Apologia Report AR-Talk
December 30, 1998

Subject:     ar-talk digest: December 30, 1998
Date:        12/31/98 3:00 AM
Received:    12/31/98 7:09 AM
From:        Apologetics Resources (sharing, Q & A, no debate) digest, ar-talk@X
To:          ar-talk digest recipients, ar-talk@XC.Org

Apologetics Resources (sharing, Q & A, no debate) Digest for Wednesday, December 30, 1998.

1. Religion Items in the News - December 30, 1998 (Vol. 2, Issue 63)
2. Re: 12 Tribes cult
3. Re: Info needed on Light of the City ministry in Renton, Va.
4. Nation of Yahweh

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Religion Items in the News - December 30, 1998 (Vol. 2, Issue 63)
From: ahein@xs4all.nl (Anton Hein)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 17:09:17 GMT
X-Message-Number: 1


Religion Items in the News - December 30, 1998 (Vol. 2, Issue 63)

=== Main
1.  Japanese sect's nerve gas plant destroyed (Aum Shinrikyo)
2.  Doomsday cult revival (Aum Shinrikyo)
3.  Government ... warns Japan to beware of doomsday cult (Aum... )
4.  Cult with terror link sets up London base (Sukyo Mahikari)
5.  New anti-terrorism law targets cults and animal activists
6.  French parliament to investigate sects
7.  Jury rejects murder verdict after Jehovah's Witness killed...
8.  Jury Rejects Claim That Victim Died Because of Religious Beliefs
9.  Jehovah's blood policy costs lives..
10. Surgery without transfusion offers an option but raises questions
11. Village closes doors to Jehovah's Witnesses
12. Helping others overcome the hell of cult life
13. Church's day in court postponed (Scientology)
14. Scientology promises long fight
15. Scientologists' reputation on trial over woman's death
16. At a loss to make legal findings (Scientology)
17. Does the Scientology sect have a grip on atomic power?
18. "Security statements": Scientology threatens brokers
19. High profile couple never pairs church and state (Scientology)
20. When buses become billboards (Scientology)
21. Growing army of followers for girl, 6, 'the new Christ'
22. For second time, grand jury decides not to indict Heather Wendorf
23. Religious left, religious right debate Paul (Jesus Seminar)
24. Popular notion of Nativity not historically accurate, wise men say
25. Was Jesus' mother a virgin? Does it matter?
26. Scholars debate Moses' existence
27. Theologians dissect Disney's influence
28. Reported New Sightings Fuel Virgin Mary Fevor
29. President's morality top religion story
30. Muslim converts
31. Allah on his mind

=== Noted
32. The Green Movement Is Getting Religion
33. America's belief in miracles growing
34. Religion surveys find us more spiritual, less faithful
35. U.S. recognizing greater diversity
36. Crash Course in Christianity Is Winning Over Churches.. (Alpha)

=== Just In Case You Wondered...
37. Rabbi rules: On computers, erasing God is OK
38. The Hula, as Sacred Dance, Is Allowed During Mass


1.  Japanese sect's nerve gas plant destroyed
BBC, Dec. 24, 1998
 A nerve gas production plant, set up by the Japanese Aum Shinri Kyo
 (Supreme Truth) sect, has been destroyed, according to a United Nations
 chemical weapons team.
 [...more...]


2.  Doomsday cult revival
BBC, Dec. 26, 1998
 The Japanese doomsday cult blamed for the 1995 nerve gas attack on the
 Tokyo underground is renewing itself and plans to expand its power
 base, a Japanese government report says.

 "Aum [Shinri Kyo) is actively attempting to bring back former members
 and recruiting new members on a nationwide basis," the Public Security
 Investigation Agency said.
 [...more...]


3.  Government security review warns Japan to beware of doomsday cult
Nando Times, Dec. 26, 1998
 Japan must be on guard for renewed action by doomsday cult Aum Shinri
 Kyo and possible extremist Muslim attacks on U.S. military sites in
 Japan, a government security report says.
 (...)

 "Aum is attempting to re-enlist former members and step up recruiting
 of new members nationwide. It is also initiating advertising campaigns
 and acquiring necessary capital," the report said.

 The cult also has Internet pages that get as many as 1,000 hits a day,
 security officials said earlier this year.
 [...more...]


4.  Cult with terror link sets up London base
The Sunday Times, Dec. 27, 1998
http://www.the-times.co.uk/cgi-bin/BackIssue?2488675
 A DOOMSDAY millennium cult, members of which have been linked by police
 to the terrorists who killed 12 people in a sarin gas attack in Japan,
 has established a London base and recruited scores of members in
 Britain.  

