Newsweek 10/25/99 "….Forty percent of all Americans and 45 percent of Christians believe that the world will end, as the Bible predicts, in a battle at Armageddon between Jesus and the Antichrist, according to a new Newsweek Poll on prophecy. Fully, 71 percent of Evangelical Protestants, but only 28 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants and 18 percent of Catholics share that view……In the poll, large majorities of believers in the second coming of Christ believe that current events such as natural disasters (83%), epidemics like AIDS and Ebola (66%) and outbreaks of violence like shootings (62%), are a sign that it will happen soon. An overwhelming majority of believers in a second coming (95%) believe that, under such circumstances, it is important to get right with God and a majority (65%) think it is important to convert non- Christians…. (68%) expect that they will be going to heaven…."

Weekly World News 9/28/99 Ed Anger ".... I'm madder than a hungry lion gnawing on a skinny Christian over the way the idiot liberals are bitching and moaning about the latest survey of America's religious beliefs. A recent USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll stunned the nation by showing that an incredible 90 percent of Americans believe in Heaven, 79 percent believe in miracles - and a whopping 72 percent are certain that angels exist, by gum. Not only that, 27 percent believe in reincarnation and 28 percent of all Americans believe you can contact the dead. And guess who's crying bloody murder over these electrifying findings? The stupid bleeding-heart liberals, that's who. "This is just another ploy by Republicans and the dumb Americans who vote for them to force prayer back into our public schools," sniffed a lesbian atheist spokeswoman for the National Organization of Woman. But the real icing on the cake, by jiminy, was a blockbuster U.S. News and World Report survey showing that 61 percent, or 200 million Americans, believe Jesus Christ will return to Earth.. ...."

The Washington Times 7/14/00 Larry Witham "…….A global summit bringing 1,000 religious leaders to the United Nations will disclose some participants next week, good news to U.N. officials eager to plan security and protocol for the unprecedented Aug. 28-29 event. The "working list" to be issued Tuesday will not include personages such as Pope John Paul II and probably not the Dalai Lama, who reports no invitation. But the Vatican's Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian, will make the trek to New York City as will spiritual leaders from countries such as Peru who have never before left their native soils………… The Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders is organized by an "independent coalition" of interfaith leaders, and is being held in a year when nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, are seeking use of the General Assembly chamber more than usual…….."We're hoping in the next two weeks that their program will begin to gel," a U.N. official said………One casualty of the inevitable political delicacies may be the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet. China holds one of five permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council and long has opposed his speaking at the United Nations. "His Holiness has not been invited to the summit," an Office of Tibet spokeswoman in New York said Thursday……….The religious leaders are expected to issue a Declaration for World Peace and agree to some form of a permanent International Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders……..Mr. Turner, the summit's honorary chairman, has promised full live coverage by CNN......."

Sightings 7/19/00 Kathleen Keating "……
To: kathleen@finalwarningthebook.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2000 8:26 AM
Subject: Your July 17 interview with Jeff Rense
Dear Kathleen,
I listened to your interview on Jeff Rense last night (Monday 7-17-00) and something you said bothered me a great deal. ………….It was either the April interview with Art Bell or the May interview with Mike Siegel on Coast to Coast, when the subject of the Antichrist came up. You stated the antichrist was alive now, in the world, and when asked who he was, you refused to name him due to the grave danger it would cause. ……..When asked how you knew, you stated that he appeared in your yard, said "Hi" to you, paced back and forth, and that your dog could not even bark...and that this was unusual. This is archived in the Coast to Coast show files. ……..Now, last night you said the very same thing about Maitreya when talking to Jeff. ………… So, this means that either there no longer is any grave danger and Maitreya is the antichrist, or you are a fraud perpetrating a hoax. Either way, you owe it to both the Jeff Rense Show and Coast to Coast, and to the public who listen, to tell the truth about your feelings on this. I challenge you to do the right thing, publicly, on the air, and on your web site.
Your credibility is on the line.
Rick Visneau

From: Kathleen Keating
To: xxx
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2000 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: Your interview with Jeff Rense July 17, 2000
Dear Rick:
Thanks for writing. I stated on both Coast to Coast shows that it was not time yet and that when the time was right, I would reveal his name. ……….Unfortunately, things are moving much faster now and I feel that it is now time. That's why I said what I did last night (on Jeff's program). ……..It was good to hear from you, thanks for your email.
God bless,
Kathleen

Yahoo 7/26/00 "……/PRNewswire/ -- For the first time in history, religious and spiritual leaders of the world's diverse faith traditions will come together in New York on August 28th to discuss how to forge a partnership of peace with the United Nations. More than 1,000 leaders are expected. …..All regions of the world will be represented, as will the major faith traditions of Bahai, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Indigenous, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism. ...... The occasion will assemble leaders rarely seen together at religious gatherings, such as the Jingu Daiguji of the Grand Shrine at Ise, the Patriarch of Thailand, and Chief Patriarch Ehsin Watanabe of Mount Hiei from the Tendai School of Buddhism in Japan. Numerous spiritual leaders from the indigenous traditions around the world-such as Andean leaders from the line of the Incas-are also planning to participate. ….. Anticipated outcomes of the Summit are a Declaration for World Peace and plans for the establishment of an ongoing International Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders that can serve as a resource for the U.N. Secretary-General and the U.N. system in its conflict prevention and resolution efforts………``There has been a phenomenal response from religious leaders around the world. They see this as a unique opportunity to join efforts with the United Nations in a worldwide interfaith initiative. Our goal is that religious leaders from different traditions will work together to help resolve global problems,'' said Summit's Secretary-General Bawa Jain, who has been traveling to many regions speaking with religious leaders about the goals of the Summit……."

EWTN 7/28/00 "…… Organizers of the Millennium World Peace Summit hope to make history during four days of meetings at UN headquarters starting August 28. Dozens of leaders from religions large and small will convene in order to draft a statement of peace and to establish an International Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. …….. * Bawa Jain, Secretary General of the World Peace Summit, invited religious leaders in early June. ……* The long-term plan for the International Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders is that it will be a permanent advisory group for the UN Secretary General and the General Assembly. Advisory Council members would also be available to help in crisis situations around the world. ………..* The idea for the World Peace Summit has its roots in the World Parliament of Religions, but got its final push from US media billionaire Ted Turner who met last fall with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Ted Turner is known for having frequently insulted Christians and has made jokes about John Paul II. …….* Leaders have been invited from Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Judaism, Taoism, Chritianity, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and indigenous religions. The logo for the World Peace Summit is the symbol of each of these religions forming a circle around the symbol for the UN. It is almost identical to the symbol for the "New Age" United Religions Initiative [reported in last week's Friday Fax]. * Controversy already surrounds this first meeting. The Dalai Lama has not been invited to participate. Some believe this is in deference to the Chinese government. ……."

National Catholic Reporter 8/11/00 "…….Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a progressive frequently mentioned as a candidate to be the next pope, has advocated the creation of a "democratic and planetary" system of government that would transcend the powers of presently existing nation-states. …… Martini's proposal came in a July issue of the Roman daily newspaper La Repubblica. In an essay on human rights, Martini wrote that nations have the right to manage their own affairs, but in view of the universal nature of human rights, an absolute notion of sovereignty that prevents the international community from policing abuses is "anachronistic and unhistorical." Martini, 73, is the archbishop of Milan. ……. The cardinal supported "humanitarian intervention" in defense of suffering populations such as refugees, including the use of troops when other means have failed. Though "humanitarian intervention" was most recently invoked by NATO in defense of its bombing campaign against Serbia, Martini did not expressly approve or condemn that action. …….."

Stratfor 8/13/00 "…….On Tuesday Aug. 8 a gigantic swarm of locusts eerily eclipsed the sun near Volgograd. Along with frost, drought and inefficient farming, the locusts will leave Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States 25 million metric tons short of grain. Since most of these countries cannot pay market prices to import grain, Europe and the United States will likely soon dump their own surpluses on these markets. European and American agribusiness is in for a windfall, while the CIS will become steadily more hungry and dependent upon Western farmers. ……"

WorldNetDaily 8/13/00 JoAnn Kohlbrand Julie Foster "…..A working prototype of an implant designed to monitor the physiology and whereabouts of human wearers, known as Digital Angel[dot accent], is scheduled to be unveiled in October at an invitation-only event in New York City -- two months ahead of schedule. ……. Developed by Applied Digital Solutions, the device is said to be the first-ever operational combination of bio-sensor technology and Web-enabled wireless telecommunications linked to global positioning satellite location-tracking systems. ……. Applied Digital Solutions Chairman Richard Sullivan said the development of the technology has progressed well ahead of schedule. …… "We're extremely heartened by the remarkable progress made by Dr. Peter Zhou and his entire research team, including professors and their associates at Princeton University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology," said Sullivan. "This technology relates directly to the exploding wireless marketplace. We'll be demonstrating for the first time ever that wireless telecommunications systems and bio-sensor devices -- capable of measuring and transmitting critical body function data -- can be successfully linked together with GPS (global positioning satellite) technology and integrated with the Internet." ……… As previously reported in WorldNetDaily, Digital Angel[dot accent] is intended to serve a number of functions. In addition to locating missing persons and monitoring physiological data, the device will be marketed to the world of e-commerce as a means of verifying online consumer identity. ......,Similar to microchip technologies currently used as electronic ID tags for pets, Digital Angel[dot accent] is a dime-sized implant, inserted just under the skin. When implanted within a human body, the device is powered electromechanically through the movement of muscles and can be activated either by the "wearer" or by a monitoring facility. ….."

News View Today 8/15/00 Douglas James Bender "……In these times, like others before, many are claiming that they have identified the Antichrist. Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Gorbachev, and even Reagan are some who have been "identified" as the Antichrist. Now, however, with the apparent decrease of U.S. influence in the Middle East peace process, due to the negative relations currently between President Clinton and Yasser Arafat, a leader of the "Revived Roman Empire" (the European Union, it would seem) appears ready to fulfill the prophecy of Daniel 9:27 regarding the "'prince who is to come'" who shall "'confirm a treaty with many for one week'" (where "one week" means "7 years")………. The Bible indicates, in Daniel 7:23-25, that this "'prince who is to come'" will be the leader of, apparently, the 11th nation to join what is referred to as the "Revived Roman Empire". The European Union, given its form as a "union" of nations from the Old Roman Empire, and given its "arising" during the same generation that witnessed both Israel becoming a nation in 1948 A.D. and Israel regaining control of the holiest sites of Jerusalem in 1967 A.D., is quite likely the fulfillment of the prophecy of the "beast with 10 horns" described in Daniel 7. The "'prince who is to come'", the Antichrist, will apparently be the ruler of the 11th nation to join this "Beast"……If the European Union is the fulfillment of the "beast with 10 horns" of Daniel 7:7, then the Antichrist will be the ruler of the 11th nation to have joined that Union. Spain was the 11th nation to join the European Union, and the current ruler of Spain is King Juan Carlos. ………"

News View Today 8/15/00 Douglas James Bender "……King Juan Carlos was born in Rome, Italy on January 5, 1938 A.D.. His full name is, "Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor Maria de Borbon y Borbon". ….Juan Carlos (the son), from the age of 10, was personally trained under Franco's direction, and graduated from all three of Spain's military academies………According to Daniel 9:27, the "'prince who is to come'" (the Antichrist) shall "'confirm a treaty with many for one week'". A recent news report (Reuters - August 12, 2000 A.D.) stated that Israel is requesting that King Juan Carlos help "mediate" the current Middle East peace process between Israel and several of Israel's Arab enemies, primarily the PLO. The news report stated that those involved were hoping the planned meeting in Spain in early 2001 A.D. (or perhaps before) would "consolidate" the peace process. …….. "

EWTN 8/16/00 ".....The "UN News" informed in its latest edition that a "World Summit of Spiritual Leaders and Religious for Peace" will start on August 28 in New York, convened by the United Nations (UN). The "United Initiative of Religions", a group which "condemns the traditional notion of Christian evangelization" is in charge of organizing the summit. The UIR, meant to be the spiritual arm of the UN, "declares itself to be against the 'dogmatic' religions, as promoters of 'fundamentalism', as well as in favor of abortion, sexual freedom for adolescents, legalization of homosexual unions and against the 'unsustainable' population growth". The agency also indicates the search for a "new ethical code" that, based on the New Age syncretism, can serve as the "spiritual foundation of the new world order". ......"

The California Mission 12/99 Father Gerard Beigel, STD "……In his apostolic letter, "The Coming of the Third Millennium," Pope John Paul II asserts that we live in a time of a "crisis of civilization," brought on in particular by "the challenge of secularism." …….." "Secularism" refers to a system of thought and belief which explicitly or implicitly excludes God from human affairs. In short, secularism proclaims that the world we live in is all there is -- there is no God, or if there is, He is too far beyond our understanding to be of any relevance to human life today. The truth is that we are all too familiar with secularism -- it is like the air we breathe in our modern culture. ………Modern secularism is a profound challenge to Christian faith. Over the past two centuries secularism has not only undermined people's belief in God and in Jesus Christ, it has also undermined morality and with it the stability of family life. If there is no God, we must "create our own values." And since everyone's values will be different, there is no such thing as objectively right and wrong human actions. The secularist understanding of human values has become entrenched in our public school systems. As a consequence, there is little support today for parents who are attempting to teach their children respect for God and His commandments. There seems to be no limit to the capacity of secularism to erode all moral foundations of society. Almost thirty years ago abortion was legalized. Euthanasia is now legal in some states and countries, and there have been several ballot measures in different states to establish homosexual "marriage." It will not be long before infanticide of unwanted or medically handicapped children becomes accepted practice. As we consider all these varied manifestations of secularism, it is obvious that this social movement is as profound a threat to Christianity as any of the ancient heresies were.

Worldnetdaily 7/8/00 Andrew Sandlin "….. Every Nazi-occupied country of World War II had a resistance -- courageous patriots doing all they could to vex, subvert, cripple, and eventually destroy the monstrous Nazi regime oppressing their homeland. The Allied forces working to liberate Western Europe from Nazi occupation gained valuable assistance from each nation's resistance. ……. The Western world today is, by and large, occupied by hostile forces in many ways more monstrous than the Nazis. These forces, like communism and National Socialism itself, are committed to a rapacious secular humanism. They are incensed by any public expression of Christianity, and they violently oppose it. The prime objective of their elites is worldwide domination for the forces of anti-Christianity. ........."

Worldnetdaily 7/8/00 Andrew Sandlin "….. Early this June, for example, students at a public high school in Mississippi held a fully legal and constitutional out-of-class meeting in which they apparently experienced genuine, Christian revival. The principal, a professed Christian, did not step in when the five-hour revival spilled into class time. She was criticized and even vilified by the secular liberal elite. ...... The secular elite are not neutral when it comes to Christianity. It is not neutrality they want in the public arena, but dominance for their religion -- secular humanism. ……..This secular humanism is the dominant religion of our culture, not merely the schools. It pervades the arts, media, and technology, business -- and even many churches. Its goal is a radical transformation of the inherited Christian civilization of the Middle Ages and the Reformation to which colonial America and the early United States were committed. It is nothing less than a full-scale revolution designed to remake Western society in the image of secular, humanist man. Sadly, the revolution to this point has dramatically succeeded. …….We live in an almost thoroughly secular culture, devoid of almost all Christian civilization. ……"

Worldnetdaily 7/8/00 Andrew Sandlin "….. The new Christian resistance must change this. We must not sit passively by while unborn children are butchered, older children are indoctrinated in anti-Christian propaganda funded by our tax dollars, "churches" deny the core doctrines of the Bible, and country-club politicians surrender our liberties. We must write, pray, preach, teach, work, vote, telephone, and e-mail -- we must employ every legitimate peaceful measure to turn the tide of evil. A status quo Christianity that lopes along hoping all will be well simply will not suffice. It is high time that Christians say, "Enough! We will no longer tolerate abortion, euthanasia, pornography, feminism, socialism, gun control, tax-financed secular education, Hollywood sewage, immorality, and so on." ….."

Worldnetdaily 7/8/00 Andrew Sandlin "….. Second, we must return to the whole Word of God, the Bible. We must not think that the Bible's message can be reduced to the gospel. The gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is a central theme of the Bible; but it is not the only theme. The same Bible that says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31), also says, "Thou shalt not kill," and "Thou shalt not steal" (Exodus 20:13 and 15). ….."

Worldnetdaily 7/8/00 Andrew Sandlin "….. Third, we must recognize that Christianity is not a Sunday-go-to-meetin' religion, but an entire "life system," or worldview. The popular view which holds that all of our duties are discharged to God when we have attended church on Sunday and experienced a five-minute daily "quiet time" enjoys no approval from the Bible. The Scriptures tell us, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). ….."

Worldnetdaily 7/8/00 Andrew Sandlin "….. Finally, and no less importantly, we must rekindle our love for and devotion to the Triune God. This is the first and great commandment (Matthew 22:37-38). Ours is not fundamentally a political, or even a cultural, agenda but a religious agenda with profoundly cultural and political implications. …….Christians must return to their knees and cry out to God for revival and reformation, beginning in their own lives, families, and churches. There must be a restoration of fervent, biblical, Spirit-anointed preaching in our pulpits. There must be a revival of husbands' and fathers' decisive, manly leadership in the family and in the church. There must be a heightened dedication to training our children in the Faith -- and training them to assume positions of leadership in tomorrow's culture. When our territory is occupied by secular humanists, halfway measures will not suffice. ……"

World Net Daily 4/1/00 P Andrew Sandlin "….. (T)he process of secularization arises not from the loss of faith but from the loss of social interest in the world of faith. It begins the moment men feel that religion is irrelevant to the common way of life and that society as such has nothing to do with the truths of faith. -- Christopher Dawson …………. Now here is a perplexing fact: there are arguably more professing Christians per capita in the world today than ever before in history, yet the world is more secular than at any time in history. Rampant secularization is obviously not incompatible with an increasing number of Christians. How can this be? The mere hint that Christianity or the Bible may in some tangential way influence Congress, the courts, the government schools, major forms of art and media, and so on, is met with such vehement protest that the reports in the Christian media of extensive individual conversions and impressive revivals seem curiously irrelevant. ......"

Christian Science Monitor 7/12/00 Kim Campbell "….But the British Methodist Church is taking the discussion to a different level. It's welcoming convicted sex offenders into its 6,500 congregations, and it's established guidelines for how to help them rebuild their lives - while protecting the children in their communities. ……. Along with the Methodists, the Anglicans, and to some extent the Roman Catholics here have also addressed how to deal with the presence of sex offenders. ………."

Episcopal News Service 7/16/00 Joe Thoma "…… Bishops concurred with the House of Deputies on the morning of July 14, their last legislative day, in a resolution (C031) that encourages the Boy Scouts of America to allow adult leaders to serve regardless of their sexual orientation...."

London Times 3/5/00 Richard Owen "….. THE leading conservative contender to succeed the Pope yesterday said that the "Antichrist" was already on Earth in the guise of a prominent philanthropist whose concern for human rights and the environment and advocacy of ecumenicism masks his real aim: the destruction of Christianity and "the death of God". Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 71, the Archbishop of Bologna, said the Antichrist was not the beast with seven heads described in the Book of Revelation but a "fascinating personality" whose outward charm and plausibility had deceived his enemies. Cardinal Biffi said the Antichrist espoused vegetarianism, pacifism, environmentalism and animal rights. He also identified the Antichrist as an expert on the Bible who nonetheless promotes "vague and fashionable spiritual values" rather than the Scriptures. He advocates ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, including Anglicanism and the Orthodox Church. This appeared to be a worthy aim, but was in fact being used by the Antichrist in an attempt to water down and undermine Catholicism to the point where it collapsed. The cardinal did not say whether he had any particular world figure in mind, and his real target seemed to be the substitution of "feel-good" causes, such as ecology and humanitarian aid, for "true religion". …."

Catholic World News Service (Vatican Update) 6/19/00"…… The formal publication of the "third secret" of Fatima, together with a commentary prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will take place on June 26. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will present the new document to the media, along with the secretary of the Congregation, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone. The text will be published simultaneously in several different languages. The 40-page document contains a reproduction of the manuscript written by Lucia dos Santos, one of the three children to whom the Virgin Mary appeared at Fatima in 1917. Lucia-- the sole survivor among the Fatima seers, who is now a Carmelite nun living in Coimbra, Portugal-- wrote down the message in 1944. …… Until this year, only the first two parts of the message conveyed to the children by the Virgin had been made public. Those first two parts included a vision of Hell, a prediction of World War II, a call to prayer and repentance, and a warning that the Church would face persecutions which could only be overcome by the consecration of the world to Mary. The "third secret" had been very closely guarded, until on May 13 of this year Cardinal Angelo Sodano announced-- at the explicit request of Pope John Paul II-- that the message would soon be made public in its entirety. Cardinal Sodano made that announcement at Fatima, were he accompanied the Pope to celebrate the canonization of the two deceased Fatima seers. ......Cardinal Sodano said that the "third secret" concerned the "battle of the atheistic systems against the Church and against Christians. Of the 28 lines of the message, 2 lines refer to a bishop "dressed in white" who is shot down while marching toward the Cross. That vision apparently refers to the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981, on May 13-- the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. ..."

From the Vatican web site 6/26/00

WorldNetDaily.com 7/2/00 Jon Dougherty "…..A Catholic priest who says he has seen the original text of the "third secret" of Fatima disputes the official interpretation of the secret released by the Vatican…….. Now that it has finally been published, Catholics in the traditionalist faction say the version published differs from the original. Critics include a priest who says he has seen the original third secret text. …… Rev. Dr. Gommar A. De Pauw, founder of the Catholic Traditionalist Movement, told WorldNetDaily earlier this week that while attending the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council -- held between 1962 and 1965 -- he was shown a copy of the third secret. …….. Fr. De Pauw, a Belgian-born priest who attended the Council as an adviser, said that although he had to "let the Vatican's interpretation sink in," his first impression of the 27-page document explaining the third secret and placing it in context of the other two was, "Thanks, but no thanks." ……. Missing from the Vatican's explanation, he said, was a portion of the secret that predicted the fall of the modern Catholic Church. ……"While at the (Second Vatican) Council, I was given the text -- the supposed text -- of the third secret of Fatima," Fr. De Pauw said. "Journal reporters -- journalists -- gave it to me" and a few others in attendance. …."They left it for me in a strange way, really," he said. "At my desk, in front of me, in the press room." Besides serving the Vatican in various functions and manners over the years, Fr. De Pauw said he was also an "accredited journalist," which, he said, explained his presence in the press area. Fr. De Pauw, who couldn't remember the reporter's name, said, "word got out among the journalists" that a copy of the text was "floating around." "Reporters would increasingly ask me, 'Is this real? Is it genuine?'" he said. ……."

EWTN News 2/7/00 "…. For the first time since 1978, the number of priests in the world rose last year. That was one of the key findings in a compilation of statistics about the Catholic Church, issued by the Vatican on February 5…… Europe now accounts for only 27.8 percent of the world's Catholics; Africa for 11.4 percent, Asia 10.5 percent, and Oceania only 0.8 percent……"

NY POST 2/15/00 Fredrick Dicker "….. WHEN Father Dennis Brennan, the longtime pastor of St. Margaret of Cortona Roman Catholic Church, goes on his weekly trip to the grocery store, he looks, well, unusual. The 5-foot 8-inch, balding, Irish-born priest wears a dark, full-length dress, an ill-fitting ladies' white wig, and a silver necklace. He also sports a lady's shoulder bag. ……"

AP 6/10/99 "...Pope John Paul II stressed loyalty to the church today and cautioned young people against falling victim to "travesties of religion, or to manipulations of the truth.'' ....[ re: Russian martyrs] John Paul said. "'How sweet it is to die for the faith.' These were their last words.'' Such devotion was needed today, he said, citing "problems and violent changes'' facing humanity. "In such a world, many people, especially the young, feel lost and wounded,'' the pontiff said. "Some fall victim to sects and travesties of religion, or to manipulations of the truth. Others succumb to different forms of slavery. Attitudes of selfishness, injustice and insensitivity to the needs of others become more widespread.''..."

EWTN 1/20/2000 "….Almost one year ago, a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) announced that they intend to get the Vatican kicked out of the United Nations. …. * The leader of the campaign is Frances Kissling, President of Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC), an NGO dedicated to overturning official Catholic teaching on contraception and abortion….* Called "See Change", the campaign began with 70 organizations, including one of the most powerful UN NGOs, International Planned Parenthood Federation, the largest abortion provider in the world. …..* Participants include the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, Equality Now, Marie Stopes International, the National Abortion Federation, the Feminist Majority, the Sierra Club, Population Concern, Center for Research on Population and Security, the American Humanist Association, and Atheists United. The list includes groups from more than a dozen countries…"

EWTN 7/16/99 NEW YORK (CWNews.com) 7/19/99 "... A UN committee focusing on women's rights has pressured governments to stop promoting motherhood and called on religions to change the interpretation of their sacred texts as part of a campaign to promote radical feminism, according to a Catholic pro-family group on Friday. The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute said the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has used the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to put pressure on the 163 countries that have ratified it to implement their vision of feminism. The committee recently directed the government of Libya to reinterpret the Koran, the sacred text of Islam, "in light of the provisions of the Convention." ....The Committee criticized Croatia for allowing "church-related organizations to adversely influence" women's rights. It told the Dominican Republic that an "intermingling of the secular and religious spheres" is a "serious impediment to implementing the Convention." .....The group also admonished Armenia to "use the educational system and electronic media to combat the traditional stereotype of women 'in the noble role of mother,'" and the Czech Republic was criticized for "over-protective measures for pregnancy and motherhood." ..."

Agence France-Press 4/3/00 "…….. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday characterized Pope John Paul II as "the most important socialist in the world," lauding him for making the plight of the poor and solidarity key themes of his papacy. "Globalization can also have destructive effects but we must pursue, as the pope says, its positive aspects," the former Soviet leader said in a speech to students of Rome's Sapienza University. "Wherever John Paul II goes on his trips, he will always speak of the poor and of solidarity. He is the most important socialist in the world." If globalization is to be fair, the gap between North and South must not be deepened, and political and economic freedom and social justice must be granted, he added. Gorbachev said he was convinced that the outcome of Russia's presidential elections would allow President-elect Vladimir Putin to break with the past. "I have told him this personally," he said. "Now it is up to him to radically change things without losing time." ......"

Catholic Telecommunications 5/30/00 "……British government plans to lift the ban on men kissing in public have been opposed by a Catholic women's group. The proposal is part of the package of sex law reforms which was announced earlier this week. While the National Board of Catholic Women (NBCW) welcomed the "long overdue" changes which would protect men from rape, it remains opposed to proposals which would allow men to kiss in public -- currently considered an act of indecency. NBCW President, Freda Lambert, told The Universe newspaper: "We do not oppose homosexuality, but men kissing in public is a homosexual practice and we do oppose it. It would make us feel uncomfortable." ….."

Chicago Sun-Times 5/27/00 Thomas Roeser "…..A new book could well be a prelude to a new campaign by abortion proponents that ties false reasoning and misapplications of early church fathers Augustine and Aquinas to a rationale for abortion a full seven months after conception. The book by Daniel A. Dombrowski and Robert Deltete is published by University of Illinois Press and entitled A Brief, Liberal Catholic Defense of Abortion. Brief it is (158 pages), liberal it undeniably is, but Catholic it certainly is not. Its argument utilizes quaint, medieval philosophy of nature, the only knowledge known to Augustine and Aquinas at the time, to attempt to justify what certainly the two saints would not--abortion at seven months following conception. It argues that up to that point the unborn child is not a human, but just as "a pile of wires and switches is not an electrical circuit," a "collection of nerve cells is not a functioning brain." …..

telegraph /UK 7/2/00 Bruce Johnston "…… A BISHOP blamed Italy's permissive society yesterday for the actions of three middle-class teenage girls whose brutal murder of a mother superior "for a lark" has shocked the country. The girls confessed to killing Mother Maria Laura Mainetti, 61, two days after they were arrested on Wednesday. Police said they told officers, "with an incredibly cynical and determined manner, like mafiosi", that she died as part of a joke. The trio - one aged 16 and the others 17 - were tracked down after a witness reported seeing them with the victim, who was discovered stabbed and bludgeoned in a park in Chiavenna, northern Italy, in early June. ……. Residents of Chiavenna, a prosperous town of 7,000 inhabitants near Lake Como, were stunned by the news. Mother Maria Laura's convent specialises in working with drug addicts and prostitutes, and it was thought at first that she had been attacked by one of those being helped. ….."

Spirit daily 7/4/00 "……The chief exorcist in Rome states in a new book that infestations of evil are on the rise and in some instances skyrocketing, especially in the form of seances, witchcraft, and satanic cults. "Unfortunately, in the past fifteen years, we have witnessed an increase, almost an explosion, of these types of associations," says the exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth. …….The priest also points out that any form of magic, the occult, or psychic phenomena is dangerous. "There are no such things as `white' and `black' magic," writes Amorth. "There is only black magic. Every form of magic is practiced with recourse to satan." ……Amorth is also concerned with false visionaries who "simply by sitting in front of a blank piece of paper with a pen in their hands are able to write page after page of spontaneous messages." The most frequent signs of evil influence, he says, are "visions, locutions, false mysticism, or the claim to be a visionary. In these circumstances, when we are not in the presence of psychological illnesses, we are often confronted with the deception of demons." ……..Amorth says the presence of evil is often manifested by insomnia, headaches, or stomachaches; or general malaise that happens in particular settings. Often, he says, diabolical possession is mistakenly considered a mental illness. "I must point out that too many churchmen are totally disinterested in these problems, and so they leave the faithful defenseless," he warned. …."

WorldNetDaily.com 7/6/00 Jon Dougherty "….Detractors of the Vatican's official version of the third secret of Fatima point to reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary that occurred in the early 1970s as evidence that the newly released secret could be false, or, at a minimum, incomplete. ….Critics of the version of the third secret released by Rome last month say that it is not the "real secret," and that key portions contained in another version believed to be authentic by some Catholic traditionalists have also been "foretold" by the Holy Mother to a nun in Japan in 1973. Those apparitions, known collectively as the "Message of Akita," were revealed to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa, beginning June 12, 1973, and lasting nine years, according to various sources. …..Included in those apparitions were these messages:

* July 6, 1973: "Is the infirmity of your ears painful? Your deafness will be healed. Does the wound of your hand cause you to suffer? Pray in reparation for the sins of men. [The apparition gave the text of a prayer.] Pray very much for the pope, bishop and priests. Tell your superior all that passed today. ..."

* Aug. 3, 1973: "If you love the Lord, listen to what I have to say to you. It is very important; you will convey it to your superior. Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console him to soften the anger of the heavenly father. I wish, with my son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates.

"In order that the world might know his anger, the heavenly father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering him the sufferings of the son on the cross, his precious blood, and beloved souls who console him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the father's anger. ... Even in a secular institute, prayer is necessary. Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together. Without attaching too much attention to the form, be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the master."

* Oct. 13, 1973: "My dear daughter, listen well to what I have to say to you. You will inform your superior. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises, and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them. Today is the last time that I will speak to you in living voice. From now on you will obey the one sent to you and your superior."

The final date of the prophecy given to Agnes by the Holy Mother, researchers point out, was 56 years to the day after the Virgin Mary stopped appearing to the three Portuguese visionaries. ……."

* St. Malachy O'Morgair (1095?-1148)
While on his way to the Vatican to assume the post of papal legate for Ireland, he fell into trance and saw a line of papal reigns stretching from the successor to Innocent II and extending through centuries to the last of the line, identified as Peter of Rome. Malachy assigned short descriptions in Latin to each pope when he committed his vision to paper. These mottoes usually refer to a family name, birthplace, coat-of-arms, or office held before election to the papacy. Some of the phrases are multiple prophecies, written with ingenious word play. For example, Pius II, who reigned for only 26 days in 1503, was aptly described as "De Parvo Homine" (from a little man). His family name was Piccolomini, Italian for "little man."

Here are descriptions of the final popes according to Malachy:
* Pastor et Nauta/Shepherd and Navigator: John XXIII (1958 -1963), patriarch of Venice (a city full of sailors) led his flock to a modernization of the Church through the Ecumenical Council. John chose two symbols for this Council -- a cross and a ship.

* Flors Florum/Flower of Flowers: Paul VI (1963-1978) had a coat-of-arms depicting three fleurs-de-lis.

* De Medietate Lunae/From the Half Moon: John Paul I (1978-1978) had the given name of Albino Luciani or "white light." Half-way into his short reign, a lunar eclipse occurred. (my Note: John Paul I reigned for exactly 1 lunar cycle...)

* De Labore Solis/From the Toil of the Sun [Labore could also be Effort, Distress, Suffering, Trouble, leading to quite a few variations. The preceding is the usual translation.]: John Paul II was born during the solar eclipse of May 18, 1920.

* De Gloria Olivae/From the Glory of the Olives: The Order of Saint Benedict has claimed that this pope will come from their ranks. Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil. (My Note: Is this the Pope in the third secret that is killed?)

* Petrus Romanus/Peter of Rome: The Final Pope? "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people." According to him Peter of Rome is the last Pope before Christ returns...

* John of the Cleft Rock (14th Century) Towards the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rob the Church and the clergy of all their possessions and will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem. At that time, the Pope with his cardinals will have to flee Rome in tragic circumstances to a place where they will be unknown. The Pope will die a cruel death in his exile. The sufferings of the Church will be much greater than at any previous time in her history. But God will raise a holy Pope, and the Angels will rejoice. Enlightened by God, this man will rebuild almost the whole world through his holiness. He will lead everyone to the true Faith. (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, Tan Books and Publishers, 1973)

* Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th Century) The fifth period of the Church, which began circa 1520, will end with the arrival of the holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called "Help From God" because he will restore everything. The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on earth. During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them. It is of such men that Jude the Apostle spoke when he said, "These men blaspheme whatever they do not understand; and they corrupt whatever they know naturally as irrational animals do." They will ridicule Christian simplicity; they will call it folly and nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge, and for the skill by which the axioms of law, the precepts of morality, the Holy Canons and religious dogmas are clouded by senseless questions and elaborate arguments. These are the evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power almost everywhere. but God will permit a great evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down churches and destroy everything.

* Sister Elena Aiello (20th Century, Italy) Oh, what a horrible vision I see! A great revolution is going on in Rome! They are entering the Vatican. The Pope is all alone; he is praying. They are holding the Pope. They take him by force. They knock him down to the floor. They are tying him. Oh. God! Oh, God! They are kicking him. What a horrible scene! How dreadful! . . . The flock is about to be dispersed and the Pope will suffer greatly."

(Albert J. Hebert, Prophecies! the Chastisement and Purification!, P.O. Box 309, Paulina, LA 70763)

* Leo XIII On October 13, 1884, Leo had just completed a celebration of Mass in one of the Vatican's private chapels. Standing at the foot of the altar, he suddenly turned ashen and collapsed to the floor. After a few minutes spent in what seemed like a coma, he revived and remarked to those around him, "Oh, what a horrible picture I was permitted to see!" What Leo had apparently seen, as described later by those who talked to him at the time of his vision, was a period of about one hundred years when the power of Satan would reach its zenith. That period was to be the twentieth century. Leo was so shaken by the specter of the destruction of moral and spiritual values, both inside and outside the Church, that he composed a prayer which was to be said at the end of each Mass celebrated anywhere in the Catholic Church. This prayer to Michael the Archangel was said continuously until the Mass was restructured in the Second Vatican council.

* Pius X

During an audience for the general chapter of the Franciscan order in 1909, the pontiff appeared to enter a trance. Those present remained motionless and silent. After a few moments, Pius opened his eyes, rose from his seat, and cried, "What I have seen is terrifying! Will I be the one, or will it be a successor? What is certain is that the Pope will leave Rome and, in leaving the Vatican, he will have to pass over the dead bodies of his priests!" He then cautioned the witnesses, "Do not tell anyone this while I am alive." Just before his death, Pius had another vision. "I have seen one of my successors, of the same name, who was fleeing over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in some hiding place; but after a brief respite, he will die a cruel death. Respect for God has disappeared from human hearts. They wish to efface even God's memory. This perversity is nothing less than the beginning of the last days of the world."

AP 7/10/00 Selcan Hacaoglu "…….In his last hours in Italy, Agca offered profuse thanks to the pope, who had personally forgiven and comforted his would-be killer during a 1983 visit to Agca's prison cell. But as he was moved out of the Istanbul courtroom Monday, Agca, white-haired after nearly two decades in jail, shouted: "The Vatican is the enemy of God, it is the enemy of humanity!" "I will make the Vatican empire - the enemy of humanity - feel remorse," he said. "I have launched a cultural war against the Vatican." Agca also issued a handwritten statement through his lawyer accusing the Vatican of "changing" the secrets of Fatima and of orchestrating the 1981 assassination attempt against the pope. ……."Oh My Dear Brother Pope: RESIGN!, resign right away and return to Poland," Agca wrote. "You are a good man. You cannot sit at the top of the devil's center, the Vatican and at the top of history's dump. "My Catholic brothers, I love you, why do you not abandon a Vatican which arranges the assassination of its own pope?" ......"

WorldNetDaily 7/5/00 Jon Dougherty "….. The Vatican's release of the 'third secret of Fatima has sparked controversy in a number of Catholic quarters with experts, researchers, religious figures and authors debating whether or not the released secret is authentic, and if not, what the real secret actually says and means…… Michael Brown, a noted Catholic author and researcher, said he is aware that some traditionalists routinely disparage Vatican announcements and policies, but noted that not all traditionalists fall under a category one might describe as "extreme." Regarding the Fatima prophesies, Brown told WorldNetDaily that, while not an official "expert," he has spent a great deal of time and energy researching the phenomenon, as well as its lone surviving visionary, the 93-year-old Sr. Lucia de Santos……. "I would be intensely skeptical of anyone who saw that secret except for those who were privy to the Holy Office," where the secret has been kept since 1957, Brown said. "Cardinal Ratzinger [the Vatican official who wrote the interpretation] and Pope John Paul II certainly had read the secret before it was revealed, but I don't believe [others] saw it first." ……… Brown noted that there have been "false versions" of the third secret circulated prior to its official release this month. ……One notable release of an alleged false secret, Brown said, occurred in a German publication in 1963, a year after the Second Vatican Council was underway. That version contained elements asserted by De Pauw, including the penetration of the Church by Satan, along with its resultant fall in modern times, and a description of global destruction, resulting in "the time of times and the end of all ends." "Sr. Lucy herself said that version was bogus," Brown said. ……"

WorldNetDaily 7/5/00 Jon Dougherty "….. Brown disputed that, adding that Lucia -- if the Vatican approves -- is even set to publish a new book entitled, "Os apelos da Mensagem de Fatima," that answers many questions she has received over the years from pilgrims. Other "hidden" insights that Brown did find, however, include revelations:
* ... that the pope did indeed believe that the intervention of Mary deflected the bullet that struck him May 13, 1981, causing it to take a path away from vital organs. According to John Paul II himself, "it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the pope halted at the threshold of death."
* ... that there is an intense spiritual struggle in the present age. "The Evil One has power in this world," is the way the Vatican phrased it, and evil attempts to "steer our freedom" away from God.
* ... that Fatima is "the most prophetic of modern apparitions" and has "drawn back on a series of events which make history and interpret it in depth, in a spiritual perspective alien to present-day attitudes, often tainted with rationalism." This statement was a clear rebuke of overly intellectual and scientific approaches to the ultimate truths in today's society.
* ... that John Paul II first read the secret not in 1979, as widely thought, but only after his shooting. It was received by Cardinal Franjo Seper of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 18, 1981, in two envelopes: one white, containing Lucia's original text, and the other orange with an Italian translation. John Paul then read it and it was returned to the Archives of the Holy Office, where it had been so confidentially kept since 1957.
* ... that John Paul specifically asked for deliverance of the world and all the nations from nuclear war during the special Consecration of the world to Mary in 1984, which Lucia says prevented a war that would otherwise have occurred in 1985. Had the Consecration not occurred -- had John Paul not invoked "Our Blessed Mother's light of Hope" -- the angel with the flaming sword would not have been drowned out by Mary's light. The sword itself sounded like [multiple warheads] tipped with multiple nuclear bombs……..
"That the media did not pick up at all that [in the third secret] you had an angel poised with a sword was incredible," Brown added. "That had not been revealed on May 13," when the pope authorized a Vatican spokesman to release a short summary of the secret. ……"

WorldNetDaily 7/5/00 Jon Dougherty "…..Kathleen Keating,, who has just finished publishing, "Final Warning: The Book," an apocalyptic nonfiction prose about -- among other things -- subjects discussed in the version of the third secret held by De Pauw -- told WorldNetDaily her sources inside the Vatican confirmed long ago the version which predicts the fall of the modern Catholic Church. "When he was in Fatima May 13, the pope said we are in the midst, basically, of chapter 12, Verse 3 of the Book of Revelation," Keating said. According to The Living Bible, Revelation 12:3 reads, "Suddenly a red Dragon appeared, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his head." The "red Dragon" is then described in Revelation 12:9 as Satan. ……. Yet, she pointed out, in Ratzinger's interpretation of the third secret, he wrote, "The future is not, in fact, unchangeably set, and the image which the [three Portuguese] children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed." ……"How can the Vatican support the Word of God, as stated in the Bible, which prepares us for the tribulations in Revelation, then suggest that the future can be changed? That's hypocritical. The future can be mitigated, but not changed," Keating said. ……"

WorldNetDaily 7/5/00 Jon Dougherty "…..In the first secret, for example, the Vatican accepts Lucia's description of Hell shown her by Mary. Yet, in Ratzinger's interpretation of the third secret, he wrote that at its conclusion it "uses images which Lucia may have seen in devotional books and which draw their inspiration from long-standing intuitions of faith." ………."On the one hand, the Vatican accepts her vision of Hell at face value, but on the other hand, Rome now seems to be saying the visions in her third secret -- which, again, were also shown to her at nearly the same time by the Virgin Mary -- are part of her imagination," said Keating. "Which is it? Is Sr. Lucia right all of the time in what she and the other children saw, only part of the time, or none of the time? She has not changed her story since 1917." ……"

CNS News 7/5/00 Bob Melvin "……. With "World Pride 2000," an international gathering of homosexuals in Rome, underway this week, Vice President and presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Al Gore, a supporter of the celebration in Italy, has told the Catholic League that he urges 'tolerance' of homosexuals. On June 1, Catholic League president William Donohue, in a letter to Gore, asked him to support the Vatican's request that the World Pride 2000 march in Rome, scheduled for this Saturday, either be postponed or moved to another location so as not to interfere with the Roman Catholic Church's "Jubilee 2000" celebration. ………Donohue told Gore in the letter that leaders of the World Pride 2000 event said they chose Rome as the venue for their homosexual celebration so they could offend the Vatican. Gore responded to Donohue's letter on July 3 by saying that he respected the Catholic League for its work against intolerance and "all organizations that are committed to ridding our society of bias and prejudice. "This is one issue where I will be unable to help," Gore stated. He went on to say, "I believe that the larger issue is one of tolerance. Just as I will stand by you whenever you are working to fight intolerance on religious grounds, I also believe we need to be tolerant when it comes to sexual orientation as well." ……In response to Gore's fax received on Monday, Donohue said, "My letter to the vice president was occasioned by the expressed intolerance of Roman Catholicism by the leaders of the World Gay Pride march, and he writes back saying 'the larger issue here is one of tolerance' for sexual orientation! ……."

The London Telegraph 2/20/99 Bruce Johnston "……. TO the amusement of the Italian public but the consternation of the Vatican, nuns and priests in Rome have become catwalk models and crooned on a karaoke show for a television audience of millions. The two events were widely seen as further evidence of the clergy's bid for a more modern profile ahead of the Millennium celebrations. "Being beautiful doesn't have to mean being vulgar," said Sister Danilea, a 25-year-old in cherry-red lipstick, who was speaking backstage after modelling a grey bell-bottomed trouser suit. "Beauty is a gift of God which can be modelled with simplicity. That is my message." …… The fashion show in a Rome pizzeria was organised by a priest, Fr Antonio Mazzi, to help fund the drug rehabilitation clinic he runs. But its real message was aimed at the fashion world. The organisers said it was a way of gently striking back at the growing use by the fashion world of religious symbolism to create a shock effect. ….. But not all the clergy approve. One bishop said the events were "blasphemous" and a "dangerous compromise." But last night many clergy were expected to tune in secretly to Furore, a karaoke games show, where this week's contestants were nuns and priests. ….."

Reuters, via Excite 7/18/00 "…….Dutch authorities will not prosecute Pope John Paul for discrimination after he slammed a gay rights march as an "offence to Christian values," an Amsterdam court said on Tuesday. It said the public prosecutor had decided not to press charges because of the Pope's status as head of the Roman Catholic church, head of the Vatican state and highest representative of the Holy See. This position gave him global immunity from jurisdiction, the court said in a statement. ……"

ExciteNews (AP) 7/23/00 Ellen Knickmeyer "……Pope John Paul II pressed his appeal for a special international status for Jerusalem upon Camp David negotiators Sunday, saying that only international oversight could safeguard all the ancient city's religions. "The Holy See continues to maintain that only a special statute internationally guaranteed can effectively preserve the most sacred areas of the Holy City," John Paul said, speaking in his weekly Sunday address to pilgrims gathered below his window at his summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome. …….Such international safeguards would "assure freedom of religion and of worship for all the faithful who, in the region and the entire world, look to Jerusalem as a crossroads of peace and of coexistence," John Paul said, invoking the city's "holy places and the three monotheistic religions that surround them." ……."

