BPR Mailing List Digest: 09/01/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
September 1, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | September, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Sept 1, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 08:38:26 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

PAX - ENCOUNTERS WITH THE UNEXPLAINED - Is it Noah's Ark?

9:00

PBS - FIGHTING THE TIDE - Technology, economics and
individuals influence maritime trade on America's
waterfronts.(CC)(TVG)

DISC - DISCOVERY NEWS - (CC)

HIST - THIS WEEK IN HISTORY - Discovery of Titanic;
the Munich Olympics; the Hoover Dam; Squeaky
Fromme.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - BLACK BOX: SECRETS REVEALED - The black box helps
solve mysteries behind aviation disasters.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

PBS - STOPWATCH - Frederick Winslow Taylor introduces the
stopwatch to the American workplace.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - FIRE IN FLIGHT: FINDING THE SPARK - A flaw in
the electrical wiring of airliners may cause fires on
board.(CC)(TVPG)

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Feds Probing Their Own Boy Scout Ties
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 08:42:02 -0400

Feds Probing Their Own Boy Scout Ties

NewsMax.com
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2000

The Clinton-Gore administration is investigating itself to determine
whether – by associating with Boy Scouts – it is violating President
Clinton's order banning discrimination against homosexuals.

The irony is that the president himself is the honorary head of the Boy
Scouts of America.

Because the Scouts ban homosexual troop leaders, some congressional
members of Clinton's Democratic Party have urged the president to resign
from that position in protest against the Scouts' national policy.

But that would put Clinton – at the time he is trying to help elect his
vice president, Al Gore, to succeed him in the Oval Office – at odds
with the Supreme Court's recent ruling that the Scouts, a private
organization, have a constitutional right not to include homosexuals as
Scout leaders.

Even this latest development raises in the context of Gore's contest
with George W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee, the
embarrassing subject of the inappropriate sexual conduct inside the Oval
Office with a young White House intern by the man Gore has proclaimed as
one of history's greatest presidents.

Under orders from the president, the Interior Department – in
cooperation with the Clinton-Gore Justice Department – issued a hurry-up
memo to one of its sub-agencies, the Bureau of Reclamation, to answer
questions regarding all "activities, events or programs" it may have in
conjunction with the Boy Scouts by no later than close of business
Friday.

No other organization than the Boy Scouts was mentioned.

There is a further irony in this – the Boy Scouts' motto, "Be Prepared."

Earlier this year, the White House diverted millions of dollars of
taxpayers' money entrusted to the Interior Department – now devoting its
energies to investigating its own relations with Boy Scouts – away from
badly needed preparedness measures to fight wildfires ravaging a dozen
Western states.

The Washington Times is reporting Thursday that:

In an e-mail message Tuesday to the Bureau of Reclamation commissioner
and regional directors, Nattie Silva, the bureau's assistant director of
diversity and equal opportunity, requested the quick turn-around to
document compliance with the president's Executive Order 13160, signed
back on June 23, more than two months ago.

That Executive order – promulgated before the Supreme Court ruling
upholding the Scouts' right to its national policy against homosexuality
in its leadership ranks – prohibits discrimination on the basis of
"race, sex, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, sexual
orientation and status as a parent in federally conducted education and
training programs."

Justice Department officials said the Bureau of Reclamation had asked
for assistance in determining whether any joint activities it conducts
with the Boy Scouts violate that Executive Order, which calls for
Justice to determine what constitutes education and training programs
and to offer guidance on compliance with the order.

The bureau's e-mail request for information mentioned specifically "any
such programs related to the Boy Scout Jamboree to be held in July
2001."

That would mean the Scouts' national jamboree held every four years at
Fort A.P. Hill, an Army post at Bowling Green, Va.

The e-mail said the information was needed in a hurry so the bureau
could respond to the Justice Department by Sept. 5.

The information being requested of Bureau of Reclamation officials
nationwide includes whether joint activities are provided only to Boy
Scouts, what monetary or non-monetary assistance is offered, whether the
Scouts have to sign non-discriminatory assurances and whether the bureau
sponsors Scout troops and provides awards or Scout uniform patches.

Gregg Shields, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts, said the amount of
federal financial aid the Scouts may receive is "minuscule, if any."

And he doubted the Scouts are involved in any federal training and
education programs.

Regarding the Boy Scout National Jamboree, in which 35,000 youngsters
participate, Shields said that if anything it is the Army that has been
the recipient of assistance, in the form of "major investments" at Fort
A.P. Hill, such as construction of a rappelling tower and showers.

When friends and supporters of the Boy Scouts learned of this
investigation, they were livid.

Robert H. Knight, senior director of cultural studies for the Family
Research Council, called the investigation "a precursor to a
full-throated attack on the Scouts" by the Clinton-Gore administration.