 The Sukyo Mahikari cult - said by former members to
 propagate neo-Nazi and anti-Jewish propaganda - was denounced last year
 by witnesses at an official parliamentary inquiry as "dangerous".

 Police have linked some members of the cult to Aum Shinrikyo, the
 terrorist sect whose leaders are facing charges of mass murder after
 the sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995.

 Former members of Sukyo Mahikari, which has successfully applied for
 charitable status in Britain, say it is preparing for a "baptism of
 fire" that could end the world next year. The cult's Japanese
 supremacist leadership says only its members will survive.
 (...)

 A dossier of new allegations about the cult's financial affairs in
 Belgium is expected to be handed to police there within the next two
 weeks. It was in Belgium that witnesses described the cult as one of
 the most dangerous in the country.

 The cult has also come under scrutiny from the authorities in France,
 where a report by a parliamentary committee found it was "dangerous".
 René Poux, of the Families and Individuals Defence support group, said
 official concerns centred on the way cult leaders extracted money from
 their 12,000 French members. "Huge funds are collected which are then
 sent on to Japan," he said.
 [...more...]


5.  New anti-terrorism law targets cults and animal activists
Telegraph (U.K.), Dec. 18, 1998
 EXTREMIST animal rights groups and religious cults that use violence to
 pursue their goals are to be targeted under sweeping new anti-terror
 laws proposed by the Government last night.
 [...more...]


6.  French parliament to investigate sects
Infoseek/Reuters, Dec. 15, 1998
 France's National Assembly voted unanimously on Tuesday to set up a
 special commission to investigate how religious sects in the country
 were financed. 
 (...)
 
 Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou said last month the government would
 step up its observation of sects and appoint an investigating
 magistrate in every appeals court to deal with the state's struggle
 against them. 

 It would also allow victims of sects to advise magistrates or become
 civil parties to cases against sects, she said.  She said French courts
 were investigating about 80 complaints against sects. A 1995 report
 said about 200 sects were active in France at that time.
 [...more...]


7.  Jury rejects murder verdict after Jehovah's Witness killed by drunk
driver
CNN, Dec. 18, 1998
http://www.europe.cnn.com/US/9812/18/PM-DUI-Religion.ap/
 If an auto accident victim refuses a blood transfusion on religious
 grounds, is the man who caused the crash guilty of murder?

 A Superior Court jury decided the answer is no, but did find a drunken
 driver guilty Friday of manslaughter in the death of a Jehovah's
 Witness who refused blood transfusions.
 [...more...]


8.  Jury Rejects Claim That Victim Died Because of Religious Beliefs
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 19, 1998
 (...) In a novel defense, Cook's lawyers had said that Russell had to
 take responsibility for her own death. Her trauma surgeon from
 County-USC Medical Center and two medical experts testified that she
 probably would have lived had she violated her beliefs as a Jehovah's
 Witness and taken blood.
 [...more...]


9.  Jehovah's blood policy costs lives: Nile
NineMSM (Australia), Dec. 30, 1998
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/19981230_0801101_218_0104.asp
 The practices of the Jehovah Witness' religious group were costing
 lives, morals campaigner Fred Nile said today.   Reverend Nile, a
 member of the New South Wales upper house and leader of the Christian
 Democratic Party, said Jehovah's Witness followers were dying
 needlessly by adhering to a misguided policy of refusing blood
 transfusions.

 The criticism comes in the wake of two recent deaths of Jehovah's
 Witnesses in Brisbane and publicity surrounding two legal cases
 involving women who were given blood transfusions without their
 consent.
 [...more...]


10. Surgery without transfusion offers an option but raises questions
Austin American-Statesman, Dec. 13, 1998
http://www.austin360.com/health/stories/12dec/13/blood.htm
 (...) Bloodless surgery appears to be making headway into mainstream
 medicine -- at least for some procedures -- as some have questioned the
 value of transfusion as a standard practice. Today, there are 78
 centers that practice transfusion-free surgery, according to the
 Hospital Information Services for Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn, N.Y.
 (...)

 The greatest barrier to adoption of transfusion-free surgery is a
 belief system among surgeons that certain operations can only rarely be
 done without blood.
 (...)

 In a 1996 report in Lancet of 1,900 Jehovah's Witnesses patients
 undergoing surgery, Carson found the risk of death and postoperative
 complications increased when hematocrit fell below 30 percent. Those
 patients had an even higher risk of dying if they had underlying
 cardiovascular disease.
 [...more...]