Yahoo (AFP) 7/30/00 "…….US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is to travel to Rome this week to confer with the Vatican on the Middle East peace process, particularly the status of Jerusalem, the State Department said Sunday. Albright, who was originally scheduled to return to the United States on Monday after visits to Thailand and Japan, will instead fly to Rome for talks with Vatican secretary for foreign relations, Monsignor Jean-Louis Tauran…….. "This has been an area of great interest to the Vatican," Boucher said, noting in particular Pope John Paul II's calls for Jerusalem to be granted special status in any peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians……."Their view is quite well known and we do keep in mind the views of others as we proceed in this," he told reporters travelling with Albright……."

Ha'aretz 8/15/00 Amnon Barzilai and Amira Hass "…….The Vatican disagrees with the Palestinians' belief that they are the keepers of Jerusalem's holy sites, Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran yesterday told acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who was visiting the papal state. Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has meanwhile told Regional Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres that he is prepared to help the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Both Ben-Ami and Peres have been dispatched by Prime Minister Ehud Barak to explain Israel's positions at the recent failed Camp David summit to world leaders. …….. Sources in Jerusalem believe that the objection by European leaders to the Palestinian Authority's unilateral declaration of independence will cause the Palestinians to be more flexible in their positions……."

Fatima Center 8/16/00"…... The four-page document released by the Vatican on June 26, which it claims is the Third Secret, has only renewed the Third Secret controversy. It is not the single sheet of paper containing words of the Virgin Mary which everyone had expected and to which the Vatican itself had referred in 1960. The Vatican "spin" on the text released June 26, is that it refers to the assassination attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981 and other events entirely in the past. Many have asked why, if this is so, the Vatican continued to suppress the Secret for nearly 20 years after the assassination attempt. The enclosed publication provides a detailed exposé of the machinations behind the recent controversial disclosures, as well as the background leading up to these events. Many Catholic publications and secular journals have already expressed skepticism about the Vatican's claim that this is the authentic text of the long-awaited Third Secret. There has also been much criticism of the Vatican's official interpretation of the document. The Vatican has offered no explanation for its long suppression of this seemingly innocuous document, which contains none of the criticism of Church policies or leadership it was expected to contain. While Vatican officials have attempted to close the door on Fatima with this publication, it seems clear that the real story is still unfolding, and there are more chapters to come……"

The Times UK 6/12/00 Ruth Gledhill "….. ONE of the most influential clergymen in the Church of England has issued an apocalyptic warning that the end of the world is nigh and that time is running out before the second coming of Jesus Christ. The Rev Sandy Millar, 61, Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, in Knightsbridge, London, has linked the contemporary worldwide evangelical revival to the imminent return of Jesus and the start of a "New Age". …… Writing in his parish's Pentecost newsletter, Mr Millar - whose pioneering Alpha course has persuaded hundreds of thousands of people to convert, or return, to Christianity - said the warning of an influential 20th-century clergyman, that "the coming of the Lord draws nigh", had even greater urgency today. ……..People must turn to Jesus Christ "while there is still time", he said. "On some day in the future, Jesus will return, the world as we know it will come to an end, and the real New Age will begin." Apocalyptic warnings, while fairly common from charismatic or fringe churches, are rare from a clergyman of the Established Church. ….."

Independent UK via Drudge Report 4/16/00 Hazel Southam "…… With attendances falling faster than ever, a new report sees the future for Christianity in Britain as bleak ……. Holy Week has begun with an expert prediction that the Christian church in this country will be dead and buried within 40 years. It will vanish from the mainstream of British life, with only 0.5 per cent of the population attending the Sunday services of any denomination, according to the country's leading church analyst. ….All claims that Britain is a Christian nation will finally have to be given up, says the church attendance specialist, Peter Brierley. …….."

Oak Lawn (IL) Reporter 4/6/00 Michael Bates "…… What ever happened to Hell? It used to be that a major feature of most religions was warning where our souls would end up if we didn't follow the straight and narrow. Now we're much too sophisticated to spend time worrying about stuff like that. For one thing, we no longer believe people should be judged, even by God. …. According to one national poll, 89 percent of Americans believe in a Heaven. Only 73 percent think there's a Hell. And just two percent of those believing there's an afterlife expect to go to Hell. Not wanting to alienate anyone, many churches modified their doctrine relating to Hell. Four years ago the Church on England officially declared that Hell isn't fire and brimstone. It's not a place of eternal torment. ……."

The Times UK 11/3/99 Ruth Gledhill "….A PRAYER that describes God as "mother" could be introduced to the Church of England's liturgy for the first time if it is accepted by the General Synod this month. ….. The Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, wants the prayer to be said at the centre of the Eucharist, the most sacred moment of a church service. A similar prayer was rejected after being debated at the synod three years ago...."

The Times 3/27/00 Ruth Glendhill "…….A LEADING Church of England theologian has called for a revision of the Christian stance against homosexuality, prostitution and drugs. John Elford, Canon Theologian of Liverpool Cathedral, argues that the widespread belief that the Bible prohibits active homosexual relationships is a false combination of prejudice and ignorance. In a book to be published next month, he calls for the decriminalisation of prostitution and drugs, and mounts an attack on the Pope and other conservatives who defend traditional moral certainties.. ……."

The Express 2/10/00 David Taylor "…..Psychotherapist Valerie Sinason, who has been paid by the Department of Health to study adult survivors of alleged organised ritual abuse, said yesterday she was "completely convinced" Satanic abuse does occur. She claimed to have evidence about children whose births were not officially registered being reared for abuse and sacrifice. The scientist, who edited a clinical textbook on Satanist abuse after the controversies in Rochdale, the Orkneys and Nottingham in the early 1990s, has claimed previously to have evidence of at least 100 murders. Her study of cases from nearly 40 psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health experts will claim that she has seen evidence of physical injuries in adult survivors, who tell of seeing people drugged and killed. She said that out of 76 patients she has seen at her London clinic, 46 claimed that they had witnessed the murder of children or adults. The Department of Health yesterday stressed that it stood by the findings of a 1994 report which concluded there was organised abuse but that it was "not helpful or appropriate to call it Satanic." Scotland Yard is carrying out its own research project into ritual abuse…."

EWTN News Brief 1/25/2000 "…. Britain could soon completely sever all links with its Christian heritage if ministers succeed in scrapping the letters AD from the date. Years have been labeled AD (Anno Domini, the Year of Our Lord) or BC (Before Christ) for at least 400 years. But ministers say the labels are inappropriate in a multi-faith country and are launching a consultation with a view to using the more politically correct CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before Common Era). Under the new scheme this year would be CE2000 instead of AD2000. The Romans would have invaded Britain in BCE55 and the American War of Independence would have ended in CE1781. But there is already growing pressure from churchmen for the scheme to be abandoned……"

London Daily Telegraph 6/20/00 "……. A GOVERNMENT-BACKED European directive forcing religious organisations to employ non-believers and homosexuals is a step too far in the battle against discrimination. Under the directive's provisions, any employment discrimination on grounds of sexuality or religion would be outlawed. It would be illegal for churches to employ only Christians or for Jewish organisations to hire only Jews. It is of some small consolation that the clergy are exempt from the provisions. If they were not, a man could not be refused a job as a rabbi on the grounds that he was not a Jew……… "

Catholic World News 6/30/00 "……The British Methodist Conference on Wednesday announced plans to welcome pedophiles into their churches without alerting other members of the congregation in order to create a "community of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation" for offenders. The Conference had decided some time ago not to allow sex offenders to hold office in the church and to insist they were chaperoned at all times when they might be near children. And a working party set up in 1999 on Wednesday urged to the Conference's meeting in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, to accept that it was more appropriate to talk of sex offenders as "recovering" rather than "recovered" or "cured." ………However, their report also noted that 25 percent of convicted sex offenders attended prison chapels while serving their sentences and that a large proportion wanted to continue in faith on their release. It would be wrong, the report said, to turn them away. ……"

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 3/27/00 Jeff Robinson "……Christians in America will face great persecution soon and they must be aggressors in the midst of it, Josef Tson said March 2 at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. "This [persecution] is the new phenomenon that has arrived and it is going to increase," said Tson, president of the Romanian Missionary Society. "But we are the aggressors. God faced evil by sending his Son as the answer to it. Jesus came with three things: truth, love and self-sacrifice. When you are slaughtered, you win the battle ... and you win with these things." The persecution actually began in the early 1960s, Tson said, when all vestiges of Christianity were jettisoned from public schools in the United States. At the same time, the media grew hostile to the Christian faith, which spurred the rise of postmodernism in both the country's culture and universities, he said. As a result, America has lost any notion of absolute truth and has substituted sentimentality and political correctness as a yardstick for morality, he said. "The only crime now is the crime of intolerance done by evangelical Christians," Tson said. "The most scary thing [is] the new concept of hate crimes. You have to punish the hate more than the crime. "When Southern Baptists decided to continue to evangelize the Jews and the Hindus, that was called a hate crime. Don't you see you have all the elements of a climate of persecution of the Christians in America? Like every other such event, it has the gift of snowballing." ……"

WorldNetDaily 3/20/00 David Kupelian "……..

……..The truth is, Christians have been powerless to stop the spread of evil throughout America, even within their own churches. I always thought good was supposed to be more powerful than evil. Maybe there's not too much good in today's Christians -- not enough, anyway. Yes, the truth is, if and when the terrible time foretold in Revelation comes, most of us probably won't even notice this manifestation of ultimate evil. After all, we've had a lot of practice. …."

ABCNEWS.com 1/9/00 Peggy Wehmeyer "….They chant Jewish blessings and sing to Hebrew melodies, but these people say they are Christians. "I was born a Jew and I will die a Jew and I am also a follower of Jesus," says one Messianic Jew. "That makes me a Christian." But Jewish leaders say you cannot be both. And they are angry that Southern Baptists are challenging that view in their efforts to convert Jews to Christianity. The trouble began when the Baptists published a booklet encouraging Christians to pray for the salvation of Jews who are still waiting for the Messiah……. A coalition of leaders from every branch of Judaism sent a letter to the Baptists saying they were deeply offended that the Baptists embrace efforts to "deceive Jews into believing that one can be both a Jew and a Christian." "I can tell you the Baptists are not deceptive," Patterson says. "They have a right to claim to be Jewish as well as followers of the Messiah." …."It would be nice if instead of only loving us and therefore sharing faith with us," Lamm says, "you also respected us and let us be. Just let us be. That's all we ask." That's unlikely to happen, because not only do Baptists believe Jews can be Christians, but there's a sense of urgency in their evangelistic mission. Baptists believe something dramatic must happen before Jesus will return to set up his kingdom on Earth…."

AP Will Lester "...Accompanying the hum of computers and the roar of the economy at the end of the 20th century is a nagging feeling among many Americans that something has been lost. They describe it in various ways: an absence of morality, a loss of innocence, a lack of trust in others. Almost two-thirds of the people in a new poll say their families' lives have improved since the 1950s. But fewer than half say the country as a whole is better off now and nearly one-third say it is worse. ``There's more money, but less human caring,'' said Wayne Dubrawsky, a government worker from Orchard Park, N.Y...... "

WorldNetDaily 3/20/00 Julie Foster "……New implant technology currently used to locate lost pets has been adapted for use in humans, allowing implant wearers to emit a homing beacon, have vital bodily functions monitored and confirm identity when making e-commerce transactions. Applied Digital Solutions, an e-business to business solutions provider, acquired the patent rights to the miniature digital transceiver it has named "Digital Angel(r)." The company plans to market the device for a number of uses, including as a "tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced e-business security." …..Digital Angel(r) sends and receives data and can be continuously tracked by global positioning satellite technology. When implanted within a body, the device is powered electromechanically through the movement of muscles and can be activated either by the "wearer" or by a monitoring facility. ……"

BBC 10/30/99 Tom Brook

CNSNews.com 1/21/2000 Lawrence Morahan "….A statement by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, or SIECUS, that calls on faith communities to bless same-sex marriage and allow homosexual ministers is not representative of mainstream churches and should be rejected, public policy experts told CNSNews.com. "I find this very disturbing, but I don't find it as much of a surprise, Wanda Boyenga, director of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, told CNSNews.com. "It's no secret that SIECUS has planned for some time to launch a major campaign to establish itself as a source of information regarding human sexuality for the faith-based communities of America," she said. The SIECUS statement calls for, among other things, "Full inclusion of women and sexual minorities in congregational life, including their ordination and the blessing of same sex unions." SIECUS also calls for "Lifelong, age appropriate sexuality education in schools, seminaries, and community settings." According to SIECUS guidelines, children ages 5 to 8 should be taught about masturbation; children ages 9 to 12 should be taught that there are many ways - including mutual masturbation and oral sex - to give and receive sexual pleasure, Boyenga said. SIECUS guidelines further state that children ages 12 to 15 should be told where they can buy contraceptives; and children 16 to 18 can be instructed to use erotic photographs, movies or literature to enhance their sexual fantasies, Boyenga said……"

CNSNews.com 6/23/00 Edward Blum Marc Levin "......The membership crisis that has plagued mainstream Christian and Jewish denominations for the last 25 years may be spreading to inner city black churches as well. ........ According to Carl Ellis, president of Project Joseph, a Tennessee-based Christian ministry, about two and one-half million American blacks classify themselves as Muslims. He believes that if the conversion rate continues unchanged, Islam could become the dominant religion in black urban areas by the year 2020.................."

New York Times.com 8/18/00 AP "…… In Prime Minister Ehud Barak's clearest statement yet about Palestinian statehood, he offered the Palestinians an independent state if they formally end their conflict with Israel. The remarks Thursday came as U.S. State Department negotiator Dennis Ross began talks to see if the two sides were ready to move toward a peace accord. Ross was set to see Israel's figurehead president Friday. He is also expected to meet with Barak and Palestinian officials, but not Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is abroad. This is Ross' first trip to the region since a Barak-Arafat summit last month at the Camp David presidential retreat failed to produce an agreement. Most here assume a peace accord would include a Palestinian state, and some of Barak's Cabinet ministers have said so in public. Until now, Barak has preferred ambiguity on the matter. ……"

AP 8/14/00 "……Israeli police allowed the reopening of the al-Aqsa mosque compound to visitors Sunday, four days after closing it to prevent clashes between Jewish radicals and Palestinians. Muslim authorities at the site had closed the area to Jews Thursday to prevent the entrance of Jewish fanatics who support the reconstruction of an ancient Jewish temple in place of the mosques, which comprise the third-holiest site in Islam. ……."

Koenig's International News 8/10/00 Bill Koenig "……This is the time and opportunity for both the Israelis and Palestinians. Their negotiations are coming down to the status of Jerusalem, but they may never agree to a deal. According to Scripture, the Battle of Armageddon is the battle over Jerusalem when half of the city is captured before Jesus Christ intervenes at His Second Coming as He descends upon the Mount of Olives to destroy the armies of the world that have come against Jerusalem. (Please refer to Zechariah 14:1-5.) ......The Palestinians want total control and sovereignty over East Jerusalem. They want it as their capital for their new state, and they plan to declare statehood on September 13 if an agreement has not been signed with Israel. The Israelis say the Palestinians can have authority over East Jerusalem but not sovereignty. ...... The negotiations between Israel and the Syrians have come down to a few meters of land on the eastern (Golan Heights) shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. Many say the main key to Middle East peace is the return of the Golan Heights to the Syrians. Also, some scholars believe the Daniel 9:27 end-time covenant will be between Israel and Syria. ……… If Israel agrees to giving up the land, the covenant details could be worked out within 30 days, according to those close to the talks. Syrian President Bashar el-Assad said this week that he is ready when Israel is ready. So, are we close to a Daniel 9:27 covenant between Israel and Syria? We shall soon see. ......"

Koenig's International News 8/10/00 Bill Koenig "……Now is the time for the Syrians and the Palestinians to cooperate, or they will likely have to deal with the Israeli right wing in the near future. In a recent poll, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu beat Barak. ……. Times appear to be rapidly becoming more intense in the Middle East: Saddam Hussein is reported to be very ill with cancer. Bin Laden is close to capture and is on the run. Libya is buying new missiles from China. Iran has successfully tested its new 1300-kilometer (850-mile) range missile. Jane's Defense Weekly thinks Iran now has weapons of mass destruction. Syria has new long-range scud missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel. Iraq has threatened to use biological weapons on Israel. China has met with the top military people in Syria, Iran, Iraq and Libya within the past seven months. Israel has two nuclear subs with cruise missiles, one in the Mediterranean capable of hitting Syria and one near the Persian Gulf capable of hitting Iraq or Iran. ……."

Koenig's International News 8/10/00 Bill Koenig "……Is the Daniel 9:27 Covenant Near? For the "die-hard watchers," if the Daniel 9:27 covenant isn't signed within the next 90 to 120 days, it could likely be a while. But the renewal of meetings between the Syrians and the Israelis could very well produce the Daniel 9:27 covenant. …… There has never been a better time for peace in Israel. However, should the Palestinians and Syrians miss this opportunity, it could be a long time before they have another chance. War is likely if an agreement is not reached. If there is war, it won't last long with Israel's "fire power." ……Key dates to watch in the next two months:

September 13 - The 7-year anniversary of the Oslo Accords. On that day, the Israeli and Palestinian talks are to be completed, and if not completed, Arafat says he will declare Palestinian statehood.
September 29-30 - The two-day Rosh Hashanna celebration (also known as the Feast of Trumpets). Some people believe this Jewish feast could be the first day of the Biblical seventh millennium, with all that implies. Some believe the actual date for this year's Rosh Hashanna is in the latter part of October…."

Time Of India 7/31/00 AP "……Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said on Sunday that peace in the Middle East would not be possible until Jerusalem was under complete Arab sovereignty, a Palestinian official said. "Jerusalem is the base for any peace settlement in the Middle East and without the return of full Arab control over Jerusalem, there will not be peace in the Middle East," the official quoted Abdullah as saying. Abdullah also said that Jerusalem belongs to all Arabs, not just the Palestinians, and that neither Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat nor any other Arab leader has the right to take a unilateral decision regarding it, the official said on condition of anonymity. ……"

New York Post 7/24/00 Uri Dan Linda Massarella "…… Prime Minister Ehud Barak made a new offer yesterday, saying he would accept complete Palestinian sovereignty over two areas - one of which is right in Jerusalem, The Post has learned. Barak - who had vowed to never give even an inch of Jerusalem away -offered to give Yasser Arafat control of Beit-Hanina, a community in East Jerusalem and Shouafat, a suburb of Jerusalem, a high placed source said. ……. The Israeli leader also offered Palestinians the right to fly their own flag on the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews in Muslims in the Old City of Jerusalem. In return, the source said, Barak wants Arafat to officially recognize the annexation by Jerusalem of a block of Jewish settlements near the city. …….The source said Barak made the surprising offer because he's terrified that if a peace agreement isn't signed at this summit, a full-scale war will break out throughout the Middle East. ….."

Akhbar.com 7/20/00 "......A marathon Middle East peace summit called to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came back from the dead on Thursday after the White House announced it had ended in failure. ...... President Bill Clinton said Thursday the Israelis and the Palestinians had decided to pursue the Middle East peace talks at Camp David during his absence in Japan. ......... "

ordan Times 7/19/00 "……Opponents of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat accused him on Tuesday of making unacceptable concessions to Israel and vowed to wreck any deal to emerge from Camp David talks. Leaders of an eight-member radical alliance, which opposes peace with Israel, told a news conference in Damascus that they would continue their military struggle against Israel until the restoration of all Palestinian rights. The alliance includes the Islamic movement Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, both of which claimed suicide attacks that killed scores of Israelis after a 1993 interim peace accord. "We affirm our determination to continue the struggle and jihad (holy war) until we wreck the deals of capitulation and restore the Palestinian rights," said Hamas politburo chief Khaled Misha'al. ……."

Reuters 7/20/00"….. Commentators in Gulf Arab states praised Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Thursday for standing firm on Jerusalem, and lambasted Israel for insisting on keeping the Arab sector of the holy city under its control. Some said it was better for Arafat to come out empty-handed from a marathon U.S.-sponsored Middle East summit than relinquish Arab East Jerusalem. ….. "An agreement which does not include a clear Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem is the worst failure...it is the betrayal itself," the United Arab Emirates' al-Khaleej newspaper said in an editorial. ......"

AP 7/20/00 Dina Kraft "……The very holy sites and symbols that have lent Jerusalem its reputation as a city of peace have made the city the main stumbling block to an agreement that could end 52 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The status of Jerusalem, sacred to three religions and claimed by both sides as their capital, is the most explosive issue at the Camp David summit. Dispute over the future of the city is believed to be the reason talks came to the brink of a breakdown Thursday. …….. ``It seems the Israelis do not understand how important and sensitive the Jerusalem issue is for the Palestinians, and for Muslims and Christians,'' Ziad Abu Zayyad, Palestinian minister in charge of Jerusalem, told Associated Press Television News. …….``I believe the stubborn Israeli position is a call for another war. It's a tempting invitation to all fanatics and suicide bombers to act in order to save Jerusalem.'' ……......"

New York Times.com 7/23/00 John Kifner "…..When the late afternoon sun turns the crenellated limestone walls of the Old City to warm glowing gold, it is easy to understand the intense emotional hold of this tiny place. Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Sultan, built these walls in 1538 -- rebuilt them, really, from the stones left behind by Romans, Jews, Muslims, Byzantines, Crusaders, the Arab armies of Saladin and the Mamelukes. They are walls that enclose sites holy to the three great monotheistic religions. ……That well-known fact places Jerusalem at the very heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an issue so difficult, so sensitive, that until now peace negotiators simply put it off. ……. The city, and the idea of it as a capital, is a central icon to both sides. Jews, after centuries of dispersion and persecution, still end their Seder each Passover: "Next year in Jerusalem." And in virtually every Muslim home in every Palestinian refugee camp there hangs a picture of the Dome of the Rock. …….."

Israel Wire 3/17/00 "…..Judea and Samaria will be regarded as an independent state, at least according to the computers of the Ministry of the Interior. An official document obtained by the Ma'ariv daily from the Interior Ministry, dealing with the immigrants from different nations that have arrived in Israel over the past years. Next to the nations of Uganda, Belgium, Yugoslavia, are listed the nations of Jude and Samaria. Responding to the report, Yesha Council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef stated, "Ministry of the Interior clerks are operating on their own political judgment which is creating a new policy." A ministry response indicated the listing of Judea and Samaria as separate nations was an error. ……"

Israel Wire 7/25/00 "…..Efforts towards the establishment of the State of Judea, intended to fill the void left by Israel's abandonment of any and all lands of Israel to the PLO Authority, has been announced. …. Those of us who support the ideas presented on this website wish to clarify a few major points:
1. We do not advocate any seditious activity against the current Israeli regime and therefore present no threat to the State of Israel.
2. We intend to act only if abandoned to the enemy State of Palestine and to act only against the forces of the enemy State of Palestine.
3. We believe that the existence of the State of Judea is in the best interests of the State of Israel in that it will provide a safety valve to relieve religious/secular tensions and in the eventuality of the creation of a State of Palestine, the emergence of a State of Judea in that area will make for a better neighbor and peace partner to the State of Israel than the alternative.
4. That part of historical Eretz Israel known as Yesha has never been part of the modern State of Israel, but has remained since 1967 "disputed territory" that was never annexed or placed under Israeli sovereignty. ……"

Jordan Times 7/25/00 AFP "……Jerusalem's Christian patriarchs back Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem, an official said Monday, giving the Palestinians strong support in the Camp David peace summit with Israel. "East Jerusalem is a Palestinian city that should return to Palestinian sovereignty," Hanan Ashrawi, a top Palestinian spokeswoman, told reporters after a meeting between Palestinian officials and the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Orthodox patriarchs in Jerusalem. …… Ashrawi said her statements represented the views held by both the Palestinian political leadership and the Christian churches. "The churches and the church leaders reject attempts at dividing or fragmenting of East Jerusalem or dividing it into quarters or sharing sovereignty," Ashrawi said. …….The statement is a sign of support for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's self-rule authority, according to a Greek Orthodox official who spoke to AFP on the condition of anonymity. ……"

Associated Press 7/25/00 Barry Schweid "……. Palestinian sources said the breaking point came when Israel balked at Palestinian sovereignty over Jerusalem's walled Old City, offering only access to the Al Aqsa mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Arafat was infuriated by this, the sources said. Hassan Abdel Rahman, the PLO's representative in Washington, said Israel's offer of limited sovereignty was unacceptable and a "nonstarter." He said the Palestinians had insisted on sovereignty over all of the Old City. At 3 a.m. Tuesday, Arafat sent a letter to Clinton, saying he saw no point in continuing because the Israeli position on Jerusalem could never lead to an agreement, Palestinian sources said. ……."

BBC 7/28/00 "…… President Clinton said on Friday he is considering moving the United States embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, provoking an angry reaction from Palestinians. In an interview with Israel television that was seen as supporting the position of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Mr Clinton also warned against any side taking unilateral action. The message was believed to be aimed at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who recently reiterated his intention to declare independence unilaterally in September. …….Mr Clinton said he had always wanted to move the US embassy to West Jerusalem but had feared the consequences of the move. ……. Palestinians were infuriated by the speech, saying it exposed the "underlying American bias". "It sounds like blatant political blackmail, all in the interest of Barak," top Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi told the AFP news agency. ……"

LondonTimes 7/27/00 Ben MacIntyre "…… THE fate of the Middle East peace talks at Camp David swung on one man, Yassir Arafat, and one issue, Jerusalem. Under intense pressure from President Clinton and Ehud Barak, the Israeli Prime Minister, to accept a deal that would have provided free access to holy places but kept the Old City under Israeli rule, the Palestinian leader refused, saying that he would be killed if he agreed. ……. ……"

Gulf News - United Arab Emirates 7/26/00 Hamoud Salhi "…… The Jewish lobby in America is orchestrating a dangerous campaign to undermine the Muslim world's links to Jerusalem. Well known journalists, along with American think specialists with close ties to the Jewish state, are leading a ferocious assault against Islam, its historical roots in Jerusalem, and the rights of Palestinians in the Holy City. …….The attacks are a deliberate attempt to garner public support for Israel's claim to the entirety of Jerusalem. Without a doubt, the stage is set to strip the Holy City of its universality, of its sanctity, to transform it into Tel Aviv's crown jewel. ……."

Jerusalem Post Internet Edition 7/21/00 Lamia Lahoud "……The Palestinians are proposing to share sovereignty over Jerusalem without physically dividing it, Palestinian sources in touch with the Palestinian delegation at Camp David told The Jerusalem Post yesterday. That way, neither Prime Minister Ehud Barak nor Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat will have to return as the only one who yielded on the most sensitive issue at the summit, one of the sources said. ……."

Jerusalem Post Internet Edition 7/21/00 Lamia Lahoud "……"Barak cannot come home without being able to claim that he did not divide the city and did not give up Israeli sovereignty," he added. ……..Jerusalem expert Prof. Moshe Amirav, who is in close contact with the Israeli negotiators and whose proposal serves as one of the ideas discussed at Camp David, said the Americans will try to solve the issue by finding a formula which will give the Palestinians "symbolic sovereignty" in the Old City and maybe east Jerusalem. ……… ….."

Jerusalem Post 7/21/00 "……Christian, Armenian, and Jewish residents of Jerusalem's Old City yesterday expressed strong opposition to Prime Minister Ehud Barak's reported offer to give the Palestinians administrative authority over the Christian and Moslem quarters of Jerusalem's Old City with Israel retaining full control over the Jewish and Armenian quarters. In over a dozen interviews with residents of the Christian, Armenian and Jewish quarters, the responses to this proposal, first disclosed in Ma'ariv on Wednesday, were nearly all negative. …….. "To tell you the truth, I do not want to see the Palestinians ruling the Old City and I say that even though I myself am a Palestinian," said a Christian Quarter resident who would only give his name as Sami. "I think this would create a long-term problem," he said. ……."I would really hate being under Palestinian control. It would be as if I've been sent to the Dark Ages," concurred Steven, interviewed in the Christian Quarter. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not against peace and I certainly do not want to see more violence or killings. But the minute I see a Palestinian policeman walking around here, the time has come for me to immigrate from the country." ……."

BBC 7/21/00"……. As the Middle East peace talks continue outside Washington, the Israelis have given details for the first time of the concessions they are prepared to make to resolve the deadlock over the future status of Jerusalem. Israeli cabinet minister Michael Melchior said Prime Minister Ehud Barak had accepted a US proposal to give the Palestinians administrative control over parts of East Jerusalem with, as he put it, some signs of sovereignty. ……. There has been no official response from the Palestinians to the US proposal, but Yasser Arafat has previously insisted on Palestinian sovereignty over the whole of East Jerusalem……."

Reuters 7/21/00 Howard Goller "…..Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has accepted a U.S. proposal for sharing sovereignty with Palestinians over parts of Arab East Jerusalem, Israeli cabinet minister Michael Melchior said on Friday. …… The proposal would also offer Palestinians some form of safe passage to the Old City's Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, Islam's third-holiest site. Melchior said discussions were under way for a sort of joint religious administration over holy sites. ……"

The New York Times 7/17/00 Reuters "…..The spiritual head of the militant Islamic group Hamas said Monday his Palestinian movement would continue the armed struggle against Israel even if negotiators sealed a peace deal at the Camp David summit. ``Camp David is aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause and generally we will oppose it internally by democratic means. But we will use weapons to convey our opposition to the Zionist enemy,'' Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told a news conference. Yassin urged Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and his negotiators to quit the U.S.-sponsored summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and return to the path of ``jihad'' (holy struggle). ……. Hamas, which opposes Arafat's peace moves with Israel, has been behind a series of bomb attacks against Israeli targets that killed scores of people. ……. ``The formula is not whether there is an agreement or not. As long as occupation exists resistance will continue,'' he said. ….. Israeli and Palestinian security forces have been put on high alert for the duration of the summit for fear militants will try to sabotage the negotiations by launching attacks. ……"

Israel Wire 7/19/00 "…….Eldad Yaniv, one of Prime Minister Ehud Barak's spokesmen at Camp David, declined to restate Barak's commitment to an undivided Jerusalem in a live interview with Daliah Yairi on Israel Radio Reshet Bet Wednesday morning. Yaniv introduced a new formula: "Our red line is a large Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty with a Jewish majority". Yairi noted that he was not saying that Jerusalem would not be divided, just that the Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty would be "large". ……."

Jerusalem Post 7/10/00 Arieh O’Sullivan "…..Palestinian forces in the Gaza Strip are preparing for large-scale conflict with the IDF should the peace talks flounder. The IDF is also readying its forces to deal with a host of scenarios ranging from unarmed civilian assaults to attempts to conquer outposts and settlements. The Palestinian forces have discreetly held up to half a dozen battalion-level training exercises, including maneuvers and taking up defensive positions in the coastal strip, a senior IDF officer revealed yesterday. The exercises also included offensive maneuvers, the officer claimed. …….… The Palestinian Authority has one division split into three brigades in the Gaza Strip. Its 22,100 policemen are armed with about 7,000 assault rifles, 2,000 pistols, 150 heavy machine guns as well as 44 armored personnel carriers, five helicopters, and 13 naval vessels. They are also believed to have accumulated some 100 anti-armor missiles, mostly of the RPG type. About 50 percent of the weapons are illegal. …….The Palestinians have also adopted some Israeli tactics and have built a number of fortified positions across the strip. ……."

Reuters 7/9/00 "…..Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak may not know it but thousands of Jewish settlers will be praying for them when they talk peace at a U.S.-sponsored summit on Tuesday. ……. Many of the 170,000 settlers living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip will be begging God with all their might to ensure the peace summit fails miserably. …..They are desperately afraid they will be evicted from their homes if Barak and Arafat manage to seal a peace treaty. …… Silberstein and many other Jewish settlers believe they have a God-given right to live in the West Bank and Gaza. They say they even have a deed of ownership, the Bible. ……"

Reuters 7/10/00 "……Israel wants to keep Arab East Jerusalem, occupied in 1967 and swiftly annexed in a move rejected by the international community. Israel proposed giving the Palestinians of East Jerusalem municipal powers only. It also suggested handing over some of the neighbourhoods around Jerusalem to full Palestinian control. ……..Palestinians insist on control over all of East Jerusalem and say they would allow Israelis access to Jewish religious sites. According to senior Palestinian officials, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told Clinton at a recent meeting in Washington he feared assassination if he compromised on Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem…….."

The Jerusalem Post 7/12/00 Lamia Lahoud "……The Fatah movement has initiated a series of demonstrations urging Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat not to compromise on his red lines, West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouteh said. ………Fatah has met with leaders from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PLO opposition groups to coordinate these demonstrations, but so far Fatah is the only party leading the rallies, he said. ….."

The Jerusalem Post 7/12/00 Janine Zacharia "…..Prime Minister Ehud Barak has decided to suspend Israel's sale of the Phalcon advanced airborne radar system to China, a well-placed source here said yesterday. The source said Prime Minister Ehud Barak's top diplomatic adviser, Danny Yatom, would consult with congressional leaders about the plan ahead of a House floor vote on foreign appropriations tomorrow. …….An Israeli Embassy spokesman said earlier in the day that the embassy was readying to issue a statement on the Phalcon, but declined comment when asked about the decision. White House Spokesman Joe Lockhart said Israel had not yet informed the US administration of its intentions. ……"

Jordan Times 7/11/00 "……When Israeli and Palestinian leaders meet at a US summit on Tuesday, one thing they seem certain to agree on is that the issue of Jerusalem will not be a simple matter of land for peace. ……… From Palestinian merchants to Israeli officials, all use language implying more than historical justifications for their claim. …… In March, outgoing Israeli President Ezer Weizman and Arafat both welcomed Pope John Paul in separate speeches during his visit to the Holy Land by claiming Jerusalem as their "eternal capital." ……. Emotions over Jerusalem are running so high that Arafat has told US President Bill Clinton he feared assassination if he compromised on Palestinians' rights in east Jerusalem. ......... Whether the fate of Jerusalem moves from the negotiating table to a solution on the ground is another issue. "It is impossible, if you ask me, to bridge our stances on Jerusalem," Israeli cabinet minister, Haim Ramon said last week. ……."

Jordan Times 7/11/00 "……Israeli officials have said one idea was to expand the city's borders to embrace Palestinian villages and Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Palestinians reject the idea of Abu Dis village, near east Jerusalem, being made their capital. ……On the street, the Arab character of the eastern part of the city is hard to miss. Many shop signs in east Jerusalem are in Arabic, the language of the indigenous residents of the city. …….. About 70 per cent of the 670,000 population of Jerusalem are immigrant Jews, according to the figures from Olmert's office. …….. The results of the first Palestinian census in Arab east Jerusalem released last month estimate there were about 331,500 Palestinians in 1998, well above Israel's estimate. …….The PLO keeps an east Jerusalem headquarters called Orient House, long a thorn in Israel's side as a symbol of Palestinian claims to the city. Israeli and Palestinian forces have clashed over who will provide security to officials in east Jerusalem. ……. "

Arutz Sheva 7/8/00 "….. As the Camp David II summit approaches, Ma'ariv reports today that Yasser Arafat demands the evacuation of the 70,000 Jews of N'vei Ya'akov and Pisgat Ze'ev in northern Jerusalem. Arafat is, however, apparently "prepared to permit" certain Yesha settlements along the border to remain in place. His conditions for doing so: Firstly, the communities must be transferred to PA sovereignty, with Israel being permitted to lease them for "a number of decades;" secondly, the Palestinians must receive commensurate territories within "Green Line" Israel. ………. The Americans, for their part, support Palestinian sovereignty over certain sections of eastern Jerusalem. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told Jewish leaders in Washington yesterday, "It is impossible to totally ignore the yearnings of a billion Arabs for Jerusalem." ……."

Arabia.com 7/8/00 "….. AMMAN (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak will have talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah II before next week's summit with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, his office said Friday. Barak will see King Abdullah in Amman on Saturday evening and Mubarak in Alexandria Monday on his way to the summit. ….."

Jordan Times 7/8/00 "……Palestinian refugees in Lebanon on Thursday slammed plans for a summit with Israel and the United States and warned Palestinian President Yasser Arafat not to give up their rights in Jerusalem. "Arafat would be committing suicide if he agreed to abandon any of our - the refugees of the land - rights in Jerusalem," said Saeed Naser, speaking in this Palestinian refugee camp in southern Beirut Naser, echoing the views of other refugees here, said Arafat must make no concessions over Jerusalem, the return of refugees and Palestinian land occupied by Israelis. "These are three red areas, three sacred issues that no one should tamper with," said Naser, 51 years old and born in Lebanon to a Palestinian refugee family. …….."

[U.K.] TIMES 7/6/00 Sam Kiley "…… ISRAEL and the Palestinians exchanged threats of military confrontation yesterday after the Palestine Liberation Organisation declared that it would unilaterally set up a Palestinian state in ten weeks. The announcement from the PLO's central council came after two days of secret talks among its 129 members. On notepaper which seemed to indicate that the declaration had come directly from Yassir Arafat's office, the council said that it would act on or before September 13. …… The declaration said that the "Holy City of Jerusalem" would be the capital and the borders would be set according to the June 4, 1967, Green Line. ……"

WSJ 7/6/00 Natan Sharansky "…… By Natan Sharansky, Israel's minister of the interior…….. There were two fundamental ideas that guided my struggle for human rights in the Soviet Union. First was the sanctity of individual autonomy. …... The sovereignty and autonomy of the individual is incompatible with any society that maintains stability by controlling the minds and bodies of its subjects………Second, I believed, along with men like Andrei Sakharov, Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson and President Ronald Reagan, that the most reliable way to gauge a state's intentions towards its neighbors was its treatment of its own citizens. …. This idea was the basis of the dissidents' demand that the West must link international agreements with the Soviet Union to its human rights record……"

WSJ 7/6/00 Natan Sharansky "……After the peace process began, the misunderstanding became even more apparent. Not only was the non-democratic nature of Mr. Arafat's emerging regime hardly ever criticized, it was actually viewed as advancing the cause of peace. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, articulating an attitude that is still pervasive among Western leaders, coined the phrase that chillingly summed up this entire line of thinking. Mr. Arafat would deal with terrorists, he said, "without a Supreme Court, without Betselem [a human rights organization] and without all kinds of bleeding heart liberals." …….In effect, the peace process has betrayed the two core principles for which I have so bitterly fought. Not only has individual autonomy been sacrificed on the alter of political expediency, but the link that Sakharov and others drew between a state's internal policies and its external behavior has been flipped on its head. The undemocratic nature of Mr. Arafat's regime, far from being an obstacle to further peace, is now considered a crucial asset in the fight against terror. In the euphoric march towards peace, we seem to be losing sight of the fact that the Palestinian society that will emerge -- a society with no supreme court, no human rights organizations and no bleeding heart liberals -- will not only undermine the rights of Palestinians but also endanger the security of Israel……."

ABCNEWS.com 2/15/00 "…..The Vatican and the PLO signed a basic agreement today on their relations and in an apparent swipe at Israel said any unilateral decisions affecting Jerusalem were "morally and legally unacceptable." ……. While the agreement's 12 articles dealt with day-to-day affairs in the religious minefield of the Middle East, its preamble packed a potent political punch. Nearly a third of the 37-line preamble was dedicated to Jerusalem. The agreement said "an equitable solution for the issue of Jerusalem, based on international resolutions, is fundamental for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East." More significantly, it added that "unilateral decisions and actions altering the specific character and status of Jerusalem are morally and legally unacceptable." It called for "a special statute for Jerusalem, internationally agreed" to safeguard "the proper identity and sacred character of the city and its universally significant religious and cultural heritage." …… ."

Washington Times 5/17/00 Julia Duin "…..

Washington Times 6/28/00 Dan Ephron "…….Middle East peacemaking suffered a setback yesterday when Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright failed to clinch agreement for a Camp David-style summit in which Israelis and Palestinians would settle the last remaining disputes holding up a permanent peace accord. Palestinian suspicions that such a summit would force them to make unwanted compromises, coupled with deep cracks in Prime Minister Ehud Barak's coalition over the amount of territory Israel should cede to the Palestinians, scuttled efforts to bring leaders of the two sides together next week……… ….. The two sides have until September to strike a deal or run the risk of more violence……… Palestinian officials said negotiators were still far apart on the main issues - the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of 200,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, and the future of Jerusalem, which each side claims as its capital ……."

Jordan Times 7/11/00 "……Jerusalem's walled Old City embraces some of the holiest shrines to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. In 1996, Israel opened a tunnel under the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish site, and Al Aqsa Mosque, the third most sacred Muslim site. More then 60 people were killed in ensuing riots. ……The Western Wall is a faultline of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that may shake the region into violence at any time. ……. Last month, Jerusalem's Muslim cleric Ikrima Sabri lashed out at the semi-official Jewish Agency's screening of Zionist movies projected on Al Aqsa's walls. ……. On his visit to Jerusalem, Pope John Paul himself acknowledged a "sense of transcendence and divine election that we perceive in her stones and monuments..." He said that if religious communities found harmony, "Jerusalem will truly be a City of Peace for all peoples."……"

IsraelWire 7/12/00 "……According to a report in the daily Haaretz on Wednesday, Israel's chief rabbis have ruled the prime minister may turn over control of holy sites to the PLO Authority (PA) under certain conditions. …….. Haaretz quoted the chief rabbis as telling the senior aide they would not object to Israel turning over control of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, & Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, to the PA, providing the peace treaty states that Israelis would maintain access to the holy site. The rabbis used the Tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov as an example, explaining that although his remains are in Uman, thousands are permitted access every year for the annual Rosh Hashanah prayers. …….The chief rabbis pointed out however that the issue of the Temple Mount would be the main issue and this needed to be worked out between Israel and the PA. The rabbis oppose relinquishing Israeli sovereignty over the Mount, the site of the First and Second Temples as well as the future Third Temple. The rabbis did not however rule out a trilateral governing body consisting of Jews, Christians and Moslems…….."

The Jerusalem Post 5/10/00 David Ben-Ariel ‘……I suppose the short-sighted prosecution would ban the Bible if he could since it contains the "dangerous ideas" that I believe in! What are those "dangerous ideas"? That the Promised Land is promised to Israel and not to Ishmael; that the Temple Mount must be restored as the TEMPLE Mount and respected as Judaism's holiest site; that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel. Because too many secular, Hellenist Jews have forgotten the sole purpose for a Jewish state - to serve as a safe haven to worship Israel's G-d - they've flirted with disaster and courted destruction. They've foisted THEIR dangerous ideas upon Israel and have surrendered holy land to terrorists; have permitted the continued desecration of Judaism's holiest site (the Temple Mount, not the Western Wall!) by militant Muslims; have enabled the Amalekite Palestinians to undermine Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem; foolishly believe in a lying "peace" process that is leading to war and European occupation; and have chosen the murderer Arafat to Rabbi Meir Kahane! ……."

