INTRODUCTORY NOTES.

This Encyclopedia is not an unbiassed historical record. Readers are referred to other established reference works (e.g. Wikipedia) for a more accurate and detailed coverage of the religious scene. While I have striven mightily for accuracy in facts (such as one can determine any facts in history) my purpose is plain - and not hidden. It is to discuss and dissect all religion from an atheistic and materialistic viewpoint.

The propaganda organs of religion, often propped up by State assistance both direct and indirect (e.g. the monstrous and immoral tax-exempt status religion enjoys in many countries including my own), have for hundreds of years poured forth the unproved claims of its priests and pontiffs.

Christians, Islamics, Hindus, Buddhists, who so often demand freedom of worship for themselves (and I for one wholeheartedly support such demands), are all too ready to deny the same freedom for those who differ from them. While they continue to try to control society to suit their narrow view of life, I will continue to treat their doctrines with the contempt they deserve. After all, the views they try to foist on us are not only patently absurd and contradictory but no proof whatever is or can be offered for the outrageous claims they make. Let them believe such absurdities (e.g. dying and rising gods, virgin births) if they wish, in the privacy of their homes and temples. Let them proclaim such nonsense to the world, but let them not try to force others, whether through laws or other means, to bow the knee to their deities and adopt their particular moral and social views.

Among other books I am indebted for factual material about the religions of Asia, in particular Hinduism and Buddhism, to H.G. Rawlinson's India: A Short Cultural History (London, Cresset Press, 1937). Mr Rawlinson's title is too modest by half; his work is a fascinating and detailed account of the Indian scene and is highly recommended for further research. And everyone refers from time to time to The Golden Bough, Sir James Frazer's monumental work (running to 12 volumes in its original form).

NOTE 1: A strict alphabetical system of indexing is followed, ignoring all spaces, punctuation marks, etc. Dates: BCE - Before Christian Era; CE - Christian Era. Words in CAPITALS occurring within the text of articles indicate that the topics so noted are treated elsewhere in the encyclopedia. All Biblical references are from the English Revised Version, 1884, unless otherwise stated.

NOTE 2: This is a work in progress. Many entries are brief, just preliminary notes that I have made as I have come across interesting topics, sometimes they are merely anecdotes. Additions and corrections will be made from time to time.

© Felicity Press, Gympie, Australia, 2008. All rights reserved. 

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AARON. Hebrew high priest and brother of Moses, according to the Biblical tradition. However, as the reality of MOSES himself is doubted by many scholars one must attach similar grave doubts to Aaron, and this is highlighted in the story of the famous miraculous episode involving his staff or rod. See: AARON'S ROD.

AARON'S ROD. The term 'rod' has become today one of the many euphemisms for the penis. Do good Jewish and Christian parents realize the nature of the tale they tell their children when they relate the Biblical myth of 'Aaron's rod that budded'? The phallic symbolism involved in this episode in Hebrew history is legendary; the rod symbolizing the male principle. When the rod was said to bring forth almonds (Numbers 17:8) the reference, seemingly obscure, was not, as might seem at first sight to be the case, to semen but in fact to the female reproductive organ.

Almond-shaped openings are referred to in the obscure coded symbolism of the Bible for this purpose. Probably, as in so many other instances, the very earliest texts (such as they were; nothing much was written down for a thousand or more years) conveyed the true meaning; later gradually sanitized by the holy scribes transmitting the 'truth'. The sexual message had been transformed into a religious one!

ABBOT OF MISRULE. Also known as the Lord of Misrule. In medieval times an important citizen was appointed to preside over the Christmas revelries. As Christmas was originally a pagan, not a Christian, festival, purloined by the Church, to celebrate with fun, games and wine then, as now, seems entirely appropriate, however much Christians decry such naughtiness. For the true nature of the yuletide season see under: CHRISTMAS.

ABEN-ESRA. Reputedly the most learned rabbin of the Middle Ages, who was born at Toledo, Spain, c. 1088-89 CE. He travelled extensively but in later years lived in Rome, although he died in Spain, in 1176. He was a mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, poet. He earns a particular place in history as a forerunner of the later Higher Critics, doubting the veracity of holy writ, a notable achievement for his era!

ABODE OF LOVE. See under: AGAPEMONE, Church of the.

DARK HISTORY

In any event, when we look into the dark and foul history of the Church of Rome, what do we find? Buried in the crypts of many a nunnery were the aborted foetuses and tiny bones of newborn infants, the results of the sexual liaisons between the godly sisters and their equally godly brother monks.

And if we wish to add to the guilt of Rome, we could mention that to cry today, as some Roman Catholics do, that life is precious, even the life of the unborn fetus, is to ignore the fact that Rome condemned to death hundreds of thousands of people during the many persecutions it launched against 'heretics' throughout its bloody history, chiefly during the dreadful INQUISITION and later in the WITCHCRAFT blood-letting.

In a judgment delivered some years ago and quoted by Dr Paul Gerber on Australia’s ABC-radio, Justice Clark observed:

To say that life is present at conception is to give recognition to the potential rather than the actual. The law deals in reality, not obscurity, the known rather than the unknown. The law does not deal in speculation. The phenomenon of life takes time to develop and until it is actually present it cannot be destroyed. It's interruption prior to formation would hardly be homicide. The rites of baptism are not performed and death certificates are not required when a miscarriage occurs. No prosecutor has ever returned a murder indictment charging the taking of the life of a foetus as would be the case if the foetus constituted human life . . .

What constitutes conception itself is the subject of constant review as medical science progresses. It would seem that the better view is that conception is not so much an event as a process over time, particularly in the light of new techniques, such as fertilisation in vitro, implantation of embryos, artificial insemination, and even the building of artificial wombs.

Following the downfall of the Communist regime in Poland the country began reverting to its dark Catholic-dominated past. Soon the liberal abortion law instituted by the previous Government were abolished and in their place new laws were introduced specifying heavy penalties, particularly directed at doctors who perform abortions, even for humanitarian reasons. The heavy hand of Rome had once again fallen on the land.

In March 1995 Dr Wincenty Kroemeke, 59, was put on trial for having performed an abortion on Mrs Barbara Pawliczak in March 1994. The court was told by Mrs Pawliczak, who supports a 10-year-old daughter, that she became depressed when the State clinic turned down her request for an abortion. Her lover informed the authorities in a deliberate act of revenge 'to teach her a lesson . . . so she won't have anything to do with other men.' The doctor faced a two-year prison term if found guilty. President Lech Walesa, a bigoted Catholic, has strongly opposed moves to soften the law. Before the new law applied an estimated 100,000 abortions were being performed each year in Poland.

PRIMACY

In April 1995 a US lawmaker outraged many women when he claimed that North Carolina's fund providing abortions for poor women should be abolished. Republican Henry Aldridge, 71, asserted that women who are 'truly raped' do not get pregnant! 'The juices won't flow, the body functions won't work, and they don't get pregnant,' he added. An activist, Ms Margaret Henderson, responded with the comment: 'This is the first time I've heard of rape victims being blamed for becoming pregnant.' The proposal was later withdrawn.

A review published by the Australian Medical Association in April 1995 asserted that women who effectively harmed their babies by consuming drugs, alcohol or tobacco while pregnant should not be sued for damages. The AMA statement laid down the principle, in the doctors' view, that a woman's rights were 'always superior' to those of the unborn foetus. Commented Dr John Seymour, author of the statement: : 'The idea that a woman's rights as a citizen are compromised by her pregnancy is a very dangerous one.'

Doctors, the statement said, had no right to intervene against a woman's wishes. The report, headed Foetal Welfare and the Law, was sponsored by the Australian College of Paediatricians, the Royal Australian College of Gynaecologists, and the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians. The report was immediately condemned out of hand by the moral minority group Right to Life.

Clearly male-dominated societies do not want women to have control over their reproduction processes. American feminist lawyer Kathryn Kolbert has well stated the position: 'The reason abortion rights are so threatening is that they make a woman a totally autonomous person, and that is a threat to male control, and even to masculinity itself.' See also: ABORTION CLINIC ATTACKS.

ABORTION CLINIC ATTACKS.

US abortion clinics have been subjected to concerted attacks by Christian groups in recent years. Doctors, nurses and woman attending have been harassed and physically and verbally abused and attacked by the chanting, life-affirming, Christians surrounding the buildings. Their actions have even included bombings and outright murder and attempted murder. They have received support from the Ku Klux Klan. By mid-1994 it was reported that there had been 38 bombings and 88 arson attacks on such clinics. There were another 68 attempted attacks.

Dr David Gunn, 47, knew he could be in danger. He carried a gun in his car as he moved across three states and between the four clinics he worked in. But he felt a gun was out of place in the actual clinic building, even although he worked in a threatening situation (the clinic was regularly targeted by noisy aggressive 'pro-life' groups). On March 10, 1993, Dr Gunn was shot three times in the back as he was about to enter a rear door of the clinic.

The religion-crazed gunman was 31-year-old Frederick Griffin, a married man with two children. When police arrived he walked up to them and calmly said: 'I've just shot somebody.' The gun was in the grass nearby. He was arrested and charged with murder. Rather than expressing contrition over the cold-blooded murder many of the 'pro-lifers' cheered when they heard the news of the doctor's death. Some of their number expressed support for the murderer in TV programs aired since.

At first the pro-lifers tried to distance themselves from the gunman but their efforts were dealt a fatal blow when it was revealed that the chief organization engaged in the war against the women's clinics, Operation Rescue, a militant Christian front group, had launched a fund to support the killer and his family. It was also revealed that Griffin had been in charge of one of the protesting groups before the shooting! Griffin was refusing legal assistance as he faced the courts. He said he would use the Bible only to defend himself. As the Bible has nothing directly to say about abortion he would find this difficult!

RIGHT TO CHOOSE

The abortion fight in the USA has reached a very nasty stage. Although almost two-thirds of American citizens support women's right to choose, the anti-choice brigade are aggressive, noisy and dangerous, as has now been shown. Pledged to 'preserve life' they are also willing to take life in the process, a curious stance. Worse, in many cities and towns in 'conservative' areas, where the law is being broken by these mobs, police and the judiciary are siding with the 'pro-lifers' and not protecting people. No wonder doctors are donning bullet-proof vests! One story in thousands involving similar harassment: The 6-year-old daughter of a doctor working at a women's clinic was one day followed to her day-school by a group of ratbag Christian demonstrators who stood outside the school all day chanting slogans directed at the little girl.

In March 1994 Griffin was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Florida normally applies the death penalty but the prosecution had agreed not to seek the capital penalty in a pre-trial deal. Meanwhile, in August 1993, Dr George Tiller was shot in both arms outside his clinic in Wichita, Kansas. He lived. His alleged attacker was Rachelle Renae Shannon, 37, convicted and sentenced to eight years in jail for attempted murder. In May 1994 President Clinton signed a US bill making it a Federal crime for protesters to deny women access to abortion clinics.

On July 29, 1994 two more murders occurred, in Pensacola, Florida. Dr John Britton, 69, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, was shot dead - in the head - along with a volunteer security escort, Mr James Barrett, 74. A female nurse was wounded. Police arrested an ex-Presbyterian minister, Paul Hill, 40, a well-known opponent of abortion clinics, and charged him on two counts of murder and one of attempted murder. Hill had expressed threats against the abortion clinic for a long period but police had taken no action and were accused of ignoring the danger. A new Federal law, Freedom of Access to Clinics, should have been used by the FBI to arrest Hill.

CHRISTIAN MURDERER

Hill, who claims such murders are justified, expressed no remorse and a newspaper photograph showed him smiling, evidently happy at his murderous adventure. Hill, defending himself, was later found guilty on Federal charges of harming or interfering with those who provide legal abortions. His reaction: to smile happily. He is still to face State murder charges. Following Hill's trial there was an escalation of attacks on clinics, no less than fourteen arson and bomb attacks occurring within the two week period following his conviction.

Meanwhile in Virginia, Washington, an abortion clinic in the suburb of Falls Church was fire-bombed. The FBI was investigating. And Father David Trosch, a Catholic priest in Alabama, was preaching that the deity smiled upon those who took life to save life. He threatened anyone supporting the pro-choice lobby, including the US President himself, that they would be 'terminated as vermin is terminated.' He was suspended by his bishop but organized a declaration maintaining his views. Commented Cardinal Roger Mahoney, a pro-lifer: 'Violence in the movement makes a mockery of all we stand for.'

It was reported in mid-1994 that a radical US Christian group known as the Army of God has been distributing a 113-page 'terror manual' - a book advising ways and means of destroying abortion clinics and murdering doctors, complete with suitable formulas for home-made bombs designed to make 'baby-killers tremble in their boots'. In November 1994 the anti-abortion violence spread into Canada when Dr Garson Romalis, a gynaecologist, was shot with an AK47 assault rifle through a window of his Vancouver home. He survived, although he was seriously wounded.

In September 1995 Robert Cook, 33, of Caledonia, Wisconsin (USA) was indicted by a US federal grand jury on theft charges. It was alleged that Cook had stolen $US260,000 to finance attacks on abortion clinics. Cook was arrested the previous month when police found cash, food, an assault rifle and two ninja-type hoods in his car. See also: ABORTION.

ABRAHAM. Abraham is an important figure of Jewish and Christian mythology and to some extent in Islamic as well. However, there is little evidence, other than the Bible's own claims, that Abraham was the figure he was made out to be. The Biblical account of Abraham was actually only written down some 1,200 years after his time! We must indeed make a leap of faith, such as is so often advocated in the Bible (with good reason, as otherwise nobody would pay the slightest heed to it), to accept that the account passed on by word of mouth for 1,200 years is true!

The very fact that Abraham appears in the story under variant names, i.e. Abraham and Abram, must make us suspicious. This might seem a small matter. At first glance, yes. It is a commonplace of history that names have come down to us in variant forms. But the Bible-boosters are not to be let off so lightly. Abraham is a pivotal figure in Jewish history. And the interesting point is that the two names as given have different meanings in the original Hebrew.

Not only so but each name occurs in distinct sections of Genesis that do not overlap, except where the editors have inserted the usual specious reason for the change (see Genesis 17:5). And any fair-minded reading of the two accounts leaves us in no doubt that two distinct original documents were used (a fact well known to scholars). Thus the original Abraham/Abram is, in truth, a far less certain historical figure than we have been led to believe.

And the episode where Abraham offers up his son Isaac as a sacrifice to the Hebrew tribal deity Yahweh is an interesting one. It indicates clearly that human sacrifice was probably practised by the early Hebrews, however much the scribes tried to sanitize this episode and, like movieland’s serial-story, have the young lad rescued at the last moment!

Your attention is drawn to a definite instance of human sacrifice, that involving JEPHTHAH, who burnt his daughter for Yahweh. But then in the Hebrew law as set down in Exodus 22: 29 provision was made for 'the firstborn of thy sons' to be given to Yahweh (Exodus 22:29). And this is not merely a symbolic 'giving', for the very next verse refers to the firstborn of sheep and oxen to be likewise 'given'; and it wasn't symbolic for these latter, it was the real thing! So Isaac was a lucky lad.

Abraham also had an incestuous marriage. In Genesis 20: 12 we learn that he married his father's daughter. 'And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.'

ABRAM. See under: ABRAHAM.

ABSOLUTIONS. See under: PARDONS.

ABU BEKR 'Ayishah bint. Ayishah was a child bride of Muhammad. According to tradition she was, in the manner of the time, first penetrated by the Prophet's sacred penis when but 6 years of age. So say some authorities; others say she was 9; whatever the exact age it was young. The wives and daughters of Muhammad were, according to some historians (the histories conflict in many matters) subjected to frequent intercourse and his youngest daughter, Umm Kulthum, became, according to Arab history, a 'proverbial example' of adultery and debauchery.

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, The. The book of the New Testament next after the four Gospels. Unlike many other New Testament books the Acts was accepted by most Christians as 'canonical' from an early period. It is said to be written by St Luke, usually referred to as a historian. Regrettably St Luke was either a careless historian or else he was an accurate recorder of the conversion of St Paul and there's something wrong in that affair.

There are three accounts of this dramatic and important event, i.e. Paul’s conversion, in the book of Acts and they differ in important details. So either St Paul was hallucinating as a result of sunstroke on the Damascus road or else St Luke was careless. Whichever explanation is taken by Christians it leaves them with a problem: their inerrant Bible has erred! But then if we compare Luke's Gospel with the other three we find there are discrepancies laid on thick!

In 1913 Eduard Norden in his work, Agnostos Theos demolished the authenticity of the Book of Acts as a document of history; rather it is best described as historical fiction. Mr Norden’s arguments have stood the test of time. See also: PAUL, Saint.

ACUPUNCTURE. Does acupuncture work? If so, how? In acupuncture the needles are either twirled manually or electric current is applied. This produces localized pain at the needle site. It is believed by observers that concentration on this pain has the effect of reducing pain elsewhere, a commonly observed phenomenon. A study of trigger-zones and sites of pain unrelated to the segmental nervous system reveals that about 70 percent of the trigger-zones correlate with acupuncture points.

There is some relationship between the application of pain in this way and the effects of hypnosis. It has been suggested that the conditions surrounding the patient experiencing acupuncture are not dissimilar to conditions conducive to hypnosis. In this connection it is interesting to note that only about 10 percent of patients are able to undergo surgery under acupuncture. Under hypnosis some 10 percent to 15 percent are able. Studies suggest a correlation between the two and in practice it has been found that subjects reporting good results from acupuncture are also found to be good subjects for hypnosis. So perhaps it is all in the mind.

A.D. See re usages of A.D. and B.C., etc, under: CALENDAR, The.

ADAM. The first man, according to the Bible. By the Bible's own chronology he appeared on earth in 4,004 BCE, and soon after arriving from the other world, had an operation on his ribcage to produce Eve. Curiously, when Adam and Eve were supposedly living in the Garden of Eden, they were in fact right in the middle of a highly organized and developed civilization which had already been flourishing for some thousands of years in that area. Perhaps even tens of thousands. Someone must have forgotten to tell Yahweh there were humans aplenty already there! Maybe the Garden of Eden was actually a Zoological Garden and the two Hairless Apes were prize exhibits? But the presence of masses of people at least explains where Adam's sons got their wives from, a perpetual puzzle to believing children!

It is important to notice that St Paul and other New Testament writers believed in Adam. Implicitly. In one reference after another the New Testament refers to Adam as an individual human being. One man Christ (for there were not more) is contrasted with one man, Adam (1 Corinthians 15:21). Christ is not a generic term here (as some Christians would say, trying to wriggle out of their problems), nor some sort of allegorical figure; neither is Adam. Yet again, read the words of Romans 5:12: 'Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world....' Moreover, in verse 14 this same man is linked historically with Moses: 'Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses.'

Are Christians, then, telling us that Moses also is an allegorical figure? Some of us might think that he is but the fundamentalists, at least, would never agree to this. And the genealogies of Genesis, too, treat Adam as a historical figure (Genesis 5:1-5). We are even informed that Adam died! It would be some curiosity indeed if an allegorical figure were to die! And he had children and his children's children went on to produce the Chosen Race. The line of succession is clearly spelled out: Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Moses.

