A three-year enquiry funded by the Department of Health has concluded that Satanic ritual abuse does not exist.
The report by Jean La Fontaine, Emeritus Professor of social anthropology at the London School of Economics and a renowned expert on cults and child abuse, was commissioned in 1991 after a number of well publicised cases where allegations had been made of child abuse and sacrifice by groups of witches. These included cases in Rochdale and the Orkney Isles, where nine children were snatched in dawn raids.
Professor La Fontaine had access to all relevant files held by those police forces and social services departments which had investigated allegations of Satanic ritual abuse. She found no evidence to substantiate any of 84 cases in the period 1988-91 where children were alleged to have been abused during black magic rites.
The report also provides the first official definitions of Satanic and ritual abuse, and clearly differentiates between them. "Rites that allegedly include the torture and sexual abuse of children and adults, forced abortion and human sacrifice, cannibalism and bestiality may be labelled satanic or satanist.
"Their defining characteristic is that the sexual and physical abuse of children is part of rites directed to a magical or religious objective."
She found three cases which could be classed as ritual abuse but "In these cases the ritual was secondary to the sexual abuse, which clearly formed the primary objective of the perpetrators. the rituals performed in these cases did not resemble those that figured in the allegations in the other 81 cases."
Children had genuinely been sexually abused in some of the cases studied, but did not involve the alleged Satanic abuse. In these situations, treating the case as Satanic had caused further problems.
Professor La Fontaine also examined the origins of the scare, and the manner in which it spread.
"The Evangelical Christian campaign against new religious movements has been a powerful influence encouraging the the identification of satanic abuse. Equally, if not more, important in spreading the idea of satanic abuse in Britain are the 'specialists', American and British. They may have few or even no qualifications as professionals but attribute their expertise to 'experience of cases'. Their claims or qualifications are rarely checked."
She suggested that social workers were inclined to believe in the Satanic abuse myth because it offered an explanation of why parents could harm their own children.
In examining the disclosures allegedly made by young children, she found they were influenced by adults and that some had been pressured or coached by their mothers.
The report condemns the interview techniques used to obtain evidence from the children."The interviews during this period were frequently poorly conducted. Too-frequent interviewing, leading questions, contamination, pressure and inducements to agree to suggestions, may have resulted from the anxiety of the interviewers to find out what happened.
"As a result of the way in which it was collected, recorded and transmitted, the evidence said to represent children's disclosures was unreliable and misleading. What is defended as 'what children say' may be nothing of the sort."
The report was submitted to the Department of Health in early March. A publication date has not been released, but it is expected to be some time in May.
Source: The Independent on Sunday, 24/4/94, p1
A candidate for the British Columbia provincial legislature has had his nomination taken from him because his party, the ruling New Democratic Party (roughly equivalent to Labour) found out he is Wiccan.
Samuel Wagar, organiser of Pagans for Peace and a pastor in the North American-wide Covenant of the Goddess Church, secured the nomination to run for Matsqui in a by-election but was forced to resign by party leader in the province of British Columbia when the party discovered that Wagar is Pagan and "worships a horned god, dancing around a fire in the nude"
Interestingly enough the party in question has passed a law -- Bill 33, the Human Rights Amendment Act -- which allows anyone who has been discriminated against for any reason to bring the case to a human rights tribunal, with the power to impose fines of up to $100,000 CDN. The only route of appeal is to the Supreme Court of Canada which requires at least $100,000 in legal fees, and a wait of several years.
Wagar is considering filing a complaint against the party with the BC Human Rights Council for infringing on his constitutionally protected freedom of religion. and has asked for a complete and public apology from Premier Mike 'Bonehead' Harcourt. Harcourt said he would not be making one.
A local television station held a phone-in poll on Friday 28th January to find out if viewers felt Sam Wagar's freedom of religion had been violated. There were 3291 calls and 73% of callers voted "yes". These results were forwarded to the Premier's office.
The NDP leaders insist they are only concerned that Wagar didn't mention his religion during the nomination process. NDP provincial secretary Keith Reynolds told the Vancouver Sun "it's the sort of information I think people might consider relevant when they decide whether someone should be a candidate or not.
