>X-POP3-Rcpt: hh@terra
>Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 11:46:49 -0700
>From: AMERICAN.ATHEISTS@listserv.direct.net
>Subject: [Atheist] AANEWS for May 17, 1996
>Sender: owner-aanews@listserv.direct.net
>Reply-To: aanews@listserv.atheists.org, AMERICAN.ATHEISTS@listserv.direct.net
>
>     nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
>     nnnnnnnnnn   AANEWS   nnnnnnnnnn
>     #41 uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu 5/17/96
>
>   In This Edition...
>   * Freemen Negotiator Loves Dogs, Not Gays Or Abortion.
>   * "Bo" Gritz (More)
>   * Mass Excommunication Lurks in Lincoln!
>   * Indian Election Puts Hindu Nationalists In Power
>   * TheistWatch: Prayer, Orgasms, The Shroud Of Turin -- Bingo!
>
>
>          FREEMAN STANDOFF FOCUSES ATTENTION ON COLO. LEGISLATOR
>   
>   As the confrontation between the Montana Freeman group and the FBI goes
>into its 54th day, a new negotiator is on the scene trying to end the
>standoff.  Colorado State Senator Charles Duke, flanked by two federal
>agents, held a fact-to-face meeting with Freemen yesterday, and plan to
>continue talks this afternoon.
>    About 20 members of the Freemen group are holded up on a ranch they call
>"Justus Township."  The group embraces a religious doctrine known as
>Christian Identity, which teaches a blending of white supremacist and
>biblical fundamentalist views.  
>   Last week, attempts by James "Bo" Gritz to mediate the standoff failed.
> Gritz has links to the militia and Christian Identity movements, and was the
>negotiator who helped end the 1992 confrontation between government agents
>and separatist Randy Weaver during the infamous "Ruby Ridge" shootout.
>   Senator Dukes is another political figure approved by the Freemen group as
>someone they would be willing to talk to.  In Colorado, he enjoys the
>reputation as a bit of a right-wing iconoclast.  He has served two years in
>the state Senate after a six year term in the House, and is now campaigning
>for  a position in the United States Senate.  
>   Duke, 54, denies that he is "some kind of wacko."  He has a professional
>background as an electrical engineer, and is a member of the high IQ club,
> Mensa.  His politics sometimes jumps across the political spectrum.  The
>Rocky Mountain News reports that Duke is "a bleeding heart when it comes to
>animals rights," but "despises" gays and abortion.  He also voted against
>building a Holocaust memorial "because he didn't believe the Nazi's had
>killed homosexuals," a theory advanced in a fundamentalist book called "The
>Pink Triangle."  Duke is also a supporter of the militia movement, but he
>insists that he does not know any of the Freemen personally,and does not
>consider himself to represent "either side" in the confrontation.  
>   "I think some of the methods are not the best they (Freemen) could have
>chosen, and they'll have to answer for that, but nothing they have done in my
>opinion merits their injury or taking their own life," Duke said yesterday.
>   Meanwhile, in Washington, Attorney General Janet Reno -- anxious to not
>repeat the government debacle of Waco and Ruby Ridge --  told a news
>conference that she hoped the confrontation with the Freemen would be
>resolved peacefully, and said she was "satisfied that we are pursuing that
>goal."
>                                                           **************
>
>                              GRITZ ~~ PLAYING BOTH SIDES, AND MEDIA?
>   
>   The role played by "Patriot Movement" Guru James Gritz has come in
>question, following the leak of secret documents which the ex-Green Beret
>supposedly wrote to the FBI.  While Gritz was presenting one face as a
>negotiator  to the mass media, he was apparently telling government agents
>that "A coordinated nonviolent strike against all four areas  on a moonless
>night might well result in capture of all 21 occupants (in the Freemen
>compound) without bodily injury to either side."
>  Gritz recommended the use of "Night vision, tasers (stun devices),
>flashbangs and chemical sprays in the hands of well-trained teams."  Such a
>raid would "re-establish the FBI as a law enforcement arm that is interested
>in peaceful solutions..."
>   According to the Denver Post, Gritz's report suggested that a "gang of
>four" were responsible for "keeping the rest" of the Freemen "in line." He
>also called the Freemen "a potpourri circus of over-the-hill outlaws, people
>with no past or future, victims of run-amok government, a pair of New York
>City scam artists, and three young girls."  Among the "gang of four" named by
>Gritz were Dale Jacobi and Rodney Skurdal.  AANEWS has detailed Jacob's role
>as a Christian Identity preacher who advocates the so-called "Two Seed"
>theory.  This religious doctrine states that the devil and Eve had sexual
>intercourse producing a "seed line" of jews, blacks and "mud people," while
>the white race came from a separate "Adamic" line.