"We're looking for Congress to rein in this mean-spirited foray against
America's premier youth organization," Knight said.

http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/31/75627

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Bridging Religious Differences Is No Easy Matter
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 08:43:21 -0400

Getting Past Talk

Bridging Religious Differences Is No Easy Matter

Venerable Ribur Rimpoche, right, leads a prayer with fellow Buddhists during the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations. (Shawn Baldwin/AP Photo)
By Leela Jacinto

N E W Y O R K, Aug. 31 — On the final day of the Millennium World Peace Summit, participants faced the sort of end-of-session question that afflicts almost every major international gathering: Are we getting anywhere or is this just talk, talk and more talk?

On Wednesday, the more than 1,000 religious leaders who gathered for the four-day meeting signed a declaration committing themselves to global peace, declaring all religions equal and recognizing equality between women and men. The document, entitled Commitment to Global Peace, condemns all violence committed in the name of religion.

But some say such lofty aspirations aren´t the hard part.

“I´m not sure what is the impact of conferences like this,” says Ari Goldman, a professor at Columbia University and author of the upcoming book, Being Jewish. “One could argue that we´d be worse off without such summits, but the problem remains that the people who need to be there the most, don´t participate.”

Sometimes, they aren´t even welcome.

Haunting Absence

Take, for example, the Dalai Lama.

Long an unwelcome presence at the United Nations because of his call for an autonomous Tibet, he wasn´t invited for fear of offending China — a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council.

Still, the well-loved spiritual leader and winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize found a way to be heard.

The organizers later invited the Dalai Lama for the last two days of the conference, which was held at the Waldorf-Astoria. The Dalai Lama declined, sending instead an eight-member delegation to represent him.

“The world´s religions can contribute to world peace, if there is peace and growing harmony between different faiths,” he said in a statement read Wednesday by participant Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist leader. The Dalai Lama said that he joined the group “in spirit.”

The statement and the presence of the Dalai Lama´s eight-member delegation of Buddhist leaders for part of the conference did not please the official Chinese delegation. China´s government-run Xinhua news agency reported that the Chinese religious delegates “withdrew angrily” from the hall.

“The Dalai Lama is a separatist and turmoil-maker,” Xinhua quoted the Rev. Cao Shengjie as saying. Buddhist master Sheng Hui told Xinhua that allowing the remarks to be read “interferes with the normal process of the summit.”

The turmoil created by the Dalai Lama´s exclusion in many ways demonstrates the problems confronting religious groups and governments.

Church and State

Earlier, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticized world religious leaders for not doing enough to uphold human rights. “Religion has often been yoked to nationalism, stoking the flames of violent conflict and setting group against group,” he said. “Religious leaders have not always spoken out when their voices could have helped combat hatred and persecution, or could have roused people from indifference.”

Annan´s admonishments are not unfounded. Religious conflicts or conflicts based on religious identity have plagued vast swaths of the globe, from the Balkans and Northern Ireland in Europe, to the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent in Asia, as well as Nigeria and the Sudan in Africa, to name just a few.

The specter of religious fundamentalism adds a dangerous dash to the potent cocktail of nationalism and ethnic identity, and has been the impetus for most of the Western world´s continuing commitment to secularism.

But many view the divisions between church and state as increasingly tenuous. The collapse of communism in the late 1980s is widely seen as a cause for the growing religious-ethnic conflicts in Eastern Europe.

David Little, a professor at Harvard Divinity School believes the blurring lines between church and state is a worldwide phenomenon. “In economically advanced countries, fears of big government creates an environment where religious groups become active,” he said.

“In the developing world where governments don´t have the resources to fully provide for welfare, governments see the need for assistance from these groups. In places like the Middle East, where it´s more natural for religious groups to assist in public welfare, it gets more accelerated.”

The trend, Little believes, is a mixed bag. “On the one hand, there is the temptation for religious groups to lose their identity in the public sphere, on the other, there is the danger that they will use the public sector for their own advantage.”

But conferences such as the Millennium Peace Summit, he believes, can help in charting a sensitive middle path. “The ideal framework would be one in which the norms of human rights are guaranteed, where religious groups are allowed to preserve their identity and they are not allowed to use the public sector for their own benefits.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/un000831.html

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - A Close Encounter with a Space Rock
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 09:01:47 -0400

A Close Encounter with a Space Rock

September 1, 2000 -- This morning a half-kilometer wide space rock is
zooming past Earth barely 12 times farther from our planet than the Moon. In
cosmic terms, it's a near miss. But don't bother grabbing your hard hats,
scientists say, as there is absolutely no danger of a collision. Instead, the
close encounter will afford astronomers a welcome opportunity to study a
bright near-Earth asteroid from close range.

