F.A.C.T.Net Daily Newswire archives
for the week of May 17, 1999

May 21, 1999

Expert on apocalyptic beliefs fear Branch Davidians to repeat tragedy

Theologian Ken Newport has been studying groups that espouse predictions of an impending apocalypse. Referring to Newport's work, The Independent reports that: "Almost without exception, he discovered, those who became obsessed with the Apocalypse became filled with the conviction that it was a timetable of real events and that the end was about to come in their own time. The 17th-century Baptist, Benjamin Keach, thought it would happen in 1689. One of the founders of Methodism, Charles Wesley, thought Doomsday would be 1794. Perhaps most famously, the American preacher William Miller gathered his followers around him on 22 October 1844, all having sold their worldly possessions, quit jobs and moved to upstate New York, which was where Christ was due to return. The members of the Branch Davidian cult at Waco, under their wild and charismatic leader David Koresh, were seized with the same mindset." The difference between earlier groups and the Branch Davidians, Newport says, is that the Davidians not only believe the apocalypse is coming, but also that it is their duty to provoke it. Other cults also feel they have such a duty. Aum Shin Rikyo's deadly 1995 subway gas attack was intended to spark doomsday, and fourteen members of Denver-based Concerned Christians were deported from Israel when police uncovered their plan to instigate the apocalypse with a gunfight in Jerusalem. Newport has been studying materials recently produced by the successors of David Koresh who call themselves Students of the Seven Seals, some of whom are serving jail sentences. Newport believes they are preparing to create another Waco between now and August 6, which they believe is doomsday. The Students of the Seven Seals indicated to Newport by e-mail that David Koresh would be returning on that day with 200 million horses to cleanse the Earth and destroy everyone else. In order to help him with this task, the Students intimated that they would first have to die in the same manner of those who died at Waco. Newport fears they may try to instigate a showdown with officials to create that reality. [Source: The Independent (London), May 21, 1999]

Amazon.com reinstates sales of book that exposes Scientology

In February, Amazon.com stopped selling A Piece of Blue Sky by Jon Atack, a book that exposes Scientology from its founding in 1959 to the death of founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1986. The book is banned from sale in the U.K. for containing "defamatory language." Amazon.com would not comment on why it was removed except to say it was for legal reasons. Internet users besieged Amazon.com with criticism after Wired News printed a story on the ban yesterday. As a result, Amazon.com reversed its decision and once again is making the book available for sale, although sales to the U.K. are blocked. Amazon.com thanked Internet users for encouraging the company to "take a closer look" at its decision. Both barnesandnoble.com and books.com have offered the book for sale without interruption. [Sources: Wired News, May 20, 1999; ZDNN, May 20, 1999]

May 20, 1999

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary vows careful watch over Aum Shin Rikyo

Yesterday morning, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka vowed that the government would "carefully examine possible measures to be taken against the cult, whose activities have recently become more visible." Diet members meeting with Nonaka requested that Japan's Subversive Activities Prevention Law be revised so that it could be applied to violent activities of cults, particularly of Aum Shin Rikyo. They also suggested a new law be created aimed specifically at Aum. Nonaka indicated such a law would be difficult to create. Aum Shin Rikyo is the cult responsible for the 1995 subway sarin gas attack in the Toyko subway that killed 12 people and injured thousands. The cult is reported to be undergoing a resurgence in membership and financial resources. [Source: Mainichi Daily News, May 20, 1999]

Sentence of life in prison for Aum member demanded by prosecutors

Koichi Kitamura, a member of Aum Shin Rikyo, participated in the group's deadly gas attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995 by driving a fellow member to the subway to release the sarin in a subway train. Due to Kitamura's active involvement in the fatal attack that killed twelve people, and due to his failure to display any sign of regret for his actions, prosecutors yesterday demanded a life sentence for him. Kitamura admitted to chauffeuring Kenichi Hirose to the subway station, but claimed that he did not know that the sarin gas to be released there was deadly. Prosecutors rebut that Aum's leader frequently preached about the deadliness of sarin, and that Kitamura, as the leader's driver and bodyguard, must have witnessed the teachings. Prosecutors also believe Kitamura aided another fellow member to escape police after that member murdered a Tokyo notary public in an incident totally separate from the subway gassing. [Source: The Japan Times, May 20, 1999]