11. Village closes doors to Jehovah's Witnesses
News and Observer, Dec. 25, 1998
http://www.news-observer.com/daily/1998/12/25/faith04.html
 Jehovah's Witnesses currently have an easy time going door-to-door in
 the village of Waite Hill, Ohio.

     Like other communities, this 200-home Cleveland suburb community has
 an ordinance on the books that allows residents to say whether they
 want anyone knocking on their door offering something for sale.
     Their names, updated periodically, are kept on file at Village Hall.
 
 So when the Willoughby Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses decided 
 recently to canvass the village and encourage its 480 residents to read
 the Bible, it asked for a list of those willing to have their doors 
 knocked on.

     Police Chief Arnold Stanko sent the congregation a copy of the
 ordinance, and attached a list of residents who have not asked to be
 excluded from solicitation.

     It was a short list. One name. And that person travels a lot and
 might be away for the winter, Stanko said. "Everybody else in the
 village declined to be solicited," he said.
 (...) 

     Falewicz said he was disappointed the church has been effectively
 shut out by the ordinance, and that the matter would be turned over to
 the church's legal department in New York.

     The legal question of door-to-door solicitation by Jehovah's
 Witnesses was dealt with by the U.S. Supreme Court more than 50 years
 ago in a case involving the city of Struthers, Ohio, said Kevin
 O'Neill, an assistant law professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of
 Law at Cleveland State University.

 "The court struck down an outright ban on all door-to-door
 leafletting," he said. O'Neill said it appeared Waite Hill had gotten
 around the Supreme Court decision by delegating power to ban
 solicitations to individual homeowners.
 [...more...]


12. Helping others overcome the hell of cult life
Bergen Record, Dec. 17, 1998
http://www.bergen.com/home/cult17199812179.htm
 Beth Davies was 30 before she cashed her first pay check, opened a bank
 account, lived in her own apartment, or even chose when to purchase new
 clothes.   That's because for 12 years she lived in a Manhattan
 community run by a Bible-based cult, which did not permit her such
 freedoms.
 (...)

 Ten years after leaving the cult, the Midland Park resident still
 recalls the painful experience of trying to make a fresh start on her
 own. With her experience in mind, she founded the Cult Recovery
 Ministry through Hawthorne Gospel Church four years ago.
 (...)

 The Cult Recovery Ministry has allowed Davies to reach hundreds of
 people -- through a monthly support group at her house, one-on-one
 counseling sessions with individuals and families, and lectures to
 Sunday school classes. And Davies has acted as a resource for cult
 experts; her personal experiences were recorded in two books,
 "Recovering From Churches That Abuse" and "Churches That Abuse," by Dr.
 Ronald M. Enroth.
 [...more...]
 

13. Church's day in court postponed
Miami Herald, Dec. 29, 1998
Published Tuesday, December 29, 1998, in the Miami Herald
http://www.herald.com/florida/digdocs/084063.htm
 A pre-trial hearing scheduled for today in the criminal case against
 the Church of Scientology has been postponed indefinitely -- the church
 says the case needs to be specially assigned because it's so unusual.
 (...)

 "Oftentimes, if it's a case that may require significant judicial time
 and resources, it will be specially docketed,'' Scientology attorney
 Laura Vaughan said. "There are issues here that don't come up every
 day in your average criminal case. You have issues of religious
 freedom, First Amendment issues. It's an unusual case
 [...more...]


14. Scientology promises long fight
St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 16, 1998
 The Church of Scientology has notified the Pinellas court system that
 it plans to mount a long and complex legal battle against charges that
 it contributed to the death of one of its members, Lisa McPherson.

 The move, on its surface, is at odds with earlier statements by
 Scientology officials, who have said they want to resolve quickly the
 McPherson case and move on.
 [...more...]


15. Scientologists' reputation on trial over woman's death
Miami Herald, Dec. 27, 1998
http://www.herald.com/florida/digdocs/089645.htm
 (...) The coming trial -- a status conference is scheduled for Tuesday
 in St. Petersburg -- promises to be a low point in the long history of
 acrimony over the religion's presence here. And it will raise
 uncomfortable questions about the way the church deals with its own
 affairs and those of the surrounding community.
 (...)

 Clearwater is the religious retreat for the church, whose membership is
 either the eight million worldwide that it claims, or the 200,000 that
 critics assert.
 (...)