Christians, if they are to claim for themselves that sacred name, must accept that Adam and Eve are actual historic persons, with all the implications flowing from such acceptance. Otherwise the Christian teaching of the Fall, and everything that follows logically from such a belief, lies broken in shards. If the First Man is banished from history, what then of the Last Man? The whole doctrine of the Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection and alleged Second Coming of Christ depends on the concept of Man's Fall. And that Man was none other than the Adam of Genesis who, with his wife Eve, rebelled against the deity. If Man did not fall then Christ did not have to die.

ADAMITES. Or Adamians. A religious sect, of Gnostic tendencies, whose members lived naked 'like Adam' in an attempt to return to man's innocent state before the Fall. Some write that they abstained from all sensual gratifications but it appears more likely that they used their doctrinal posturing to indulge in some of the pleasures of the flesh. They were said to practise coitus reservatus, i.e., intercourse without orgasm, delighting in the pleasures of foreplay.

They first arose in the second century and rejected marriage as well as clothing but in time possibly degenerated into a worse moral state than those they railed against. They went about within their own groups naked, and may have practised self-flagellation in private as a form of  MORTIFICATION.

In the early part of the 15th century a fanatical sect of the same name appeared in Bohemia and Moravia (also known as Picards or Brethren of the Free Spirit). They believed in the abolition of the priesthood and a community of wives. At their nightly meetings they went naked. Some of their number, at least, would no doubt have taken part in the processions of FLAGELLANTS moving around Europe during the time of the Black Death. John Zisca, famous general of the Hussites, attacked the Adamites, who were bringing discredit on his army, killed some and committed others to the flames. There were still some of their persuasion around in 1849.

The Adamites were known for running through the streets naked as a form of protest against persecution. An 18th century painting depicted the sect members, male and female, running quite naked through Amsterdam in a 16th century protest. The term ANABAPTISTS is also applied to such groups and there appears to be some confusion as there were many groups who had outlandish ways of protest.

ADAM'S PEAK. A high mountain in the south of Sri Lanka (2260 m. or 7420 ft). On a platform at the summit of the granite peak there is a deep impression like a monster's footprint, an object of pilgrimages attracting immense numbers of people. The Muslims believe that after Adam was expelled from Eden, he did penance on this spot by standing on one foot for a thousand years. The Buddhists, however, believe the indent is the Sri-pada, or holy footprint of the Buddha. As the location does seem to be somewhat removed from the traditional home of Adam, perhaps the Buddhists are right! I suspect, however, that the Buddha himself would deny the claim.

ADLER, Margot. Adler is a descendant of Alfred Adler, the famous psychiatrist. She was initiated into Gardnerian witchcraft in 1971. She is author of an important book dealing with modern witchcraft in North America, Drawing Down the Moon. She is or was an important figure on the American scene, often acting as de facto spokesperson for the movement and appearing in television interviews.

ADRIAN 6th, Pope. See under: HADRIAN 6th, Pope.

AFRA, Saint. Saint Afra was reportedly a prostitute before taking up the religious life.

AGAPEMONE, Church of the.
In 1859 the Rev Henry James Prince, onetime English Anglican clergyman, opened a quasi-religious establishment, known as the Agapemone (Greek for Abode of Love), near Bridgewater in Somerset. Prince raised subscriptions for his project publicly through the south-coast region of England and set up his harem (for that was what it was) in a country house at Spaxton. It was open to the public and was more-or-less financially successful.

Prince was born in Wales 1811 and died in 1899. Early in life Henry showed a predisposition to the church, attending his local one frequently. He even expressed a desire to be a clergyman but his mother had other ideas and saw to it that he was trained as a doctor. He practised for three years but eventually sickness caused him to withdraw from the profession. For a time he had to live on what his mother could spare from her income running a boarding-house. Eventually he recovered and was soon about to experience a major turning-point in his life. He happened to have a fine speaking voice and was, as well, handsome, with soft grey eyes and a slender figure. Women were naturally attracted to him as a result.

An elderly lady lodger, who had inherited some funds, paid the young man to read passages of the Bible to her. Her favourite passage was that Biblical piece of gentle erotica, the Song of Solomon, and one day, while reading from this stimulating and uplifting text, the lady burst into tears, flung herself passionately upon the startled man and expressed her love for him. This event, not surprisingly, came as a revelation to him. Now any reasonable young man offered anything would, we might expect, ask for something really useful. But so gone was this man on his religion that he announced what he wanted most of all was to attend a theological college so as to become a clergyman. The lady, being religious, too, and caught up with the inspired words of Solomon, was delighted with such a fine suggestion and gave Prince the money to pay his fees. In gratitude Prince married her. Honourable fellow! Sadly, the marriage did not last long as the woman, being, as I said, elderly, soon died.

Thus began the next phase of the life of Prince as he began studies at the Theological College at Lampeter, which trained men for the Church of England. Now at this time the Established Church was a very moderate, liberal institution, taken as a whole, one which accepted into its ranks just about anybody. But the new man was a dreadful boat-rocker. He wanted changes made, especially in the attitude to Christian doctrine. What is more, the bounder even demanded of the college Principal that he, too, should mend his ways!

HIGHER FORCES

Prince called upon Higher Forces to aid his cause. Apparently he felt he had a better case before the Almighty than did the college Principal. He soon gathered together some of the more zealous students in private prayer meetings, outside the stream of regular college activities, meetings that went on for long periods. Some dissension arose over this but the authorities could do little as prayer meetings were, after all, a suitable spiritual activity to be engage din by Christians.

But more trouble followed. The Principal, the Rev. Alfred Ollivant, had about this time been promoted in the Church hierarchy and gave a dinner-party for the students to celebrate this event. Drinks were imbibed, as the manner was in such liberal Christian circles. But when the toast was about to be drunk, Prince, who was present, rose and objected. He said that rather than propose a toast they should all fall on their knees and pray for the Principal's soul! He then marched from the room, leaving all somewhat dismayed. From then on Prince was very unpopular with everyone but a select group of zealots from among the student body. The group continued in gathering for prayer and called themselves, to the intense annoyance of the Principal, the Lampeter Brethren.

In time the Church authorities awarded Prince, albeit reluctantly, the degree of Doctor of Divinity, with an appointment as a curate to follow. This latter, too, was granted reluctantly and the powers-that-be made sure he was located in a fairly insignificant backwater, the village of Charlynch, in Somerset. The year was 1840. Prince was undaunted. He set to work to convert his immediate superior (for he was merely the assistant) the Rector, and won this prize! Now it may seem odd that a rector (or vicar, in some parts) should be in such a position and 'unconverted' but this was the way things were in the national Church at that time. This was a somewhat specially noteworthy action as the Rector, the Rev. Samuel Starkey, was the son of Lady Mary Alicia Coventry and was, through her, connected with a large cross-section of the aristocracy of England.

SUDDEN CURE

The Rev. Henry James Prince was now something of a celebrity. His preaching was popular and drew good crowds and Prince was elated. He told Starkey, now a great admirer of the younger man, that he had absorbed the spirit of GOD. Indeed, when the rector experienced a sudden recovery from a mysterious illness, he attributed the cure to Prince. Some of the women of the church now approached Prince, asking him to hold special prayer meetings for ladies only. What a very nice idea! There soon followed regular meetings, with prayers and readings from one particular book above all others - the Song of Solomon.

Prince came to be attended upon by a band of adoring women, the wives and daughters of the local farmers, and also womenfolk from nearby great houses. He was carried away with his audience and enthusiastically kissed the ladies. Now, somewhat understandably, uproar arose from among the husbands, fathers and brothers. But surely a cleric could kiss his lady parishioners? After all, the Word itself commanded Christians to 'greet one another with a holy kiss.' But, dear me, Prince was accused of going farther than mere kissing, an accusation denied by the women, although they did so with some degree of tantalizing ambiguity.

The readings from the most erotic book in the Bible continued, and so did the strife. Men forbade their womenfolk to go to the meetings, debate raged. The whole area was in a state of uproar until the Bishop of Bath and Wells descended upon the village and calmed everybody down. Everybody, that is, except Prince. The Bishop suggested politely (in the manner of English bishops) to the latter that he move on to other pastures in another diocese and promised his help in securing a living. Prince refused and the bishop became less polite, forthwith relieving the upstart of his curacy.

Enter another Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr Allen, Bishop of Ely, who unwisely, as it soon turned out, took into his fold the errant curate. He was given work at Stoke but in some forty months there the Reverend Henry Prince had caused an even greater uproar than he had at Charlynch. The Bishop of Ely had to admit that his brother Bishop at Bath and Wells knew what he was about. Prince was now out of a job for the second time. Inspiration struck. He would hire a hall and turn it into his own church. Meanwhile the sister of the Rev. Samuel Starkey, Julia, had fallen in love with Prince and made up her mind to marry him. Julia was considered a beauty in her time. Later events were to show that Julia loved Prince deeply and remained loyally devoted to him through thick and thin.

LAMPETER BRETHREN

So they married and, with a small sum of money Julia brought, Prince hired his meeting-hall in Brighton. They lived across the road from the hall. He called the hall The Adullum after the cave in which the poor and outcast sheltered in David's time. To this place came some of the members of the original student band forming the Lampeter Brethren, many now holding livings in the Church. They were soon joined by a band of devoted females, as always, and Prince launched a series of addresses somehow linking the Judgment theme with the Song of Solomon.

Meanwhile, his former rector, now principal ally, Samuel Starkey, had separated from the official Church and was preaching at Weymouth, Dorsetshire. Here he had been experiencing a great measure of success in attracting people from all walks of life to the cause. And not shrinking from their prophetic role, the men gave themselves out to be the Two Witnesses foretold in the book of Revelation (not the first nor the last to claim this for themselves).

It was summertime when Prince launched his Brighton project and the meetings were at first successful, but as winter set in numbers fell until, on some evenings, especially in the dreary month of November, there was no congregation at all. Prince was dispirited and began to lose faith in himself. On some cold wintry evenings not even his faithful female followers attended.

In all such movements it is often difficult to obtain, at such a distance in time, an accurate account of what happened. Events that pass unnoticed and unrecorded at the time will often, later, prove to be significant but by then details will have been lost. However, for whatever reason it appears that the movement gained a new lease of life and money began to flow in. Starkey himself had funds and offered help. Mrs Starkey came from a wealthy family and promised an annuity of £80. A man named Maber and his four sisters put together what was then a huge sum - £10,000.

ABODE CONSTRUCTED

By 1849 money was piling up and Henry Prince announced he was building his Agapemone or Abode of Love (spiritual love, that is, he assured everyone). Near the town of Bridgewater the group bought 20 acres and behind high walls spent two years building a luxurious retreat. It is claimed that the disciples who entered the Abode handed over all their worldly possessions but this may have been a distortion of the truth. In any event some sixty recruits entered into the place and Henry Prince's dream had been realized. What happened in the years that followed depends on who tells the story! Within months rumours were circulating as to strange goings-on within the walls of the Agapemone. There was talk of drunken orgies, sexual licence and of wife-swapping. That there may be at least some substance in the claims is indicated by the nature of a document issued by Prince the very year of the foundation of his Abode of Love.

Prince was a zealous pamphleteer all his life and in these writings poured forth his interesting, and to the orthodox, alarming, concepts of religion mixed with the pleasures of the flesh. In this movement, as in so many others through history, we see the struggle of the religious soul attempting to reconcile the natural impulses of the mortal flesh with the strict dogmas of the faith.

Among his pamphlets, which were sold profitably, was How You May Know Whether You Do or Do Not Believe in Jesus Christ. It was claimed that he came later to believe that sexual relations within his society would be completely innocent. Reportedly Prince engaged in sex with a Miss Paterson after prayers on one of the sofas and in full view of the congregation. When Miss Paterson became pregnant, Prince told the faithful there would be no birth, but there was, upon which event Prince proclaimed that this was Satan's last act of defiance against God! Some lady disciples left, others remained faithful. Outsiders described inmates as 'silly captive women.' But at the height of its popularity the Abode housed about 1,000 people.

In 1859 Prince issued Brother Prince's Journal, and Account of the Destruction of the Works of the Devil in the Human Soul by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Gospel. This document calmly sets forth a doctrine of sinless perfection (which, too, has raised its head many times before), the concept that through the grace of GOD the believer is kept from sinning. Thus such a person, in effect, attempts to hedge about his dalliances with a cloak of spiritual respectability.

PRINCE SUED

But scandal of one kind or another was never far way. In 1860 the Agapemone hit the headlines when Ralph Nottidge sued Prince for the return of £5,725 which his sister Louisa had given the man. In court Nottidge related how his three sister had been 'almost insanely infatuated' with Prince and Louisa had set up house near the Abode. Eventually the brother had persuaded her to return home and, fearing for her sanity (for she believed Prince was divine and that he was able to make her immortal) had her examined. She was sent away to a mental home but eventually released and immediately after moved into the Agapemone and signed over the money. The court ordered Prince to return the funds to Louisa's estate.

When, seven years later, a meeting of local citizens was held to protest activities in the Abode, it was claimed by one speaker that in four years no less than fourteen disciples had been so disgusted by what went on they had escaped - over the wall. This claim is a trifle curious as at no time was it suggested disciples were not free to leave as they wished. The citizenry wanted the inhabitants of the place run out of town, but nothing happened.

From time to time stories surfaced alleging the pledging of money to Prince and his entourage. Emphasis was placed on 'spiritual' marriage, in other words men and women being joined in matrimony but not having children. This, claimed critics, ensured that their estates went to the group. The later years passed more-or-less quietly, Prince living in his Abode until his death in 1899. Commented the Globe Encyclopedia, in 1876: 'The sect vegetates rather than lives in the sleepy luxury of Spaxton, and must perish with its founders.' It was helped considerably, however, in 1874 when a wealthy London merchant moved in with the founder, signing over a large fortune in the process. The man offered himself as Prince's butler! Thus the eccentricities continued.

The new money gave a big fillip to the cult, which somehow got itself linked up with another bizarre character, also a onetime Anglican cleric, the Rev. T. H. Smyth-Piggott, who had an even more incredible public life than Prince. He had been operating a curious establishment in London, known as the Ark of the Covenant and also attracted about his person an entourage of female disciples. He was quite a character of notoriety and public derision. He bore children with names such as Glory and Life. In 1909 Smyth-Piggott was found guilty of 'immorality, uncleanness and wickedness of life.' When he heard that Prince had died he announced that he was his true successor and eventually moved into the Agapemone. The stories of goings-on continued until, at length, the Bishop of Bath and Wells was moved to stop the man preaching, at least outside the walls of the Abode of Love. At one time a police guard was even mounted to enforce the ruling.

AGAPETISM. From the Greek meaning 'other than carnal love.' A practice first described in the Christian context around the middle of third century. Women slept with men, yet claimed not to have sexual congress. In most eras of human history virginity in the female has been prized by the male, a powerful factor in the rise of the cult of the Virgin Mary. The practice thus developed whereby young virgins would sleep, usually entirely nude (for that has been more often than not the mode adopted for sleeping by humans through the centuries, as it is even today in many societies) with a male while the couple claimed not to have had sexual congress. This was termed agapetism.

Whether or not the ladies retained their virginity, the practice stirred up the ire of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, who decreed that if a young woman announced that she had successfully passed through such a test of chastity, she must submit to a midwife for examination! It is not recorded what the young bedfellows thought of the experience of lying all night beside an attractive naked female, without so much as experiencing a quick bit of fun! Or an erection!

Another story involved Cyprian questioning a nun as to her claim of remaining virginal after spending a night thus bedded down. The prelate told the poor women that even if she passed the normal test of virginity (through examination of the generative organ) she was still guilty of sin if 'parts of her body', i.e. the mouth, had been employed in lovemaking.

One of the great Fathers of the Church, Saint Jerome, recorded his experience of ghostly bed-companions, come to tempt his flesh. According to the holy man troops of beautiful naked females danced about him at night as he attempted to sleep, while trying to keep his thoughts pure. In a later era, another saint, Aldhelm of Malmesbury, had his resolution tested in an alarming the manner. He went to bed between two real girls ('unam ab uno latere, alterem ab altero').

Virginity was as much a preoccupation of the Christian doctors as it was (and still is!) of others inside and outside the Church. The naughty goings-on in the third century were not the first such occurrences. As early as around 100 CE an account was written anonymously (but believed by some to have been penned by Hermas, brother of a Catholic bishop), a fantasy-story of this bygone era, which incorporated the concept of agapetism. The storyteller is introduced by a shepherd to a company of twelve females. Night approaches and the narrator asks the girls where he is to sleep. 'You will sleep with us,' they reply, 'but as a brother not as other men, for you are indeed our brother and in future we shall serve you, for we love you.' There follows a scene where one of the maidens, who seems to be a leader, kisses the man, followed by each of the others.

More titillation follows. The virgin ladies remove their clothing, even undergarments, placing them on the floor to form a sort of bed, telling the man to lie upon this. 'Next they prayed, and I prayed with them,' the narrator continues, 'and I remained with them, praying, until two o'clock in the morning.' At length the shepherd returns and questions the ladies, asking: 'I hope that you did not abuse him.' (A touch of male chauvinism here!) The ladies reply, 'Ask him.' The final word of this curious tale is somewhat enigmatic, for the narrator simply states: 'Lord, it gave me pleasure to spend the night with the women.'

Why such curious activities? Did these ladies really wish to test their resolve or was it an excuse to practise something otherwise forbidden? A sly way of going to bed with a man? The fact that Church authorities, at least at some stages, had women tested after such activities, indicates that some participants at least must have succumbed to the pleasures of the flesh. On the other hand an opposite tendency was seen among some women who prized their virginity. Sometimes a married couple did not consummate their marriage. It was not an uncommon feature of life through the Christian ages. An Anglo-Saxon queen was actually canonized by the Church for refusing to have intercourse with her husband!

In England in 1859 a curious establishment was founded, known as the Church of the AGAPEMONE. It was the best known and most successful of a number of similar bodies. The history of the development of these ideas in later times will be found under: BUNDLING.

AGNI. A central feature of the worship of ZOROASTRIANISM was the fire-shrine, in which a sacred fire was kept burning upon an altar, tended by the fire-priests. Early reliefs picture the king standing before the fire-altar under an open sky. The fire itself is fed with carefully selected wood. Modern Parsees uses sandalwood, and services are held five times a day. The sacred fire was a gift from the deity Ahura Mazda. It symbolized light and purity and was inherited from earlier Aryan religion. Thus, Zarathustra himself was said to be tending a fire-altar already in existence when Ahura Mazda revealed himself. It is through this fire worship that we see one of the many strong links between the religion of India and that of Persia.

One of the greatest gods of the Rig-Veda (the ancient Hindu scriptures) is Agni (ignis). This god is fire personified in all its forms in heaven and upon earth. In over two hundred hymns in the Rig-Veda, Agni is lauded. A curious link with water is also formed in these poetic outbursts. In the lightning breaking from the clouds in the rain-drenched sky Agni is born and reborn, descending to earth in the lightning-bolt. The natural forces of fire and rain and lightning, so awesome at times in their power and fury, played a major role in religious development.

We see this clearly in some of the Jewish writings, which also reflect probable links with the worship of Agni. In the first chapter of the prophecies of Ezekiel we find the Prophet seeing visions of Yahweh. 'And I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire infolding itself (RV marginal alternative: 'flashing continually'), and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire came four living creatures....' and 'as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches; it went up and down among the living creatures: and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning....And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of a man upon it above....I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him' (Ezekiel 1:4-5,13,26,28).

