Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@aol.com>]

Cult Shock
BY TIM LARIMER
TIME

http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020708-268236,00.htm

l

"During a thundershower of biblical proportions, hundreds of people dash
from a train station in the Tokyo suburb of Kawaguchi, across a bricked
plaza and into a modern civic center. Inside, there are English lessons on
the 11th floor, "welcome to kabuki world" on the first floor, a seminar on
working at home on the sixth floor. It's a busy night for the
self-improvement crowd. But the main attraction on this Tuesday night in
late June is holding forth in the auditorium. There, more than 2,000 people
have gathered to see a man whom they believe possesses unsurpassed wisdom
and power. In their eyes, Shoei Asai, the 70-year-old leader of a religious
sect called Nichiren Kenshokai, is a healer and a prophet who envisions a
looming calamity for Japan that he alone can avert. "Asai sensei
understands" says Kazuhito Suzuki, a disillusioned, young construction
worker who professes nothing but disdain for Japan's establishment and
despair for the future. "He has the answers.""



Divine mystery of leaking water at Wailing Wall
By Patrick Bishop
The Telegraph [UK]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/07/04/wail04.xml&;
sSheet=/news/2002/07/04/ixnewstop.html

"Sages across the Holy Land were yesterday trying to fathom the
significance of a mysterious damp patch that has appeared on Jerusalem's
Wailing Wall."


Elderly 'witches' persecuted in Mozambique
By Tim Judah
BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_2089000/2089875.stm

"There has been an alarming increase in accusations of witchcraft in
Mozambique."


Salmon in lake ends old curse and brings locals new blessing
By Anne Lucey
Irish Times

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2002/0704/2730560763HM1SALMON.html

"A Kerry lake believed by locals to have been cursed by a monk has produced
its first salmon in hundreds of years."


Temple treatment for psychiatric illness
New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992504

"A six-week stay at a Hindu temple in Tamil Nadu can produce the same
improvement in people with severe psychiatric disorders as a month-long
course of standard drugs, say researchers in India."


Give me $1 bn, I'll give you peace: Maharishi Yogi
REUTERS

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=14938390

"Beatles guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi said on Wednesday in a July 4 message
to Americans nervous about new September 11-style attacks that he could
kill world terrorism with love — but he would need $1 billion to do it."


Testimony: Slaying tied to bad spiritual advice
By LISE FISHER
Gainesville Sun

http://www.sunone.com/articles/2002-07-03d.shtml

"Advice from a spiritual adviser and the Miss Cleo hot line helped convince
an alleged drug dealer that a Newberry man, shot execution-style last year,
was the culprit behind his missing money, witnesses testified at an Alachua
County murder trial Tuesday."


White supremacist a ‘group of one’
By SHAWN LEDINGTON
York Daily Record

http://www.ydr.com/local/news/2locl1020701.shtml

"The white supremacist who wants to hold a rally in York next January has
been threatening York officials with his interpretation of the law."



Artifacts challenge evolution theories
ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/artifactschallenge5.htm

"Three distinct groups of early humans may have migrated from Africa and
perhaps lived together in Eurasia about 1.7 million years ago, according to
researchers who uncovered a primitive skull and other fossils in the
Republic of Georgia."


Oil company’s 'microlepton' technology dismissed
PhysicsWeb

http://physicsweb.org/article/news/6/7/1

"A company is seeking permission to search for oil in the UK using
"microleptons" - particles that are completely unknown to high-energy
physicists. Technology Investment and Exploration Limited (TIEL) has
already won outline planning permission from the local council to build a
borehole at a site in rural Leicestershire, and has secured an
oil-exploration licence from the UK government."


About the hoax, folks
By Damon Hodge
Las Vegas Weekly

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/2002/07_03/news_upfront1.html

"The rumor, Mary Hausch says, should have sent up one red flag; its
implausibility, another."