 Whatever its actual membership, it is undisputed that Scientology draws
 thousands to Clearwater every year to stay in one of the church's three
 hotels and to undergo the complicated and secretive counseling process,
 called auditing, that is the core of Scientology. (Church spokeswoman
 Jones says 85,000 people have taken courses or joined the church
 through the Miami-area office in Coral Gables since it was founded 40
 years ago.)
 (...)

 Course prices vary. A recent issue of Source, a Scientology magazine,
 lists holiday sale prices for lifetime members: $4,622 for the
 "Hubbard Solo Auditor Course,'' $7,865 for an advanced "New Era
 Dianetics'' auditing session, $12,100 for a ``rundown.''
 [...more...]


16. At a loss to make legal findings
Glasgow Herald (Scotland), Dec. 14, 1998
http://www.theherald.co.uk/
Here is the article.
 The saga of Scientology's legal skirmishes in France date back at least
 as far as 1978, when the organisation's founder, L Ron Hubbard, was
 condemned in absentia for fraud. But if the latest legal row involving
 Scientology is far from being the first, it is surely one of the most
 bizarre.

 In October, Le Figaro newspaper revealed papers in a long-running legal
 action against the self-proclaimed church had gone missing, provoking
 outrage from lawyers working on the case. Justice Minister Elizabeth
 Guigou considered the incident serious enough to order an internal
 inquiry. Even before this, however, there were signs something was
 amiss.
 [...more...]


17. Does the Scientology sect have a grip on atomic power?
Die Presse (Austria), Dec. 21, 1998
http://www.diepresse.at/aktuell/chronik-1.html
Translation: German Scientology News
http://cisar.org/g81221ae.htm
 Can a known follower of the Scientology sect be given responsibility
 for the largest nuclear energy plant in the country? This question
 stirred the French public and put the state energy provider,
 "Electricité de France" (EdF) in a dilemma. In Gravelines on the
 English Channel near Dunkirk, there are six 900 megawatt nuclear
 stations. Beginning in February, Engineer Pierre D., 29, a
 Scientologist, is supposed to take over their command.

 "Everybody knows that Scientologists have the mission to take over
 positions of power in society. Who knows what they can do with them?"
 said Gerard Mirou, personnel representative of Gravelines AKW
 ["Atomkraftwerk": Nuclear Power Plant]. However the management at the
 power plant have so far said that they want to deal with a good,
 qualified engineer. At first it was mentioned that the sectarian
 engineer may be posted to a less strategic position.
 [...more...]


18. "Security statements": Scientology threatens brokers
Hamburger Abendblatt (Germany), Dec. 18, 1998
Translation:
http://cisar.org/g81218ae.htm
 Companies and associations who do not want Scientology influence have
 begun receiving mail from the controversial organization. The letters
 state that they should withdraw "security statements," which, from the
 Scientologists' view, are discriminatory, and by which means employees,
 customers and business partners must state that they are neither
 Scientologists, nor do they use the technology of sect founder L. Ron
 Hubbard.
 (...)

 In another letter, which, according to a statement by Hamburg 
 Scientology speaker Gisela Hackenjos, was only sent to the German
 Brokers Group ["Ring Deutscher Makler"] (RDM), Scientology stated that
 It would soon publish which companies, groups and associations
 continued to use a "security statement."
 [...more...]


19. High profile couple never pairs church and state
St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 13, 1998
 Greta Van Susteren and her husband, John Coale, rub shoulders with
 notables in the nation's capital, they involve themselves in
 controversial legal cases, they like Florida living. But you rarely
 hear them speak of their religion, Scientology.
 (...)

 And as a celebrity legal commentator in a town brimming with lawyers,
 Van Susteren also has to contend with a perception that the church is
 out to destroy its enemies at any cost. As Scientology founder the late
 L. Ron Hubbard once wrote, the church should use the legal system to
 "destroy and harass" its opponents and "ruin them utterly."
 (...)

 In 1993, the husband-and-wife legal team played a small role in
 Scientology's campaign to take over the Cult Awareness Network, or CAN.
 Church-backed lawsuits bankrupted the organization, which helped people
 leave Scientology.

 Van Susteren and Coale represented an Ohio woman who sued a
 cult-deprograming organization called Wellspring, whose executive
 director also sat on the CAN board. But their real target was CAN,
 which at the time was Scientology's public enemy No. 1.
 [...more...]


20. When buses become billboards
St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 22, 1998 (Editorial)
 (...)  A series of anti-Scientology ads that recently appeared on
 Pinellas County transit buses raised the question of what kind of bus
 advertising the county is obliged to accept.  The answer is: pretty
 much all of it.