The crazed visions of Ezekiel may have been drug-induced, as some believe, but the true origin of the basic imagery is clearly evident. Ezekiel prophesied a little after Zarathustra's time and the same influences that permeated all religion in that region would surely have been active in the Babylon of Ezekiel's exile.

In the Eastern tradition the abode of Agni is also the sun, the great fire in the sky, and thus Agni is linked with a long line of solar deities stretching back through immemorial time. And he is born anew each day when he bursts forth from his hiding-place in the wood of the two fire-sticks that are rubbed together to kindle the sacred flame on the altar. Agni is, in fact, a kind of priest of the gods. He conveys in his flames and smoke the sacrificial offerings and worship of the people to the very seats of the divinities on high. Believers even looked upon their household fires as sacred. Agni is man's good friend, a guest in every home, driving away demons and bestowing prosperity and all material good.

Agni's flame still lingers with us even today as worshippers in the churches of Catholicism and Orthodoxy are mesmerized by the flickering flame of the votive candles. Are not these Christian priests still participating in the ancient rites that had their origins in the Aryan religion? Agni bore the prayers of the worshippers to the gods above. The flame of the candle, we are told, likewise bears aloft the hopes and prayers of the worshippers. But even Protestants do not entirely escape the long reach of the past. Agni is with them whenever they participate in the ceremony of 'Carols by Candlelight', bearing aloft the sung prayers of the participants.

AGNOSTICISM. The philosophy that expounds the idea that nothing is known or can be known about the nature of deity or the ‘spiritual world’ beyond the material world in which we live. An agnostic would appear to stand halfway between the religious believer and the adherent of ATHEISM.

AIDS HYSTERIA. When HIV-AIDS first began to be noticed in 1983 there was widespread hysteria. Religious groups especially pointed the finger of condemnation at homosexuals, even although AIDS first arose in a heterosexual community in Africa. There were calls for isolating AIDS victims and, indeed, all homosexuals, in colonies much as lepers were once isolated. In 1976 in Philadelphia there had been an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease during a veterans' convention. There had been a similar upsurge of hysteria. However, in August 1978, the same disease struck the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. The same hysteria was strangely absent.

AKBAR PADSHAW. Properly Jalál-ad-dín-Muhammad-Akbar. 'Akbar' means 'the Great'. Greatest of the Mogul emperors who, at an early age, doubted the inspiration of the Koran. Born in 1542, he became ruler at a very early age and thereafter had an illustrious career. It was said of him that he was never defeated on the field and never baffled by a fortress. At its greatest extent his kingdom stretched across 1,600 km. Although brought up and ruling as a Muslim, Akbar thought the founders and prophets of all religions, including Muhammad, were pretenders. He was a deist in that he believed in a supreme GOD and tried hard to unite the Hindus and Muslims under his rule. He was long remembered in the East as a 'benefactor of the human species.'

ALAMO, Tony. See under: HOLY ALAMO CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

AL ARQAM. A mystical Islamic Sufi sect that in mid-1994 was claiming 100,000 adherents in Malaysia and others elsewhere. The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir, in July 1994, expressed concern at the growth of the sect and asked Islamic scholars to investigate its basis. Soon after this he announced a ban on the movement and that it would be investigated as a secret society. Led by Mr Ashaari Muhammad, 57, Al Arqam members believe in a doomsday scenario similar to fundamentalist Christians. They think a messiah-figure will appear out of Asia prior to the final End Time. They have preached the nearness of this event since 1968. Their more orthodox critics claim that the men of the sect use women as sex-slaves.

In September 1994 Mr Ashaari claimed that the Prophet Muhammad had appeared to him in a dream and criticized Dr Mahathir. In October 1994, following strong pressure being exerted by the Malaysian Government, Ashaari Muhammad appeared on national television and recanted his 'deviationist' beliefs.

ALBIGENSES. The Albigenses, the French branch of the CATHARI, were one of many groups of dissenters from the Church of Rome who were subjected to fierce persecution as heretics. In the 12th century the Albigenses mainly occupied areas in southern France. These people came within the orbit of Count Raymond 6th, Earl of Toulouse, and both the earl and the King of France tolerated their presence until the Third Lateran Council in 1179. The Council proclaimed a holy crusade against all dissenters, especially the Albigenses and the WALDENSES and in 1181 a crusade was launched against the heretics. Eventually this action petered out and the anti-Church groups began to grow again.

For a time both the earl and the king equivocated and sought to avoid stirring up strife among the people but the Pope, Innocent 3rd, was insistent that the heresy should be rooted out. Then, in 1208, Peter of Castelnau, the Papal Legate, was murdered. This action was greeted with horror by many people, who believed Count Raymond was responsible, and so the Pope now had the ammunition he needed to insist on action being taken against the heretics. Soon an army was being raised, headed by Simon de Montfort, a Catholic zealot. The dissidents, peaceful and useful citizens, who numbered many hundreds of thousands scattered through numerous towns and villages, were destined to suffer appalling terror over a number of years. No help was forthcoming from northern France as the nobles there, zealous of the south's wealth, backed the invaders, hoping to profit from the resulting chaos.

Tens of thousands of people, including thousands of children, many mere babes, suffered through the next 30 years. Large numbers who escaped the battle sword, were tortured and burnt at the stake, the authorities not hesitating to subject children to this horrible death along with their parents. This incident propelled forward moves within the Church to set up a formal mechanism to suppress heresy, namely the INQUISITION. An old engraving of an execution of a 'heretic' by fire:

It was in this crusade that a statement was supposedly made that has rung through history. It is quite possible that it was never said but its intent was carried out with frightening ferocity by the good churchmen. The story goes that when Beziers, the first city, was taken, the Papal Legate was asked whether the Catholics should be spared the sword. However, the official feared that many heretics would feign allegiance to the Church and thus escape punishment. He therefore commanded: 'Kill them all [i.e. everyone in the city], for God knows his own.' Louis 8th, who reigned from 1223 to 1226, continued to wage war against the Albigenses. He was followed by Louis 9th, a deeply religious man, who maintained the slaughter and suppression.

Horrors abounded, including burying people alive. In 1211 the castle of Cabaret fell to the papal hordes and the lady of the castle suffered this horrible fate - buried in a pit, covered with stones. In 1229 the Treaty of Paris was drawn up whereby Raymond, Earl of Toulouse, submitted his people to the papal yoke and swore allegiance to Rome. He was compelled to give his daughter in marriage to one of the king's brothers in return for being spared. And before his submission was fully accepted he was stripped naked and whipped, when he was 'so grievously torn by the stripes that he could not go out by the same place through which he entered.'

Most of those who escaped the sword were afterwards condemned to either death or penal servitude by the INQUISITION and by the end of the 13th century the name of their movement had been effectively wiped out by the Catholic hordes.

ALEVIS. A liberal Muslim sect, more liberal than the Sunnis.

ALEXANDER 6th, Pope.
Pope Alexander 6th, otherwise Rodrigo Borgia (Spanish: Borja), was one of the best known and most notorious members of that infamous family. Not only did he have sexual relations such that no cardinal or pope should engage in but under his reign nepotism flourished in the Vatican, with cardinals being required to purchase their appointments and indeed, many murders occurring, the estates of the murdered ones (some of them cardinals) passing into Borgia hands. Rodrigo Borgia was Cardinal of Valencia, Spain, when elected Pope, with some degree of assistance from well-placed promises and favours dispensed. His crowning took place on August 26, 1492.

The two other well-known members of the Borgia family were his son Cesare and his daughter Lucrezia, both illegitimate, and not the only offspring he fathered either! Not that this seemed to bother Pope Alexander, who for a long period openly kept his latest mistress Julia Farnese (Cesare and Lucrezia were by an earlier liaison) at the Vatican and who made no effort to disown his children. Indeed, one of the first somewhat scandalous acts of the new Pope was to lease the palace of Santa Maria, Portico, in which he set up (at the expense of church funds) his then 12-year-old daughter Lucrezia. This palace was alongside the Church of St Peter's and was connected to that church by a secret underground passageway. A further secret way led from the church to the Vatican and to the Pope's own private apartments.

Although the granting of ecclesiastical office in return for payment was not unknown in the Vatican, such activity was to reach new heights under Alexander. One of the first of many transactions involved an agent from Mantua approaching the papal court seeking an appointment as cardinal for his brother Sigismondo. He was politely informed that 'Madonna Lucrezia was excessively fond of pearls.' But this same venal Pope was the one to introduce into the Church the notorious INDEX OF PROHIBITED BOOKS. (It must be added, to be fair to him, that he was one of the few Spanish prelates who refused to have anything to do with the INQUISITION in his home country.)

One observer of the scene, Ferrante of Aragon, wrote to the King of Spain:

The new Pope leads a life which is a public scandal, without having regard for the position which he occupies. He cares for nothing other than to advance the fortunes of his children by fair means or foul. Rome is overrun with soldiers. They are more numerous than the priests. As for the Cardinals, they are either terrorized into silence or driven like della Rovere [a candidate for the Papal office] out of Rome.

June 12, 1493, was set down as the day for Lucrezia's wedding (but the first of three), a date decided upon after consulting with the astrologers! It was a strange way for the Head of Christendom to seek guidance, but not more strange than the fact that this same Head was officiating at the wedding of his own 13-year-old daughter! Thereafter the family settled down somewhat, enjoying such spectacles as bullfights staged in public squares (which Lucrezia adored) and entertainments that went on right through the night, in which Cesare and Lucrezia pleased their father with their 'lascivious' dancing. During this period there were veiled hints that the Pope received in his chambers a number of young girls, brought there by his sons, and smuggled into the Vatican disguised as pages.

There was a curious episode when Alexander moved in 1501 to legitimize a mysterious child that appeared on the scene, known as the Infante Romano, a 3-year-old boy. A Papal Bull decreed that 'the noble Giovanni de Borgia, natural son of the Duke Valentinois [Cesare] and of a Roman spinster, should by special apostolic authority be made legitimate.' The Pope then issued a second secret Bull declaring that 'the aforesaid Duke was not responsible for the defect in the child's legitimacy, and though in the future the said Giovanni Borgia might be described in deeds and documents as the son of the Duke of Valentinois, this was in no way to prejudice his rights, he being in fact the child not of the Duke, but of himself, Pope Alexander 6th, and of the same Roman spinster.' These documents are in the official records of the Church and it is clear from what is written that Alexander had not given up his philandering.

As time moved on Cesare began asserting himself. For a while he held the office of Cardinal but tired of this. He was a man of action and wanted to go into battle to win lands and possessions. Like his father Cesare was a womanizer and eventually fell victim to syphilis, his face showing the telltale marks of passion. Cesare's unbridled ambitions frightened his father but he let him have his head. And as Cesare went on the field with his hired mercenaries, it was with the knowledge that their pay and provisioning had been wrung from many unwilling sources, not least from estates confiscated after cardinals or bishops or others succumbed mysteriously to death. In all this the Pope acquiesced and even lent a hand.

As the years moved on there were more deaths, there was the convenient divorce of Lucrezia, engineered by her father (during which it was solemnly asserted that the lady was virgo intacta), there were more unwed children, one, a son, to Lucrezia. There were festivals held in which those taking part staged 'obscene' masques, much to the amusement of Pope Alexander and his daughter who looked on. Then there was the scandal of prisoners in the papal fortress of St Angelo being slowly murdered via poison introduced into their food. During one of the many blood-lettings visitors to Rome reported seeing as many as twenty corpses hanging from the gallows on St Angelo Bridge in one day.

And then there was Lucrezia's second wedding ceremony, during which some bishops and cardinals drew swords and battled together, almost wounding the Pope in the mêlée. In any event Lucrezia and her new husband had already shared a bed long before that ceremony. But this marriage was not to last much longer than the first. Lucrezia's second husband, Don Alfonso of Aragon, whom she at least loved (unlike her first) was struck down by an assailant in the pay of her brother Cesare.

It was around the time of Lucrezia's second marriage that a particularly notorious evening's entertainment took place - on the night of All Hallows Eve, 1501 - when the Pope and Lucrezia attended a banquet in Cesare's apartments. To this were invited fifty prostitutes, described by one observer as 'the lowest in Rome'. After the meal the women entertained all present (including His Holiness) with 'singing and dancing of a licentious character', gradually removing items of clothing until in the end they were all fully nude.

Among the entertainments that night was one called the Ballet of the Chestnuts. As the Pope sat upon his throne he threw chestnuts into the mass of naked women on the floor. Each had to hold aloft a lighted candelabra as she tried to catch chestnuts. Thereafter Cesare's lieutenants enjoyed sex with the women as the Pope and Lucrezia looked on. It is even suggested that Lucrezia participated in the Ballet as it is also suggested that Lucrezia and Cesare had sexual relations with one another and had done so before, the mysterious child Giovanni being the result of such a union.

In the last months of his reign Alexander lived up to the ghastly reputation of the Borgias as poisoners. So great was the fear of falling victim to the family's murderous intrigues that many of Rome's cardinals found excuses to absent themselves from the city. One who stayed, an Orsini, actually celebrated Mass before the Pope just two days before he was arrested and thrown into the dungeons of St Angelo, the papal prison. There he was poisoned off. Even as the Pope, some weeks later lay dying (said to be of natural causes) Cesare's men forced their way into the papal chambers and demanded of the chamberlain the key to the treasury. See also: CARDINALS.

Pope Alexander as depicted in an old engraving:

ALGERIA. Basically a Muslim country, Algeria has been torn by strife in recent years. Many of its people have been strongly influenced by liberal Western ideas while opposed to them are the fundamentalist Islamics. In June 1990 the Government allowed an election and the Islamic Salvation Front, a rabid fundamentalist body won office with an overwhelming majority. The incumbent Government, alarmed at the prospect of the fundamentalist taking control and then abolishing democratic institutions, retained power. Martial law was imposed and there has been continual strife since.

In 1990 fundamentalists harried bathers, both male and female, on Algerian beaches because they showed their bodies in swimming costumes. In the summer of 1991 it was reported that the bathers had returned to the beaches. In 1994 even schoolgirls were not safe in Algeria, where the headscarf, known as the hijab, must be worn to school - or else! Schoolgirls were reportedly been murdered for failing to don this, yet another symbol of female submission. But on the other side teachers were arrested and imprisoned by the Algerian Government for encouraging their pupils to wear the scarf.  The teachers were not necessarily agreeing with the fundamentalists but wanted to protect the girls from assault.

In February 1995 the militants shot dead the leader of a Berber feminist group, Ms Nabila Djahnine. During the 1995 month-long period of Ramadan, a period of 'prayer and fasting', the militants set off a car bomb that killed 42 persons in central Algiers! Thus did they celebrate their religion. In March 1995 Islamic gunmen wounded three schoolgirls when they opened fire on a school. They had warned parents not to send their children to school 'otherwise the death penalty will be carried out'. Women especially were being targeted for not wearing the veil or even for daring to work. Among victims: A female senior judge, shot and injured, a top TV journalist, and a 15-year-old girl, abducted from her school class, after which her throat was cut.

ALLEN, A.A. Evangelist and faith healer who once claimed that a pocketful of $1 notes turned into $20 notes miraculously, enabling him to pay a large and urgent bill.

ALOYSIUS, Saint. Mortified himself with self-flagellation. He is actually depicted in a portrait standing by a table upon which is a crucifix, a skull and a whip. See further under: MORTIFICATION.

ALTRUISM. Erin Pizzey related in her book Infernal Child (London, Gollancz, 1978) how a young woman, a stranger, phoned her one day and said she would like to give some money towards the woman's refuge she had started. The woman, quite unknown to Ms Pizzey, heard something of her plans, then wrote out a cheque for £10,000. She had inherited the money and believed she shouldn't take money for which she had not worked. She left and was never heard from again. Did religious faith move the lady? Or is there such a thing as genuine altruism?

AMANA COMMUNITY, The. A small sect of German-born immigrants who went to America and settled in Iowa around the middle of the 19th century. They, like so many other groups, claimed to hold the truth whereas others were undoubtedly lost. They described themselves as the True Inspiration Congregation or Community. They were much given to 'inspiration' - receiving messages they believed came direct from GOD to the individual believer.

The sect traces its beginnings to the early part of the 18th century. In 1719 Brother John Frederick Rock was journeying here and there in German parts giving forth messages that, he asserted, he had directly received from the Spirit. Members admit that the inspiration tended to die out now and then among their number. But they say that the years 1749, 1772, 1776 and 1816-18 were propitious times for receiving message from on high.

By 1818 the German group had a lady instrument (as they term their contact with heaven), one Barbara Heynemann, a 'poor and illiterate servant-maid' from Alsace, to guide their affairs. But Ms Barbara seems to have failed them, at least for a time, as in 1820 she was demoted from her exalted rank and forced to work as a household drudge in one of the member's homes. It appears young Barbara had found love - 'she had too friendly an eye upon the young men' and was being tempted by 'the Enemy'. Various ups and downs followed and she eventually did marry George Landmann. In time she was restored as a prophetess and all was forgiven.

It was while Barbara was prophesying that an amazing encounter took place. William Allen, a QUAKER minister from London, visited the community in Germany. The Quakers were interested in the goings on among the German pietists. Now the Quakers had their own brand of inspiration, being, or so they believed, directly in contact with GOD too. So William Allen proposed to the German brethren that a meeting be held at which the 14th chapter of John's Gospel would be read. He felt sure he would be inspired to holy utterances at this gathering. Imagine his dismay when no inspiration seemed to fall upon him; instead the German lady sounded forth with her own inspired words. Allen marched off in high dudgeon. Claiming later that the Quaker inspiration was every bit as real as theirs, Allen was told in no uncertain terms that this was not so. The Quakers did not have the proper consecrated instruments to declare the Lord's will.

In 1842 Christian Metz, one of the inspired ones, was told by GOD that they should remove themselves from German soil, where they had experienced a certain degree of persecution, and travel to America. Like so many similar groups they had upset the community in which they lived, refusing to take oaths or send their children to public schools. Thus they moved to America and joined in the babel of religious tongues already there.
The group was rather uptight about sex. 'Fly from the society of women-kind as much as possible,' runs one rule, 'as a very highly dangerous magnet and magical fire.' And a catechism for children teaches: 'Have no pleasure in violent games or plays; do not wait on the road to look at quarrels or fights; do not keep company with bad children, for there you will learn only wickedness. Also, do not play with children of the other sex.'

AMARNATH CAVE. A giant cave in Srinigar, Kashmir, where once each year Hindu pilgrims gather in large numbers to climb into its heights to view a giant ice phallus, symbol of the fertility deity Shiva. In August 1994 the pilgrims were disappointed. Higher than usual temperatures had resulted in no phallus! Some pilgrims believed it was an omen, signifying the anger of Lord Shiva against a sinning world.

AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION. Headed in the early 1990s by the Reverend Donald Wildmon. The organization, a fundamentalist Christian group, had an active program of criticizing radio and television programs, especially where sexual themes were present. AFA ran its own radio show, Issues and Action, and, in the words of its head, looked for 'sex, violence and profanity and the portrayal of Christians' in the media. A budget of $6 million was quoted for the organization in 1991.

AFA specially targeted the National Endowment of the Arts, being disturbed by the particular art sponsored by this body. The NEA had long been the target of religious right-wingers, especially when displaying works like those of controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Incidentally, when a Mapplethorpe show, with a wide range of his works, reached Australia it was received without fuss.

