Crystal Meth Epidemic Becomes A Spiritual Issue in U.S.

It may be the worst of the worst...the most devastating drug ever to scourge the United States: This is the reality of methamphetamine, a drug that is growing in popularity and destruction of lives throughout the United States. Reuters this week published a sweeping article describing the drug's incredible growth in rural America. As the drug's popularity grows, so does associated crime, child abuse, and even unexpected and very dangerous toxic pollution.

"It is out of control. It is a huge problem all across the United States," said Mike Logsdon, unit chief of an intelligence arm of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that collects data on the problem.

The drug is also popularly known as crank, crystal, speed and ice. Users are able to ingest the drug in a varitey of ways, included being snorted, injected, smoked, or simply swallowed. And, the effects are immediate as it only takes a few minutes for the user to experiences a "rush of energy and sense of well-being" that can have up to 12 hours' duration. However, when the user comes down as by the drug wears off, there is a morose feeling, a deep depression, accompanied by paranoia which makes the user willing to do almost anything to obtain another fix.

The epidemic developed largely in the past five years and, unlike previous drugs, this one is hitting America's heartland, small towns and rural areas where the drug's use is bordering on out of control. The DEA says that this is due to the fact that meth is simple and inexpensive to create. The ingredients (rock salt, battery acid, anhydrous ammonia and cold medicines) are all readily available. In face, you can even obtain "recipes" online.

And, authorities say that small towns and America's vast farm and rural areas are ideal places to create meth labs as it's very difficult to locate them in these wide open spaces.

"It's the first drug in the history of the United States we can make, distribute, sell, take, all here in the Midwest," said Detective Jason Grellner, of the Franklin County Sheriff's Department in Missouri told Reuters His department raided 120 meth labs last year alone.

"You can't grow a coca plantation or an opium plantation here to get your heroin or cocaine, and marijuana takes four or five months to grow a good plant. With methamphetamine you can go out and for a couple hundred dollars you can make your drugs that day," Grellner is quoted as saying.

IT SWEPT DOWN ON US SO FAST!

Crystal Meth showed up in rural America with almost no warning at all and obtained a toehold before authorities even had a clue. Check this out: Sheriff Randy Krukow of Clay County in western Iowa told Reuters that, in 1999, he had not detected a single meth-producing laboratory. By 2001, his force had broken up 56 in a county with a population of only 18,000!!!!

"This is the most serious law enforcement problem we've ever faced in the history of our state because this substance is so addictive and so easy and cheap to make," said North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.

"When we look at our prison population, 10 years ago nobody had even heard of it. Now 60 percent of our male inmates are users and we're building a brand new prison for female users," Stenehjem said.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal recently told a statewide conference on combating the drug: "It doesn't matter where we go in the state, methamphetamine is there. The whole issue is eating us alive."

The Drug Trends Analysis Unit, an office in the Justice Department, says that the highest numbers of meth labs are found in California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, all important farming states.

"Clandestine labs were discovered in abandoned farms, in fields and ditches, vehicles, barns and even in 309 cases in hotel rooms. In one 2002 incident in North Dakota, an explosion set off a fire which destroyed the entire hotel."

THEN, THERE'S THE TOXIC WASTE PROBLEM

Each pound of methamphetamines that's made produces another five to six pounds of waste that's so incredibly toxic that raids can endanger the lives of police officers, most of whom lack the expertise required to do this hazardous work.

Some 20 states are now trying to limit the amount of cold medicines and decongestants that pharmacies may sell to individuals to two packets at any one time. Some states are trying to require drug stores to remove these cold medicines from the shelves entirely, requiring customers to go find a pharmacist and request "over the counter" cold and flu treatments. Of course, the pharmaceutical industry rigorously opposes these moves.

The economic losses associated with Meth staggering. A study just issued by the Sam Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas looked at methamphetamine use in Benton County, the home of Walmart Stores Inc. The research found that lost productivity and absenteeism because of methamphetamine addiction just in that county was costing employers there more than $21 million a year.