 A group called Former Scientologists Speaking Out paid to place their
 ads on 11 county buses with routes that took them past the
 Scientologists' Fort Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater. The
 messages, including "Why does Scientology lie to its members?" and
 "Think for Yourself. Quit Scientology," along with the group's Web
 address www.xenu.net, so offended church leaders that a couple tracked
 down Roger Sweeney, executive director of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit
 Authority, at his home earlier this month and pressured him to remove
 the buses from service. He did so the next day.
 (...)

 Sweeney says he supports free speech on bus signs and ordered the buses
 back in service a day later, but by then the anti-Scientology ads had
 been removed. Before the next bad judgment call arises, the PSTA should
 get a legal opinion from a constitutional law expert. It's likely the
 PSTA will be told that if the county wants to use its buses as moving
 billboards, it will have to make them available to all who ante up,
 regardless of what the Scientologists think.
 [...more...]


21. Growing army of followers for girl, 6, 'the new Christ'
South China Morning Post, Dec. 29, 1998
 A six-year-old girl is attracting a big following in Zimbabwe's
 northeast after claims that she speaks in a variety of tongues during
 trances, with voices claiming she is a reincarnation of Christ.

 Tespy Nyanhete's rapidly growing following, reportedly exceeding 2,000
 already, addressed her as "father" as she speaks "with a highly
 authoritative voice", the Herald newspaper reported.
 (...)

 Sociologists in Zimbabwe have warned that extreme poverty and distress
 would lead to the growth of cults.
 [...more...]


22. For second time, grand jury decides not to indict Heather Wendorf
Naples Daily News, Dec. 19, 1998
http://www.naplesnews.com/today/florida/a130206i.htm
 For the second time in two years, a grand jury on Friday refused to
 indict a teen-age member of a vampire cult whose leader brutally beat
 to death her parents.  The 20-member grand jury said there was
 insufficient evidence to bring charges against Heather Wendorf.
 [...more...]


23. Religious left, religious right debate Paul
Detroit News, Dec. 23, 1998
http://detnews.com/1998/religion/9812/24/12230247.htm
 You may have heard about the "Jesus Seminar." This group of several
 dozen Bible professors spent years taking ballots on all the sayings
 and incidents from the life of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament
 Gospels, in order to proclaim which were fact and which were fiction.
 (...)
 
     Invigorated by all the publicity, the seminar has lately moved on
 from its search for the "historical Jesus" to figure out what it thinks
 we know for sure about the "historical Paul."
 [...more...]


24. Popular notion of Nativity not historically accurate, wise men say
Spokane.net, Dec. 24, 1998
 Historians -- both fervent believers and academic skeptics -- say the
 first Christmas probably did not look like a Hallmark creche or a
 church pageant. They question the popular tableau of a manger in a
 freestanding stable, surrounded by shepherds and three wise men beneath
 the star of Bethlehem.
 (...)

 John Dominic Crossan of Minneola, Fla., a co-founder of the
 controversial Jesus Seminar, has a stronger critique of the Nativity
 story.
 (...)

 "If you ask me historically what happened, I'm sure Jesus was just born
 in the ordinary poverty, really, of a peasant hovel,'' he said.

 Crossan believes that Jesus was born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem. He
 questions the Gospel account, which has Joseph returning to his
 ancestral home, Bethlehem, rather than to Nazareth, where he lived, to
 comply with the Roman census decree.

 "It's a marvelous story, and for 2,000 years it's been a beautiful
 story,'' Crossan said. ``It is totally unhistorical, and scholars have
 tortured themselves trying to justify it for almost 2,000 years. There
 was no such decree.''

 Crossan contends the change was made to establish that the baby Jesus,
 like the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament, is descended from King
 David, who came from Bethlehem.

 "The birth at Bethlehem is a parable,'' he said. ``Is it correct? Of
 course it's correct as a parable because it challenges me to say: `All
 right, do you or do you not, as a believing Christian, think Jesus is
 God's Messiah?' I answer, `Yes, as a Christian.' Therefore, that story
 is true for me. But did it happen? That's a different question
 completely.''
 [...more...]


25. Was Jesus' mother a virgin? Does it matter?
Two prominent scholars debate the issues
Dallas Morning News, Dec. 12, 1998
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion-nf/rel113.htm
 (...) Nevertheless, the birth stories have become a test case in
 various controversies. If you believe in miracles, you believe in
 Jesus' miraculous birth; if you don't, you don't. Both sides turn the
 question into a shibboleth, not for its own sake but to find out who's
 in and who's out. The problem is that miracle, as used in these
 controversies, is not a biblical category. The God of the Bible is not
 a normally absent God who sometimes intervenes. This God is always
 present and active, often surprisingly so.
 [...more...]