The Jerusalem Post 7/1/00 David Ben-Ariel "……….It is precisely because of their miserable failure to reclaim and restore the Temple Mount as the Temple Mount that militant Muslims have filled the vacuum. Israel has foolishly permitted Ishmael to occupy with impunity the sacred area that King David purchased in preparation for Solomon to build a Temple to Israel's G-d. Since the miraculous liberation of the Temple Mount in 1967, Israel's irresponsible leaders have been guilty of gross negligence in preparing the site for the Third Temple. The Chief Rabbinate has shirked its responsibility for the Temple Mount by falsely claiming that it's forbidden for Jews to worship upon the Temple Mount. Therefore, by default, they've conceded Judaism's most holy site to militant Muslims! ….. The Second Temple and sacrifices were functioning for TWENTY-TWO YEARS without the ashes of the red heifer! This follows a principles of Jewish law that states that WHEN THE MAJORITY OF THE PUBLIC IS IMPURE, IMPURITY IS SET ASIDE FOR COMMUNAL SERVICES. Therefore, the daily and evening sacrifices and the Passover offering could be brought before the people were purified, and such sacrifices could and should be brought TODAY. …

The Jerusalem Post 7/3/00 Davie Ben-Ariel "……Why should Muslim moneychangers demand that Christians pay for the upkeep of their mosques? Especially when such offensive foreign shrines include inscriptions on the walls from the Koran that mock Christ and Christians? "This is the whole truth about Jesus, the son of Mary, which they are unwilling to accept: allah forbid that he himself should beget a son!" (Sura 19:35-36); "Say: 'Praise be to allah who has never begotten a son, who has no partner in his kingdom" (Sura 17:111). WHY HAVEN'T CHRISTIAN LEADERS AND ORGANIZATIONS COMPLAINED ABOUT THIS SPIRITUAL ABUSE TO ISRAEL'S MINISTER OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS? Adding further insult to potential injury is the fact that Christians and Jews can only visit the site of where the Temple stood twice as paying tourists! Israel doesn't have any law against Christians or Jews praying or reading the Bible on the Temple Mount. However, it does have an unwritten agreement with the Wakf (Muslim religious authorities) that SHAMEFULLY prohibits this! No sign is posted, stating: "WARNING! CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH PRAYERS ARE FORBIDDEN! Bibles not allowed inside by Muslim authorities. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!" Why should Muslims be granted such sweeping jurisdiction over non-Muslims? This is upside down! Biblically, non-Israelites were forbidden upon penalty of death to trespass on certain areas of the Temple Mount. Now Gentile foxes roam freely while the British-Israelites and Jews are closely supervised and treated like dogs! THE DEPLORABLE STATUS QUO ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT MUST CHANGE! The true battle for Jerusalem lies at the heart of Jerusalem: the Temple Mount. Whoever controls the Holy Hill will exercise ultimate authority over all Israel. The GSS (Israel's FBI) wants to keep the world in the dark about this sensitive subject and have deported me for speaking the plain truth and for continually shedding light on this subject. ……"

The Jerusalem Post 6/20/00 David Ben-Ariel "…… As a law-abiding member of the Temple Mount Faithful, I was very active in their orderly demonstrations in Jerusalem calling upon the GOVERNMENT to exercise its authority and restore the Temple Mount to its rightful owners. The dream of Zionism can never be truly fulfilled until Judaism's holiest site is reclaimed for Israel. Presently the Temple Mount suffers under a militant Muslim occupation that ILLEGALLY denies Christians and Jews their religious rights there. ……..The secular Hellenists and religious cowards who mislead Israel hate those who dare SHINE THE SPOTLIGHT UPON THE PLIGHT OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT! I am extremely guilty of doing this since I've participated in demonstrations and written many letters and articles about this holy and sensitive subject. That is why I was falsely accused of being involved in a plot to blow up the Al-Aksa mosque, as reported on the front-page of The Jerusalem Post, Jan. 8, 1996. I was interrogated by 6 men, including Carmi Gillon, unjustly imprisoned for three weeks and then deported from the Holy Land that I love! The GSS feared to give me my day in court, KNOWING that I am totally innocent. They claimed they lacked "sufficient evidence" to bring me to trial. That's because they don't have any evidence! ……"

The Jerusalem Post 6/2/00 David Ben-Ariel "…… Israeli Prime Minister Barak intoned: "Jerusalem shall forever remain ours because it is in our souls. Never again will Jerusalem be under foreign sovereignty." ……. PM Barak obviously has never visited the Temple Mount! THE TEMPLE MOUNT IS UNDER FOREIGN SOVEREIGNTY! Judaism's holiest site remains under a militant Muslim occupation. I was unjustly deported for bringing this painful fact to Israel - and the world's - attention, repeatedly (Isa. 61:1). ………. If they continue to permit Jerusalem's abomination of desolation - a Temple Mount without a Temple - the Amalekite Palestinians will declare statehood, with east Jerusalem as their capital, and President Peres (the vulture) will invite European "peace-keeping" troops into the holy city. Of course, such a treacherous act will find Jerusalem under Catholic occupation when the German-led forces keep the Temple Mount for the Vatican and give east Jerusalem to the Palestinians! Zechariah prophesied that Jews would be forcibly removed from east Jerusalem. Unless Israel changes course immediately, it appears Zechariah's warning is destined to come true. ….."

The Jerusalem Post 7/2/00 David Ben-Ariel "…… I've come to better understand that G-d has already begun the TRANSITIONAL PROCESS of RESTORING His Menorah - His Lampstand to JERUSALEM! (I Kgs. 11:36; Amos 9:11). As prophesied, a NATIONAL MESSENGER would be on active duty in Jerusalem, preparing the way for Messiah's imminent return! (Zech.12:8). God reveals HE would send this outspoken individual to deliver a BLISTERING MESSAGE and a SCORCHING CONDEMNATION to the NATIONS - just before NUCLEAR FIRE AND BRIMSTONE RAINS DOWN upon those who've rejected G-D'S ULTIMATUM! (Isa. 41:27; 30:27; Micah 3:8). It's from Jerusalem that we must warn another HOLOCAUST is coming! That's the sensitive location where G-d will spark a NATIONAL DEBATE and ignite an INTERNATIONAL CONTROVERSY!(Micah 6:1-2). It'll shock the Jews and anger the Germans! It'll also, undoubtedly, offend many holocaust survivors who now live in Israel, but they ought to understand and lend their voices of experience to ours, having personally witnessed GERMANY'S BRUTE FORCE, to help our efforts to ensure "Never Again"! Regardless, we can expect a maelstrom of protest and a bitter backlash - but such persecution will only fan the flames of this BURNING ISSUE! (Isa.54:15-16). Both Germany and Israel (for their own reasons), will want to immediately stop such "incitement" - calling it fear-mongering and racist - but they'll fail and G-d's Word will prevail!(Jer. 1:19). G-d MUST grant "political immunity" to His Two Witnesses, so they can be free to boldly say and do all that He commands, even though the world will regard them as public enemy number one! (Ps. 105:15; Rev. 11:10). Undeterred, they'll carry on G-d's Work and serve as His official government spokesmen, even in the hostile face of fierce opposition!(Jer. 1:8). ….."

The Jerusalem Post 6/6/00 David Ben-Ariel "…….. Many critical and exciting events have occurred on the Temple Mount and in Jerusalem and Israel over the last years and we expect further major godly events to occur in the near future which will affect all the world. We feel that the time is short and that all of our prophetic desires are going to be accomplished. The vision and activities of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement will be in the midst of all these events and will strongly affect them. He will also share with you the campaign of the Temple Mount Faithful Movement for these godly causes and his expectations for the near future. Mr Salomon is coming to tell you very clearly that the temple will be rebuilt in our lifetime! ………"

The Jerusalem Post 6/14/00 David Ben-Ariel "……The most merciful G-d of Jacob-Israel resurrected the nation of Israel from the graveyard of history and offered us a new opportunity to fulfill our unique calling to become a model nation, a kingdom of priests, a light to all nations, based upon the Law and the Prophets. Yet secular Hellenist Jews have divorced themselves from the Bible and have sought to make Israel just LIKE all the other nations. ………. Despite the faithlessness of many of Israel's leaders, the Great G-d of the Universe liberated areas of Judea and Samaria and restored Judaism's holiest site (supposedly) - the Temple Mount - into Jewish hands. Did Israel immediately invite the G-d of history to return with our exiles (now making aliyah) by building the Third Temple? Did they honor the G-d of our fathers by creating an Embassy for the Eternal upon the TEMPLE Mount? No! Instead they despised their most sacred inheritance, the crown jewel of Jerusalem, and permitted militant Muslims to continue their abominable occupation! ……… Does someone have to be a prophet to recognize prophetic trends and to be grieved about them? Or to perceive that divine judgment is surely coming upon our beloved nations? ….."

Jerusalem Post 7/17/00 Heide Gleit "…..More than 150,000 demonstrators converged on Tel Aviv's Kikar Rabin last night to protest against Prime Minister Ehud Barak making broad concessions to the Palestinians at the Camp David summit. ….. Some reports said it was one of the largest demonstrations ever held in Israel. …… In a strident speech, Likud leader Ariel Sharon stepped up his attacks on Barak's policies toward the Palestinians. He accused the premier of leading the nation into a dangerous and irreversible process of compromise. ......"

Jerusalem Post 7/17/00 Lamia Lahoud "…… Hamas, which opposes the peace process, has joined forces with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and radical PLO groups to urge him to resist US and Israeli pressure to make concessions on Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouteh told The Jerusalem Post yesterday. ……"

New York Post 7/16/00 Uri Dan "……EHUD BARAK'S grand design - which led him into two weeks of isolation with Yasser Arafat at Camp David - is to redraw the borders of Israel as no prime minister has dared since 1967. According to a close friend, Barak is determined to leave this Mideast summit with an agreement. He is prepared to make territorial concessions so vast it will mean the uprooting of 50,000 Jewish settlers from the West Bank - and he is even flexible about future of Jerusalem. …. This grand plan - most of which Barak shares with U.S. officials but keeps secret from most of his cabinet - goes further. …..According to the confidant, Barak will go from this agreement to seeking another next month - with Bashar Assad of Syria. He is willing to go the extra mile and let the Syrians arrive at the shore of the Sea of Galilee on condition that they do not use its water. Barak visualizes more from his grand design - including a political transformation inside Israel. ……. Agreements with the Arabs will end the security peril that Israel has faced for decades and thereby annihilate the rightist opposition, he believes. ……"

Reuters 7/16/00 "…..Jewish settlers and Palestinians scuffled in the West Bank town of Hebron on Saturday, as their leaders negotiated thousands of miles from the hotspot on a peace deal due by mid-September. Witnesses said seven Palestinians, including three journalists, were taken to hospital after being attacked by hard-line settlers. More than twenty other Palestinians were injured but not hospitalized. ……… The Israeli army said it was not aware of any casualties, but said it appeared trouble broke out after a Palestinian youth attempted to kiss a settler. Police were investigating. ……"

Reuters 7/16/00 "……Israeli police removed about 50 young Jewish settlers, many of them struggling angrily, from a hilltop on Sunday where they had erected a tent in protest at Prime Minister Ehud Barak's peace summit. In a day of demonstrations against the Israeli leader's talks at the Camp David summit near Washington with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Jewish settlers also planned a mass rally in Tel Aviv. …….. On a barren hilltop near the West Bank settlement of Efrat, police dragged away the settlers, most of them teenagers, who moved boulders and wrapped leather prayer bands around their heads and arms to pray at the site of the tent and tower. ......"

Reuters 7/16/00 "……. An Israeli opposition leader said Prime Minister Ehud Barak had called him from the Camp David peace summit on Sunday and "he doesn't sound like the most optimistic person in the world". Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, head of the opposition Shinui party, said Barak spoke to him at 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) for about a quarter hour and gave him a summary of the situation at the talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. ……… "

Bahrain Tribune 7/13/00 "……Palestinian and Israeli negotiators have agreed in principle to a land swap, an Israeli cabinet minister said yesterday, the first acknowledgment that such an exchange could be part of the final status deal being negotiated at Camp David this week…….. Ramon said Palestinian negotiators at Camp David are suggesting Israel could annex 3-4 per cent of disputed West Bank land, but only if Israel agrees to offer lands amounting to at least a third of the area it annexes in the West Bank. Ramon said the ratio would have to be greater to entice the Israelis……"I'm not rejecting this idea, but one-to-three will be difficult, if not impossible," he said……."

[U.K.] Times 7/15/00 Ian Brodie "…….PEACE in the Middle East could cost America dear, with Jordan reported yesterday to be joining Israel and the Palestinians in wanting a handout running to billions of dollars. The Israelis have their eyes on US aid of at least $17 billion (£11.3 billion) to implement any accord that comes out of the Camp David summit. Yassir Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, is asking for as much as $40 billion. ……."

Arutz Sheva 7/16/00 Freeper GeronL Fateh's Constitution (www.fateh.net) "…..
Article (4) The Palestinian struggle is part and parcel of the world-wide struggle against Zionism, colonialism and international imperialism.
Article (9) Liberating Palestine and protecting its holy places is an Arab, religious and human obligation.
Article (12) Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence.
Article (13) Establishing an independent democratic state with complete sovereignty on all Palestinian lands, and Jerusalem is its capital city, and protecting the citizens' legal and equal rights without any racial or religious discrimination…….
Article (17) Armed public revolution is the inevitable method to liberating Palestine…….
Article (19) Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated…….
Article (22) Opposing any political solution offered as an alternative to demolishing the Zionist occupation in Palestine, as well as any project intended to liquidate the Palestinian case or impose any international mandate on its people…….."

New York Post 7/16/00 Uri Dan "……If the talks remain at an "intractable" impasse, as White House spokesman Joe Lockhart characterized them at one point, the three leaders are expected to reconvene for another summit in August, high-level Israeli sources said. ...... The negotiations chilled when Barak insisted on setting definitive borders in the West Bank before moving on to the delicate question of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital. ……. Arafat, meanwhile, wants to settle the Jerusalem question first. ….."

World Tribune.com Via WorldNetDaily.com 7/16/00 "…..Iran has succeeded in test-launching the Shihab-3 and Israeli military sources said the intermediate-range missile appears ready for operational deployment. It was the first test of the Shihab-3 since July 1998, when the missile exploded in mid-flight. The Shihab-3 is modeled after the North Korean No-Dong missile and improved by Russian technology and subsystems….."

New York Post 7/14/00 "……Arafat's willingness to turn violent attacks against Israel on and off like a spigot is a principal reason why so many in Israel doubt his ultimate intentions. ……What is astonishing, however, is that this time around his "warnings" about renewed violence have been echoed by none other than Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. "We're concerned about what happens if this descends into violence," Albright said earlier this week - sending a blatant message to Arafat that such an outcome would not be unexpected. By tacitly endorsing the violence ploy, Albright has effectively sent an unwarranted message to Barak that only he can deter bloodshed - and only by coming through with more concessions. …."

New York Post 7/14/00 "……Meanwhile, the PLO is playing the violence option to the hilt: The 40,000-strong Palestinian police - actually an illegally oversized and heavily armed quasi-army - is stockpiling anti-tank missiles and reportedly has begun training in offensive combat tactics. Arafat's own Fatah faction said this week that its members are preparing for "self-defense" - the group's Web site says it has begun to "plan for all possible scenarios, including confrontation with Zionist settlers and the Israeli army" and promises that "our people are ready to sacrifice their lives." …….Last week, a top Arafat aide warned of a "war over Jerusalem" and vowed that "no [Jewish] settler will be able to return to his home." ….."

The Washington Times 7/14/00 David Sand "……But Limor Livnat, a Knesset member and a minister in the Likud government of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a telephone interview that the prime minister should not bypass the legislature with a popular referendum on any Camp David peace deal, as Mr. Barak has talked of doing. "We live in a democracy," said Mrs. Livnat, who is in Washington on a private visit at the invitation of the American Enterprise Institute. "We don't just vote for a prime minister and then he can do whatever he wants to do."......She said Mr. Barak should bring any far-reaching deal to the Knesset first for a vote, and then put the question to the Israeli people in a general election should he lose......."It seems like Barak is treating this whole negotiation like a military operation. Many of us in the Knesset are very worried," Mrs. Livnat said......."

[U.K.] Independent 7/14/00 Phil Reeves "……..A news blackout has engulfed the cabins of Camp David. But it has not silenced Palestinians crammed into squalid Middle East refugee camps who fear their leaders are about to sell them out. Refugee activists are worried that Yasser Arafat will agree to a peace deal abandoning a principle to which they have clung with religious fervour since the 1948 Arab-Israel war sent 726,000 Palestinians fleeing from their homes. ……. They fear he will be bamboozled into foregoing their so-called "right of return" - enshrined in UN General Assembly Resolution 194 - while agreeing to accept multi-billion dollar compensation. ......,:

TRIBUNE.COM 7/14/00 "……Iran is preparing to resume weapons shipments to both Hizbullah and the Hamas. Western intelligence sources in London said security officials loyal to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei are taking steps to renew shipments stopped around April as a result of pressure by Turkey and the United States. Turkey refused to allow Iranian planes to use Turkish air space to fly weapons to Damascus for Hizbullah. …….. Intelligence sources in Washington told World Tribune.com the Khamenei regime has also pledged weapons and aid for the Hamas organization. Teheran is interested in disrupting peace not only near Israel's northern borders but in the West Bank, they said. ......"

Washington Post 7/16/00 John Lancaster and Dan Morgan "……With Middle East peace talks underway at Camp David, U.S. and Israeli officials have quietly begun consulting Congress about its willingness to cement an Israeli-Palestinian settlement with billions of dollars in American aid. The money would be used to relocate Israeli military bases and borders, enhance Israel's defenses, and compensate Palestinian refugees for the loss of their homes. ….."

ABCNEWS 7/15/00 "…..The Jewish enclave in Hebron was engulfed for three hours today by rioting and fist fights between Jews and Arabs, an eruption that could reverberate on the peace summit in Camp David. Witnesses said seven Palestinians, including three journalists, were taken to hospital after being attacked by hardline settlers. More than twenty other Palestinians were injured but not hospitalized……."

Jordan Times (Reuters) 7/14/00 Nidal Al Mughrabi "…….Sixteen-year-old Akram Soboh wrestled an Israeli soldier to the ground and then slit his throat with a knife. The soldier was not harmed. Nor was he an Israeli. He was a Palestinian teenager taking part in a training exercise for 150 youths at a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. If Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak fail to forge a peace treaty at a crucial summit in the United States, Soboh might be doing it for real. ….."

The Jerusalem Post 7/16/00 Lamia Lahoud "…….Palestinians said they are ready to exchange land in Israel for some West Bank land, as long as its value is the same as that of the land Israel wants to annex. One Palestinian official involved in the Camp David talks told The Jerusalem Post that the Palestinians need land to resettle large numbers of refugees and displaced persons who would return to the Palestinian areas. Therefore, he said, it was important that Israel compensate the Palestinians for any land that they want to claim with equal amount and quality of land inside Israel. ……."

The Jerusalem Post 7/16/00 Lamia Lahoud "…….The Palestinian Authority wants to start resettling Palestinian refugees from Lebanon in the Palestinian areas as soon as a final peace deal has been signed, a Palestinian source said yesterday. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat wants to give these refugees priority, since their situation in Lebanon is becoming more and more difficult, the source added. He wants to invite them to return to the Palestinian areas as a first step, he said. ……"

The Jerusalem Post 7/16/00 Margot Dudkevitch "…….Over 100,000 people are expected to attend a rally tonight in Tel Aviv's Kikar Rabin to protest against the Camp David summit. Right-wing demonstrators intend to voice their objections to the government's intentions to withdraw from large areas of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza and to dismantle some settlements. ……. Yesterday, hundreds of Gush Shalom members visited Palestinian Authority Jerusalem District Governor Jamal Nasser at his Abu Dis office to present him with a petition signed by 750 Israeli intellectuals calling for a united Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine, with west Jerusalem the Israeli capital and east Jerusalem the Palestinian one. ......"

716/00 Uzi Mahnaimi, Jerusalem "…..A proposal on Jerusalem put together by an Israeli think tank was carried to the summit by Ehud Barak, the Israeli prime minister, for negotiation with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader. ……… "Barak is proposing reorganisation of the control over Jerusalem, which will lead to the first ever Palestinian control over some parts of the 3,000-year-old city," said Menehem Klein, an Israeli analyst who helped write the Jerusalem proposal. "Jerusalem is the hard core of the conflict and once the question of the Arab rights over Jerusalem is solved, all the rest will follow." ......... The most controversial part of the plan would see the Israelis give up full control over the 200,000 Palestinians living in the Old City, seized by Israel in 1967. Israel would retain control over security and over the sacred Western, or Wailing, Wall. ......... The Israeli plan is a grudging compromise. It would leave Israel in ultimate control of the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site of Islam, and the Palestinian leader would face emotional charges of betrayal in the Arab world if he accepted this. ……… Other aspects of the plan may provide the groundwork for an agreement. The metropolitan borders of Jerusalem would be enlarged to include Jewish settlement blocs and Arab suburbs, and control divided between Israelis and Palestinians. ……To prepare Israeli public opinion for an agreement, mainly on the sensitive issue of Jerusalem, Barak has ordered a campaign to be launched today in Israel and the United States under the slogan: "For the future of the children". ……."

Washington Post 3/29/00 Estes Thompson "……Reform Jewish leaders on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a resolution giving rabbis the option of presiding at gay commitment ceremonies. With the vote, the Central Conference of American Rabbis became the most influential U.S. religious group to sanction same-sex unions.. …."

Jews for Morality 9/22/99 David Ben-Ammi "....What's wrong with secular Jews? Have you ever had an uncle who was a hopeless alcoholic, who constantly embarrassed you in public? That's how I feel about my secular relatives in the American Jewish community. Every time I hear about America's "culture war", guess who is on the side of the devil - my secular Jewish relatives: the American Jewish Congress, Hadassah, the ADL, and all the rest. Abortion, "gay rights", pornography - they're all for it. On the other hand, they vigorously oppose any moral, religiously-based initiative in public life: the Ten Commandments, school prayer, creation as an alternative to evolution - they're all against it. As an Orthodox Jew, I was taught that our mission was to be a "Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.... A light unto the Nations." Are these lost Jews truly the descendents of that great people who entered into a solemn covenant with G-D in the desert of Sinai? How could we have sunk so low that we now are an example of utter moral depravity before the nations of the world. "American Jews, alert to Christian anti-Semitism, are in danger of forgetting that it was the pagans - the Babylonians and the Romans - who destroyed the temples and twice imposed exile on the Jewish people." -Irving Kristol, ibidem ....."

Joseph Sobran 5/99 ".... In our time the Jews are defined less by ancestry than by "anti-Semitism," which is cited for many purposes, including the legitimation of the state of Israel. Most Zionists no longer claim that God gave the Holy Land to the Jews; instead they contend that the Jewish state is necessary as a haven for world Jewry………. "

ExciteNews (AP) 6/23/00 Jasmina Kelemen AP "…..Celebrating gay pride, thousands of Israelis in tank tops and shorts danced to deafening music and waved rainbow-colored flags Friday. The annual street party has become the latest venue in the culture war between secular Israelis and devout Jews who consider homosexuality an abomination. ………"We promise to support your struggle against the religious," legislator Tommy Lapid, leader of the secular rights party Shinui, told the cheering crowd. …….. In recent years, gays and lesbians in Israel have scored a string of successes in the courts, though not in parliament, where ultra-Orthodox religious parties have considerable clout. ……..The court rulings have coincided with growing public acceptance of gays. Just a few years ago, public displays of gay pride were unheard of in Israel….. Lapid, standard bearer of the secular fight against what he calls religious coercion, said his party and the homosexual movement are natural partners. ……. "

LewRockwell.com 4/13/00 Joseph Sobran "……. In THE SPECTATOR of London, another Jewish writer, Samuel Brittan, makes a more general assault on religion - and Christianity in particular - in an essay titled bluntly "Religion Is Bad for You." He begins with this curious observation: "I cannot help noticing how in the operas of Verdi the religious characters are nearly always the most punitive and vengeful." …."

New York Observer 11/8/99 Philip Weiss "….…..Then, in October, a Gallup poll came out underlining the larger issue: Religious observance among Jews is lower than any other major faith. Jews are one of "the least religious groups." Only 30 percent of Jewish respondents said their religion was "very important" to their daily lives, as compared with 60 percent of Americans over all…….. … . The real issue is godlessness, and what it has done not just to the Jews, but to our society. Think of the things that are worshiped in America now to a degree they never have before: celebrity, fame, success, money, status. All of them opposite to any religion's values. A culture of what The New York Times Magazine called "radical selfishness," in a special millennium issue in October……"

[U.K.] Independent 7/12/00 Phil Reeves "…… As a battered Ehud Barak arrived in the United States to begin the Camp David peace summit yesterday, his supporters in Israel rallied to show that his mission has the public's backing despite the collapse of his government. ……Thousands of people joined a demonstration outside the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem last night in support of a peace agreement with the Palestinians, and to prove to Mr Barak that he has - as he claims - gone to the US with a popular mandate. Mr Barak's support, led by the secular left, has begun to mobilise after two setbacks inflicted on him by right-wing and religious parties - the collapse of his coalition, and Monday's Knesset vote of no confidence. He survived the motion, submitted by Likud, because it failed to pass the 61-vote threshold, but it was 54-52 - with fewer people voting for him than against. ….."

Reuters 7/10/00 "…..Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met President Hosni Mubarak on Monday to discuss a U.S.-hosted peace summit that has shredded his ruling coalition. The two leaders met at the Itihadiya presidential palace in Cairo and officials said they planned no news conference later. The Egyptian leader, who held talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Sunday, was expected to urge Barak to implement existing peace commitments and make the painful decisions needed to solve the 52-year-old Middle East conflict. …"

Chuckmorse.com 7/6/00 Chuck Morse "…… My column,"The Meaning behind the most Infamous Forgery in History (6/26) dealt with the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" recently made available on Amazon.com. The response to this column has been a depressing and personally hurtful barrage of anti-Semitism……. The premise of my column was that the author of the Protocols, rather than describing a Jewish idea, was describing the exact opposite, a program for secular world government. Unlike Judaism, the tract calls for the replacement of God based faith with a pantheistic utopian global system……..The alarmingly anti-Semitic reaction to my article as well as a recent proliferation of anti-Semitic literature on the internet prompts me, as a traditional Jew, to address this issue head on. ……"

Chuckmorse.com 7/6/00 Chuck Morse "…… Among the many astonishing assertions I've seen is that "liberal" Jews, particularly those in "Hollywood" and the Clinton administration, are guided by the Talmud. The Talmud is a body of Rabbinic commentary on the Torah and has been virtually an exclusive preserve of Orthodox Jews and scholars…… Liberal Jews today are barely aware of the Talmud's existence…… Rather than Talmud, which is, essentially, a Manuel for living an observantly Jewish life, "liberal" Jews are animated by the same secular humanistic philosophies and "liberal" Christians. ......Two religions developed following Jesus death with Judaism operating on Pharisaic or Talmudic lines. While the two religions developed different practices and conceptions, it should be kept in mind that both faiths believe in a single creator who is the font of morality.......Both faiths recognize the evil side of human nature and offer an individual relationship with the Creator as a remedy. Both faiths stand diametrically opposed to Socialistic notions of "transforming" human nature by force. ...... The main attack on the Talmud is contained in the book "The Talmud Unmasked" by Rev. I.B.Pranaitis (1892). This book documents terrible comments made by Rabbi's of the early centuries against Jesus and Christianity…….."

Chuckmorse.com 7/6/00 Chuck Morse "…… For anti-Semites to dredge these things up centuries later, and only one side at that, is disingenuous. The Jews have been blamed for Communism yet, Communism is atheistic rather than God based....... Jews who became Communists betrayed their faith as much as Christians who did the same…….. At the same time Jews have been blamed for the excesses of Capitalism as anti-Semitic theory contends that Jews dominate the international banking establishment…… Monetary issuance, central banking and international finance and debt are serious and complex issues. The religious background of specific bankers is not relevant, the important question is their careers as bankers and how this affects the value of our currency……..Not that it matters, but most practitioners of international or merchant banking are not Jewish. …….."

AP 9/1/99 "…The world has a chance to turn over a new leaf in the new millennium by adopting a planetary approach to curing society's ills, according to a manifesto endorsed by philosophers and scientists around the world. "Humanist Manifesto 2000" was conceived and drafted by University at Buffalo Professor Paul Kurtz, president of the International Academy of Humanism and editor-in-chief of "Free Inquiry" magazine. Built around basic humanist principles of nontheistic, rationalist thought, the manifesto being released today stresses the need for people to rise above "narrow tribalism" to find common ground. …. The manifesto urges people to embrace science and technology to solve social problems like pollution and overpopulation. It urges an end to spiritual and theological world views in favor of new moral principles based on reason and science, which it says are more appropriate for the post-industrial, information age The document is endorsed by more than 100 people from 26 countries, in the fall issue of "Free Inquiry."…."

National Post 6/9/00 Luiza Chwialkowska "…..A federal funding agency has paid for a study aimed at helping feminist organizations strategize against "pro-life and pro-family" lobbyists at the Beijing +5 conference on women's equality under way this week at the United Nations. Among the transgressions of the targeted groups are not following proper procedures at a meeting, wearing buttons reading "Motherhood," lobbying governments and carrying Bibles. A 40-page paper entitled "Right-Wing Anti-Feminist Groups at the United Nations," produced by some academics at the Institute of Feminist Studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal, describes lobbying tactics of conservative groups and recommends to women's organizations "ways and means for responding." "This information should support a more adequate response to anti-feminist groups and their anti-democratic strategies during the upcoming United Nations meetings on women's rights," states the paper. ……."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 6/28/00 Larry Witham "……Religious liberty advocates on Capitol Hill are concerned about a proposed French law to imprison religious "proselytizers" for up to two years for "mental manipulation" of the public. The bill aims to limit the spread of what French officials have called 173 "dangerous sects" in France. These include Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientologists and Unificationists, among others, but also well-known evangelistic denominations such as the Baptists……… The proposed crime, which critics say could cover many religious, advertising and interest groups, is to "exercise serious and repeated pressure on a person in order to create or exploit a state of dependence." The bill would allow the French government to shut down a religious group when two representatives are found guilty of at least one legal infraction…….. Once approved, French law could proscribe incidents of evangelism even by the religious faith of President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, who are both Southern Baptists. "This is something that we are going to have to watch closely," a senior State Department official said yesterday. "In a worst-case scenario, it could turn out to be a nasty piece of legislation."……… T. Jeremy Gunn, who as a member of the U.S. Institute of Peace had visited France on religious liberty matters, said several French officials resorted to "ad hominem" attacks on American officials by charging they belonged to the "sects" in question.......

The Times (UK) 6/30/00 Ruth Gledhill "…… CHURCH leaders have been urged to fight a government-backed European directive that will force Christian charities and schools to employ non-believers and practising homosexuals. Religious groups say that the directive, aimed at promoting equality, will expose faith-based organisations to infiltration by hostile campaigners. It will also mean that churches could face legal action for employing Christian staff. ……. Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, said: "The Labour Party employs only Labour Party members. But this new government-backed Euro-directive will make it illegal for churches to employ only Christians, or for Jewish organisations to hire only Jews." ……Under the proposals, all schools run by religious organisations, whether Christian, Muslim or any other faith, will have to be willing to employ atheists and homosexuals on their teaching staffs. ……."

ABCNews.com 6/22/99 Heather Maher "...The news is not good, according to Michael Novak, a theologian and someone who thinks about these matters much harder than most people. Novak won the Templeton Prize in religion in 1994 and is the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Novak is a Thinker with a capital T. "In our cultural system, there's something very rotten, everyone feels that," the Thinker says. Apparently, America is in the grips of "moral entropy;" our republic is on a veritable downward slide. "There's practically a universal sense that something has gone wrong, but when we go to name it, we disagree."....The Thinker patiently explains: our freewheeling, liberated ways have given us a "dizzying" freedom that is actually putting a big strain on us, because it creates so many choices and distractions. And that makes it "harder to concentrate one's moral energies," Novak says, "and they become diffused." By "moral energies," he means all things good and noble - telling the truth, holding a door, helping a neighbor, making ethical choices, practicing self-sacrifice, taking responsibility, etc., etc....."

Sunday Times U.K. 10/31/99 Bryan Appleyard Jonathan Glover "…..First, the bad news: the 20th century has been the worst in human history. Second, the really bad news: people are still startled to the point of denial when they are told this. The facts are plain. Thanks to, in descending order of body counts, Mao Tse-tung, Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot, our age has been more systematically cruel and murderous than any other. Yet, in the comfort of our affluence, we cannot quite bring ourselves to face this fact. We still, colloquially, use the word "medieval" to signify unusual barbarity, when, strictly speaking, we should use the word "modern".. . …... But to Glover, a philosopher, modern evil is also an episode in the history of ideas. God died in the 19th century and Nietzsche danced on his grave. The foundation of the external moral law was destroyed and, in its place, was a vacuum, soon gleefully filled by the psychotics of Nazism and communism. It may not be possible to say that the death of God led directly to the gas ovens; but, equally, nobody can ignore the fact that the cruellest era in history was also the first to deny the existence of an external moral force…… Yet there are many ways in which, in the normal course of events, people are sustained in their belief that starting a nuclear war, murdering children or exterminating Jews are all bad ideas. Glover points to "moral identity" - the feeling that "I am not that sort of person" - to "moral resources" - the normal, humane responses that seem to come naturally - and to self-interest - if you behave kindly to others, they will probably behave kindly to you. All of these might be said to be replacements for God's law. But, unfortunately, none of them worked. ….."

FREEDOM.ORG 8/12/00 Henry Lamb "…….Are your children being taught how to make "paper images of a Hindu god, make toothpick and yarn 'worry dolls' to ward off anxiety, and take part in Earth Day worship services?" They are if they attend the Bedford Central School District in White Plains, N.Y. Are your children being taught how to howl like a wolf, as an expression of their "oneness" with nature? They are if they attend church in the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, or the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Are your children being taught that the three "R's" are: Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse? They are if they attend most any public school in America. ……. Public education, and American churches are being overwhelmed by a deluge of environmental propaganda arising from a core belief in the gaia hypothesis. Popularized by James Lovelock, the gaia hypothesis contends that the earth is the giver of life; that all life forms have equal intrinsic value; and that human beings immorally abuse the rights of all other life forms……. The gaia hypothesis is the "sustainable" version of ancient pagan beliefs, articulated early in this century by Alice Bailey. Bailey said her wisdom came from an "ascended master," Djwhal Khul, a Tibetan teacher who spoke to her while she was in a trance. Her publishing company was named "Lucifer Publishing," but has now evolved into The Lucis Trust. ……. Were these the antics and beliefs of a handful of eco-freaks, it wouldn't matter. But when these antics and beliefs find their way into our public schools and our mainstream churches, it does matter. When our kids are not only exposed to, but are also required to participate in these rituals, it is time for parents to stamp it out at its source. But what is the source? ……Yes, it is the U.S. Department of Education. Yes, it is the National Education Association. Yes, it is the National Wildlife Federation, and The Nature Conservancy, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and thousands of other environmental organizations. But behind these, there is a common source. Robert Muller is the author of the "World Core Curriculum." He is widely recognized as the "father of global education." ……"

ABC News: The Wolf Files 7/9/00 Buck Wolf "….. Harry Potter sure knows which witch will bewitch a real witch. Real witches just love the series of novels about the boy wizard who flies on his high-powered broomstick, The Nimbus 2000, and studies all sorts of sorcery at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. And just like everybody else, they're eagerly awaiting the next installment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. ……Phyllis Curott, author of Book of Shadows (Broadway Books), loves a good broomstick joke as much as the next witch. But don't compare benign witch images in Harry Potter to The Blair Witch Project.(Jim Rieher) ……"It's great fantasy," says Phyllis Curott, the lawyer who won witch clergy the right to perform marriages in New York City. "Sure, you are seeing witches in Harry Potter do things they don't do in real life. But it is positive. They are friendly. They are good. The book might change the way people feel about us. You know, when you see how we are portrayed in the media, it's not easy sometimes being a witch." ......"

AgapePress 7/7/00 Fred Jackson "……. If you are heading for a bookstore this weekend, you may want to prepare for a mob of Harry Potter disciples. The latest edition in the Potter series, The Goblet of Fire, goes on sale at midnight tonight. Four million copies of Harry Potter's latest wizard adventure have been produced for the American market alone. Since the series started, 30 million copies of the books have been sold around the world in 32 different languages. ……The books tell the story of Harry and his friends who go to school to learn witchcraft. Christians have raised concerns about the occult content, especially in light of the fact that public schools and libraries have been busy promoting it. ….."

7/11/00 Reuters "……An avowed Satan worshiper who hated Christianity pleaded guilty on Tuesday to setting a spate of church fires across the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said. ……. Jay Scott Ballinger, who called himself a missionary of Lucifer and who frequently expressed his hostility toward organized Christianity, admitted he set 26 churches ablaze in eight states over a five-year period that ended in 1999, the department said. …..He pleaded guilty to torching churches in Indiana, Ohio, California, Alabama, South Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. …… Ballinger still faces federal charges in Georgia for setting five church fires in 1998 and 1999, including one in which a firefighter was killed. ……. According to court documents, Ballinger grew up in Yorktown, Indiana, and traveled extensively, practicing his religious beliefs as a Luciferian. He signed individuals he met to contracts with the devil, the Justice Department said. ……. In late 1993, Ballinger began traveling with an 18-year-old, Angela Wood, who worked as a nightclub dancer to pay their living expenses. She primarily acted as a lookout while he set the fires, the Justice Department said. Wood pleaded guilty last year and is cooperating with prosecutors in the case against Ballinger. ……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/22/00 Rick Pierce "……The St. Louis Public Schools and AT&T Cable Services have yanked a television astrology program off a cable channel normally reserved for school programming. The program features Ruth Williams, a local astrologer, and guests who do tarot card readings and palmistry. Harold Brewster, a School Board member who is also a minister, saw the program last Thursday and raised objections with Chester Edmonds, the school district's public information officer. Later, an AT&T Cable spokeswoman confirmed that the program had been pulled. "That confirms that it was a lousy, filthy program," Brewster said. Brewster said such programs may be appropriate for other cable television channels, but not on the same channel with school programming. He called the show "part of the satanic way of doing things." Williams responded, "No, it's not satanic. He'll have to search somewhere else for Satan." Williams, who has been doing a local cable television show since 1986, said her "Pathways through Astrology" program is aired live and on tape across the St. Louis area at various times and on different stations. ......"

South Bend Tribune 3/24/00 Howard Dukes "……Cary Smith remembers Cheryl Malinowski as the teacher who helped her excel when school became too difficult. That is why the portrayals of the science teacher at Ring Lardner Middle School as someone who might be a danger to students caught her by surprise. …… The district disciplined Malinowski for giving a student unauthorized reading material. Malinowski gave the student a copy of a book that discusses a "pagan" religion called Wicca. That student gave the book, "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner," to a classmate. Brian and Diane Wozniak, the parents of the classmate, found the book. They complained to the school after learning how their daughter had received the book. Malinowski's supporters, upset about what they perceive as character assassination and a lack of support from the school board and administration, attended the board meeting. ….."

Medium Rare Newsletter 12/6/99 Jim Rarey "…..Logging interests in Minnesota have filed a law suit against the U.S. Forest Service and two environmental groups who have tied up logging in that state. According to a Los Angeles Times article by Stephanie Simon, the suit essentially claims that environmental groups have persuaded the Forest Service that trees have "spiritual" value and thus should not be cut down. The Times article says the Forest Service is accused of "foisting the 'religion' of the Deep Ecology movement on all Americans by adopting it as a guiding policy for timber management, which violates the Constitution because the government is promoting one religion above others." ….."

BBC 4/27/00 "…… The Vatican's updated manual is to help with exorcisms The boom in "New Age" religions, ignorance of the Bible and a growth in spiritual confusion are being blamed for the rising tide of exorcisms being performed around the world. To cope with the modern rise in demonic influences, the Vatican is promoting greater distribution of its manual on exorcism. Leading exorcist Father Jeremy Davies, 65, from the Westminster Diocese, believes the Church's increased vigilance in the past 10 years had also contributed to the number of exorcisms being performed. He told the Catholic Herald newspaper: "The incidence of the demonic on the whole is rising. At the centre of this is man's ever growing pride and attempted self-reliance." ……The 1998 manual, which replaces the one in use since 1624, is currently being translated from Latin for distribution to bishops and exorcists around the world. The 90-page ritual, entitled De Exorcismus et Supplicantionibus Quibustam (On Every Kind of Exorcism in Supplication) encourages priests to spend more time in prayer with the possessed person. It retains much of the symbolism of the original, but tones down the most aggressive imprecations against the devil. A Vatican commission of theologians and liturgists has been working on the manual for the past 20 years. ….. It retains much of the symbolism of the original, but tones down the most aggressive imprecations against the devil. ….."

CBN News 5/31/00 Kelly McElveen "…… Witches and pagans, hippies and New Agers, radical feminism and alternative spirituality -- these are not the eclectic streets of San Francisco. This is Lexington Avenue in Asheville, N.C., and here you're just as likely to find a Wiccan keeping shop as a Baptist going to church. Asheville is a small city of about 68,000 nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina. It's located in the heart of the Bible belt -- the stretch of southern states considered to be the bastion of conservative Christian values. But this small city has earned a reputation of being anything but conservative. …….A recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine describes Asheville this way: "Asheville had recently become America's new freak capital. The place overflowed with hippies, neo-hippies, punks, witches, pagans, the homeless and lost, the homeless and found, fairies, dykes, braggarts, dreadlocked bliss ninnies, thieves, crystal worshippers, free-leonard peltiers, free-mumias, potheads, anarchists, performance artists, and so on." ……."

Insight on the News Online 11/12/99 Catherine Edward

WorldNet Daily 10/29/99 David Bresnahan ".....It's not often that you meet a former high priest of the Church of Wicca. In fact, Ted Rabouin, 66, claims he's the only "former" one there is. No other witch of such high rank has ever left the practice of witchcraft as Rabouin has done. Rabouin says that witches are evil, they worship Satan, and they commit many despicable crimes all over the world. Young teens and others searching for an answer to life's many questions are enticed to participate in witchcraft. Rabouin warns that the danger is not apparent because witches by their very nature are deceptive and intent on making evil look good...... Rabouin left the practice of witchcraft in 1980 when he had an experience he will never forget. The Westborough Fire Department responded to a fire at Rabouin's home, a fire he says was started by Satan. "The thick door burst right off the hinges and ignited. He, or it, was just a black shape. There were burn foot marks on the floor," described Rabouin in a phone interview. Until that night he thought his 25 years of witchcraft amounted to nothing more than fun and games. After years of spells, incantations, coven meetings, and assorted satanic related activity Rabouin discovered something he didn't expect. "Satan is real, David. It's all very real," he insisted. It was no longer just a con game. It was not just a slick way to get people to hand over a lot of money in a short time. Rabouin learned it was all real, and it scared him to death. ...... He warns that the public image of witches has been carefully shaped over the years to remove concern from the public. The young and the curious participants don't often become exposed to the true nature of witchcraft unless they remain involved for many years. "They're just dime store witches," says Rabouin of those who profess to use witchcraft. "They're deceived by Satan. They don't know," he said. He warns parents to not be deceived by the nice sounding information being promoted about Wicca and witchcraft. Rabouin says it's not what it seems, and anyone attracted to it should turn and run the other direction......"

The Asheville Tribune 10/15-22/99 Vol 3 No 40

The New Australian 8/99 Phyllis Schlafly Report "...The school district is expected to appeal the decision in this case, Altman et al. v. Bedford Central School District. If it does, the parents should appeal the failure of the court to throw out the offensive classroom activities involved in the use of the card game called "Magic: The Gathering." It was this card game that alerted the plaintiffs to contest the peculiar classroom activities. They objected to the "Magic" card game because it is steeped in satanic imagery, signs, and rituals such as human sacrifice and the casting of spells. The object of the game is to accumulate "mana," which is "power that comes from the earth." The plaintiffs contend that the card game "initiates children into satanism using perversion of actual Bible verses." One card, depicting a man about to be sacrificed with a knife about to plunge into his heart, carries this strange message: "Sacrifice one of your creatures to add to your mana pool a number of black mana equal to that creature's casting cost." Another card shows a terrified woman with a hand holding her head down and a huge knife at her throat. The parents charged that the card game is part of a New Age curriculum that includes yoga lessons, cult worship, and religious activities. "The cards represent a billion dollar industry," attorney Mary Ann DiBari said, "and our children are paying the price with indoctrination in the occult."...."

Indianapolis Star/News 7/28/99 Susan Schramm "...Jay Scott Ballinger traveled across the country with his girlfriend, setting fire to 29 churches in eight states, according to a federal grand jury indictment returned Tuesday. From January 1994 until February of this year, the Yorktown man crisscrossed the nation, burning churches as he went, federal court documents say. Although his home state was the preferred burning ground -- 14 church fires in Indiana were attributed to him -- he also is accused of arsons in California, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee..... Ballinger also is charged in Georgia with 10 federal counts involving five church fires, including one that killed a volunteer firefighter. Court documents filed previously said Ballinger confessed to as many as 50 church arsons.....Investigators have not disclosed a motive for the church burnings. But at least one church was desecrated with satanic markings. Interviews with people who knew Ballinger revealed that he tried to lure young people in Delaware County in the early 1990s into joining his fledgling satanic church...."

New York Post 7/26/99 Editorial Board "…THE modern U.S. Air Force is willing to sanction Wiccans - dagger-wielding witches who pose as an alternative to religion. Accomodating Catholic doctrine, on the other hand, is a problem. Just ask 1st Lt. Ryan Berry, who may be forced out of his Air Force post on account of his religious beliefs. Berry's duties as a missileer include spending uninterrupted shifts - ranging from 24 hours to several days - in a small underground capsule from which 150 Minuteman III missiles can be activated. The launch center's two-person crew is expected to share the capsule's one bathroom and one bed. Trouble is, Berry has a religious objection to fulfilling this duty with female officers. Catholics, according to established doctrine, should not put themselves in the way of temptation and sin. Berry, a 25-year-old married man, says spending long hours in a confined space with a woman who is not his wife is a violation of this teaching. …."

WorldNetDaily.com 7/8/99 Jon E Dougherty "…In another victory for parents of school-aged children, a federal judge in New York has ruled that the Bedford Central School District can no longer force children to participate in Earth Day "worship services," "North American Indian animism," or be forced to construct "worry dolls" and other "tangibles" that "have supernatural powers." At Bedford, students were required to create paper images of a Hindu god, make toothpick and yarn "worry dolls" to defend against anxiety, and to participate in "Earth Day" worship services -- all advocated by liberal district administrators and teachers who personally took part in the services. The judge in his ruling had the insight to call these celebrations "truly bizarre," and added that the events "took on many of the attributes of the ceremonies of worship by organized religions" -- something liberals have consistently prevented Christians from doing since 1962….."

