ALABAMA
Evangelist Hurls Insults at Funeral
The Associated Press
LOXLEY -- An evangelist who was asked to sing at his wife's uncle's funeral claims he had a revelation from God that led him to insult mourners and say that the dead man was damned.

CALIFORNIA
Atheists aren't viewing pledge ruling as godsend
The Orange County Register
Last week's Pledge of Allegiance debate reaffirmed at least one political lesson: While elected officials usually try not to offend anyone, there's one group no one worries about alienating - atheists who believe in the nation, though not in a deity.

Just a little spiritual healing
The Modesto Bee
Psychics and palm readers don't always bring happy thoughts. Sometimes the tarot cards just don't turn up right. And figuring out how quantum physics and spirituality dovetail into harmonic happiness can be mind-boggling.

NEW YORK
Hasidim, Small in Number, Flex Clout
Offer NY lawmakers a reliable voting bloc
Newsday
KIRYAS JOEL -- Twelve years ago, parents in this Hasidic enclave demanded that New York State create a school for their disabled children. They wanted better care than was offered in local private yeshivas while still sheltering students from the outside world.

WASHINGTON
Atheist leader objects to post-Sept. 11 fervor
The News Tribune
"Amid the post-Sept. 11 fervor mixing God and country, atheists feel isolated and left out, says American Atheists President Ellen Johnson. When people sing "God Bless America" or pray for the country at public ceremonies concerning the terrorist attacks, atheists sit silent. They feel marginalized - even angry, says Johnson, who is visiting the Seattle area today for a regional meeting of atheists."

AUSTRALIA
Witchcraft wins converts
news.com.au
Witchcraft is the fastest-growing religion in Australia. Census figures show an increasing number of worshippers are looking towards the earth, rather than the heavens, in search of God.

HONG KONG
Buddhists Set Animals Free
The Associated Press
HONG KONG - Chanting and cheering, hundreds of Buddhists sent the fish on a swim for freedom, putting them onto a pair of stainless steel slides that dropped off the side of a ferry into the South China Sea.

Falun Gong protesters target Jiang
Hong Kong iMail
About 150 Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated outside the Immigration Tower in Wan Chai yesterday as part of an attempt to petition President Jiang Zemin over treatment of the sect.

Falun Gong kept out of Jiang's sight
CNN
HONG KONG -- As Chinese President Jiang Zemin's motorcade slipped out from the Hong Kong Convention Center, well hidden behind the bulk of the 27-storey Wanchai Tower some 100 members of a group Beijing has labeled an "evil cult" sat in silent meditation.

ISRAEL
Israel bars Louis Farrakhan
The Jerusalem Post
Israel has informed Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan that he will not be allowed to enter the country during his current Middle East tour. Farrakhan, who in the past has praised Hitler and referred to Judaism as a "gutter religion," is in the religion "to help solve this [the Middle East] problem."

NIGERIA
Detectives Monitor Suspected Ritualist Lawmaker
This Day
LAGOS -- Security agencies in Bauchi have set up a squad to ensure a 24-hour surveillance on the embattled House of Representatives member from Bauchi State (names withheld), who has been accused of involvement in ritual murders across the country.

PHILIPPINES
Detained cult leader insists packs of shabu not his
Inquirer News Service
CEBU CITY - Detained cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. has asked the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office to dismiss the charges of possession of illegal drugs filed against him, claiming that the packs of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) found in his luggage at this city's jail were "planted."

Rise of cults wake-up call for Church
Inquirer News Service
The recent exposure of the massive membership of Filipinos in cults following the arrest of a leader of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association should serve as a wake-up call for the Catholic Church to "evangelize" its members.

VENEZUELA
Venezuelans flock to 'spiritism' cult
Hundreds seek mediums in mountain shrine for healing power, wisdom
The Houston Chronicle
SORTE -- The reverberating thud of wooden drums rises to a fever pitch as smoke from cheap cigars envelops the candle-lit clearing. The crowd shouts "strength! strength!" as Naudi Jose Ramos jerks and shudders before a fruit-laden altar.

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