouldn't explode under their feet.
(...)

Asked if he has mystical powers to repel bullets, Luther said: ''It is not true.''
(...)

Thai authorities are considering giving the twins refugee status and reuniting them with their parents.
[...more...]


18. Children rescued as parents are arrested
Daily Nation (Kenya), Jan. 22, 2001
http://www.nationaudio.com/

Six emaciated children confined to their home by an eccentric father are now in the custody of the Huruma Children's Home, Ngong.
(...)

Dr Mwangi had told officers of a vision he in 1998, in which God instructed him to start worshipping at home instead of going to church.

He had also been told to start fasting together with his family until he receives further instructions. As far as the former lecturer was concerned, none of his family members was sick and he expected the vision to indicate if this would happen.

Dr Mwangi, a PhD holder in electrical engineering, had taught at the university for about 21 years before his resignation in 1992, the same year he claimed he became saved.
(...)

Yesterday, Dr Mwangi accompanied his wife, who appeared to be ill, to a clinic near the police station. Hannah complained of stomach pains and vomited after she ate food given to her by the founder of the Huruma Children's Home, Mrs Zipporah Kamau.

Mrs Mwangi had sought permission to eat the food from her husband, who himself refused to eat, saying he would continue fasting until he received a further message from God. ''It is God's will that the children should fast and not go to school,'' he told the Nation in an interview.

With a voice already weakened by hunger, Dr Mwangi, who only sipped water during the interview, said he attended the Chriscos fellowship meetings at City Hall between 1992 and 1996 but he left to ''fellowship at home with my family''.

A pastor in charge of the Ngong Chriscos Church, Mr Charles Maina, denied that Dr Mwangi was a church member, but said he had occasionally attended inter-denominational classes organised by the church at City Hall.

A neighbour, Mrs Grace Wangui Njenga, told the Nation how she suspected things were going wrong after the family started cutting down trees within their compound for use as firewood. ''I would give them food but they declined.
(...)

When she asked Dr Mwangi why he was fasting, he only told her that since he expected the end of the world to occur last year and he had decided to continue fasting until this happens.
[...more...]


19. Parents Starved Children 'On God's Orders'
Reuters, Jan. 22, 2001
http://news.excite.com/

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Six emaciated Kenyan children who were kept indoors and deprived of food for four weeks ''on God's orders'' have been taken to a children's home and their fanatical Christian parents have been arrested, police said on Monday.

Police at the weekend raided the home of former university lecturer Peter Kamau Mwangi and his wife Hannah in Ngong, on the outskirts of the capital Nairobi, after a tip-off from neighbors.
(...)

Mwangi told police officers he had been instructed by God at Christmas to fast with his family until further notice. His family had drunk only water during the weeks of fasting.
(...)

Mwangi resigned from his job lecturing in electrical engineering at the University of Nairobi when he became a born-again Christian, and spent his days praying with his family, neighbors said.
[...more...]


20. Marrying Minors Into Polygamy May Become Crime
AP, Jan. 20, 2001
http://www.sltrib.com/

Officiating at an arranged polygamous marriage when a minor is involved could mean 5 years in prison, under a bill Sen. Ron Allen plans to introduce.

Allen, D-Stansbury Park, says those who marry off young girls are facilitating child abuse. One Utah attorney, he said, may have performed more than 200 of the illegal unions.
(...)

Enforcement has long been a problem because plural marriages are usually unlicensed and often performed in secret. But Allen said prosecutors have told him they want the law.

''Definitely, I think this will send a clear message to leaders of organizations and those that perform marriages that they're also accountable,'' said Vicky Prunty, director of Tapestry Against Polygamy.

Allen is also sponsoring a joint resolution declaring that the state supports equal enforcement of Utah's child protection, welfare and tax fraud laws in every community, including polygamous enclaves.

There have been increasing complaints that police in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., belong to the dominant polygamous church there and ignore child abuse and fraud common in the secluded communities.
(...)

Rod Parker, an attorney for Hildale's Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says neither of Allen's proposals will affect his clients because they already obey the existing laws.

He said there are no underage marriages going on and law enforcement may actually be better there than in other cities.
[...more...]


=== Science

21. British parliament approves cloning of embryos
AFP, Jan. 23, 2001
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/

British scientists have been given the green light to clone human embryos for medical research, after controversial legislation cleared its final hurdle in parliament late Monday.

In a landmark vote, an attempt to stall the move was defeated in the House of Lords, the upper house of parliament, by a larger than expected margin of 212 to 92.

As the measure had already been approved by a large majority in the lower House of Commons last month, it will come into force from January 31, junior health minister Lord Hunt said afterwards.

The vote came despite intense pressure from a coalition of Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders in Britain, and other groups, who had cited religious and ethical concerns.