Today's hasty cosmic visitor -- known by researchers as 2000 QW7 -- was
discovered just last weekend on August 26, 2000, with NASA/JPL's Near
Earth Asteroid Tracking system (NEAT). QW7 caught the attention of NEAT
project scientists because it was fast-moving and unusually bright. At 13th
magnitude, amateur astronomers can easily spot the minor planet through
8-inch or larger telescopes.

Full Story:
http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast01sep_1.htm?list

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Blair orders DNA register of criminals
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 09:13:46 -0400

Blair orders DNA register of criminals

BY MELISSA KITE AND RICHARD FORD

BRITAIN'S entire criminal population would be registered on the national
DNA base within three years, under a drive launched by Tony Blair
yesterday. The Prime Minister announced that an extra £109 million would
be provided so that police can take samples from three million people
suspected of anything from car theft to murder. He brushed aside civil
liberties concerns about the idea as "misplaced".

Police already have power to take DNA samples from anyone suspected of,
charged with or reported for a recordable crime, but with each swab
costing £40, chief constables have advised officers to take them only
for the most serious offences. The extra money should allow them to
extend testing to minor cases.

But the idea was immediately opposed by civil liberties groups, which
are already alarmed that police are illegally holding thousands of
samples that should have been destroyed from people who have been freed
without charge or cleared by the courts.

The police have also been accused of failing to make full use of the
information they are already getting from DNA samples, so that key
suspects remain at large.

At least 30 per cent of potential samples are not taken from suspects
and those that are correctly matched are not used properly: the Home
Office found that up to 10 per cent are not followed up, while chief
constables who checked 900 matches could not trace how a third of them
had been used.

At the moment 940,000 samples from criminals and 83,000 samples from
scenes of crime are being held. Such material may be stored permanently
only if a suspect is subsequently convicted - a rule that would remain
under Mr Blair's plan for more extensive testing. But a team of Home
Office inspectors has found that the database is holding profiles of
thousand of cleared suspects.

The failing was uncovered when Michael Weir was freed by the Court of
Appeal after being convicted of murder on the strength of DNA evidence.
There were no eye-witnesses or fingerprints to link Mr Weir to the
crime, but blood found on a glove near the scene of the crime matched a
DNA sample taken a year earlier when Mr Weir was suspected of drug
offences. He was never charged with the drug offences and the murder
conviction was quashed on the ground that the samples should have been
destroyed.

John Wadham, director of Liberty, said last night that the illegally
held samples were one of two concerns he had about Mr Blair's plans. The
other was that police would undertake enforced DNA testing on a blanket
basis, even where the evidence had no relevance to the offence.

"We have always accepted that DNA testing is a powerful tool for use in
investigating offences were the suspect might have left a sample such as
sexual offences, burglary or violent offences.

"But the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1994 allows police officers
forcibly to hold a suspect down, forcibly to open their mouth and to
take a swab - even where the sample would be of no use to the
investigation such as fraud or shoplifting."

But addressing police in Kent yesterday Mr Blair insisted: "I really do
think the civil liberties argument is misplaced on this issue."

The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Jack Straw, also told
officers that he was determined to overhaul the entire criminal justice
system and bring it into the 21st century. Britain's "archaic" system
meant that it was too hard to bring criminals to justice, he said. "This
has built up over a long time. The court system is run far too much for
the convenience of the individual court. I think we have effectively got
a 19th-century justice system in a 21st-century world. The Police
Service must have the latest technology."

Mr Blair also hinted that the Auld criminal justice review might contain
measures to tighten the bail system and introduce tougher penalties for
suspects who abscond. Increased measures to protect witnesses were also
being considered.

Mr Blair signalled zero tolerance for criminals, no matter how petty
their crimes. "On the probation side we will no longer tolerate repeat
excuses. We expect law-abiding conduct; decent civil behaviour to each
other. This goes right from the serious crime at the top down to the
graffiti on the street wall."

http://www.the-
times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/09/01/timnwsnws01037.html

via: Third_Watch@egroups.com

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jerusalem's Temple Mount remains obstacle in peace talks
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 08:43:46 -0500

Jerusalem's Temple Mount remains obstacle in peace talks
http://www.newsroom.org/

JERUSALEM, Israel, 31 August 2000 (Newsroom) -- As Israeli and Palestinian
leaders continue their pursuit of an illusive peace agreement, the question
of who will control Temple Mount -- sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims
-- looms as the biggest obstacle to a settlement.