"At this point, this is purely a disclosure issue, It's something we have to examine."
Wagar see things differently, "It was my understanding that I should disclose only relevant information, which I interpret as being such things as financial interest, or organisational affiliation that may constitute a conflict of interest," he said in an interview, "It wasn't like I had to fill out a form or anything.
"My religion is not relevant to anyone but me, it is not a campaign issue, and frankly it is no one's business but my own," he said. "This is a tempest in a teapot."
Source: Usenet [alt.pagan]
A crusade against Wiccans has been launched in an American town with the approval of the local mayor, Mark Froehlich. He announced there was no place for witchcraft and satanism in his town at a council meeting, and that he would do everything he could to eradicate such things. He encouraged councillors to do what they thought was right to get rid of witchcraft. At a later meeting a suggestion to bring in the Ku Klux Klan to clear out the Wiccans and heathen was cheered. The mayor suggested waiting a fortnight so the media wouldn't catch them at it.
A.J. Drew runs a bookshop in Obetz, Ohio. The shop stocks books on astrology for love and sex, but keeps them under glass and does not sell them to minors. A local pizza parlour owner suggested in council that this shop be firebombed, which amused the local police chief. A firebombing has now been called for in three council meetings, with no response from the police. The mayor, an attorney, refused to shake the hand of Drew's attorney -- a Wiccan.
The local fire department have joined in. They have decided that candles in the shop constitute a bonfire, and contravene fire regulations.
Pagans are not the only people suffering harassment in Obetz. A local Jewish woman told Drew a swastika had been burned in her front yard, 60 "for sale" signs put on her lawn and the side of her house burned. The swastika burner was sentenced to just 2 weeks civil duty (community service). Her children were told in school that Jews have tails, green blood and ate their first young.
This school also breaks constitutional law by doing the Lord's Prayer. The council start all their meetings by joining hands and reciting the same prayer. The Constitution of the United States is meant to separate government and religion.
Despite the obvious breaches of the Constitution, the local branch of the ALCU (equivalent to Liberty) seem uninterested in the case. Drew would win easily if he took his case to the Supreme Court, but this would cost about $3 million.
Source: Usenet [alt.pagan]
A local council in Cheshire has announced plans which could lead to the recycling of 98% of rubbish by 1995. The current government target is for a mere 25% of waste to be recycled by the turn of the century.
With a private-sector partner, Labour-controlled Halton Borough Council will also create up to 100 jobs with their Halton Biomass scheme.
Rubbish will no longer go to landfill sites, but to a local recycling complex. Here, recoverables such as metal and glass will be sent to commercial recycling schemes, both new and existing.
A series of on-site recovery areas will process organic waste. These will take the form of a covered, artificial lakes. The heat from waste decomposition will allow breeding of prawns, crayfish and similar seafood without the use of growth hormones. These will be sold to fishmongers.
When the waste has broken down fully, the compost will go for agricultural use--it will also support the growth of trees and other plants on-site. A methane gas extraction facility will convert the gas produced as a waste product into electricity.
To attract visitors, the site will feature a garden centre and conservation area.
The council hope that the scheme will act as standard bearer for other authorities to follow and will prove that recycling does not cost the Earth rather than saving it.
Source: Greenbits
The parents of five Colorado Springs children are suing a local church which baptised the children without the parents' knowledge or consent.
Cornerstone Baptist Church sent out flyers for a 'carnival'. It was advertised as a place to leave children for the day. A few days later, the local newspaper reported an allegation that the pastor had baptised all of the children there without their parent's consent. The pastor did not deny this and claimed that the flyer informed parents of this. This was not true, the flyer simply referred to 'religious activities'.
"We're charging them with outrageous conduct, battery, false imprisonment and negligence", attorney Ed Farry Jr. told the Rocky Mountain News [24/8/93]. Farry filed the lawsuit against Cornerstone Baptist Church and its pastor, Dean Miller.