Daily Catholic 6/15/00 Dr. Frank Joseph, MD "…….. It must be obvious to all by now, that our once Godly country is sinking into hell at an alarming rate. Can anyone doubt that satan is licking his "chops" as he reflects on the Clinton/Gore administration. How proud satan must be of his star pupils. …… They say that 90% of the people believe in God, if so, then one must also believe in satan. The Holy Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ was tempted by satan. For some reason, we never hear much about the prince of darkness. People go about their lives as if he doesn't exist. ….. As a matter of fact people even act as if there is no God. …… To these people, I say, get your head out of the sand and look around. Do you like what you see? If you were satan, whose souls would you covet the most?….. How about the leaders of the most powerful country on Earth. How about one entire political party of the most powerful country on the planet, Earth. ………How does one explain why the oldest political party and once the champions and voice of the poor and downtrodden, have become nothing more than the pawns of satan -- his pride and joy? The American people have been duped by the Democratic party and I must admit I was included. …….. How else can one explain why Clinton and Gore, early in their political careers were pro-life, but now, don't even care if babies are killed when they are 3/4 born and suffer sever pain in the process. They found out that it was not conducive to climbing the Democratic political ladder, which requires a litmus test -- to be an unqualified supporter of legal abortions, so they sold out, to who else, but satan. They found out that the Democratic party, in their race to get money and votes, relinquished all moral accountability……. Support of the Holy See has grown in only a few months to more than 2,000 groups from all faiths from all over the world. They know, if the Vatican is removed, there will be no voice, internationally for people of Faith and no voice for the unborn. ……. Bush noted that pro-abortion groups have been arguing that the Vatican's status, which gives it a chance to advocate the pro-life stance at the UN, should be changed. He indicated his opposition to the pro-abortion effort and his support for keeping the Vatican's position in the UN intact. ……."The position of the administration is unclear,'' he said. "The position of my administration will be very clear and firm: America supports permanent observer status for the Holy See." ………Years ago, I left the Democratic party, when they chose to be the party of evil. Did you ever in your wildest dreams, picture our country, where people of faith were ridiculed and called by the Democrats -- "the religious right," as if it were some sort of an evil preoccupation. And if you attend church on a regular basis, then you are a "religious fanatic." ……….Where one major party's (Democrat) base are the purveyors of death, sin and evil. Their major contributors: Planned Parenthood -- the killers of unborn babies; NARAL -- their cheerleaders; the Hollywood filth industry -- requires no explanation; the gay community and their perverted and deadly life style. …….There is no time left. It's has to be obvious to all, that a vote for Gore will be a vote for satan. I dare anyone, "in his right mind," to deny this. It cannot get any plainer -- there is a war going on in our country, between good and evil -- between God and satan. Whose side are you on? ……".

(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) 6/03/1999 Cal Thomas "...SOMETHING QUITE REMARKABLE happened last week at a high school graduation in Calvert County, Maryland. It wasn't that the American Civil Liberties Union had intervened on behalf of a lone student who said he would be offended if a fellow graduate went ahead with her plans to deliver an invocation at commencement. The religious version of "ethnic cleansing'' happens all the time, from the courthouse to the schoolhouse. Seventeen-year-old Julie Schenk, who wanted to deliver the invocation, compromised and announced that she would instead call for a "time for reflection'' that did not mention God. That seemed fine with everybody, including the ACLU. But when Schenk asked for 30 seconds of silence and the crowd of 4,000 rose, a single loud male voice began reciting the Lord's Prayer, which begins, "Our Father, who art in heaven.'' The prayer was quickly picked up by others in the audience until it rolled like thunder across the room....What amazes about this incident is that the audience reaction seems to have been spontaneous. Indeed, an ACLU spokesperson appeared frustrated when she noted the corporate prayer wasn't initiated by graduates or school officials. Nor did the prayer specifically mention "God,'' only "Our Father,'' so technically it might be said to have been in compliance........"

The Orlando Sentinel 7/1/99 Charlie Reese "...There may be a revolt brewing in America. It seems to be happening in that part of America so mysterious to the political and news-media elite -- the areas that surround, like interstellar space, the elitist strongholds in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. There was a hint in Utah a year or so ago when audience members at a school event defiantly sang a song that some federal judge had commanded that they could not sing. More recently, on the East Coast, a group of parents and students decided to pray in defiance of a court order. ..."

NewsMax 9/21/99 Bill Murchison "….The Baptists know all this [secularism] Their most engaging trait is that they don't care. They set forth the Truth as they have received it, that Jesus Christ died for your sins. Case in point: the Fort Worth commemoration. The occasion is ostensibly civic. The mayor is a speaker; Gov. George W. Bush and other office-holders have come as non-speakers just to reinforce the sense of public outrage and grief. A rabbi prays. I spot Moslems in the crowd. ….Yet the occasion is saturated with Christian joy. There's an odd word -- "joy.'' What's joyous about the desecration of a house of worship and the slaughter of teenage worshippers and counselors? Nothing is "joyful'' about evil. Joy, as the Baptists of Fort Worth would make known, comes with God's response to evil. Does He leave it to fester? Hardly. He points to the victory already won, and in the end to be lastingly consummated, through His son's death and resurrection. It's right there in those Bibles waved under Satan's snoot. Nor does it stop even there, you dumb lunk with the pitchfork! Christians inside and outside the Southern Baptist Convention would affirm this reality…."

NewsMax 9/21/99 Bill Murchison "….On the assumption that Satan, enlisting the help of Larry Gene Ashbrook, set out last week to intimidate Christians ... well, did this unholy pair pick the wrong church! Liberal Protestants of hazy theological outlook -- that might have been one thing. But Southern Baptists! No one in his right mind would put forward the Baptists as subject matter for spiritual intimidation. Confronted, menaced, jeopardized, Baptists reach for a familiar object -- the Holy Bible. They open it, they brandish it, they thrust it right in the Devil's face. Just how heart-warming it was to see them do so on a sun-splashed Sunday afternoon, in Texas Christian University's football stadium, I beg here and now to report. The Baptists, to every appearance, have it right: Spiritual warfare rages in our midst.

NewsMax 9/21/99 Bill Murchison "….Affirm? A mild word for what goes on at the stadium. What about the father of one of the victims, leading the audience/congregation in the singing of a song his murdered daughter had loved? What about the pastor of the desecrated church, the Rev. Al Meredith, whomping up a classic Baptist revival on the spot -- a call to fasting and repentance and prayer? "Raise your hand if you want the killing to stop -- if you want to see the spirit of the living God sweeping over our land like wildfire.'' Up in the air -- a forest of affirming arms, one of them attached to an Episcopalian journalist. Bad news for Satan. He's stirred up the Baptists -- folk who take him with the deep seriousness his malice deserves. The culture wars may have taken a decisive turn…."

Time Magazine 6/12/00 David Van Biema/Carriere "…… When a public school was swept by a full-blown religious revival, should teachers have stopped it? Jesus was nervous. The recruitment assembly for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at Pearl River Central High School in Carriere, Miss., was scheduled for April 12, a mere week before the first anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. Like students all over the country this year, Brandon Smith, 16, had been drilled on how to survive school violence. And now Smith, cast as the Savior in one of the fellowship's skits, joked a bit tensely to his best friend and girlfriend, "You all, I'm Jesus in this skit; so if anybody gets shot, it'll probably be me." …………Instead of opening fire, however, the hundreds of Pearl River students watching Smith's mock crucifixion wept. They hugged one another, sang and testified to God's greatness and admitted their troubles. When the morning assembly, scheduled for 90 min., finally ended--five hours later--they knew a kind of fatigued ecstasy. They were not aware that they had presented conservative Christians and civil libertarians with a new object of debate: a full-blown, sweat-soaked religious revival in a public school. …….."

Email 11/25/99 Eric Opiela UT Student Body Vice President "….. I had the great privilege of attending the memorial service at A&M tonight and was deeply moved by the events I experienced. The A&M student body is truly one of the greatest treasures of our State. As part of the UT delegation, we sat on the floor of Reed Arena, and immediately following the end of the service, I heard this rustling sound behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the sight of 20,000 students spontaneously putting their arms on their neighbors' shoulders, forming a great circle around the arena. The mass stood there in pin-drop silence for close to five minutes; then, from somewhere, someone began to hum quietly the hymn 'Amazing Grace.' Within seconds, the whole arena was singing. I tried too--I choked, I cried……"

Associated Press 1/30/2000 Joann Loviglio "….. HAZLETON, Pa. - He appeared out of the blue in October, clad only in a dirty white robe as he walked barefoot along the two-lane highway into this struggling former coal town. Folks pointed at first as the man with the shoulder-length hair and scruffy beard preached to whomever would listen. Before long, though, many in this largely Roman Catholic community were embracing him as a holy man…… With hundreds of people gathering in fire halls, gymnasiums and open fields to listen to the stranger, his presence has some worried that the community has opened its hearts and homes too readily to someone they know little about. ……"….. Police checked his background and found nothing of concern. He was arrested in Greenfield, Ohio, in August after he refused to stop preaching to a crowd that became unruly when police tried to break up the gathering. He was identified in a police affidavit as Carl J. Joseph, 39. The disorderly conduct charge was dismissed, and Hazleton police said they have yet to receive any complaints about Mr. Joseph. He says his nine-year trek has brought him to 47 states and 13 countries. But never has he remained in one place for so long before. "People here have been wonderful. There's such a great need for spirituality today," he said. "People feel desolate because they have gotten away from God and his church." …..….. Others say that preaching the Gospel is nothing but a good thing, pointing out that "What's Your Name" is not seeking financial gain. He turns over all money and gifts he receives to local parishes, except for sandals he received recently because he did not own a pair of shoes....... "I encourage everyone to get into communication with God again," he said as the crowd nodded in agreement. "I've experienced so many different places, so many different people, so many different cultures, but I've never learned more than I have from prayer." He said he will remain in the area as long as there is a need for his words….."

Freeper Lazio 1/26/2000 Reverend Joseph Wright "….When minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new sessions of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
THE PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good" but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of your will.
I ask it in the Name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen……. The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In six short weeks, Central Christian Church,were Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India. Africa,and Korea….."

Breakpoint 3/13/00 Charles Colson "…… You won't hear this from the secular media, but the culture war isn't over yet -- and there's plenty of evidence that Christians are winning important victories. For example, did you see the recent Wall Street Journal piece about Abercrombie & Fitch? It seems Abercrombie has gone from being the hottest, hippest clothing store around to being ... just another store. Abercrombie, you may recall, is the company that reinvented itself as THE place for teenagers to buy clothes. Their once-stodgy catalogs began to feature nude photos, alcoholic recipes, and sex advice from the stars. Angry parents picketed the stores. Mothers Against Drunk Driving protested the drinking article so loudly that the company recalled that particular catalog. The Michigan Attorney General even took steps to force the company to keep its pornographic catalogs out of the hands of children. ….."

Fox News 7/5/00 Betsy Scheinbart "…… Who can beat Millionaire in network TV ratings? Jesus can. Want to sell your magazine, TV series or movie? Make Jesus the star. Jesus, the CBS miniseries, was the first program all season to defeat ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Jesus has been on TV a lot lately, from the miniseries to a claymation show that aired on Easter Sunday. …… Why this growing interest in Jesus? According to Roy Anker, a professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., the entertainment industry is looking for new ideas that will capitalize on America's persistent interest in religion. "These two factors: religious hunger and emptiness in the entertainment industry," Anker said. "One comes to see the attractiveness to film makers, and the public, of Jesus stories." ……"

Washington Times 8/7/00 Richard Ostling "….A conference of evangelical Protestant leaders, the largest ever, reaffirmed old-time religion yesterday in an "Amsterdam Declaration" to defend against attempts to water down the Gospel under assault by modern pluralism and relativism. The participants renewed their belief that Jesus Christ is the "one and only Savior," and that the only path to salvation is belief in His death on the cross to redeem human sin. The Bible, the declaration says, is God's "totally true and trustworthy" revelation. The conference concluded last night with a Communion service, rousing songs by a multiracial youth choir from 50 nations and brief marching orders from its absent chairman, the Rev. Billy Graham. Mr. Graham, looking reasonably fit but speaking in a husky voice, had recorded his remarks Saturday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he is recovering from surgery…….."Let us light a fire of commitment to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to the ends of the Earth, using every resource at our command, and with every ounce of our strength," he said……. He urged the crowd to light fires that would renew faith in the Bible as God's word, make evangelism the church's priority, banish moral blight and "roll back the poisons of racism, poverty and injustice."......"

Agape Press 7/17/00 Allie Martin "……A Christian actor, best known for his role on the hit TV series "Growing Pains," has a lead role in a movie based on the best-selling fiction book series dealing with life after the rapture……… For his latest role, Kirk Cameron has been shot at, nearly blown up by an exploding car, and witnesses the chaos after millions of people disappear from the face of the earth. Cameron play Buck Williams, a television reporter in the movie "Left Behind"--based on the book by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins…….. Cameron, a committed Christian, spoke with AFR News during a break in filming on the set in Toronto, Canada. He says he hopes the movie will make people examine their relationship with Christ…….."It's just a great, great story that will make people consider their life in light of the truth of the rapture," Cameron says. "If the rapture were to happen tomorrow...if people were to start really thinking about that and thinking about the genuineness of their faith...would they be left behind?"…….."I think there are a lot of Christians who...don't live in light of what Jesus said he is coming back soon. I think that this project is going to make people really think about that, and think about whether or not they believe it."……."

CBN NEWS 6/30/00 Wendy Griffith "……In a "secular age" when just mentioning God or prayer can sometimes elicit hostile reactions, how do Americans today feel about God and spirituality? A recent Gallup survey has dug deep into America's religious landscape and uncovered some surprising findings. The numbers are in and God is getting high marks. Despite rumors to the contrary, religion is still popular and America remains a predominantly Christian nation. Some 96 percent of Americans say they believe in God, which is about the same number as believed 50 years ago……… A new Gallup poll finds 85 percent of Americans say they believe in some form of Christianity. Of those, 59 percent are Protestant and 26 percent are Catholic. Five percent name a non-Christian religion, including two percent who are Jewish. Ten percent of Americans have no religious preference or can't designate one. …….But what's astounded pollsters is the recent surge in spirituality. Eighty-two percent of Americans say they feel the need for spiritual growth; that's up an unprecedented 24 percentage points in just four years. And 69 percent say they're searching for greater meaning in their lives; that's up 11 percent since 1985…….."

CBN NEWS 6/30/00 Wendy Griffith "……Kevin Manoia, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, agrees that something is indeed stirring in the souls of Americans, as well as the church as a whole. "God is moving in fresh, incredible new ways," he says. "God wants to renew the church. He wants to fill the sails, drive the boat. He wants to use us to accomplish His mission in this country, and that's the exciting part."………. "Eight in ten Americans say they're Christians, but only four in ten know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount," says Gallup. "Most people say the Ten Commandments are valid rules for living, but they can't name them." ………"I think Christians should be concerned because the spirituality that's very popular now is going off in a lot of different dimensions," he says. "It's basically a smorgasbord kind of religion made to suit the individuals." ……. However, the church is growing in other areas. More people are flocking to non-denominational churches, which tend to be more evangelical in nature. And Southern Baptists have remained steady over the years. One group fueling the growth of evangelicals is Hispanics, said to be the nation's fastest growing segment of the evangelical church. "They are loyal, they like to attend church, and they like to belong to a church," says Jesse Miranda, president of AMEN. African-Americans also enjoy church and may be the most religious people in the world. Fifty-one percent of blacks consider themselves to be born again, compared to 36 percent nationally. Eight-two percent say they're church members, compared to 69 percent nationally. …….."

FOXNEWS 6/13/00 Adam Pasick "….. Prayer may help heal the sick, according to a new review of studies on "distance healing," which encompasses prayer and other mental activities that can't be explained by contemporary science. …….Researchers at the University of Maryland looked at 23 clinical trials involving more than 2,700 patients, 57 percent of which found that prayer had a positive effect on health. Each of the studies was placebo-controlled - for example, half the patients were randomly assigned people who prayed for them, the other half received no prayer. "Absolutely, the evidence suggests that something may be going on," said lead author Dr. John Astin, an expert on alternative and complimentary medicine. "I'm open-minded to possibilities of things we don't understand." …….. The study, which appeared in this month's Annals of Internal Medicine, defines distance healing as "a conscious, dedicated act of mentation attempting to benefit another person's physical or emotional well being at a distance." It "does not necessarily imply any particular belief in or referral to a deity or higher power." …… In one of the studies included in Astin's analysis, researchers at San Francisco General Medical Center found prayer "to the Judeo-Christian God" helped heart patients. They required less assistance breathing, and needed fewer antibiotics and diuretics than a control group. "Intercessory prayer to the Judeo-Christian God has a beneficial therapeutic effect," the study concluded. ……"

Lew Rockwell 12/2/00 Joseph Sobran "……..The world has long since forgiven Julius Caesar. Nobody today finds Socrates or Cicero irritating. Few of us resent Alexander the Great or his tutor, Aristotle. No, only one man in the ancient world is still hated after two millennia: Jesus Christ……….. This does not in itself prove the divinity of Christ, but it does show that his words and example haven't dated. They still have an amazing power to provoke hatred as well as adoration. Of course the hatred of Christ usually pretends to be directed at side targets: St. Paul, the "institutional" Church, or, more vaguely, "organized religion" (as if religion would be all right if only it were a solitary activity). The cliché of the Christ-haters, including many "liberal" theologians, is that he was a "great moral teacher" who "never claimed divinity," but that his "simple message of love" was "corrupted" by his followers………… But why would anyone want a man crucified for preaching an innocuous message of benevolence? Jesus was accused of blasphemy for equating himself with the Father: "I and the Father are one." "No man comes to the Father but by me." And if his claim were untrue, the charge of blasphemy would be fully justified………… People not only saw him after the Resurrection, many of them died under torture to bear witness to him. The martyrs were the principal human "media" of Christianity in its infancy, deeply impressing and finally converting others. Christ was "revealed" to the ancient world in the courageous love of his best disciples……."

Lew Rockwell 12/2/00 Joseph Sobran "……..Cahill goes on: "What especially makes the Gospels - from a literary point of view - works like no others is that they are about a good human being. As every writer knows, such a creature is all but impossible to capture on the page, and there are exceedingly few figures in all of literature who are both good and memorable." The Gospel writers thus "succeeded where almost all others failed. To a writer's eyes, this feat is a miracle just a little short of raising the dead."...... Most writers are flattered if their words are remembered at all. But the spiritually demanding words of Jesus - which condemn even looking at a woman with lust - are still carried in the hearts of millions after 2000 years, even though we know them only in translations from translations. (Jesus spoke Aramaic, but the Gospels are written in Greek.) Even conveyed to us so indirectly, those words have "carried" like no others in all history, because so many people have found them true and compelling. The durability of those words is all the more striking when you consider that they are always out of fashion, as the secular world goes through its successive fads and crazes......."

The Associated Press, via News Plus 10/26/99 Brenda Coleman "….Heart patients who had someone praying over them without their knowledge suffered 10 percent fewer complications, according to new research published this week. "It's potentially a natural explanation we don't understand yet. It's potentially a super- or other-than-natural mechanism," said William S. Harris, a heart researcher and lead author of the study. Harris and other researchers at the Mid America Heart Institute, the heart program of St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., studied 990 patients admitted during a year to the institute's coronary care unit. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. In one, patients were prayed for daily by community volunteers for four weeks; the other patients didn't have anyone assigned to pray for them….."

Daily Telegraph, Sydney 12/14/99 "…. Sir Cliff Richard defied the critics yesterday by keeping his place on the UK charts at number one for the fourth week running. His triumph was a putdown for singer George Michael who condemned Sir Cliff's single The Millenium Prayer as vile. In an astonishing attack, the former member of Wham! described it as a "heinous piece of music."He accused Sir Cliff of expoiting his fellow Christians, and said the song was unfit to be number one on the eve of the millenium….."

WorldNetDaily 2/17/00 Craige McMillian

Chattanooga Free Press 10/24/99 "….In our "Bible Belt" section of the South, most homes have not just one but several copies of the Bible. Some are worn, dog-eared and underlined from daily use. Others may be a little dusty. But Bibles are readily available. It may be surprising, therefore, to read that throughout the world, demands for Bibles go far beyond their availability. In China, the world's most populous nation with an estimated 1.2 billion people, there are said to be only 30 million Bibles for the 80 million to 100 million Christians there. Some Chinese Christians face persecution or at least severe restrictions -- but their demand for Bibles is large and growing……"

FOX 7/22/00 Reuters "……General Mills Inc. has apologized for including a free software version of the Bible in more than 12 million boxes of Cheerios, Chex and other brands of breakfast cereal, the Detroit Free Press reported (on) Saturday. The $10 million promotion, which included offering a Protestant version of the Bible on a CD-ROM containing games and dictionaries, was scheduled to kick off on Monday and run through August, the newspaper said. ……….."While inclusion of the Bible may be seen as added value by some, it is the company's policy not to advance any particular set of religious beliefs. ……. The Detroit Free Press quoted the company as saying the Bible was included on the CD-ROM "without our knowledge or consent.'' But it also published e-mails that appeared to show the cereal-maker knew it was included. …….Wisconsin's Rhinosoft Interactive founder Gregory Swann said free software of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire'' in boxes of General Mills cereals on store shelves now was also to have contained the Bible. But Disney Interactive, which licensed the software version of the popular game show, demanded it be deleted, the newspaper reported. ……"

World Net Daily 7/21/00 Johnny Chung "…… Despite my anger with this administration for the way it is treating me, I am eternally grateful to God for His mercy and for using this situation to bring me closer to Him. Because of three assassination attempts against me, my family and I were put under government protection twice by heavily-armed FBI agents. But it wasn't just professional killers that were after me. During the Chinagate scandal, I felt like a hunted animal being chased by the news media, congressional investigators and professional prosecutors of the Department of Justice. …….……..While under government protection, isolated in a small hotel room, I soon realized I had no idea what my future would be. My daily life was controlled by others. I had no way of knowing what would happen the next day. I had no way of controlling my own life and my own family. We were are all under the control of others. I had a lot of time on my hands, and I spent it reading my Bible. When I was a kid, I always read the Bible before I went to sleep. I memorized verses and listened to my mother's wise words. She said being a good Christian means talking and acting exactly the way the Bible tells us to do, and that includes not lying. But during my business pursuits in the United States, I turned my eyes away from God and His Word. I often ran ahead of God - I stopped praying and reading the Bible. I never gave up my business dream and turned into a workaholic. ……. With no one to turn to and more time that I'd had in my entire life, I turned my eyes back to God's Word. I prayed everyday, without ceasing. I had never lost my faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, but I had lost my intimate relationship with him. This ordeal helped me realize that even when you think you have control over your life, you don't. The Lord is ultimately in control of everything, and He has a purpose for everyone, including me. ……. In November 1996, just after the scandal went public, my mom and I sat down in my backyard. "With all of these legal expenses and all your business friends walking away from you, how are you going to face the tremendous financial burden?" she asked me. I said, "Mom, I have faith that God will provide." And He did. ……. At the age of 40, God allowed me to kick back and take it all in. And if God is willing, I have another 30 or 40 years ahead of me. I'm going to make the most of that time by being useful to my family, my community and my country, just as a Christian should be. ......... I realized that the more this White House administration and DNC officials tried to trash me and wrongly accuse me, I could take solace in knowing that I was being a good Christian by telling the truth. The truth is light, and darkness hates the light. Isaiah 41:10 says, "Do not fear for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." That's why I have peace in our home and in my heart. I know God is with me. The Lord has not only given me peace, but He's also given me the courage to speak out. ...... "

D. James Kennedy 7/6/99 "…Michael Horowitz, senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, warns Christians that they are close to becoming "the Jews of the 21st century. You have become the scapegoats of choice for the thug regimes around the world," says Horowitz, who is Jewish, "as my people were for much of European history. And the suffering is met with indifference." Most American Christians are largely unaware of the escalation of religious persecution around the world - not only because of the silence of our media, but, also because of the federal government's keen interest in keeping international trading partners happy. …."

NY Times 12/25/98 A. M. Rosenthal "."Millions of American Christians pray in their churches each week, oblivious to the fact that Christians in many parts of the world suffer brutal torture, arrest, imprisonment and even death . . . for no other reason than that they are Christians. . . . They have been persecuted and martyred before an unknowing, indifferent world and a largely silent Christian community. "Eleven countries where Christians are currently enduring religious persecution are China, the Sudan, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Egypt, Nigeria, Cuba, Laos and Uzbekistan. They evidence a worldwide trend of anti-Christian persecution based on two political ideologies -- Communism and militant Islam." I quoted that in my first column on religious persecution, in 1997 -- from "In the Lion's Den," by Nina Shea, a human rights army in herself, now director of the Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House. Unknowing, indifferent -- only a few months ago at a dinner, one of America's richest and pleasantest men and the headmaster of a noted private school, a minister, both said they knew nothing about the persecution of their fellow Christians. Governments know. They are silent for 30 billion pieces of trade silver. In 1994 Bill Clinton, breaking his pre-election promises, sold to China the American commitment to human rights for Chinese and Tibetans. What he got in return was the permission to continue business with China, a kindness that costs America $50 billion annually in export-import loss, strengthens China with American missile technique and escorts Beijing into U.S. politics. And it frees China from Administration action or denunciation for the arrests of more Christians who refuse to worship in government-regulated churches, and more long prison sentences to Chinese who believed the Communists might allow another political party. For the price America paid, read "Year of the Rat" by Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett 2d (Regnery) and learn as much as your stomach can bear. Tibet got something in return for the Clintonian assurances of Chinese reasonableness. It got a Chinese stonewall to the Dalai Lama's eagerness for talks, and more repression. But millions of American Christians backed by many Jews and Buddhists rebelled against the persecution. In China, in the Sudan, where Christians are slaughtered by government armies -- everywhere..."

D. James Kennedy 7/6/99 "…Michael Horowitz, senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, warns Christians that they are close to becoming "the Jews of the 21st century. You have become the scapegoats of choice for the thug regimes around the world," says Horowitz, who is Jewish, "as my people were for much of European history. And the suffering is met with indifference." Most American Christians are largely unaware of the escalation of religious persecution around the world - not only because of the silence of our media, but, also because of the federal government's keen interest in keeping international trading partners happy. It is also unattractive for a politician to run the risk of tangling with a foreign government when he may have major political donors with ties to that country. Consequently, few in Washington have much incentive for making waves! …."

Reuters 7/16/00"……. At least 21 people died in fighting between Christians and Moslems in Indonesia's ravaged spice islands as the latest bloodshed entered its fourth day, with at least 14 deaths reported on Saturday alone. Residents said gunshots and explosions echoed across the once-picturesque harbourside city of Ambon on Sunday and thick piles of smoke choked the air as mobs rampaged and torched buildings. "A church was burned down yesterday and the Moslems are still on a rampage attacking Christian villages," Semmy Waileruny..."

The Reagan Information Interchange 9/7/99 Mary Mostert "….And what, exactly is Clinton's idea of "doing all he can" to halt the Indonesian government's version of a final solution to the East Timor vote for independence after 24 years of Indonesian rule that already resulted in the death of at least one third of the East Timor Christians? Over 200,000 people have died from Indonesian Army killings or Indonesian government induced famine since Suharto's illegal invasion of the area in 1975…."

Associated Press 12/28/99 "….Rival mobs of Muslims and Christians clashed in Indonesia's troubled Spice Islands on Monday, killing at least 42 people, witnesses said. In a separate clash, three separatists were killed by security forces in restive Aceh province, Indonesian media reported. The main church in the Spice Island provincial capital of Ambon was set on fire along with a mosque. Medical authorities said 29 people had died on the Muslim side and 13 among the Christians, bringing the toll to 42. Initial reports said 39 had died. ... "

CNN 1/6/00 "….Thousands of Indonesian Muslims marched through Jakarta Thursday chanting "Jihad! Jihad!" (holy war) in a protest against minority Christians, while additional police and troops were sent to try to halt the religious unrest in Ambon. The nearly 5,000 protesters, most wearing traditional white Muslim clothes, slaughtered a goat, smeared the blood on a wooden cross and demanded a holy war against Christians in the Moluccas……"

World Net Daily 1/24/2000 Anthony C LoBaido "….Father Ricardo walked gingerly across the charred remains of a church that recently was torched by a band of Muslim fanatics. In a macabre scene, burned pews, crushed stained glass windows, tattered vestments, a communion chalice and a few torn pages from a hymnal dotted the floor. "It's a nightmare. My Lord, when is it going to stop? Where is this all going to lead?" he said softly again and again, in great despair. Indeed, post-dictatorship Indonesia's stab at democracy -- after having been ruled by either a left-wing or right-wing strongman for decades --is in great peril, with Christian-Muslim violence continually festering here in the capital of Jakarta….. Recently over 500,000 Muslims gathered in the capitol to call for a "jihad" against Christian Indonesians. Chanting "Allah Akbar," or "God is Great," and "Jihad!" and "Death to all Christians," the Muslims marched under the watchful eye of their own green-clad security men. "Tolerance is nonsense. Slaughter the Christians," read a large banner that was unfurled at the rally, witnessed by WorldNetDaily. Chants of "Burn the churches!" and "Death to the Crusaders" filled the air. Father Ricardo said that Muslim vigilantes attacked and burned down the entire campus of Doulos Seminary. Many of the 400 students there were wounded, and a few died……..Muslims threatened further vigilante action around Indonesia at the end of Ramadan. The Islamic Teachers Council of Indonesia wrote a letter to the attorney general of Indonesia asserting that Christian organizations are "conducting illegal activities" such as "Christianizing Muslims," even though freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Indonesian Constitution……"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et. 1/27/2000 Alex Spillius "….SCORES of Christians were slaughtered by Muslims at an Indonesian factory, according to survivors of one of the bloodiest incidents in a month of sectarian violence that has claimed 1,000 lives and challenged the country's fragile democracy. Yoke Pauno, a 37-year-old labourer, escaped after hiding for nine hours. She said: "Some men asked a woman if she was Muslim or Christian. She said 'Christian' and they struck her on the right shoulder with a sword. They killed her and the baby she was carrying." Mrs Pauno was one of four known to have survived a massacre in the managers' quarters of Wainibe Wood Industry on Buru island. Police said 100 people died in the systematic massacre which began on Dec 22 and lasted into the next day. ……"

Indian Express 1/31/2000 "..... AMBON: Indonesian's top general in the embattled Muluku Islands has said four soldiers were involved in the massacre of 24 Christian civilians on the Island of Haruku last week. General Max Tamaela told Indonesian Television here yesterday that armed forces (TNI) investigators on Saturday uncovered evidence that soldiers on Haruku assisted several thousand Muslim residents of neighbouring villages in the attack on the main Christian town of the same name, reports DPA......"

The Voice of the Martyrs, Canada 6/14/00 Rev John Barr "…..Thousands of Muslim Jihad militia continue to raid the area, slaughtering communities and driving tens of thousands of Christians out. "Ambon is under siege" cried one informant. "Muslim Jihad militia have smuggled container loads of firearms into the region and are now preparing to launch a major assault on Ambon city. We are sitting targets. Our families will be killed. There will be no Christians left in Ambon soon." ……"There's a price of fifty million rupiah (about $A.10,000) on the heads of all my ministers and there's a much higher price on my head". Rev Agustinus Aesh, Moderator of the Evangelical Christian Church in Halmahera was speaking with me in Jakarta recently. "My people are being targeted. Thousands of Muslim Jihad militia continue to raid my island and drive the Christians out", Aesh said. "There is no end to the violence. The Christian church is being wiped out." ......"

Fox News Online 6/4/00 "…..A great earthquake, capable of causing massive damage, struck Sunday off the Indonesian island Sumatra, and the U.S. Geological Survey said it was likely to have caused a tsunami. The survey's Carolyn Bell said the quake was measured at magnitude 7.9 and occurred at 11:28 p.m. local time, or 12:28 p.m. EDT. The shock was felt strongly at Benjkulu, 70 miles north-northeast of the epicenter, where it could have caused "major structural damage," she said. It also was felt as far away as Jakarta, the capital, 335 miles north-northwest of the center. Bell said the epicenter was 33 kilometers - almost 20 1/2 miles - beneath the Earth's surface, very shallow in geological terms. ….."

BBC 7/8/00 "….Muslim fighters are waging a 'holy war' in the Moluccas At least 22 people have been killed in attacks on a mainly Christian village in the Moluccan Islands, in eastern Indonesia. Hundreds of Muslim fighters armed with mortars, grenades and rifles are reported to have carried out the raids on Waai village, near the Moluccan capital Ambon. The well-co-ordinated assault, which came from three directions, started on Thursday, and was renewed on Friday night. ……… A spokesman for the Christian community has accused the Indonesian army of doing nothing to halt the violence. Almost 60 people were wounded in the attack, while hundreds of homes, a church and other buildings were burnt down. Several thousand villagers fled into the surrounding jungle. …….."

AP 7/9/00 Slobodan Lekic "…..Church leaders in Indonesia's war-torn Maluku islands urged the international community Saturday to help evacuate thousands of Christians from the archipelago due to a sharp upsurge in attacks by Muslim paramilitaries. Jos Tethool, the Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, said the army "seems unable" to stop attacks on Muslim by Laskar Jihad - an armed Muslim militia whose leaders have vowed to cleanse the islands of Christians. The group, which sent 3,000 members into the region earlier this year, has been blamed for much of the recent carnage. ….."

The Hindu 7/14/00 K.V. Subramanya "......There appears to be a Pakistani hand in the serial blasts that occurred in churches in south India during the last couple of months, according to information gathered by police. The Director-General of Police, Mr. C. Dinakar, told The Hindu today that the son of Deendar Channabasaveshwara Siddique, who hailed from Gadag district in Karnataka and had propounded a cult carrying his name, was in Pakistan. ``Siddique's son is very active in Pakistan and according to reports, he co-ordinated the explosions through followers of the sect,'' Mr. Dinakar said. ......"

The Associated Press 9/2/99 "…A Christian man was attacked with bows and arrows and killed early today in a remote jungle village in eastern India, a local security official said. Press Trust of India news agency identified the dead man as the Rev. Aruldoss and said he was a Roman Catholic priest. But eastern Orissa state security official Ajit Tripathy said the victim may not have been a clergyman, and gave his name as Arun or Arum Doss. ``Whether he was a priest is not known, but he is a Christian,'' Tripathy said on private Star News television….The attack is the latest in a wave of violence against India's Christian community this year. The violence has been blamed on Hindu extremists, who claim missionaries buy or force conversions. Dozens of Christian churches and prayer halls have been damaged or destroyed…."

The Associated Press, via News Plus 9/16/99 Kathy Gannon "…. An Islamic cleric has called for the killing of legislators who oppose Islamic law in Pakistan, generating outrage Thursday from opposition politicians and the Christian community. Maulana Ajmal Qadri, the leader of a breakaway faction of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam, or Party of Islamic Clerics, issued a religious edict earlier this week saying lawmakers opposing a constitutional amendment to impose Islamic law here deserve to die….."

The Times of India, via News Plus 10/13/99 M V Kamath ".....On the night of January 22/23, Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sons were burnt to death in Manoharpur, a remote village in Orissa. On September 1, another Christian priest, Fr Arun Doss was killed at Jambani village, also in Orissa. In the past month, several incidents of burning of churches have been reported, almost all of them in tribal areas in Orissa and Gujarat. Some time ago, church authorities released a long list of atrocities perpetrated against Christians in different parts of India and at different times. The cumulative impression sought to be driven home is that minorities are no longer safe in India. This is an ominous development...... Writing in The Statesman (March 12, 1999), Mr B P Saha made the point that ``growing enlightenment has been provoking them (tribals) to dislike conversion and look askance at the foreign missionaries, the so-called benefactors''. Attempts at conversion should be considered a mortal assault on local cultures and should be totally banned. Conversions are forbidden by law in China.. ......"

New york Yimes 11/5/99 ".....John Paul II arrived in India on Friday to meet with the Roman Catholic bishops of Asia at a time when anti-Christian sentiment and violence among Hindu fundamentalists is at its highest in decades. The political hazards of the pope's visit, which coincides with Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light, were made plain at his arrival. The frail 79-year-old pope slowly descended the ramp into a darkened airport, filled with armed security officers but unadorned by the usual welcome banners, bands or waving groups of Catholic school children......"

The Chicago Tribune/Associated Press 11/14/99 "…mob attacked Christians holding a prayer meeting and Bible study outside a church in New Delhi, beating up several worshippers, newspapers in the capital reported Sunday. After the attack Saturday night, police arrested two people and charged them with obstructing a religious gathering, a charge carrying a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, a police officer said on condition of anonymity….."

AP 11/20/99 "….India's religious communities are looking for ways to unite to preserve their identities in the face of aggressive Christian proselytizing, Hindu religious leaders said Saturday. ``It has become essential as never before that the tradition and culture of Rama and Buddha debate the past, present and future. We have to unite to face the assault'' of Christianity, said Acharya Dharmendra, of the World Hindu Council. Rama is the principal deity in the Hindu pantheon. Pope John Paul II's recent call for missionaries to spread Catholicism in Asia has sparked a sense of crisis among Hindu religious leaders who have gathered in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, for the fourth International Conference of Great Religions in Asia. …."

The Washington Times 2/7/00 Dr Gurmit Singh Aulakh "….This is just part of the Indian repression of the Sikh nation. The Indian government has murdered more than 250,000 Sikhs since 1984. It also has murdered more than 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, more than 65,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 1988 and tens of thousands of Assamese, Dalits, Manipuris, Tamils, and others. Allies of the Indian government have murdered priests, nuns and missionaries. They have burned down Christian churches. The police broke up a Christian religious festival with gunfire. This is not the way things are done in a democracy. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is right when he says that for the minorities of South Asia, India "might as well be Nazi Germany." …."

BBC 6/9/00 "……Church leaders in India have raised concerns after a spate of attacks against the community over the past week. They said it pointed to a growing hate campaign against the Christian minority which the government had done little to prevent. A Roman Catholic priest was beaten to death in northern India earlier this week. It was followed by a series of bombings in churches across southern India on Thursday. The blasts took place in four churches in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and the coastal resort of Goa. ……. Church leaders from across the country said the attacks were planned and suggested they were carried out by Hindu fundamentalist organisations. "A secular, democratic and united India is being put to test today by communal and fundamental forces," said Delhi's Archbishop, Alan de Lastic. ……"

London independent 6/10/00 Peter Popham "……. Brother George Kuzhikandan, a Franciscan friar from Kerala, was asleep in the courtyard of the north Indian public school where he taught, making the most of the cool pre-monsoon breezes, when a gang of men broke in on Wednesday night and beat him to death. It was the culmination of attacks since March on Christians in the city of Mathura, one of Hinduism's holiest cities. Nuns at a convent in the city have been menaced and two priests beaten. Christians' anxieties were reinforced yesterday with news that four churches in the south of India had suffered bomb attacks. Windows were smashed and furniture wrecked at anAmerican Baptist church at Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, at a Roman Catholic church in Tadepalligudem in the same state three people were injured and churches in Karnataka and Goa were also damaged in the apparently co-ordinated campaign. ……"

The Hindu 7/9/00 "…..The Samata Party leader and Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, today blamed external forces and some in the country for spreading ``false'' information about persecution Christians across the country. Addressing a two-day national council meeting of his party here, he said the ``canard'' being spread about atrocities on Christians was ``far from truth'', and isolated incidents against the minority community and the churches were a ``calculated work by those who were out to malign the country's as well as Vajpayee Government's reputation''. ……..``The western media only laps up on misleading informations about attacks on Christians in India and no follow up is made to investigate the issue to its core,'' Mr. Fernandes said, adding that ``the purpose of the reports about atrocities on Christians is to drive away foreign investment and business collaboration with India.'' ……."

Nando Times 4/17/00 Oliver Teves "…….A Muslim rebel group threatened to execute Americans Monday unless the U.S. releases convicted terrorists, including the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The group also says it will release 29 Filipino hostages it holds - but only if all Christian residents of the province are forbidden from displaying crosses in public. In another province, more than 100,000 villagers flee their homes to escape clashes between a second Muslim rebel group and government troops that have killed more than 300 people in the past month. ….."

AP 7/17/00 Jim Gomez "…… Muslim rebels on Monday freed an ailing German woman who had been held in a Philippine jungle since she and 20 other mostly foreign hostages were abducted 85 days ago. Renate Wallert, 57, is the first European hostage to be freed by the Abu Sayyaf rebels, who earlier released two Malaysians. It was not immediately clear whether any ransom was paid for her release. ''I hope this will really lead us to releases of the other hostages,'' chief government negotiator Robert Aventajado said after welcoming her with an embrace……… Wallert has suffered from high blood pressure and chronic anxiety during her long jungle captivity, according to doctors who visited her at the Abu Sayyaf's jungle camp on impoverished Jolo island. Her husband, Werner, and son, Marc, remain captive. ……"

South China Morning Post 7/26/00 AP "…… PHILIPPINES At least 18 people were wounded, one critically, by a grenade tossed early on Wednesday at a busy coffee shop in Jolo, the capital of the island where Muslim extremists are holding about 30 hostages, witnesses said. It was the second grenade attack in two days in the town following an explosion on Tuesday at its Roman Catholic cathedral. Police said they suspect Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerillas were responsible for the attacks. ……."

Miami Herald Online 8/6/00 AP "….Forced to flee their homes by rampaging Muslim militants, hundreds of Christian refugees seeking shelter in remote mountains in the Malukus islands are facing starvation, international aid workers said Saturday. With no food or medicine and a lack of water, about 1,500 refugees are trying to survive in the islands' jungle-covered mountains, said Maria Teresa Vilhena of the emergency relief agency, Doctors Without Borders. ``We have a high emergency situation here,'' said Vilhena, from Switzerland. ``Some people are already dying in the jungle.''…….Most of the refugees come from Waai village, which has been the target of several raids by Muslim militants recently. At least 38 people were killed in and around the village this past week. ……… Animosity has been stoked by an influx of Muslim migrants from other parts of the country. The migrants have upset the numerical balance between the two communities and have come to dominate retail trading -- siphoning off business from the Christians. ….."

Atlanta Journal Constitution 10/15/1998 Joseph Albright "……The Rev. Andrew Young and five other American church leaders gave China a cautious accolade Wednesday for allowing the growth of relatively free worship for 10 million officially recognized Chinese Protestants. "We found no sign of religious repression," Young said as a delegation of ministers from the U.S.-based National Council of Churches of Christ finished its six-day visit. "Did we find religious freedom in the U.S. sense? No. But we found no religious repression nor active persecu- tion." Accusations that China is broadly intolerant of religion are "distorted" and ignore the "vital, recognized and unrecognized public Christian community alive in China," added the Rev. Albert Pennybacker, the council's director for public policy. ….."

Reuters 5/3/99 Freeper tallhappy "....Police broke up an underground church service in central Henan province and detained 25 Christians, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Monday. Police confiscated all Bibles in the crackdown in Sui county on April 25, and at least 15 Protestants were still being held on Sunday..."

ConservativeNews.org 5/17/99 Lawrence Morahan "...(CNS) - Communist Chinese police are seeking to restrict visits by Christians in Hong Kong to their fellow believers in mainland China, only months after the new regime promised their citizens they would not be persecuted for the practice of their faith. "They're being denied entry because of their known ties with the underground churches," said Mark Jacobs, a spokesman for International Christian Concern (ICC), an advocacy group for Christians who are subjected to oppression around the world, in an interview with CNS. Police carried out over 200 raids on house churches all over China in recent weeks, detaining and fining worshippers, and closing down the places of worship, Jacobs said....."

EWTN 5/26/99 "...Hundreds of Protestant Christians battled the police in the city of Xian on Sunday in an attempt to stop the sale of their church, one of the oldest and largest in the former imperial capital. According to the Hong Kong based Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China, about 500 Christians occupied the church building hoisting banners and shouting slogans such as "The church belongs to the people." Police denied the incident ever happened; an employee of the state-controlled Protestant Patriotic Association said the church was occupied, but only by a handful of people....."

Insight 8/9/99 J Michael Waller "...A Chinese court has sentenced a Christian pastor to death. Lui Jia-guo, the 34-year-old pastor of the Jusen church in Hunan province, called for an end to one-party rule and for building God's country in China. He and 70 of his church members were arrested in June 1998 for subversion. The Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China says the Communists convicted Liu of stealing from fellow church members -- a charge he denies. He has been sentenced to be shot to death. According to the Catholic World News Service, 21 other members of the Jusen church have been sentenced in the past year to prison terms of two to 21 years; at least 40 more were summarily arrested and deported to forced-labor camps without trial...."

Fox News 8/21/99 Reuters "…Police arrested eight Protestant Christian leaders in the Chinese province of Henan as they attended a meeting and may send them to labor camp, a Hong Kong-based rights group said Saturday. Around 20 police entered the home of Chao Dexin in Wu Gang city Wednesday, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. Police took away Chao Dexin and seven others and ransacked Chao's home, the center said. All eight may be sent to labor camp for holding an illegal meeting, it said. Since China opened its doors in the late 1970s, its Christian population has swelled to a current 50 million from about two million, the center said. The growth of Christianity and its practice at home had spread particularly fast in the countryside where believers number about 40 million, the center said….."

AFP 8/26/99 "…More than 30 Chinese Protestant church leaders were arrested on Monday as they met in a house west of Tanghe, in the southwest of China's Henan province, the non-governmental organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported on Wednesday. CSW said that national security officers took part in the arrest and interrogation of the men and women who had come together for an evangelical meeting …."