MIDWEST MINISTRY BEGINS TACKLING THE METH PROBLEM

A new ministry is working with methamphetamine addicts as they cope with the reality that the drug causes brain damage similar to the effects of a stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimers disease. "It is the devil's greatest tool in the world of drugs," Paula Wood, reformed methamphetamine addict and founder of Break Free Ministry, told "Charisma" magazine in the February issue, out now. (The full story on the ministry can be found in the magazine.)

Dubbed the "devil's drug," methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system, creating an intense high that can last as long as 24 hours. But it can also produce psychotic behavior, resulting in extreme violence.

Also known as speed, meth or chalk, methamphetamine is made in clandestine laboratories from everyday household products and is the most prevalent synthetic drug manufactured in the United States. According to a 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 1.3 million people used the drug during the previous year.

Founded in 2003, Break Free, which reaches out to methamphetamine addicts and their families, is run by Paula and husband Andy Wood from their home in Savanna, Okla. -- an area that has been ravaged by the drug. The ministry consists of 10 team members, eight of whom are former meth addicts. They go into the streets and preach that religion holds a way out. The group also brings food to those who are living in the streets due to the devastating, life-destroying, drug.

Gratefully reprinted for academic, research, and educational purposes. (Additional reporting by Carey Gillam)

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NON-CATHOLIC FETAL REMAINS BECOME PART OF A CATHOLIC ANTI-ABORTION MEMORIAL!

You have an abortion, or suffer a miscarriage, and unbeknownst to you, your child's fetal remains are sent off to become part of a Catholic memorial to aborted children. And, the practice has been going on for a decade, according to Eternal Word Television Network.

A Colorado hospital will now ask its female patients where they want fetal remains to be buried, after a miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion. Avista Adventist Hospital has taken on this new policy after learning that Crist Mortuary in Boulder was sending fetal remains, which they had received from the hospital for cremation, to a Catholic cemetery. .

The mortuary apologized to the hospital this week, which was unaware of the practice.

News that the mortuary was sending the ashes to Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Boulder for almost a decade to be part of a Catholic memorial dedicated to aborted children, caused outrage among pro-abortion groups.

The mortuary also returned the ashes of several hundred fetuses to the Boulder Abortion Clinic, which asked for them back after hearing the news. From EWTN. Gratefully reprinted for academic, research, and educational purposes.

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VERMONT BANS BIBLE QUOTE LICENSE PLATE

A Vermont man has sued that state's Department of Motor Vehicles after his application to have a personalized license plate with a Christian message was rejected.

Last April, Shawn Byrne submitted an application for a personalized plate inscribed with "JOHN316." In May, he received a letter from the DMV informing him that the inscription was "deemed to be a combination that refers to deity and has been denied based on that reason." On appeal, an administrative law judge upheld the DMV's position because the statute governing the license plate program prohibits combinations that refer to "deity," among other things.

Byrne has now sued the state over the matter. He is represented by attorney Anthony Duprey of Middlebury, who is affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund. Duprey contends the state's position is clearly unconstitutional.

"The state of Vermont has created a forum whereby they allow people to make expression within this license plate forum," the attorney says. "But they said if you happen to have a religious perspective, a Christian perspective, then you need not apply. They're discriminating as to what sort of speech people can put on the license plate -- and I think that's very troubling."

According to Duprey, DMV officials have approved other plates that use names and numbers referring to religion. But those officials, he says, have "selectively censored" his client's expression. "When officials suppress speech because they don't like the message of the plate or the viewpoint it expresses, that's illegal discrimination," he says.

The attorney points out another aspect that he sees as discriminatory. "What's important in my client's life is his relationship with Jesus Christ," he explains. "[But] the state said 'Well, we don't want to hear that -- , we don't want you to express that.' But if you've got somebody [for whom] bowling is their big thing in life and that's what they live for, then you're free to put it on the vehicle."

Duprey says he intends to make sure the DMV "will no longer be able to discriminate against anyone based upon their religious views."

NOTE: Allie Martin is a reporter for American Family Radio News, available online. AgapePress. Gratefully reprinted for academic, research, and educational purposes.

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AS WITH DR. HOOK AND THE MEDICINE COMPANY , THE BIBLE WILL BE ON THE COVER OF THE 'ROLLING STONE'

The bible of rock 'n' roll, Rolling Stone magazine, will run an ad for the Holy Bible next month — the same ad it rejected two weeks ago for its "spiritual message."

