-Caveat Lector-
from: AMERICAN ATHEISTS
subject: AANEWS for May 2, 1999
A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
AANEWS
#566 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5/2/99
http://www.atheists.org
ftp.atheists.org/pub/atheists/
http://www.americanatheist.org
---------------------------------------------
A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS
"For Reason and the First Amendment"
----------------------------------------------
In This Issue...
* Robertson -- from gold to platinum?
* JP-2 operating "sainthood factory"?
* Atheists ready to protest Day of Prayer
* TheistWatch -- it's about time!
* Resources
* About this list...
ROBERTSON SET TO LAUNCH INTERNET DEAL "WORTH BILLIONS"
Televangelist Pat Robertson and his new partner, Bank of Scotland,
have announced that they will be selling shares in an internet banking
service which according to financial sources "could be worth billions
of dollars," and a possible hot IPO (Initial Public Offering).
In March, the prestigious Bank of Scotland -- that country's second
largest financial institution -- announced that it was forming a joint
venture with Robertson to establish a suite of virtual financial
services. That news came amidst a flurry of other news linking the
Christian Coalition founder to business deals, including his
appointment to the board of the once-trendy Laura Ashley firm and his
involvement with the resurrection of the old Powerine oil refinery
near Los Angeles.
The announcement by Bank of Scotland generated a wave of protests in
the UK by religious groups who disagree with Robertson's political
agenda, as well as gays and others.
The Sunday Business newspaper is reporting that Bank of Scotland and
Robertson plan to promote their new internet financial service on the
NASDAQ exchange. Robertson predicted that the venture "would be a hot
initial public offering" and, that his partners at Bank of Scotland
"could be assured that with me it would be a runaway success..."
Toward that end, Robertson has reserved the name "Bank Direct USA" as
the moniker for the new venture, which both Sunday Business and the
Bloomberg financial report describe as possibly generating value
"worth billions of dollars."
While initial news coverage in the financial press suggested that this
new partnership involved Robertson as a private individual, Reuters
news service is reporting that Christian Broadcasting Network is a
player. CBN produces Robertson's folksy "700 Club" program carried on
cable outlets through the world.
Bank of Scotland will reportedly have 60% of the action in the new
virtual bank, which would do business over the internet and by
telephone. Robertson's share amounts to 25%, with the remained going
to a Milwaukee firm that will handle the processing transactions. The
partners are investing a reported $50 million in the venture;
Robertson told Sunday Business that the new bank hopes to reach $3
billion deposits within three years.
In other news, Robertson's move into the once-trendy Laura Ashley
company has resulted in a corporate shakeup. The company was an
international success story during the 1970s and 1980s, but declined
during the 1990s due to poor management and over-expansion.
Robertson, who owns 2 million share in the company, was named the
board of directors earlier this year, amidst a revolving door for the
company's CEOs, a 44% drop in stock value in the last 12 months, and
losses of $81 million on the books.
The restructuring of Laura Ashley involved bringing to the helm of the
company a new Chief Executive Office, Kwan Cheon Ng of Malayan United
Industries (MUI). MUI purchased 40% of Laura Ashley stock in the
deal. As reported earlier by AANEWS, MUI is a partner in China
Entertainment Broadcast, Ltd., an Asian firm which provides "no news,
no sex, no violence" cable TV programming throughout that region,
including over 500 cable systems in the Peoples' Republic of China.
Other principles in CET include Robertson and the powerful Riady
family of Indonesia, who control the Lippo financial group and have
been mentioned in connection with "soft money" political scandals in
the U.S.
Last week, Laura Ashley Holdings announced that it was selling its
U.S. holdings to MUI for $1. That move writes off $34.4 million in
debts. Ashley has also announced that it will now be raising new
capital to stabilize its UK and European operations, promising a
return underwritten by MUI and a private firm known as Bonham,
controlled by Ashley chairman Kay Peng Khoo.
**
POPE RUNNING "SAINT FACTORY"? JOHN PAUL BEATIFIES MONK
ACCUSED OF MENTAL ILLNESS, FRAUD, PHILANDERING
Is Pope John Paul II becoming the Mark McGwire of the Vatican's
saint-making machine? News reports of today's pontifical
beatification in Rome of "Pardre Pio, a Capuchin friar and mystic who
died in 1968, refer to a "saint factory," and show John Paul at the
top of the "Saint-O-Meter" for his sheer number of candidates for
holiness. Indeed, the current pope has canonized 283 saints since his
election in 1978, almost surpassing the record of all previous popes
in the past 407 years when official Vatican records were started.
Assuming that the aging pontiff survives and continues his frantic
pace of declaring persons to the sainthood, "John Paul II will enter
2000 as the most prolific saint-maker in history," notes Britain's
Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Today, an estimated 1 million faithful from around the world are
expected to converge on Rome for the beatification of Padre Pio, who
for fifty years reportedly exhibited a "stigmata," wounds replicating
the bleeding said to have been suffered on the cross by Jesus Christ.