Discussion about the status of Temple Mount was taboo in Israel until
recently. Opening the subject for debate has provoked powerful opposition
from the Israeli nationalist-religious camp, which claims broad support from
Jews around the world and has threatened violence if the sacred site comes
under Palestinian sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Conference of Islamic countries, meeting in
Morocco, on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for the creation of a
Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestinian sovereignty
over Muslim and Christian holy places. The conference also called on the
United States not to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Temple Mount is sacred to Jews as the site of the First and Second Temples
(the temples of Solomon and Herod the Great) and to Christians as the
mountain where Jesus of Nazareth preached. Judaism maintains that the Temple
Mount will be the place where the Messiah will come. Many Christians share
that belief with respect to Jesus. Today the compound contains the Dome of
the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site after Mecca and
Medina, because it is believed to be the place where Muhammad ascended into
heaven.

Known in the Arab world as Al-Haram al-Sharif, the Temple Mount was annexed
by Israel in 1967. The Israelis declared that the Mount would remain a
Muslim site, but Jews could visit. The de-facto policy, however, was that
Jews would not turn it into a place of worship. That policy has held because
the chief Israeli rabbis ruled that Jews should not set foot on the Mount
due to its sanctity.

Although Israel retains formal sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the site
is governed by an Islamic trust that allows non-Muslims to visit the
compound during limited hours and prohibits Jewish or Christian worshipers
from reading prayers aloud. The Chief Rabbinate, which was to make a
decision on the establishment of a synagogue on the Temple Mount last week,
delayed its verdict under pressure from the Israeli government.

Peace negotiators are focusing on a proposal where no one would have
sovereignty over the Temple Mount, but Palestinians would have authority
over the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and there would be a place on the site where Jews
could pray.

Egypt, under pressure from the U.S. to soften the position of Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat, has suggested a compromise by which the Palestinians
would have sovereignty over Al-Aqsa, but not the Temple Mount, and Arab
neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. Ultimate responsibility for security within
the city would remain with Israel.

Arafat, meanwhile, is seeking international Christian support for Arab
sovereignty over the entire site. The Palestinian leader frequently declares
himself to be not only the guardian of Islamic sacred sites, but of
Christian holy places as well. Palestinians are continuing construction work
on the Mount, however, turning the underground vaults (Solomon's Stables)
into a mosque and damaging archeological layers that contain remnants of
Jewish temples.

"(Prime Minister Ehud) Barak and Clinton were naive to think that Arafat
could sign an agreement recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Haram,"
asserted Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy
Research. "Never has a Muslim leader, in the history of Islam, willingly
abandoned sovereignty over holy places. ... That would make Arafat a pariah
in all the Arab and Muslim world."

During the Camp David talks in July, three Jerusalem Patriarchs -- Latin,
Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox -- and the Vatican-appointed Custos of
the Holy Land sent a letter to U.S., Israeli, and Palestinian leaders asking
to keep the Old City of Jerusalem undivided, to preserve the status-quo of
churches, and to allow their representatives to participate at that summit
and at all future talks to guarantee Christians' rights in the Holy City.

In Morocco this week, a delegation of six envoys from Christian churches in
Jerusalem took part in the conference for the first time. The head of the
delegation argued for the return of Jerusalem to Arab control.

"Al-Quds (the Arab name for Jerusalem) is an Arab and Palestinian city with
its holy shrines, holy Islamic and Christian shrines," maintained Atallah
Hannah, the Greek Orthodox head of the delegation and an ethnic Arab. "There
will be no peace in the region unless the city is returned to its legitimate
owners and becomes the capital of the Palestinian independent state."

However, Shmuel Avitar, the Jerusalem mayor's adviser on Christian affairs,
told Newsroom that Jerusalem's historic Christian communities, the majority
of whom are ethnic Arabs, fear the Palestinian Authority because of its
record of corruption and discrimination against Christians. They reject any
division of the Old City. Since it is Israel which now rules there, such a
stand implies the continuation of Israeli control.

At the same time, the churches have renewed their call for international
guarantees for the holy places. "In the past such calls were seen as
directed against Israel, but there has been almost universal praise for
Israel's administration of the holy sites," Avitar said. "With the
perspective of Palestinian control, the guarantees might well be something
the churches now sincerely want."

Approximately 5,000 Christian Arabs, 2,300 Armenian Orthodox, and 23,000
Muslims live in the Old City. The Christians are mainly middle-class
shopkeepers, while Muslims typically are laborers or depend on Israeli
unemployment benefits. The Christian and Armenian populations are dwindling
rapidly, however.

"The Christians have left because of Muslim social and political pressure
and the rise of Islamic nationalism," explained Amir Cheshin, an adviser on
East Jerusalem to the previous mayor of Jerusalem.

Most of the Christian Arabs, according to the polls, favor Jerusalem
becoming an international city, run by the UN. Israeli and Palestinian
leaders reject that idea.