Proctor & Gamble's lawsuit against Amway dismissed

Proctor & Gamble is planning to appeal the recent decision by U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore to dismiss the lawsuit the corporation brought against Amway. P&G alleged that Amway distributors instigated false rumors that P&G was associated with satanic cults. A spokesperson for P&G said that the judge dismissed the suit because a similar suit had been dismissed in Utah, but that this action was in error because "the cases are different legally and factually. The judge [Gilmore] had already ruled that we had presented sufficient evidence of Amway's liability and that our case could go to the jury. We look forward to a retrial of our case as soon as possible." Amway denies its distributors spread rumors regarding P&G. [Source: Austin American-Statesman , May 17, 1999]

May 19, 1999

Teen Help network sued by mother of abducted boys

Donna Burke's 14 and 16-year-old sons were forcibly abducted from their hometown in Utah and taken to a residential "treatment" facility for teens in Tranquility Bay, Jamaica. Burke was frantic when her sons didn't arrive home from school. Then she discovered that her ex-husband had arranged for the abduction, had paid the facility, and had even received court permission to take one of the sons there because he had used marijuana. The other son, she says, had no reason for treatment. When she learned they were in Jamaica she contacted Teen Help, but was told she would not be allowed any contact with them. Donna Burke tried writing to her sons, but letters were not delivered. She even flew to Jamaica, but Teen Help directors would not allow her to see her sons. When the boys were released, they seemed fearful. According to the lawsuit Burke has filed against Teen Help, her sons were "afraid, haunted by nightmares, subject to panic attacks," and would not "go anywhere near a beach" or "voice an opinion on their own, fearful that it might not find approval." The Utah-based Teen Help program is facing other lawsuits as well, which claim as Burke's does that the teen treatment centers use cultic tactics of control, including physical abuse, humiliation, and meager allotments of food. Burke's lawsuit accuses the program of negligence, negligent child abuse, false imprisonment, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and breach of fiduciary duty. Burke is seeking damages from the network of centers and people associated with Teen Help, including: Tranquility Bay, The Caribbean Center for Change, Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs, Brightway Hospital, Resource Realizations, R&B Billing, Dixie Contract Services, Teen Escort Services, Key Kay, Robert B. Lichfield, Karr Farnsworth, Brent M. Facer, Jay Kay, Jean Davis, Lorraine Black, Delbert Goates, and David Gilcrease. Brightway Hospital in Utah was closed last year by the Utah Department of Health's bureau of licensing. Teen Help founder Robert Lichfield says the centers are effective. [Source: Salt Lake Tribune, May 12, 1999]

Ku Klux Klan branch makes presence known in New England

The American Knights branch of the KKK has blanketed at least three New England towns with posters claiming that blacks will take whites' jobs and that Jews run the government. The crude signs give contact addresses and phone numbers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Indiana. Lowell, Massachusetts police do not believe there is reason for great concern; two of the three people they found posting fliers in their town were from out of state, and one was from elsewhere in Massachusetts. American Knights is reported to be a new, aggressive, and growing KKK branch. It takes no part in attempts by the KKK to disguise or soften the impact of its message of Aryan superiority. According to Joe Roy of the Southern Poverty Law Center, "A lot of the Klan over the last 10 or 15 years has tried to take a step back. They are not racist, they are 'racialist.' They are not segregationists, they are 'separatists.' They don't hate anybody -- they just 'love white folks.'" The KKK has tried to sponsor adopt-a-highway programs and National Public Radio in some places in an effort -- according to the Boston Phoenix -- "to make hate more palatable." In contrast, the American Knights talk plainly of their hate for non-Aryans. The Boston Phoenix reports that 100,000 people in America belong to an organized hate group, 6,000 of which are KKK members. [Source: Boston Phoenix, May 13-20,1999]