ANABAPTISTS. A broad term employed to describe a whole range of sects whose chief characteristic was denying the validity of the baptism of children. They dated from the 16th century Reformation era. Some of these groups had extreme views and practices, and were condemned equally by both Papists and Protestants. Indeed, one of their leaders, Felix Mantis, so enraged Zwingli, a Protestant reformer, that he suffered execution by drowning in 1523. But in their turn the Anabaptists were not reluctant to take up the sword against their enemies.

According to Motley in The Rise of the Dutch Republic the leaders of the sect 'were among the most depraved of human creatures, as much distinguished for licentiousness, blasphemy, and cruelty, as their followers for grovelling superstition.' Two Germans, Muncer and Hoffman, were among early leaders. They were followed by a Dutchman, a baker by trade, John Matthiszoon of Harlem. The baker, upon gaining the headship of the sect, announced that he was Enoch returned, and later - that he was King of Zion. His assistant, John Boccold of Leyden, became notorious. Together these men took charge of the city of Munster, where they confiscated property, plundered church buildings, raped females and murdered males who refused to join their rowdy gang.

From Munster they sent forth disciples, who headed armed bands, to endeavour to convert, by force if necessary, the people of Amsterdam and Leyden, but without success. The citizens of both places resisted with arms. However, the doctrines of the Anabaptists had penetrated Amsterdam and the madness erupted there. On a cold winter's night in February 1535, seven men and five women, inspired, so they claimed, by the Holy Ghost, threw off all their clothing and paraded naked through the streets, crying as they went: 'Wo, wo, wo! the wrath of God! the wrath of God!' Upon being arrested they steadfastly refused to put on their clothes, claiming: 'We are the naked truth.' All twelve were executed shortly after this.

However, the martyrs inspired more to follow and the madness spread throughout the Netherlands, persecution following. Torture, beating and execution failed to halt the spiritual plague. An armed force sent by the Bishop of Munster succeeded in arresting the Prophet, who was put to death with red-hot tongs. The State and Church now turned in fury upon the followers, young and old. None was spared and tens of thousands suffered, large numbers of them entirely innocent of any connection with the crazy sect. Charles of the Netherlands and Queen Dowager Mary of Hungary were equally determined to treat the heretics ruthlessly.

In 1535 the Queen issued an edict at Brussels, condemning all heretics, which included the larger Protestant groups as well, to death. Those males who repented of their heresy were still to die but by the sword rather than by burning at the stake. Those females who repented were to suffer the tender mercy of being buried alive rather than being burnt! During the next twenty years the persecution raged, the hands of the persecutors being strengthened by a further edict in 1547, both royal decrees being rigidly enforced. There are some links between the Anabaptists and another group known as the ADAMITES.

ANGELS. Sir E. Ray Lankester once naughtily called angels 'celestial poultry'. Angels seem to be in favour in recent times, at least in the USA, where seemingly anything irrational finds a ready audience. (This statement made with apologies to the many rational people who live that country!) It was reported in 1994 that as many as 150 books on angels had been published in recent times, a figure doubtless much higher now. Considering the fact that neither the Christian Bible nor the Islamic Koran provide much actual material on the subject it is difficult to know how all these authors could find so much to write about. It was reported also that almost three-quarters of Americans believe in angels!

In April 1993 Suzanna D'Amour, a resident of the Queensland (Australia) Shire of Maroochy, was engaged in a battle with her local council over crowds that had been gathering at her Woombye property. Ms D'Amour had, it seemed, seen a vision. She had purchased the 4-hectare block of land with a bank loan, she said, after her guardian angel advised her to do so. The angel had a hood and a beard, according to Ms D'Amour.
Locals complained of singing and noise coming from the angelic compound. Visitors were also driving over other people's land to get to see the miracles. Reports of what they saw included spinning suns and a shaking cross.

ANGLICAN ABUSE. The Catholic Church is not alone in the matter of child sexual abuse. There were hints of possible abuse occurring in Sydney’s Anglican community when in October 1995 the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Harry Goodhew, apologized for the delay in introducing guidelines to deal with allegations of abuse. One social worker said she had dealt with at least five allegations by parishioners against church workers in a two-year period. The Sydney Morning Herald said that a draft copy of a 1993 report referred to several instances of sexual abuse. These included unwanted touching, verbal harassment, fondling, kissing, voyeurism, oral sex and vaginal or anal penetration.

ANGLICAN CHURCH. The Anglican Church in Britain recorded an estimated 1,387 churches closed down or sold off in the twenty-five years between 1969 and 1994. A few key churches still display vigour, especially charismatic (neo-Pentecostalist) ones such as Holy Trinity, Brompton, Knightsbridge, where staid Anglicans and others reportedly roll around in the aisles as in the Pentecostalist denominations. It was reported in August 1994 that one-time Page Three girl, Samantha Fox, had been influenced by this movement and was attending services at Holy Trinity. Samantha, who, it has been reported, had a breast-reduction operation, does not regret her Page Three bare-all days but is now 'going straight'.

ANTICHRIST. The name given to the chief of the enemies of the god Christ. Christians have written and preached much on this dark character, yet his name occurs in but four verses in two Biblical letters, 1 John and 2 John. Throughout the centuries many personages have been accused by Christians of being the Antichrist. Needless to say the Pope or, for that matter, several Popes, figured high on the list of favourites; the Protestant list, that is. Nero, Napoleon, Hitler, the Duke of Edinburgh, Yasser Arafat, and many more, have all been accused of being that dreadful beast. Students of prophecy have vivid imaginations.

In 1948 an occult practitioner, Jack Parson, of California (where else?), took it upon himself to become the Antichrist. In 1949 he issued The Book of Antichrist setting forth his claims to that exalted title. Nobody seems to have recognized his claim.

In January 1983 a religious sect in Memphis, Tennessee, took a policeman hostage, claiming he was a representative of the Antichrist. He was killed by the sect, who engaged in a shootout with the police. According to a South Carolina Bible scholar (unnamed) the then (1988) Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev bore the mark of Satan, making him his agent on earth. 'The evidence is overwhelming that Gorbachev is the Antichrist,' claimed the man. His birthmark resembled the red dragon of Revelation, with tail! The numerical value of Gorbachev's name is 666. The Russian word for 'peace' pronounced 'mir' also means 'world'. 'When Gorbachev says he wants peace he wants the world,' said the man.

ANTONIANS, The. Several groups claimed links with St Antony of Egypt, who in the 3rd century gave away his possessions and went to live the life of a hermit in the desert. There he is said to have fought demons under the guise of wild beasts. Early in the 18th century a young woman in the Congo region of Africa, Kimpa Vita, aged about 20, was in contact with the Catholic missionaries. She was baptized as Beatriz. The lady was, so she later related, on her death bed when she had a vision of St Antony, dressed as a Capuchin. She knew it to be the Egyptian saint as he told her so and he also told her that he had been sent by God to preach through her.

St Antony's mission was to hasten the restoration of the kingdom of God. Those who opposed the message would suffer terrible punishments. Beatriz further claimed that she had died but than in place of her soul St Antony had taken up residence. Beatriz gave away her possessions and took to the hills, soon developing a following, a sect that became known as the Antonians. She developed some distinctive doctrines, including the teaching that St Antony was the 'second God' who held the keys of heaven. The ancient kingdom of the Kongo would be restored, she said.

Every Friday Beatriz 'died' in imitation of the passion of Jesus. This enabled her to ascend into heaven and to intercede with God (while she dined with the deity) and plead the cause of the Negroes. She was born again each Saturday. Beatriz even managed to imitate the Virgin Mary, producing a son - from where? She did not know; he came from heaven! Beatriz claimed that the Kongo was the true Holy Land and even that Jesus was born there. Her disciples were enjoined not to worship the cross, because Jesus died on it. She declared polygamy was lawful.

Beatriz prophesied many things, among them that the area would reveal hidden and valuable mines, filled with precious stones and metals. Further, she was thought to work miracles. Twisted trees straightened as she walked past them. Her disciples treated her like royalty and sought to possess any item she had touched. Noble ladies cleared the path for her to tread upon. It was claimed that many who were ill who visited her received back their health.
Eventually it all became too much for the Capuchins. They had the Kongo ruler in their control so now they moved against Beatriz. She was arrested and the ruler thought he would banish her to another place. Not so, said the Capuchins. They demanded nothing less than the false prophet's death by fire. This took place on July 2, 1706.

An eyewitness description from one of the Catholic priests told how the slim, girlish figure, clutching her baby son, was brought before a judge, who appeared dressed head to foot all in black. On the ground nearby sat some of her disciples, also to be judged. The sentence was pronounced: 'Under the false name of St Antony she [Beatriz] had deceived the people with heresies and falsehoods. Consequently the king, her lord, and the royal council condemned her to be put to death at the stake, together with the infant . . .' The woman and her baby were thrown alive onto a great pile of wood and more wood piled on top of their bodies, after which they were set alight. And that was the end of the sect of the Antonians.

APHRODITE. Greek goddess of love and beauty, known as Aphrodite Kallipygos ('beautiful buttocks'). The name 'Aphrodite' comes from aphros = foam. The Romans worshipped the same goddess under the name Venus. She is also coupled with the sea-nymph Dione. According to Homer the Goddess of Pure and Heavenly Love, generally love meant in the sexual sense rather than the love of a house-wifely type! According to the mythology she was created from Heaven's testicles [or the testicles of Uranus, dismembered, by his son Cronos] thrown into the sea: 'But the genitals . . . so kept drifting a long time up and down the deep, and all round kept rising a white foam from the immortal flesh; and in it a maiden was nourished . . . Then forth stepped an awful, beauteous goddess; and beneath her delicate feet the verdure throve around; her, gods and men name Aphrodite, the foam-sprung goddess.'

Aphrodite ascended to the heights of Olympus, to dwell with the other gods. She was mother of Eros (Cupid) and Aeneas. Her own offspring included Eros, Hermaphrodite (dual-sexed) and Priapus (god of virility). The word aphrodisiac is taken from the name of the goddess. The worship of Mary in her manifestation as Star of the Sea obviously derives much from the worship of Aphrodite. The common descriptions of Aphrodite carry phraseology echoed in that attending Mary. She was clothed with verdure, decked with immortal garments, her brow encircled with wreaths of purest gold, and so on. However, Aphrodite was unfaithful. But then perhaps Mary, too, sinned. To claim a virgin birth was a common means of hiding an otherwise unexplained pregnancy.

APOCALYPSE, The. This is a title applied to the Book of Revelation, the last book in the Christian New Testament, although strictly speaking the term 'apocalyptic' has broader connotations. The Jews and Zoroastrians had similar literature, writings devoted to the theme of the end of the present order and the ushering in of a new age. This End is, one should point out, forever receding into some dim distant future.

The Christian Apocalypse (Revelation) is a fanciful work that pretends to be a revelation of coming events direct from Yahweh, deity of the Jews, to John, the writer, but in fact draws its real inspiration almost wholly from earlier prophetic writings and is more a Jewish work than a Christian. At the time it was being penned by John, who may well have been under some sort of mushroom-induced trance, the Christian Church was already split into two warring parties. (The warfare was to increase markedly through the coming centuries.) John's Revelation reflects the views of the party of Jesus' followers gathered in Jerusalem, who were opposed to the Pauline party. In the end the latter was triumphant for it was Paul's view that moulded Christianity as it emerged into history.

The word apocalypse is taken from the Greek word meaning 'uncover.' One of the central curiosities of this book is the infamous number 666, the so-called Mark of the Beast. This number is evidently a mis-translation and its interpretation by the early Christians as referring to the Emperor Nero is, if quite erroneous, at least a little more logical than its many interpretations by Christians in more recent times!

The Aztecs of Mexico believed in a world-cycle of 52 years, at the end of which might be an apocalypse. When the 52nd year arrived the priests extinguished the fires on the altars and household utensils were broken in shards. For five miserable days the populace waited in fear and trembling, expecting the worst. On the heights of the temple the priests scanned the sky, awaiting anxiously the return of the Pleiades, a sign that the world would continue. As the stars were seen in the sky the the altar fires throughout the land were re-lit. See also: REVELATION, Book of, and: SECOND COMING.

APOLLONIA, Saint. Saint Apollonia was one of the early Christian martyrs. She had her teeth pulled out by her Roman persecutors and thus the Catholic Church later, and appropriately, made her the patron saint of the dentists!

APOLLONIUS OF TYANA. Born c. the year 3 CE, died c. 97. Apollonius, a Greek philosopher, was a well-known miracle-worker of the 1st century CE, who is said to have visited Taxila in India and met up with the Magi along the way. There are many interesting parallels between Apollonius and Jesus of Nazareth and following his death he was worshipped by many. Philostratus thought he was a sort of heathen Saviour, and certainly in some senses he was a rival to Jesus Christ.

APOSTICALS. (Or Apostolics, or Apostolic Brethren, or Order of the Apostles). The name given to a group of sects that arose in France and Germany in the 12th century, of an ascetic frame of mind, although there were similar groups as far back as the 4th and 5th centuries in Asia Minor. Saint Bernard contended against them strenuously. Their tenets were almost the same as those afterwards held by Gerhard Segarelli or Sagarelli, a weaver of Parma. The latter, who arose towards the end of the 13th century, was rejected, for some cause or other, by the Franciscan order and gained his revenge by setting up his own church.

Segarelli gave much attention to meditation and thought and as a result began a movement towards a simple way of life, as, he believed, was followed by the Apostles. About 1260 he appeared in the garb of an apostle, preaching and gathering a band of followers into a kind of free society, bound by no oath. They were opposed to the possession of property and to marriage, and lived in idleness, begging, but were attended by 'spiritual sisters'.

At first there was no conflict with Church authorities but in time the mood changed and Segarelli was arrested by the Bishop of Parma. He was eventually released but the Pope decreed that communities not directly sanctioned by papal authority were to be abandoned. In 1290, with the accession of Nicholas 4th to the papal throne, a new outbreak of debate occurred, the Apostolic Brethren denouncing the Pope and the worldly church. Segarelli, along with many followers, both men and women, was burned as a heretic at Parma in 1300.

In 1304 a new teacher of these views arose, in the person of Dolcino, of Novara, who appeared in Upper Italy with thousands of followers, opposed to the Pope. He was a disciple of Segarelli but went further, giving himself out after the latter's death as an angel of God, a sort of messianic figure. Three times he fell into the hands of the INQUISITION and each time recanted. A crusade was preached against the sect in 1305 and after defending themselves gallantly on Mount Zebello (diocese of Vercelli) against the Bishop and his army, famine overtook them and the papal forces seized them.

The accounts say that he and his wife, Margaretha, were publicly torn to pieces with red-hot pincers by the good orthodox Christians, the torture being drawn out over a whole day. The pieces of mangled body were then cast into the flames. Remnants of the Apostolicals persisted in Lombardy and the south of France until 1368. Other accounts mention their influence in Spain and Germany, up until the beginning of the 15th century.

APOSTOLIC CHURCH. The name Apostolic Church is used by several Christian bodies, including the New Apostolic Church and the Catholic Apostolic Church. The implication is that such a church closely follows 'original' Apostolic tradition as set down in the New Testament. As is shown elsewhere this is an impossibility as the New Testament is a product of the Bishops of the Western (Catholic) and Eastern (Othodox) Churches, produced in the 4th century. There is no 'original' documentation.

Such denominations are usually offshoots of the larger Pentecostalist movement, which, like a hydra-headed monster sprouts new branches every few years. And these branches in turn sprout still more. The Four Square Gospel Church was another. Among more recent names used by some Pentecostalists are the Assemblies of God and the Church of God. However, over in the Middle East the Holy Apostolic Assyrian Church is a church of an entirely different complexion. The Ancient Church of the East split with this body.

The habit of attaching the epithet 'Apostolic' to bodies of believers is an ancient one, each succeeding apostolic group claiming they adhere to the doctrines of the original Apostles whereas all others have departed from them and are headed for perdition. Some Gnostics took such a title in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries; other groups in France and Italy later. The MORMONS today are ruled by latter-day Apostles. See also: PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT.

APPENDIX. The presence of that seemingly useless organ the appendix in the human body, one which, incidentally often causes much trouble and has to be surgically removed, is yet another proof of evolution. Why would the Creator endow man with such a useless organ? No, the appendix is a leftover from man's past. Its original apparent intention was to neutralize chlorophyll in the days when our forbears, grazing on all four legs, ate grass. Presumably many thousands of years hence it will shrivel away and disappear. Perhaps not in Seventh-Day Adventists or other vegetarians, though!

APPLEWHITE, Marshall. Leader of the Higher Power or Heaven’s Gate UFO cult that committed mass suicide in San Diego, California, in March 1997. Applewhite was, about thirty years prior to this, choir director in a church and became involved with a married woman who was also a member of the same church. He became known as Do and she became known as Ti and they began a UFO cult in the 1960s, calling themselves Bo and Peep. They claimed they had the ‘perfect, non-sexual relationship’. It has been suggested since that Applewhite was a homosexual.

AQUINAS, Thomas. The 13th century theologian Thomas Aquinas is notable for propounding one of the chief - and oft-quoted - 'proofs' of the existence of a deity, namely the cosmological argument. Everything we experience has some cause, so the argument runs; an infinite series of causes is inconceivable, there must be some First Cause, some prime mover, an 'uncaused cause'. Voilà, GOD must be the First Cause who (or which) initiated the whole chain of cause-and-effect.

Phew! What a leap! Now a mere mortal such as I should not be attacking the great reverend Mr Aquinas but I must be honest and say I think this argument leaks somewhat. Personally, I do not find an infinite series of causes all that inconceivable. 'Malgré moi, l'infini me tourmenté' cried Alfred Musset. For me there is no such despair in the idea of the infinite. In any event, Doctor Angelicus, aka Thomas Aquinas, would doubtless ask us to accept that his deity existed from infinity to infinity, or as it says in the Book, 'from everlasting to everlasting.' And this then means that it all comes down to the same thing in the end.

But let us suppose for a moment that we agree with this specious argument. By what possible leap of mental gymnastics do we suppose that the Christian GOD is the First Cause? I see no logical necessity for reaching such a conclusion. Perhaps, rather, we could have the Devil, old Lucifer himself, as First Cause? There are certainly sufficient grounds for backing his candidature for the post of GOD. After all the world is shot through with evil and it would be entirely reasonable to suppose the First Cause is, ipso facto, itself evil. That is, if we really knew how to define evil!

From a 1984 newspaper report: 'A boy has been born in Andhra Pradesh, southern India, with six extra fingers and six extra toes. The child has an elongated head and a long nose. Local people suspect he may be the incarnation of the elephant-headed god, Ganeesh, and have been bringing monetary offerings to the baby.'

Is it evil to endow a small child with sixteen fingers and sixteen toes and a funny head? Is the child the work of the Devil as First Cause? Or is it Yahweh, god of the Jews and father of Christ, who thus displays his bounty? Or another god? But there is more than meets the eye immediately in this second proof. Perhaps the being himself (or herself?) may not have existed as First Cause but as Second or Third Cause, having been fathered and/or mothered by still earlier deities, as indeed it is revealed to us in some early religious systems. In fact, there may be an infinite series of deities begetting deities and which generation of the genus Deity is really the First?

