Italians swept up in new religions and cults, Thursday, April 30, 1998, 12:16 p.m. PDT

ROME (Reuters) - More and more Italians are abandoning Roman Catholicism in favor of new religions and magic cults, an Interior Ministry report said Thursday. According to the Interior Ministry's findings, some 76 new religious groups with roughly 78,500 followers and 61 magic cults with 4,600 members have sprung up across the country over the last few years. Its list of new religions ranged from the Communita Mamma Gina which practices faith-healing, through the English-based Church of Cherubin and Seraphin, which carries out exorcism, to the Orthodox Catholic Church of Siri d'Antiochia, whose leaders are being investigated for fraud. The most worrying groups, the report said, were ``psychological-sects'' such as Scientology, which has some 7,000 followers in Italy.

Cult linked to subway attack meet outside Tokyo, Thursday, April 30, 1998, 3:11 p.m. PDT

TOKYO (AP) -- The doomsday cult blamed for a deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subways held a large meeting outside the capital on Thursday, raising fears that the group is making a comeback. The group gathered at a wooded site in Yamakita, 45 miles southwest of Tokyo, for a series of meetins that are scheduled to last until Tuesday. The meeting is the latest sign the cult is regrouping. Media reported 200 cultists participated. Japanese newspapers reported the meeting was mainly aimed at raising funds, saying the 200 members paid up to $1,520 each to attend.

Lyons considers Baptist link to Rev. Moon, St. Petersburg Times, April 29, 1998

Rev. Lyons, president of the Baptist Convention has discussed the possibility that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon could address his convention's annual meeting. Lyons met privately with senior leaders of Moon's Unification Church in January while he was in Los Angeles for a board meeting at the National Baptist Convention USA Inc. They discussed the possibility that Moon could address the covention's annual meeting, which is expected to draw 20,000 Baptists to Kansas City in September. Moon's representatives also invited the convention to join with the Unification Church in a special day of seminars devoted to family values. The Rev. Lyons, who has been charged with racketeering and grand theft, agreed to consider at least one of those requests and has had subsequent contacts with Unification officials, according to convention members who attended the private meeting. Full story.

British followers of U.S. guru released from prison, Wednesday, April 29, 1998, 7:49 p.m. PDT

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Two British former followers of free-love guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh were released from prison after serving more than two years for conspiring to kill a federal prosecutor, officials said Wednesday. British citizens Sally-Anne Croft and Susan Hagan, who were convicted in 1995 of involvement in a murder plot of a decade earlier, were released from a California prison Tuesday into the custody of immigration officials for deportation proceedings, authorities said. Croft, an accountant, and Hagan, an aromatherapist, were top officials in the free-love cult that attracted some 4,000 followers in the mid-1980s to a sprawling eastern Oregon commune known as Rajneeshpuram. Hagan already has been ordered deported to Britain and was scheduled to leave Wednesday evening, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Laguna Niguel, California. Croft was awaiting a deportation hearing scheduled for Friday. Rajneesh himself, known as the "rich man's guru" because of his taste for luxury including a collection of 93 Rolls-Royce automobiles, died in India in 1990.

California Church Not Liable for Punitive Damages in Sexual Exploitment Case, San Jose Mercury News, Wednesday, April 29, 1998, 6:50 p.m. PDT

The San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Stevens ruled the Ananda Church of Self-Realization won't have to pay $1 million in punitive damages assessed against its former leader, J. Donald Walters. Anne-Marie Bertolucci, a former Ananda church member accused him and other church leaders of abusing their authority by sexually exploiting her. A Redwood City jury r found the church liable for $330,000, Walters for $265,000 and senior minister Daniel Levin, 42, for $30,000. The church has said it is worth only about $1 million and that trial-related costs have brought it to the brink of financial collapse.

Pat Robertson settles libel suit with rebel professor, Tuesday, April 28, 1998, 4:01 p.m. PDT

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- Pat Robertson on Tuesday settled the libel suit of a former law professor who claimed the religious broadcaster likened him and other professors to Jonestown cult leader Jim Jones. The settlement was announced as jury selection was underway in the case. Its terms were not disclosed. The lawsuits stem from a letter written by Robertson in February 1994 in which he accused a group of professors of trying to shut down the law school at the evangelical Christian university he had founded. Hundreds of Jones followers poisoned themselves in a 1978 mass suicide at their jungle outpost in Guyana. The Branch Davidians died in 1993 when their Waco, Texas, compound burned to the ground after a 51-day standoff with federal agents.