"Forcing the children to disrobe, we believe, is outrageous. Telling them they're going to the devil or be stung by bees is outrageous. We believe dunking them is offensive; touching, and that is battery. We believe enticing them with a carnival, then making them go into a small room and be baptized before letting them go is false imprisonment."
This is not the first time this particular church has deceived children. A local Pagan parent reported that a young friend of his stepson "invited him to attend a meeting of something like the Cub Scouts that was 'just getting started'. He came back with a sticker and some other trinket for memorizing "...and God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son " I asked him if he knew what it meant, and of course he said no. All he knew was that if he did what they asked, they would give him other toys and praise."
Source: Usenet [alt.pagan]
Apple Computer recently suffered a well organized phone-fax-mail attack by the Religious Right, demanding that Apple Computer drop its policy of non-discrimination against lesbian and gay employees.
This round of hate-mongering was spearheaded by the same groups responsible for anti-gay legislative initiatives including those in Colorado and Oregon, according to Apple Computer employees.
Many of the calls regarding its non-discrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits for gay and lesbian employees were made by people from Texas, Colorado and Oregon and at one point were running 500 callers in opposition to every 1 in support of current policies.
Apple Computer helped lead the way in Silicon Valley's pursuit of equal rights for lesbian and gay employees. The Company's non-discrimination policy, which includes benefits for same-sex partners of employees, has been copied by a growing number of leading high-tech corporations around the US. Apple Computer has also donated substantial amounts of product to gay and lesbian and AIDS non-profit groups.
In December in Moscow, Idaho, 15 Earth First! members were found guilty of several trespassing-type misdemeanors related to their protests of logging activities in the Nex Perce National Forest. Federal judge Edward Lodge suspended the prison sentences of the activists provided that they either get a job or go back to college. Source: Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Dec93 via News of the Weird 28/1/94
The Environmental Assessment Center in Okayama, Japan, announced in October that it had manufactured an experimental sausage out of recycled Tokyo sewage by adding soybean protein and steak flavoring to "sewage solids." A company spokesman said, "[S]ewage isn't really such a dangerous and dirty thing." However, he did not foresee commercially marketing the sausage: "Sewage does have a slight image problem. I don't think people will be content eating something they know has been excreted by humans." [Boston Globe-Reuters, 7/10/93] via NoW5/11/93
The Prattle has obtained an eye-witness report of police brutality at a Beltaine party last year in Provedence, Rhode Island, USA.
Someone from the local college, RISD, organised a May Day celebration in an old abandoned train tunnel. People turned up from as far as Boston, Connecticut and Maine. The witnesses arrived just after midnight and report
"...it was a pretty scary secne, People went back into the tunnel for about 100 yards. There were fires everywhere (both on the ground and torches). A lot of what was burning smelled pretty toxic and the smoke got so thick that you could hardly see through it. It was pretty spooky -- everyone was dressed really weird, there were a lot of masks, drums, and chanting. We saw a pit surrounded with candles and a fake human head inside. We didn't go very far in because we got scared (we had gotten stoned and were kind of bugging out a little). It looked dangerous because everyone seemed fucked up and the ventilation was bad and we were afraid that a lot of people were going to get caught.
"Just as we climbed back up the hill to the street, the cops began to show up. First it was RISD police and security, and then real cops showed up. It was just a few at first, but the crowd was so big that more cops soon showed up.
"We were watching from a ledge, and we didn't think that the cops were going to be able to stop the crowd.
"Eventually we heard that they were tear gassing people, but I didn't really believe it until people started pouring out of the tunnel coughing.
"Most of the people moved up onto the street, but when the cops started to try to arrest the organiser of the celebration, all hell broke loose. People began to encircle the patrol car. They were yelling at the cops. The cops somehow got him into the car and more cops showed up.
"People were still yelling and some threw rocks as the cops began to attack people with their night sticks. Someone jumped on a cop car and smashed the rear windshield, some more rocks flew (one at least hit a cop in the head).
"One cop shot tear gas in our direction, but we ran and didn't breathe any.