'But, Mummy, where did GOD come from?' is a question that betrays not the naïvety of the uninformed child but its uncorrupted honesty, and that is surely more than we can say about many adults. There is not the slightest logical necessity why we should put the Christian GOD or any other godling down as First Cause. All we may safely say is that we do not know the First Cause, if there has to be such. To derive the conclusion from such logical debate that there is a GOD back there at the beginning is an impossibility. Doctor Angelicus may be preaching natural theology but in practice his notions are derived wholly from 'revealed' truth.

But then, was Mr Aquinas all that wise? He once wrote: 'Witchcraft is so enduring that it permits of no remedy by human operation.' In other words, Mr Aquinas fervently believed in witches! In some detail, too. Take this passage from the same learned theologian: 'Because the incubus demon is able to steal the semen of an innocent young man in nocturnal emissions and pour it into the womb of a woman, she is able by this semen to conceive offspring whose father is not the demon incubus, but the man whose semen impregnated her, because it became effective by the virtue of him from whom it was dissipated. Therefore it seems that a man is able, without a miracle, to be at one and the same time, both a virgin and a father.' Ah, what a great thinker this is!

ARK, Noah's. See under: NOAH'S ARK.

ARK OF THE COVENANT. A sacred religious symbol constructed by the Jews at the command (they say) of Yahweh, their tribal deity. It took the form of a rectangular timber box overlaid with gold both inside and out. The Ark was carried about by the Israelites from the time of the supposed Exodus from Egypt. After Moses met with the deity on Mount Sinai (or Mount Horeb - the Bible's confused story gives both mountains) he deposited the Tables of Stone carrying the Ten Commandments in the Ark. What he did with the additional commandments (for there were more than ten!) is not known. Some are so morally repulsive that they would best be lost.

When Solomon's Temple was constructed in Jerusalem the Ark was placed within an area known as the Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest was allowed to enter this inner sanctum and view the Ark and then only once each year. Around BCE 587 Jerusalem fell to invaders and the Ark seems to have disappeared at this time. But even this is uncertain as Jewish historians today say it might have disappeared then or in the first century CE. Whether or not it was still around for the intervening 600 years is a puzzling and unanswered question!

In July 1994 a self-elected Biblical scholar from the American Deep South, Vendyl Jones by name, claimed he knew where the Ark was buried and wanted the Israelis to allow him to dig up the site. But the Israelis said Mr Jones was not a qualified archeologist and refused to co-operate.

The film Raiders of the Lost Ark, produced in 1981, used the missing Ark of the Covenant as a centrepiece in a tale of adventure. Mr Jones has since claimed that the story was derived from an original screenplay written about him in 1977. The story had, he claimed, changed hands several times before it ended up in the form of the film. However the creators of the film have denied any connection between Indiana Jones and Vendyl Jones.

ARK SEARCH ASSOCIATION, Inc. Australian body, headed by Dr Allen Roberts, which claimed to have found remains of NOAH’S ARK in Turkey. In April 1997 Dr Roberts and the organization were sued in an Australian court by Professor Ian Plimer, a Melbourne geologist, over allegations of deceptive practice under trade practices legislation [outcome of case unknown.].

ARMAGEDDON, Battle of. The Battle of Armageddon figures prominently in the literature of many churches and sects. The Jehovah’s Witnesses get themselves into quite a lather of excitement over this battle, and they are not alone. It has been the subject of many books, not to mention hundreds of thousands of sermons. Now one would expect to find an extensive description in the Bible of this great final clash between the forces of righteousness and the forces of evil. Not so! Just one reference in one verse - Revelation 16:16, where the writer refers to a battle to take place at (more correctly, as in the RV) Har Magedon, said to mean the hill or mountain of Megiddo.

As it happens, there is in fact no mountain in Megiddo! But some think the place referred to is at Mount Carmel. This could be the correct location as it is there that the evil spirits meet together, according to the Mandeans. Or perhaps John is drawing upon Jewish history in the Old Testament, for it was at Megiddo that the Jews had a victory over the Canaanites (Judges 5:19). As good a name as any to attach to the Last Battle of all. And about as fictitious as the rest of the drama of the End of the World as preached by Christians. See also: APOCALYPSE, and: SECOND COMING.

ARMSTRONG, Herbert W. and Garner Ted. See under: RADIO CHURCH OF GOD.

ARYAN NATIONS CHURCH. The Aryan Nations Church of Jesus Christ Christian, of Hayden Lake, Idaho, USA, is a white supremacist group. Church members have engaged in paramilitary training and it is claimed they have set up computer networks over which anti-Semitic and other racialist materials have been disseminated. It has strong links with the Ku Klux Klan. Sometime in 1989 the Church announced it had discovered that Don MacLean's song, Bye Bye, Miss American Pie, is actually a piece of biblical prophecy that reveals 'the decisive struggle between America and the heathen armies gathering on the Central American doorstep.'

ARYAN RELIGION. The original Aryan religion centres around the worship of the Shining Ones, known as Devas, celestial beings dwelling in the other world. The chief is Dyaus-pitar, equating with Jupiter, or the Sky Father. In time his star faded and his place was taken by Varuna, a deity bearing some resemblance to the Hebrew Yahweh, ruler of the universe, omniscient. Associated with Varuna are other deities, Surya, or the Sun (also known as Mitra and Savitri). The Sun's beautiful consort is Ushas, or Aurora, lauded in the Vedic hymns as the bride adorned for her husband. There is much here to link the Aryan concepts with the religion of Egypt, with its solar deities.

Yet another deity, and a mighty popular one with the people, is Indra, the sort of Thor of the pantheon, a warrior in a war-chariot, armed with thunderbolts, imbibing soma juice as he goes into battle against evil. Indra slays the dragon Vritra, another serpent, and battles the Dasyu.

AGNI, or Ignis, is the god of the Sacred Fire, burning upon the family hearth.

Soma is a sacred juice but bears some of the characteristics of deity. It grew in mountain regions and the juice, prepared with suitable ritual, produced an intoxicating drink used in sacrificial ceremonies. It is the nectar of immortality and much attention is given to it in the Rig Veda. The actual plant involved is uncertain; it has been suggested it may even have been marijuana.

There are many other members of the celestial pantheon, even rivers being worshipped. Nevertheless as the religion evolved there is evidence of a drawing together of the scattered whole, a sense in which the various gods come to reflect but aspects or faces of a supreme Being who is behind all. 'He is the True One, though the wise call Him in many names,' says the Scripture. There is, however, one curious aspect of the religious view expressed in the Rig Veda. Referring to creation, the hymn puzzles over the origin of all things, and adds: 'The Gods themselves came later into being.'

The early sacrifices were of animals, not people. Horses, oxen, rams were used, accompanied by the drinking of the soma. The Brahmin priests, like their Jewish counterparts, the Levites, took great care to perform the sacrifices in very precise ways. One slip meant failure. And the sacrifices were expensive. And, like the priests of Christian Europe, the Brahmins in time dominated much of society working behind the throne.

There is no concept of resurrection in the religion. Ideas of life after death are very vague. There is, however, a strong belief in a hell, into which are thrown the unrighteous, a bottomless pit as in the Christian notion.

In time the Vedic gods give place to the HINDU pantheon. Brahma, Vishnu and Siva especially, and Hanuman and Ganeesh. Orthodox Hindus regard the Vedas as divinely revealed to Rishis or seers. These were handed down through generations by word of mouth and some Brahmins were often able to recite virtually the whole of the 100,000 verses. One book of the ten Vedas largely comprises magic spells and formulae. There are other scriptures, too, including the Upanishads and the Sutras.

It is interesting to note that Greek observers, such as Megasthenes, writing of the Hindu religion they encountered, described the gods by familiar names, Heracles, Dionysus, and Zeus Ombrios, thus evidently equating them. Heracles was identified with Krishna, Dionysus probably with Siva and Zeus Ombrios with Indra. The latter releases the rainclouds and the thunder. At the time Megasthenes was writing no mention is made of idols or temples.

At the period of the formation of the Upanishads (around BCE 800-600) there were changes in the religious outlook. There was a feeling that life is evil, a pessimism that sought relief and release from life's problems. There also developed belief in the World Soul (Atma), an all-permeating force. The transmigration of the soul is introduced and the notion of rebirth. The bad person is reborn as a dog or a hog, the good becomes Brahmin or Vaisya. The notion of Karma arises; his action in one life affecting another..

A natural result of such speculations is seen in the notion of penances, these in turn developing into yoga. The penances are often painful, even grotesque, in nature. When Alexander the Great (4th century BCE) entered the city of Taxila, capital of Gandhara, he and his men were surprised at many strange sights. One was of fifteen ascetics sitting naked outside the city walls 'practising almost inhuman penances'. One even burnt himself to death.

ASCETICISM. As an example: Sir James Stephen, an Evangelical Anglican, in an act betokening asceticism, ceremoniously emptied his snuff box out of a window. He tried a cigar once and, according to his son, found it 'so delicious' he never smoked again. Asceticism is a mild form of MORTIFICATION. No whiplashes or HAIRSHIRTS; just denial and pettyfogging observances.

ASTROLOGY. US astrologer to diplomats and politicians, Caroline Casey, stated that January 15, 1991, chosen as the deadline for the first Iraq action (the first Gulf War), was a disastrous day. It was the day of a solar eclipse, with the sun, moon, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus & Mercury lined up in Capricorn. Mars would be setting over Kuwait at the time of the eclipse and would be lined up with the Fixed Star Alcyone, the Weeping Maiden of the Pleiades. Mars would be directly over Mercury in George Bush's personal chart. This also happened on August 29-30 and December 14-18, both dates when he talked war, according to astrologers. As is now well known the first action against Iraq was highly successful. Perhaps the seer didn’t realize she was a bit ahead of herself and was really foreseeing the second Iraq action? See also: REAGAN Family.

ATHEISM. Atheism is the philosophy that denies all religious belief, as distinct from AGNOSTICISM, where the person simply says ‘he does not know’. There have always been those who do not believe in the various deities, known by various names (and often persecuted!) but now the term ‘atheist’ is generally applied to such unbelievers. See also: HOLYOAKE, George.

ATHEISM IN THE USA. Madalyn Murray O'Hare, the foe of Christians, appeared on the Donahue Show in mid-1992. Mrs O'Hare did not deny the right of people to worship as they will but campaigned strongly for the separation of Church and State, as clearly provided for in the US Constitution. She told Donahue's audience of how Christians would contact her and in their charity express the wish that she would die of cancer or leprosy!

The US census returns showed 9% to 11% of people stating they were atheists. Madalyn O'Hare says that no society is more religious than that of the USA. 90% declare their belief in GOD and eight out of ten go to church regularly. Yet, there is more wife beating, more child abuse, more drug abuse, and higher crime rates than just about anywhere else in the world. Complaining about the tax-exempt status of religion in her country, O'Hare pointed out that if all the taxes were collected on religious institutions so much revenue would be brought in that it would be longer necessary to tax individuals! The same tax-exempt status applies in Australia.

Mrs O'Hare's daughter, Robin, was actually jailed in Texas for refusing to testify in court on the Bible. Marlon Brando when testifying in court refused to use the term 'so help me God.' In Chicago an atheist boy refused to pledge 'under God' at school and found himself in all kinds of trouble. President Bush once declared that he considered an atheist could not be a citizen. President Bush apparently forgot that he had some fine atheist citizens in his country, including Kathryn Hepburn. Kate's paternal grandfather was a minister of religion but her mother was anti-religious (possibly with good reason!). Kathryn Hepburn was a declared atheist and said she looked forward at death to a nice long rest. She commented, near the time of her death: 'I think it's a relief to be alive if you can enjoy life, and a relief to be dead if you enjoy sleeping.'

ATTIS. One of a number of deities in the dying-rising clan. Attis was worshipped originally in Asia Minor but the faith eventually spread through the Roman Empire. It is difficult to determine just what was believed about Attis but it appears he was castrated at one point or that he castrated himself, or in any event, that he was impotent. Attis is said to have been turned into a fir by Cybele, or died in some way. Eventually, however, he was resurrected. The worshippers of Attis partook of some form of memorial feast not dissimilar to the Christian communion. There is little doubt that elements of Attis-worship entered into the formation of Christian doctrine.

AUCA INDIANS. See under: ECUADORIAN MASSACRE, The.

AUM SHINRI KYO. A bizarre Japanese cult, one of many flourishing in post-war Japan. Known as the 'Supreme Truth' (which, of course, many other cults claim to be) it was founded by Chizuo Matsumoto, aka His Holiness Shoko Asahari, who was born in 1955 on Kyushu. Significantly, in the light of his later actions, the leader had once been a pharmacist. The sect boasted about 10,000 members as at early 1995 and had a number of properties scattered around Japan, with a presence in a limited number of other countries, especially Russia, which became prey to just about every sect on earth since the downfall of Communism. And the USA did not escape, another happy hunting-ground for cults.

The sect taught that World War 3 would erupt in 1997 and that the present world order would end in the year 2,000. There would be battles between Buddhists and Christians and only members of the Aum Shrinri sect would survive the holocaust.

Aum Shinri came into prominence in a very dramatic way in March 1995 when unknown persons released deadly sarin gas in Tokyo's underground railways system, killing and injuring many people. Police believed Aum Shinri was responsible. Police searching sect headquarters some days later discovered what they believed was an underground prison, used to confine dissidents who wanted to leave the group. When police burst in on the headquarters building they found 50 starving followers apparently held there against their wills. They were aged between about 20 years and 75. Most were too weak to stand and were described by police as 'comatose'. They had evidently been subjected to starvation diets for weeks; one lapsed into a coma soon afterwards.

The cult has been blamed for many kidnappings over recent years, including young students and opponents. Not long before the raid the cult was accused of snatching off the street a 68-year-old lawyer who had been opposed to their teachings. The lawyer had been attempting to prevent his sister signing over to the sect a multi-million dollar office property. Earlier a Yokohama lawyer, together with his wife and 2-year-old daughter, vanished. The lawyer had been representing families seeking the return of their relatives from the cult and it is believed he was taken by them.

Many young people were trapped into cult membership and then held as virtual prisoners. Following the police raids parents arrived from all over Japan seeking information about missing children. But sometimes there was a strange twist. In 1994 a 64-year-old man was kidnapped by his own two daughters and and kept a prisoner in a windowless tiny cell at the sect headquarters for five months. Daily he was required to undergo the cult's central purification ritual, taking in hot water by tube and then vomiting. This ritual appears to be such a key feature of sect activities that it seemed to indicate a particular personal psychological obsession of the Master, Shoko Asahari. Each day the prisoner had to repeat this procedure five times, drinking in all 10 litres of water. Once a week he had to keep drinking water until 'pure water' was seen to be leaving his body. (Interestingly, some Japanese men engaging in sexual activities have an obsession with urination and defecation.) Finally the man was given his freedom after being compelled to pledge his belongings to the sect. He later engaged in legal action against his daughters.

The Aum Shinri cult believes in an End Time (see APOCALYPSE), claiming that only its followers will remain alive after a holocaust in 1997. Disciples studied yoga and underwent bizarre rituals of isolation and purification. Apart from the ritual purifications, they were reportedly compelled to consume the blood, sperm and bathwater of the Master. They were also subjected to shock treatment via helmets fitting their heads. The Master taught, among other things, that he designed the Egyptian pyramids in a previous life. At the Mt Fuji property of the cult a Russian-built helicopter gunship stood ready for some unnamed action. It was supposedly defending the cult members from a US attack!

In a curious incident in the town of Matsumoto, Japan, in mid-1964, an amateur chemist reportedly accidentally produced sarin gas while trying to formulate a weed-killer. Seven people died as the gas wafted through the town and over 200 more people were badly affected. In addition birds, fish and animals in the vicinity died. The incident has never been satisfactorily explained but the March 1995 events in Tokyo led police to speculate that there was a connection between the two incidents.

Earlier, in Australia, on September 9, 1993, a party, some of whom were sect members, were detained after they arrived in Perth, Western Australia. Included in the party were six 14-year-old girls. Two of the males were later convicted on charges of carrying a dangerous chemical into the country, namely hydrochloric acid. At the time the sect owned a country property at Leonora, about 350 km from Perth. As at April 1995 the sect was denying any involvement in the gas poisonings.

AURA. Some migraine sufferers experience, about twenty minutes prior to an attack, the phenomenon of an aura. The person sees intense colours, flashing lights, monsters and apparitions in this period. Lewis Carroll, a lifelong migraine sufferer, was said to have taken some of his characters for his immortal Alice in Wonderland from apparitions seen before attacks. Which goes to show the close connection that exists between auras and fiction.

AUSTRALIAN MESSIANIC JEWISH ALLIANCE. This body advertises now and then, describing itself as 'an organization for Jewish believers in the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus)' It says it is one of 13 affiliated national alliances throughout world, including the USA. It appears from the description that the group is somewhat akin to the first Christian Church that sprung up, centred on worship in the Temple at Jerusalem, and later crushed by St Paul.

AUTO DA FÉ. Literally an act of faith. An ironical name given to the act of burning to death used to punish heretics found guilty by the Holy INQUISITION. An auto da fé might be held once in a year or as often as required, depending on the number of heretics to be executed. It was a grand public occasion when the populace gathered and a long procession wound its way through the streets. In procession were the familiars of the INQUISITION, together with priests, soldiers, lay brothers and the heretics, male and female, young and old, the latter each wearing that particular garments of disgrace, known as the sanbenito. On the head was worn a tall pasteboard cap known as the Coroza. It was one metre tall.

Each prisoner was barefoot, a sign of humiliation, had a rope about his or neck and carried a large yellow candle. The prisoners were exhorted to repent by Jesuit preachers accompanying them as they walked. Those who reviled their persecutors were gagged. Also in the procession were people who had repented and were not being executed but were to be punished with whipping or by being consigned to the living-death of the galley-slave.

A heretic who repented was not burnt alive but was first put to death by means of a garrotte, before his body was burnt at the stake. Those, which usually included a good number of Protestants, who refused to repent, were burnt alive. They were tightly bound, then chained, seated on a board, to the stake, which was about 4 metres high and the faggots piled around them. Last-minute efforts were always made by the priests to secure a recantation. If their efforts failed the fire was lit. Further cruelty was perpetrated by thrusting burning furzes against their faces. Old engraving depicting an auto da fé in Madrid:

 

BÂB-ED-DIN. Sometimes known simply as the Bab (which means 'Gateway'). Born in Persia in 1819 as Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad. A merchant by trade, he assumed the title of Bâb-ed-din (meaning 'Gateway of Righteousness') in 1844, claiming he was 'gateway' to the 12th Imam prophesied by Muhammad but later saying he was the Imam himself.

His following grew and included a number of religious teachers. However within a short period of time opposition mounted and some of his followers were seized as they taught in Shiraz. Their beards were burnt and their noses pierced. A cord was then passed through the bleeding holes and by means of this they were led through the city's streets, after which they were beaten and warned that if they tried to return there they would be crucified. In 1847 the Shah ordered that the Bâb should be arrested and imprisoned. However, many still followed him and some gathered outside the prison walls so he was moved to a more remote prison. It was during his three years' imprisonment that he wrote down his doctrines.

The authorities, followers of Muhammad, persecuted his disciples cruelly, torturing men, women and children and executing many in an attempt to stamp out the religion, but to no avail. It was then decided that they should execute the upstart prophet, which they did at Tabriz in July 1850 before a crowd said to number 10,000. He and a companion were hung by ropes from a wall and a regiment of soldiers fired at them.