"We have addressed the internal miscommunications that led to the previous misstatement of company policy and apologize for any confusion it may have caused," Lisa Dallos, spokeswoman for Wenner Media, Rolling Stone's parent company, said Monday. She declined to elaborate.

The magazine was drummed by critics last week for turning down a low-key ad for a new translation of Scripture, Today's New International Version (TNIV).

The nation's largest Bible publisher, Zondervan, had inquired about rates for the ad in March and booked the space in July for the ad to run in February.

The ad, which will run unchanged in mid-February, doesn't mention God. But it describes the Bible as "real truth" and ca

rries the new translation's slogan: "Timeless truth: Today's language." Zondervan is launching a $1 million marketing campaign for the TNIV in publications for young adults who rarely, if ever, read the Bible. TNIV is designed to be accessible to modern readers. The Bible.

"We're frankly thrilled that Rolling Stone has decided to accept our ad," said Paul Caminiti, Zondervan's president of Bible publishing.

"We believe that the Bible is relevant for Rolling Stone readers," Caminiti said. "We've always believed they were a cornerstone in our campaign to squarely market to spiritually intrigued 18- to 34-year-old young people, many of whom live outside the embrace of the church."

Other media outlets that will carry TNIV advertising include Modern Bride, the satirical weekly The Onion and MTV.com.

The trouble with Rolling Stone came when the magazine's executives saw the actual advertisement two weeks ago.

It was ruled unacceptable because of a "spiritual message in the text," said Kent Brownridge, general manager for Wenner Media. He told USA TODAY that the magazine "was not in the business of advertising for religious messages."

Zondervan officials were shocked. They said offers to change the advertisement were rebuffed. Christian and conservative media commentators savaged the magazine, which once carried classified advertising for mail-order divinity degrees.

Meanwhile, the controversy has driven such demand for TNIV, Caminiti said, that Zondervan will be moving it into stores ahead of schedule.

All 10 variations of TNIV, including a version with commentary for women called True Identity and a men's version called Strive, will be in stores Feb. 1 ($15 to $60, depending on binding and features).

Then a new batch of critics might be heard from: theologians who disagree over the actual translation.

When Zondervan released the TNIV New Testament in 2002, some scholars and clergy complained that it went beyond updating language, to revising God's word as well.

Zondervan says it welcomes the debate and will be mailing the full Bible to 118 critics next month.

Courtesy of www.usatoday.com online. Gratefully reprinted for academic, research, and educational purposes.

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A NEW FILM HIGHLIGHTS 'DEEP THROAT' STAR, HARRY REEMS', PORN FAME, BUT NOW HE'S A 'BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN' COMMITED TO HIS FAMILY--AND REAL ESTATE

Let Harry Reems count his blessings. It is not a small list.

"I've been clean and sober for 15 1/2 years. I'm happily and faithfully married and I love my wife dearly. I've been blessed with a tremendous amount of success selling real estate. God is shining his light on me now; I don't think he did for a number of years."

Which is putting it mildly.

For when Harry Reems takes a poetic moment and says "What a ride this thing called life is," he is not being hyperbolic. As Linda Lovelace's costar in "Deep Throat," the most successful pornographic film ever made, he has gone from obscurity to celebrity to criminal notoriety to gutter-dwelling debauchery to born-again sobriety and success in one hectic lifetime.

"I've been through things most people never experience even vicariously, let alone for real," he says. "I'm truly proud of myself; I've overcome some major problems. I really believe God is at work in my life."

A resident of Park City for nearly 20 years with a house next door to the legendary Stein Eriksen, Reems and his wife, Jeannie, usually leave town when the frantic Sundance Film Festival takes over.

And though he has reached the point at which he has no regrets about it, Reems usually does not talk publicly about his past, "the life that nearly killed me," outside of church groups and 12-step programs. He's doing it now because of Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's comprehensive new documentary, "Inside Deep Throat," produced by Brian Grazer for Universal and HBO, which was scheduled to have its world premiere Friday night. He's doing it because he got paid "a nice chunk of money," because he wants his story to help people, and because of the opportunities it might open up for his first love, acting.