We saw some people rushing a girl into a house and we went in to see if we could help. She had been tear gasssed point blank in the face, and was complaining that her eyes were burning (she had a hard contact in that she couldn't pop out) and that she couldn't breathe. No one knew what to do, but they got some water and began to flush her eyes out. She was really flipping out.
"Meanwhile, the crowd and cops were spreading up our way. One girl hit a cop with a rock and then ran into an alley behind our house and hid behind a dumpster. The cop ran into the alley, but went past the dumpster and the girl slipped out and escaped past the reinforcements."
The witnesses then went on to a Pagan celebration in Prospect Park. People were drumming and dancing. The police showed up and demanded everyone leave, which they did. There was one arrest at the ritual.
The two local TV stations took opposing stances on the trouble. The witnesses spoke to a reporter the following day and filled him in on the details. The reporter had obtained a flyer for the event and thought it was satanic!
One of the news teams was anti-police, asking questions such as "So, kids were just partying, maybe drinking a little and having a good time, until the police showed up, right?".
The other team decided it was a Satanic ritual.
Some students were charged, but others are suing the police over the brutality. There is plenty of video footage.
The local mayor was not sympathetic at all. His response was "You'd think that they'd teach them not to attend Pagan rituals and light fires " and expressed his disappointment that it was "bright students".
Source: Usenet [alt.pagan]
Conservation groups and wildflower seed sellers are furious at EC plans to force non-native seeds to be planted on road verges.
Proposed "free trade" regulations mean that landscaping schemes would have to use Euro-seed, ignoring the need to protect local flora from invasion.
Conservationists are hoping for a change of heart from the Eurocrats before this new form of motorway madness comes into effect.
Source: Greenbits
In September, according to prosecutors, Dan Koenigsberg schemed to harass Mel Henderson, the only black member of the Teaneck, N. J., city council, during a meeting being shown live on local TV. Koenigsberg hired a messenger to dress in a gorilla costume and to bring Henderson a bunch of bananas, a toy monkey, and two balloons with drawings of monkeys on them. Koenigsberg later apologized in a letter to a local newspaper: "My intention was not to bring race into the political debate." [Newark Star-Ledger, Dec93 via NoW 18/2/94]
In August, delegates to the national convention of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith in Charleston, W. Va., celebrated by wearing stylish hats, as socialites do at events such as the Kentucky Derby. Said one delegate, "We glorify God when we wear hats." Many delegates brought hat wardrobes with them, and fourteen hat vendors set up booths at the convention. [Morgantown Dominion Post-AP, 12/8/93 via NoW5/11/93]
The Jerusalem News Service reported in June that chemist Rabbi Moshe Antelman has invented a bullet that he believes will do more than merely kill Islamic fundamentalist terrorists physically. The bullets contain small amounts of pork, and many Moslems believe that any contact with swine will kill their souls. [Nazarene News Service, 2/7/93 via NoW 26/11/93]
A November presentation at the Central Pentacostal Church in Edmonton, Alberta, on the virtues of abstinence for the unmarried, was called "Maximum Sex." [Alberta Report, 1/11/93 via NoW 3/12/93]
Jacqueline Clinton, 29, was found guilty of manslaughter in Toledo, Ohio, in January in the shooting of her boyfriend. According to her, the shooting occurred during an argument over differing interpretations of the Bible. [Toledo Blade, Dec93 via NoW 4/2/94]
In October, Blue Shield of Idaho and Blue Cross of Idaho demanded the return of payments they mistakenly made to now-suspended psychologist Terry Clapp for treatments of several people with multiple personality disorders. Based on testimony at Clapp's disciplinary hearing, his preferred treatment of that disorder was exorcism, which the insurers said they do not cover. [American Medical News, 25/10/93 via NoW 18/2/94]
Beijing's official Heilongjiang Legal News publication reported in January that the wife of Zhang Jingui, following the advice of a fortune-teller on how to improve marital relations, cut off his penis with a pair of scissors. The fortune-teller had concluded that the problem in the relationship was Zhang's faulty organ and that the wife's only hope was to remove it so that a new one would grow. [Chicago Tribune-Reuters, Jan94]via NoW 18/2/94]