China Times 9/15/99 "....Four priests active in China's underground Catholic churches have been arrested as authorities grow increasingly wary of religious followers ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Communist regime, a US-based group said Tuesday. Father Wang Chengzhi, Father Shao Zhumin and Bishop Lin Xili were all arrested during the first week of September in Wenzhou, eastern Zhejiang province, a statement from the Cardinal Kung Foundation said. Father Chu Guangyao of the Shanghai Diocese was arrested on August 16, it said, adding it was not known where the four men were. Lin, Bishop of Wenzhou, had been in hiding for the past six months after learning authorities had issued a warrant for his arrest. The 81-year-old has already been jailed for 20 years, the foundation reported. But the Wenzhou Bureau of Religious Affairs told AFP that Wang, Shao and Lin had "absolutely never been arrested" and Lin had been "invited" to return to the city and was now in an unspecified city hotel. A spokesman for the Shanghai Bureau of Religious Affairs denied any knowledge of Chu, but later added: "Even if there is someone by that name and even if he was arrested, it wasn't for religious reasons." "The Communist government's increased arrest of underground Catholics while it vigorously prepares for its October 1st celebrations is a strong indication that China has no intention of granting true religious freedom to its citizens," the foundation statement said. ...."

South China Morning Post 10/13/99 Josephine Ma "....Guangzhou house church leader Li Dexian and his wife were detained by police yesterday along with an Australian missionary and another church member, Christian sources said. They were taken away in the morning after more than 100 public security officers raided Li's "meeting place" for Christians in Guangzhou's Huadu district, the sources said. Li's wife, Zhao Xia, and his Australian friend, Hong Kong-based John Short, were released in the afternoon. But Li and the other church member, a man surnamed Yong, remained in custody. Church members attending weekly services were involved in a confrontation with police. Some members claimed they had been beaten by officers. One source said: "Over 100 officers came to the meeting place in 20 different vehicles. There was a tremendous stand-off." ...."

AP 3/13/00 "…..Chinese police were holding 16 members of a Christian sect banned in a government crackdown on cults and were expected to send some of them to labor camps, a human rights group said Monday. Police burst in on the followers of the China Evangelistic Fellowship as they met March 2 in a group member's home in Xinyang, a city in the central province of Henan, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. Police detained the sect members, confiscated their Bibles and seized money and belongings from Hao Huaiping, whose home was used for the meeting, the Information Center said. Among those detained was Jiang Qinggang, the leader of an underground church who has done two stints in labor camps, the latest sentence ending last month, the group said. ….."

South China Morning Post 4/14/00 Daniel Kwan "……Guangzhou-based Christian leader Li Dexian has again been detained by police, apparently for illegal preaching, sources said yesterday. The pastor was taken into police custody on Tuesday before he presided over a weekly gathering in his own church in Huadu. Sources said police did not give a reason when they seized Mr Li except telling his wife, Qiu Xia, that he was to be locked up for 15 days. ….."

CNSNews.com 5/3/00 Charles Colson "…… Faith in Christ is breaking out all over China, and you know what that means: Torture, prison, labor camps, and "re-education" for anyone who follows Christ. It's business as usual for Chinese leaders--and now the Clinton Administration wants to reward them for it. It's an example of how badly skewed our priorities can become……… ……"

Chinatimes 5/28/00 "….. A Catholic priest in China has been sentenced to six years in prison for illegally publishing the bible in a Chinese county where seven underground churches have been closed recently, a rights group reported Saturday. Police charged Jiang Shurang with illegally publishing the bible and other religious books and for carrying out business illegally, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said. …."

Human Events, p.7 4/14/00 Terence Jeffrey "……That you have never heard of Father Yan does not make you unusual. It simply puts you in company with at least 250 million other Americans. It is a sad but undeniable fact that Yan is just another obscure Christian martyr. But Father Yan is not obscure because he was martyred long ago in some insignificant and long-forgotten land. He is obscure because his martyrdom is an inconvenient fact to significant forces at play in the world today. Father Yan, you see, was murdered by a "strategic partner" of the Clinton Administration, last year, in the middle of its capital city. He was brutalized on a spring day in Beijing. ........."

The South China Morning Post 5/18/00 "……Authorities in Guangdong province have closed down churches and arrested at least 10 leaders of underground Christian groups, an international advocacy group reported on Wednesday. The arrests come amid tightening controls on unauthorised religious activities throughout the country, coinciding with a campaign against the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. ''We must emphasize strengthening management of religious affairs within the law,'' the official Guangming Daily newspaper proclaimed on Wednesday in a lengthy front-page commentary. …..Worship has been stopped and members of independent churches arrested in a number of small Guangdong communities, including Lixi, Tianwei, Fogang, Xiangshan, Huadu, Pingshan and Xinhua, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which is based in England. ……"

New York Post 4/11/99 Uri Dan "...UNPRECEDENTED riots between Arab Muslims and Arab Christians erupted in Jesus' boyhood town last week as the Muslims declared "Nazareth is not Kosovo." The Muslim attacks so frightened the city's Christian minority that for the first time in history its churches - and particularly the Church of the Annunciation - closed their doors to the pilgrims who regularly visit. As the Muslims indicated in their slogan, this could become a Balkan-like war zone - but not like Kosovo, where Christian Serbs drove out a Muslim majority. The conflict in the Galilee capital has been going on for 18 months but until now without violence. The issue - over where to build a major new mosque - had been dealt with in court and in negotiations....The Israeli official responsible for Christian communities, Uri More, wrote a letter to the Cabinet in which he warned: "If we do act for a quick and urgent removal of the invaders Nazareth will be taken over by the Islamic Movement." By invaders he meant a group of extremists who erected a tent on the lot in December 1998 and declared it a mosque. Since then they have acted as guardians, protecting the site day and night armed with axes and clubs..... But there was trouble this week: Arab Muslims stoned their Christian brothers in their cars....."

London Telegraph 8/1/99 Tom Gross "...CHRISTIAN plans to celebrate the Millennium in Jesus's home town of Nazareth are being threatened by Muslim extremists determined to build a huge mosque on the plot of holy land earmarked to welcome pilgrims. The row comes in the wake of recent outbreaks of Muslim-Christian violence at the Church of the Annunciation on the site where, according to tradition, the Archangel Gabriel told Mary she was pregnant with Jesus. Local people fear that the Millennium celebrations and the proposed papal pilgrimage next year could lead to even bloodier clashes. One teenage girl said: "Even in the street, I am afraid. I hide my cross around my neck."..... Tension in the town has been rising since the fundamentalist Islamic Movement gained a one-seat majority on the local council in last November's municipal elections. It campaigned on the slogan "Theft, theft, theft" - a reference to the supposed neglect of Muslim neighbourhoods in favour of Christian ones........"

The Associated Press, via News Plus 10/11/99 Dana Budeiri "....Twenty-six Irish and Romanian tourists who arrived in Israel by ship from Cyprus are members of a Christian cult and will be deported without delay, police said Monday. Police spokeswoman Linda Menuhin said the cult had no ties to the Denver-based group Concerned Christians, whose followers were expelled from Israel in January amid fears they planned violent acts near holy sites. Israel fears that it will become a target for Christian doomsday groups as the millennium approaches. It has set up a special police unit to screen visitors and prevent cultists from passing through border controls......"

The Associated Press, via News Plus 10/25/99 "….Israel today detained 21 foreign Christians, mostly Americans, who have settled in recent years near the Mount of Olives in anticipation of Christ's return. Police said the detainees were suspected of planning to harm public safety and will be deported after they have been investigated. Israel radio said police feared the group planned a mass suicide or other dangerous acts. Today's sweep marked the third time since January that Israel has detained Christian groups..."

The Jerusalem Post 3/12/00 David Weinberg "…… (March 12) - Did you know that the Jewish people today is threatened by a dangerous enemy who "secretly plots complicated, complex plans to weaken the stability of the State of Israel, bit by bit" and who "aspires to the final annihilation of the Jewish people and the state of Israel, at one stage or another?" Yes indeed, this insidious, hyperactive archenemy "is the greatest foe ever to rise against us," whose "theoretical, spiritual and practical goal is to destroy the eternality of Israel." This enemy "acts to collapse the State of Israel by supporting anti-Israel terrorist organizations, under the cover of concern for justice and humanity." This indefatigable antagonist seeks to "suck our blood" and "burn our souls" by "lying in ambush outside the door of every Jewish family in economic and social distress, seeking to convert them." You guessed it, our "No. 1 Enemy" today is none other than Christianity and the Catholic Church. At least that is the story according to an intemperate booklet I picked up last week, published just in time for the pope's visit. ……."

CNS 4/12/99 Lawrence Morahan "...More people have been killed in the southern region of Sudan by the scorched-earth, forced-starvation tactics of their Muslim government than all the victims of Kosovo, Bosnia and Rwanda combined, one of the world's leading authorities on religious persecution told the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom and an award-winning author of studies of religious persecution, is urging the U.N. Human Rights Commission to summon the Khartoum regime before the U.N. Security Council to answer charges of gross civil rights abuses and possible genocide. "Sudan has demonstrated it is probably the worst human rights violator in the world," Kristina Robb of the Washington-based Freedom House, an organization that tracks religious abuses around the world, told CNS. "The Khartoum government practices the most blatant form of what we believe is religious genocide by a radical regime. It uses Islam very cynically to justify its policy of genocide against its own population in southern Sudan, which is mainly Christian and animist," Robb said.. ……Up to 2 million people have been killed and 5 million displaced in south Sudan and the Nuba Mountains by the Sudanese Popular Defense Forces, a radical Islamic force that targets a Christian and animist population, Freedom House estimates. These forces are bombing, burning and raiding villages, enslaving women and children, kidnapping and forcibly converting young men and sending them to the front as cannon fodder, and precipitating genocide by preventing food from reaching starving villages...."

Sudan.net 9/3/99 Susan Sevareid AP "…The church is a pile of red bricks, corrugated metal and protruding beams. Wind blows dust off ruins of classrooms and the pastor's office, while a goat tugs at shredded plastic wedged among bricks of the former kindergarten. · Most of Episcopal Basic School B and its affiliated church were demolished by Sudan's Islamic-dominated government in May. Left behind was a congregation in mourning and 1,200 children without a place to study. · Hatong Mayul, director of Episcopal B, said the day her school was torn down, the teachings of Jesus came to mind: "Christ says because of me, you will suffer." · To many Sudanese Christians, the demolition of Episcopal B and other churches and church schools in recent years is a clear case of persecution. The government says that's not so. · It contends Christians face no discrimination, and says churches and their schools, along with homes and Muslim mosques, are razed only if they are in the path of a planned road. The demolitions are part of a campaign to organize squatter areas and shantytowns built without urban planning, officials say. · But church leaders say more than 50 Christian centers have been bulldozed in the past five years and they have been unable to secure the permits needed to rebuild….. …"

EWTN 2/4/00 "….Thanks to the collaboration of over 100 U.S. classrooms, Christian and animist slaves in southern Sudan are being freed from captivity. For years, Islamic fundamentalists have raided southern villages, selling the women and children into slavery, while the Khartoum government looks the other way and denies there is religious persecution on its borders. Barbara Vogel and her students of Highline Community School of Denver, Colorado, are spearheading the U.S. anti-slavery campaign. In Europe several NGOs are also contributing to the cause. Christian Solidarity International (CSI) buys slaves at market price in order to set them free. ..."

Ottawa Sun 4/20/99 R. CORT KIRKWOOD "...Public outrage over mass murder depends on who the murderer is and who is being murdered. At least that is what Insight magazine reports about the difference between events of the last few years in Kosovo and events of the last 15 in Sudan. In the skies over Kosovo and Yugoslavia, American warplanes are pounding away at the positions of the Yugoslav Army to stop its genocidal campaign against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. In the skies over Sudan, American warplanes are .... Well, they aren't doing anything to stop the genocide of Christians and others who have committed the unpardonable crime of being different from those who run Sudan's National Islamic Front, which in turns runs Sudan..... The numbers are staggering. According to the U.S. Committee on Refugees, "the mostly Christian and animist people of southern Sudan have suffered more war-related deaths during the last 15 years than any single population in the world -- an estimated 1.9 million people have died there. Sudan's recent death toll is greater than the number of fatalities suffered in current and recent conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia and Algeria combined. In addition at least 4 million people are now internally displaced." If that's not bad enough, "Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria and other Islamic states fund the government in its $1 million-a-day attacks." ... ...The double standard explains why liberals condemned oppression in South Africa for years, but ignored it in communist Angola. The difference between the two was that anti-communist whites were murdering blacks in South Africa, but communist blacks were murdering blacks in Angola. However the hierarchy is established, one thing is for sure: Christians aren't part of it. Especially the black Christians under siege from black Muslims...."

Charles Smith 7/12/00 WorldNetDaily.com "…….. A recent report from the U.N. Commission on Human Rights charged the Sudan government with land mining villages, poisoning wells, bombing schools and hospitals and sponsoring terrorism in its 16-year civil war against Christians and other blacks. Human rights organizations also accuse Red China of actively supporting ethnic cleansing carried out by the Sudanese National Islamic Front government against Christian minorities in the impoverished African country. ………The Clinton administration so far has refused to react to the transfer of jet fighters and Chinese military support to the growing war in Sudan. President Clinton, in a February 2000 letter to Nina Shea, head of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom, stated that he would not "pursue new extraterritorial or third country sanctions" against China or Sudan. ……. "Doing so," noted Clinton in his letter, "would ultimately prove counterproductive." ……….Former Sudanese slave, Francis Bok, disagrees with President Clinton's policy on his homeland. Bok, captured as a child by Sudanese Muslim forces and sold into slavery, escaped by walking hundreds of miles to Egypt and was offered international refugee status by the United Nations. "I am trying hard to free my people in Sudan, but where [is] your president?" asked Bok in an interview from his office at the American Anti-Slavery Group. ……. According to the Boston-based American Anti-Slavery Group, slavery is making a comeback as part of the 13-year-old war in Sudan waged by the Muslim north against the black Christian and animist south. Arab militias, armed by the government, have been raiding African villages, shooting the men and enslaving the women and children. The latter are kept as personal property or marched north and sold. ……….Bok stated he was enslaved when he was 7 years old, during a trip to a local market in Nyamlall to sell his family's eggs and beans. Sudanese Muslim militiamen surrounded the market and shot all the adults and adolescent boys on the spot. Children who were not killed were tied onto donkeys. Children too small to straddle an animal were tied into baskets and bound to the beasts. "The Sudanese Islamic soldiers told me, 'We see you like animals,'" said Bok, adding, "I have seen many people killed like animals and many children sold into slavery." Bok said he couldn't forget the sight of a 12-year-old who had just seen her parents killed. "She would not stop crying," he said. "They took her out of the basket and shot her; and then her sister, who was about 10, would not stop crying, and they took her out of the basket and cut off her foot with the sword." …….. Bok was taken to a slave market in Kirio, a city in northern Sudan where hundreds of captives were bound and sold. Instead of being sold, Bok was given to a brother of the militia leader. "It was terrible," Bok sadly recounted. "Most people don't know what is going on in Sudan. That is why I am trying to tell the American people about Sudan, about my life as a slave. I saw people shot, killed, children who cried had their hands or legs chopped off as an example to the others. I was born a Christian. When I was enslaved I was forced to become a Muslim."

WorldNetDaily 7/19/00 Charles Smith "……..Dr. Charles Jacobs from the Boston-based American Anti-Slavery group recently noted that slavery is part of the 13-year-old war in Sudan. The Muslim Sudanese government has launched a holy war against the black Christian and animist south. ….. The fact is that humans are being enslaved and sold in the Sudan. Sudan, of course, is a client state of China, the strategic trading partner of President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. The slavery in Sudan is well documented by independent organizations such as the U.N. and Amnesty International. …….The reason for China's interest in the Sudan is pure and simple. There is oil in Sudan. Petrochina, a company wholly owned by the Chinese government cut a deal with the Sudanese Muslim government to pump oil from the remote southern areas. To accomplish this task, China is building an oil pipeline right through the combat zone. Chinese soldiers are stationed on the pipeline to protect it. Chinese soldiers are working with the Sudanese Muslim soldiers to clear whole areas of the Christian population from around the pipeline….."

WorldNetDaily 7/19/00 Charles Smith "……..Yet, the Chinese assistance does not end with a simple oil pipeline. Sudan recently purchased nearly $100 million in advanced Shenyang jet fighters from Beijing. According to a U.N. report, the Sudanese Air Force regularly bombs and strafes innocent civilians. Airfields constructed for the Petrochina pipeline are being used to fly bombing missions against the fleeing civilian refugees. Chinese soldiers are accused of assisting the Sudanese military and of participating in the atrocities. Chinese soldiers on the ground in Sudan are accused of rape, murder and ethnic cleansing.......America is not innocent in this matter. Petrochina was recently sponsored by Goldman Sachs to raise investment funding in America. The investment offering by Goldman Sachs might have failed if it were not for BP/Amoco, which invested billions of dollars into the Sudan pipeline. Today, neither BP/Amoco nor Goldman Sachs wish to comment on exactly how much American money is being used by Petrochina to murder Sudanese civilians. …….."

Conservative News Service 3/18/99 William Lind "…Once again, the U.S. government is siding with Moslems against Christians. The place is again the Balkans, where we are supporting the Islamic Albanians' grab for Kosovo, the historic heartland of the Christian Serbs. We did the same thing in nearby Bosnia, where we again supported Moslems against the Serbs, including by bombing Serbian forces. I wonder how many American Christians have thought about the fact that their defense dollars now go to attacking other Christians on behalf of Islam? Over and over again, the U.S. government has showed a bias against Christianity and in favor of Islam. In Africa, where thousands of Christians have been martyred at the hands of Islamics, our government has maintained a careful silence. The same is true in Indonesia, where much of the recent rioting has been directed against Christians. Perhaps the most grotesque example is Saudi Arabia, a country we fought to defend against Iraq in the Gulf War and also a country where anyone who converts to Christianity is beheaded. (In contrast, Iraq's current foreign minister is a Christian). The U.S. State Department is so anxious to kiss the Saudis' robes that it banned Christian religious services at the U.S. consulate in Jeddah. Those services had given American citizens in Saudi Arabia a place to worship. All Christian services are illegal in Saudi Arabia, but the consulate is legally American soil, so the Saudis could not stop them. The consulate offered weekly Protestant and Mormon services as well as Catholic Mass…."

Opinion Journal 8/5/00 Richard Miniter "……Three years ago in a secret house church near the city of Ahwaz, Iran, Akbar realized that his life was about to change irrevocably. On Jan. 11, 1997, he was baptized. As he stepped into the cool water of the impromptu baptismal pool, he shuddered. Once a faithful Muslim, he had covertly converted to Christianity--a life-changing act in any country but a dangerous one in Iran. Akbar had seen Christian converts hanged in the street and his relatives jailed and beaten for talking about their faith………. Many non-Muslims in Iran are able to practice their faith--but converts are treated differently. "There is no persecution in Iran," a political science professor at Tehran University insists in an interview outside Iran. "It is not as bad as you reporters in the West think." (Still, he demands anonymity.) But what about some 10,000 Muslims who have converted to Christianity? "Ah, that is different. They will die." Both Iran's shari'a (religious) law and the country's civil code punish "crimes against God" with death. ……. So pervasive is the climate of fear that refugees are afraid to have their names published. As a result, all of the names of Iranian Christians in this article, including Akbar's, have been changed……."

YAHOO-NEWSWORLD-HEADLINES. 10/13/99 Philip Pullella "….. A bishop at a Vatican synod launched a broadside against Islam Wednesday, bluntly accusing Muslims of plotting to dominate Europe and de-Christianize the continent. Giuseppe Bernardini, a 72-year-old Italian who is archbishop of Izmir, Turkey, made his comments in a written address submitted to the Synod of European Bishops. Bernardini, who has lived in predominantly Muslim Turkey for 42 years, called on Pope John Paul to convoke a special Vatican meeting to deal with what he called ``the problem of Muslims in Christian countries.´´ Bernardini's words were among the harshest delivered against Islam inside the Vatican in recent memory and clashed openly with the Pope's policy of promoting Christian-Muslim dialogue. In his Italian address released by the Vatican press office, Bernardini said a Muslim leader once told him: ``Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you. Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you.´´ Bernardini continued in his own words: ``One can believe it because the domination has already begun.´´….."

EWTN 7/31/00 "…..In mid-July another Serbian Orthodox church in Kosovo was reduced to rubble, the latest in what appears to be a systematic campaign to destroy all Serbian Orthodox religious sites in the disputed province which the Orthodox blame on Albanian extremists……."

The Times (London) 7/21/00 Giles Whittell "…..FOREIGN missionaries are being forced out of Russia and obstructed in their work in greater numbers under President Putin than in the year before his rise to power, British research has found. "We do not welcome American missionaries because they do proselytising work." The FSB, successor to the KGB, is often behind the harassment of missionaries and may have been encouraged to act more boldly by a new Russian defence doctrine that singles them out as a possible threat to national security, according to the Oxford-based Keston Institute. …….Seven cases cited in a series of reports by the institute, which began to monitor religious freedom in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was itself denounced by the Soviet Union as a cover for spying operations in 1988, include the expulsion of 11 American missionaries from the autonomous Muslim republic of Bashkortostan. They were accused of activities "incompatible" with their humanitarian aid visas. ……."

Cox News Svc/Montgomery Journal (Maryland) 8/7/00 Howard Kleinberg "….In Germany last week, two lawyers asked the nation's Minister for the Family and the Elderly to classify the Bible as dangerous to children, much as some in the United States last month condemned the latest Harry Potter book as not only violent but anti-Christian as well. The latter complaint is based on young Harry's magical powers, a dominion they believe is God's and God's alone - not Harry Potter's, not Superman's, not Batman's, not even Merlin's or Tiger Woods'. Book police are everywhere. It was only a matter of time until they got to the Bible. ……. Attacks on the written word, Bible included, are not new. They are documented throughout history, most notoriously during the Nazi era but also including the present time as evidenced by organizations calling for - and often receiving - bans or revisions of books that are considered, retrospectively, racist, anti-God or obscene. ``Huckleberry Finn" and ``A Catcher in the Rye" are among those and, now, some would claim, so are ``Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" - and the Bible. ……"

The Oklahoman 3/25/99 "...BILL Clinton didn't want to bomb Iraqis "during the holy month of Ramadan" -- but he's raining bombs during the Great and Holy Lent, a sacred time for the Orthodox who comprise much of the Serbian population. That note came yesterday from a clergyman in Texas. His point hits both U.S. policy and Clinton's lack of discernable principles...."

Free Congress Foundation/Washington Times 11/23/99 Paul M. Weyrich and William S. Lind "….the Russian army in Chechnya is fighting for us, too, and for everyone who does not want to live under the oppression of Islam. Since the seventh century, Islam has been a bitter enemy of Christendom, and indeed of everyone who does not believe that Mohammed was a prophet of God. Areas such as Egypt, North Africa, and the Near East were once solidly Christian, and they fell not to Islam's teaching but to its sword. Egyptians and other Middle Easterners who still hold to their older Christian faith today suffer brutal oppression. For about three hundred years, as the power of the Islamic Ottoman Empire waned, Islam was in retreat. But over roughly the last thirty years, it has resumed the offensive, expanding outward in every direction: down both coasts of Africa (in Islamic Sudan, black Christians are sold as slaves and some have been crucified; in Nigeria, Islamics have sealed Christians in their churches and set them on fire, burning whole congregations to death), east into Southeast Asia (much of the violence in Indonesia, including the destruction in East Timor, has been Moslems against Christians), and, most ominously, north into Europe. With American aid, two new Islamic states have been created in the Balkans, Bosnia and Kosovo. All across the southern frontier of Christian Russia, Islam is pressing inward. The current fighting in Chechnya began when Chechen Islamic militants attacked Russian Dagestan. In strategic terms, Russia's war is a defensive one….."

World Net Daily 1/20/2000 Greg Nyquist "…. Even in the ostensibly "democratic" Russia it appears that the persecution of non-Orthodox Christians may soon begin to parallel the persecution of Christians under the Soviet regime. On Sept. 26, 1997, President Yeltsin signed a new anti-religious law, which, in effect, outlaws every religious organization that has appeared in Russia during the last 15 years and subjects them to surveillance by the secret police. Within weeks after Yeltsin signed the anti-religion law, police began breaking up Catholic and Protestant gatherings……Michael Horowitz, an activist on behalf of persecuted Christians around the world, has warned that unless a serious effort is made to confront the horrors of the persecution of Christians and put a stop to them, Christians are likely to become "the Jews of the twenty-first century, the scapegoats of choice of the world's thug regimes." …."

WORLD Magazine 7/16/99 Mindy Belz "… The general secretary of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party, Le Kha Phieu, made his first trip to Cuba this month, a sign of strengthening ties between the two communist holdouts….. The discovery of a classified Vietnamese government document, which goes into great detail about how to suppress Christianity, surprised even stalwart church experts on persecution. The government is increasing pressure to eradicate Christianity, according to a report from World Evangelical Fellowship, in the face of large numbers of Christian conversions, especially among the tribal Hmong people. Church workers say that as many as 300,000 Hmong are now Christians. Fearing that evangelistic upheaval will undermine communist rule as it did in Eastern Europe 10 years ago, Vietnamese authorities have increased pressure to wipe out Christianity among Hmong…."

DeseretNews.com 2/18/00 Lee Davidson "…..A U.S. ambassador says an incident in Russia involving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints illustrates both the hurdles and hopes for religious freedom there. Robert Seiple, U.S. ambassador at large for religious freedom, said the hurdle emerged when regional officials in Samara Oblast were not allowing the LDS and Roman Catholic churches to re-register as officially recognized churches. That potentially could have led to their ouster from that region - even though they are registered with the central government. It also could have prevented their missionary work there, and owning chapels and other property. But hope for religious freedom emerged when the area's governor visited the United States. "We (the State Department) met with him to raise their (Catholic and LDS)issues. We understand that members of Congress met with him on this as well." …."

WorldNetDaily.com 8/24/99 Col David Hackworth "...Bill Clinton and British leader Tony Blair don't want us to get the word that: Their promises to end the bloodshed and ethnic cleansing and bring peace to Kosovo aren't happening. Bullets and grenades are still flying in Kosovo. Americans and other NATO soldiers are now targets along with the Kosovars. Just as they lied to us about how NATO air power was clobbering the Serbian Army, their spinmeisters are now working overtime to put the best face on a situation that daily becomes nastier. …….The facts are that since VK-day -- "Victory in Kosovo" -- more Serb civilians have been slaughtered than ethnic Albanians were before the NATO air campaign began. Since NATO's last bomb fell, scores of Serbians, Gypsies and Jews have been murdered, over 200 Serb villages have been torched and 50 Christian churches have been defiled or destroyed. Grannies are being murdered in their homes. Out of 350,000 Serbs, Gypsies, Jews and others who've lived in Kosovo for centuries, all but 30,000 have fled to nearby countries. They no longer trust NATO to protect them and don't see the promised peace coming anytime soon. Why should they? NATO troops flat haven't been able to stop the violence or the ethnic cleansing...."

CNS 1/26/2000 Louis Economopoulos "….The leader of Orthodox Christians in Greece - who's known for making controversial statements about President Clinton, the pope, and even Valentine's Day - is the most popular public figure in Greece, according to a recent public opinion survey. Orthodox Christians make up about 95 percent of Greece's 10.2 million population. Archbishop Christodoulos has said that President Clinton's hands are bloodied for bombing Yugoslavia last year; he does not want Pope John Paul II to visit Greece; and he has even called for the abolishment of Valentine's Day in the country….."

National Journal 4/3/99 "…Nagorno-Karabakh -- Conflict: Muslim Azerbaijan and Christian Armenia fought a five- year….. Death Toll: 35,000; hundreds of thousands of refugees Administration Action: Diplomatic efforts, with France and Russia, to draw up a peace agreement; also $12.5 million in humanitarian aid" …"

WorldNetDaily.com 7/14/00 JoAnn Kohlbrand "….. A former Muslim convicted of the capital crime of converting to Christianity had his sentencing delayed for another week, according to a report by Compass Magazine. Mohammed Omer Haji, a Somalian refugee living in Yemen, converted to Christianity two years ago. According to Yemen's criminal law, he is guilty of apostasy, having left the state religion of Islam. Such an action is a capital offense under Muslim law, the basis for Yemen legislation. ...... On July 5, the Haji was given a seven-day ultimatum to either return to Islam or face the death penalty for committing apostasy. ….."

LONDON TIMES 2/14/00 Anton LaGuardia "….. THE Anglican dean of St George's Cathedral in Cape Town is facing demands that he step down after appearing in a gay rights advertisement displaying a devil's tail under his vestments. The Very Rev Rowan Smith, a declared homosexual, was featured in a 20-second video screened during the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Johannesburg. Standing in the cathedral, draped in his white alb and chasuble, embroidered with a golden cross, the dean declares: "Some people say that homosexuals are the Devil's spawn, but I don't believe that." He then turns his back to the camera to reveal a devil's tail beneath his robes. ……"

The Reagan Information Interchange 2/2/2000 The Christian Alert Network "..... Date sent: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 …………Recently a local talk show host (Barbara Simpson of KSFO radio in San Francisco) interviewed Reverend Peter Hammond, over the phone from Capetown, South Africa. Rev. Hammond has been a missionary for 18 years. He spoke of seeing thousands of bodies and/or skeletons of Tutsi victims of Hutu murderers in Rwanda. Hammond said that people from the UN stood by and allowed the slaughter by machetes to occur, and at times handed over Tutsis to the secret police. (Individual Tutsis were identified and marked for murder.) The U.N. disarmed the Tutsi population in advance of the genocide. Spears, knives, and machetes, as well as all guns, were confiscated. Hammond said that all genocides have been preceded by disarmaments. The Tutsi were Christians, and the Hutus are primarily anti-Christians; Hammond said there were three operative anti-Christian forces: 1) voodooists/animists 2) Marxists, who worked up the resentment against the Tutsis, who, as a result of their habits of clean-living, saving, investment, and so on, built up more material and financial success than the Hutus and 3) Islamists. The Tutsis were primarily killed in churches, schools, and hospitals, the places to which they fled for sanctuary. Rev. Hammond said he has watched U.N. personnel over the years and noted that, while many of the lower- or middle-level people were well-meaning "bleeding hearts", "absolutely" the upper echelons of the U.N. people were anti-Christian. He said so "without doubt, having been a missionary for 18 years." He said that in Angola and Sudan, the U.N. was selective about who received aid.. He said persecution of Christians has been particularly bad over many years in Sudan. Rev. Hammond has written many books--"Holocaust in Rwanda" is a recent one--and also has made video documentaries......"

World Net Daily 1/20/2000 Greg Nyquist "…. Mary, a young Egyptian girl who grew up as a Coptic Christian. When she was 18 years old, a group of radicals from the "Gamat Islamiya" kidnapped and raped Mary, forcing her to convert to Islam. Her captors poured sulfuric acid on her wrist in order to remove a tattooed cross, and threatened to throw the acid in her face if she didn't consent to wear the traditional Islamic veil. When Mary's father went to the Cairo police, he was told to forget his daughter and was ordered to sign a document pledging that he would cease all efforts to recover her. Mary eventually escaped her captors and received assistance from the clandestine group "Servants of the Cross," which facilitated Mary's re-conversion to Christianity…. By Muslim standards, Egypt is almost moderate. ….."

The Morrock News Service1/4/00 John David Powell "…..On Christmas Day came a report out of Saudi Arabia that a Filipino Christian, employed in that country for 14 years as an engineer, had been detained since Dec. 1 for suspected Christian activities. Sources in the Philippines said the man's arrest was part of a wider investigation by the Saudi religious police known as the "muttawa." Christian and all other non-Muslim worship are prohibited under Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic law.

Tamp Bay Online (UPI Breaking) 1/6/00 Sara El-Khalili AP "….Police on Thursday arrested four Muslims on charges of killing nine Christians during sectarian violence in southern Egypt over the weekend, the Interior Ministry said. Two suspects were captured in the hills near the village of el-Kusheh, 275 miles south of Cairo, where much of the violence occurred. The other two, who are brothers, were arrested in the village…..The religious violence was unusual for Egypt, where Christians and Copts have generally lived together peacefully. Minority Christians comprise 10 percent of Egypt's 64 million people and sometimes complain of discrimination by the Muslim majority……"

BBC 1/20/2000 Barnaby Phillips "….. Religious and ethnic tensions in Nigeria are never far from the surface. But the decision of the state of Zamfara, in the far north of the country, to introduce Sharia, or Islamic law, on 27 January, has brought them very much to the forefront once again. The move by Zamfara, one of 36 states in the Nigerian federation, has been widely welcomed across the mainly Muslim north of the country; and several other states have now said they intend to follow suit. But Nigeria's Christian population, who form the majority in the south, have reacted with dismay, saying it could unsettle the country's newly installed democracy, after the hand-over from the military in May 1999. One worried man is Reverend Olu Joseph. A preacher in a small evangelical church in the Zamfara state capital, Gusau, he feels his way of life is threatened. "This declaration of Sharia is bad news for Christians," he told me. "It's going to restrict our freedoms". Members of his congregation are more forthright. "We are ready to lay down our lives for Christianity," said one man….."

MSNBC 2/23/00 Stefan Lovgren, Preston Mendenhall "……Occasional shots rang through the Nigerian city of Kaduna on Wednesday as security forces tried to prevent more riots between Christians and Muslims who are demanding the introduction of Islamic law. TWO STATES in the largely Muslim north signed legislation on Tuesday adopting Islamic sharia law, bringing the number of states that have done this to three. Several others are considering adopting a version of the law and penal code. Two days of violence in Kaduna left dozens dead, churches and mosques torched and a big question mark over the long-term future of the diverse West African country of at least 108 million. ……."

Yahoo! 2/28/00 Matthew Tostevin Reuters "….Scores of people were killed in rioting in southeast Nigeria in a backlash to last week's northern religious blood-letting as violence in Africa's most populous nation appeared to be spinning out of control. Witnesses saw 50 corpses in just the main streets of the southeastern city of Aba on Monday, while more deaths were reported from nearby Onitsha as ethnic Ibo Christians attacked immigrant Hausa Muslims in revenge for last week's riots in their northern homeland...."

EWTN 2/28/00 "…..The number of dead resulting from the conflict between Christians and Muslims over the enforcement of the Islamic Law ("sharia") in the city of Kaduna, in northern Nigeria, has risen to 400. Today, after a period of silence, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke out, denouncing the application of the "sharia" as a violation of the Constitution. There was an eerie calm in Kaduna today. The army now controls the areas that were the scene of pitched battles with machetes, work instruments, and firearms. According to a nun who works in the city, this morning a band of Muslims tried to attack a group of Christians who survived the arson of a village near Kaduna, but the police intervened in time. At present, the streets of the city are being swept clean. There is filth and burnt material everywhere, to say nothing of bodies lying on the ground awaiting burial. ….."

Reuters 2/28/00 "….Ethnic riots erupted Monday in Nigeria's southeastern city of Aba in a backlash to last week's religious bloodshed in the north of the country in which hundreds of people died, residents said. ``The rioting started in the morning. There has been fighting between the Ibos and Hausas. Nobody can say how many dead there are now,'' one Aba resident told Reuters by telephone. Abia State authorities confirmed the violence and said police had been reinforced to bring the situation under control. …."

Catholic News 6/2/00 "…..The Diocese of Kaduna, Nigeria, said on Monday that a priest was murdered by Muslim extremists last week and a bounty had been placed on the head of all Catholic priests. The diocesan spokesman, Fr Peter Yakubu, said 26-year-old Father Clement Ozi Bello, who was ordained just last year, was stopped as he drove to his parish and dragged from his car by a mob. Fr Yakubu said the assailants tied up Father Ozi Bello, gouged out his eyes, and then killed him. He added that Father Ozi Bello was from a Muslim family and had converted to Christianity. ……"

WorldNetDaily 1/30/2000 Anthony C LoBaido "……Nikki counted the money and then hid it in her bosom, as she had with the diamonds. It was a small, seemingly unimportant event in the grand scale of the global economy. Yet upon closer analysis it was a vital move -- one of countless such moves -- in a dangerous endgame pitting the anti-communist, Christian rebel army UNITA against the Marxist MPLA, United Nations and Western transnational corporations that, together, have sought unsuccessfully to destroy UNITA since 1965. "They say that diamonds are forever," said Nikki in an interview with WorldNetDaily. "So is the war between good and evil. These diamonds and the money they are exchanged for have a wonderful purpose. They will provide the funds to sustain our struggle against the forces of communism and world government which seek to destroy our Christian way of life." Nikki paused, calling her daughter to come and sit on her lap. "UNITA must not fall," Nikki continued. "You see, that is what the United Nations and the so-called New World Order wants. It is what the amoral West wants. It is what Nelson Mandela and the communist ANC wants. It is what Bill Clinton wants. But they're not going to get what they want." "What they want is for UNITA to surrender. To give up our faith as Christians. To hand over our mineral wealth to the foreign corporations. To be slaves in the global corporate society. But we will never surrender. Ever." ….."

Compass 7/5/00 Barbara G. Baker "……A Yemen court meted out the death penalty today to a Somali refugee for converting from Islam to Christianity, unless he recants within seven days. Mohammed Omer Haji, 27, was given a one-week ultimatum by Adenrmations Tawahi Court to return to Islam, or face execution under Islamic law for committing apostasy. "His situation is very serious and very dangerous," the convert's defense lawyer, Mohammed Abdul Karim Omarawi, told Compass today……."

www.catholicleague.org 11/11/99 William Donohue ".... On the November 11 edition of the ABC show, "Politically Incorrect," host Bill Maher interviewed "Dogma" director Kevin Smith. In doing so, Maher blasted Catholics: "Catholics practice what they want to practice. They go to see the Pope 'cause he's a big celebrity, but they go home and they masturbate, they practice birth control...well they do." When someone remarked that a lot of people are not attending churches or synagogues these days, Maher stepped up his attack on Catholicism....William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, issued the following statement on this matter: "This is not the first time that Bill Maher has proven to be an anti-Catholic bigot. Not surprisingly, the audience laughed at his comments, showing how utterly acceptable anti-Catholicism is these days. Indeed, Maher's remarks prove that it is anything but politically incorrect to bash Catholics on "Politically Incorrect." "If ABC has as low a tolerance for Catholic bashing as it does other expressions of bigotry, it would terminate Maher immediately. At the very least, the Catholic League wants an apology. We await the network's response." ....."

Catholic League 11/17/99 William Donohue "… "The nun that is featured in the new movie, "All About My Mother" is pregnant. She's also HIV-positive. It opens Friday in select theaters. "All About My Mother" was described by one reviewer as "a loose homage to 'All About Eve' populated by an outrageous (as usual) assortment of drag queens, transvestite hookers and pregnant nuns." The Sunday Times of London said that the Pedro Almodovar film was "a blend of his favorite elements--delirium, drugs, sexual deviation, arresting visuals and, most of all, the solidarity and sacrifices of women." ..."

San Jose Mercury News 3/24/00 John Omicinski "……A few years ago during the Holy Week preceding Easter, New Yorker magazine ran a cover depicting the crucifixion of an Easter Bunny. The media snickered, but there was no outburst at the hatchet job. Indeed, an outrage like a crucified Easter Bunny passes for humor in a homogenized and humorless U.S. media culture, where anti-Catholicism has emerged as the last politically correct bias. …. Apparently Roman Catholics aren't seen as having similar rights to practice their religion in peace, without organized, government-subsidized insults. ……… Hollywood loves anti-Catholic themes in television and movies. They keep making them though none seems to make money, so we must conclude it's a matter of bias rather than business. …….."

Family News in Focus 4/27/00 Dave Clark "….It may seem like Christians are losing the culture war, but they aren't. Howard Stern is America's king of shock radio. But even he recognizes that many people have had enough of his antics. "They're calling our advertisers and, of course, the advertisers are [responding], 'Oh, OK, he was insensitive, we'll pull our advertising.' I'm constantly under attack," Stern said on a recent broadcast. The pressure felt by Stern is the result of a mounting grass-roots effort to clean up the airwaves and the culture in general. "Over 12,000 advertisers have withdrawn from sponsoring 'The Howard Stern Show,'" explained Bill Johnson, with the American Decency Association (ADA). "Ninety percent of the advertisers we have written [with complaints] have withdrawn." The Walt Disney Company is also paying a price for its involvement in offensive entertainment -- thanks to an ongoing pro-family boycott. "We can tell that the boycotts remain effective because Disney's profits are consistently down quarter after quarter," Johnson said. ……"

NSNews.com 10/6/99 L Brent Bozell III ".......... "The West Wing," a new show about a fictional Democratic administration from liberal writer Aaron Sorkin ("A Few Good Men," "The American President"), took its shot on September 22, in its very first episode. After a presidential aide, Josh, makes an ill-considered televised quip about God "being indicted for tax fraud," a delegation of Christian-right leaders visits the White House to express its displeasure about the wisecrack and what it sees as the administration's overall hostility toward its concerns. But the Christians are summarily forced to retreat from the moral high ground, of course. First, a member of the delegation, Mary Marsh, comments unsubtly on Josh's "New York sense of humor." Possibly trying to divert attention from Marsh's anti-Semitic barb, another Christian, John Van Dyke, wonders why the administration is so much more devoted to the First Amendment than to the First Commandment, which, he claims, reads "Honor thy father." Another presidential aide quickly points out Van Dyke's Scriptural error. There you have it. Christians are anti-Semitic bigots - and idiots, too. Finally, the president himself joins the gathering and asks the third Christian leader, Al Caldwell, why he hasn't denounced an outfit called the Lambs of God. The president explains: After his twelve-year-old granddaughter expressed pro-choice sentiments in an interview with a teen magazine, the group sent her "a Raggedy Ann doll with a knife stuck through its throat. You'll denounce these people, Al, you'll do it publicly, and until you do, you can all get your fat asses out of my White House."....."

BBC 10/29/99 "…. An Islamic group based in the UK has issued a death fatwa against a playwright whose London stage production depicts Jesus Christ as a homosexual. Terrence McNally was sentenced to death by the Shari'ah Court of the UK as his play, Corpus Christi, opened in London on Thursday night. The play depicts Jesus Christ and his followers as a group of homosexuals. He is seduced by Judas Iscariot, but is later crucified as "king of the queers". It caused an outcry among Christians when it was staged during the Edinburgh Fringe festival during the summer. Muslims regard Jesus as a messenger of God, and revere his mother, the Virgin Mary. The play was declared blasphemous by the Al-Muhajiroun - The Defenders of The Messenger Jesus….."

Los Angeles Times 10/5/99 Jim Pinkerton "...At the exhibit, one of the first pieces I see is "The Holy Virgin Mary" by Chris Ofili. The elephant dung angle, it turns out, has been overplayed. Only one turd is actually on the portrait--although there are two more at the base, one labeled "Virgin" and the other "Mary." But it's clear that Ofili has a thing for excrement, without regard to race or religion; another of his works on display features the names of such black superstars as James Brown and Diana Ross, neatly scripted on turds of their own. But what is offensive about the Mary piece are the little cut-outs of women's behinds plastered all over the canvas.... But the real outrage is the work of Jake and Dinos Chapman. Their artistic oeuvre is naked girls. They have taken department-store mannequins of little girls, festooned them with penises, and then added vaginas and anuses--the kind you might expect to see on a blow-up sex doll--in random places over their faces and bodies.... The caption for "Tragic Anatomies" asks the following: "What would the world be like if we were freed of all sexual inhibition? Do we falsely deny the existence of sexuality in children?" Why haven't the media reported on that? Is it because they've been focused on the feces? Maybe, but I think there's another reason. The critics and commentators don't want the real raw truth about this exhibit to get out, because they know that even they can't publicly defend Hustler-type photos or kiddie porn...."

The Dallas Norning News 12/3/99 AP "….An outpouring of complaints coupled with vandalism has prompted Santa Fe Community College to remove from public display a controversial painting that depicts a gorilla nailed to a cross. "I think it's too bad people are so ignorant," said Monika Steinhoff, the Santa Fe artist who painted the work and donated it to the college. "It's too bad people are simplistic like that," she said. "The cross was not invented by Christianity." Ms. Steinhoff said the painting, And God Gave Dominion, is not sacrilegious….."

Daily Telegraph, Sydney 12/10/99 Helen McCabe "….."Princess Diana has been controversially portrayed as the Virgin Mary in a major art exhibition at the Tate Gallery in Liverpool (Britain.)The 36 inch tall statue forms the centrepiece of the exhibition Heaven which explores how the cult of the celebrity has replaced religion.The late Princess is captured in the traditional pose of the Virgin Mary with her hands clasped and eyes towards the heavens.Exhibition organisers defended the image, claiming Diana was a saintly figure and the statue reflected her popularity ..."

Etherzone 7/23/99 Rick Reeder "…I am not a pessimist, just more reluctantly optimistic. The reality for all of us is sinking in that after 30 plus years of being, to some degree, an "officially" godless, Bible-less commandment-less nation. We are not only "slouching toward Gomorrah" as Bork has said, we are feeling and acting "slouchy" toward decay. Our art is no longer that which displays that which is best in us, but the vile. Our music is not that of an overcoming people, but that of a self-indulgent, flesh-loving people. Our focus is not on more noble deeds done, but we are preoccupied with the horrible actions of those, which commit despicable atrocities among us. Our greatest thinkers waste their ingenuity on more toys for a playful army of spoiled toddlers than tools for a productive army of world-changers…."

boston.com 10/4/99 Mona Charen ".....Wrapping themselves in the First Amendment, they ingenuously claim that this rubbish is art and condemn those who are shocked, even as they giggle behind their hands at our red faces. Truly, this exhibit - aspects of which would offend nearly everyone, but particularly Catholics - is an assault. There is a decomposing animal's head being eaten by real flies, a shark in a tank of formaldehyde and, most disgusting, a picture of the Virgin Mary with elephant dung and pornographic images all over it. The Christians need an anti-defamation league. It is wearying to say this over and over again, but here goes: The Brooklyn Museum would never, ever exhibit a picture of any liberal icon - not Justice Harry Blackmun, not Anita Hill, not even Jesse Jackson - covered in elephant dung. Nor would they ostentatiously offend homosexuals, Native Americans ... well, you know the list. Chris Ofili's picture of ''The Holy Virgin Mary'' is a calculated stick in the eye to American Christians, who have not only had their sacred symbols profaned in the most vile fashion but have had to pay for it through their tax dollars. To its credit, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis has denounced the Brooklyn Museum. We've been down this road before. There was ''Piss Christ,'' also a recipient of government funding, the Mapplethorpe excrescence, and the lady who smeared herself in chocolate. Your government is funding, as art, things you wouldn't even permit your children to say. ....."