 [ Marcus J. Borg, Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion at Oregon
 State University, and N.T. Wright, Dean of Lichfield Cathedral in
 England share their views...]


26. Scholars debate Moses' existence
Star-Telegram, Dec. 18, 1998
 (...) But did he really exist?

 Not too many years ago, when skepticism reigned among scholars of the
 Bible, the answer by many experts would have been a confident "no."

 Today, that answer has changed to yes, though the vote is by no means
 confident or unanimous. Moses does not meet modern standards of
 historical evidence: There are no contemporaneous written documents to
 back up the stories that, as far as can be determined, were written
 down 200 to 500 years after the time in which the historical Moses
 would have existed.
 [...more...]


27. Theologians dissect Disney's influence
Bergen Record,  Dec. 17, 1998
http://www.bergen.com/home/austin17199812179.htm
 Meeting in the heart of Disney's Magic Kingdom last month, panels of
 religion scholars concluded that the Disney influence is a grave threat
 to the nation's soul.
 (...)

 Not all of the more than 7,000 scholars at the joint annual meeting of
 the American Academy of Religion and the Society for Biblical
 Literature were probing the religion of Mickey Mouse and Simba, the
 Lion King. But at several well-attended sessions, the theology and
 values of the $20 billion Disney empire came under scrutiny.
 [...more...]


28. Reported New Sightings Fuel Virgin Mary Fevor
San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 25, 1998
 For centuries, Catholics have been getting messages from the Virgin
 Mary, seeing her statues weep and finding her image in the clouds and
 on church walls.  But those who study these sightings note a dramatic
 increase in recent years.

 They cite three major reasons -- the approach of the millennium, the
 strong Marian devotion of Pope John Paul II, and the continuing
 influence of events at Medjugorje, a Bosnian village where the mother
 of Jesus supposedly appeared in 1981.
 [...more...]


29. President's morality top religion story
Charlotte Observer, Dec. 26, 1998
http://www.charlotte.com/observer/faith/docs/045360.htm
 [A. James Rudin, of the Religion News Service, picks the
 top 10 religion stories of 1998, including:]

 The Clinton scandal  (...)
 Cloning and controversy (...)
 Showdown with Iraq (....)
 Gay life, abortions (...)
 Clergy's behavior (...)
 New-age beliefs (...)
 [...more...]


30. Muslim converts
Bakersfield Californian, Dec. 19, 1998
http://www.bakersfield.com/rel/i--1298141273.asp
 (...) But as a white American, Royer remains something of an anomaly
 within the Muslim community. While large numbers of black Americans
 have converted to Islam in recent decades, white converts remain a
 rarity, even as their numbers are said to be growing.

 Estimates place the number of Muslim Americans at between 3 million to
 6 million. African-American converts account for more than a third of
 the total, Muslim groups report. However, no one knows how many white
 Americans have accepted Islam.

 Ihsan Bagby, a Muslim demographer at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C.,
 said white converts comprise between 2 to 5 percent of the American
 Muslim community. Yvonne Haddad of Georgetown University's Center for
 Muslim-Christian Understanding mentioned the figure 120,000 when asked
 about white American converts.

 But both Bagby and Haddad agreed it's all just guesswork.

 In interviews, white American Muslim converts to Islam said their
 reasons for accepting the faith were varied. They cited Islam's call
 for social justice, its appeal across racial and cultural divides and
 its clear parameters for acceptable human behavior. Former Christians
 often said troublesome doubts about Jesus' divinity were erased by
 Islam's strict monotheism.
 [...more...]


31. Allah on his mind
Orange County Register, Dec. 19, 1998
http://www.ocregister.com/accent/religion/rama019w1.shtml
 PROFILE: Hussam Ayloush helps empower Muslims, part of his vision of a
 world free from religious discrimination.
 (...)

 They know too well his commitment to the Council on American-Islamic
 Relations, the nation's most visible anti-hate network for Muslims.

 Since March, Ayloush has served as executive director of CAIR's
 Southern California branch, which covers San Diego to Santa Barbara
 [...more...]


=== Noted

32. The Green Movement Is Getting Religion
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 25, 1998
http://www.latimes.com/excite/981225/t000117724.html
 (...)  The environmental debate, long dominated by a secular
 conservation movement based on scientific rather than theological
 arguments, is being dramatically reshaped by the fervent forces of God.