It was claimed by his followers that it took two attempts to execute him as he appeared alive after the first volley of shots, stating that he had not finished his instructions to his disciples. It was also claimed that at the very same hour a fierce storm broke over the city. The Bab had ministered for just six years but his death did not stop the religion, known eventually as the Baha'i faith, from growing and spreading. But persecution was ever their lot in some countries. Two years after the Bab died two followers tried to assassinate the Shah but failed. A fierce persecution resulted and 'ghastly massacres' of men, women and children occurred in the streets. See further under: BAHA'U'LLAH.

BAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH. See under: RAJNEESH, Bagwan Shree.

BAHA'I. See under: BAHA'U'LLAH.

BAHA'U'LLAH. (Or: Baha-Allah.) Born in 1817 in Persia as Mizra Huseyn Ali. He was a follower of BÂB-ED-DIN and took up the same cause when his leader was executed as a a false prophet. He founded the religion known as Baha'i and claimed to be a prophet in the line stretching from Muhammad. The Islamic world was quite unhappy about this and persecution of Baha'u'llah and his followers was unleashed. In 1852, during the persecution of the followers of the Bab, he was thrown into prison, after being seized, stripped of his outer garments, loaded with chains, and forced to walk barefoot and bareheaded under the midday sun. As he moved through the streets of Tehran he was stoned by the citizens.

He was lodged in a dank underground dungeon, chained in a cruel fashion. He was set with his feet in stocks and heavy chains secured over his shoulders in such a manner that he could neither stand up nor lie down. Other followers were also chained in the same dungeon and each day one of them was taken by the guards to face torture and death. For four months he was kept in this manner in the dungeon, fed poorly. The authorities of the Ottoman Empire dared not execute him for fear of making him a martyr. By the end of the period, when he was released, he had marks from the chains in his flesh that remained for the rest of his life. He was now officially exiled, all his private possessions being confiscated, and he and his pregnant wife left to trek without adequate supplies to Baghdad in Iraq.

He continued to proclaim himself a prophet, as originally foretold by his mentor. Further persecution of the sect followed and eventually he was banished again and the authorities kept removing him to more remote places. In 1868 he and his family, together with some followers, were sent to a remote penal colony at Akka, where he died in 1892. There has been little letup in the persecution of Bahai's ever since. The Iranians especially have been responsible for untold cruelties unleashed upon thousands of members this non-violent faith, not to mention the deaths of large numbers.
In Australia, as at 1995, there were an estimated 13,000 Baha'is. The faith was established in the country 75 years previously and was claimed to be one of the fastest-growing religions in Australia.

BAKAR IFNA TEMPLE. Set up in the 1960s on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. Located in an elaborate and expensive stone mansion topped by a neon sign, set back from the street, and surrounded by lawns and gardens. Visitors were entertained with piped music and sniffed the incense wafting through the establishment as the staff, wearing golden saris, moved quietly around. The sect was sustained by holy scriptures penned by a ghost writer or writers working from the pearls of garbled wisdom uttered by the founder. These were made available to inquirers and initiates via recorded messages played in upstairs rooms.

The cult had another establishment, a retreat in the nearby Santa Monica Mountains. Here again the buildings, set in the midst of a canyon in bushfire-prone country, were solid stone, impressive and fortress-like in aspect. A steady stream of disciples went there from the city headquarters, contributing 'love offerings' to do so. These were over and above the normal offerings expected of visitors to the city temple and reportedly if thought to be inadequate the disciple might be told to move along and find his spiritual home elsewhere.

In the valley there was the sect's Inner Temple, decorated with Egyptian and Chinese-style symbols and surmounted by a cross, specially lit with red light within. Within its walls the inner circle met and reputedly conducted sexual orgies akin to the Black Mass. Or so the story goes!

BAKER, George. See under: FATHER DIVINE.

BAKKER, Jim. Bakker is a former Assemblies of God (Pentecostalist) preacher and televangelist who, following a series of scandals, fell from grace in the mid-1980s and who eventually faced a prison term. Bakker ran an outfit known as the PTL ministry. The letters were said to stand for People That Love or Praise The Lord. Critics said they stood for Pass The Loot. Jim Bakker and his bejewelled wife Tammy Fay ran a hot gospel TV show aired through 160 stations and reaching an estimated 13 million homes. There were also offshoots, including Heritage USA, a theme park covering about 1,000 hectares.

In October 1989 in Charlotte, South Carolina, Bakker was found guilty of raising by fraud $US158 million while heading the by then bankrupt PTL Ministry. He was also found guilty of trying to divert $US3.7 million to his own use. Bakker was convicted on 24 counts and sentenced to 45 years' jail and fined $US500,000, following a six-weeks' circus-trial which featured, among other highlights, his wife of 30 years, Tammy Fay, intoning from the courthouse steps: 'On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand.' Tammy Fay later divorced Bakker and remarried.

Following the sentence Bakker was led from the court in handcuffs and leg-irons. In August 1991 an appeals court reduced his sentence to 18 years, stating that the original judge had injected religious views and made 'intemperate remarks' during the trial. At this time it was stated Bakker might be out on parole in four years. He was quoted as describing jail as 'the land of the living dead.' In November 1994 Bakker was released on probation after serving five years and two months in prison. He would not speak to the press but friends said he was hoping to resume a ministry of some kind. He was also writing a book. The terms of his sentence forbid his return to television.

Bakker's downfall shocked the fundamentalist constituency but the bad news continued. It was revealed that in 1980 Jim Bakker had a sexual encounter with a 20-year-old church secretary, Ms Jessica Hahn. Adding fuel to the fire was the claim that Bakker paid 'hush money' to Hahn amounting to $US265,000. Bakker later claimed the encounter with Jessica Hahn lasted only 20 minutes and that intercourse did not occur. He also claimed that she was 'the aggressor'.

For her part, Hahn claimed publicly that not only did Jim Bakker had intercourse with her but also another evangelist, John Wesley Fletcher. A third PTL staff member attempted to join the procession but failed. Bakker was quoted as asking him: 'Did you get her too?' Later another televangelist, Jerry Falwell, claimed he had evidence that Bakker also had homosexual encounters with men. One of Bakker’s alleged homosexual partners told reporters that their relationship had lasted for three years and that Bakker had made homosexual advances towards five other PTL employees.

In September 1990 Bakker's daughter, Tammy Sue, announced she would pose nude in the US Playboy magazine for a fee of $250,000 to assist her father's expenses in mounting a legal appeal against his sentence. It was reported she had been approached earlier but family pressure had caused her to call it off.

According to US reports the very day Jim Bakker left prison - July 1, 1994 - his daughter Tammy Sue sent out an appeal to the faithful, asking people to send in a 'love offering' of $500 to support the disgraced preaching man. In return they would receive a three-volume account of the scandal, presumably written from Mr Bakker's viewpoint, a parchment document, My Daily Walk, listing 15 things GOD had taught her father in prison, and - best of all - a photograph of him.

In 1994 the Bakker enterprise, kept floating by Tammy Sue, has operated under the name American Evangelistic Association, with its denomination being called New Covenant Church.

BANGLADESH. In May 1994 a female writer, Taslima Nasrin outraged Muslims in Bangladesh by allegedly suggesting that the Koran should be rewritten. A former doctor and well-known feminist, Nasrin, aged 32, was quoted by an Indian newspaper as making the statement, although she denied having done so. After the newspaper article appeared Islamic fundamentalist groups called for the writer's death. (See full account under: NASRIN, Talsima.)

In March 1995 the male fundamentalist Islamics turned their warlike attentions to another woman, Ms Farida Rahman, an outspoken member of Parliament. The Islamic Action Council claimed Ms Rahman had offended their religion by claiming women had equal rights to own family property. The Council demanded that Ms Rahman should be executed by hanging for her offence.

BAPTISM. Baptism by water is not a distinctive Christian ceremony. It has many antecedents. For example, the dependence upon the Ganga river by the Aryans, which still nourishes a third of India's population today, led to their treating the river as a divine channel between the gods and men. To die by the river and be cast beneath its waters was to be delivered directly into heaven. Thus the concept of washing within the sacred waters is easy to understand. It is the ambition of every devout Hindu to go on a pilgrimage to the Ganga and bathe there at least once in his or her lifetime. For nearly three thousand years the people have immersed themselves three times, soon after dawn, in the waters, then cupped the hands and three times raised the water as an offering to the rising sun.

A prayer is chanted, addressed to the seven holy rivers: 'O Ganga! O Jumna! Godaveri! Saraswati! Namade! Indus! Kaveri! May you all be pleased to be manifest in these waters!. The bather then changes into a clean dhoti or sari before emerging from the waters a new person. Every year a spring festival is celebrated by the Ganga and every 12th year the Kumbh (Aquarius) Mela, when huge numbers of pilgrims all attempt to bathe from one ghat, a tier of steps leading into the water. Upwards of ten million attend.

At the festival of 1820 over four hundred pilgrims drowned or were trampled to death during the ceremonies. Christians undergoing baptismal ceremonies have gone to be with their deity also. For example, in recent times on one occasion in western Columbia, USA, Seventh-Day Adventists gathered for a river baptism. A strong current swept seven of the church members to their death.

BAPTIST CHURCHES. Like many Protestant denominations the Baptists - who generally affirm the necessity of the baptism, by full immersion - of believers only (not infants) have had innumerable splits through the years. In fact some dissension even arose over the mode of baptism, with many being willing merely to sprinkle water symbolically on the candidate. Among the early American Baptists were two parties, the Old Light and the New Light Baptists, the latter also being known as Separate Baptists.

The Old Lights were the conservatives. The New Lights had grown out of the Congregational Church, particularly when it was affected by the revival known as the Great Awakening. They had been Strict Congregationalists but as such did not follow the practice of believers' baptism.

Later there were General Baptists or, one might say, everyday Baptists, who followed an Armenian viewpoint, much as Methodists. There were Regular Baptists, who had a Calvinistic trend. Then there were Particular Baptists, sometimes known as Calvinistic Baptists. And even Hyper-Calvinistic Baptists! Then there were New Connection Baptists, Bible Baptists, Independent Baptists and Reformed Baptists.

Some Particular Baptists seemed to have hived off into another group known as Strict Baptists. There is even a Seventh Day Baptist Church and various odd congregations that have adopted variant forms of the general Baptist position. To untangle the various shades of opinion represented in all these denominations is, I fear, beyond both my capacity and interest. See also: BAYLOR UNIVERSITY.

BARBERY SLAVES. The Christians held in slavery by Islamics in North Africa over a long period were often ransomed by money raised in their home countries. Two Catholic organizations developed to carry out this charitable work, the Trinitarians and the Mercedarians. In time rivalry developed between them and in 1644 the two groups were simultaneously negotiating the release of captives in Algiers. The Mercedarians could not raise sufficient cash to satisfy the Muslim ruler and the Trinitarian Father Herault refused to assist them. Eventually Father Herault sailed away, leaving Mercedarian Father Brugière to his fate. The Algerians were so enraged at this behaviour that they threw the poor father into prison, where he died two years later.

BARBIE'S BREASTS. In August 1994 a Kuwaiti Islamic official demanded that Barbie dolls should be banned from his country because of the 'feminine curves' displayed by the dolls. Evidently Kuwaiti ladies don't have breasts.

BAXTER, Reverend Joseph. A Puritan divine working at Boston in the early part of the 18th century. Upon arriving to take up his post, Baxter became alarmed at the work being done by a Jesuit priest, Sebastien RALE. Rale was a tireless missionary, if a troublemaker, and he was skilled not only in Latin but in several Indian tongues. Baxter, then pastor of a small country village, Medford, sought to introduce the Indians to the doubtful joys of Calvinism, just as joyless as Catholicism, perhaps even more so.

He had no knowledge of the Indian languages and little experience yet he thought to do battle with the seasoned and wily Jesuit player. Soon he was preaching, making use of an interpreter, railing against his adversary and the Church of Rome. Rale countered by excommunicating any of his flock who hearkened to the Protestant divine.

Rale now opened a correspondence with the Protestant and even wrote a treatise which, in a hundred pages of polemical Latin, he attempted to prove the doubtful credentials of his Church, 'founded upon a rock'. Baxter's Latin was none too good and his reply only incensed the Jesuit further. (The originals from both sides have been preserved.) And there the matter rested. Rale was to die eventually, gunned down by the English after he led an Indian rebellion against them.

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY. Baylor University, in Waco, Texas (USA) was founded in Southern Baptist preacher in 1845. For a century and half the University maintained strict principles in relation to moral issues. However, in 1996 the University, with a student population of 12,000, decided for the first time to allow a dance to be held on the campus.

BBC. From the inscription on the dedication panel of Broadcasting House, London, BBC headquarters: 'This Temple of the Arts and Muses is dedicated to Almighty God by the first Governors of Broadcasting in the year 1931, Sir John Reith being Director-General . . .' This throws cold water on any notion that the BBC is completely unbiassed, at least in the matter of religious faith!

BC. See re usages of AD and BC, etc, under: CALENDAR, The.

BEHAVIOUR OF CHRISTIANS. After the Carols by Candlelight Festival held in the Domain, Sydney (Australia) at the end of 1990, in spite of requests from authorities for better behaviour, and provision of innumerable bins to collect discards, 15 tonnes of garbage was removed, left by the worshippers singing carols to Jesus of Nazareth.

BELIEF. A clergyman reportedly refused to look through Galileo's telescope, with the comment: 'I'm a true believer; don't confuse me with the facts.' Adam Smith wisely commented in his book Powers of Mind: 'Of course, people operate from what a leading psychologist called "cognitive dissonance"; they justify what they have already chosen a little bit, and they weed out conflicts so that they have a totally consistent picture, and they really believe it themselves.'

BELIEVERS, The. A 1986 US film featuring a cult that practised human sacrifice to attain protection from the gods and power over their enemies. The film gained notoriety when it was claimed by Serafin Hernandez Garcia, involved with the death of Mark Kilroy and others by of a witchcraft-and-drug cult in Mexico, that it was his favourite film. Initiates were shown The Believers. The cult in the film is said to resemble the Afro-Caribbean religions Santeria and Palo Mayambe. It has been claimed the latter includes necrophilia in its activities.

BENEDICT 9th, Pope. The Catholic Encyclopedia itself, which usually whitewashes most Popes, described Benedict as a 'disgrace to the chair of Peter.' And, of course, he wasn't the only such disgrace.

BENEDICT, The Rule of Saint. The Holy Rule of Saint Benedict prescribed for the monks: 'For their bedding let a mattress, blanket, a coverlet, and a pillow suffice. These beds must be frequently inspected by the Abbot, because of private property that may be found therein. If anyone be discovered to have what he has not received from the Abbot, let him be most severely punished. And in order that this vice of private ownership may be completely rooted out, let all things that are necessary be supplied by the Abbot: that is, cowl, tunic, stockings, shoes, girdle, knife, pen, needle, handkerchief, and tablets, so that all plea of necessity may be taken away . . . Then forthwith he shall, there in the oratory, be divested of his own garments with which he is clothed and be clad in those of the monastery.'

BENNETT, Dr Gareth. An English Anglican priest who wrote the Preface to Crockford's Clerical Directory. Bennett caused controversy because of some criticisms he uttered about the leadership of the Church and about theological trends. He eventually suicided.

BERG, David Moses. See: CHILDREN OF GOD.

BERNADETTE, Saint. No centre of the miraculous could equal that which grew up at Lourdes, a little town nestling in the foothills of the Pyrenees, about 220 km from Bordeaux, France. Mind you, many other places have tried to gain such fame but none has surpassed Lourdes. It was here that 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous was visited by the goddess Mary on February 11, 1858. At 12.30 pm on that day, for that is the precise detail given. (Presumably the child had some sort of timepiece with her!)

Bernadette was the child of peasants, very poor and able neither to read nor write. She was of delicate health and an asthmatic but had until recently been compelled to work as a shepherdess at Bartres. Now she was back at Lourdes, to prepare for her first communion and, being of strongly religious inclination, no doubt in a state of spiritual exaltation. On the day of the visitation she went with her younger sister, Toinette, and a friend, Jeanne Abadie, to collect firewood. An icy stream crossed the path they were on. The other two girls took off their stockings and sabots and went barefoot through the water. Bernadette, however, fearing a chill would bring on her asthma, did not follow at first. The two ran ahead, Jeanne making some rude remarks about Bernadette as she went.

Bernadette, after some thought, began to remove her sabots and stockings. She was near a cave, or grotto, in the rock face. Suddenly she heard a great noise (in her own words) 'like a storm coming.' 'I looked across the water at the grotto and saw that a bush in one of the openings was waving about as if it was in a strong wind. Almost at the same time a cloud of colour like gold came out of the grotto, and soon after a young, beautiful lady, more beautiful than any I have ever seen, came out and stood in the opening above the bush.' Bernadette knelt and fingered her rosary 'which she carried over her right arm' (a significant statement; a very pious accoutrement for a young girl out gathering firewood!).

The account continued to describe Mary speaking to her, the return of the other girls (who saw nothing) and how she then waded across the river, the water seeming now to her to be but lukewarm. In time there were more apparitions and the people of the area began to make pilgrimages to the place. In all Bernadette met with Mary eighteen times, according to a tablet set up at the grotto.

Those who accompanied her on all subsequent visits neither heard nor saw anything unusual. But they still believed - in spite of this awkward fact. The crowds grew. Asking the lady for a name on one of her visits, Bernadette received the nonsensical reply, 'I am the Immaculate Conception.' Bernadette was told by the lady to tell the world to come to Lourdes. The priests were commanded to build a chapel there, to arrange processions and to drink from and bathe in the miraculous stream of water, said to have been started by Bernadette scratching at the earth in the cave, and to 'eat of the grass which is there.' (Perhaps the girl had heard of that early Christian sect called the Grazers who crawled around naked eating grass!)

So today, if we visit Lourdes, which still flourishes in the face of all the doubters and critics, we can see Mary's instructions were carried out. To the right of the grotto is a life-size statue of the Virgin Goddess, in the centre a solid altar. Above, on top of the cliff overlooking the cave, has been built a large church. Its doors face the cave and to right and left are wide ramps, so that wheelchairs and other conveyances may be brought up bearing the sick seeking aid and comfort from GOD.

Only some - indeed very few - who visit the shrine go away cured. The Catholic deity is selective as to whom he will extend aid. But cures aplenty are claimed and paraded forth as proof of divine assistance. Now there are cures, perhaps many, but they are mostly such as one might expect when dealing with illnesses that have their genesis deep within the human psyche. Above and behind the altar in the grotto hang crutches and abdominal belts, discarded by the healed ones, placed there as trophies to the power of GOD.

But George Bernard Shaw, in his usual insightful way, remarked once that he considered Lourdes to be a blasphemous place, for they kept there all the crutches and wheelchairs of those who walked away cured, but among these trophies was not to be found one wooden leg, one glass eye, nor one hairpiece. After all, only some diseases and disabilities start in the mind. Cures there may be, for which we can be thankful, but cures from GOD? I think not!

BERNADINE, Saint. Saint Bernadine of Sienna was once asked to assist a youth who had been condemned to death for a crime. She spent the whole of the night prior to his execution in his cell, and, it is said, allowed him to rest his head upon her breast. Upon the coming of the day she accompanied him to the block and stood by while his head was severed from his body. Very devoted lady! Or very kinky!