Because of the emotional and symbolic significance of the Temple Mount,
neither side is prepared to cede complete sovereignty to the other. Both
Barak and Arafat argue that their people would never accept such an
agreement.

In recent weeks, Jewish radical groups have staged protests near the Temple
Mount, threatening violence if Israel gives up the site. The group "Temple
Mount Faithful" was prevented by Israeli police from entering the site for
prayer and filed a new High Court petition. Jan van der Hoeven of the
International Christian Zionist Center told Newsroom that the center is
trying to "rally international Christian support" for Jerusalem Mayor Ehud
Olmert and former Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who strongly oppose
negotiating the Mount's status.

Gershon Baskin, director of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and
Information, contends that the only possibility for resolution "is that the
Palestinians may give on some kind of 'divine sovereignty' over the Temple
Mount. There would be deniability of the other side's sovereignty."

Shikaki proposes a purposefully vague formula whereby both sides could claim
sovereignty over the holy sites. "The Palestinians could have 'effective
sovereignty' and Israel could retain formal sovereignty, though the part
about Israel won't appear at all in the agreement," he suggested. "Arafat
would just not mention it, but Barak could tell his people the day after the
signing that Israel never renounced its own sovereignty."

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Invasion From the Dark Side
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 12:52:48 -0400

Friday, September 1, 2000

Invasion From the Dark Side

               Thousands of people recently gathered in the
               Nevada desert and asked Satan to take them to
               hell. It's hard to believe, but it's true:
               Neo-paganism is trying to gain a foothold in the
               United States.

By George Otis Jr.

---- Tucked into the remote northwestern corner of Nevada is Black Rock
Desert, a searing world of gray-white dust that carpets some 1,400 square
miles. Many ages ago, the prehistoric glacier-fed Lake Lahontan died and
evaporated, leaving the wild and barren desert as its aftermath. An unnerved
John Fremont, exploring the region in the mid-1800s, confessed: "The
appearance of the country was so forbidding that I was afraid to enter it."

Yet every Labor Day weekend since the mid-1980s, spiritual nomads from
every U.S. state--especially from the psychedelic vortex of San Francisco--
and from Canada, Germany, Brazil, Korea and at least 20 other countries
visit Black Rock for a techno-pagan freakfest known as "The Burning Man."
The participants' sole agenda is to transform the vast alkali flatland into what
one reveler calls "a temporary autonomous zone at the edge of eternity."

For some, that "zone" means an opportunity to shed clothes, trance-dance
and exchange idols. For others it is simply an earthly palette on which to
display bizarre art forms. Last year, more than 10,000 participants came to
the event--more than twice the number who attended in 1995.

The darkness and whimsy that swirl during Burning Man last for only a few
days in late summer, before the sounds and images are carried away by the
dust devils of Black Rock. For those few days, the empty desert offers itself
as the annual staging area for a community known as Black Rock City--
complete with its own daily newspaper, radio station, suburbs and town
square.

Standing in the Gap

When my colleague Doug Trenton and I set up our campsite at Black Rock
City (ours was an oversized Army parachute propped up with PVC pipe and
rebar), our twofold mission was to pray--just as Abraham had prayed for the
residents of Sodom and Gomorrah--and to thoroughly document a troubling
societal phenomenon.

Bizarre as the Burning Man experience may be, its participants are not so
alien. In addition to hailing from the best universities and finest corporations
in the United States, many performers and organizers are former Christians--
Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists and Pentecostals. They once studied in
seminaries, spent summers on the mission field and even led national
Christian campus ministries. But today they have turned their backs on God.

With the prayers of hundreds of friends backing us up, Doug and I not only
survived this pagan extravaganza without sickness, theft or disturbing
flashbacks, but we also were able to observe some of its most spiritually
significant activity.

With our camp set up, Doug and I decided to explore. This "instant
community" would be our home for the next few days.

Black Rock City looked like a futuristic movie set from Mad Max. Its
nomadic, psychedelic aura made it seem as if we had dropped in on 10,000
Grateful Dead devotees.

In the center of this sprawling desert encampment was the Burning Man
himself, an elaborate 40-foot-high timber giant wrapped in wax-soaked burlap
and studded with Roman candles. He stood as a vivid metaphor of the
smoldering alienation of the pilgrims around us.

Ritually torched on the event's final night, this "plywood-boned, neon-veined"
pyrotechnic wonder is offered as a modern-day religious (or philosophical)
icon. The purpose of burning the structure, some suggest, is to raise the
spectra of the Spirit Cave Man, an ancient Indian mummy discovered nearby.
But the event's founder, Larry Harvey, said this explanation misses the mark.
"If you're searching for a broader moral purpose," he exclaimed, "then think
of the Man as a kind of collective 'I am'!"