NewsMax.com 10/5/99 Linda Bowles "....While heathens are selling the idea that Christian love means stupidity, legal charlatans are using the First Amendment to protect public obscenity, pornography and flag-burning. They have no problem with anti-Christian hate speech framed as art and hung in the taxpayer-funded Brooklyn Museum, but are appalled at the idea of religious speech and expression, particularly in government schools, where children might be listening. They are advocates of a separation of state and religion and a marriage of state and anti-religious smut. The people are told by arrogant judges that moral discernment is equivalent to bigotry. They are advised that the Constitution does not grant people the right to establish the rules of civility and set the standards of decency by which they wish to live. The Constitution no longer protects us. It has become, in the hands of unaccountable, power-corrupted judges, an instrument of our oppression. It is time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country...."

Ottawa Sun 10/17/99 R Cort Kirkwood "..... A few years ago, taxpayers learned they were subsidizing another artist who dreamed up a piece of trash called Piss Christ, a crucifix suspended in a jar of the artist's urine. Then there are the anti-Christian, or more specifically, anti-Catholic, movies and plays, which may feature anything from a simple anti-Catholic insult to images of Jesus Christ having sex with his apostles....... A Disney program about a Catholic priest had its cleric declaring a "moratorium on sexual sins, meaning he was one priest who had enough of the Church's teaching on matters of sexual morality." Most recently, a "Catholic" character on Saturday Night Live has been parlayed into a movie in which nuns are made to look like idiots....."

Ottawa Sun 10/17/99 R Cort Kirkwood "..... The liberals want us to believe such "art" is simple and amusing "irreverence," their favourite word for anything profoundly offensive to Christians. That raises the question, of course, of what the liberals would think if a white man painted a portrait of Martin Luther King, adorned the image with horse manure, and festooned it with images of male genitalia. They wouldn't be talking irreverence then. They would be talking racism. The double standard aside, even those who abhor what travels under the name of art don't understand what is at stake. One conservative writer says these artists are expressing their "anger" at Mother Church. Anger? Hardly. This is out and out hatred, and the purpose isn't to express a legitimate grievance, but to register naked contempt for the Church because of her teachings, and to undermine those teachings among the faithful as anachronistic, unfair, sexist, homophobic and an embarrassment...."

Associated Press (via Yahoo News) 11/22/99 A J Dickerson "….Afraid of offending blacks and Christians, the new director of the Detroit Institute of Arts has suspended an exhibit that included a Jesus figure wearing a condom and an artwork whose title contains a racial slur. The exhibit, which also featured a vial of urine from Andres Serrano's highly publicized photograph of a crucifix submerged in urine, had been accepted by the museum two years ago. ``I felt strongly I could not defend a couple of the pieces,'' said Graham Beal, who became director seven weeks ago and suspended the exhibit Friday, two days after it opened. ``A couple of the pieces were surprises.'' …..Beal, in his previous job as director of the Los Angeles County Art Museum, refused three times to exhibit the show now on display in Brooklyn……"

Dallas Morning News 7/9/00 Jeff Mosier "…… The Biblical Arts Center said it has canceled an exhibit by internationally known artist Edward Knippers after a test audience reacted negatively to the abundant nudity and one painting's anti-abortion theme. Scott Peck, co-director of the nonprofit center in North Dallas, said more than 40 regular patrons and tourists previewed the "Passionate Grace" show, which included about 30 paintings. A decision was then made to call off the exhibit, which was scheduled to begin Tuesday, he said. ……. Mr. Knippers, who could not be reached for comment at his Virginia home Saturday, is known for large-scale paintings of biblical scenes in which many of the subjects, including Christ, are nude. Officials with the Biblical Arts Center said they were aware that Mr. Knippers' work had stirred controversy elsewhere and decided to use a test audience to gauge the local response to his paintings. ...... One of the paintings that inspired strong feelings was Massacre of the Innocent, an interpretation of King Herod's declaration that all newborns in Israel be killed. Mr. Peck said members of the test audience interpreted the work as an anti-abortion statement. ……."Our mission is to show art, but we also don't want to offend people," he said. "We're trying to keep that balance." ……"

Detroit Free Press 7/21/00 David Crumm "……. Bibles and Cheerios just don't mix, General Mills announced Friday afternoon. But the public apology from the cereal giant came too late: More than 12 million boxes of cereal containing software versions of the Bible are headed for grocery store shelves nationwide. …….. The apology was a shock because the unprecedented promotion, which involved giving away CDROM games, dictionaries and Bibles, was one of the most creative marketing ideas in years, said Phyllis Tickle, an editor at Publishers Weekly magazine and a leading expert on the marketing of religious publications. ……. "They got spooked with the idea of the Bible in their boxes," Tickle said Friday afternoon. "There would have been some controversy, but this probably would have been a very popular idea." The irony is that, for nearly a year, General Mills' partners in this promotion worked on a strategy to soft-sell the Bibles. ……. That included avoiding any mention in the colorful advertisements on General Mills' new cereal boxes that a Bible was included on the CDROM featuring a popular computer game. The boxes are being distributed nationwide through August. …….Even after the software is started on a computer, users have to select the "Reference Library" from a variety of choices to discover the Bible software. ……In March, Swann experienced the first hint of controversy. An executive from Disney Interactive, who licensed the "Millionaire" software for the CDROMs, told Swann and other partners that the Bible was too controversial. Disney demanded it be taken off the "Millionaire" CD-ROMs. That left the Zondervan Bible only on the 12 million boxes featuring the CD games: Clue, Carmen Sandiego Word Detective, Lego Creator and Amazon Trail. The Bible software works only on PCs. ……… "The Bible was on the discs from the very beginning, but the people from Disney didn't want it on their CDROMs," said Ken Patterson, a Minnesota-based software developer who worked on the discs. "It held up production, when Disney had us pull it from their discs in March." ......"

American Family Association 7/11/00 Pat Trueman "….. For nearly two decades, the National Endowment for the Arts has infuriated Members of Congress and Christians by funding institutions and organizations that blaspheme God or distribute pornography and other indecent material in the name of "art." This year NEA chairman, Bill Ivey, in lobbying Congress for a budget increase has certified, according to press accounts, that "the problem grants have ended." "We come before you today as a different agency, a new agency," Ivey has said to Congress. But a close examination of the "new" NEA demonstrates that the agency has changed its rhetoric-but not its preferences for pornographic and blasphemous art.. ……..Here are just a few of the major problem grantees in NEA's past and a summary of recent NEA action towards those same grantees. ……"

Truth In Media 7/00 Bob Djurdevic "…….(An Excerpt from an October 1997 Truth in Media Bulletin, CETINJE, Montenegro, September 1997) - Picture a Jesus Christ crucified on an (Orthodox) cross surrounded by four apostles, three of whom have the Nazi swastikas painted over their heads and halos. Sacrilegious? Blasphemous? Yes. But that's not all. Now, substitute a pig's head for Christ's on the same cross, and visualize his oversized erect penis protruding toward the apostles. …… Vulgar? Profane? Revolting? You bet. But that's not all, either. Imagine a nun praying on her knees to a naked woman with a halo over her head who appears to be masturbating. Envisage a cross with Christ's head on the cross shown as a lump of feces. …….. Disgusting? Crude? Primitive? Of course. But that's not all, either. ……The above were only some examples of the "art" which the liberal globalists, like Nikola Petrovic, a Paris-based distant relative of Montegro's famous 19th century poet and bishop, brought to Cetinje (Montenegro) Bienale III. This spoof of Jesus Christ and of the sacred Christian objects, was sponsored by the United Nations' UNESCO organization, the European Council, the Montenegro government (read Milo Djukanovic, the prime minister and leading presidential candidate), the British and Austrian embassies to Yugoslavia, the foreign ministry of Italy, and by and some other French, Spanish and Austrian organizations. ......"The Antichrist brought to you by the New World Order" (our term) exhibit was supposed to last from Sept. 20 to Nov. 2, 1997. It was hurriedly closed last week by the Montenegrin government after a barrage of protests from the Serbian Christian community, led by Metropolitan (Archbishop) Amfilohije of Cetinje. Djukanovic feared that his sponsorship of the exhibit may cost him some votes in the heat of the presidential election campaign, according to our Belgrade sources. Despite the closure, there is no evidence that organizers or sponsors were embarrassed by the sacrilegious filth they were brazenly pawning off as "art." ……… "

Truth In Media 7/00 Bob Djurdevic "…….Ed. An isolated case of anti-Christian propaganda? Hardly. In our TiM GW Bulletin 97/7-11 (7/29/97), we reported about an article published in the Israeli scientific magazine Galilo about the dangers of cloning, which was illustrated with an image depicting Virgin Mary with a cow's head, according to a July 5 report by the Birzeit News, a Birzeit University paper. The Greek Orthodox Archmandate, Dr. Attallah Hanna, similarly attacked it as " the slur on Christianity. The 'Latin' (the Roman Catholic?) Patriarch Michel Sabbah commented that the Galilo image represented a kind of provocation, "that leads to war and sectarian strife." The editor of the Israeli magazine apologized under pressure. Yet the New World Order sponsors of the Cetinje sacrilege remain unrepentant. Is it because they DID try to foment more "war and sectarian strife" in the Balkans with a DELIBERATE provocation of the Christians?

Media Research Center 2/15/00 L Brent Bozell III "…..One of the ways the media continue to devaluate their currency with the public is by constantly debasing society's pillars, of which a persistent favorite is the clergy. The Kansas City Star recently took a sledgehammer to the Catholic Church. "Hundreds of Roman Catholic priests across the United States have died of AIDS-related illnesses," thundered the investigative report, "and hundreds more are living with HIV, the virus that causes the disease." …….. Whoa. Notice the utter lack of numerical certainty in this supposed expose, which is nothing but guesses piled upon guesses piled upon guesses. One would suppose that no serious journalist would carry this wild speculation. But if so, one would suppose wrongly. Newspapers across the country picked up these nuggets of nothingness and presented a "crisis" of priests with AIDS. Readers in Chattanooga, Columbus, Denver, Indianapolis, New Orleans, New York, Omaha, Orlando, St. Petersburg, and Washington received this drivel through the Knight-Ridder news wire. CBS presented an "Evening News" report which suggested things were even worse: "Father Thomas Crangle conducted his own study a decade ago and found that nearly a quarter of the 398 priests he surveyed said they were HIV-positive or had full-blown AIDS. For him, the new findings were not surprising, but accurate numbers are difficult to come by." The nonsense wouldn't stand unchallenged for long. Statistical analysts David Murray and Robert Lichter quickly debunked the Star survey which accompanied the series as illustrating "the pitfalls awaiting news organizations that conduct surveys in order to create news." The Star survey was sent to 3,000 of America's 46,000 Catholic priests, and only 800 responded, for a 27 percent response rate. Murray and Lichter wrote that when three out of four recipients fail to respond, "follow-up surveys are conducted to increase the returns or at least to learn whether the minority who responded were representative.... Murray and Lichter also note that when the Star guesses that "about 400 priests nationwide" either have AIDS or might have it but haven't been tested, only 0.5 percent said they had HIV, and only 0.4 percent said they might. "In absolute terms, this means seven individuals said they have or fear they might have AIDS. Any projection of seven individuals onto a nationwide stage is statistically dubious, particularly when we don't know how representative this group is." ……"

The American Spectator 5/00 Mark Steyn "…… One typical March weekend in Brooklyn: Vandals smash the face and arms of a marble shrine to Our Lady of Fatima at St. Gregory's Rornan Catholic Church. The same night, a wooden image of Christ is torn down from the cross and broken into pieces at St. Francis of Assisi-St. Blaise Church. For parishioners at St. Francis, it was the second assault on their church in little more than two months: In January, the statues of both Francis and Our Lady of Fatima were decapitated. But so what? This kind of thing is becoming routine. A dozen Catholic churches have been desecrated in Brooklyn in the last six months - though, in a belated attempt at ecumenicalisrn, in the last week of March an Episcopal church was targeted, too. The media, happy to hop on Jesse Jackson's and Bill Clinton's bandwagon and be taken for a ride about an entirely mythical spate of black church burnings a couple of years back, are largely indifferent to the actual, real assaults on churches which occur every day. The Clinto-Jacksonian fictional church burnings (orchestrated by Newt and the Republican Congress, naturally) were about racial hatred, whereas these attacks demonstrate only anti-religious hatred, and who cares about that? Most of the recent Brooklyn church attacks were buried in the New York Times somewhere round page B6 in the Metro News Briefs. But eventually some Times editor noticed that Metro had been running the same church vandalization News Brief week in, week out for months on end and decided that maybe the series of religious desecrations merited a short 700 word piece on page B1, which duly ran on March 22. ….."

Media Research Center 2/8/00 L Brent Bozell III "….The other interesting liberal media trend is that, for all of their mockery of religious conservatives having a direct phone line to God, some liberal journalists have claimed a true Christian would implement liberal policies. On CNN's "Capital Gang," Wall Street Journal executive Al Hunt joked: "Now if Jesus is a political thinker, I assume he's for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- 'blessed are the peacemakers.' I assume he's pro-earned income tax credit -- 'blessed are the poor.'" In Time magazine, columnist Jimmy Breslin pretended that Christ was on the campaign trail in Iowa, and he was angry at Republicans like Bush for invoking his name while supporting the death penalty: "'How can he say he carries me, Jesus Christ, in his heart,' candidate Christ asked, 'when at the same time he stands by while people are put to death?'" ….."

Media Research Center 2/8/00 L Brent Bozell III "….After the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl, quarterback Kurt Warner was introduced as the Most Valuable Player. He told the crowd, "First, I want to thank my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ" -- and the fans roared back their approval of his testimonial. The media probably said: there go those poor, uneducated, and easy-to-command types again….."

The Dallas Morning News 11/11/98 ".A word of sympathy, brethren, for the "religious right." And before I proceed, one innocent question: Anybody remember the last time our all-knowing media dissected something called the "secular left"? Just asking."

US Newswire 2/17/99 Freeper Brian Mosely ".``The kind of raw anti-Catholic bigotry contained in Ted Turner's remarks is something we had all hoped was a relic of the last century. ``To begin to repair the damage, Ted Turner must only retract his remarks but also issue a full and complete apology to the Holy Father and all American Catholics. This is the worst form of religious bigotry,'' said Bauer. Bauer also charged that Turner insulted all American Christians and Jews when he belittled the Ten Commandments, saying the commandments are ``a little out of date. If you're only going to have 10 rules, I don't know if (prohibiting) adultery should be one of them.'' ."

LewRockwell.com 7/3/00 William Anderson "…… In the days leading up to the execution of the obviously guilty Gary Graham in Texas, Jesse Jackson seemed to be everywhere, at least where a television camera was present. The condemned prisoner, he told the assembled sympathetic media, was a modern figure of Jesus Christ. Gov. George Bush of Texas, who could not legally have stopped the execution even if he had wished to do so, was likened to Pontius Pilate…….. This is not the first time Jackson has used the analogy of characters from the Bible to make political points. During the presidential election of 1992, Jackson, who was stumping for Bill Clinton and Al Gore, condemned the anti-abortion beliefs of Vice President Dan Quayle and compared him to King Herod. Herod, as St. Matthew wrote in his Gospel, ordered all of the boys under age two living in and near Bethlehem to be killed in order to keep the Messiah from occupying Herod's throng……… Of course, one is bewildered by this comparison. Quayle, after all, supported the right of unborn children not to be torn apart in their mothers' wombs or be put to death immediately upon birth (all in the name of "choice"). Therefore, it seems strange to compare him with someone who did what Jackson and his supporters believe to be moral: kill babies. However, no media pundits questioned Jackson's faulty biblical exegesis, which is not surprising, since few media personalities even read the Bible……."

Charisma News 5/2/00 Andy Butcher "…… The good news is that traditionally skeptical mainstream journalists are spending more time covering religion. The bad news is that they are not doing it particularly well. That is the story for Christians from a new study that found the amount of religion coverage doubled from the 1980s to the 1990s--during a period that also saw the proportion of journalists at major media outlets who regularly attend religious services more than double, to a surprising 30 percent. During the same time, the proportion of journalists who claimed no religious affiliations dropped from 50 percent to 22 percent, said the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA), whose study was conducted in partnership with the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC). …..While religion made more headlines in the last decade, it usually did so in relation to politics and church-state issues. Theology and spirituality did not feature much, with only 7 percent of stories mentioning religious beliefs or doctrines. That figure dropped to 5 percent for stories about Protestants, Catholics and Jews and rose to 26 percent for Eastern religions. ……"

Wall Street Journal 4/2/99 "...Remember the old Hollywood films like "Ben-Hur" and "The Robe," which would always include a scene with a sneering Roman emperor or centurion spitting out the word "Christian" as though it were a slur? In those days the intended effect was irony, a reminder to audiences that there was a time when the Christian faith so publicly honored in American life was looked upon by authorities as low and unnatural. As Christians the world over Friday commemorate the passion and crucifixion of their Lord, it may be a good moment to reflect on the caricature that has come to dominate public treatment of America's predominant faith. Clearly, Americans continue to rank among the most religious peoples in the world. Year after year the Bible outsells all other books. More Americans go to church each Sunday than watch the Super Bowl. Yet our public squares are increasingly dominated by elites who look upon Christian expression in much the same way Hollywood's centurions did in the 1950s and 1960s. ….. In a speech at Harvard last April, Sidney Blumenthal denounced Hickman Ewing, then one of Kenneth Starr's deputies, as "a religious fanatic," evidently on the grounds that Mr. Ewing helped found a church where he worships and occasionally preaches. During her "20/20" interview with the independent counsel himself, Diane Sawyer wrinkled her nose in disbelief when she asked Mr. Starr to confirm reports that "you jog and sing hymns and pray" -- the last two evidently constituting pretty serious misdemeanors if not high crimes in the ABC canon. Later still, a "CBS Evening News" report on the selection of House impeachment managers noted ominously that "all 13 are white, all 13 males, all 13 Christians." As the CBS reporter understood, this wasn't just a description. It was an indictment. ….. As the syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote, Mr. Blumenthal's crack "caused barely a ripple -- nothing like the uproar that routinely accompanies a personal insult regarding, say, race or gender or sexual orientation."..."

Reuters 9/17/99 Washington Times Andrea Billups "…" When 14-year-old Michael Carneal killed three students praying at a Paducah high school, religious bias "was never a theme raised on TV networks, that this guy was anti-Christian," Mr. Baker said. Instead, reporters focused on Carneal's parents and the influence of violent entertainment, he said, although "it became quite clear later on that [anti-religious sentiment] was the motivation." "When it is a particular minority group that's attacked, the media assume that's the reason for the attack," Mr. Baker said. "When it happens to Christians, the media don't assume that at all." Mr. Merrell of the Southern Baptist Convention agreed that crimes committed against Christians often are treated differently. "It does not pass our notice that there are many who appeal to the populace for hate crimes legislation when certain groups are targeted, but remain curiously silent when other groups are," he said, adding that the "virile and fertile culture" of hostility to Christians is "growing rapidly." …."

Chicago Sun-Times 9/21/99 John O’Sullivan "…Since last week's massacre of children in the Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, several commentators have pointed to an apparent bias in both political reactions and news reporting. When an anti-Semitic bigot shot children in a Jewish day care center, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno had immediately labelled it a "hate crime"; when asked if the Fort Worth shooting also was a hate crime, she replied cautiously that "we should not jump to conclusions." And according to Brent Baker of the Media Research Council, editors too were "much more hesitant to assign a motive" in the later case. Earlier similar comparisons--plus an apparent rash of attacks on Christians, at Columbine High among other cases--have led people to ask if there is a political and media bias against Christians. It seems to me that there is. But the more interesting question is: why?……"

Baptist Press 6/5/00 John Yeats "……When ABC (Disney's educational media wing) news program "20/20" aired across the country May 12, you knew quickly there was an agenda to discredit the beliefs of those of us who believe we are saved by the blood of Jesus as revealed in the Bible. The comparative approach by the producers-turned-editorialists weighed heavily on the side of multicultural pluralism. ……. The segment, by ABC News religion correspondent Peggy Wehmeyer, centered on a 12-year-old Jewish boy in the Dallas area who made a profession of faith in Christ last year at a Southern Baptist church youth rally and subsequently declined to proceed with his planned bar mitzvah, the Jewish community's formal acknowledgment that a child has become an adult in matters of faith and reason. ……. The parents of the young man were upset to learn their son had embraced Jesus as the Christ. After his parents and Hebrew school principal counseled with him, the youth recanted the conversion and, according to the program, plans to proceed with the Jewish ceremony later this year. ……..The producers of this 20/20 segment chose this event as a platform to comment on those of us who believe in the exclusivity of the gospel, that there is only one way to God, Jesus Christ. The program cast Southern Baptists as people who are hard-nosed, Bible-thumping biblicists, who are intolerant of other faith systems. …… The reality is, our definition of "tolerant" is rather normative. We oppose the coercion of people belonging to other faith groups, but at the same time we reserve the right to lovingly share with all people the gospel truth. Tolerance does not mean other belief systems are equal in value to the truth about our God revealed in the Bible. We believe the truth of God's Word is complete, and we are compelled to obey its teaching. ......"

Baptist Press 6/5/00 John Yeats "……To make matters worse, the ABC program stated there are "Christian" groups -- the Roman Catholic Church, the United Methodist Church and the United Presbyterian Church -- that discourage the conversion of Jews. The program went on to state that many Christian denominations, including moderate Baptist affinity groups, believe one can get to heaven without believing in Jesus. Jim Sibley, an interfaith evangelism missionary for the North American Mission Board, said, "It's evident our society does not want to hear that the Bible says there is only one way to God." One member of a faith group said on the 20/20 program, "That kind of religious exclusivity just doesn't belong in today's society anymore." ……… The above statement is illustrative of the new politically correct bigotry that exists against those who hold to the teachings of God's Word. Baptists have a past, and contemporary, history of giving people the liberty to believe differently than we do. However, we also reserve the right to privately and publicly disagree with those who reject or disbelieve the Bible. We take a lot of heat protecting the religious liberties of those who disagree with us, but we have the same the liberty to publicly share the truth about Jesus. …….We have become a minority voice in our culture. If you listen to the media moguls, they would lead you to believe that Bible-believing Christians are what is wrong with America today……"

Media Research Center 2/8/00 L Brent Bozell III "….What's the quickest way for a candidate to make a national reporter squirm? Bring up religion. George W. Bush's decision in a December debate to name Jesus Christ as the philosopher with the most impact on him gave reporters the willies. NBC's Tim Russert is a devout Roman Catholic who has spoken publicly and profoundly about his faith. Yet when the Republican candidates met again in January, he felt it necessary to question repeatedly if Bush's faith in Jesus somehow translated into Christian theocracy: "I think people watching, some want to hear your God is Jesus Christ, they don't have a God, or they have Yahweh or they have Allah. They want to know it's okay." Russert went so far as to suggest that every Republican debate seems to mention Jesus, asking Gary Bauer, "Are you concerned that many people in the country are watching that exchange and saying, 'you know, that's a little more about religion that it is about politics and that concerns me?'" Russert's colleague Brian Williams added that the Republicans were "strident tonight: anti-gay, pro-Jesus, and anti-abortion and no gray matter in between." What message is the public supposed to take away from this? It's the quadrennial network message: Republican primaries are polluted with the Christian right, and their Bible-toting intolerance will cost them in the fall. They're stridently pro-Jesus, and are frightening average Americans by dragging too much religion into the public square……..

Mrc.org 6/29/00 "……The Bible can't get a break on network TV this week. On Monday night Peter Jennings undermined its accuracy and then on Wednesday's Survivor on the CBS an island inhabitant took a shot. ...... In the June 28 episode of the CBS show about 16 people living on an island with one voted off by the others each week, an older man named Rudy, the former Navy SEAL who gained some publicity on the opening show when he couldn't start a fire, is annoyed by a younger guy named Dirk who reads the Bible:….."It's funny to me that a guy would read the Bible out here. The only reason I'd bring a Bible is if, I mean I'm religious too, if I needed toilet paper." What would he do with the Bible if he weren't "religious" …."

Conservative News Service 9/20/99 Bruce Sullivan "….Christian leaders from Jerry Falwell to D. James Kennedy say there is a double standard applied to so-called hate crimes, such as last week's shooting spree in a Texas Baptist church by a man shouting anti-Christian expletives -- an attack that left seven Christians dead and seven more wounded. "There is a total absence of outrage over the killings at the Baptist church and in Colorado, as far as the religious aspect is concerned," said Falwell, referring not only to last weeks' rampage at Fort Worth's Wedgwood Baptist, but also to the massacre earlier this year at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado where many of the victims were also Christians. "We have, whether intentional or not, built up a reservoir of hostility toward people of faith, particularly evangelical people," Falwell told the Los Angeles Times….. "It would seem that killing Christians is on a far lower level of seriousness than anyone else being killed," said Kennedy. "Is that where we've come as a Christian nation?" …."

CBN 6/27/00 Craig con Buseck "……. I felt like I was back in college. I enrolled in a class called "Philosophy of Religion" during one semester at the politically liberal university I attended. As a Christian I was excited that I would be able to take a course that focused on the Bible. Well, the professor, a former Jesuit Priest, did focus on the Bible -- but his aim was to discredit the Scriptures and show how erroneous they were. I was so disheartened by the class that I wrote a song to encourage my classmates in their faith. I was reminded of that song as I watched the ABC News special, "Peter Jennings Reporting: The Search for Jesus." …… My answer to my professor and to Jennings is, "You don't know what you're missing." ……… Jennings started the program with the most noble of intentions. "We tried to be respectful of what people believe. After all, all but the most skeptical believe that Jesus actually lived." …….. Almost immediately, however, he began taking shots at the integrity of the Gospel accounts and the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Speaking of the Gospel writers, Jennings declared, "It is pretty much agreed they were not eye witnesses." I thought to myself, "Agreed by whom?" I spent a year and a half in seminary, and at my school it was pretty much agreed that the Gospels were what they said they were -- an eye witness account. ….. Don't get me wrong, folks. I don't mind a lively philosophical debate -- I enjoy it in fact. Let all the opinions be declared, and then let truth rise to the top. But to have a debate you must have opposing viewpoints. Jennings chose to only include the opinions of scholars who viewed the Bible as a human document, full of inconsistencies and error. There was not a single scholar who supported the view that the Bible is truly the inspired Word of God. ......"

Creators Syndicate 7/5/00 L Brent Bozell "…… It looks like CBS has officially sanctioned anti-religious bigotry on its network. Last Thursday on the CBS "Early Show," host Bryant Gumbel was conducting his standard interview with a conservative guest, which is to say that he was brawling. The subject was the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Boy Scouts' ban on homosexual scoutmasters. The guest -- which is to say: target -- was the Family Research Council's Robert Knight, who had the audacity to defend the morality behind the decision. Naturally, Gumbel was openly hostile to anything Knight had to say, which is not surprising given that he's openly hostile to anyone to the right of Kweisi Mfume. At the end of the contentious segment, CBS cut away to Mark McEwen who began the weather report. But then the camera unexpectedly cut back to Gumbel as he was rising from his seat, unsnapping his mike. And there was the very unsuspecting Gumbel, live on national television, sneering and mouthing the words: "What a f---ing idiot!" ……."

Family News in Focus 7/20/00 Larry Poland "......Truth is stranger than fiction. In Hollywood, that's especially true. ...... a Christian senior vice president in one of the big four television networks discovered that an employee, whom he had to let go in a staff "downsizing," had filed a complaint against him with the network's human resources department. The disgruntled employee claimed that he fired her "because she wasn't a Christian. ........When the executive talked to human resources, he discovered that, on two previous occasions, this woman had filed complaints about him; one, for having a Bible on the bookshelf of his office. And she filed a second one after she walked by the open door of his office and saw him reading his Bible. She claimed that she found this offensive since she was of another faith. ......... But when this matter was disclosed to the executive, he was asked if the charges were true. "Well, yes," he replied, "but I have far more dangerous books on my shelf than the Bible. Feel free to stop by and check them out." .....If the day comes when a Hollywood media professional is fired for not being a Christian, then the spiritual awakening will have gone farther than even we expect it to. And when possessing and reading a Bible is a corporate crime in America, we're in trouble.. ......"

Charisma News 8/2/00 "……A Christian family organization is beefing up security for its staff after a speaker needed a police escort to leave a university campus when gay activists reacted angrily to her testimony of having left a homosexual lifestyle. Family Research Council (FRC) worker Yvette Schneider was spat on and heckled at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where the Christian student group president who hosted the meeting was warned by police to stay away from her dorm room because the situation was too dangerous. ……. Two lesbians jumped onto the stage and began kissing in front of Schneider as she prepared to talk, FRC executive vice president Chuck Donovan told supporters in a letter. Schneider managed to share her testimony despite interruptions. After being led to safety, she spent the night at a secret location to protect her from further protests. ......The "terrifying" encounter was indicative of the gay lobby's intolerance toward Christians who proclaim homosexuals can change, Donovan said. ….."

Washington Times 7/31/00 Valerie Richardson "……The Episcopal Church's new policy on supporting and affirming committed relationships outside marriage comes a little late for Lee Ann Bryce. Miss Bryce has filed state and federal lawsuits against the church's Colorado diocese for civil rights violations after she was fired last year from her part-time job as youth minister at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church here. Her dismissal came after she participated in a service of commitment with her partner, the Rev. Sara Smith…….The irony is that Miss Bryce, 40, isn't even an Episcopalian: She belongs to the United Church of Christ, which allows such unions. Even so, her case, believed to be the only one of its kind, exposes the tension in the Episcopal Church's tenuous compromise on homosexual "marriage" while raising questions on whether the courts can breach church autonomy in the name of civil rights………Church officials argue that the issue has less to do with homosexuality than with the church's constitutional right to freedom of religion. Just as some denominations refuse to ordain women, the Episcopal Church has the right to reject non-celibate singles, whether heterosexual or homosexual, from the ministry……."

Daily Catholic 7/00 Dr. Frank Joseph, MD "…….If there's anything that makes my skin crawl, it's a clergyman, who says he is pro-choice. Pro-abortion -- pro-choice, it's all the same. If you condone and accept the proposition that a mother should be able to kill her unborn baby if she so chooses, you are pro-abortion. So let's not be cute and hide behind sugar coated words, like pro-choice and when a man of the cloth says he is pro-choice, it's all the more disgusting. It must be nice to pick and choose certain parts of the Holy Bible to live by. And if you feel that ignoring certain Scriptures will advance your career, then so be it. ………. Rev. Jackson changed the subject. It was apparent that he was getting nowhere with Lungren and his nonsensical views on the abortion issue. To the credit of Lungren, who apparently couldn't stand hypocrisy, a few minutes later, turned the subject back to the abortion issue. Lungren said, "the abortion issue is about life and death and the death penalty is about life and death." ……He was trying to tell Rev. Jackson in a nice way, that he was a hypocrite. Caring about the death penalty, but not caring if unborn babies were killed. …… Jackson abruptly replied, "don't put me in a box on abortion -- while I support pro-life, but the women has the ultimate choice. I don't support late term abortions -- I think it's runs dangerously close to infanticide. Jackson, again changed the subject and went on to talk about the current executions, which he condemned, since he is against the death penalty. ...... "

AFR News 7/25/00 Fred Jackson "…..Three conservative bishops in the Episcopal Church have been given an ultimatum. They have been ordered to start ordaining women into the priesthood or face disciplinary action. The issue of ordaining women has been in the news quite often lately. During the recent Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, delegates voted to reaffirm the Biblical teaching that women cannot be senior pastors. On the other hand, the Episcopal Church has been ordaining women for the past 30 years. The fact that three of their bishops are taking a stand against the practice has angered leaders within the church. The trio, who are bishops in California, Texas, and Illinois, say Christ did not choose women as apostles; therefore, today's churches have no right to ordain women. ……."

The Sunday Times UK 7/16/00 Uzi Mahnaimi "……..Thirty-five years ago, the only people who were trumpeting the normalization of homosexuality were left-wing college professors. Few people took them seriously. That was a fatal mistake. We should have remembered Lincoln's sage instruction: "The philosophy of the classroom in one generation is the philosophy of the country in the next." Who can deny that those liberal college professors in the 1960's changed the direction of the entire nation? It behooves us, therefore, to give serious consideration to what liberal college and university professors are now promoting. I'm told that in an article in the May/June issue of Society magazine entitled, "Sexual Liberation's Last Frontier," Associate Professor of Sociology at Temple University, Julia Erickson calls for more tolerance and understanding for pedophiles. Yes, pedophiles. Erickson argues that the word pedophilia is too harsh and judgmental. She prefers using "child-adult sex." She questions research that shows long-term effects of such activity. ......"

Frontpage Magazine 6/28/00 Lowell Ponte "…….. Contrary to its 1789 values, France is today busily enacting a new law to punish "mental manipulation" with up to two years in prison. Since all communications can be deemed an attempt to persuade or inform, to "manipulate" the mind of others, the government will more or less arbitrarily decide whose communications are to be punished. It's already indicated that "sects" and "cults" such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientologists, and proselytizing Southern Baptists meet its measure of who is a mind-manipulating sect……. Yes, this is the same France where the RU-486 abortion pill was created and that until days ago allowed high school nurses to give morning-after birth control pills to girls without their parents' knowledge or permission. But France is not alone in its re-definitions of values and morality. Many political and civic leaders in Chicago have spoken out against a planned Southern Baptist outreach in that city this summer -- -some calling its Christian evangelizing a "hate crime" that will cause violence. Yup, Democrat leaders calling the practice of Christianity a "hate crime."……."

Truthcast.com 7/11/00 Sharon Wyper "…….How is it then so "politically correct" now to believe that Christians should have no rights to participate as Christians in the political process? Even many of us who are Christians apparently believe that withdrawing from political life is somehow a righteous behavior. We offer reasons from Scripture (we're to be in the world but not of it) and practical reasons (it doesn't matter who you vote for, because the politicians are all the same). We allow the issues and the arguments of politics to be framed in terms devised by others, not ourselves. We allow any outrage against common sense and common decency to be enacted into law with barely a murmur of protest. We are apathetic to any call to political action if it requires effort, investment, or worst of all, confrontation..."

California Medicine 9/1970 Freeper Ironwood "……. The following is the famous editorial which appeared in California Medicine, the official journal of the California Medical Association (Sept., 1970; Vol 113, No. 3), speaking about the linguistic strategy that would have to be used for abortion to gain acceptance….." ……"…. The traditional Western ethic has always placed great emphasis on the intrinsic worth and equal value of every human life regardless of its stage or condition. This ethic has had the blessing of the Judeo-Christian heritage and has been the basis for most of our laws and much of our social policy. The reverence for each and every human life has also been a keystone of Western medicine and is the ethic which has caused physicians to try to preserve, protect, repair, prolong, and enhance every human life which comes under their surveillance. This traditional ethic is still clearly dominant, but there is much to suggest that it is being eroded at its core and may eventually even be abandoned. This of course will produce profound changes in Western medicine and in Western society………..What is not yet so clearly perceived is that in order to bring this about hard choices will have to be made with respect to what is to be preserved and strengthened and what is not, and that this will of necessity violate and ultimately destroy the traditional Western ethic with all that this portends. It will become necessary and acceptable to place relative rather than absolute values on such things as human lives, the use of scarce resources and the various elements which are to make up the quality of life or of living which is to be sought. This is quite distinctly at variance with the Judeo-Christian ethic and carries serious philosophical, social, economic, and political implications for Western society and perhaps for world society.......... The process of eroding the old ethic and substituting the new has already begun. It may be seen most clearly in changing attitudes toward human abortion. In defiance of the long held Western ethic of intrinsic and equal value for every human life regardless of its stage, condition, or status, abortion is becoming accepted by society as moral, right, and even necessary. It is worth noting that this shift in public attitude has affected the churches, the laws, and public policy rather than the reverse. Since the old ethic has not yet been fully displaced it has been necessary to separate the idea of abortion from the idea of killing, which continues to be socially abhorrent. The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra- or extra-uterine until death. The very considerable semantic gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not often put forth under socially impeccable auspices. It is suggested that this schizophrenic sort of subterfuge is necessary because while a new ethic is being accepted the old one has not yet been rejected…………..."

Roll Call.com 3/16/00 Karlyn Bowman "......In 1994, 22 percent of those surveyed by ABC News and The Washington Post said they thought of themselves as members of "the religious right." Other survey organizations have asked similar questions about three dozen times since then, and the results have been consistent. When ABC News and The Washington Post last repeated their question, in March 1999, 17 percent called themselves members, but 80 percent did not. ....... In six Gallup questions asked since 1997, about 45 percent have described themselves as "born-again or evangelical." ......... In the spring 1999 edition of Public Opinion Quarterly, Baruch College political scientists Louis Bolce and Gerald de Maio took an in depth look at attitudes toward religious conservatives. In the new issue of the journal (winter 1999), they expanded their analysis. Despite a nationwide trend toward greater tolerance of religious beliefs, they argue, "sizeable fractions of the American public hold antagonistic sentiments toward religious conservatives." The antagonism, they suggest, is concentrated among the highly educated and those who have more secular orientations. In the past, those with higher levels of education encouraged religious tolerance. ....... "

Washington Times 10/19/99 Hugh Aynesworth ".....Texas Stacie and Todd Bagley, both in their mid-20s, were known around the Texas towns adjacent to this big Army base [Fort Hood Texas] as a deeply religious, selfless couple who often went out of their way to help those in difficulty, particularly teen-agers..... One unidentified suspect said he didn't know which made Mr. Vialva more angry: the shouting, the kicking or the preaching. But he said, "I think it unnerved Chris, all that stuff about God and all." FBI Agent Daniel Chadwick said Mr. Vialva and three others poured lighter fluid over the car and set it afire as Mr. Vialva opened the trunk and shot the Bagleys at point-blank range. ...... "

Crosswalk.com (Religion Today) 1/28/2000 "….Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold blasphemed Christ and directed invectives at Christian students and others in a video prior to the killings at Columbine High (see link #1 below) last year. The two made five videos before the shooting, venting their rage at athletes, minorities, and Christians, Christianity Today (CT) said. "Go Romans. Thank God they crucified that [expletive]," Harris said, making a vulgar reference to Jesus, CT said. Both teens then began chanting, "Go Romans" and cheering. "What would Jesus do?" Klebold yelled. "What would I do?" he said, pretending to fire a gun at the camera, the publication said. The boys singled out Christian student Rachel Scott on the tape, calling her a "godly whore" and "stuck-up," it continued. Harris mimicked her faith. "Yeah. 'I love Jesus. I love Jesus.' Shut the [expletive] up," he said. Scott had told Klebold and Harris about Christ during a class they shared, and confronted them about a violent video they made, her father, Darrell, said. She was one of the first to be killed in the attack. …."

CNS 5/4/00 Susan Jones "…..A conservative group accuses NBC of jumping at the chance to "slam people of faith" by mocking the struggles faced by formerly homosexual men and women. In a statement, the Colorado-based Focus on the Family takes offense at this week's episode of "Will & Grace," in which one of the main characters attends a meeting of former homosexuals and successfully seduces the group's leader, proving the meeting is a hypocritical sham. "Once again, NBC has chosen to ridicule people with deeply-held biblical convictions and those who believe that change is possible," said Mike Haley, a former homosexual who now works with Focus on the Family. "This is just more evidence of the ever-increasing censorship of the ex-gay point of view," he said. .... ….."

Religion Today 6/6/00 "…… Stung by assertions that preaching can lead to hate crimes, some of the country's most prominent Christian leaders are reasserting the constitutional right to evangelize. Eighty-four scholars, theologians, and church leaders last week endorsed a document called The Chicago Declaration on Religious Freedom: Sharing Jesus Christ in a Pluralistic Society. They include Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship, theologians Carl F. H. Henry, J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul, and Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham. ...The leaders rejected the notion that evangelism undermines "a peaceful, pluralistic society and may lead to intolerance, bigotry, and even violence," but said that only a society that permits free discourse "can safeguard the true liberty, freedom, and human dignity we all pursue." ... ...Southern Baptists last year announced a plan to evangelize Chicago this summer. An interfaith coalition asked the denomination to reconsider the campaign, fearing that it might lead to violence against Jews, Hindus, and Muslims. ...That was "the straw that broke the camel's back," Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told the Dallas Morning News. Saying that evangelism leads to hate crimes is nonsense, he said. "The declaration puts our critics on notice that they're going to have to defend what appears to a lot of Americans to be intolerance." ……"

Jewish World Review 6/6/00 Naomi Schaefer "……TEN YEARS AGO, Kristopher Okwedy fled Nigeria, hoping to escape the persecution imposed on Christians there. "The wonderful thing about this country," he explains about his new home in America, "is the freedom to express yourself." But this year, Mr. Okwedy found out that freedom was not as absolute as he had thought. Mr. Okwedy and his Keyword Ministry leased space on two billboards on New York's Staten Island. Each one cited four translations of Leviticus 18:22, which in the Living Torah translation by Rabbi Arye Kaplan reads: "Do not lie with a male as as you would with a woman, since this is a disgusting perversion." A few days after the billboards went up, the president of PNE Media, the company that owns the billboards, called. He told the pastor that the messages were going to be taken down because they were too offensive. ……"

Boston Herald 5/3/00 Don Feder "…… Tomorrow is the 49th annual National Day of Prayer. That is, unless some idiot judge decides it constitutes an establishment of religion, tends to promote a particular faith and/or is offensive to the hypersensitive. In years past, there have been more than 20,000 prayer events across the country. In 1999, 500 inmates held a prayer service at California's Folsom prison. This year, in San Francisco, a group of motorcyclists will pray as they drive around the city. If you don't think this nation needs prayer, desperately, then you haven't been paying attention to the news lately. ......"

Boston Herald 5/3/00 "…….There was a time, not that long ago, when observances such as tomorrow's 49th National Day of Prayer were considered routine. Public schools, including those here in Boston, not only opened with morning prayers but joined nearby houses of worship in a partnership known as Religious Education Day, dispatching students once a week to receive instruction in their respective faiths. This writer was one of those Boston students. …….. But now revisionists tell us this was never meant to be, that faith and prayer are out of place in public life, that indeed any reference to God's existence is an affront to the freedom we enjoy as a nation. Such arrogance is nothing new. Abraham Lincoln, in the throes of the Civil War, freely acknowledged, ``I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction I had nowhere else to go.'' ...... So in 1863, engulfed by that awareness, he implored Americans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line to pause from hostilities long enough to take a moral inventory. Just for a day, he pleaded, America needed to recall its own history. ….."

Fox News 6/30/00 David Crary AP "……The Boy Scouts of America triumphed in their legal battle over gay scout leaders, but the victory could prove costly. Critics say the Scouts have squandered a reputation for tolerance and face an erosion of public support. ……. "They're getting left behind where America is going,'' said Matt Coles, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. "People are going to turn to their local governments and say, `This is a pack of bigots. Don't give them special treatment.''' ……. He predicted that a nationwide movement - "church by church, business by business, town by town'' - will gradually cut community ties with the Scouts and edge them into the ranks of ideological, right-wing groups. ……..''

WBAL 6/22/00 Ron Smith "…….

5/9/00 Alan Keyes "...... If we don't have a right to act according to our religious belief by forming judgments according to those beliefs about human conduct and behavior, then, exactly what does the free exercise of religion mean? Can the free exercise of religion really mean simply that I have the right to believe that God has ordained certain things to be right or wrong but that I can't act accordingly? ........ Surely free exercise means the freedom to act according to belief. And, yet, if we are not allowed to act according to belief when it comes to fundamental moral precepts, then what will be the moral implications of religion? None at all. ......... But if we accept an understanding of religious liberty that doesn't permit us to discriminate the wheat from the chaff in our own actions and those of others, haven't we in fact permitted the government to dictate to us a uniform approach to religion? ....... And, isn't that dictation of uniformity in religion exactly what the First Amendment intended to forbid?"

Boston Herald 10/6/99 Don Feder "....Construction was begun on the Smithsonian's Indian museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The $110 million project (two-thirds paid by the taxpayer) is expected to attract 6 million visitors a year. The New York Times noted that the museum ``will not only celebrate and display continuing tribal cultures but work to set the record straight.'' …... The Smithsonian has passionately embraced the multiculturalist agenda. It sees all of history in the reflected light of the PC trinity - race, gender and class..... The Smithsonian's latest editing of history is its book ``Timelines of the Ancient World - A Visual Chronology From the Origins of Life to A.D. 1500.'' While major events in the development of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam are meticulously detailed, the book moves from B.C. to A.D. without acknowledging the birth of Jesus. The spiritual revolution wrought by the Jewish people is similarly ignored. The Smithsonian was established in 1846 for the ``increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.'' Today, it exists to exhort. History becomes a self-criticism session, where the sins of the West, evils of capitalism and the toxicity of the Judeo-Christian tradition are confessed and atoned....."

