c. 1999 Religion News Service
Erotic Web site with pope visit information ordered shut down
(RNS) A federal judge has ordered the closing of a Web site that combines information about Pope John Paul II’s visit to St. Louis later this month with erotic pictures.
The closing of the Web site by Internet Entertainment Group was sought by the Archdiocese of St. Louis, which said it was confusing Internet users seeking information on the Jan. 26-27 visit.
Archdiocesan lawyers also said the site infringed on the archdiocese’s trademark.”It’s inappropriate. It’s degrading. It’s deceptive. And it’s wrong,”archdiocese spokesman Steve Mamanella said Friday (Jan. 8).
The judge told Seattle-based IEG to dismantle its site immediately, the Associated Press reported. A Jan. 13 hearing was scheduled to determine whether the order should be made permanent.
IEG spokesman John Dalton said the company plans to fight the restraining order. He declined further comment.
The site does include a message in bold letters advising parental discretion. It also notes that neither IEG nor the Web site is affiliated with the Catholic Church or the archdiocese.
It includes John Paul’s scheduled stops in St. Louis, as well as links to attractions, hotels and sporting events. But nestled at the bottom of each Web page is an advertisement for IEG’s erotic adult Web site Clublove, which features sexually explicit material. “They’re doing it to make money and to lure people into their pornographic Web site,”said Mamanella, who discovered the site by accident while doing an Internet search using various key words.
Disney recalls”Rescuers”cartoon with nude image
(RNS) The Walt Disney Co. has recalled 3.4 million copies of the animated video”The Rescuers,”apparently because the photographic image of a nude woman was inserted into the film.
The image was discovered by Disney employees after the re-release this month of the cartoon, which appeared in theaters in 1977, 1983 and 1989, the Associated Press reported Friday (Jan. 8).
Disney spokeswoman Claudia Peters declined to characterize the image, other than to say it was objectionable.
However, sources familiar with the recall told The Associated Press there was a photo of a woman’s nude torso embedded in the video although the image cannot be seen be seen when the video is watched at normal viewing speed.
The recall is a first for Disney, although conservative religious groups claim other animated features have included risque words or images _ charges Disney adamantly denies.
Some conservative religious groups are boycotting Disney over what they see as the company’s gay-friendly policies.
Peters said Disney recalled the video”to keep our promise to families that (they) can trust and rely on the Disney brand to provide the finest in family entertainment.” The image was on only two of the cartoon’s 110,000 frames.”The Rescuers”follows the exploits of a group of courageous mice who try to rescue a little girl from kidnappers.
The offending picture was inserted into the film some 20 years ago after the cartoon was drawn, Peters said. Although it was on copies sent to theaters, like the video, it was not visible when shown at normal speed.
The recall applies only to videos purchased since Jan. 5. The company shipped 3.4 million copies.
In 1995 the Virginia-based American Life League urged a recall of”The Lion King,”arguing that in one scene rising clouds of dust spelled the word”sex.”
Missing atheist’s diaries to be auctioned to help cover debts, taxes
(RNS) Some 2,000 pages of the private diaries of atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair will be auctioned off Jan 23 to help pay off creditors and back taxes.
O’Hair owed back taxes and other debts totaling more than $250,000 when she vanished with a son and granddaughter in 1995 amid allegations they embezzled more than $600,000 from one of the atheist groups she founded. O’Hair, 77 and suffering from diabetes and heart disease at the time, has not been heard from since.
The Internal Revenue Service seized her home in Austin, Texas, and other possessions to pay some of her tax bills.
In her diaries, O’Hair _ who riled against organized religion in public _ showed a troubled personal side. She fretted about money, political ambitions and love, according to the Associated Press.”Somebody, somewhere, love me,”she wrote _ at least a half-dozen times.
In a 1973 entry she said:”I want money and power and I am going to get it. By age 50 I want a $60,000 home, a Cadillac car, a mink coat, a cook, a housekeeper. In 1974, I will run for the governor of Texas and in 1976, the president of the United States.” Four years later, she said:”I think atheism is done for this time. I have failed in marriage, motherhood, as a politician … At age 58, I have never had a bedroom of my own.” The diaries begin in 1953 and stretch over four decades, although they contain significant gaps. The gaps run from September 1959 to December 1972, and December 1989 to August 1995.
O’Hair gained fame by bringing the law suit in 1963 that barred prayer in public schools. She also sought unsuccessfully to get the courts to remove the phrase”In God We Trust”from U.S. currency.