The roots of the Burning Man Festival are in San Francisco's Baker Beach,
where the effigy torching began as a personal catharsis for Harvey. It later
became an interesting way for friends to mark the summer solstice. When
the crowds grew too large for the city, the whole affair moved out to the
desert.

Eager to escape the oppressive routine of life, those making the yearly
pilgrimage to Black Rock are in no mood for rules. It is an eclectic crowd of
neo-pagans, media bohemians and some of the world's top computer
animators. They come to the desert to cast off restraint.

They collectively celebrated their rebellion through tribal "theme camps" such
as "Motel 666," "Lost Vegas" and "Sinful Rhino." There was also the dusk-to-
dawn "Heathen Drumming Circle," where participants are invited to drop their
inhibitions and connect with their tribal roots. The atmosphere was post-
apocalyptic and, as we quickly discovered, outright blasphemous.

Visitors to the "Crucifixion With a Celebrity" camp had their photograph
taken while hanging next to a fat Elvis. Others hung out at "McSatan's
Bistro," where revelers dared the Almighty to consume them with brimstone.

Homosexuals were everywhere, including the habit-clad "Sisters of Perpetual
Indulgence" who invited confessors to "go your way and sin some more!" A
fashion show featured "The Seven Deadly Sins" in which the audience
determined if they were deadly or delicious.

In what was dubbed "a Dionysian frenzy in a hellish environment," performing
artist Scott Jenerik presented Demons Eating of My Flesh and Drinking of
My Blood.

Near the center camp, the three-member, aesthetic "Meat Foundation"
offered up gothic shock. The midnight performance occurred in a junkyard
corral strewn with rusty gears and chunks of raw meat. The only light came
from a blowtorch being used to roast severed animal heads over a 55-gallon
drum.

Dressed in black robes, the attending "priests" suddenly turned the torch on
the troupe's sole female. As her inhibitions were burned away, she was
seduced by the priests' hypnotic cry: "Meat is life; life is meat!" At the
conclusion of the production, pieces of bloody animal flesh were offered to
the crowd as mock sacraments.

During the last decade the festival has intensified, and local law enforcement
officials have found it difficult to manage.

Says Ron Skinner, the weary sheriff of Pershing County, Nevada: "I think the
festival has outgrown itself. My entire staff is just totally burned out. The
rebellion and indulgence is really replacing the art aspect of the event."

Descent Into the Inferno

On Saturday night, the hell-themed 1996 festival reached its crescendo in
the form of a drama. The production also represented a defining moment: It
was time to enter the Inferno, the staging area for the production where
participants would take a seven-stage descent into the abyss of darkness.

These people were literally celebrating the fact that one day they would enter
hell.

To simulate their journey, the camp's center stage was transformed into the
"Vestibule of Hell." The guest of honor was none other than "Papa Satan."

The basic plot of the drama featured Helco, a vast demonic conglomerate
that wanted to acquire Burning Man. Festival founder Larry Harvey had come
to make a deal.

What the organizers intended as a parody, however, was about to get out of
hand. Real demonic forces were at work.

As the lecherous Papa Satan bowed in mock chains before a placard
reading "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," a group
called "Idiot Flesh," dressed as hooded executioners, began to play a
discordant dirge accompanied by flashing strobes.

When the crowd started its torchlight procession toward the Gates of Hell
and an eerie, sculpted castle called The City of Dis, I sensed an
unmistakable chill in the air. Our march had been joined by unseen,
malevolent guests. The pathway was leading to a darkness that felt
overwhelming to my soul.

Under the canopy of a black night, stilt walkers, fire breathers, nudists and a
moving sea of devil banners moved around us. The dust churned up by the
crowd gave the moon a reddish tint.

Walking through the red neon Gates of Hell--inscribed with "Abandon hope,
all ye who enter"--we were confronted by a mechanical, dinosaur-like
creature spewing fire from its head. A woman wearing a sexually offensive
costume screamed obscenities. Meanwhile Papa Satan climbed the 40-foot
Helco Tower, set it ablaze and rode down the guy wire.

At the tri-tower City of Dis, our descent into the Inferno reached a demonic
sanctuary that its creators called "a fountainhead of boundless rage,
appalling shame and unendurable loneliness." Seated around a 400-foot-wide
circle, the crowd had come to witness the arrival--and seduction--of a soul
named Zoe.

While massive loudspeakers pumped out a hellish bass tone accompanied
by tormented screams, the circle was infiltrated by a parade of evil spirits.
These were followed by the "Tormented": a young woman in a cage, a man
chained to a box he must drag around, and several people with collars
attached to leashes. Many were screaming with pain or desire; others were
naked except for elaborate body paint.