WorldnetDaily 12/3/99 Frank York "….. Chicago's rebuff of the Southern Baptist Convention's plans to meet in the Windy City next summer, on the grounds that the large Christian group might foment "hate crimes" against minorities, is sounding alarm bells among Christians who fear that merely speaking openly about their core religious beliefs will soon be considered a crime. The Southern Baptist Convention -- with a membership of 15.8 million and representing more than 40,000 churches nationwide -- has been planning for two years next summer's evangelistic outreach in Chicago. Along with performing good deeds -- including housing rehabilitation and medical clinics -- the initiative also would encompass church-starting, door-to-door evangelism and block parties. But when the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago sent a letter to Paige Patterson, head of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, urging the Baptists to reconsider their plans, the Baptists were shocked and dismayed. It seems Chicago's council leaders -- representing 40 mainline denominations, Jewish synagogues, and African-American denominations -- believe the outreach might spark violence and hate crimes against minority religious groups in the city. …….. However attitudes toward Christianity have changed in America in recent decades, a parallel shift seems to have occurred worldwide. What about the future of Christianity in America? Will evangelism be chilled, or even silenced -- or perhaps just neutered -- due to an ever-more-intolerant culture? Will it end up as an underground movement as it is in many corners of the world? Phil Roberts, of the Baptists' North American Mission Board, sees it this way: "As a result of this effort" to evangelize in Chicago next summer, "Canada and the United States will either have been closer to being truly and fully evangelized -- or we will see our culture becoming increasing pagan." …."

Associated Press / Pro-Life Infonet 3/3/00 "…..Three Providence College students have been fined $1,000 each and suspended for the semester for putting the Virgin Mary in a flier promoting abortion rights. The fliers, posted last month on the Catholic school's campus, featured a picture of a marble statute of Mary and asked, ''How's this for an immaculate concept: Keep Abortion Safe and Legal.'' The students were posting the notices on the front door of a campus building as a Dominican priest arrived to prepare for a lecture. He ordered them to immediately remove the fliers and reported the incident to administrators. In a Feb. 15 letter to the entire student body, the Rev. Philip Smith, the college president, urged people not to tolerate what he called the students' act of religious discrimination, The Providence Journal reported. ''The deliberate misuse of a venerated person and an important Catholic and Christian belief in support of a position that is opposed to Catholic moral doctrine is deplorable and offensive to many on campus,'' he wrote. …."

Darrell Scott 10/3/99 Brent High Darrell Scott "....Friday morning I was reading the paper and noticed Darrell Scott (father of Rachel Scott, a student who was killed at Columbine High School) was coming to speak Sunday afternoon at Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville...... The service was unbelievable. Just five short months after the April 20 tragedy, Mr. Scott shared the 'untold' stories from Columbine, the stories the liberal media may never tell, the stories he has dedicated every waking moment of the rest of his life to sharing. He talked at length about the 12 students, including his daughter Rachel, who left this world on April 20. Of the 12 students who died, eight professed to be Christians. As Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (the two gunmen)came down the hill behind the school to begin their assault, their first target was Mark Taylor. At the very moment bullets pierced Mark's body, he was witnessing to two of his friends about his relationship with Jesus Christ. They next turned their guns on Rachel. Three weeks earlier Rachel had witnessed to Dylan and Eric and warned them about the violent video games to which they seemed to be addicted. Their first shot hit Rachel in the leg. A second plowed through her back pack into her midsection knocking her to the ground. One of the gunmen walked over to where Rachel lay face down, still alive. He pulled her up by the hair of her head and asked, "Do you still believe in God?" "You know that I do," Rachel managed to reply. Immediately after her reply a bullet entered her temple. Mr. Scott shared the story of John Tomlin, another victim. John had been on mission trips to Mexico and was hungry to do more. During each school day he decided to do something small in hopes it might cause someone to think about spiritual things. He left his Bible open in the dash of his truck. …… Cassie Bernall's story has received more national attention. She too answered the gunmen's question of "Do you believe in God?" in the affirmative, taking a bullet after her response. A national "She said yes" campaign has resulted from the statement she and Rachel made looking down the barrel of a gun. Rachel's funeral was broadcast in its entirety on CNN. Millions of viewers tuned in, making it the highest-rated broadcast in the network history. Bruce Porter brought the message, asking "Who will take the torch?" refering to the torch Rachel, Cassie, John, Mark and others had dropped. At that very moment a young man in Texas had a gun to his head, ready to take his own life. As he listened to Porter's plea and thoughts that followed, he lowered his gun from his head began to cry and pray for forgiveness. Not long ago he ran 1,000 miles from Little Rock, Arkansas to Washington, D.C. with a torch in his hand...... "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything from my Father I have made know to you. You did not choose me, but I have chosen you and appointed you to go and to bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: love each other." - John 15:13-17 In Him, Brent High, Youth Minister White House Church of Christ..."

WorldNetDaily 6/24/00 Dr. Jerry Falwell "

NwsMax.com 10/5/99 Linda Bowles "....We are in a cultural war, and at the center of it is a major offensive against Christianity. Anyone who does not believe this is in denial. It is in-your-face obvious to those who read the paper, listen to the radio, watch television, or go to the movies -- and think about what messages are being delivered. The latest evidence of Christian bashing is the wise-off comment by Minnesota Gov. Jesse "The Mouth" Ventura in the current issue of Playboy. Flexing his monstrous ego, Ventura blurted out this bit of bigotry: "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people. ... It tells them to go out and stick their nose in other people's business." He expressed an intolerant, divisive view that has become the prevailing view of America's self-professed intellectual elite and the left-wing radicals who control the Democrat Party -- as well as a strong majority of the mainstream liberal media. ............ "

The Washington Times 4/3/00 Suzanne Fields "……..Political correctness was born on the left and can be extremely narrow-minded, but the motivation behind it is not always bad. It strives to reduce offense, and sometimes it works. It's no longer socially permissible to be blatantly anti-Semitic or anti-papist. Rarely do you hear the insults and epithets that our grandparents often did -such as "kikes," "fish-eaters," "holy rollers," "Bible thumpers," "wops," "harps," "Chinks," and "dagos." But conspicuously alive and well in this land of the free and home of the brave is one last permissible bigotry, one target of prejudice on the receiving end of acceptable slurs. It's open season on Christian fundamentalists. ……….. I rarely sit at a bar or in a restaurant, or in a political meeting on a college campus, or engage in a cosmopolitan give-and-take social life in New York and Washington without hearing casual references to religious right "wackos," fundamentalist "kooks," or those "nuttos" who follow Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. You won't hear anything like that aimed at Jews, whether Orthodox, Conservative or Reform - or the followers of Al Sharpton, for that matter. ………. Catholics as well as most Methodists and Presbyterians, who are as politically active as the fundamentalists, are a protected species in the popular vernacular. ………"

NewsMax.com 10/5/99 Linda Bowles "....Two basic reasons underlie the attempt to separate America from its spiritual roots. First, the liberal goal of state socialism is incompatible with a citizenry who look to themselves and to God, rather than the state, for the satisfaction of their needs. Socialism requires that citizens do obeisance to the state as the Source from which all blessings flow. The supreme State can have no other God before it. The second reason for outlawing religion derives from the lobbying of those who wish their sins declared virtues. They seek the validation of the law, in the futile belief that the legal right to be wrong makes wrong right. The rationale of the anti-religious bigots in our society is that moral values such as are practiced by most mainstream religions, for example, Southern Baptists and Catholics, are, if you can believe it, un-Christian. This ill-begotten idea that Jesus wants us to forego distinctions between good and evil and right and wrong is so ludicrous as to be laughable. ..."

The Chalcedon Foundation 2/25/00 Jeremy Swanson "….. A very significant indication of the nihilistic character of this generation is exhibited in what it deems laughable, in what it considers to be "funny." This nihilistic laughter mocks everything - nothing is sacred. This generation has embraced the words of the father of all modern nihilists: "I bade them laugh at their great masters of virtue and saints and poets and world-redeemers. I bade them laugh at their gloomy sages and at whoever had at any time sat on the tree of life like a black scarecrow. For in laughter all that is evil comes together, but is pronounced holy and absolved by its own bliss" (Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra). This laughter is an explicit rejection of God and all that is good. It is a laughter that denigrates and destroys the Judeo-Christian tradition. It is a laughter that rejects the principles of God and the seriousness of His law......."

EWTN Website 3/10/00 Catholic Civil Rights League "…..The National Post reports that Tuesday, a group of seven individuals vandalized, desecrated and burned crosses in front of Montreal's Mary Queen of the World Cathedral. It reports: "Father Jean-Pierre Couturier said the demonstrators had 'profaned God' and disturbed people who were worshipping by rushing into the cathedral on Tuesday afternoon, spray-painting slogans on an altar, turning over flowerpots, sticking sanitary napkins -- some soiled -- to pictures and walls and throwing condoms around the cathedral's sanctuary." In all it was the grossest desecration of a church in years. The Catholic Civil Rights League strongly denounces these acts of hateful violence……"

Associated Press 1/26/00 Amalie Young "….Foes of roadside memorials for car-crash victims are waging an ideological war with Christian believers by posting signs bearing black crosses with a red slash through them -- and some with the Satanic mark, ''666.'' The anonymous placards are part of an escalating public debate in Oregon over whether crosses and other memorials familiar in states across the country should be allowed at crash sites. Transportation workers recently began removing religious memorials after people complained they aren't appropriate on public roads...."

Ottawa Sun 10/17/99 R Cort Kirkwood ".....Today, Christians in general and Catholics in particular are in the midst of a war to protect their Church, and sadly enough, some of them don't know it. If what appears in entertainment isn't proof of that war, perhaps an ugly act of sacrilege a few years ago is: Homosexual zealots showed up at the communion rail at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, and after receiving the Body of Christ, threw Him to the floor to step on Him. Again, that wasn't anger; that was unadulterated evil...... when called upon to defend themselves as Catholics or Christians to defend the Faith, they know not what to say or do..."

WorldNet Daily 8/12/99 "..."... Our society has accepted the notion that "guns kill people," while excusing the murderous madmen who wield them.... The "evil influences" of Jesus Christ and the Bible, which gave us the foundations upon which our freedoms, our government and our unimaginable prosperity were built -- must, at all costs -- be kept out of our schools. Let us instead worship evil under the guise of tolerance -- and invite in the demonic "spirit guides" of the "new age" to teach our children how to listen to these lying voices and follow them "wherever they lead."....Science, once the proud god of this age, has been profaned by her own worshipers: in her very temple researchers fabricate evidence to get the politically-correct answer that yields their next fix of government money....The destruction of colleagues' lives is of no concern if it enhances their imagined "infallibility." Our children have accepted these lies as their own, and are busy building their lives upon them...."

World Net Daily 6/25/99 David Limbaugh "...During the last three-plus decades, extremists in this country hostile to America's Judeo-Christian tradition have succeeded in erecting an almost absolute barrier between church and state. These anti-biblical zealots claim to have been acting in deference to constitutional principles. In fact, they have acted in willful disregard of those principles -- revealing their contempt, not their allegiance, to our constitutional heritage. The framers of the Constitution never intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state, merely to prevent the government from establishing a state religion. Even liberal Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas acknowledged that the framers didn't forbid all church and state interaction. In Zorach vs. Clausen (1952), he stated, "The First Amendment ... does not say that in every and all respects there shall be a separation of Church and State...." Last week, Congress showed uncharacteristic courage by enacting politically incorrect legislation permitting the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools and other government buildings. This represents a radical liberation from our cultural bondage to liberal historical revisionism....... Don't be fooled by the secular elite into believing that our Founding Fathers feared any intrusion of biblical precepts into our governmental system. Those who teach that the framers prescribed total separation of church and state are pitifully divorced from objective truth and from undoctored American history....."

Associated Press 9/16/99 Ron Fournier ".... Saying there was a ``wave of evil'' sweeping America, Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush cut short a campaign trip today to rush home to Texas where a gunman killed eight people, including himself, at a church. Repeatedly, Bush said the surge in violence in America is a result of problems deeper than stricter gun laws can solve. ``There seems to be a wave of evil passing through America. And we as a society can pass laws and hold people accountable for the decisions they make, but our hopes and prayers have got to be that there is more love in our society,'' he said......"

The Associated Press 6/18/99 Steve Geissinger "…Three of the area's five synagogues were hit almost simultaneously by arsonists Friday, and a leaflet blaming the ``International Jew World Order'' for the war in Kosovo was left behind. The fires caused moderate damage to two synagogues and gutted a third temple's library, destroying a collection of videos on Jewish history. Investigators questioned four youths who fled from police near Congregation B'nai Israel, the most heavily damaged, and determined they had nothing to do with the fires. There were no suspects Friday evening. ``Hate is hate. You can't predict when it will happen,'' said Lou Anapolsky, president of B'nai Israel…."

The Marshfield Mail 4/28/99 Gordon E. Nordquist "...Look closely, America. What happened in Littleton, Colorado and on other high school campuses around America, is a direct result of the political culture of death that has been expounded by liberals for the past century. This tragedy unfolding before our eyes, can be credited to the ideological wasteland of liberalism. And in order to define liberalism, you must go to its primary source:the Democratic Party. These liberal zealots who control thought in our government, in our schools, in our colleges, and in the major news media today, actually believed that a godless society and a godless public education system-would produce a social utopia for modern civilization. Littleton is resounding proof that it has created just the opposite. How repugnant and revolting to watch the grand wizard of Liberalism, President Bill Clinton, stammer and stutter, trying to explain this latest liberal tragedy in Colorado. How foolish for the man who personifies lawlessness himself, and who continues to shed violence across the globe, to be whining about the violence expressed by others......"

WorldNetDaily 4/2/99 Kaye Corvett Freeper Mercuria "...When a pipe bomb package blew up at a U.S. Postal Service center in Dallas last Sunday, to many it signified the growing persecution of Christians both home and abroad. The target of the blast was one of the world's most controversial televangelists, John Hagee, pastor of San Antonio's 17,000-member Cornerstone Church and seen by millions on TV around the globe each week...."

Reuters 3/17/99 "…The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco has had it with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The ``order'' of drag performance artists who, clad in nun's habits and vibrant face-paint, have shocked and amused the city for 20 years is being damned by Catholic leaders for planning to stage a public celebration of their troupe's anniversary on Easter Sunday. Archdiocese spokesman Maurice Healy said Wednesday allowing a group which ``mocks the Catholic Church'' to close a public street on the holiest day of the Christian year was just as reprehensible as ``allowing a group of neo-Nazis to close a city street for the celebration on the Jewish Feast of Passover.'' ``In terms of offensiveness, it's very similar,'' he told Reuters…."

Reuters 3/29/99 "…A national Catholic organization Monday called for a boycott of San Francisco, saying the city was promoting intolerance by allowing a group of drag queen ''nuns'' to hold a street party on Easter Sunday. ``Many people think that San Francisco is the city of tolerance. But it is a lie -- an outrageous lie,'' William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said in a half-page advertisement taken in the San Francisco Chronicle. The league, which has 350,000 members and fights what it sees as anti-Catholic prejudice, said San Francisco's plan to allow the ``Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence'' to close a public street on April 4 for a party to celebrate their 20th anniversary was tantamount to an attack on Catholic faith ``Our objection to the 'Sisters' does not center on men dressing as nuns: it centers on their obscene assaults on the Eucharist, the very nucleus of Catholicism. That is why we are outraged,'' the league advertisement said…. The group says it is not anti-Catholic but simply irreverent, and that it exists primarily as a fund-raiser for nonprofit organizations which serve the community…."

Denver Post 4/23/99 Claire Martin and Janet Bingham "...Cassie Bernall's Christian faith saved her once when her life was in turmoil, and her unwavering trust made her a martyr the instant after she was taunted by the gunmen in Columbine High School's library on Tuesday. "Do you believe in God?'' one of them asked. "Yes, I do believe in God,'' Bernall said. Then he pulled the trigger. Bernall's young friends at the West Bowles Community Church youth group cling to that story like a lifeline. With her last breaths, she affirmed the faith she embraced and it made the shy, quiet Bernall a hero in their eyes. Seth Huoy and Crystal Woodman, who belong to the Bernall's church youth group, were in the library, too. They survived, and one way they make sense of the massacre is to tell about the girl who died because she believed in God. They prayed for invisibility, and in at least one sense, their prayer was answered: Death passed them by.... "

WorldNetDaily 4/23/99 Alan Keyes Freeper laz "...This was a dark week in American life. The shooting in Colorado last Tuesday punctuates the truth about the era in which we live -- a culture of death and dark satanic forces is threatening the future of our nation. We are already hearing the usual suspects rising to speak about guns and other material objects as if they are causing our problem, but we know they are not. Our problem is that a spirit of death is stalking the land...."

The Washington Times 4/30/99 Valerie Richardson "....Some liberal Christian, black and Jewish leaders are outraged over the strongly evangelical Christian tone of last Sunday's memorial service for those massacred at Columbine High School. "The entire community was invited to come and mourn, and then it turned into an evangelical prayer service," said the Rabbi Stephen Foster of Temple Emanuel in remarks before the Denver Interfaith Clergy Alliance. "I've had many complaints from people saying, 'Where were the Jews?' but that's not the issue," he said. "The issue was one of insensitivity to the kind of statements being made that were exclusively directed to not just Christians, but fundamental Christians." Another rabbi called the service reflective of an "ignorant, narrow-minded" streak of Christianity. None of the parents expressed objections about the memorial or its speakers, which included a rabbi. Several of the slain students were known for their born-again Christian faith, and the testimony of one of them, Cassie Bernall, in the face of death seized the attention of millions of readers and viewers across the nation. One of the gunmen, who seemed to be seeking out believers, asked her whether she believed in God. She looked him in the eye and said, "Yes, I believe in God." He shot her dead. ..."

http://www.cashill.com 5/18/99 Jack Cashill "....An alien monitoring our media from a different galaxy--even if he did have cable--would never guess that the most God-fearing country in the industrial world is none other than the good old USA. Here, some 60% of the citizenry attends church at least semi-regularly. In England, by contrast, that figure is down to about 3%. In surveys, more than 90% of Americans express belief in heaven and/or hell, devils and/or angels and close to 100% believe in God. Every weekend, from rural backwater to big city store front, millions of American burst out in effusive rituals of energy and enthusiasm that for many represent the most significant cultural expression in their lives. Our alien friend would never see this. Newspapers bury religious news as deeply as they can: The Star stashes it somewhere between entertainment and obituaries. TV avoids religious news altogether unless there is a whiff of scandal about it, say a minister who spends the Orphan's fund on hookers or an accusation of priestly child molestation, real or "recovered." In Hollywood, it's been at least 40 years since the likes of Audrey Hepburn or Ingrid Bergman played nuns or Bing Crosby and Humphrey Bogart played priests. And in schools, alas, religion in any form is about as welcome as head lice. (It could be worse I suppose. In the more "progressive" Canada, religious broadcasting has historically been illegal.)...What stemmed the hemmoraging of American Christianity was a cross-sect yearning to get back to the basics. Protestant churches, Southern Baptists most visibly, rebelled or reformed themselves as need be to avoid the disintegrating power of progressivism. In the process, they learned that the surest way to make news--maybe the only way--is to challenge the PC canon on hot topics like gender and orientation. This challenge has earned traditionalists the undisguised scorn of the media--Boycott Disneyland! Da noive!--but then again, the Magic Kingdom has never been the Kingdom these folks sought the keys to. ...Still, with or without the media, that old time religion will endure and occasionally revive itself. It had better. America can not exist without it...."

WorldNetDaily 10/16/98 Alan Keyes ".The hate crimes legislation movement is bogus, but the existence of hateful attitudes toward the Christian conscience is undeniable. This is a very dangerous world that we are moving into. And sadly speaking, it is clear that opponents of the Christian conscience will use every opportunity, and will even make use of terrible and tragic events, in order to promote their political agenda. And that is what is happening in the Wyoming case. We face the promotion of a political ideology that aims at arming the liberal left with coercive force of law as its advocates come after those who disagree with their immorality.."

Washington Times 7/20/00 Kenneth Smith "......Sarian Bouma was six months pregnant and worried. An immigrant from Sierra Leone living in the District, she had no health insurance and no guarantee that she would be able to get the medical attention the child inside her needed. She considered the prospect of giving birth in her back yard or, in still darker moments, of committing suicide. That was 23 years ago. Today Ms. Bouma is a successful entrepreneur, one who is forever grateful to officials at Providence Hospital's Center for Life who took her in when she had no place else to go. They cared for her and the child to whom she gave birth, as they care for hundreds of low-income women every year, and gave her a chance to collect the fragments of her life and fashion it anew. The Center for Life is just one small part of a vast Roman Catholic safety net in the District that provides everything from education to medical care to housing to persons who might not otherwise receive it ........Such help may have been enough for Ms. Bouma but not, alas, for the District City Council. Last week, council members voted unanimously to require that in return for acting so charitably, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington must give away its doctrine too. Specifically, the council demands - in complete violation of the church's pro-life, anti-contraceptive teachings - that the diocese join other District employers in offering insurance to cover the cost of contraceptives for its employees. That goes for the Little Sisters of the Poor too......."

Upi 7/26/00 "……A federal judge has overturned a state law authorizing display of the Ten Commandments on a monument erected on the grounds of the Capitol. ….. U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood said the Constitution prohibits the state of Kentucky from expressing "its faith in the Ten Commandments." Though lawmakers claimed they just wanted to highlight the historic significance of the Ten Commandments and had no intention of imposing any religious beliefs, Hood ruled the "purpose of this is not secular. I think it' s religious." He said if no religious significance was intended, the commandments should have been coupled with the Code of Hammurabi, the first known legal code traced to the 18th century B.C……."

EWTN 7/20/00 "……A Democratic congressman on Tuesday proposed that Congress revoked the 84-year-old federal charter granted to the Boy Scouts of America because the organization refuses to allow homosexual scoutmasters. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-California, said the organization has proved to be exclusionary, as evidenced by a recent US Supreme Court decision that upheld the scoutmaster policy. "We're not saying they're bad," Woolsey said. "We're saying intolerance is bad, and I don't see any reason why the federal government should be supporting it." ……"

yahoo.com 7/6/00 AP "…….Two years after a student was sent home from school for wearing a rock band T-shirt with the numerals 666, a state Education Department official ruled Wednesday that the school was wrong to do so. Robert Parker, 18, was a sophomore at Westerly High School when school officials sent him home and ordered him never to wear the T-shirt to school again, saying it posed a threat to school order. He graduated last month. ……. On Wednesday, Hearing Officer Paul Pontarelli ruled that Parker had not caused any disruption warranting being excluded from school. …….. He ordered any mention of punishment related to the T-shirt - bearing the numerals some believe refer to Satan and the name of the now-defunct rock band - expunged from Parker's educational record. ……"

Washington Post 7/95 Stephen Higgins (Director BATF – WACO) "…The day has long passed when we can afford to ignore the threat that is posed by individuals who believe they are subject only to the laws of their god and not those of our government…. …."

9/26/98 Freeper reports ".. MSNBC quotes a White House source saying that not even "a delegation made up of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost" could persuade the president to step down.."

IRS AUDIT: Christian Film and Television Commission

TAX EXEMPT STATUS CHALLENGED: Christian Coalition, Three chapters of American Family Association, Life Legal Defense Foundation, Pierce Creek Church (Vestal, NY), Second Baptist Church (Lake Jackson, Texas)

The Winds Website 8/1998 "The only church in history to have its federal tax-exempt status revoked is a small country church in Vestal, New York called The Church at Pierce Creek. Their crime that resulted in that revocation was simply mentioning the name of then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in an advertisement the church placed in USA Today and The Washington Times.. "As a result of the Times editorial the IRS included pejorative language in their reports, such as 'militant right' or 'radical Christian right' to describe the church--terms that were never used in the actual New York Times editorial."To us this revealed that the government really had an ill motive in picking on this church.".Ironically, the IRS tax code Section 508(c)(1)(A) entitled, "Special rules with respect to section 501(c)(3) organizations" specifically exempts churches from the restrictions enumerated under 501(c)(3). "Since only in 501(c)(3) do you have the restrictions about political activity," May elaborated, "churches are exempt organizations, and don't even have to abide by the restrictions of 501(c)(3)."

Reagan Information Interchange 9/28/98 Mary Mostert "Apparently word went out last week to the Clinton troops to try to defend Clinton by announcing a "Christian coup" that plans to "take over the government." Obviously they hope to convince America that lying under oath about sex is not an impeachable offense. The very idea, according to Alan Dershowitz on the Geraldo Rivera show, as he attacked the Rev. Jerry Falwell, is proof of a "Christian coup" that plans "to take over the U.S. Government by impeaching Clinton or forcing him to resign "merely for lying." According to Dershowitz, the sinister "Christian coup" is based on what he considers the perfectly outrageous notion that "lying about sex" an "impeachable offense." The message here is that any of you out there who are asking for resignation or impeachment of Bill Clinton, are part of "Christian coup" that is trying to "take over" America.

National Post (Toronto) 9/18/99 "....Last month, a crazed bigot in Los Angeles fired gunshots into a Jewish daycare, wounding several children. Bill Clinton, the U.S. president, and Janet Reno, the attorney-general, promptly called it a hate crime. On Wednesday, a crazed bigot in Fort Worth fired gunshots into a Baptist church, killing seven youths. Al Gore, the vice-president, blamed violent Hollywood and poor parenting. Was this crime a hate crime too? No official confirmation as yet. But why? In both cases, the gunman chose his targets carefully. These were not randomly selected victims -- they were picked precisely because of their religion. The alleged L.A. gunman has confessed to his anti-Semitism. And survivors say the Fort Worth gunman shouted anti-religious obscenities as he killed the Christian children. After the L.A. shooting, Ms. Reno flew in to address a community rally at the Jewish daycare, and in her speech she denounced not only the hateful gunman, but the Republican party as well. Since Republican congressmen opposed her gun control plans, she implied, they were in league with the shooter. (To the credit of the assembled Los Angelenos, Ms. Reno's speech was cut short by boos and heckles.) In the days since this latest massacre, there have been several Christian prayer gatherings in Fort Worth. Ms. Reno has attended none of them. And asked if this was a hate crime, she answered, "we should not jump to conclusions." ...... Why is a wounding attack by a crazed anti-Semite more despicable than a deadly attack by a crazed anti-Christian? Why are right-wing Republicans who belong to the National Rifle Association guilty by association of the L.A. shooting, but left-wing Democrats who support the American Civil Liberties Union not implicated in the Fort Worth shooting? ...."

Washington Times 8/27/99 "…"Is there no limit to the mind-numbing hostility toward religion displayed by America's courts? Apparently not," the Wall Street Journal says. "On the very day before school was set to start, U.S. District Court Judge Solomon Oliver Jr., a Clinton appointee, thought nothing of throwing the lives of 3,800 Cleveland children into disarray by blocking the city's landmark voucher program. Whatever the ultimate resolution of the issue, the timing appears calculated to unnerve parents and hang a heavy cloud of uncertainty over the fledgling program," the newspaper said in an editorial. "To Judge Oliver and his friends at the teachers unions, apparently anything is better than the thought that public money might end up reaching a parochial school." …"

Orlando Sentinel 6/23/99 Kathleen Parker "...Just when you thought "strange" has been fully exploited, someone raises the bar. In one week, here's what crossed my desk: *In Chicago, a group of third-grade boys were reprimanded for praying together on the playground. *In Fort Myers, Florida, a teacher scheduled a cross-dressing day for his middle-school students. *In Middletown, Connecticut, college students at Wesleyan University created pornographic movies for a film class. Hello? Who's in charge here? I feel like the entire country is guzzling LSD punch while I'm sipping Irish Breakfast Tea. ...And what did you learn today, kids? Well, let's see, Prayer is bad; cross-dressing is rad; pornography is a legitimate career choice. ...."

United Press International 7/14/99 "… Officials in this southwest Missouri community are considering an appeal (Wednesday) now that a federal judge has ordered the removal of a Christian fish symbol, called an ichthus (IHK'-thuhs), from the official city seal. Ruling in a case filed by a witchcraft practitioner, the judge decided the logo stamped on Republic's city trucks, flags and letterheads violates the First Amendment separation of church and state…."

USA Journal 12/4/98 Jon E. Dougherty ".Here now, at the close of the paganistic Twentieth Century, you can be a pillar of your community - and be granted the amenities that distinction affords - so long as you never mention God, never assert your right to be a Christian, and never openly display any tangible Christian insignia. Arlington, Texas Patrol Sergeant George Daniels, a former recipient of the "Rookie of the Year" and "Officer of the Year" awards, is the latest victim of this pagan mentality. Though his Rutheford Institute attorney Jennifer Schans fully expected the city to reject his latest appeal effort to win his job back after being fired this summer for wearing a small cross on his uniform lapel, she also vowed to take the case to federal court when all the appropriate local appeals through the department have been exhausted. Sgt. Daniels had served his community with honor and distinction for some 13 years, and had been working diligently to obtain the rank of lieutenant - the next step on his career ladder.

NY Times Elaine Sciolino 4/28/98 ".President Clinton on Monday criticized laws that automatically impose sanctions on countries for behavior that Americans find unacceptable. He said such legislation put pressure on the executive branch to "fudge," or overlook, violations so that it would not have to carry out the sanctions. Clinton made his unusually frank remarks during an appearance before a group of about 60 evangelical Christian leaders at the White House. They were meeting with Sandy Berger, the national security adviser, in the Roosevelt Room. Specifically, Clinton asked the group to withdraw its support for pending legislation that aims to reduce religious persecution overseas by imposing trade and aid sanctions on repressive regimes..."

FoxNews Reuters 2/4/99 Freeper holly ".Calling the remark "pure nonsense,'' a Roman Catholic group Thursday asked President Clinton to apologize for saying Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler preached a "perverted form of Christianity.'' During a speech Thursday at the annual prayer breakfast hosted by members of Congress, Clinton observed that ''throughout history people have prayed to God to aid them in war. People have claimed repeatedly that it was God's will that they prevail in conflict.'' "I do believe that even though Adolf Hitler preached a perverted form of Christianity, God did not want him to prevail,'' Clinton said. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, asked Clinton to apologize for what he called "a remarkably ignorant comment about Hitler and Christianity.'' "Anyone who has studied Hitler knows that this is pure nonsense,'' Donohue said in a statement issued from his New York office. "Hitler was a neo-pagan terrorist whose conscience was not informed by Christianity, but by pseudo-scientific racist philosophies,'' he said.."

Fox newswire / AP 2/6/99 ".An appeals court has overturned a rapist's 51-year prison sentence because a judge turned to the Bible while deciding his punishment. The Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals ruled Friday that James Arnett can return to court and seek a lesser sentence. Arnett, 33, pleaded guilty to raping and molesting the 8-year-old daughter of his fiancee. In handing down the 51-year sentence in January 1998, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh Marsh referred to a Bible verse that says anyone who offends a child would be better off if "a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.''.."

Rep. Traficant, Democrat 6/19/98: "Mr. Speaker, Mildred Rosario, a sixth grade teacher in the Bronx, was fired. Mildred was fired for attempting to comfort her students over the drowning loss of a fellow classmate by simply saying he was in heaven. Mildred was fired for saying, I quote, he was in heaven. Unbelievable. In America teachers can pass out condoms in school. Teachers can pass out needles. Teachers can even have forums and discussions on devil worship. But in America teachers cannot even mention God. Beam me up. "

Associated Press 3-31-99 Karen Testa "...Boca Raton can tear down crosses, stars of David and other monuments on grave sites in the city's municipal cemetery because the decorations are not essential for religious practice, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The ruling was believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, and the first under Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1998, which says governments cannot impose a ``substantial burden'' on people's freedom of religious expression. Judge Kenneth Ryskamp said that families who decorated the final resting places of their loved ones with religious symbols, plants, stones and other items will not have their religious rights trampled if they cannot keep the decorations...."

Conservative News Service 5/18/99 Scott Hogenson "...The American Library Association has decided to continue linking from its Internet web site to a teen sex site that counsels teenagers on safe sex with animals, maintenance of violent sex toys, sado-masochism and other exotic aspects of sexuality. The ALA decision was made at an impromptu meeting of the group's division heads in Chicago Sunday, when top officials from the organization decided to continue linking from the ALA web site to another site called Go Ask Alice, according to ALA spokeswoman Linda Wallace. "Nobody raised any concerns," about the Go Ask Alice site, said Wallace. "They're basically saying 'fine,' but they didn't say it formally," Wallace told CNS....."

Eagle Forum 6/2/99 Phyllis Schlaffy "...In the interest of the public's right to know, Senator Jim Jeffords' Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions conducted an oversight hearing last week on the controversies surrounding "Channel One." That's the 12-minute-a -day news and advertising program beamed into the classrooms of 40% of all 11 to 18 year olds. Channel One is able to offer its advertisers what every advertiser dreams of: a guaranteed captive audience. Children attend school because of compulsory attendance laws, and children are forced to watch Channel One because their school board signed a contract agreeing to compel them..... A Channel One marketing flier promises: "Channel One delivers the hardest to reach teen viewers. Channel One even penetrates the lightest viewers among teens". Of course, that's because schoolchildren are forced to watch the Channel One ads. Prayer and Bible reading have been banned from the schools because they interfere with the right of athiest children not to have to sit in a classroom where prayers are recited. What about the rights of children whose parents don't want them listening to satanic shock rocker Marilyn Manson (whose song was played as intro music to a Channel One program)? What about parents who don't want their children to see clips from Stephen King's horror film "The Shining"? Or don't want them to be pressured to see the sex-saturated TV-14 show "Dawson's Creek," or the grusome killings in the movie "The Mummy"? The most objectionable commercials are the many hard-sell ads for movies and television shows that contain vulgarities, obscenities, blasphemies, sexual innuendoes, or violence. The ads induce students to see the movie over the weekend so they can answer a question the following week and win fabulous prizes....."

Washington Times 6/14-20/99 Andrea Billups "...A federal appeals court in Philadelphia has agreed to decide if a first-grader's free-speech rights were violated when his teacher forbade him from reading a Bible story to his class. Eight months ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit agreed with a lower-court ruling that teacher Grace Oliva did not violate Zachary Hood's rights when she kept the Catholic student from reading the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau in front of his classmates. The boy's presentation, taken from his favorite book of Bible stories, did not mention God or the Bible and was cleared by his mother as appropriate material for an assignment designed to highlight his reading proficiency. The teacher, who called the story "a prayer," did allow Zachary to read it to her alone...."

UPI Focus 6/14/99 Michael Kirkland "...The Supreme Court has let stand a lower- court ruling in favor of Maryland officials who refused to provide funds to a religious college, drawing a sharp dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas. At issue was whether officials - when deciding whether to grant funding to an institution - should focus on the religious nature of the institution or the secular purpose of the activity that the funds would support. In the case rejected by the justices today, Maryland refused funding to a college affiliated with Seventh-day Adventists, saying it was "pervasively sectarian," while providing funds to three other religiously affiliated schools. ….. "We should take this opportunity to scrap the 'pervasively sectarian' test and re-affirm that the Constitution requires, at a minimum, neutrality not hostility toward religion," Thomas argued...."

New York Post 6/19/99 Angela Allen "…Thou shalt not put the Ten Commandments in the classroom. That was the reaction of educators in the nation's largest school system, who turned thumbs down on the controversial congressional proposal. Conservative Rep. Robert Aderhold (R-Ala.) is pushing to let states decide if they want to display the biblical rules in public schools. The measure was passed by the House Thursday and now goes before the Senate. …"

INSIGHT Magazine 7/19/99 Kelly Patricia O'Meara "...Public schools and local libraries increasingly have been choosing to make available to children graphic and sexually explicit books that barely can be described in this magazine. Picture your adolescent browsing through the school library. Other than home, it's the one place parents may feel sure their children are likely to be protected from pornography, obscenity, perversion and other vulgarity. But are they? ..... Innocently scanning the school-library shelves a child chooses It's Perfectly Normal, a book about sex and reproduction by Robie Harris. Flipping through the pages, young readers might immediately be attracted to the drawings of adolescents like themselves, touching their private parts. Naturally, their curiosity aroused, they begin to read soothing words normalizing things younger readers may never have heard of or even understand. For example, "Masturbation is touching or rubbing any of your body's sex organs for pleasure -- because it feels good. One everyday term for masturbating is 'playing with yourself.' A girl often rubs her clitoris; a boy often rubs his penis."..... It's Perfectly Normal now is considered by national library authorities to be appropriate for children in elementary school. Of a total of 89 pages, 30 present drawings with explicit genital detail; one illustrates kids masturbating while another shows a boy in a classroom with an erection under his clothes. Because of such graphic and explicit material, a growing number of parents are challenging the appropriateness of books such as this for the age group at which they are directed....."

Conservative News Source 6/21/99 Lawrence Morahan "...Nicholas Lassonde, an A student whose graduation speech at Amador Valley High School was censored by school authorities because he sought to urge his classmates to follow God, is considering suing the school on the grounds his right to free speech was violated. The school district in Pleasanton, California, required Lassonde to remove religious references from his speech on Friday because they felt it would be a violation of the separation of church and state to allow him to talk about God. Lassonde wanted to tell his classmates not to put their trust "in princes and mortal men who cannot even save themselves," but the school thought he was going too far..... Each time he came to a portion of his speech his principals found objectionable, he told his audience that the school didn't feel that the passage was appropriate and invited them to get copies of the uncensored version that were handed out at the gate. If stifling the message was the aim of the school, it didn't succeed. The incident has gained much attention in local and national media, and given the graduate more play than he would have received if he'd been allowed to give the speech........

Conservative News Source 6/21/99 Lawrence Morahan "....A Denver couple has filed a federal lawsuit that challenges a city order barring them from holding more than one prayer meeting a month at their home. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), an international public interest law firm, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver on behalf of David and Diane Reiter, who were ordered to limit the number of prayer meetings they hold at their private residence to one a month. The lawsuit claims a cease-and-desist order issued by the city zoning office was unconstitutional. It also contends the Reiters were the victims of religious hostility...... "

Enter Stage Right 10/18/99 Joe Roessler "....The liberal war on religion in America is evident in daily life. In public schools, Christmas holidays are no longer referred to as Christmas vacation but to pagan terms such as Winter Break. Christmas concerts or the politically correct term "Winter Program," in public schools cannot make any references to Jesus or Christmas. In the name of multiculturalism Hanukkah and Kwanza are mentioned regularly and as well as it's songs being sung. Gone from the program lists are Silent Night, Oh Holy Night, We Three Kings and any Christmas songs that refer to Jesus or Christmas with religious intonation. The Pledge of Allegiance is no longer recited in many public schools because it contains the words "One Nation under God." Patriotic songs such as Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" are banned because of the song's reference to who? God. Today's children do not know what inspired Irving Berlin to write that song or know who Irving Berlin is. Nativity scenes are banned from public parks. In places where crosses have stood for years, atheists and the ACLU have joined forces and sued to have them removed...."

CNSNews.com 8/10/99 Lawrence Morahan "...The ages-old legal right of Catholic priests to keep to themselves what they hear in the confessional is under attack by a preparatory commission of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a United Nations' body established last year to investigate genocide and crimes against humanity. In ongoing meetings this week to determine rules of evidence and procedure, the commission is considering revoking the so-called priest-penitent privilege, a sacred authority bestowed on ordained priests to hear the confessions of Catholics and grant them absolution for sins...."

The Boston Globe 8/13/99 Yvonne Abraham Joanna Massey "...Every morning, the teenage camp counselors joined the children's tiny hands together, bowed their heads, and asked God to come into the Mason Cathedral Church in Dorchester and bless their day. It is a scene repeated all over America every summer, but this seemingly simple practice has spawned a constitutional furor. On July 27, seven counselors at the camp, members of the city's summer jobs program, were transferred to other assignments. The city said the church had broken its contract: Since the counselors were paid with federal funds, the church was not allowed to ask them to perform religious duties of any kind. The removal highlights a growing tension between the legal principle of separation between church and state and the increasing acceptance of religion in many facets of American public life...."

Ark.Dem-Gaz. 8/17/99 Ray Pierce "…Frequent visitors to the Capitol Gift Shop in the state Capitol might notice something missing from the selection of greeting cards: References to God. Five varieties of greeting cards, mostly those expressing sympathy, were removed last week from the gift shop's card displays after a visitor to Secretary of State Sharon Priest's office pointed them out. Jean Fulwider, Priest's chief deputy, said a woman whom Fulwider refused to identify, came into her office last month to talk about the cards that had a religious tone. Fulwider said the woman wasn't complaining but wanted to point out that the cards seemed mostly directed toward the Christian faith. …..…"

Cnn 8/18/99 "….The American Civil Liberties Union has promised to sue a school district that banned a Jewish student from displaying a Star of David necklace because administrators feared it could be mistaken for a gang symbol. High school officials had told Ryan Green he could wear the necklace, but not where it could be seen...."

Boston Globe 8/19/99 Jeff Jacoby "…The City of Boston is shocked - shocked! - to find praying going on at the Keys of Life Bible School. And not only praying, but Bible reading. And as if those weren't bad enough, there are religious emblems in plain view - crosses and spiritual posters right out in the open where anyone might see them. This is intolerable, the city says, and Keys of Life must be punished. Keys of Life is a summer day camp run by the Mason Cathedral Church in Dorchester…..Indeed, the camp has repeatedly been praised by Action for Boston Community Development, the agency that administers the jobs program. ''For five years they've been saying I do good work,'' says the Rev. Thomas Cross, Kenya's father and the pastor of Mason Cathedral. ''This year, everything changed.'' ….."

Conservative News Service 8/20/99 Bruce Sullivan "…New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that Mildred Rosario's firing from a Bronx middle school earlier this month for discussing heaven, death and God with her students "astounded" him. In a statement released to CNS, the mayor allowed that he had not seen all the documentation on the incident, but added, "She (Rosario) seems to have received very little representation, so I was astounded by the procedure." Giuliani said that New York City schools have had teachers accused of theft, sex crimes and even pedophilia who "remained hanging around for two, three or four years with very vigorous representation." Rosario, 43, was fired from her teaching job at IS-74 on June 12 for discussing God and heaven with her sixth graders and praying with them as the children attempted to come to grips with the death of a classmate, who died earlier this month in an accidental drowning….. "

The Christian Science Monitor 9/15/99 Yvonne Zipp "…. The Rev. Donald Cobble believes in parenting according to his reading of the Bible. When his son does something wrong, the Woburn, Mass., dad gives him a couple of smacks on the behind with a belt. "The rod is a necessary part - not the whole - of training a child," says the pastor at the Christian Teaching and Worship Center, quoting Proverbs. " 'The rod and reproof bring wisdom.' There are some things rebuke won't take care of." But what he calls necessary discipline, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services called child abuse. While the spankings weren't against the law, the DSS says, they put Mr. Cobble's son at risk of future injury - a finding a Superior Court judge upheld. …."

The Kansas City Star 9/21/99 John Dvorak "….Out in Manhattan, Kan., this time of year, the debate should be about low farm prices or the football fortunes of the Kansas State Wildcats. Instead, it's about a five-foot-tall piece of granite. On the monument, which was erected on city property in 1958 and was removed last April, are the Ten Commandments. Given sensitivity over the mixing of religion and government, the sequence of events isn't hard to imagine. First came legal threats. Then an outpouring of citizen displeasure. Then a lawsuit. Now the Manhattan City Commission has inflamed passions further by agreeing to settle the lawsuit, promising to never again place the Ten Commandments on public property, and paying $12,000 in legal costs for two out-of-town activist organizations. A petition has been circulated, and a special election to recall a commission member who voted to remove the commandments may be the next big step…… …."

Denver Rocky Mountain News 9/16/99 Jean Tokelson "….A student prayer rally called "See You at the Pole" turned into "See you in court" for a woman displaying the Ten Commandments at Columbine High School. Corine Miller, 49, was cited Wednesday for criminal trespassing and is scheduled to appear in Jefferson County court Nov. 11. "This is all in a day's work. I will not back down," Miller said she told school officials. They called the sheriff's department after she refused to leave school property with her placards in the shape of stone tablets. Miller, a housecleaner, had joined in at the fringe of a group of about 100 students as they prayed before class Wednesday. Students across the nation and at a number of metro-area campuses were meeting at their schools' flagpoles to pray for their schools, faculty and classmates. The Texas-based movement began in 1990 with a small group of evangelical Christian students and now claims 3 million participants at the once-a-year event, according to its Web site. …."