What is being allowed is cloning of an embryo for stricly medical reasons -- not cloning for reproductive reasons, which remains banned.

The idea is to clone an embryo on the basis of a patient's DNA, then cull it at the earliest stage of development, within 14 days of fertilisation.

At this point, the embryo is mainly a cluster of so-called stem cells that have the ability to grow into any part of the body.

These cells would be cultivated in a laboratory into purpose-built tissue, which, in turn, could be transplanted into the patient to replace the sick or damaged tissue.

The advantage of the technique is that the cloned tissue is considered by the immune system of the recipient to be ''friendly'' and is less likely to be rejected.

The tests may lead to breakthroughs in the fight against diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer, but opponents say it is tampering with human life and that ethical worries are being sidelined in a race to be at the forefront of medical research.
[...more...]


=== Noted

22. Commentary: Even conspiracy theories can be true
UPI, Jan. 18, 2001
http://www.vny.com/

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- ''Antitrust'' is the latest movie churned out
by Hollywood that portrays immense organizations secretly conspiring to have
their way.
(...)

We members of the media love to nag you members of the public about why
you rush out to see these conspiracy movies. After all, conspiracies don't
really exist. If they did, we reporters would know about them! Right?

Not necessarily. One reason people are interested in conspiracy theories
is that at least some important secret operations really do exist. As Henry
Kissinger liked to say, ''Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you don't
have enemies.''
(...)

Omnipresent surveillance is a staple of conspiracy movies, so it can't be
true. Or can it? For years, it was easy to assume that unhinged-sounding
Frenchmen ranting about how the ''Anglo-Saxons'' were eavesdropping on their
telephone calls had just spent too much time at the cinema. This Gallic
paranoia turned out to be largely accurate. The United States, United
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, who have been working together
to intercept communications since ''Ultra,'' do indeed team up to run a vast
global wiretapping network called ''Echelon''

France even filed a complain with the European Court about this.
(...)

Of course, the conspiracy explanations popular with screenwriters and the
public are often the wrong ones. Yet, that doesn't mean that there are no
conspiracies.
(...)

Similarly, the mysterious wreckage found at Roswell, N.M., in 1947 has
been a staple of films and TV shows claiming that the U.S. government
covered up an alien spacecraft's crash.

In reality, there were no aliens at Roswell. That's what long-time UFO
advocate Karl T. Pflock reluctantly concludes in his upcoming book,
''Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe.''

On the other hand, the military's public explanation that the debris came
from a simple weather balloon was not precisely true, either. According to
Pflock, the Roswell wreckage consisted of a secret reconnaissance
super-balloon the U.S. government hoped to float across the Soviet Union to
photograph strategic installations.
[...more...]


23. Workshop to mine past for healing
The Arizona Republic, Jan. 22, 2001
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/

Have you ever wondered why you're afraid of the dark? Why standing in a crowded elevator sends you into a panic attack? Or why the thought of visiting the ocean unnerves you?

An upcoming workshop might help you overcome these fears by getting to the root of the problem . . . even if the root was planted thousands of years ago.

Spiritual medium James Van Praagh and Dr. Brian Weiss, a past-life regression therapist, will lead a seminar Feb. 17 and 18 at Marriott's Camelback Inn in Paradise Valley. The goal of the two-day event, both say, is to help participants answer questions about themselves.
(...)

While Weiss uses a person's own life, or lives, to help him or her, Van Praagh, 42, uses the lives of others for healing guidance. Also a one-time skeptic, Van Praagh has become one of the country's leading spiritual mediums. He says he relays messages from deceased loved ones to the living to help better their lives.

After a friend dragged him to a medium at age 20, shapes and colors he'd seen at an early age around people returned, Van Praagh says, and, through meditation and study, images became clearer and messages from beyond grew stronger.
[...more...]


=== CD-ROM

24. Encyclopaedia of Sikhism on CD
Tribune News Service
The Tribune (India), Jan. 20, 2001
http://www.tribuneindia.com/

AMRITSAR, Jan 20 - A renowned scholar of the Sikh religion from Canada, Mr Raghbir Singh Bains, creator of the first multimedia CD, ''Encyclopaedia of Sikhism'', exhibited an audio and visual presentation of his work at the international conference organised by the Akal Purakh ki Fauj and at the Conference Hall of Guru Nanak Dev University here yesterday.
(...)

Giving details about his work, Mr Bains said the aim of the production of the encyclopaedia was to provide literature of the Sikh religion and its relative terms etc in English to the global community and spread the message of universal brotherhood, peace and prosperity to the human race. The CD would also attract the youth towards Sikhism.

Mr Bains said the encyclopaedia would also be useful for researchers, scholars, teachers, students, judges, lawyers, counsellors, community leaders and mediamen.
[...more...]