After Papa Satan and Zoe made their appearance, a regal entourage of miter-
clad priests and priestesses arrived bearing staffs, torches and brass
standards. The delegation had come to contend for Zoe, but their mission
failed. Done in by their own corruption and the "intercession" of hungry
demons, the bishops could only watch as she was consumed by the Lord of
Darkness.

When her seduction atop the somber towers was complete, people dressed
as demonic insects celebrated by copulating with other captured souls. It
was a scene that looked as if it had been plucked from a horrific nightmare.

Mesmerized by the evocative music, the performers began to chant, "Devil's
delight, fire tonight!" Wood piles inside the towers of Dis were ignited,
causing orange flames to belch forth from the eyes and mouths of demonic
gargoyles built onto the turrets.

As the heat became more intense, the entourage danced around the towers.
Satan had defeated the church.

As I watched this awful scene, I could only weep. If anything had been
brought to life on that appalling night, it was a passage from Revelation:

"Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a
woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names.

"'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. Come
out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins'" (17:3, 18:2-4,
NIV).

This Is Not India

The next day, I had to remind myself that what I had witnessed at the
Burning Man Festival was happening right here in the United States--not in
the temples of India or the deserts of Sinai.

I had to admit that the Christian values we have long cherished in the West
are being extinguished. As spiritual darkness has become more pronounced
in our culture, we have started to see ungodly forces creeping into our own
backyard.

During the last three years, church attendance in the United States has been
dropping noticeably. Some Roman Catholics, as a result, have taken to
recruiting new priests through MTV ads. At the same time, growth has been
booming in America's Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist communities.

Sexual mores also are changing. Erotic dancers are shimmying into
cyberspace, and homosexuality has gone mainstream. San Francisco's
450,000-strong Gay Pride Parade is now the second largest annual gathering
in California. At the University of Southern California recently, a female
student engaged in "ritual" intercourse with 251 men over 10 consecutive
hours, claiming affinity with the temple prostitutes of the ancient goddess
Astarte!

The fact that many of the performers and organizers involved with the Burning
Man Festival are former Christians is as disturbing as the growing popularity
of its darkness. Having interacted with these people for more than a year, in
person and via the Internet, I have found them to be friendly, creative and, in
many cases, bitter. It is clear that the church these people once knew failed
to demonstrate the kind of compassion, intelligence and power that makes
Christian living so exciting.

Although Burning Man pilgrims will have to answer to the Almighty for their
licentiousness and blasphemy, they are not the only ones who must stand
before the moral mirror. In many ways the fruits of their disillusionment are a
reflection of our own deficiencies.

If they are railing in the desert, it is sometimes because they have been
driven there through pastoral sexual abuse, public hypocrisy or our religious
cocoons. The enemy has been feasting on our mistakes.

What can the church do, not only for our own who have fallen away but also
for a society that seems fascinated with darkness? I have three suggestions.

l. We must acknowledge that we have a problem. With events like the
Burning Man Festival occurring on our soil, we can no longer afford to view
America as a shining or invincible "City on a Hill." We are on the road to
becoming a pagan nation.

2. We must humble ourselves before God. Of all the forces at work in the
universe today, none is more destructive, or antithetical to heavenly
principles than pride. For this reason, we are told, "God opposes (or resists)
the proud" and "gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

This proverb is contextually linked to spiritual warfare for good reason. If we
want to resist the devil, we had better make sure first that God is not
resisting us!

3. We must contend for the lost in prayer. The devil's enchantments are
powerful and can only be lifted through focused and fervent intercession.

The Burning Man Festival isn't simply an annual event; it is a trend, a
barometer of our society's spiritual health. It is troubling not only because of
what it is, but also because of what it reveals about the course our nation is
taking.

Neo-pagan worship goes on every Labor Day in the Black Rock Desert of
Nevada. I urge you to pray with us during the nationwide Pray USA!
campaign every April.

My own ministry, The Sentinel Group, has developed Prayer Walkers' Site
Guides that list 30 of America's most potent spiritual strongholds. Pray for
God to send us a genuine national revival that will neutralize such demonic
movements as The Burning Man.

Reprinted by permission of Charisma Magazine and the Sentinel Group.

Robbye Nelson is a Producer for CBN.com.

http://cbn.org/Newsstand/stories/stories/invasion.asp

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (9/1/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 12:55:18 -0400

U.S. ALERT CONFUSES ISRAEL
Jerusalem government sources are having trouble understanding why exactly
United States forces in Germany have suddenly gone on anti-Scud alert.
Prime Minister Barak said that Israel is keeping an eye on the situation in
Iraq, and that as far as is known, there is no need to send Patriot missiles to
Israel. The Washington Post reported today, in the name of Pentagon
sources, that Iraq is liable to attack a nation "friendly with the U.S." one
month from now. Other sources in the American capital feel that the entire
issue is an election-campaign gimmick, as the Republicans have accused
the ruling Democrats of being "soft" on Iraq.