     Some activists call it the birth of a religious movement as
 significant as the battle against slavery: Churches, temples and
 synagogues across the land are seizing the environment as a
 top-priority concern.
 (...)

     The growth of religious-based environmentalism is reclaiming the
 environmental movement's original spiritual roots.
 (...)

     The movement arrived as a global force in October, when Harvard
 University brought together more than 1,000 top theologians, scientists
 and activists in what was billed as the largest interfaith dialogue on
 the environment in history. Muslims from 17 nations attended; the
 gathering of Shinto practitioners was the largest ever outside Japan.
 [...more...]


33. America's belief in miracles growing
The Oregonian, Dec. 25, 1998
http://www.oregonlive.com/todaysnews/9812/st122508.html
 (...) But belief in the Christmas story and other miracles not only
 persists; it's also significantly growing. Reasons range from a
 backlash against science and technology to the spread of
 Pentecostalism, a worldwide Christian movement emphasizing supernatural
 experiences.
 (...)

 Popular culture is tapping into this surging miracle mentality. Books
 on miracles, especially involving angels and saints, have helped make
 religion titles the fastest-growing segment in publishing.
 (...)

 Daniel Wojcik, a professor of English and religious studies at the
 University of Oregon and author of "The End of the World As We Know It:
 Faith, Fatalism and Apocalypse in America," says that with a new
 millennium sparking doomsday speculations, and a potential Year 2000
 crisis further eroding faith in technology, more people will look to
 miracles.
 (...)

 Joe Nickell, senior researcher at the New York-based Committee for the
 Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, says the problem
 with many so-called miracles is that they have rational explanations.
 He says belief in miracles is increasing because they "tap into our
 hopes."
 (...)

 Phyllis Tickle, contributing religion editor for Publisher's Weekly,
 says that in the last five years, sales of religion titles have
 increased more than 500 percent, with books that highlight miracles "a
 major, major part" of that.
 (...)

 Although Oregon State University professor Marcus Borg and the other
 scholars who form "The Jesus Seminar" have captured headlines by
 debunking a literal interpretation of the Bible's miracle stories,
 Pentecostalism has quietly and more profoundly changed the public's
 perception.

 Many scholars, including author Harvey Cox of Harvard University, have
 called the supernatural-affirming movement one of the most important
 religion stories of our time. According to Cox, there are more than 400
 million Pentecostals -- sometimes called charismatics -- in the world
 today.
 [...more...]


34. Religion surveys find us more spiritual, less faithful
Dallas Morning News, Dec. 26, 1998
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion-nf/rel11.htm
 (...) The statistics below help to explain why churches are struggling
 in spite of a time of heightened spiritual interest: Most people are
 not connected to God in a meaningful way. While casual religious
 affiliation and activity gives people a sense of comfort and security,
 surprisingly few who consider themselves to be Christian center their
 lives on their faith. Most are neither satisfied with nor fulfilled by
 their faith experiences.

 American culture has so radically reshaped the Christian faith that the
 underlying premise of American Christianity has become: "If it works,
 christen it. If it feels right, find biblical passages to support it.
 If it brings you pleasure, it is God's blessing. If something comes
 easily, it is God's will for you."

 * 48 percent of people who regularly attend Christian churches say they
 have not experienced God's presence at any time in the past 12 months.
 (...)

 * 35 percent of born-again Christians say they are still searching for
 meaning in life - the same percentage as non-Christians.
 [...more...]


35. U.S. recognizing greater diversity
Dallas Morning News, Dec. 26, 1998
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion-nf/rel33.htm
 (...) Civil society's recognition of religious diversity: At the White
 House throughout the year, President Clinton's prayer breakfasts drew
 new faiths to the table.
 (...)

 Across the United States, recognition of religious diversity is also
 taking the form of public proclamations of specific faith celebrations
 or interfaith awareness weeks.
 (...)

 Coverage of religious diversity in the media and organizations: There
 was a tremendous shift in the coverage of religion in the United
 States, with increasing recognition and appreciation of America's new
 diversity.
 [...more...]


36. Crash Course in Christianity Is Winning Over Churches and the
Wayward

New York Times, Dec. 27, 1998
 (...) Since Alpha was introduced in the United States in 1995, nearly
 2,000 churches have offered the course. Sales of Alpha course materials
 in the United States are brisk: 170,000 Alpha manuals and 4,000 sets of
 videos in the last two years, Alpha officials said.

 Alpha officials estimate that more than 1.5 million people worldwide
 have taken the course, which is offered in 75 countries.
 (...)