>   Meanwhile, word this afternoon is that Colorado State Senator Charles Duke
>is "optimistic" about an impending end to the standoff.  Duke insists that
>while he "admires" Bo Gritz, the  Vietnam war hero was "buffaloed" by the
>convoluted doctrines of the Freemen.
>                                                        *************
>
>                DEADLINE COMES, PASSES ON MASS-EXCOMMUNICATION
>
>   May 15 came and went in Lincoln, Nebraska, but for thousands of diocesan
>Roman Catholics, their church membership may been been revoked.  Last
>Wednesday was the deadline for Catholics under the leadership of Bishop
>Fabian Bruskewitz to terminate their memberships, if any, in a dozen taboo
>groups ranging from Masonic Lodges to Planned Parenthood and Call to Action.
>  Bruskewitz announced the ban in March in the local Catholic newspaper; it
>applies to all of the 80,000 followers the Lincoln diocese claims to have.
> AANEWS noted in its April 15 edition that "while Bruskewitz insists that he
>intended for this to be only a local issue, it has set off debate throughout
>the church over some long-standing prohibitions, as well as the nature of
>church organization."
>                                                    Open (Hypocritical)
>Revolt
>   The Wednesday deadline seems to have prompted more grumblings in the Roman
>Catholic flock.  Members of Call to Action, a group which advocates
>ordination of married men and women into the church priesthood, said they
>would not give in to the Bishop's demand. One told the New York Times that
>the excommunication was "an effort to invoke spiritual capital punishment."
>Others insisted that they would openly defy the ban; one couple announced
> that they would continue to receive communion and had no intention of
>altering their behavior to obey the Bishop.
>   But back in April, AANEWS questioned the wisdom, and intellectual
>consistency of such actions. We wrote that these brushfires  within Roman
>Catholic ranks may not stem from "rational questioning of dogma, but due to a
>'warm and fuzzy' movement for 'democracy' and 'laity involvement' that is all
>the rage.  Everyone from women to gays wants 'in' on the action; the pomp and
>glamour of the church has basically been in the hands of select males for
>centuries, and now the sheep want a greater role in participating in the
>superstitious antics of the church."
>   Since unquestioning deference to ecclesiastical authority is integral to
>Catholic religious superstition, AANEWS encouraged straying sheep within the
>ranks to "Love it, obey it, or leave it...!"
>    Among the organizations on the Buskewitz hit-list are Freemasons, Planned
>Parenhood, Catholics for a Free Choice, Hemlock Society, DeMolay (Masonic
>boys), Eastern Star, and Rainbow Girls.  The Vatican has issued over
>two-dozen declarations or "Papal Bulls" against Masonry, and opposes
>voluntary suicide, as well as the ordination of married men, or any women
>into the ecclesiastical ranks.
>   Bruskewitz declared earlier this week that his threat of excommunication
>was for the purpose of "unmasking some people who previously had a very
>questionable relationship with the Catholic Church."  
>   Those who fall under Bruskewitz's diktat can either defy the order
>(secretly or openly),  leave the church, or return to good standing by
>confessing their transgressions and then doing penance.
>                                                                ********
>   
>                      HINDU NATIONALISTS TAKE POWER IN INDIA
> 
>   Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as India's first Hindu nationalist prime
>minister yesterday during a ceremony in New Delhi at the presidential palace.
> He replaces  Narashimha Rao, whose Congress Party ruled the country in all
>but four years since the nation won independence from Great Britain in 1947.
> Vajpayee's BHP, or Bharatiya Janata Party, was the single biggest vote
>getter in the recent national elections, but now the new prime minister faces
>the daunting task of putting together a workable coalition in the 545-seat
>Parliament, where BHP has only about one-third of the seats.  
>   Foreign and domestic observers are worried that BHP could over-turn the
>limited progressive reforms of the Rao government, and possibly establish a
>Hindu theocratic regime  and bring down another round of religious conflict.
> Muslims have already expressed their fears about the BHP, particularly its
>agenda for "one nation, one people, one culture," as stated in its 1996
>Election Manifesto.  Other points in the Manifesto include:
>   * "Faith in cultural nationalism which is the core of Hindutva.
>   * Construction of the enormous Ram Temple, a Hindu monument which "moves
>millions of people in our land."
>   * Enactment of laws which debar any public office holder who happens to
>have more than two children.  
>   The BHP has also vowed to protect the special status of the Hindu religion
>by stopping "foreign funding of religious and missionary organizations" and
>ending what it terms "fraudulent conversions," which would become a
>punishable offense.  
>   Critics note that the BHP's theocratic nationalism, though, is artfully
>concealed with a good deal of political rhetoric.  While the Hindu party
>"welcomes foreign investment", the Election Manifesto notes that "it will be
>allowed only in those areas which require high technology and high finance
>input."  Some fear that India's access to global communications media could
>suffer, especially if foreign programming or "outside corrupting influences"
>are censored.  And while the Party promises "radical changes" and
>"co-sharing" of power for women, it limits women to filling only a third of
>positions in any elected body.