Psychologist With Sex-Abuse History Runs School, LA Times, Tuesday, April 28, 1998

John Gottuso, a Pasadena psychologist who runs a church and Christian school, lost his license 9 years ago to practice because a state agency found that he was having sex with some of his patients. Two years later, another state agency forbade Gottuso from having any involvement with his church's preschool, partly because agency investigators said he once played "sex tag" under a blanket with two girls. Last month, Gottuso settled a sexual- and psychological-abuse lawsuit by 11 plaintiffs. And Monday, a Pasadena Municipal Court judge sentenced him to 30 days house arrest and five years probation after he pleaded no contest to demonstrating a sex act with a 15-year-old girl in late 1995 in front of a class at his Christ-Bridge Academy, now based in Altadena. Gottuso teaches and preaches to what disenchanted former followers describe as a sexually focused, psycho-religious cult based on unquestioning devotion and obedience to him. In court papers, plaintiffs in the civil suit gave accounts of Gottuso verbally abusing them with sexually explicit street language and making them believe that they were virtually enslaved by their own sexual desires, and that the only way to free themselves was to engage freely in sex. Adolescent girls said in court papers that he pinched or cupped their breasts, intimately hugged and kissed them and persuaded them to disrobe in front of him. Gottuso espoused a counseling therapy that he called psytheosynthesis, which melded psychology and theology to solve people's problems. He recruited some of his original followers, including the Rowe family, in 1979 when a member of the nationally known Campus Crusade for Christ invited him to a retreat in Guam to explain his theories. Later, some Crusade leaders began "rescue missions" to dissuade people from following Gottuso after hearing women complain about sexual abuse. Even today, Campus Crusade members periodically distribute fliers at the school warning parents and students of Gottuso's record. In 1989, the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance revoked Gottuso's license to practice as a psychologist after nine female patients, including married women, complained to state regulators that Gottuso engaged in a variety of sexual acts with them in violation of professional standards. Regulators found that Gottuso's treatment did more harm than good, leaving several of them "devastated emotionally, mentally, sexually and socially."

Japan cultist says didn't think gas was so deadly, April 24, 1998, 5:21 a.m. PDT Friday TOKYO, April 24 (Reuters) - A member of the Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth) doomsday cult who released sarin nerve gas on Tokyo subway trains testified on Friday that the sect did not realize the gas was so deadly. Yasuo Hayashi, one of five cult members who directly took part in the March 20, 1995, gas attack that killed 12 and sickened around 6,000, also said few cult members were aware the group was trying to produce the gas. The group released the gas on crowded subway trains by puncturing the plastic bags with sharpened umbrella tips. Prosecutors accuse Asahara of ordering the subway attack in a bid to bring down the government so the sect could take over the country.

AUM victims to get 22-23% redress in Oct., Friday, April 24, 1998, 12:54 a.m. PDT

TOKYO, April 23 (Kyodo) -- Victims of crimes allegedly committed by AUM Shinrikyo will likely receive compensation in October worth 22-23% of their claims against the religious cult, the court-appointed trustee in the group's bankruptcy said Thursday. AUM's assets totaled some 1.04 billion yen as of Wednesday while claims against the cult are worth about 5.19 billion yen or 20% of the assets, Abe said. AUM founder Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, and many senior cult members have been indicted on a number of criminal charges for a series of AUM crimes, including the subway gassing, which killed 12 people and made thousands of others ill.

"Vampire" leader loses bid for life sentence, Friday, April 24, 1998

TAVARES (AP) -- In a brief hearing Wednesday, Lake County Circuit Judge Jerry Lockett agreed with prosecutors' arguments that there was no misconduct by jurors who sentenced the 17-year-old to death in February. Vampire cult leader Rod Ferrell lost a bid to have his death sentence overturned for a life in prison. In February, Ferrell pleaded guilty to bludgeoning to death Richard Wendorf and Naoma Ruth Queen of Eustis, about 30 miles northwest of Orlando, on Nov. 25, 1996. Three other cult members were charged in the murders. Howard Scott Anderson pleaded guilty to being a principal accessory to the murders in exchange for two life sentences. Dana Cooper and Charity Keesee are scheduled to be tried later this year.

Natural Law Party candidate begins campaign for governor, Tuesday, April 21, 1998, 10:53 p.m. PDT

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Describing California as "a diseased patient," Harold Bloomfield began his campaign for governor promising a "natural, prevention-oriented approach to public policy." The 53-year-old psychiatrist and author launched his campaign to coincide with publication of his latest book, Healing Anxiety with Herbs. He is unopposed for the Natural Law Party nomination in the June primary. [Editor's Note: Harold Bloomfield is best known for his 1970s bestsellers on TM, including TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Overcoming Stress, written after becoming a Transcendental Meditation teacher. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi founded TM's Natural Law Party in 1992. Today it has branches headed by his followers in most developed countries. Critics allege it exists to promote the Maharishi's religious movement at taxpayers' expense through campaign matching funds.]