May 18, 1999

Police in Japan raid Aum Shin Rikyo buildings

Early this morning, police raided two prefabricated buildings set up on land owned by a senior member of Aum Shin Rikyo. The land was bought in 1996 from a villager of the mountain town of Kawakami in Nagano Prefecture. The buyer lied to the villager by saying he ran a campsite management company, and then forged another person's name on the purchase contract. Since Aum Shin Rikyo's 1995 subway gas attack in Tokyo that killed a dozen people, and since the discovery of a number of other sarin releases by the cult that didn't kill anyone, police have monitored the group's activities, which have been on the rise. Aum responded to the raid of the prefabricated buildings in a statement, saying the raid was "a carefully engineered act of religious suppression, which is part of a current trend in which Japan is becoming a nation of war."

Dentists, not God, responsible for gold fillings

Two Canadian television evangelists are asking for apologies after incorrectly claiming that God gave them gold teeth. It was discovered that the gold teeth came instead from their dentists. Willard Thiessen, president of Trinity Television, said he was embarrassed to admit his brother Elmer, a dentist, actually implanted his gold tooth. Thiessen says he thought it was a miracle, partly due to about twenty claims of miraculous gold teeth among evangelical Christians. Similarly, Dick Dewert of Alberta told a television audience of his God-given gold tooth. Later, his dentist claimed to have done the work. Dewert recanted and said he had made an honest mistake. [Source: The Canadian Press, May 12, 1999]

May 17, 1999

Original Cult Awareness Network, Inc. files turned over to Scientology

Dr. Edward Lottick , president of the original Cult Awareness Network, Inc., reported last week that the files belonging to the organization had been turned over to Scientology as part of a legal settlement. Specifically, the records were turned over to Gary Beeny, the Scientologist who paid $20,000 for the $2 million award in the Jason Scott case against the original Cult Awareness Network. This purchase led to "CAN" being run by Scientology, whose members currently answer the phones. According to Dr. Lottick, "Scientologist Gary Beeny agreed to accept the records as payment in full of the Jason Scott judgment if the Board of CAN would give up the auction. This means that Scientology cannot depose and otherwise harass CAN Board members, former Board members, members at large, CAN donors, and even CAN employees for payment of debt, because the judgment is settled in full. The Board felt it best to go for a clean settlement, rather that leave nearly two million dollars in liability hanging over our collective heads which would have been the case had we gone to auction. The Jason Scott judgment is settled in full but the records are indeed gone. I wish I could report a better outcome but the deck has been stacked against CAN since the original Jason Scott case. We have had a series of poor judicial decisions ever since. Hopefully, it's over."

Sir John Latey dies at 85

An English judge who strongly denounced Scientology died last month at the age of 85. Sir John Latey was a Judge of the Family Division of the High Court for almost 25 years. In 1984, he presided in a custody case in which a mother was seeking custody of her children from her Scientologist husband. In Latey's ruling, he determined that Scientology was "corrupt, immoral, obnoxious, sinister, and dangerous" and "grimly reminiscent of the ranting and bullying of Hitler and his henchman." He also labeled L. Ron Hubbard "a charlatan," and stated that children in Scientology were undergoing "training for slavery." Latey married in 1938, had two children, and was knighted in 1965. [Source: Daily Telegraph London, April 28, 1999]

Austrian state backs off from attempts to ban Scientologists from civil service

Lower Austria was among several Austrian states seeking to ban members of Scientology from civil service earlier this month, but the state's commissioner on cults has decided against the ban. Commissioner Peter Pitzinger stated that such a ban would create martyrs for Scientology and that it would be more effective to keep the public informed regarding Scientology's activities. Scientology is not considered a religion in Austria. [Source: Die Presse, May 10th, 1999]