For before he was an adult film star, Reems was Herb Streicher, a young New York actor who took his craft very seriously in the late 1960s. But his salary was no match for his commitment, so when a fellow actor told him "I know where you can pick up $100 for an hour's work," he went for it. "I took two different subways, I thought I was being followed, I was very, very nervous," Reems remembers.

Those 10-minute loops or stag films, "epics that premiered at Kiwanis Clubs," were succeeded by features known as "white coaters" because doctors on screen provided socially redeeming value. "Someone would stand in front of a blackboard in a white coat saying, 'If you're having difficulty with oral sex, here's how to do it,' and then they'd cut to a 30-minute sex scene."

Reems was not even supposed to be in "Deep Throat." He had been paid $250 by director Gerard Damiano to be the lighting director. But when the man hired for the part never showed, "Gerry said to me, 'Put on this coat; you're acting.' "

Then as now a gregarious man with a sense of humor, Reems initially enjoyed the celebrity "Deep Throat's" astonishing popularity brought him. ("Inside" estimates the porn film earned $600 million, so much that the Mafioso who backed it weighed the money rather than counted it). "You could call me the Shirley Temple" of adult films, he told an interviewer then. "Take an X film and make it an R because I have a PG body." That all changed on a hot July night in 1974.

"It was 3 or 4 in the morning, I was in bed with the girl I was going out with then, and I heard this crazy bang, bang, bang at my door," Reems remembers. "I looked through the peephole and saw this badge with two guys behind it with guns drawn. When I opened the door, they pushed it so hard they nearly took my nose off."

Reems was arrested as part of an aggressive strategy developed by a virulently anti-pornography Memphis federal prosecutor named Larry Parrish, who told juries he'd "rather see dope on the streets than these movies." Though only an actor, Reems was named as a co-conspirator in a national conspiracy to distribute "Deep Throat."

This was the first time the federal government had tried to charge an actor for the results of a film's distribution, and it raised issues so serious for the creative community that Alan Dershowitz joined his defense team, and everyone from Jack Nicholson to Gregory Peck contributed to fundraisers.

The trial in Memphis, held in the same courtroom as the Scopes trial, lasted nine weeks, and though Reems was found guilty, the charges were eventually dropped. Still, the experience of the trial, of being lumped together with the brutal men who controlled the film, of people "screaming, spitting, throwing eggs at me" outside the courthouse, had lasting effects.

"The heavy drinking," he says, "began in Memphis."

Reems' stories of being what he calls "a very, very low bottom drunk" in and out of hospitals and jails, of at one time living "in the back of an Albertson's dumpster in Malibu," are no less compelling for having been told before in churches and meetings. "I was so dismally depressed I became a 2-quart-a-day vodka drinker. I'd buy half-gallons by the case," he says. "My mother died while I was in jail. It's by the grace of God that I'm alive today, and that's a fact."

Reems says he was "a blackout drinker. I'd start drinking in New York and wake up in jail in Los Angeles in my own vomit and puke and not know how I got there." After one of these episodes in 1986, Hugh Hefner bailed him out of jail and a friend sent him a ticket to Park City. He continued drinking there, but in 1989 he decided to go to a 12-step meeting in the local police station. He almost didn't make it.

"As soon as I walked into the building they slapped the cuffs on me for not answering a warrant," he remembers. "I pleaded with them to let me go to the meeting, it was my first day sober." The meetings took, and the program's emphasis on a higher power led Reems, born Jewish but never religious, to a charismatic Methodist minister and a decision to convert and be baptized.

Today, though he shaved his trademark mustache at his wife's request, Reems has embraced all of his chaotic past. "I'm proud of what I've done. I wouldn't be the person I am today if I had not gone through all that." A similar feeling led him to keep his adult film stage name when he started Reems Real Estate. "I didn't want anyone coming up to me and saying, 'I know who you really are.' I've been really forthright about what I've been through. And nobody likes the name Herbert anyhow."

Though Reems allows he'd "probably test the waters" if any acting opportunities came to him as a result of this new wave of publicity, being a public figure is not really what he's after. "I've had my 15 minutes of fame," he says with his familiar grin. "What I want now is my 15 minutes of retirement."