BESANT, Annie. See under: THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

BETHLEHEM. Coming to the early history of Jesus, we find an appropriate cloud of mystery surrounding the events, as one might expect in the account of the birth of a god-in-the-making. Mark has it that Jesus was born in Nazareth, in Galilee (Mark 1:9, read in conjunction with Mark 6:1), his 'native place.' Matthew and Luke also refer to Nazareth as being his native place but assert he was born in Bethlehem (in Judaea)!

The weight of evidence, both from these texts and from other references, suggests Jesus was indeed born in Nazareth. It was for this reason he became known as Jesus the Nazarene. Confirmation of this comes from an interesting encounter, recorded in John 7:40-42, when some Jews, listening to Jesus preaching, exclaimed: 'Doth the Christ [i.e. Messiah] come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?' It is hard to deny the thrust of these words. And John not only recorded them but failed to add any comment. It would have been easy for him to affirm that Jesus did indeed come from Bethlehem, but he did not do so. We must therefore conclude that John also believed Jesus was a Nazarene.

It was left to Matthew and Luke to 'cook the books' as they (or rather, their editors) were fond of doing. Micah, the Jewish prophet, had prophesied Bethlehem as Messiah's birthplace so, regardless of where Jesus really did come from, Matthew and Luke made certain they got Bethlehem into the story - somewhere, anywhere. These writers had no more dedication to historical truth than the people who wove fancy tales around commonplace events in Old Testament pseudo-history.

And so through many centuries Christians made pilgrimages to Bethlehem to view the place of Jesus' birth, when all along he was a Nazarene. And what pilgrimages! To what a happy place! From a Reuter press report about Bethlehem, describing Christmas 1992: Army roadblocks guided pilgrims to the town on Christmas Eve. Stores were shuttered, the weather was miserable and the people were glum . . . Israeli soldiers and policemen outnumbered pilgrims and worshippers in Manger Square, cordoned off as part of annual security rituals . . . Visitors passed through metal detectors . . . In a Christmas message, Patriarch Michel Sabbah commented: 'Will we ever come out from the circle of violence?'

BIBLE, The.
The book commonly called 'The Bible' comprises the Old Testament, based upon 'original' Jewish writings, and the New Testament. The Bible in the form known today was only brought together in the 4th century CE when the bishops of Rome and other key cities finally decided which of the various contending 'scriptures' were to be accepted as true and which rejected. There is thus no primitive version of the New Testament that somehow existed in the first century, the presupposition of many ultra-Protestant and fundamentalist groups. When they claim they are returning to the simple faith of the Gospels they are in fact returning to the Bible as approved by the Church of Rome.

Even two generations after the death of Jesus, the Church thought only of the Jewish scriptures (such as they were at that time) as Holy Writ. But, by the early part of the second century, there was circulating a large body of writings (some of which are still available for reading today) which were not included in the canon (i.e., the officially received text). Such works as the Epistle to the Laodiceans, the Epistle of Paul to the Alexandrians, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Epistle of Barnabas, along with several Gospels, were known to the Church and still being read late in this period.

There were also other books, lost forever to our ken. Thus one described by scholars as 'Q' (from the German quelle = source) which formed an important basis for the Gospels themselves has long since vanished. And other quotations appear that indicate earlier texts that have since been lost. The Gospel of Luke actually confirms all this, by starting with the words: 'Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative....' (Luke 1:1). At least Luke managed to get something right!

It was not until about one hundred years after Jesus' death (note, a period longer than that from the Great War to the present time) that some concept of 'Scripture' began to be attached to books such as Paul's letters (the Epistles) and the four present Gospels. And only towards the end of the second century did lists begin to appear naming some of the accepted books. The earliest known list included the four Gospels, the book of Acts, some Epistles and Revelation. This list did not, however, include Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter and 1 John. It also included a book later discarded, the Apocalypse of Peter.

EUSEBIUS DOUBTS

That much uncertainty abounded is seen from the fact that about 300 years after the death of Jesus, Eusebius, historian of the Church, doubted the inspiration of the important book of Revelation and also rejected 2 Peter. This latter book was under a cloud for a long time. In fact, most fair-minded commentators would even today be compelled to reject the Petrine authorship, as the book is clearly written well after Peter's death. Yet this book begins by not only claiming Peter's authorship but also referring in the first person to his direct personal contact with Jesus. It is thus totally dishonest.

But there were many other doubts. In the fourth century the Book of Hebrews was generally rejected by the Western Church and Jude was still being disputed late in the century. James and 2 and 3 John were not accepted by everyone. On the other side of the coin we find that the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest complete manuscript of the Bible, from early in the fourth century, still included the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas!

The first complete lists of the books as we now have them came from Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria (Eastern Church) in his Easter Letter of 367 CE, and in the West from Jerome, onetime secretary to Pope Damasus, and one of the 'Fathers' of the Church, in 391 CE. In 397 the Synod of Carthage, a gathering of Church leaders from East and West, confirmed these lists as comprising what was to become the New Testament.

It was now 360-odd years since the death of Jesus. To put all this in perspective, it was almost the same period of time as has elapsed between the death of Shakespeare and our own day. And throughout these long years the Church's doctrines were being hammered out, a great part of the time without benefit of some or all of the documents forming this 'inspired' Word now paraded before us as the very law of Yahweh himself. And even after the year 397 doubts still remained as to what was and what was not inspired. In our own day some small sections of the canonical Scriptures are regarded by scholars as being later spurious additions.

QUESTIONABLE

In summary, then, we have in the New Testament a body of writings of questionable value. A major bloc of its books comprises the Pauline Epistles, fourteen being attributed to the Apostle, and thereby hangs yet another tale! It is considered doubtful if many of these letters were indeed written by Paul. Even conservatives agree that Hebrews is not from his pen. It seems fairly certain now that 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus are not his. Some scholars even go so far as to state that not one of the 'Pauline' letters came from the hand of Saul/Paul!

It is surely highly significant that the first known collection of Pauline Epistles was made by Marcion, about 140 CE. Now this is very interesting indeed, for this same Marcion was, in the eyes of orthodoxy, a heretic, beyond the pale! But there is more. In 150 CE Justin Martyr, a pillar of the Church, ignored Paul altogether. And the notable Tertullian, in the early third century, while quoting Paul's writings, described him as 'the apostle of the heretics'! Yet Paul was the chief architect of Christianity as it has come down to us. Make of all this what you will. Certainly, though, it does not say much for Scriptural inspiration.

And, turning to the much-lauded Gospels, what do we find? Not one of the four is the work of an eyewitness of the events portrayed. Each was compiled piece by piece as a secondhand work (and oftentimes thirdhand and worse), over a long period of time, drawing on earlier sources. And do not forget, there were other Gospels, many in fact, a large literature, circulating throughout this period. Could it not be that some at least of these other books reflected more accurately any truth there was to be discerned in those first-century happenings?

TWO CREATIONS

To examine in any detail the true nature of the 'inspired' scriptures would require a whole book in itself. It is sufficient to draw attention to just a few absurdities. There are, for example, two accounts of creation in the book of Genesis and they contradict one another. And the stories surrounding the famous figures of Jewish history contradict themselves and are filled with absurdities. Dr John Skinner, Principal and Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, Westminster College, Cambridge, wrote (in A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis, Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1912):

It is not difficult to show that Genesis related incredibilities which no reasonable appeal to miracle will suffice to remove. With respect to the origin of the world, the antiquity of man on earth, the distribution and relations of peoples, the beginnings of civilization, etc., its statements are at variance with the scientific knowledge of our time; and no person of educated intelligence accepts them in their plain natural sense.
We know that angels do not cohabit with mortal women, that the Flood did not cover the highest mountains of the world, that the ark could not have accommodated all the species of animals then existing, that the Euphrates and Tigris have not a common source, that the Dead Sea was not first formed in the time of Abraham . . .

Sarah was more than sixty-five years old when Abraham feared that her beauty might endanger his life in Egypt; she was over ninety when the same fear seized him in Gerar. Abraham at the age of ninety-nine laughs at the idea of having a son; yet forty years later he marries and begets children. Both Midian and Ishmael were grand-uncles of Joseph; but their descendants appear as tribes trading with Egypt in his boyhood. Amalek was a grandson of Esau; yet the Amalekites are settled in the Negeb in the time of Abraham - It is a thankless task to multiply these examples. The contradictions and violations of probability and scientific possibility are intelligible, and not at all disquieting, in a collection of legends; but they preclude the supposition that Genesis is literal history.

We could well continue. For example, two chapters in the Bible, 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37, are almost identical; curious indeed! And when we come to the New Testament the contradictions and absurdities continue. The inspired Word is quite unsure where Jesus was born, saying on one hand it was at Nazareth, on the other Bethlehem. It is unsure about various 'facts' in his life and notably those concerning his death and supposed resurrection.

This latter miraculous story is shot through with contradictions, each account of the events contradicting the others. The contradictions continue in the days that follow and on into the story of the conversion of St Paul. This important personage is so certain of his 'facts' that he gives differing and contradictory versions of the Damascus road experience in three different sermons. The truth is that even with the determined efforts of the scribes of the past to produce a work they could claim was the Word of GOD their failure is plain for all to see.

BIBLE-BASED CHURCH OF FIRE. The zeal of the Lord hath consumed me department. In 1989 in the town of Pharr, in the Rio Grande Valley, southern Texas, the Bible-Based Church of Fire burnt to the ground. The cause: Faulty wiring. The telephone to Jesus wasn't hooked up properly, apparently.

BIORHYTHMS. In 1980, in order to examine the claims made about 'good' and 'bad' days due to biorhythms, the Transport and Road Research Laboratory at Crothorne, Berkshire, UK, studied 112,000 accidents. From the drivers' birth dates they calculated their biorhythms, but could find no correlation whatever between the accidents and drivers' 'bad' days.

BIRKHEAD, Reverend Leon Milton. A minister of the Unitarian Church who occupied the pulpit of All Souls, Kansas City in the 1920s. Birkhead was known for his sermons dealing with any and every subject, many of which stirred up the opposition of more orthodox fundamentalist Christians. He freely discussed from the pulpit prostitution, euthanasia, sex and Freud, gambling, any subject he felt needed discussing. He once preached a sermon supporting the theory of evolution, for which he was heckled from a back pew by a special team assembled there by another minister, the Reverend Gerald Winrod. Winrod was from Wichita and was known as the Flying Fundamentalist. He went about attacking Darwinism.

Birkhead Once preached: 'I suppose I do have a feeling that there is something. Certainly I am not an atheist.' However he preached on subjects such as: 'Is the resurrection a Myth?'; 'Can Psychology Save Us?' and 'Why I Do Not Commit Suicide.' Birkhead supported Scopes in his trial at Dayton and commended Sinclair Lewis' Elmer Gantry. In 1927 he was asked to perform a marriage ceremony for the daughter of a freethinking publisher, Emmanuel Haldeman-Julius. The ceremony left out the words 'till death do us part' and 'with all my worldly goods I thee endow.' A Congregationalist minister thundered: 'Birkhead has shaken the very foundations of Christian civilization.' Twenty years later Josephine and Aubrey Roselle, the couple involved, were still happily married, yet the Chicago Tribune referred to Birkhead as 'the free-love parson'.

BIRTH CONTROL. See under: CONTRACEPTION.

BLACK DEATH, The. The black death or bubonic plague, like so many human experiences, resulted in an upsurge of cruelties so that added to the millions (an estimated 25 million in 14th century Europe alone) who died from infection were many more who suffered and died unnecessarily. As has so often been the case one of the first groups to suffer were the Jews who were accused by the good Christians of causing the plague. Wild accusations were put about - that the Jews had poisoned the wells or had employed sorcery to produce the infection. Thousands of Jews were seized, tortured and burnt. As has happened elsewhere in history some of the Jews thought suicide was the only way out and in Mayence a reported 12,000 threw themselves into the fires prepared for their destruction.

During the era of the plague Pope Clement 6th issued a decree in 1348 granting absolution from all sins of all Christians who should die on a journey to Rome. They would even avoid passing through purgatory on their way to the celestial realm. This was to mark the Holy Year celebrations. By Easter of that year an estimated 1,200,000 people from all parts of Europe had made the pilgrimage to Rome. Some of the pilgrims brought the plague with them and soon it spread through the crowded city. It has been estimated that 90 percent of those who arrived in Rome only departed again in coffins or on funeral pyres. But the Church's treasury was amply filled with gold and silver. And the Pope? He was spared contracting the dreaded infection as he was not even there but at Avignon, which he had just acquired. When the plague reached that city he wisely shut himself away in an isolated room and, while all about him died, he survived.

BLASPHEMY. In December 1989 an Italian appeals court upheld the acquittal of US film director Martin Scorsese and the organiser of the Venice Biennale on contempt of religion charges. Protesters had alleged that the film, The Last Temptation of Christ, violated Italian laws on obscenity and blasphemy. The film includes a scene where Jesus hallucinates about making love to Mary Magdalene.

In April 1990 it was reported from the United Kingdom that the High Court had ruled that author Salman Rushdie could not be brought to trial for blasphemy by Islamic activists as British law only applied to the Christian religion. They thus upheld an earlier finding by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Sir David Hopkin. The British Muslim Action Front had claimed that Britain's blasphemy laws extended to the Koran and wanted Rushdie and his publishers, Penguin Viking, brought to trial. See also: RUSHDIE, Salman.

About 3,000 angry Methodists protested in Suva, Fiji, on July 5, 1991, at the showing at a Muslim film school of a movie called, Crucifixion or Cruci-Fiction. The Methodists claimed the film was 'blasphemous' and an insult to Christians. They called for a ban on blasphemy, strict observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, and the imposition of a Christian State.

In March 1994 the British situation regarding blasphemy again came under the spotlight. A video film had been produced, Visions of Ecstasy, which, rather than being restricted, had been banned altogether by the British Board of Film Classification, being considered to be blasphemous. The film's sponsors appealed to the European Commission of Human Rights, at Strasbourg. The commission took the view that the film's makers had exhausted all possible legal remedies in British courts and that British Government had a case to answer for banning the film.

Under British law anything that insults the Christian deity, Jesus of Nazareth, the Bible or the beliefs of the Church of England is considered blasphemous, notwithstanding the fact that nobody can prove satisfactorily that a deity even exists or that the Christian Bible has any authority. The Court urged the authorities in Britain to reach an accommodation with the film-makers or risk further action. Britain does not have to accept rulings of the court but does take them seriously.

The situation now obtains that in various parts of the world different sets of blasphemy laws exist, each asserting that one particular deity is the object in question - yet these deities are rivals! In the United Arab Emirates in August 1994 six Indians were put on trial, charged with blasphemy after they staged a play in which ants ate the bodies of the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus of Nazareth. Four other men were jailed two years previously in connection with the same play.

In Pakistan in February 1995 two young Christians, one only 14 (who was in fact only aged 11 at the time of the offence), were condemned to death for blasphemy. They had allegedly written anti-Islamic slogans on the wall of a mosque. The death sentences resulted in a worldwide outcry and even a statement expressing her shock by Pakistani Prime Minister Ms Benazir Bhutto. Judges meeting to consider an appeal against the sentence in Lahore had to face hostile crowds of Muslim fundamentalists, demanding the blood of the 'offenders'. The crowds threatened that if an appeal was allowed the judged and the families of the judges would be murdered. Some Islamic fundamentalists also filed contempt of court charges against Ms Bhutto for daring to criticize the sentence.

Thus today as throughout the centuries the alleged crime of 'blasphemy' continues to be peddled by believers even although there is no factual basis for such an offence.

BLACKBURNE, Dr Lancelot. A former buccaneer (pirate) who became Archbishop of York (England) and was said to maintain a harem at York.

BLAVATSKY, Madame Elena Petrovna. See under: THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

BLESSING FAILED. After living in her Eastwood (NSW) home for just over a year, a reader finally arranged for her house to be blessed by a local priest. Three hours later she was robbed. [Sydney Morning Herald, 20/2/87]

BLOOD. Human blood most closely resembles sea-water in its chemical composition. Life on earth originally evolved in the sea, not from the dust of the earth as asserted in Biblical and other fables.

BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES. Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican monk, in 1497 presided over the Bonfire of the Vanities during Carnival time in Florence. Thousands of children, under the zealot's influence, went through the city gathering up what they thought were lewd books and pictures, playing cards, lutes, mirrors and all manner of 'vanities' which were piled high in the great Piazza della Signoria. The 20-metre-high pyramid of offending objects went up in flames. A year later Savonarola had a political quarrel with Pope ALEXANDER 6th and was excommunicated, tried and hanged. His body was then burned at the stake.

BONHOEFFER, Dietrich. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Germany 1906 and became a Lutheran pastor. He was influenced by the theologian Karl Barth. He ministered in London in 1933-34 but returned to Germany after this, even although he knew and was deeply disturbed by what was happening in his own country. By the time of the 1936 Berlin Olympics Bonhoeffer, now head of a seminary of the German Confessing Church, was on a list of those in Germany who 'needed watching' and when, in 1938 he became involved in attempt to smuggle five Jews into Switzerland, he was arrested. He was arrested again in 1943 and was undoubtedly involved in the German Resistance movement. He was sent to a concentration camp.

As the Allies advanced ever deeper into German territory the Nazis moved Bonhoeffer from one camp to another, keeping him ahead of possible rescue, until, at length, they hanged him, on April 9, 1945, at Flossenberg. It was an insanely cruel action so typical of them. Hundreds of thousands of other prisoners were to die in the same way, almost in sight of freedom. He was tortured, an experience he described as 'disgusting', but he never revealed what his tormentors wanted - names of accomplices in the plot against Hitler.

BON-PO. A shamanistic religion that flourished in Tibet long before Buddhism arrived there. Called the 'black belief' the religion's traditional founder is said to have looked from heaven and beheld Mount Kailas, determining that this was well suited as the stronghold of the faith.

BOOK-BURNINGS.  From time to time the censors stage mass public book-burnings - destroying what is deemed to be subversive and contaminating literature. The Nazis certainly did so and in our own time Christians groups have also engaged in this activity. US Evangelical group burning books publicly:

 
BOOK OF SHADOWS, The. A hand-written bible of witchcraft, passed on from hand to hand through covens. Theoretically it is not to be read or viewed by any non-witch. It has reportedly never been printed or published. Does such a book really exist or is it myth? Well, extracts have appeared from time to time in books, which seems to indicate that something has been written down somewhere! But, then, these 'extracts' may merely be fanciful concoctions of believers.

BORGIAS, The. (Spanish: Borjia.) A family of great fame and/or notoriety, that flourished in Italy, although of Spanish origin, in the 15th and 16th centuries. The family produced a number of high Church dignitaries, including two Popes. The Borgias are specially remembered for three members, Rodrigo (Pope ALEXANDER 6th), Cesare and Lucrezia. Rodrigo, first Cardinal then Pope, set the tone for the whole era.

Cesare (1475 to 1507), an illegitimate son of the Pope, was first a cardinal then a papal legate. He became Duke of Romagna in 1501 and overran various cities and towns in central Italy, creating an atmosphere of terror and acting with extreme cruelty. He was also accused of murdering a relative, Giovanni, who died in 1497, and it seems certain he was responsible for a number of other mysterious deaths. Cesare was eventually arrested, was imprisoned, then escaped and finally died in battle. It is said that Machiavelli, who spent some time with Cesare, portrayed his character favourably in his famous work, The Prince.