During his lifetime, Padre Pio was the subject of two official
investigations conducted by Vatican authorities. There were claims
that he liked the intimate company of young women who wore perfume,
and had even inflicted stigmata wounds on himself using acid.
Pio was born Francesco Forgione in Pietrelcina, Italy in 1887. He is
described as having been a pious youth who regularly fell into
"trances" and hallucinating states of altered consciousness. He also
developed a habit of self-flagellation, a behavioral phenomenon which
some have speculated fuels those altered mental states and creations
visions or feelings of wholeness and transcendence. At age 31, he
joined a monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo, where reports of the
trances continued, along with stories of Pio awakening covered with
blood. Church authorities were skeptical, especially when a cult
emerged around Pio, and his followers began fighting over pieces of
cloth torn from his vestments. The Vatican then order the notorious
friar to celebrate his masses in private, and not display his wounds
in public.
Stories about the sanctity and miraculous character of Padre Pio
spread. One tale recounts that after hearing the suggestion that the
friar be exiled to a monastery elsewhere in Italy, Pope Pius XI
received a vision begging him to show mercy on Pio. It is also
claimed that during World War II, allied bomber pilots reported seeing
Padre Pio in the sky directing their attacks away from the San
Giovanni Rotondo. The friar was also described as having miraculous
healing powers; and in 1962, a Polish priest named Karol Wojtyla --
who later became Pope John Paul II -- wrote to Pio asking him to pray
for a women who was dying of cancer. Church authorities claims that
following Pio's intercession, the woman was examined by doctors and no
traces of cancer were found.
Pio has become the focus of a burgeoning "sainthood industry" complete
with rituals, sacred centers of pilgrimage, fantastic claims and
apocalyptic warnings. The Daily Telegraph notes that John Paul "has
steadily advanced the cause of Padre Pio," and the friar's
beatification today is considered a sure step on the road to full
canonization in the year 2000, part of the Vatican's much-hyped
"Jubilee" celebration. Up to 20 million religious from around the
world are expected to pour into Italy and Israel, some merely to
commemorate the new millennium, others to await the apocalypse and the
end of the world. Indeed, Padre Pio is the subject of web sites,
organizations, hundreds of books and a Catholic cult spurred by
reports of supernatural visions and fears of an immanent "Great
Chastisement" to punish the world before the Second Coming of Jesus.
Churning Out The Saints
Pio is just the latest of a flurry of saints and saints-in-waiting
being produced by Vatican authorities, mostly at the urging of Pope
John Paul II. In addition to the 283 declared saints, the current
pontiff has also ordered 819 beatifications. Ceremonies to beatify
Popes Paul VI and John XXIII are planned for later this summer. That
puts John Paul II clearly at the top of the "Saint-O-Meter" depicted
in today's edition of the Telegraph paper.
Some of the sainthood choices, though, are prompting controversy. The
theocratic dictator and 15-th century Girolamo Savonarola was approved
last month. John Paul also attracted controversy early in his
pontificate when he beatified Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the
founder of the Opus Dei group who was a virulent anti-Semite and
fascist sympathizer. Today, Opus Dei has been elevated to the status
of a "Permanent Prelature" headquartered in Rome, and answerable
directly to the pope; it lead's the Vatican's worldwide efforts to
combat heresy, abortion rights, birth control and other culture war
issues high on the Holy See's list of priorities.
John Paul's enthusiasm for operating this "sainthood factory" stems in
part from the approach of the Year 2000 celebrations, and his record
as a media-savvy pontiff. Italian commentator Giuliano Ferrara told
the Telegraph, "The Pope is very sensitive to the needs of the mass
media," and singled out the Vatican's decision to elevate Edith Stein,
a Jewish-born nun who died in Auschwitz. There is also the perceived
need to create celebrities which "common folks" can identify with;
many recent candidates for sainthood include gypsies, itinerant
preachers, even an illiterate horse trader known as El Pele who was
shot during the Spanish Civil War.
All of this has called for streamlining and downsizing the Holy See's
cumbersome bureaucracy which often spent decades evaluating the lives
and deeds of potential saints. Escriva was beatified after a mere 17
year period, and since then the "fast track" to sainthood has been
greased even more. In 1983, the Vatican issued new and easier
guidelines for declaring a person fit for sainthood, and did away with
the office of the Devil's Advocate, a church scholar charged with
"casting a critical and challenging eye over the evidence," according
to the Telegraph.
**
ATHEISTS PREPARING TO CHALLENGE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
American Atheist Directors and members are gearing up to challenge the
1999 National Day of Prayer scheduled for this Thursday, May 6. In
addition to letters to public officials and media warning against
possible constitutional violation, protest events are planned in Texas
and California. Log on to the American Atheist Flashline web site at
http://www.atheists.org/flash.line and click on the NDOP protest icon
for the latest information!