DAYAN NAMED NSC HEAD
Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan has been named the next
National Security Council head. He will continue in his capacity as an IDF
general, however, thus preserving - and possibly strengthening - his chances
to become the next Chief of Staff. Dayan will be replaced as Deputy Chief of
Staff by Maj.-Gen. Moshe Ayalon, his main competitor for the Chief of Staff
position.

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Sept. 1, 2000 / Rosh Chodesh Elul, 5760

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - calendar
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 17:31:35 -0400

Zola Levitt sells a calendar with all the feast days marked and Torah portions
for each Sabbath. $5 at http://www.levitt.com/

Shipping is extremely slow for this vendor. I ordered my calendar on Aug 1
and received it today, Sept 1.

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (9/1/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 17:52:02 -0400

*** 400 respond to UN tobacco survey

GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization said Friday it had
received more than 400 responses to a request for views on the
creation of a treaty for global tobacco control. "We were expecting a
good response and are now very encouraged by the overwhelming and
diverse range of submissions received," said Derek Yach, head of the
WHO's Tobacco Control Initiative. Interested parties had until
Thursday to submit their views. The documents will form the basis for
two days of public hearings, scheduled for Oct. 12-13 in Geneva. This
will be followed by the start of full negotiations between WHO member
governments on a draft treaty. WHO said it had received submissions
from all the major tobacco companies, as well as people involved in
growing, producing and selling tobacco products. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569378964-a1e

*** Time Warner hearings set next week

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Commission said Friday that
Time Warner and America Online will present arguments for their
planned merger at a hearing next Thursday. A separate hearing to
discuss a planned joint venture between Time Warner's music
subsidiary, Warner Music Group, and EMI Group is set for next
Wednesday. The commission, which is conducting an extended antitrust
probe of the planned mergers, refused to comment on a newspaper
report that the EU might block or scale back the planned linkups of
Time Warner with EMI and AOL. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569381663-045

*** Japan launches Internet strategy

TOKYO - Japan is drawing up a five-year plan to surpass the United
States as an Internet powerhouse through massive investment in
high-speed infrastructure and scuttling laws that inhibit e-commerce.
Despite its technological prowess, high costs and a plethora of legal
restrictions have prevented Japan from having its own Internet
revolution - and officials are worried the new economy will pass the
nation by. The government's IT Strategy Council, which opened this
week under the leadership of Sony Corp. president Nobuyuki Idei, said
if steps are taken now the Internet could lead Japan's bruised
economy into a new era of super-fast expansion. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569374056-4b3

*** China shuts down paging channels

BEIJING (AP) - China has shut down more than 100 channels used by
paging services after their transmissions interrupted communications
signals for planes and ships and nearly caused accidents. China is
the world's biggest user of wireless paging and the service's rapid
growth has interrupted aviation and navigation communications, the
Xinhua News Agency quoted an Information Industry Vice Minister Zhang
Chunjiang as saying in a report Thursday. "In some cases, the
interruption almost caused serious accidents," Zhang was quoted as
saying. The report did not cite any specific examples. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569373705-3c8

*** Russia region drops Cyrillic letters

MOSCOW (AP) - One of Russia's largest republics marked the start of
the new school year Friday by dropping Cyrillic in favor of the Latin
alphabet, in part because it wants closer ties with Europe. Schools
in Tatarstan will now use the Latin alphabet for written work in the
local Tatar language, spokeswoman Zukhra Minekhanova said. The
transition from Cyrillic will take 10 years, she said. Tatarstan,
located 470 miles east of Moscow, has a population of 4 million and
is better off then most republics because of its considerable oil
deposits. It has been prominent in shirking central control from
Moscow and the adoption of the Latin alphabet will underline the
trend. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569378766-966

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - No News Sabbath
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 16:59:39 -0500

Hi guys...

In observance and respect for the Sabbath,
I've been holding back any news items which
come in until Sunday. I've actually been
observing this "policy" for a couple of weeks
now -- you may or may not have noticed.
So each Sabbath BPR will turn off the TV,
put away the newspaper, shut out the world
and simply focus on God and His Messiah.
Instead of news items, I will instead post
commentaries, studies, or "uplifting" items I
deem appropriate. Since the list is operated
manually and requires interaction by me every
day, BPR has sorta had this "policy" pushed
on it as a result of my personal practice each
Sabbath. So I thank you in advance for your
understanding.

Shabbat Shalom!

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