Rev. Moon develops new operations center, Miami Herald, Tuesday, April 21, 1998

JARDIM, Brazil(AP) -- On the edge of the vast Pantanal swamplands Moon's followers are planning the 74,000-acre New Hope Ranch, including a school, a university and a research center. It is a portion of an ambitious plan to develop education, agribusiness and tourism in 33 cities and towns within a 125-mile radius. Moon discovered the region around Jardim on a fishing trip in December 1994. Since then, he has spent $20 million to buy and develop three sites in the sparsely populated state of Mato Grosso do Sul, which borders Bolivia and Paraguay. Moon also is pushing a plan to turn the region into a more efficient agricultural producer. Sensitive to suspicion, Moon is soft-peddling his religion. His organization, called the Association of the Holy Ghost when it arrived in Brazil in 1975, recently changed its name to the Association of Families for Unification and World Peace. To get the word out, Moon plans to open a newspaper in Brazil. He currently owns dailies in Argentina and Uruguay.

AUM ex-member, a murder suspect leaves for Japan, Saturday, April 18, 1998, 5:17 p.m. PDT

PARIS, April 19 (Kyodo) -- A former head of the Russian branch of Japan's AUM Shinrikyo religious cult, placed on an international wanted list for a 1989 murder, left Paris Saturday for Japan, flanked by two Tokyo police officers, well-placed sources here said. The two police officers accompanying Toshiyasu Ouchi, 45, to Japan will arrest him during their flight to Japan or upon his arrival at Narita airport Sunday afternoon, Japanese police officials said. Japanese police put Ouchi on the wanted list on suspicion of conspiring with other cult members to kill AUM member Shuji Taguchi, then 21, at a cult facility in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, in February 1989, after they realized Taguchi wanted to leave the cult.

Diet enacts bill allowing AUM victims to get more money, Friday, April 17, 1998, 1:38 a.m. PDT

TOKYO, April 17 (Kyodo) -- The Diet on Friday enacted a bill allowing the government to drop its 460 million yen claim against AUM Shinrikyo, to increase the compensation to individual victims of crimes allegedly committed by the cult, whose leader has been charged with murder for the 1995 subway nerve gas attack in Tokyo. The bill became law after the House of Councillors, or the upper house, unanimously passed it. The bill had already been passed April 9 by the House of Representatives, or the lower house. Government sources said local authorities in Yamanashi Prefecture where many of AUM's complex was once located are also expected to drop their claims against the cult, totaling some 120 million yen. Meanwhile, the semigovernmental Teito Rapid Transit Authority, with claims of some 84 million yen against AUM over the subway gassing, will also drop its claims, the sources said. All these claims will be pooled so that the victims may be compensated for 23% of their total claims, instead of the 17.8% originally offered, according to the sources.

Unification Church gives up on mass wedding in Nagano, 5:48 a.m. PDT Thursday, April 16, 1998

NAGANO, Japan, April 16 (Kyodo) -- The Rev. Sun Myun Moon's Unification Church has decided to hold a mass wedding in New York, abandoning its original plan of staging the event at the M-Wave indoor ice arena in Nagano city in central Japan, city officials said Thursday. The church, officially known as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, sent a letter via fax early Thursday to Mayor Tasuku Tsukada, saying the church had decided to hold the wedding in New York because they have limited time for choosing the site for the wedding, the officials said. The application filed with the city April 9 said it will have a mass wedding and other attractions involving 15,000 people between June 25 and 27 instead June 9-11, its original plan.

Japanese cult killing suspect in Cyprus, Thursday, April 16, 1998, 2:44 a.m. PDT

NICOSIA (Reuters) - A leading member of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth) suspected of conspiring to kill a fellow cult member is in Cyprus, police said on Thursday. Toshiyasu Ouchi, 45, is wanted by Japanese authorities on suspicion of conspiring with other cult members in Japan in February 1989 to kill Shuji Taguchi, then 21, by throttling him to death with a rope. Aum Shinri Kyo was responsible for releasing sarin gas in the Tokyo subway in a March 1995 attack that killed 12 people and sickened thousands. Security sources insisting on anonymity told Reuters the absence of an extradition treaty between Cyprus and Japan was posing problems for the authorities. In Russia, Ouchi had been under investigation by authorities for suspicion of trying to revive the cult's activities in that country. He has a permit to remain on the island until May 6 and is under close surveillance, a security source said.

Duma votes to investigate Kiriyenko, Wednesday, April 15, 1998

MOSCOW (UPI) The State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, has voted to begin an investigation of acting Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko's ("sir-GAY kee-ree-YEN-kah") links to a group of Scientologists. The Communist opposition in the Duma, which is opposed to the appointment of the inexperienced 35-year-old technocrat to the post of premier, has been looking for ways to get rid of Kiriyenko. Hard-liners have pushed for a probe of Kiriyenko's background, and today a group called Popular Rule managed to place the Scientology link on the agenda. The Duma voted 184-19 to begin the investigation. Russian media reports say Kiriyenko attended seminars run by Scientologists in Germany, but the acting premier dismissed the story as an April Fool's joke. The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung says Kiriyenko attended seminars organized by the Scientologist Hubbard College and donated money to the movement.