**
THEISTWATCH SHORT SHOTS
A group representing several Christian denominations says that it
wants to apologize for the slaughter and destruction of the Crusades.
Members of the "Reconciliation March" have announced that they plan to
distribute folders and other apologetic materials to Jews, Muslims and
Eastern Christians whose forefathers were victimized by the Crusader
invasions that swept Europe and the Middle East nine centuries ago.
Representatives are now meeting with Israelis and Palestinians
throughout Jerusalem. A spokesman declared, "Exactly 900 years ago
Christians visited this land with a sword and a spirit of vengeance in
a manner contrary to teachings and character of Jesus. We hope we
will start to end that legacy and start on a new track..."
**
Women throughout Africa being charged with "witchcraft" are being
hunted down and put to death, according to media accounts and reports
from human rights organizations. In Bihar, more than 400 alleged
witches have been strangled, stoned to death or dispatched with knives
in the past six years.
"In every 10th or 15th house in every village, you'll find a woman
who's been branded a witch," says Ajay Kumar, an attorney with the
Free Legal Aid Committee funded by Action Aid and the Oxfam group.
"No one talks to them, children are told to stay away, and they're
banned from village ceremonies and festivals." Other reports show
that victims who survive attacks were severely beaten, compelled to
swallow excrement, and forced to endure other indignities.
Few of these human rights violations ever reach the ears of
authorities, let alone end up in the impoverished court systems. But
in South Africa, police forces have recently introduced a special
"witch protection program" to assist women fleeing the hysteria. The
accused are often burned to death and dismembered for genitals, hands,
the head and other limbs which then become objects bringing "good
luck" to the perpetrator of the crime. Witch doctors -- Inkagna --
frequently offer to "sniff out" a witch in exchange for money or
material goods.
**
How far will the hysteria go? We've been asking that question in
connection with the ongoing media and political hype following the
slayings nearly two weeks ago at Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colorado. Thirteen youngsters and a teacher were killed in a shooting
spree carried out by two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold; the
two apparently committed suicide in the midst of the mayhem.
The grieving turned into a mass spectacle, though; the number of
"victims" as defined by the news media quickly mushroomed -- much like
the inflationary process said to have taken place in the earliest
moments of the Big Bang -- swelling from the original murdered
students to include families, students at Columbine, their families
and relatives, and soon the entire community of some 40,000 people.
The numbers soared from there, with 70,000 weeping and praying people
showing up last Sunday for a state-sponsored memorial service.
Preachers and politicians boosted the figures even more; now,
everyone, alive and kicking, in the comfort of the local church or
watching the television news, has become a "victim" and mourner, and
presumably is on a quest in the "search for answers" behind the
shootings.
With the victims buried, it has become incumbent to find new foci for
lamentation and/or indignation. The Denver convention of the National
Rifle Association proved to be as good a target as any, and we can
safely assume that the same 8,000 or so protesters outside the NRA
meeting would have been just as recklessly quick to picket, say, a
gathering of video game designers, or maybe even a publishers
convention. Imagine if the Adult Expo had come to Denver, instead of
New York City? Every artifact and manifestation of popular culture,
from movies and CDs to television programming and, yes, those damn
godless, atheist commies who kicked Jesus out of our classrooms, is
becoming fair game for this latest outburst of public indignation.
The mania has reached the point where in the foreseeable future, a
high school student wearing a trench coat may be about as scarce as a
politician who turns out soft money campaign contributions. So, don't
be surprised to see the knee-jerk cancellation of anything which
"offends" the newly energized sense of public propriety and
wholesomeness now redolent in the Rocky Mountain State. To wit: the
NBC apocalyptic thriller "Atomic Train" will not be airing in Denver
thanks to a decision made by station KUSA.
It seems that the two-part thriller, set to broadcast May 16-17, has
"eerie parallels" with the shootings at Columbine High, according to a
story in the Denver Post. KUSA President and General Manager Roger
Ogden says that he screened the four-hour film along with 15 station
personnel, and "We reached consensus pretty quickly." "Atomic Train"
was judged "incompatible with the current mood in the city."
And what about those "eerie parallels," anyway? Apparently, some of
the action scenes include shootings with sawed-off shotguns and "bad
guys in long black raincoats."
All of this may meet with approval from Bill Bennett, C.Delores
Tucker, and even their liberal counterparts who, increasingly, want to
"explore options" to find ways of getting church and state more
involved in the business of trying to regulate what people of any age
will be permitted to see, hear, or read. So far, everyone still seems
obliged to begin their politician cant by reminding us, "I'm not
against the First Amendment, but..." If the hysteria continues,
though, even this preemptory rhetorical gesture will be dispensed
with; then we can all get down to the serious and always urgent
business of censorship.
**
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