 Hanna, Alpha's top American official, says his goal is to offer the
 program in 50,000 churches in the United States and attract 8 million
 to 10 million new people to the program. His plan: get an invitation to
 an Alpha course into the mailboxes of every home in the United States
 by the end of 2000.

 "If you walked through any 18th-century village here or in Europe, the
 biggest, noisiest building was always the church, with its bell and its
 clock," Hanna said. "Today, I think the church has shrunk in terms of
 its visibility. I think Alpha's a good way to raise the noise level
 again."
 [...more...]


=== Just In Case You Wondered...

37. Rabbi rules: On computers, erasing God is OK
Bakersfield Californian, Dec. 29, 1998
http://www.bakersfield.com/rel/i--1297192037.asp
 A leading Orthodox rabbi has ruled that the word "God" may be erased
 from a computer screen or disk, because the pixels do not constitute
 real letters.

 Rabbi Moshe Shaul Klein published his ruling this week in a computer
 magazine aimed at Orthodox Jews, "Mahsheva Tova."

 Klein was responding to a question from a reader who was anxious about
 whether the ban on erasing the variations on the word "God" applied to
 computers.
 [...more...]


38. The Hula, as Sacred Dance, Is Allowed During Mass
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 25, 1998
http://www.latimes.com/excite/981225/t000117754.html
 Psalm 149 lives again in Hawaii's Catholic churches. After months of
 negotiating with the Vatican, Honolulu Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo is
 allowing hula and other Native Hawaiian "sacred gestures" to be
 performed during services.

     Rome banned these central elements of the Hawaiian culture from local
 churches earlier this year after a resident complained they were being
 used for entertainment and not worship.
 (...)

     Hula uses the hands, body and feet to tell a story. Ancient Hawaiians
 danced for their kings in both religious and secular settings. 
 (...)

     The dance can be accompanied by religious chanting and the playing of
 native instruments such as the ipu, a drum made from gourds, and nose
 flute. It is more likely to be part of a church service in a parish
 populated by Native Hawaiians.

     Church officials stress that hula performed during liturgies is not
 the same as hula performed by women wearing coconuts, leis and grass
 skirts at the famous Kodak Hula Show.
 [...more...]


Compiled by Anton Hein
Christian Ministry Report & Apologetics Index
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ahein/


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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: 12 Tribes cult
From: brianl@globalbiz.net
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 14:19:25 -0500
X-Message-Number: 2

>   I think your Yahweh cults are confused. The all-black group is
>called the "Nation of Yahweh", a/k/a the Temple of Love, formerly k/a
>the Hebrew Israelites. Its founder is Yahweh Ben Yahweh, formerly k/a

 [...]

I stand corrected.  Thanks Eric. In fact -now correct me again if I'm
wrong- Yahweh Ben Yahweh, aka Hulon Mitchell, and his group, Nation of
Yahweh, is originally from Detroit. I had forgotten all about them. Shame
on me!

**************************************
Brian P. Lucas, Investigative Producer
Fox2 News/ WJBK-TV
16550 W. Nine Mile Road
Southfield, Michigan 48075
248-552-5171
248-552-8565 (fax)
http://www.fox2detroit.com
"Fidelity to the truth, no matter the
cost and regardless of circumstances,
brings inner peace."
**************************************

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: Info needed on Light of the City ministry in Renton, Va.
From: jplunkett1@juno.com (Johnny J Plunkett)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998 00:00:45 -0500
X-Message-Number: 3

This sounds like standard manifest sons theology done by someone who
reads a lot of "Wired" magazine. The 3 levels correspond to the areas of
the temple in Jerusalem 1. the outer court for fundamentalists 2. the
inner court for pentacostals and 3. the Holy of Holies for the manifest
sons (immortal saints). The feast of tabernacles typifies the
manifestation of the sons. All manifest sons teachers try to give it a
slight twist of their own. If you start with a simple one like the late
Bill Britton (email Becky Britton  Harness707@aol.com) the fancy ones
will make more sense.   Johnny Plunkett
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----------------------------------------------

Subject: Nation of Yahweh
From: jplunkett1@juno.com (Johnny J Plunkett)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998 00:27:11 -0500
X-Message-Number: 4

RE: nation of Yahweh.AKA the Black Hebrews. they run a hotel and
restaurant in Atlanta, Ga according to an article in either the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution or the Creative Loafing a few years ago. It is
considered quite nice and cheap among the black community. Any contact in
the black community in Atlanta could give you abundant information I
would think. I know there has been some conflict with the Nation of
Islam.     Johnny Plunkett
________________________________________________
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---

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