Ellen Johnson, current head of American Atheists, founded by O’Hair, said she would try and buy the diaries for the organization’s archives. She also criticized the decision to auction off the private diaries.”It is horrible they are being sold to the public,”Johnson said.”Can you imagine how upsetting it would be to know that someone had your personal ideas?”
Update: Family members use court, vigils to seek contact with sect members
(RNS) Relatives of members of Concerned Christians, an alleged doomsday sect, are trying various means, including going to court and holding vigils, in an effort to make contact with family members in the group and woo them away from the sect some believe may be headed for a millennium-based act of self-destruction.
In England, meanwhile, police have warned Israeli diplomats of a possible attack by members of the Denver-based group. The group’s leader, Monte Kim Miller, is believed to be hiding in England.
On Friday (Jan. 8), 14 members of the group were deported from Israel and returned to Denver. Relatives held a vigil at the Denver hotel where the sect members were staying in an effort to speak to their loved ones.
The 14 were expelled from Israel because Israeli law enforcement officials believed they were plotting violent incidents in Jerusalem in an effort to hasten the second coming of Jesus.”All they want is to talk to their loved ones and to tell them they love them,”said Sherry Clark, speaking on behalf of the relatives. Clark’s daughter is a member of the group but was not among those deported.
Jennifer Cooper, the daughter of sect member John Cooper, went to court in Boulder, Colo., petitioning for conservatorship over the estate of her father. She said she believes her father has given at least $1.5 million to Miller and the sect.
On Thursday, Boulder District Judge Carol Glowinsky granted the petition. The elder Cooper did not appear in court to contest the ruling.
Cooper’s daughter said she hoped the action”will bring him back home and make him think about something besides that cult.” In her petition, Jennifer Cooper said she believed her father has been”brainwashed”by Miller, a Burlington, Colo., native who formed the Concerned Christians group in the late 1980s.
In London, the Jewish Telegraph Agency reported that Israel and Britain have been sharing information in an effort to track the movement of sect members. Some of Miller’s disciples are believed to have accompanied him to Britain while others are thought to be in Mexico and Greece.
About 70 members of the group disappeared from Denver last fall.
Jury selection begins in Baptist leader’s racketeering trial
(RNS) Jury selection in the state racketeering trial of the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, began Monday (Jan. 11), a process expected to last a week.
Lyons, who is accused of diverting funds intended for the denomination to his personal use _ including financing a lavish lifestyle _ could face 30 years in prison if convicted of the state charges of racketeering and grand theft. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison. Lyons also faces federal charges.
After the jury is selected, the trial will be in recess until Jan. 25, when opening statements are made, the Associated Press reported. It is expected to last a month.
The case began in the summer of 1997 when Lyons’ wife was charged with setting fire to a $700,000 waterfront home he owned with Bernice Edwards, the denomination’s public relations director. Edwards is a co-defendant in the case.
The charges against Mrs. Lyons led reporters and prosecutors to probe the source of Lyons’ money, during which they found records of his owning other expensive homes, diamond jewelry and luxury cars.
Lyons has acknowledged serious errors in judgment and apologized for any transgressions he has committed but has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
The National Baptist Convention USA, which claims 8.5 million members, is the largest predominantly black denomination in the country.
Fred Hammond big winner at Stellar Gospel Music Awards
(RNS) Fred Hammond & Radical for Christ dominated the 14th annual Stellar Music Awards, held in Atlanta on Saturday (Jan. 9), with the group named artist of the year and Hammond named male vocalist of the year.
The awards show centered around the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Black History Month, which is observed in February.”Let Praise Begin,”by Hammond, was named song of the year while”Pages of Life: Chapters I and II,”by Hammond & Radicals for Christ, was named album of the year.
Female vocalist of the year was Karen Clark Sheard.
Other major winners included Richard Smallwood with Vision, as group of the year; the Love Fellowship Tabernacle Choir was named new artist of the year and the Miami Mass Choir won the award for choir of the year.
Quote of the day: Girija Vyas, spokesman for India’s Congress Party
(RNS)”The need of the hour is to discuss how we should save the secular fabric of the country.” _ Girija Vyas, spokesman for India’s Congress Party, responding Jan 11 to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s call for a national debate on religious conversions. Vajpayee has blamed Christian proselytism for a spate of anti-Christian attacks in India.
DEA END RNS