Lenz found with dog collar around neck, Gannett Suburban Newspapers, Friday, April 17, 1998

Frederick P. Lenz III died with a cloth dog collar around his neck that had a rabies vaccination tag attached to it, Suffolk County Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. James Wilson said yesterday. Wilson said Lenz was dressed in a suit and tie, with the collar, when his body arrived at the office of the Suffolk medical examiner. The body was still there, unclaimed by family members, and not positively identified, late yesterday afternoon. Brinn Lacey, who reportedly told Bell that she took 50 of the sedatives, remains in University Hospital in Stony Brook. She provided this information, despite being described as "incoherent" when Bell first found her. Lacey also reportedly told Bell that Lenz accidentally fell into the Sound three days before his body was discovered by Suffolk County police divers. There are no plans for a funeral for Lenz. Tributes to him, however, were filling an Internet website: http://ramalila.com.

Lenz had ingested 150 pills, Thursday, April 16

YAPHANK, N.Y., April 16 (UPI) New Age guru Fredrick Lenz reportedly ingested 150 phenobarbital tablets before he was found dead in the water off his million-dollar waterfront home in Long Island. The Three Village Herald reports that 33-year-old Lacey Brinn, who was found at Lenz's mansion, said Lenz had taken 150 tablets of the sedative and she had taken 50. Lenz's dogs were also reportedly given the drug, but at least one of them has fully recovered. The Herald reports that Lenz was fully dressed and wearing a jacket when divers recovered his body Monday. Police say he may have been in the water for as long as 48 hours.

A special note to current and former friends and followers of Dr. Lenz

We at trancenet.net wish to express our condolences for your loss. Having talked with numerous current and former followers in the last few days, we have a measure of understanding for the confusion and pain this unfortunate event is spreading through your community.

Long Island guru's death under investigation, New York Times, Wednesday, April 15, 1998

ARDEN CITY, N.Y. -- So far, Dr. Frederick P. Lenz's death is proving as mysterious as his life. The body of Lenz, a New Age spiritual guru turned author and computer programmer, was found Monday morning by police divers in a cove behind his estate in the village of Old Field, on Long Island. Lenz, 48, apparently fell from a floating boat ramp and drowned, the police said. As of late Tuesday, the circumstances and cause of Lenz's death remained under investigation, and foul play had not been ruled out, the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office said. The preliminary results of an autopsy were "undergoing further study" before being released, the examiner's office said. It appears that at the time of his death he had no active, organized group of followers on Long Island or in California. Suffolk County Police chief of homicide squad, Det. Lt. John Gierasch said that during a routine patrol about 12:30 a.m. Monday, Sgt. Robert Bell of the Old Field Police Department noticed that outside lights were on at the $4 million Lenz estate, at 183 Old Field Road. Gierasch said that Bell thought this was unusual, went to investigate and found the front door of the house unlocked. Bell then found the caretaker on the premises, and entered the house. They encountered a 37-year-old woman who Gierasch said was incoherent. The woman, whom the police declined to identify, was taken to a hospital, where she was held overnight for observation.

Wealthy spiritual guru Lenz found dead on Long Island, Tuesday, April 14, 1998, 8:16 a.m. PDT

OLD FIELD, N.Y. (AP) -- Frederick P. Lenz III, a best-selling author who packaged Eastern philosophies for a '90s audience but was accused of operating a cult, was found dead Monday in a bay adjoining his $2 million Long Island compound. He was 48. Police said Lenz may have died of a drug overdose or accidental drowning. An autopsy was pending. "It appears he fell into the water from a floating pier, but the circumstances leading up to that are still unclear," Detective Lt. John Gierasch of the Suffolk County homicide squad said. Lenz's novel Surfing the Himalayas, which related snowboarding adventures and outlined Lenz's spiritual philosophy, reached No. 11 on the best-seller lists in 1995. The self-proclaimed guru also gave high-priced computer science seminars and founded a company called Advanced Systems Inc. He was on New York magazine's list of the "100 Smartest New Yorkers" in 1995. Zen Master Rama, drew criticism from cult-watch groups in the 1980s after he announced that he was the incarnation of a Hindu deity. Parents and former students accused him of manipulation and sexual exploitation of followers. He dismissed the criticism, saying some women followers had consensual relationships with him and then grew vindictive when he broke off the relationships. Report on Rama/Lenz Page

Unification Church gives up on mass wedding in Nagano, 5:48 a.m. PDT Thursday, April 16, 1998

NAGANO, Japan, April 16 (Kyodo) -- The Rev. Sun Myun Moon's Unification Church has decided to hold a mass wedding in New York, abandoning its original plan of staging the event at the M-Wave indoor ice arena in Nagano city in central Japan, city officials said Thursday. The church, officially known as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, sent a letter via fax early Thursday to Mayor Tasuku Tsukada, saying the church had decided to hold the wedding in New York because they have limited time for choosing the site for the wedding, the officials said. The application filed with the city April 9 said it will have a mass wedding and other attractions involving 15,000 people between June 25 and 27 instead June 9-11, its original plan.