COURTESY OF: The Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/

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THE DA VINCI CODE'S CLAIM THAT JESUS HAD A CHILD WITH HIS WIFE, MARY MAGDALINE, IS TOO MUCH OF A STRETCH, SAYS U.N.C. RELIGIOUS SCHOLAR

Bart Ehrman will admit that the person seated to the left of Jesus in Leonardo Da Vinci's famous "Last Supper" masterpiece seems a bit effeminate.

But that doesn't mean it's a woman, Ehrman points out, nor does it necessarily mean the person is Mary Magdalene.

"It sure looks like a woman," Ehrman, a religious studies scholar at UNC, said recently. "I don't think it is. Art historians tell me that's absolutely crazy."

The suggestion that the person is Mary Magdalene -- a follower of Jesus -- forms the basis of one of several claims made in The Da Vinci Code" the best-selling novel that religion scholars say is rife with falsehoods.

Ehrman, who chairs UNC's religious studies department, takes a shot at debunking many of these claims in his new book, Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code."

Ehrman, an expert on Jesus> and the New Testament, knew the subject matter so well, the book took all of two weeks to write.
"My book was a response to all these historical claims," Ehrman said this week from his office on campus. "They're all wrong."

Though Dan Brown's wildly popular work has been the subject of a number of "debunking the myths" books in the popular press, Ehrman's is the first from a prominent academician who doesn't put a conservative religious spin on the issue.

Ehrman isn't defending any particular position in his book, he said -- just the truth. His book, Ehrman said, is a response to historical claims Brown makes in "The Da Vinci Code" about Jesus, Mary and the Gospels.

Among other claims which might shock a general reading audience, "The Da Vinci Code" contends that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and the two had a child, thus continuing Christ's bloodline.

In the book, a main character argues that the person to Christ's left in the Da Vinci painting is Mary Magdalene, thus proving she's a more important person to Jesus than has been believed.

This contention has its own set of problems, Ehrman said. First, even if the person is Mary Magdalene, it doesn't prove she was married to Jesus. And since the painting is supposed to depict Jesus dining with the 12 apostles, one apostle would be unaccounted for if the person in question is indeed Mary Magdalene, he said.

And even if you take the leap and accept that they were married, there is still no evidence at all that Jesus ever had a child, he added.

"The DaVinci Code," which is sold as a novel and isn't advertised as a work of non-fiction, also offers up the idea that Jesus very well may have been married because, at the time, it was quite rare for Jewish men to be single.

Also not true, Ehrman says. In fact, the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient writings discovered in caves near Jerusalem in 1947, were authored by a group of single, celibate Jewish men called The Essenes.

"The idea that a Jewish man couldn't be single is ludicrous," Ehrman said. "There were, in fact, single men in the ancient time and they had world views much like Jesus."

Further, a character in "The Da Vinci Code" refers to the Dead Sea Scrolls as one of Christianity's earliest writings. That claim, too, was a head-scratcher for Ehrman, pointing out once again the ancient scrolls were written by Jews.

"There's nothing Christian about the Dead Sea Scrolls," he said.

Even while poking holes in the popular novel, Ehrman said he isn't too bothered by it, in large part because while some readers may take its claims at face value, it isn't truly a scholarly work. In the introduction to his own book, Ehrman admits liking "The Da Vinci Code," calling it "a terrific page-turner."

"It gets people talking about Jesus and Mary Magdalene and Constantine, and I think that's all fine," he said. "The problem with it is that he begins the book by claiming all the documents he cites are factual. He's not a scholar."

Brown, who taught English before turning to writing, has generally declined to comment on his critics. He has said that the arguments are "healthy for religion."
Thanks to www.herald-sun.com. The article includes material from an Associated Press report.

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MEXICAN CHURCH SAID TO BE ˜GOLD DIGGERS" OFFER MIRACLES IN RETURN TO SERIOUS CASH

Their eyes wet with tears and their ears ringing from the wails and piped music of a ritual blessing, a group of women hastens up to the altar, each clasping banknotes worth two days' wages for many Mexicans.