>   BHP also vows to beef-up the military and pursue development of atomic
>weapons, a clear signal to neighboring Muslim countries like Pakistan.
>                                                     ***********************
>                                     THEISTWATCH SHORT SHOTS ...
> 
>   How DID this tid-bit of news slip by?  Earlier this month, a Milwaukee
>judge dismissed charges brought by a 73-year old woman against St. Florian
>Catholic Church.  Mary Verdev claimed that she suffered injuries when a
>300-pound board toppled from a stage during a church bingo tournament back in
>1990.  As a result, said Mary, she became sexually turned-on to women and
>even experienced spontaneous orgasms, "sometimes in clusters" according to
>Associated Press.  
>   But James Green, a church attorney was unimpressed.  "It is unexplained in
>modern medicine how a bump on the head can alter sexual orientation or cause
>recurring orgasms," he said.  The court agreed, especially after Verdev
>repeatedly refused to undergo a psychological exam.
>   Bingo!
>                                                                ********
>   More roadblocks on the Information Superhighway.  There's plenty of
>grumbling in Singapore, where government censors have constructed a veritable
>maze of rules and regulations concerning on-line materials, mostly  to
>protect people from hate literature, pornography, and anything which could
>possibly incite violence.  All political parties now have to get a license if
>they want to set up a web site, and erotic material is prohibited.  The State
>wants its version of the net to link schools, libraries and businesses.
>   Seems that Singapore passed its own version of the Communications Decency
>Act back in 1994; it covers areas well beyond  the internet, though.  As in
>Muslim countries, ownership of a direct satellite broadcast dish is
>prohibited.  One out of every three homes in Singapore has a computer, and
>there are some 100,000 people on the limited-internet.  Government plans call
>for everyone to be on-line by the year 2,000.
>   But that enthusiasm appears contradictory to many critics, especially
>given the numerous restrictions on content and programming.  Some even
>suggest that the government is trying to censor political opinions;
>Singapore's tough anti-graffiti laws, for instance, were written to deter
>writing of un-authorized political slogans in public.
>   One student at the Technological University said that the maze of rules
>was "like putting up a giant sunshade to make sure everybody's protected from
>ultraviolet, rather than relying on people to wear hats."
>                                                     *****************
>   Have we told you that the Roman Catholic Church is making its own plans
>for the upcoming Millennium Follies?  In Turin, Italy, Roman Catholic
>Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini has announced that the phoney, discredited Shroud
>of Turin will be dragged out of the closet for public consumption in 1998 and
>again in 2000.  The 14-foot long cloth has a "negative image" of what some
>believers insist is the body of Jesus Christ following the alleged
>crucifiction.  But extensive tests carried out on pieces of the Shroud say
>that it is only several hundred years old, from a period when the manufacture
>of religious fakes was very much in vogue.
>   Which goes to demonstrate that credulity and feckless belief are never out
>of style!
>                                                                 *****
>   A Superior Court judge in Washington, D.C. has quashed a proposal which
>would have placed a school prayer initiative on the local ballot in November.
> Judge Georffrey Alprin said that the move was "patently unconstituional."
> The proposal came after 16,000 people signed petitions to have the prayer
>initiative included; it would have allowed so-called "student initiated,
>voluntary" prayer. 
>                                                                     **
>   Where are all of those yapping, right to life types when it comes to
>salvaging a real, live family?  Not on the Connecticut Supreme Court.  That
>body has ruled that a hospital violated the constitutional rights of a
>Jehovah's Witness mom when it compelled her to get a blood transfusion after
>she experienced medical complications during childbirth.  Apparently,
>hospital officials were unaware that Nelly Vega, a JH, had signed papers
>refusing any blood transfusion, which is against her church's religious
>doctrine.  Doctors argued that this was necessary -- or her child would grow
>up without a mother.
>   This may indeed represent a case where individual, religious preference
>collides with social norms about family structure.  But under the proposed
>"Religious Equality Amendment", children born to JH couples could be denied
>life-saving medical care as well, all in deference to the "religious beliefs"
>of parents.
>                                                            **********
>   AANEWS is a free service of American Atheists, a nationwide movement
>founded by Madalyn Murray O'Hair for the advancement of Atheism, and the
>total, absolute separation of government and religion.  For more information
>about AA, just send e-mail to: info@atheists.org.  Be sure to include your
>name and address.
>   Additional information on this list may be obtained by sending e-mail to:
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>   You may forward, post or quote from this dispatch, provided that
>appropriate credit is given to American Atheists and the aanews.  Edited and
>written by Conrad F. Goeringer, The LISTMASTER.
>
>
>
>