Duma votes to investigate Kiriyenko, Wednesday, April 15, 1998

MOSCOW (UPI) The State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, has voted to begin an investigation of acting Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko's ("sir-GAY kee-ree-YEN-kah") links to a group of Scientologists. The Communist opposition in the Duma, which is opposed to the appointment of the inexperienced 35-year-old technocrat to the post of premier, has been looking for ways to get rid of Kiriyenko. Hard-liners have pushed for a probe of Kiriyenko's background, and today a group called Popular Rule managed to place the Scientology link on the agenda. The Duma voted 184-19 to begin the investigation. Russian media reports say Kiriyenko attended seminars run by Scientologists in Germany, but the acting premier dismissed the story as an April Fool's joke. The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung says Kiriyenko attended seminars organized by the Scientologist Hubbard College and donated money to the movement.

Japanese cult killing suspect in Cyprus, Thursday, April 16, 1998, 2:44 a.m. PDT

NICOSIA (Reuters) - A leading member of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth) suspected of conspiring to kill a fellow cult member is in Cyprus, police said on Thursday. Toshiyasu Ouchi, 45, is wanted by Japanese authorities on suspicion of conspiring with other cult members in Japan in February 1989 to kill Shuji Taguchi, then 21, by throttling him to death with a rope. Aum Shinri Kyo was responsible for releasing sarin gas in the Tokyo subway in a March 1995 attack that killed 12 people and sickened thousands. Security sources insisting on anonymity told Reuters the absence of an extradition treaty between Cyprus and Japan was posing problems for the authorities. In Russia, Ouchi had been under investigation by authorities for suspicion of trying to revive the cult's activities in that country. He has a permit to remain on the island until May 6 and is under close surveillance, a security source said.

Boston Theological Institute to sponsor talk, April 11

A panel of former cult members will speak at the Harvard Divinity School on Tuesday, April 14, from 5-7 p.m. in the Sperry Room at 45 Francis Ave. The discussion, sponsored by the Boston Theological Institute, will include well-known anti-cult activist and author Steven Hassan, M.Ed, LMHC.

Scientology church tells Germany to stop spying, Friday, April 10, 1998, 1:34 p.m. PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S.-based Church of Scientology Friday demanded that Germany stop spying on its members there and also reveal if its agents are conducting espionage activity in the United States and other countries. The call came in a letter to the German ambassador in Washington following the arrest of a German official in Switzerland on suspicion of spying on Scientologists there. It demanded that "the German government cease the illegal activity and disclose what espionage activities it conducts against Scientology in this country and in the more than 100 countries where Scientology churches and missions exist." German authorities put Scientology organizations under surveillance last June on suspicion of "anti-constitutional" intent. They said they would do all in their power during a yearlong observation to assess whether the group, which Bonn does not recognize as a religion, could be classified as anti-constitutional.

Radical group allegedly taps police radio over AUM probe, Friday, April 10, 1998, 8:08 p.m. PDT

TOKYO, April 11 (Kyodo) -- Records of digital radio communications used by police during their hunts for criminal suspects linked to the AUM Shinrikyo religious cult have been confiscated from a leftist radical group's hideout in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, police sources said Saturday. The sources said many radio intercept recordings kept by Kakumaruha (Revolutionary Marxist Faction) at its Urayasu hideout were related to police's AUM investigation. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department launched the raid Thursday and confiscated a large radio receiver, decoding equipment, and several thousand cassette tapes containing recordings of police radio communications. Radio experts said a handmade digital radio decoder confiscated from the hideout is very similar to digital radio sets police use and maybe modeled on a real one or its design, according to the sources. The police raid on the Kakumaruha hideout was based on evidence found during another raid conducted in Tokyo in January when police confiscated a memo apparently referring to police radio conversations.

American Public Hoodwinked by Government Budget "Surpluses", says TM's Natural Law Party, April 1998

A recent NLP mailing states President Clinton and Congress have taken undue credit for the recent U.S. budget "surpluses," but NLP claims that in reality they have created an economic illusion through deceptive federal accounting practices and that hey have not cut spending at all. Instead, they have borrowed surplus Social Security revenues to pay for excessive federal spending in other areas. [Editor's Note: The Natural Law Party was founded in 1992 by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Many critics allege it is a front group that advances TM's essentially religious agenda. With branches in most developed countries around the world, it is funded in the U.S. by tax dollars in the form of federal matching funds.]

Unification Church applies for mass wedding in Nagano, Friday, April 10, 1998, 7:43 a.m. PDT

NAGANO, Japan, April 10 (Kyodo) -- The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church has applied to the city of Nagano in central Japan to stage a mass wedding at the M-Wave indoor ice arena in June, Nagano city officials said Friday. The city is studying the application, which was filed April 9 by the church, officially known as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. The church said in its application form that it will have a mass wedding and other attractions involving 15,000 people between June 25 and 27, instead of the originally planned June 9-11.