"Who can give 200 pesos or more? Come up now," a young, slick-suited bishop purrs into a microphone, as pastors in ill-fitting dark suits with the menacing look of nightclub bouncers hold out a crimson velvet bag for the green notes worth roughly $18 (9.5 pounds).

"We want the best from God so we must give him the best. Come along, quickly," he says, in a strong Brazilian accent.

With Catholicism losing its lure for some, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), a Brazil-based evangelical Christian group that promises miracles for cash, is spreading fast in Mexico, the second-biggest Catholic country after Brazil.

Controverial movement, based in Brazil. UCKG - the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God - also uses the name "Stop Suffering."

Promotes word-faith theology with a particular emphasis on the seed-faith doctrine (i.e. if you want to receive money, healing or another blessing, you first must give or 'sow' money).

Since its theology and practices are far outside those of normal, biblical Christianity, this movement is considered to be, theologically, a cult of Christianity

Its global annual income is now pegged at some $1 billion, raised by millions of followers in more than 50 countries from Angola to Venezuela, including the United States and Europe.

While it has survived probes in Brazil and sharp criticism elsewhere, Mexico is investigating whether the church adheres to its regulations for religious groups.

The church says it is being "persecuted like Jesus was." But critics claim it skilfully manipulates the poor.

"They are panic-mongers. They work on people's despair and their message is very effective in poor sectors," said Latin American religion specialist Elio Masferrer in Mexico City.

"It's an organization structured to make money. Its growth here has been meteoric."

MIRACLES

The UCKG is classed as part of the neo-Pentacostal or charismatic movement -- a rebirth of Pentecostal beliefs with strong emphasis on physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit in individuals such as speaking in tongues and working miracles.

Since taking root here around 1992 and winning a license to preach in 2001, the UCKG has expanded its winning formula to 48 temples in Mexico. Some seat several thousand.

On top of regular donations, preachers urge followers to put as much as 50,000 pesos in envelopes with requests for God to be taken to holy sites in the Middle East.

Whereas most religions collect coins for church upkeep, the UCKG tells people desperate to save a dying loved-one, find a job or restore a broken marriage that a large donation could move God to help them.

"My boyfriend ran off and married another woman. Ever since, I suffer. I cry, I can't sleep. I want God to bring me peace," said Monica Priorio, 29, who has attended daily UCKG services in a grimy Mexico City district for a year.

"I'm unemployed but if I find a job I'll give a lot. A good service makes you want to give everything you have."

Flashy services take place several times a day in converted theatres across Mexico. Some include exorcisms.

Prosperity Teaching

The so-called 'prosperity teaching' is a scam. If this teaching works as advertised (i.e. you give money in order to receive more money, or another 'blessing') churches like the UCKG would never have to ask for money again. Instead, they would be giving away money in order to receive the promised return...

To crescendos of sugary piano music, the boyish preacher peppers his sermon with snappy prompts like: "Do you feel Jesus?" Some in the congregation wail and flail their arms.

Followers queue up for a healing blessing, in which pastors with contorted faces press on their heads and chant before flinging their hands away dramatically. As the music peaks some people weep, and the donation bags are brought out.

MONEY MACHINE

Founded in 1977 by Edir Macedo, the UCKG -- Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus in Portuguese -- soon reaped enough cash to buy a leading Brazilian television network, a bank, newspapers and radio stations.

"It has the marketing strategy of a big multinational," said Paris-based anthropologist and UCKG expert Marion Aubree.

"The problem is people give (money) freely. This church has used the miracle fairy tale like no other," said Aubree.

The UCKG denies misconduct, and followers say it brings them hope.

Its publications are packed with tales like the one of a penniless family that sent money to God and soon found itself in a luxury villa with a fleet of new cars.

"If your objective is high then so too must be the price of the sacrifice you pay," an editorial reads.

In mainly Catholic Mexico, evangelicalism has lifted the number of Protestants to 12 percent from 10 percent in 2000.

Macedo, a multi-millionaire, was probed for tax fraud in 1992 and linked to illegal drugs money. In 1995 a video showed him teaching pastors how to raise cash, pulling faces as he counted donations and saying the stingy could "go to hell."