Center for Reform 9/20/99 John Culbertson "…Noticeably absent from this latest shooting memorial was a member of the administration. Neither the President nor the Vice President attended. They did scoff at the notion that evil played a part in the shooting and saw fit to attack the NRA and blame it for this tragedy. Certainly the President or the Vice President would have been welcome but I think they lacked the courage to attend. They lacked the courage because the people of Wedgewood live the faith that they only claim to possess……"

Wichita Eagle 9/21/99 Nicole Hughes "....The school board Monday revoked a week-old policy allowing high school students to pray over the intercom, and asked its lawyer to develop a legally defensible policy allowing school prayer in some fashion. Twice last week, students used the intercom to ask classmates to say a silent prayer before the schoolday began. Civil liberties lawyers called the practice and the policy that allowed it unconstitutional. The vote to rescind the policy was 4-3. The board will consider the new policy Oct. 11. Roughly 100 students, parents and Augusta residents -- almost all of them pleading for school prayer -- crowded the high school library for the special meeting, offering "amens" and holding neon-colored signs reading "So sue me" and "We will pray in school." ..."

http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3076.htm 9/22/99 "....A woman who was forced to leave a public bus in Washington State for talking about religion with another passenger is suing for violation of her civil rights. On April 2, Michelle Shocks was forced off a Community Transit (CT) bus in Bothell, Washington. Shocks paid her fare to travel from work to her children's day care center. A man who boarded the bus expressed his joy at being out of the rain by saying, "Praise the Lord." Shocks and the man then began to discuss their Christian faith. The driver called Shocks to the front of the bus and told her that she could not talk about religion because other passengers might find the discussion offensive. Shocks then moved next to the man so they could speak more quietly, but the driver again called Shocks to the front of the bus and told her she had to get off at the next stop because she refused to stop talking about religion. Asked if there was some law that prevented bus passengers from talking about Jesus, the bus driver ordered both Sparks and the other man to leave the bus at the next drop....."

Business Wire [http://www.businesswire.com/] 10/12/99 "…..The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, today filed suit in U.S. District Court in Birmingham against an Alabama school district on behalf of a student who has been told that she cannot openly display a cross necklace at school -- and could face severe disciplinary action if she continues to do so. ."

The Washington Times 10/13/99 Stephen Dinan "…. The Hagerstown (Md.) Suns can continue to offer a $2 per ticket discount to churchgoing families that bring a church bulletin to special promotion games, a judge ruled yesterday in a discrimination lawsuit filed by an atheist. ……"

Oklahoman Online 10/16/99 John Mallon ".....THE headline of a press release from the Catholic League for Religious Rights put it starkly: "Columbine Religious Art Nixed Due to Lack of Dung." At issue is what has become a double standard in our "culture" (if indeed it can still be called that). Two families of the Columbine High School massacre victims are forced to sue the school over the school's objection to a ceramic tile bearing the simple image of a flower and a cross. At least one Columbine victim qualifies as a genuine Christian martyr, shot to death after confessing her belief in God to an inquiring gunman. The school fears the simple religious symbol of that for which she died might "offend" someone. Offend who? I can't think of any member of an authentic world religion -- Moslem, Jew, Buddhist, whatever -- who would be offended by honoring the deaths of Christian students (through their families, no less) with a Christian symbol in the public building in which they were murdered. How sad that officials failed to grasp the meaning of the students' deaths. .........."

Oklahoman Online 10/16/99 John Mallon ".....Another double standard: Oct. 11 was declared "National Coming Out Day" by the "Human Rights Campaign." .....Everything coincided with the first anniversary, Oct. 12, of the fatal beating of Matthew Shepard; a tragedy exploited to promote laws prosecuting accused criminals for their presumed motives rather than their heinous actions. Interesting. Why have no liberal voices called the Columbine and Fort Worth shootings, which especially targeted Christians, "hate crimes" -- instead exploiting them for more gun control legislation? Why are civic officials intimidated by liberal voices that "might" be offended over Christian symbols to honor Christian victims? Or is it the tragic Matthew Shepard who is now the true martyr of new politically correct ideologies which elevate themselves to quasi-religious status? ....."

WorldNetDaily 10/18/99 Father Vincent Fitzpatrick "....How many Catholic parents would allow a newspaper published by the government into their homes, if it taught their children that God is not to be mentioned outside of home or church, if it contained pictures and articles describing natural and unnatural sex acts, if it taught them that Marilyn Monroe deserves 16 pages in a history of the United States, while George Washington deserves one? And if it told them that Christian "missionaries are bad"? Yet Catholic parents, who would throw such a government-owned newspaper in the trash, send their children to government-owned buildings for six or more hours a day, twelve years of their lives, to read government-prescribed books and be taught government-prescribed lessons......"

Nando Times 10/20/99 Claire Cooper ".....Withdrawing a decision that allowed religious landlords to refuse to rent to unwed couples, a federal appeals court Tuesday sent the case to an enlarged panel of judges for reconsideration.......In January, a panel of three 9th Circuit judges broke new legal ground by ruling in an Alaska case that freedom of religion trumps state and local laws against housing discrimination based on marital status or sexual orientation......."

Dayton Daily News 10/22/99 Dave Lance "....Unsatisfied with an out-of-court settlement, London High School football coach Dave Daubenmire is out for blood. The American Civil Liberties Union's blood. "I'm not sure that as an American citizen I'm going to let this lie," Daubenmire said. "I'm going to take a hard look at litigation "I think the ACLU has violated my rights." What has Daubenmire so upset is the lawsuit the ACLU filed last June on behalf of parents of London players. They complained that Daubenmire was leading his players in prayer, thus violating the law that separates church and state. Daubenmire has admitted his guilt, but said he stopped the prayer sessions last year once he found out it was against the law......"

WORLD Magazine 10/30/99 Anne McCain Susan Oasky "....Placing 1, 2, and 3 on the bestseller charts, children's literature sensation Harry Potter increasingly descends into darkness, raising concerns of parents and school boards around the country. Moral ambiguity and alienation of youth are strong themes in the series, which are wrongly marketed as modern successors to The Chronicles of Narnia. Unlike biblical stories, in Potter's world bad things seem to happen for no reason....... The newly emerging question, though, is whether Harry's world is a good one for the intended 8- to 12-year-old audience. …… "The books have a serious tone of death, hate, lack of respect, and sheer evil." A member of the board, Clarence Dickert, agreed, saying that "censorship is an ugly word, but it is not as ugly as what I've heard this morning." ....."

Business Wire 10/25/99 ".... The American Center for Law and Justice announced today that a jury verdict in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri has resulted in the successful defense of the religious beliefs of a social worker who faced discrimination by his former employer, the Department of Social Services for the State of Missouri......The ACLJ represented Larry Phillips who served as a social worker from March 1994 through November 1996 at the Division of Family Services. The ACLJ filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Social Services in May 1997 on behalf of Phillips who maintained that his supervisors began to mistreat him by lowering his performance evaluations and recommending that he be fired after he told him that his religious beliefs would not permit him to endorse the granting of a foster parent license to an admitted lesbian......"

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "….According to the Associated Press the ACLU sued the city of Republic, Missouri on behalf of Jean Webb, a Wiccan witch to have its city seal altered to remove the fish symbol. The May 6th article stated that the ACLU planned to also argue that since the "symbol is often found in Christian establishments, not non-Christian ones, and that most of the people who wrote letters supporting the fish identified it as a Christian symbol," the ACLU had plenty of evidence that the city's support of keeping the fish symbol constituted an establishment of religion.

Capitol Watch 9/29/99 Dick Armey "…. The District of Columbia public school system was sued this summer for allowing a church to use an abandoned park as a parking lot in exchange for providing after school services for neighborhood children. The September 17th story as reported in The Washington Post revealed that members of the Metropolitan Baptist have been parking about 300 cars on the field on Sundays for more than 10 years. Rev. Hicks agreed to cancel the contract rather than force the city to defend the suit. Reverend Hicks, pastor of the 5000 member Metropolitan Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. got my attention with his statement when announcing plans to terminate the contract saying that, "there has been a shift in culture." He said, "We've reached the point where God no longer has a place in our communities."

New York Post 11/5/99 Hallie Levine "….As presidential candidates battle over whether religion belongs in the classroom, one 7-year-old upstate boy has entered the fray - with crayons and a lawsuit. Little Antonio Peck of Syracuse drew a poster of Jesus for a classroom assignment, but his teacher told him it wouldn't be displayed because of its religious content. Now his mom, Jo Anne Peck, is suing the Baldwinsville Central School District and Catherine McNamara Elementary School, accusing them of violating her son's constitutional rights by censoring the poster in the incident last year……"

World Magazine 11/13/99 Candi Cushman "….Defying school officials but supported by the governor and the U.S. House, Texas students continue tradition of prayer before football games In Stephenville, Tex. - Hidden from Dallas super-malls by more than 120 miles of windy hills and wind-swept fields, residents of Stephenville, Tex., boast of a different claim to fame-the Yellow Jackets high-school football team……As junior class president, Alan had eagerly anticipated giving the opening prayer before the first Yellow Jackets home game on Aug. 27. But at 10:00 a.m. that morning, school authorities had informed him that, for the first time in decades, there would be no prayer. Disappointed but undeterred, Alan and his friends turned to creative options: Instead of using the stadium sound system, they led a crowd of 4,000 in prayer through cheerleading megaphones. At the next home game, they brought a donated sound system onto the track for a more amplified pre-game prayer. They tried to do the same thing at Stephenville's third home game, but an electrical outlet fueling their speaker system mysteriously switched off moments before prayer began. Things were worse on the night of the otherwise glorious victory over Cleburne. Before the game, school officials restricted access to the track and forbade the use of privately owned amplifiers there……. "Let's just pray about it," said one. And with bowed heads, they chose humility over rebellion……"

Florida Times-Union 11/5/99 "…. In ruling for the Brooklyn Museum of Art, a federal judge implied ''freedom of speech'' means people are obligated to pay for spreading views diametrically opposed to their own. That is an Orwellian definition of the term ''freedom.'' The controversy began when the museum displayed a painting of Virgin Mary covered with manure, mannequins with genitals as faces, and a variety of dead animals and live maggots…… ."

Electronic Telegraph 11/5/99 Ben Fenton "…..Stan Roth, who taught biology to the equivalent of British sixth-formers, had to retire at the age of 64 a few weeks before the Kansas state board of education removed evolution from the obligatory part of the curriculum. Mr Roth said yesterday that his dismissal arose from his treatment of a 16-year-old Christian fundamentalist pupil who asked him in class: "When are we going to learn about creationism?" He said he became exasperated and told her that the subject was not worthy of being taught. Miss Harvey, one of nine children, said: "He told me, 'When are you going to stop believing that crap your parents teach you?'" Mr Roth's former students and other teachers have leapt to his defence, arguing that he was used as a scapegoat to appease a growing religious movement in Kansas….."

Star Tribune 11/17/99 Sarah Wyatt "….Students attending alternative high school classes at a Salvation Army center will no longer see religious posters and banners there because of efforts to keep religion out of the classroom. The Freedom from Religion Foundation, which advocates separation of church and state, filed a complaint with the Madison School District last spring after discovering that religious items were present at classes held at a Salvation Army community center. Since 1997, the district has held special education classes at the center because it could not find room anywhere else for the students, said Bob Hoekenga, Madison high school special education coordinator, on Wednesday. ….."

INSIGHT Magaznine 12/6/99 Janet Parshall "…... . . . Where does this effort begin? In our schools, for a start. I don't want to refight here all the battles over evolution and intelligent design or to make the case for voluntary student-initiated prayer. Those issues are separate and can be addressed separately. But I do want to say that there is something terribly wrong when a kindergarten girl is ordered to stop distributing Christmas cards to her classmates because they say, "Jesus Loves You." This actually happened in suburban Howard County, Md. . . . . Students are being required to read textbooks from which any references to God have been carefully removed. One example, found by New York University psychology professor Paul Vitz, described Pilgrims as "people who go on journeys." The Pilgrims gave thanks, but the book blotted out mention of the God to whom they gave their thanks. Another example Vitz found, "Zlateh and the Goat," is a story of a young Jewish boy in Poland who is saved from freezing to death. In Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer's original story, Zlateh thanks God for his survival. In the censored version, Zlateh thanks not God but "goodness."

Religion Today 11/30/99 "…. A sixth-grader has been punished for refusing to curse in class. Hanna Darnell, 12, was reading a portion of a book out loud in front of her classmates recently when she came to the word "damn." When Darnell skipped over the word and "respectfully explained that she did so because of her Christian beliefs," she was sent to the principal, who ordered her to say the word or be suspended for the rest of the day, a spokesman for the Rutherford Institute (see link below) said. The Virginia-based rights group is representing Darnell, who attends C. B. Eller Elementary School in Elkin, N.C. ….."

Associated Press 11/29/99 Henry Adams "…Atheists are threatening to file suit to remove a 60-foot cross from a cliff that overlooks this city. Chicago talk-show host Rob Sherman together with the group Idaho Atheists say they intend to file suit in federal court next year to have the lighted cross removed from Table Rock. ``It's blatantly unconstitutional,'' Sherman, a former spokesman for American Atheists, said in today's editions of The New York Times. The group promotes separation of church and state. The Idaho Jaycees built the cross on public land in 1956 and purchased the plot for $100 in 1972 to avoid a potential constitutional challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union. Sherman contends the sale was rigged.. ."

American Family Associations Journal 11/99 "….It wasn't for grand larceny, possession of cocaine, or assault and battery. In August a Christian college student began serving a six month jail sentence for simply sharing the gospel and speaking the truth about abortion on a high school campus in Lynchburg, Virginia, before school started. Liberty University student John Reyes, who is represented by the AFA Center for Law & Policy (CLP), went with 150 other college students to the E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg on November 10, 1997. In front of the school, the group prayed, sang, handed out gospel tracts and counseled with students about alternatives to abortion……"

AP 12/1/99 "..... YORK, Pa. - The city of York wants a woman to take down a religious sign outside her house, saying it violates zoning laws, but she is arguing in a federal lawsuit that the city's order tramples on her rights to free speech and freedom of religion. The sign on Sybil Peachlum's lawn depicts a peach holding a copy of a newspaper called "Peachy News" that proclaims, "Jesus is Alive." Lights illuminate the sign and Peachlum eventually had a contractor permanently set it in cement, said Andrew Dale, the city's interim zoning officer. He said the city first got complaints about it in 1994......"

Reuters 12/7/99 "…..Ruling that Christmas is celebrated by non-Christians as well as Christians, a judge late on Monday threw out a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of observing Dec. 25 as a federal holiday. U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott said in her dismissal of the lawsuit that just as Christians observe Christmas as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, non-Christians celebrate the occasion to welcome the arrival of Santa Claus. ….."

Tampa Tribune 12/15/99 Jose Patino Girona "....A Hillsborough County jail guard who has prayed with hundreds of inmates was suspended without pay Tuesday for continuing to minister on the job. ``I am led by God to do it,'' said Beverly Zebrowski, who does not plan to quit praying if reinstated. ``He [God] sets the situation, a divine appointment. I don't think anything just happens.'' Zebrowski, 53, of Tampa turned in her badge shortly after a department hearing Tuesday. A review board will look at the case within four weeks before the findings are submitted to Sheriff Cal Henderson. Zebrowski said she expects to be fired. If she doesn't agree with the ruling, she can challenge it. Zebrowski, who appeared Tuesday despite the prospect of losing her job, said praying with inmates is her duty.....But some inmates have complained during the 11 1/2 years she has been doing it. ....."

Florida Times-Union 12/9/99 James Kilpatrick "….Three years ago, Zachary Hood was in the first grade at Haines Elementary School in Medford, N.J. As a reward for special achievement in reading, his teacher said her best pupils could bring a book from home and read a favorite story to the class. This was how the lunacy began. The teacher, Grace Oliva, stipulated only that the content be "appropriate" for first graders. Zachary qualified for the honor. The great day arrived, and Zachary showed up, book in hand. Horrors! Gasp! Aaargh! The book was titled - The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories……In any event, Zach was shuffled off to a private corner, and there he read the offending tale to Oliva alone. Humiliated by the ostracism imposed upon him, he came home red-eyed from crying. ….."

Chicago Tribune 12/12/99 Robert Rotundo "…. A little over a month ago, a three-judge panel in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that a public school was correct in prohibiting a 1st grader from reading a story derived from the Bible. This case will soon be in the news again, because it will be reargued before the full court. A rehearing is unusual, and it portends a reversal of the original opinion. When we look at the facts, we can see why the full federal appeals court is likely to uphold the free-speech rights of 6-year-old Zachary Hood. Zachary's teacher told him that he could pick a story to read to the class as long as it was not too long or complex. Zachary picked a story that, in its entirety, read as follows: Jacob traveled far away to his uncle's house. He worked for his uncle taking care of sheep. While he was there, Jacob got married. He had 12 sons. Jacob's big family lived on his uncle's land for many years. But Jacob wanted to go back home. One day, Jacob packed up all his animals and his family and everything he had. They traveled all the way back home to where Esau lived. Now Jacob was afraid that Esau might still be angry at him. So he sent presents to Esau. He sent servants who said, `Please don´t be angry anymore.´ But Esau wasn´t angry. He ran to Jacob. He hugged and kissed him. He was happy to see his brother again. That's it. There was no reference to God or the Bible. ….."

Chicago Tribune (online) 12/10/99 "….Some parents pulled their children out of holiday music programs at two public schools, saying they fail to portray Christmas as a Christian holiday. The productions are based on the nationally used "Celebrate the Seasons" program, which is a multicultural celebration that has nothing to do with religion, said Betty Replogle, principal at Paddock Lane and Stoddard Elementary Schools. Some upset parents said the productions at both schools go into detail about the origins of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa while ignoring the origins of Christmas. The program mentions Christmas in generic terms, not religious terms, Replogle said...."

Newsmax 12/13/99 "….. The key Chinagate witness [Johnning Chung] closed his remarks with words of defiance directed towards President Clinton: "Mr. President, as an American citizen I fullfilled my responsibility to tell the truth, the whole truth. And as a Christian, I cannot lie. Mr. President, my soul belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And my loyalty to the United States will never be for sale." ….."

EWTN 12/10/99 "…..A Federal Appeals Court has overturned the local law that prevented a Virginia woman from erecting a manger scene outside a Fairfax County government center. Rita Warren is not a resident of Fairfax County, and the law prohibited non-residents from making political or religious displays on county property. Warren's four-year battle ended with a 9-3 vote in the appellate court. Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote, "Speech in America cannot be that parochial.... Surely a speaker is entitled to spread the faith or the political gospel beyond the community in which she lives." County officials have accepted defeat, saying that they will abide by the court ruling. ….."

White House,briefing by Joe Lookhart 12/16/99 John Newton C-Span viewer "…."In a briefing by WhiteHouse spoksman Joe Lookhart, he said that Southern Babtist were responsible for reviving ancient religious hatreds. What was notable about this statement, was the total lack of any alarm, or even interest by media of this attack on citizens by our Government. It appears that it is socialy exceptable to identify segments of American citizens as villains, if the word fundamentalist is preceding it..."

CNSNews.com 1/5/00 Justin Torres "….More than 125 noncommercial television broadcasters may be forced to drop religious programming after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that broadcasts "primarily devoted to religious exhortation, proselytizing or statements of personally-held religious views or beliefs" are prohibited under the agency's educational programming licenses. The decision, released December 29, 1999, allows PBS station WQED in Pittsburgh, Penn., to swap one of its two stations for religious broadcaster Cornerstone TeleVision's WPCB in Greensburg, Penn., in anticipation of that station's sale to Paxson Communications. …..The new guidelines require broadcasters operating on noncommercial educational licenses to devote at least one-half of their programming hours to topics that serve the "educational, instructional or cultural needs of the community." To qualify, the Commission continued, that programming must not be "primarily devoted to religious exhortation, proselytizing, or statements of personally-held religious views and beliefs." ….."

Associated Press 1/7/00 "….. In Kentucky, the ACLU filed suit Nov. 18 against McCreary and Pulaski counties and the Harlan County schools after the commandments were publicly displayed. The ACLU cites a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the posting of the commandments in schools amounted to an unconstitutional government promotion of religion, which is forbidden by the First Amendment. The suits are pending. ……Roy Moore, an Alabama circuit judge who refused to take down the commandments posted in his courtroom in 1995, has spoken at Christian rallies across the country. He encourages school boards to post the Ten Commandments even if it means a costly lawsuit for the district. In Altoona, Pa., religious leaders and school officials reached an agreement in August allowing an after-school Ten Commandments club and a new comparative course in religions. In November, the Val Verde Board of Education in California voted to reverse its policy of displaying the Ten Commandments in district offices after the ACLU threatened to sue……. "

Los Angeles Times 1/21/2000 David Rosenzweig "….A convicted killer who has been on San Quentin's death row for the past 21 years had his sentence set aside Thursday when a Los Angeles federal judge ruled that the jury foreman in his trial committed misconduct by reciting biblical passages about capital punishment during penalty deliberations. Among the passages imparted to the jury in Stevie Lamar Fields' 1979 trial were: "Who so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth," and "He that killeth any man, shall surely be put to death." The jury was deadlocked 7 to 5 at the time in favor of life without the possibility of parole. After hearing from the foreman, the panel voted unanimously to send Fields to the gas chamber.. …."

Florida Times-Union 1/20/2000 "…. The First Amendment requires impartiality, not hostility, toward religion. That subtle, but crucial, distinction was recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court this week when it refused to repeal a Good Friday law. Good Friday is the day Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus. It combines with Easter, an observance of the day they believe he arose from the dead, for a three-day observance that is central to the Christian faith. Maryland is one of three states that closes all public schools on Good Friday. A teacher filed suit against Maryland in 1996, arguing the closures violated the separation of church and state - as defined by the First Amendment…… The plaintiff, coincidentally, taught in a county where the public schools were closed on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, and the first day of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. ….."

The Associated Press 1/24/2000 "….The Rev. Jerry Falwell has sued the White House and the FBI for denying a request for information about him that he contends is kept in a "secret" Justice Department database about religious and anti-abortion leaders. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court, contends the database is used to keep information intended for use in smear tactics.. ….."

Judicial Watch 1/24/2000 "....Judicial Watch learned through an anonymous source that the Clinton Justice Department - run by Attorney General Janet Reno - has been keeping a secret database against religious and pro-life leaders. The secret database is called "VAAPCON." When Judicial Watch learned of this secret illegal database, it filed a Freedom of Information Act request and confirmed that indeed VAAPCON existed. Because he believed himself to be a likely target of the Clinton Administration, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Chancellor of Liberty University, and founder of "The Moral Majority," filed a Privacy Act request to determine whether or not The White House and Clinton Justice Department had files on him and his ministries. Typically, both entities stonewalled - effectively confirming that illegal files are being kept on Dr. Falwell and his ministries......"

World Net Daily 2/7/00 Jane Chastain "…..The Centers for Disease Control, the official health arm of the federal government, used the word for the first time last month with an implied definition that would please the most radical members of the gay community. Dr. Paul Cameron, the psychologist who heads the Family Research Institute in Colorado Springs, stumbled upon this passage in the CDC's "Morbidity and Mortality Report" for the week of Jan. 14. On page 10 of this publication, under the heading "HIV/AIDS Among Racial/Minority Men Who Have Sex with Men," we have this revelation: Race/ethnicity itself is not a risk factor for HIV infection. However, among racial/ethic minority MSM (men who have sex with men) social and economic factors, such as homophobia, high rates of poverty and unemployment and lack of access to health care, are associated with high rates of HIV risk behavior. The definition of homophobia, as it is used here, came farther down in the passage: Within racial/ethnic minority communities, the stigma attached to acknowledging homosexual and bisexual activity may inhibit racial/ethic minority MSM from identifying themselves as homosexual or bisexual and they may be more likely to identify with their racial/ethnic minority community than with the MSM community. When you put these two paragraphs together, you have the complete picture the CDC is presenting here: Those with homophobia do not accept homosexuality. Homophobic people, therefore, present a health risk. This is not the first time this term as been used or implied by a federal agency. During the seven years of the Clinton administration, we have seen it pop up now and then, but this is the first time it has been used by the Centers for Disease Control, which has dictatorial powers on life and death matters. The implication for churches, religious broadcasters and faith-based groups like the Boy Scouts, which hold to traditional Judeo-Christian morality, are huge……What the CDC is trying to do is characterize anyone who has an objection to homosexuality as disturbed and a public health threat. This is a bullying tactic. The important thing to remember is that most bullies are cowards. These people back down when there is an appropriate amount of outrage….."

AP Wire 2/6/00 "….An appeals court ruled that a statue of Jesus Christ that stands on privately owned land within a city park violates the law because people could assume the city government endorses a religion. A group of citizens paid $21,726 to buy the small piece of the parkland under the statue after an atheist group sued the city in 1998. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that that statue still violates of the constitutional separation between church and state, even though it isn't directly on public property. The layout of the park could lead "a reasonable person to conclude that the statue is a part of the public park and that the government, rather than a private entity, endorses religion," Circuit Judge Michael Kanne wrote. The court did not order the removal of the statue, but suggested that a fence or wall be erected with a disclaimer making clear that the statue in Praschak Wayside Park is owned by a private group. The appeals court did not impose a solution, but it asked a district court to consider it. ….."

EWTN 2/8/00 "…. Inmates in Massachusetts' state prisons are not allowed to have rosaries because prison officials say they are used as gang symbols, prompting one inmate to file suit saying his First Amendment rights have been violated. Peter Kane said corrections officers confiscated his rosary in July 1997 after a surprise inspection of his cell. On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in his lawsuit...."

he Oregonian 2/13/00 Rick Bella "….The Portland city attorney's office has recommended dropping attendance limits imposed on a Southeast Portland church. A city land-use hearings officer incited religious leaders throughout the Portland area last month when she ruled that Sunnyside Centenary United Methodist Church couldn't have more than 70 people at its Sunday or Wednesday worship services. Religious leaders charged that the ruling violated constitutional protections granting freedom of religion. After a review, the city attorney's office has recommended backing off from the attendance limits contained in land-use hearings officer Elizabeth Normand's Jan. 17 ruling, while keeping restrictions on other church programs….."

New York Law Journal 2/10/00 Mark Hamblett "….A divided federal appeals panel has upheld a New York school district's right to refuse access to school facilities to an after-school religious program. In The Good News Club v. Milford School District, 98-9494, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the group's teachings were "quintessentially religious" and were thus barred under the First Amendment's doctrine of the separation of church and state. In 1992, Milford School District adopted a policy on community use of school buildings that expressly forbade use for religious purposes. Although the community-use policy allowed groups such as the Girl Scouts and the 4-H Club, school officials rejected the application of the Good News Club, which offers religious instruction to children ages 6 through 12. The club, one of several throughout the country, is affiliated with the Child Evangelism Fellowship, a Christian missionary organization……"

World Net Daily 2/12/00 Dr Jerry Falwell "….Indiana legislators have approved a bill that permits public schools, courts, and public facilities to post the Ten Commandments. The bill permits places of accommodation to position the Ten Commandments in displays featuring other "historical" documents, and states that the Commandments may be raised "as part of an exhibit displaying other documents of historical significance that formed and influenced the United States' legal or governmental system." Supporters of the bill say that school officials who place the Commandments next to documents, such as the Magna Carta or the Bill of Rights, need not fear repercussions from civil libertarians. State representatives voted overwhelmingly (91-7) in favor of the bill. …."

Jewish World Review 2/24/00 Michelle Malkin "….. WHERE HAVE ALL the churches gone? From Oregon to Florida, houses of worship are getting zoned out of their neighborhoods by government regulators who put high-priced sod above G-d. The Sunnyside Centenary United Methodist Church in southeast Portland, Ore., is exactly the kind of place that presidential candidates in both parties have in mind when they call for more "faith-based alternatives" to tax-financed social services. Since the turn of the last century, the gable-roofed church has nourished the souls of rich and poor alike. The church not only provides worship and Bible study services, but also runs a child care center, night and day shelters, and a twice-weekly meals program for low-income families and the homeless. ….."

ACLJ NEWS RELEASE 2/24/00"….. The American Center for Law and Justice - an international public interest law firm - today filed suit in U.S. District Court in Newnan, Georgia against the Pine Mountain Regional Library System after administrators refused to permit the display and distribution of the bible in a public library. ……"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution 3/7/00 Jingle Davis "…..The Georgia Supreme Court overturned a death sentence Monday in a Clayton County murder case because an assistant district attorney urged trial jurors to follow biblical mandates. The justices affirmed the conviction of Anthony Carruthers for the 1995 murder of Jeanette Williams, but said a new jury should decide whether he lives or dies. Carruthers was convicted in March 1998 of attacking Williams during a visit to her home on Dec. 12, 1995. Evidence showed he choked her, cut her throat and almost severed her head, and stabbed her repeatedly……"

EWTN Website 3/7/00 "…..The Michigan chapter of the American Family Association said on Friday it had filed a complaint with Ferndale police alleging a violation of a hate-crimes law by a city councilor. The group said Councilman Craig Covey, a self-proclaimed homosexual, used hate speech to demonize Christian citizens and threatened to "drive another dagger into that vampire." Covey's comments were published in two recent issues of a Michigan newspaper for homosexuals, Between the Lines. The newspaper quoted him as saying: "This vote shows that the Christian Right is down but not out yet. We might have to drive another dagger into that vampire." ….."

The New York Times 3/9/00 Julian Barnes "……Two billboards on Staten Island that angered civic and gay leaders by using a Biblical verse to condemn homosexuality were covered up yesterday, just as the identity of the man responsible for the messages was revealed. The man, the Rev. Kristopher Okwedy of Keyword Ministries in Staten Island, said he had paid $1,800 to post the two signs for one month. The signs, in the St. George and Port Richmond neighborhoods, cited four translations of Leviticus 18:22. One read, "Thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination." The messages disappeared a day after they were denounced by the Staten Island borough president, Guy V. Molinari, and local gay leaders. Yesterday, the signs were covered with images of McGruff the Crime Dog and Smokey Bear. ……. "This is the land of the free, home of the brave," he said. "You are supposed to protect the rights of free speech. I paid money and did not violate any city laws." ……"

World Net Daily Between The Lines 3/6/00 Joseph Farah "……In sleepy little Jacksonville, Ore., a charming town in many ways, the city council is restricting the hours and activities of a local church because of concerns about noise and traffic…….In the city of Groves, Texas, His House Family Church has been forced to sue officials to use its own church building downtown. Groves zoning laws require all churches to obtain permission to operate within the city. The planning and zoning commission recommended denial of a permit on the basis of the church's proximity to a middle-class neighborhood…….. In Indianapolis, a confrontation has been shaping up for some time between the government and the Temple Baptist Church. The church is defying a court order to vacate and allow for confiscation of the property April 10 as a result of failure to pay taxes. The church is not a registered 501c3, but operates a free and independent school. ……"

CNSNews 3/6/00 Jim Burns "…..The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal of a lower court ruling and allowed the state of Indiana to continue giving Good Friday off as a state holiday. Russell Bridenbaugh of Bloomington, Indiana, had gone to court over the practice contending that his state improperly advances or promotes the Christian religion.. ….."

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 3/6/00 "….. In Altoona's public schools, students can once again see the Ten Commandments prominently displayed in the library. So far, this breach in the supposed wall separating church and state has not led to any student proselytizing. But what has happened is that the decision by the Altoona Area School District's Project Character Building Committee has opened the doors for the inclusion of other materials. The committee also has approved ``The Cycle of the Goddess'', a writing from the Wiccan religion, whose adherents confess to using witchcraft ``as a science, an art and a religion ... . …."

The Boston Globe 3/4/00 Diego Ribadeneira and Michael Paulson "…..In another skirmish over religion and public schools, an Alabama school board has settled a lawsuit filed by a sixth-grade student who was told not to display a cross necklace. The suit was filed on behalf of Kandice Smith, a student at Curry Middle School in Jasper, Ala., by the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative law firm founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. The agreement reached with the school board allows Smith to wear her cross outside her clothing and requires the county school system to amend its dress code ''to mandate religious accommodations in accordance with the Alabama Religious Freedom Amendment.'' …."

World Net Daily 3/3/00 Julie Foster "…..Several churches on California's central coast have been told by their county tax assessor's office they are breaking the law by displaying pro-Proposition 22 signs on church property, prompting a press conference yesterday during which attorneys pointed to tax laws specifically permitting the practice. To be voted on this Tuesday, Proposition 22, also known as the "Defense of Marriage Act" consists of 14 words: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The initiative has received nationwide attention and has already been adopted in 31 states. ......"

Washington Times 3/3/00 Valerie Richardson "……The American Civil Liberties Union is accusing the University of Colorado men's basketball coach of violating the constitutional separation of church and state by leading the team in prayer after practices. In a letter sent to the university on Feb. 22, ACLU Boulder Chairman Judd Golden demanded that coach Ricardo Patton call an end to the tradition of team prayer, saying he had received about 20 complaints about the practice. Mr. Patton, a devout Christian who freely discusses his beliefs, said the team prayers, in which players kneel in a circle and hold hands, are voluntary and led by students. ….."

Pulitzer Corporation - Post Net 3/26/00 Bob Kenney "……Now that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has settled its rift with Adam's Mark Hotels and wants to bring 45,000 youth to St. Louis for its convention here, tens of thousands of citizens in St. Louis want to tell the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to keep their anti-white racism out of our town. We want them to cancel their meetings here entirely, because they are not welcome here. The citizens of St. Louis do not need anti-white racist Christian organizations who are committed to leftwing diversity in our town. In addition, the vast majority of these Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Youth live in white separatist neighborhoods which are the result of what the Post-Dispatch refers to as "white flight" areas. ….."

Associated Press 3/15/00 "……The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously upheld a 51-year prison sentence imposed by a judge who quoted a Bible verse while deciding a man's punishment for raping a young girl. An appeals court last year overturned the sentence, saying the judge acted outside Ohio's sentencing guidelines. The state Supreme Court disagreed. The high court ruled 7-0 that Hamilton County Judge Melba Marsh did not violate the due process rights of James Arnett, who pleaded guilty in 1997 to repeatedly raping an 8-year-old girl. In sentencing Arnett in 1988, the judge quoted a Bible verse that says anyone who offends a child would be better off if "a millstone were hanged around his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." ......"

Fox Market Wire 3/15/00 David Armstrong "…… The phrase, "Have a blessed day," rolls off Liz Anderson's tongue easily and frequently. The devout Christian and grandmother uses the phrase on the phone, at the grocery store, and even to co-workers and customers at the Indianapolis office of USF Logistics, a freight shipping company where she has worked since 1995. Having been raised a Southern Baptist, Anderson regards praising the Lord as part of her African-American culture, and she makes a point of pushing forth that message while communicating to customers via phone and email. "This is part of my relationship with God," she said. "Some people say, 'Be blessed.' Some people say, 'God be with you.' God has been good to me, so I want to praise his name in holy victory." But when a client from Microsoft received a company e-mail from Anderson with her signature phrase attached, he complained. Anderson was then told by her boss to stop using the saying in company letters and e-mail, but she refused. When she was told she could be fired, she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging that USF Logistics discriminated against her by forbidding her to observe her faith in the workplace. Both parties are waiting for a ruling. ......"

UPI 3/15/00 "……A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld a Florida school district's policy allowing student-initiated, student-led prayers at graduation ceremonies. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 10-to-2 decision, said the policy, overturned by a three-judge appeals court panel last May, is constitutional and is not state-sponsored prayer. The Duval County School Board in Jacksonville adopted a policy in 1993 allowing high school seniors to vote for two classmates to deliver a brief "opening or closing message" at graduation ceremonies. ……"

World Net Daily 3/27/00 Jon Dougherty "……According to a report published last week by Christianity Online, leaders from the National Council of Churches have decided to push for more gun control legislation in an effort to end the "scourge" of gun violence in the U.S. ……… First of all, it is unimaginable that a national organization of churches would risk entering the fray of politics over any issue, considering that "a separation of Church and State" is a cornerstone of American society……. Secondly, the new leader of the NCC has no new information to justify his false claims that "more guns equal more crimes." His statistics, which he stole from President Clinton, are absurdly incorrect, even by Uncle Sam's own numbers: …….Third, and most important, is the issue of constitutional precedence: How is it that a national church organization can call for further subjugation of a constitutional right without realizing the hypocrisy of using one constitutional right to call for the limitation of the other? …….."

Charisma News 3/27/00 "......A New York pastor whose giant billboard advertisements condemning homosexuality sparked a public outcry is planning to go to court to have them re-posted. Kristopher Okwedy's Bible-quoting messages were covered over just a few days into a monthlong campaign planned for Staten Island, N.Y. Now the American Family Association (AFA) is preparing a lawsuit for him against the advertising company and an elected official who pushed for the signs' removal. . ....."

ABC 4/4/00 AP "……..A federal judge on Tuesday upheld a Maryland preacher's First Amendment right to pray inside the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled that the Capitol Police have no authority to stop people from making speeches or engaging in other nondisruptive forms of behavior. The Rev. Pierre Bynum, an associate pastor at Waldorf Christian Assembly, Waldorf, Md., sued police following an incident at the Capitol in November 1996. Bynum was part of a small group taking a self-tour of the Capitol when the group stopped for a few minutes of prayer _ bowing their heads and folding their hands. ……."

Detroit News 4/6/00 Louise Knott "……Several conservative Christian groups are blasting Metro Detroit television stations for refusing to air an advertisement seeking to help gays become straight. Christian leaders who gathered Wednesday called the refusal religious discrimination and accused stations of bowing to local gay activists. One station, CBS affiliate WWJ-TV, has agreed to run it, but only between 12:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. ….."

Newark (NJ) Star Ledger 4/25/00 Robert Cohen "….A diverse coalition of religious groups -- Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Mormons, Southern Baptists -- are sending a clear message to the Supreme Court: Don't force the Boy Scouts of America to accept gays as Scoutmasters......."

Sun Sentinel 5/3/00 James Davis "……Florida Methodists want an apology and a face-to-face meeting with national church leaders who set up a legal fund for Elián González's father without consulting them. "Our brothers and sisters in the Cuban-American community are insulted," says a statement by Bishop Cornelius Henderson of Lakeland, who added that the "unilateral action" by a national church board embarrassed him and other Florida Methodists. "It is painful to see one's church appear to lend support to a government whose record on human rights is not acceptable by Christian standards or the principles of the United Methodist Church," adds the letter, mailed recently to the 747 churches and missions of the Florida Conference. At issue is a defense fund set up in March for Juan Miguel González, Elián's father, by the General Board of Church and Society. ……"

WordNetDaily 5/8/00 Julie Foster "...... Yesterday, Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery decided to continue the fight to keep the state's motto, "With God, all things are possible," appealing a recent court decision that determined the motto violates the U.S. Constitution. ……. "The First Amendment has always allowed our national, state and local governments to respectfully refer to God," Montgomery said. "Ohio's state motto does not constitute the endorsement of a particular religion. The motto is a respectful statement of belief in a higher power that has inspired countless Ohioans." …….."

EWTN 5/5/00 "…….A Canadian Catholic high school this week defended its decision to suspend a student for 10 days because of his refusal to attend a mandatory religion class, even though he says he has renounced his faith. Bishop Reding Secondary School in Milton, Ontario, said it suspended Marcus Dagenais, 17, after a year-long battle with the Dagenais family, who insist the boy has the right to attend a Catholic school while rejecting its core beliefs. In Canada, many Catholic school districts receive government funds and open to all students, although they may require mandatory religious instruction. ….."

newsmax.com 5/4/00 "…… NASA may be shotting for the heavan, but they don't want their employees saying "God." NASA recently prohibited an employee from using the center-wide email system to announce the National Day of Prayer and a voluntary prayer and speech meeting, the Pacific Justice Institute reports. The Institute, a California based public interest law group said that the employee made his request to use the email system in a timely manner and that all procedures were followed. Access to this system has been used in the past to announce AIDS Awareness, Asian Pacific Islander Month, various seminars and private party information. …….. …"

The Associated Press 5/5/00 "…..A federal judge Friday ordered the Ten Commandments to be removed from courthouses and classrooms in several Kentucky counties. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman ruled that even though the commandments are surrounded by other historical documents, they are still religious in nature and serve no secular purpose. …... McCreary County Judge-Executive Jimmie Greene said someone else will have to remove the Ten Commandments from his courthouse. "I said early on I would not remove them, and I will not," Greene said. "I'll go to jail before I'll take them down. ... This is one order I will not obey." ……"

American Family Association 5/5/00 Fred Jackson "…… Another campus-based Christian group is facing a threat of discipline because of its stand against homosexuality. The latest school to take aim at a Christian group is Middlebury College in Vermont. According to Religion Today, the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship is under fire for not allowing Ryan Palstrok, a homosexual, to hold a leadership position. A spokesman for the group, Kerra Struthers, says anyone can attend its meetings, but Palstrok cannot be a leader because he doesn't believe homosexuality is wrong. She says leadership within the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship is restricted to people who hold to traditional interpretation of the Bible--that it is divinely inspired and entirely trustworthy. ……"

World Magizine 5/13/00 Mindy Belz "…… In the past year it has supported clemency for 11 Puerto Rican terrorists, lobbied for gun control, and asked state legislatures to end the death penalty. It asked several states in the South to end sawmill operations in an effort to protect the forests. But the United Methodist Board of Church and Society (UMBCS) had profoundly little to say against the weapons-packed raid used to remove Elián Gonzalez from the home of his great-uncle April 22. The philosophical 180 can be readily explained: United Methodists in alliance with the National Council of Churches were instrumental in hiring Gregory Craig, legal counsel to Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Elián's father, as part of continuing solidarity with the Castro regime. Extracting Elián, even by force, was critical to their strategy to moot ongoing court proceedings, which could have led to granting Elián the right to remain in the United States. ......….."

World Magizine 5/13/00 Mindy Belz "…… The controversy does not end in UMC halls. Reports began emerging in April that Dwayne Andreas, recently retired chairman of the largest U.S. grain processor, Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), brought church agents together with Mr. Craig. Mr. Andreas, a highly controversial political campaign contributor, over the years has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to both Republican and Democratic candidates. In exchange, political analysts agree, his empire has received federal protection of the domestic sugar industry and subsidies for ethanol and grain exports-earning him the distinction, according to the Cato Institute, as the largest recipient of corporate welfare. In 1996 ADM paid $100 million in fines for price fixing. Mr. Andreas's connections to the NCC are assorted. Last year, when the council named former Atlanta mayor and UN ambassador Andrew Young as its president, Mr. Andreas made a $100,000 gift to the NCC in his honor. Mr. Young is a member of ADM's board. ……"

The New York Daily News 5/9/00 John Leo "….. Tufts University in Medford, Mass., is punishing a campus evangelical group for refusing to allow practicing homosexuals into its leadership positions. A student tribunal, the Tufts Community Union Judiciary, voted to derecognize the Tufts Christian Fellowship. This means that the evangelicals won't be able to reserve rooms for meetings, publicize events in campus listings or even use bulletin boards. They are forbidden to use the Tufts name and will lose their share of student activity monies doled out to all student groups, some $5,700 a year. One administrator was quoted as telling the group, "I don't mean to get dramatic or anything, but essentially, on the Tufts campus, you do not exist." ……….…"

The Washington Times 5/9/00 Liz Trotta "……The high and the mighty from the worlds of religion and politics sat in the Gothic splendor of St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday paying tribute to Cardinal John O'Connor, a man who time and again said he wanted to be remembered as a simple priest. …… Among the 3,500 people at the funeral Mass were President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, a candidate for the U.S. Senate from New York; Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper; former President George Bush and his son, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush; and eight U.S. senators. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is expected to oppose the first lady in the Senate race, sat in the second row, behind the Clintons…….. ……While mourners and eulogists sounded themes of praise and remembrance at the majestic service, it was the words of the deceased cardinal's best friend, Cardinal Bernard Law, archbishop of Boston, that caught the distinguished audience by surprise and inspired it to robust applause and then a standing ovation that lasted three minutes and nine seconds. ……. "He preached most powerfully by his example, the necessity of seeing in every human being -from the first moment of conception to the last moment of natural death, and every moment in between, particularly in the poor, in the sick, in the forgotten - the image of a God to be loved and to be served. What a great legacy he has left us in this constant reminder that the church must always be unambiguously pro-life," Cardinal Law said. ……… The president and Mrs. Clinton, who support abortion rights, began whispering to each other and refrained from applause, as did the Gores, who also support abortion rights. Mr. Giuliani, who supports abortion rights as well, began to applaud weakly toward the end of the demonstration……."

WorldNetDaily 5/8/00 Frank York "……

WorldNetDaily 5/8/00 Frank York "…… According to PRC's Camenker, "In the Boston press and elsewhere, GLSEN officials don't deny these things happened. They stand behind the conference. They're trying to say these kids were just asking questions and being told honest answers. This is a complete lie. The tapes prove that beyond a reasonable doubt." ……….. Camenker added, "If the rest of the country wants to know where the homosexual movement is going, all they have to do is look at Massachusetts. Homosexuals claim that Massachusetts is their model for the rest of the country. They're very proud of the fact that they've been able to make so much progress and use this thing about 'safety' [for homosexual teens] as their entree into schools. It's all bogus." ……..…… In the PRC letter, Whiteman noted that the instructors at the "Teach Out" may have violated several state laws that criminalize the enticing of a person into prostitution or sexual intercourse; inducing a person under 18 to engage in sexual intercourse; and distributing materials harmful to minors. The PRC has not heard back from the district attorney, and Camenker tells WorldNetDaily that no one wants to talk about the "Teach Out" or to take any action against what was taught. ……"

Albuquerque Journal 5/2/00 John Fleck "….. Christian employees at Sandia National Laboratories are denied the rights and privileges given to homosexual workers, a group of employees charged in a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday in Albuquerque. In 1995, Sandia granted official recognition to an employee group called the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Networking group, according to the lawsuit. But when a group calling itself Christians in the Workplace Networking Group asked for similar recognition, Sandia refused, according to the lawsuit. The Christian employee group is looking for the same recognition and treatment given to homosexual workers, said Stephen Crampton, an attorney with the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy in Tupelo, Miss. Crampton file