Court inspects home of lawyer allegedly slain by AUM, Friday, April 10, 1998, 5:49 a.m. PDT

YOKOHAMA, April 10 (Kyodo) -- Officials of the Yokohama District Court on Friday inspected the home of a lawyer and his family who were allegedly killed by members of the AUM Shinrikyo religious cult in 1989, in the trial in which the parents of the slain couple are seeking some 490 million yen in compensation from the cult members. The court officials took pictures inside the apartment of Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his wife Satoko, photographing their belongings and bloodstained carpets. Four parents filed a lawsuit in December 1995 against the AUM and six of its key members, including leader Shoko Asahara. Asahara and the five other AUM members have been indicted on charges of killing Sakamoto, then 33, Satoko, 29, and their 1-year-old son Tatsuhiko in November 1989. Asahara faces numerous charges in 17 criminal cases, including one of murder in connection with the Tokyo subway sarin gassing in March 1995. The parents of Sakamoto and his wife alleged in their suit that Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, planned the murder because he considered Sakamoto a threat to the group's activities.

German watchdog apologizes to Swiss for "spying," Thursday, April 9, 1998, 1:34 p.m. PDT

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - The president of a regional German anti-extremism watchdog apologized Thursday to Swiss authorities after prosecutors in Zurich detained a German official on suspicion of spying. The ministry sent a formal apology to the Berne chief of police after the unidentified German man and his informant, a Swiss woman, were arrested Monday in the Swiss city of Basle on the border with Germany and France. The man works for Germany's Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution in the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, which forms part of the state's interior ministry. Swiss prosecutors said he was suspected of collecting information on groups in Switzerland linked to the U.S.-based Church of Scientology, as well as faking identity papers. The German ministry said there had been no intention of infringing upon Swiss sovereignty. It said the meeting with the Swiss woman was originally supposed to take place in Germany and it was not immediately clear why it took place in Switzerland. German authorities put Scientology organizations under surveillance last June on suspicion of "anti-constitutional" intent.

German official held over suspected Scientology spying, Wednesday, April 8, 1998, 4:05 p.m. PDT

BERN, Switzerland (AP) -- A German official is being held on suspicion of spying on the Church of Scientology, Swiss officials said Wednesday. An investigation has been launched into the official, who is suspected of trying to obtain information about the Los Angeles-based church from a Swiss woman, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. He is suspected of breaking Swiss law by carrying out "illegal business for a foreign state," working for a political information service and falsifying identification documents, it said. The man was arrested during a meeting with the Swiss woman in Basel on Monday, the office said. A judge in Bern ordered him held Tuesday. The Swiss woman was released after questioning. Neither she nor the German were identified.

18-year-old's damages against anti-cult group upheld, Wednesday, April 8, 1998, 4:40 p.m. PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A $1.09 million damage award against an anti-cult organization for its role in trying to "deprogram" a Washington teen-ager at his mother's request was upheld Wednesday by a federal appeals court. There was evidence to support a jury's finding that a volunteer was acting on behalf of the Cult Awareness Network when she referred the mother, Kathy Tonkin of Kirkland, Wash., to deprogrammer Rick Ross, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its 2-1 ruling. [Important Note: We do not recommend contacting the Cult Awareness Network, or CAN. An extraordinarily courageous and useful organization in the past, CAN was recently forced into bankruptcy with the help of the Church of Scientology, who now owns their records and mans their phones.] Tonkin had joined the Life Tabernacle Church with her six children in 1991. She left less than two years later, but her three oldest sons wanted to stay. Two, aged 16 and 13, were involuntarily deprogrammed by Ross, but Jason Scott, 18, resisted after being abducted and held captive for five days, the court said. Ross, of Phoenix, Ariz., was acquitted by a jury of a criminal charge of unlawful imprisonment. Two other men pleaded guilty to lesser charges of coercion. The appeals court focused on whether CAN was responsible for the actions of Shirley Landa, who referred Scott's mother to Ross. Landa was affiliated with several cult-related organizations and was CAN's Washington state "contact." She knew of Ross' practices, which had been shown on CBS' "48 Hours," the court said. CAN had also referred people to Ross. On the other hand, according to the dissenting judge, Tonkin had never heard of CAN when she called Landa on a local community service hot line. The court majority said the jury was entitled to find that Landa was acting on CAN's behalf. CAN functioned through its local contact people, had the right to fire them, and, according to its president, authorized them to tell the public they were acting on the organization's behalf, the court said. The court rejected CAN's constitutional argument, saying the organization was not being punished for its speech or associations.

Ex-AUM member given 6-year jail term for abduction, Tuesday, April 7, 1998, 8:00 p.m. PDT

TOKYO, April 8 (Kyodo) -- A former member of the AUM Shinrikyo religious cult was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for conspiracy in the kidnapping of the brother of another cult member and for damaging the corpse after the brother was murdered by the cult in 1995. The Tokyo District Court handed down the sentence to Yoshihiro Ida, 36, who was found guilty along with other AUM members on the same charges. The court said in the ruling that Ida, together with other AUM members including Yoshihiro Inoue, 28, abducted Tokyo notary clerk Kiyoshi Kariya, then 68, on a street in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward on Feb. 28, 1995. After the abduction, Kariya was taken to an AUM complex in Yamanashi Prefecture at the foot of Mt. Fuji for questioning on the whereabouts of his wealthy sister, who wanted to quit the cult and had earlier gone into hiding, the court said. He died at the complex after being injected with an anesthetic, it said, adding that his body was later cremated by the accused and other AUM members. Ida has admitted to participating in the crimes, saying he was only informed of the abduction plot at the time he was ordered to do it.