More recently the church was probed in Britain over its money flows and placed on a blacklist in France.

"Most evangelical pastors are decent, respectable people, but this church is about making money," said Masferrer.

Some ex-members have tried to sue the church but hit a wall as collecting voluntary donations is not illegal.

Inside the Mexico City church, a sparkling white sanctuary from the filthy streets outside, pastors seek to convince first-timers. One, called Carmen, told Reuters her terminal lung cancer vanished days after she made a large donation.

"I went for a test and the doctor said: 'why are you here? there's nothing wrong with you.' God can move mountains."

Courtesy: www.swissinfo.or

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FT. PIERCE, FLORIDA, COLLEGE BANS ˜PASSION" BECAUSE OF R-RATING

Florida's Indian River Community College (IRCC) is engaging in a campaign of repression against a Christian student group for attempting to show Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ on campus. The college banned the Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) from showing the film because it was R-rated, despite the fact that the college has hosted a live performance entitled “F**king for Jesus” that describes simulated sex with the risen Christ. CSF students report that after their group wrote President Edwin R. Massey in protest, administrators pulled group leaders out of class and, astoundingly, demanded an apology from them for their actions. Now, CSF is unable even to officially meet because its advisor resigned after IRCC imposed a burdensome new policy requiring that faculty advisors attend all student group meetings.

IRCC's assault on CSF must end immediately," declared David French, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which wrote to IRCC on behalf of CSF. "Not only has the college adopted a breathtaking double standard for expression, but it has also abused administrative power in the worst way. As a public institution bound by the First Amendment, IRCC has no right to ban either the movie or the play, and it is shameful to demand an apology from students for trying to preserve their constitutional rights. IRCC's arbitrary and authoritarian actions demonstrate that the college has no respect for its students or for the U.S. Constitution."

FIRE Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Greg Lukianoff remarked: "If IRCC has consistently prevented adult students from showing R-rated movies on campus, it has imposed on them an unconstitutional, paternalistic, and patronizing rule. IRCC's recent actions make it more likely that IRCC has singled out The Passion of the Christ for censorship in an astonishing instance of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and abuse of administrative power. Either way, the college has shown extraordinary arrogance and foolishness."

"IRCC has also taken its policy of intrusive monitoring of student organization activities to absurd heights. In early December, one CSF student reported that an administrator and security guard interrupted a private discussion between her and a fellow student and demanded to know what they were doing. IRCC's enforcement of the unlawful new rule prohibiting club meetings without the presence of a faculty advisor makes it impossible for CSF, a group that would normally meet at least three times a week, to function as a recognized student organization, as it is unable to find a new advisor who can attend every group meeting."

"It is absurd that IRCC believes that a government representative must monitor the meetings and control the expressive activity of every student group. This requirement is as insulting as it is Orwellian," stated FIRE's French.

FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at our nation's colleges and universities.

COURTESY OF: thefire.org

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MERCY KILLLING TABOO IS ENDED BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

The Church of England took a radical step towards backing 'mercy killing' of terminally ill patients last night after one of its leading authorities said that there was a 'strong compassionate case' for voluntary euthanasia.



Canon Professor Robin Gill, a chief adviser to Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said people should not be prosecuted for helping dying relatives who are in pain end their lives. Last week Gill was sent by Williams to give evidence to a parliamentary committee investigating euthanasia.



Gill's stance marks a major shift by the Church of England and was welcomed by groups campaigning for a change in the law to allow for people to be helped to die under strictly limited circumstances.



'There is a very strong compassionate case for voluntary euthanasia,' Gill told The Observer . 'In certain cases, such as that which involved Diane Pretty [the woman who was terminally ill with motor neurone disease and who campaigned for the right to be helped to die], there is an overwhelming case for it.'



His claims were last night seized on by pro-euthanasia groups as evidence that the archbishop is prepared to engage in a debate on an issue that has long divided the clergy.



They described Williams's decision to send Gill to give evidence to the committee hearing Lord Joffe's private member's bill on assisted dying for the terminally ill as 'highly significant' and suggested that it represented a softening of the Church's attitude to mercy killings.



