-Caveat Lector-
Hi !
IMO, it is very important that we defend the existence of ritual abuse in the media.
If at all possible, please send two letters to the people below.
About a month and a half ago, members of the FMSF attempted to try to pressure FVSAI to take two ritual abuse presentations off of their program. The attempt failed and IMO, FVSAI should receive thank you letters from survivors.
The web address with FVSAI's rebuttal letter is at http://www.fvsai.org/FVSAI_rebuttal.htm This address also has contact information for FVSAI
Recently, there was a letter in the San Diego Union Tribune from Mark Sauer attacking the inclusion of these two topics in the conference. We should send as many letters to the Tribune as possible about this. My letter is followed by the article below.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
sent 9/22/02
I was very disappointed to read the one sided article "Abuse or Unfounded Fear?"
By Mark Sauer (9/21/02). The existence of ritual abuse is a fact. There have been many criminal cases and research studies showing that ritual abuse exists, and it should definitely be included as a topic at any conference dealing with child abuse. The Ritual Abuse Task Force of the L.A. County Commission worked on this topic for many years.
In the book, "Cult and Ritual Abuse" - Noblitt and Perskin (Praeger, 1995) "One of the best sources of evaluative research on ritual abuse is the article "Ritual Abuse: A Review of Research" by Kathleen Coulborn Faller (1994)in a survey of 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association, it was found that 30 percent of these professionals had seen cases of ritual or religion-related abuse (Bottoms, Shaver Goodman, 1991). Of those psychologists who have seen cases of ritual abuse, 93 percent believed that the reported harm took place and 93 percent believed that the alleged ritualism occurred" and "Nancy Perry (1992) also conducted a national survey of therapists who work with clients with dissociative disorders and she found that 88 percent of the 1,185 respondents indicated "belief in ritual abuse, involving mind control and programming"
There are also lists of court cases on the internet describing court cases pertaining to ritual abuse at http://www.newsmakingnews.com/karencuriojonesarchive.htm
I hope that in the future the Union Tribune will print unbiased articles about this topic, so these horrible crimes can be stopped.
Neil Brick
http://members.aol.com/smartnews/index2.html
editor of SMART
P O Box 1295
Easthampton, MA 01027
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This article from the Union Tribune may be very triggering for survivors.
Abuse or Unfounded Fear?
Either way, talks to delve into ritual child torture
By Mark Sauer STAFF WRITER
September 21, 2002
In the fall of 1993, a jury returned a swift and resounding
not-guilty verdict in the longest, costliest and most bizarre
criminal trial in San Diego history.
The Dale Akiki case featured tales of animal sacrifice
(including giraffes and elephants), blood and water torture
rituals, several murders and various other allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of preschoolers.
When the former volunteer at a Spring Valley church day
care was acquitted after 21/2 years in jail awaiting trial,
jurors said the only crime committed in the case was the
misguided prosecution itself.
Their verdict in the seven-month trial ââ coupled with the
$2 million Akiki got to settle his wrongful-prosecution
lawsuit ââ was widely seen as driving a stake through the
heart of America's ritual abuse witch hunt.
But now the controversial notion of children being
tortured and terrorized by an underground network of
satanists and other ritual abusers is making a comeback in
San Diego.
The occasion is the seventh International Conference on
Family Violence, which will attract 1,500 social workers,
therapists, prosecutors and defense attorneys, doctors,
nurses and police from around the world for a week of
workshops on various kinds of physical, sexual and
emotional abuse.
At least two of the sessions will focus on ritual abuse,
which the conference program describes as, "the
organized, systematic use of children in brutalizing
ceremonial acts."
District Attorney Paul Pfingst expressed grave concerns
that a widely attended and influential conference would
feature workshops on ritual abuse, since he has seen no
evidence that such cases exist. That view is shared by the
FBI, which spent a decade searching in vain for a valid
ritual abuse case.
The conference on abuse is set for next week at the Town
Country Convention Center in Mission Valley. It is
being hosted by the Family Violence Sexual Assault
Institute (FVSAI), a nonprofit training center based at San
Diego's Alliant University.
Robert Geffner, conference director, said ritual abuse is
recognized as valid by "most people in the field" and
defended including the workshops.
The