Church hunger strike keeps growing, Knight Ridder Newspapers, Monday, April 6, 1998, 8:43 p.m. PDT

MIAMI -- Headaches, bellyaches and even a few visits by Miami Police have marked the two weeks since members of an evangelical Christian church began a hunger strike to support their embattled pastor. But determination at the Camino de Santidad church has not wavered. Although a few have given up, the number of people spurning food to protest sex charges against pastor Daniel Garnicki is rising. They are protesting criminal charges lodged against their pastor, who was accused by Miami Beach Police of taking a 15-year-old girl from the church to a Holiday Inn for sex. The girl gave police a detailed account of the encounter -- such as the rental of a porn movie called "Raw Flesh" -- which was backed up by evidence, prosecutors say. Garnicki is charged with having sex with someone in his custody, an accusation he vehemently denies. His trial begins April 13.

Hare Krishna temple a bid to gain legitimacy in India, Miami Herald, Monday, April 6, 1998

NEW DELHI, India (AP)-- On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will open the newest Hare Krishna complex, which includes a temple and a cultural center where robots act out Hindu scriptures. The Hare Krishna movement -- formally known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON -- was founded in New York in the mid-1960s by Srila Prabhupada, an Indian who believed it was his destiny to spread the teachings of the Hindu god Krishna. Robot makers from Disneyland and Hollywood were putting the finishing touches this week on the likenesses of gods, scenes from Indian epics and computerized special effects. Devotees must incorporate into their daily lives four principles drawn from Hindu religious texts -- compassion, truthfulness, cleanliness and austerity. To uphold those principles, devotees do not eat meat, use tobacco or caffeine, have illicit sex, or gamble.The Hare Krishnas relied entirely on Indian donors to raise the estimated $6 million for the new temple.

Swedish royals deny Scientology link after video, Monday, April 6, 1998, 6:08 a.m. PDT

STOCKHOLM, April 6 (Reuters) - Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia on Monday firmly denied any links to the Church of Scientology after footage of the royal couple was used in a promotional video. Palace spokeswoman Cecilia Wilmhardt said old television footage, dating back 10 years, was used with a voice-over saying the king expressed his approval of the work of anti-drug agency Narconon, which is linked to the Scientology Church. She said the only contact the royals have had with the church was, indirectly, in 1997 when the King sent a telegram of congratulations to Narconon which was celebrating 25 years in Sweden.

Apocalyptic church struggling after Armageddon didn't happen, Friday, April 3, 1998, 10:34 a.m. PST

CORWIN SPRINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Elizabeth Clare Prophet, spiritual leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant, had warned back in the 1980s that a nuclear holocaust was coming. The bomb shelters were built, the food and clothing were gathered, the weapons were stockpiled, the fuel was stored. But when March 1990 slipped by without the prophesied disaster, her apocalyptic sect went into a skid it is still struggling to halt. Disillusioned after years of costly preparations for a calamity that never came, followers left in droves upon realizing the world would go on. Gilbert Cleirbaut, a 51-year-old management consultant and church member, became church president in 1996. He says he is guiding it away from survivalism. Cleirbaut (pronounced clehr-BOH) says those members who were "more balanced" understood that a holocaust was averted through prayer and have stayed. The shelter cost a fortune. Many church members helped pay for it, some by borrowing and mortgaging their homes in expectation that their debt would be obliterated by the coming holocaust. Cleirbaut admits that the church -- whose teachings involve karma, reincarnation, communal living, and a blend of Eastern and Western religions -- had to change directions after what is delicately referred to as "the shelter cycle." Drawing on his business background, he insists that the means used to restructure corporations can be used to revitalize religion. Cleirbaut says the church is still making a modest profit -- $554,000 in fiscal year 1996, down nearly two-thirds from the year before. But in the last few years, it has chopped its staff from 750 to 172. It has shut down its construction department, printing shop, food processing plant, farm and ranching operations, cafeteria, medical office, and book distribution center. The shelter is still there. But church officials say the weapons were sold long ago. "We're getting rid of everything that doesn't focus on our mission" of spreading the teachings of Mrs. Prophet, Cleirbaut says.