'The archbishop's choice of Gill represents a willingness to enter into a more constructive dialogue than before about this important issue. We hope it will encourage other members of the clergy to speak out openly in support,' said Deborah Annetts, chief executive of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society.



Gill's comments come after Brian Blackburn, a retired policeman who killed his terminally ill wife in a suicide pact, walked free from the Old Bailey last Friday with a nine-month suspended sentence.



The court heard that Blackburn's wife, Margaret, 62, had only weeks to live and had asked her husband to cut her wrists. Judge Richard Hawkins described the action 'as the last loving thing' Blackburn could do for his wife.



Annetts said the case confirmed that Gill was right to call for those involved in similar mercy killings not to be prosecuted.



'Christianity is about compassion, and one has only to look at the sad circumstances in the Blackburn case to recognise that the current law is not a compassionate response,' she said.



'Using the criminal law to determine end-of-life decisions is not medically, legally or ethically appropriate, nor is it a proper public policy approach.'



At the 1998 Lambeth Conference, Anglican bishops agreed that withholding excessive medical treatment when there is no 'reasonable prospect of recovery' was consistent with Christian princi ples. But Gill's new claims, which will be seen as having been endorsed by the archbishop, go much further and will rekindle the debate over the morality of mercy killings.



Gill acknowledged that the Church's views on euthanasia are divided and out of step with the majority of its congregation. 'Anglicans are not united on whether we should legalise euthanasia,' he said. 'The bishops have consistently shown they don't believe in changing the law, but the majority of churchgoers think it should be amended.'



Last week several leading clerics, including the Reverend Professor Paul Badham, who is also an expert on the morality of euthanasia, wrote to the Daily Telegraph arguing that helping the terminally ill end their lives was 'compatible with faith'.



'It worries us when organised religion is not sharing the heartfelt view of mainstream faith-based opinion in this country,' the clerics noted.



Gill stressed he did not believe relaxing the ban on euthanasia was the way forward. 'I feel that would make vulnerable people more vulnerable,' he said, but agreed the issue was a grey area.





COURTESY OF:UK religion news from The Guardian & The Observer.  www.guardian.co.uk/religion/0,2759,179375,00.html

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PRAYING CAN EXTEND LIFE, ACCORDING TO NEW UNIV. IOWA RESEARCH -- Jan 14, 2005

New research from the US - a country currently undergoing a religious revival - shows that regular churchgoers live longer than non-believers.

A 12-year study from the University of Iowa tracking mortality rates of more than 550 adults over age 65 found that those who attend services at least once a week were over three times more likely to live longer than those who never darkened the studded oak door. Psychology professor Susan Lutgendorf, who conducted the survey, says: "There's something beneficial involved in the act of religious attendance, whether it's the group interaction or just the exercise to get out of the house."

Over one in three of participants who never attended church died before the end of the study. By comparison, over eight out of 10 twice-weekly churchgoers survived. Regular attendance was associated with lower levels of Interleukin-6, a chemical linked to age-related diseases and stronger immune systems, plus reduced risk of heart disease.

But could it be that churchgoers just choose a safer existence and so reduce their health risks? While the researchers acknowledged that regular worshippers may be more generally abstemious, they insisted they had factored in these variants. Report co-author Robert Wallace even suggested that GPs prescribe a course of a church attendance for patients - to be taken at least once a week.


Thanks to source:  www.truthlover.com/news/2005/01/can-praying-really-make-you-live.html" 

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SCIENTOLOGY-RELATED CHARITY DENIED GRANT FOR TSUNAMI AID -- Jan.16, 2005

The city of Santa Clara, California, has declined a request from a group linked to the Church of Scientology that is seeking donations to assist orphans in nations struck by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

The Santa Clarita City Council was considering a $10,000 donation to Los Angeles-based International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance and ordered the city staff to conduct standard background checks, after foundation President Michelle Seward pleaded for cash before the panel Tuesday.

But City Manager Ken Pulskamp, on advice from the city attorney, decided against the donation when staffers found possible ties between the foundation and Scientology during the vetting process.

City spokeswoman Gail Ortiz said the First Amendment forbids government from making direct donations to religious groups, and that there will be no further discussion of the request by the City Council.
SOURCE:  www.dailynews.com

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