Japan cult in subway killings re-emerges, Detroit Free Press, Friday, April 3, 1998

TOKYO -- Three years after a nerve gas attack on a subway in Japan, the religious cult accused of killing 12 people and injuring 6,000 is making a comeback.     Former Aum members are rejoining in large numbers, according to police records. One reason, experts say, is a reaction to the government's attack. New followers "believe Aum Shinrikyo was indicted because of a government conspiracy," said Masao Miyamoto, a psychiatrist and author of the book _The Straightjacket Society._ A Tokyo court refused to outlaw Aum 15 months ago, saying it no longer posed a threat. In August, a report by the Public Security Investigation Agency, part of the ministry of justice, claimed that the group was growing stronger, with an estimated 550 full-time followers living in Aum facilities. By January, that figure had risen to about 2,000, according to police quoted by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Taiwanese cult arrives in New York, Buffalo News, Thursday April 2, 1998

OLCOTT, N.Y.-- (UPI) God's Salvation Church leader Chen Hon-Ming tells the Buffalo News he plans to relocate his church to somewhere along one of the five Great Lakes. They plan to visit various communities along Lake Ontario's shoreline and fly back to Texas next Wednesday.

Taiwanese Garland cult comes to New York State, Thursday, April 2, 6:19 AM EST

LOCKPORT, N.Y. (UPI) -- The Taiwanese cult that expected God to appear on television last week in Garland, Texas, are heading to a village near Niagara Falls today. About a dozen members of God's Salvation Church arrived in Buffalo yesterday, because they say God sent them a message to go to the small hamlet of Olcott on Lake Ontario. A spokesman for the group says that's where God will transport souls to the next dimension. The church members say they'll stay until April 8.

Cult members still waiting for God, China News, Wednesday, April 1, 1998

The 47-year-old Chen saw his prophesy fail amid widespread attention from media and followers when TV screens appeared as normal on the appointed day. There are indications that the high level of interest generated by the story within the Taiwan media has contributed to the cult members' unwillingness to return home. Some of the followers, in letters to family members in Taiwan, disclosed they are worried about being trailed by prying reporters once they return to Taiwan, and would rather stay a while in the United States for fear of losing face. Meanwhile, representatives from Taiwan's office in Dallas have continued to closely monitor developments and have offered to provide any necessary assistance to cult members and their relatives. Chen has said a catastrophic nuclear war will occur in 1999, from which God will save only 1.2 billion people around the world. According to Chen, Taiwan will be the first place to experience apocalypse in 1998, followed by the rest of the world in 1999. They maintain that God will supply flying saucers to whisk believers off to Heaven, which is actually another planet, claiming these spacecraft are already easily visible, although they are cunningly disguised as normal airplanes.

Sect leaving Texas, expects to meet God in Michigan, April 1, 1998, 8:33 p.m. EST

GARLAND, Texas (AP) -- Most of the 160 followers of "Teacher Chen" say they are not disappointed that neither promise came true and will now move to Michigan. There, says Chen, God will gather all worthy souls in a flying saucer and shuttle them to Gary, Indiana, to save them from a nuclear holocaust. The leader of God's Salvation Church did not admit failure. Instead, he gave a crowd of followers, reporters, neighbors, and police five minutes to decide whether to stone him to death. They didn't. Chen said he and a few followers would leave Garland Wednesday on a flight to Buffalo, New York, before moving to Michigan to await further instructions from God. Most of the rest will follow, selling houses they bought here in September. About 20 of Chen's followers plan to return to Taiwan this week, said Walter Hsu, a banker who had befriended followers of Chen's movement.

Excuses as cult leader explains why God failed to show up, Sidney Morning Herald, Wednesday, April 1, 1998

GARLAND, TEXAS -- God failed once again to materialize here on Tuesday as prophesied by Taiwan cult leader Mr Chen Hon-Ming, who quickly changed his prediction. "You yourself are Gods," Mr Chen told the 60 cult members, 80 journalists and about 20 neighbors at a two-hour event in front of his house in the Dallas suburb of Garland. When God didn't appear, Mr Chen asked each person present to shake his own hands. He then launched into a host of new predictions, announcing that his group was leaving on Wednesday for Buffalo, New York, to carry on God's work in the Great Lakes region. Mr Chen warned people not to eat meat or mistreat their cars. He said a non-vegetarian diet would lead to nightmares and told drivers that if they abused their cars they could run them over while they lay asleep.

Sect leader says God keeps Texas appointment, Wednesday, April 1, 1998, 00:39:47 PST

GARLAND, Texas (Reuters) -- A Taiwanese spiritual sect said God descended to Earth just outside Dallas Tuesday, but dozens of observers who gathered for the big event saw and felt little evidence of such a miracle. The sect's leader, Hon-Ming Chen, had predicted God would land at his home in the Dallas suburb of Garland, reproduce himself hundreds of times, shake hands with all those present and talk to each of them in their native languages. When the moment of truth arrived at 10 a.m. and there was little indication of any divine arrival, Chen had an explanation: God had entered the bodies and souls of all those present and those who didn't see him were denying their identity as humans. Chen said that if people think of themselves as "nothing more than a pile of bones and flesh" they would perish in "the Great Tribulation" -- a series of natural and man-made disasters such as floods and wars that will end in a nuclear holocaust destroying the world in late 1999.

Member of the Internet Link Exchange