Lucrezia (1480-1519), sister of Cesare, was the illegitimate daughter of the Pope and very close to her father. She was married three times, the first at the age of 12. Lucrezia was often accused of various crimes and debauched behaviour, including incest with her father and brother, but the general opinion today is that she was probably innocent. See further under: ALEXANDER 6th, Pope.

BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS. Some quotes: 'The trouble with born-again Christians is that they are an even bigger pain the second time around.' (Herb Caen). 'He's a born-again Christian. The trouble is, he suffered brain damage during rebirth.' (Anon.). President and Mrs Reagan asserted publicly that they were born-again Christians yet consulted astrologers! Other leading American figures have asserted the same while indulging in extramarital sexual activities and exhibiting anything but Christian 'born-again' behaviour. New birth is not a distinctively Christian experience - see further under: CONVERSION.

BRADLAUGH, Charles. Born in London in 1833, Bradlaugh was a noted freethinker and atheist, lecturer and writer. From 1860 he edited the National Reformer and later became that journal's owner. In 1880 he stood for Parliament and was elected MP for Northampton but, refusing to take the oath, was expelled. He was re-elected later but again expelled. Eventually, in 1886, he took the oath and his seat but in the same year was the subject of further controversy when he was prosecuted, together with Annie Besant, for publishing a pamphlet advocating birth control, The Fruits of Philosophy. They were convicted but won an appeal. Bradlaugh's atheism did not sit well with the agnostic publicist W.S. Ross (Saladin) and it is believed that the latter was responsible for producing a scurrilous book entitled Life of Charles Bradlaugh, published under the pseudonym Charles R. Mackay.

BRANCH DAVIDIANS.
The tiny but for a time prominent sect known as the Branch Davidians had its origins in the 1930s when its founders broke away from the mainstream Seventh Day Adventist Church. It was then known as the DAVIDIAN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS. The founder was a Bulgarian migrant, Victor Houteff, who was believed to be immortal by many of his followers [sic!]. They were somewhat taken aback in 1955 when he died!

Eventually the cult passed into the hands of a mental case by name of George Roden. Among other things, he had been jailed at one stage for writing letters in which he threatened to get GOD to infect judges with in the Texas Supreme Court with VD. In splitting up like this they continued a long tradition as the Seventh Day Adventist Church itself, now a well-established denomination, was the main surviving cult of a whole group of Christian splinter groups teaching the notion that the Sabbath observance should be maintained as in the Jewish religion, on Saturday. (The first Christians attended Jewish worship on Saturdays and then gathered together for their special worship on Sundays.)

These churches also all had a strong emphasis on the supposed 'second coming' of Jesus of Nazareth, an event the first Christians expected to happen in their time. So have later Christians, Houteff and Roden among them! Both had announced dates for the return of Christ but the dates had come and gone. By the 1980s the sect, now led by Roden's wife Lois, had been taken over by a young man named Vernon Howell, who gave himself a new name, David Koresh. The name Koresh was said to be the equivalent of Cyrus, the destroyer, of Babylon, a Persian king who helped free the Jews from oppression.

Koresh apparently worked on Lois Roden, convincing her that he was one of the Seven Angels of the book of Revelation and after her death there was in 1987 a fight between Howell, supported by seven gun-toting Christians, and Mr Roden for the possession of 'Mount Carmel'. This culminated in an actual gun battle. The attackers were put on trial but all the followers were acquitted of attempted murder. In Howell's case the trial ended with a hung jury and the charges were dropped. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital for a period. Meanwhile Roden went off to jail to work out the earlier charges and Howell saw his opportunity, seizing control of the Davidians.

YOUNG PEOPLE

In the early 1990s concern was being expressed by many, especially parents, that young people were being drawn into the cult, centred in a complex of buildings at Waco, Texas. There were, for example, claims made on Australian television that several young Australians had been 'summonsed' to the headquarters by Koresh to await some sort of Armageddon. Parents believed then that some form of mass suicide might occur.

Ex-members told reporters that disciples had quit jobs, said goodbye to family and friends and had been induced to change their wills. A typical convert was Marc Breault who, with his wife Elizabeth, had gone to join Koresh at Waco in 1986. They remained there for nearly four years. Breault had been raised a Catholic and suffered a sight defect from birth. He only had about 5 percent vision in his left eye. Brough had an unhappy experience with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. At the age of 17 he had attended a special SDA camp designed for blind people. As he was searching for something in his life at the time he had been 'converted' and had undertaken a study course to become a minister in the SDA Church. The course, which he paid for himself, lasted four years, but upon its completion he was effectively told that as a blind person he could not become a minister.

At about this time Breault made contact with Perry Jones, Koresh's father-in-law. At the time he was 'emotionally vulnerable' and seeking answers to his problems. Koresh offered what was described as a 'musical ministry'. Breault plays keyboards and piano so was attracted to Koresh. Within the compound Koresh often played his guitar and sang. Members were expected to gather to hear him. The group had a band and many of the children were trained to play musical instruments. Breault remarked that when living in the Waco compound nothing could be done without first seeking Koresh's permission. He controlled all activities and he had a strong psychological hold over his followers. Many believed that if he died he would be resurrected within six months.

Eventually Marc and Elizabeth returned to Australia, having decided the Branch Davidians was not for them. By now Breault was claiming that Koresh was having sexual relations with young girls in the compound, some aged only 12. This and other activities had upset the Breaults. They reported then that Koresh and his followers had a large cache of arms and were prepared to keep out unwanted visitors.

APOCALYPTIC VISION

With his apocalyptic vision of a dramatic End in which he figured prominently, Koresh taught both the adults and the children of the cult how to commit suicide with a gun if necessary. Appearing on the Donahue Show, one young girl, Kiri Jewell, who had escaped, described graphically how they were taught to put a gun in their mouths rather than pointing it at their heads. They were told they might only wound themselves unless they 'made certain' by inserting it in the mouth. They had been instructed in suicide 'a long time ago'; another method suggested being the taking of cyanide. Cult members believed that if they died they would return to the earth as immortals.

Kiri was aged about 5 or 6 when her mother, following a separation, joined the cult at Waco. In 1986 her father was in contact with his daughter at Waco and noticed that she had a vast knowledge of Bible texts for someone so young. He also learnt that she had been taught that if a girl wore jeans or pants she should also wear a T-shirt or other garment hanging down over them in order to cover her buttocks.

From time to time Kiri visited her father and his family, especially an aunt, Lois, who was very concerned about her. She noted that when Kiri came off the plane to meet them her whole persona changed and she 'became one of us' but that when she was returning to Waco her persona reverted to its former self. At the age of about 9 or 10 the family noticed that Kiri was wearing a star. This indicated, they later learned, that she had been chosen to a be a bride for Koresh. Questioned about this the girl said that at the time she thought this was 'a great honour.'

Koresh used very young girls to breed future followers. His first wife, Rachel Jones, was aged 14. But in time the wives were chosen at ever earlier ages. Michelle Jones was aged 12, and there were others. There were also suggestions that Koresh had intended to sacrifice a child. He had approached two female members seeking a suitable victim to be delivered up as an offering to GOD but the sacrifice did not take place.

Kiri's father eventually instituted legal proceedings to gain custody of his daughter and had a long fight but finally was able to do so in mid-1991, when Kiri came out of the sect and joined him. In the meantime, however, at the age of 13 she had become one of Koresh's many wives, when she was 'married' to him and had sex with him. Her mother was already a 'senior wife' and deeply loyal to Koresh and remained in the compound after Kiri left. A former sex partner of Koresh's said there was no marriage ceremony. It was simply a matter of Howell choosing to have sex with a woman or girl and she was considered from then on to be his wife.

EXCLUSIVE

She could not continue to have sex with her own legal husband or lover after that. She was not even allowed to look at the other men. This woman had been raised as a Catholic but had become a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and she and her husband had been 'looking for more prophecy in the Scriptures' when they were brought into contact with the cult. When they linked up with the Davidians in 1989 Howell decided she should become one of his wives. The couple agonized over this for some time but finally agreed to Howell's move.

Life at Waco was regimented in many ways. Members spent long periods of time studying the Bible. On one occasion a meeting continued for 16 hours. If any of the children fell asleep they were humiliated in front of the group and sent away. Many ex-members reported that cruel physical punishments were often meted out to the children in the compound by Koresh himself. Many children of sect members had been beaten and some had been whipped until they bled. A special room, known as the 'whipping room' was set aside for this purpose in one of the Waco buildings and the paddle was known as 'the helper'. The children came to fear this room and the big strong men that wielded the paddles.

Kiri Jewel said she had received one paddling for not learning some Bible verses. When asked about the spankings she said that they were 'not such as parents give' but were 'cruel spankings' and very painful. There were other forms of punishment employed from time to time such as putting people into a pit of raw sewerage. Koresh also deprived people of their liberty and of food and water from time to time and some were bound while they were beaten.

According to the testimony of one Australian mother, Michelle Tom, on a particular occasion Koresh reportedly gathered the group together and brought before them her 8-months-old baby Tara, who, he claimed, required discipline. He then proceeded to spank the baby for a solid 40 minutes. They had been away from the compound having dinner and Howell tried to get Tara to sit on his lap. She reacted against him and cried, whereupon he said she should be disciplined. The beating continued solidly, Howell only pausing, so he said, to allow the baby to 'catch her breath'. He wanted to use the occasion as an example of how people had to be obedient to him. Michelle said the roomful of people were laughing at the baby but her buttocks were bleeding and bruised when he handed her back.

Koresh taught that the male followers were spiritual eunuchs and as such were not to have sexual relations with the females, even their own wives. However, Koresh could enjoy intercourse as and when it suited him and treated many of the women as wives. He also often talked to the children and teenagers about sexuality. Curiously, for such a dedicated religious group, alcohol was consumed although not drugs, according to Kiri.

FINANCES

The cult financed itself partly from some of the members going to outside jobs. They handed over their earnings to Koresh. One couple who joined sold a property for $800,000 and made the bulk of the proceeds available to Koresh. Such cults, in order to flourish, require an absolute leader who demands complete submission to his will. Members are not allowed to think for themselves and all those outside the cult are treated as evil. Members are made to feel bad about themselves and thus to become more and more dependant on the leader and his goodwill and approval. Once a potential convert begins submitting his or her personality to the will of the master the way is open for complete control. Koresh maintained close surveillance over his minions and bugged all rooms. There was also reportedly a secret cemetery to dispose of people who 'disappeared' while at the cult headquarters.

An Australian private investigator, Geoffrey Hossack, formerly a member of both Victoria Police and the Federal Police, spent three years on the trail of Koresh and his sect. Hired by Melbourne parents to try to help them get their children out of the compound, Hossack uncovered a large amount of evidence of wrongdoing, including the fact that Koresh was storing quantities of unlicensed arms and ammunition and had violent aims. He took these concerns to several US agencies but could get no action taken.

Long after Hossack had warned them, the US Federal authorities moved in, charging the group over their illegal weapons. The Government raid took place on Monday, February 29, 1993. It is interesting to note that the local newspaper, The Waco Herald-Tribune, began a series of articles on the Branch Davidians on the preceding Saturday, February 27. Titled The Sinful Messiah, the paper continued the series on the Sunday and the raid was launched on the Monday. In the initial assault four Federal agents were shot dead and 15 wounded.

The SDA Church throughout tried to distance itself from the cult. Pastor Larry Glyn, of the Waco SDA Church, said that Koresh 'takes the Adventist belief in the rapture to the extreme.' Koresh had been heard in his 'radio chats' claiming he might have to die to fulfil Biblical prophecy.

n June 1994 judgments were delivered in a court at San Antonio in the cases involving some of the Waco cultists who has shot at and killed Government officials. Renos Avraam, 30, and Livingstone Fagan, 34, both from England, were each sentenced to 40 years in prison. During the hearing Avraam berated the judge and accused 'international banks' and the justice system of being responsible for the troubles the sect had experienced. Six other Branch Davidians were also given jail terms, ranging from 5 to 40 years. Americans Brad Branch, 34, Kevin Whitecliff, 32, and Jamie Castillo, 25 were each sentenced to 30 years' jail.

As at mid-1995 the Branch Davidians was still a functioning group, with members living in the Waco region.

BRAZIL. Some notes based on a book written in 1944: 'The African religious rites known as macumba (Rio), candomblé (Bahia) and catimbó (Pernambuco) were then legally banned in Brazil. A corrupt macumba existed, however, in Rio for the benefit of tourists. Candomblé is syncretistic amalgam of African and Christian institutions. It expresses deeply organic life-awareness. The saints are thought to be manifested in candomblé (known as orixás), and are animistic and pantheistic gods. These represent elements of nature: lightning (Xangö), fresh water (Oxun), rain (Anamburucú), wind and storm (Yanson), war and iron (Ogun).

'The god possesses the devotees who are trained by priests and priestesses. Possession is induced magically by song, dance and rites at ceremonial meetings. The possessed sing and dance for hours on end and the faithful partake vicariously of the ecstasy before them. The Catholic Church encourages the linking of the orixás with specific saints, and of fetish ceremonies with church festivals.'

Brazil, once one of the strongholds of the Catholic Church, in 2007 saw the staging of the largest gay pride festival ever held - with an estimated attendance of over 3 million people in Sao Paulo.

BRETHREN, The. This term embraces a broad range of evangelical Christian groups, to some degree tarred with the one brush, but with many variations. They are sometimes referred to as Plymouth Brethren, as one of the earliest key assemblies met in that famous city, although they first gathered in Ireland. Possibly only exceeded by the Pentecostalists in their tendency to split, the Brethren assemblies range from some, at one end of the spectrum, that would be hard to distinguish from Baptists, to others of very extreme and exclusive nature. Indeed, some call themselves 'Exclusive', also often referred to as 'Closed'. And among the exclusives there have been further splits, some apparently not being exclusive enough to suit all!

The origins of the Brethren go back to the early part of the 19th century and one of the chief names associated with this body is a man named J.N. Darby, an Anglican clergyman (like Wesley). Darby eventually left the Anglican fold on a matter of principle, the subject not relevant to this study, and eventually joined with some other Christians meeting in Dublin without any special formal church structure.  Old engraving of John Nelson Darby:

From the beginning of his speaking career Darby's message led to divisions. He travelled widely in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Canada, the USA and even visited Australia. In Switzerland a large body separated from the Swiss Free Church following lectures given by him. It was Darby who provided the impetus for the first major split within the 'brethren' when he and his followers withdrew from association with other early leaders in the same movement. Darby considered that the established denominations were all headed for perdition, having abandoned the faith (as he saw it). For this reason he thought none of the Brethren should have anything to do with the other churches.

The Brethren have a strong belief in the near return of Jesus of Nazareth. Theoretically they have no formal ministry, believing all members should contribute to 'edifying' the assembly, however in practice it is usually found that a small inner circle - all male - do most of the edifying. There are even assemblies that have an appointed pastor. Women are kept firmly in their subservient place and enjoined to remain silent in the meetings. In Australia the Brethren had an early and strong presence in Tasmania (some of my relatives were members and would not even dine with those in their family who were considered unbelievers), which may help explain some of that State's more conservative moral views!

BRITISH ISRAELISM. In the days when British glory shone more brightly than now, there were many who proclaimed a peculiar notion that the 'lost tribes' of Israel had in fact settled in the British Isles and that Britain was the home of GOD's Chosen People. The result was a peculiar form of Christianity that developed a whole raft of odd beliefs to accommodate the main thesis. Among numerous curious ideas was one that saw Joseph of Arimathaea visiting Britain on trading excursions, bringing the boy Jesus with him! Other visitors to Britain included the Virgin Mary, who settled at Glastonbury, where she died in 48 CE, and even the resurrected Lazarus (who, however, paid only a brief visit)!

In time the concept of Britain being Israel was broadened somewhat so as to incorporate, conveniently, the peoples of northern Europe (i.e. the Scandinavian Lutherans) and the Americans (at least Protestant Americans!). Like most movements British Israelism eventually split into rival groups who believed and/or taught different doctrines to one another. And another odd development saw some of the British Israel notions incorporated by some Pentecostalist groups, two such Australian ones being the National Revival Crusade and the Commonwealth Revival Crusade (rivals, one should add!). And even Herbert W. Armstrong, with his RADIO CHURCH OF GOD, managed to incorporate British Israelism into his teachings.

BROKEN RITES. A new body was formed in 1994, called Broken Rites (Australia) Collective Inc. It is to act as a support group for victims of abuse by clergymen. Speaking at the first meeting of BRACI, Dr Patricia Easteal, of the Australian Institute of Criminology, asserted that some Christian communities supported acts of sexual abuse, rape and domestic violence. Dr Easteal said that the Church perpetuated the 'patriarchal and misogynist' culture.

BUCKLAND, Ray. A practising witch who headed a coven on Long Island, USA, and also operated a museum of witchcraft there. Mr Buckland studied under Dr Gerald GARDNER in England and his group followed the Gardnerian tradition. They performed their rituals in the nude, Mr Buckland acting as high priest and Mrs Buckland as high priestess. The museum was later moved to Weirs Beach, New Hampshire.

BUDAPEST, Zsuzsanna. Ms Budapest formerly operated a notable occult shop in Venice, out from Los Angeles, called The Feminist Wicca. Later she has moved to Oakland and operated a coven exclusively for women. She described her movement as 'Dianic witchcraft'. She has authored a book, The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries, and was a noted personality in the US witchcraft scene.

BUDDHISM.
Vardhamana Mahavira (founder of Jainism) and Gautama Buddha were religious reformers, both members of the warrior caste, who led revolts against the tyranny of the Brahmins. The priests taught that salvation only came through the observance of elaborate rituals, mediated by the priests alone. The reformers decried such beliefs and served much as the Protestant reformers did in a much later era, to challenge orthodoxy. They ignored the Vedas and the caste system.

The newcomers instituted the monastic system. Their disciples lived simply and endeavoured to practice the virtues of charity, benevolence and simplicity. The Jains were more extreme, ascetics, and one Jain sect actually lived stark naked. Both groups respected all life, including that of the animals. Jainism flourished in India but remained there, its membership not large but mostly wealthy. Buddhism became a world religion while it languished in India itself.

Like Jesus of Nazareth, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha soon gathered about him a group of disciples, about sixty following him at the end of three months after his revelation. The band of religious, the Buddha accompanied by his constant companion Ananda, wandered about preaching as they went. They begged food from the pious as they went and lived entirely on charity. They ignored caste and ate their meals together.
In the evenings, when the heat of the day had passed, the Buddha would preach to the people in the villages 'in a manner suitable to their understanding,' much as Jesus spoke in parables so that people could catch his meaning.

There were Ten Commandments taught by the Buddha: not to kill; not to steal; not to commit impurity; not to use false language; not to be double-tongued; not to use bad language; not to use fine, specious speech; not to covet; not to be angry, and not to adopt heretical views.

BUDDHA'S LIFE

Unlike the Nazarene the Buddha lived a long life, although often opposed and even threatened with death for his teachings, dying at the age of eighty. He died accidentally, apparently from dysentery. As he lay dying his last message to his disciples was: 'Be ye lights unto yourselves. Be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast the truth as to a light. Look not for refuge to anyone but yourself.'

Following the Buddha's death a meeting of 500 disciples took place at the Satapanni Cave near Rajagriha, where all the Master's precepts were gathered together, recited and learnt by the whole gathering. The Buddhist canon was divided into three books, one of which, the Abhidhamma, in particular contains what are probably the nearest to the authentic statements of the Buddha we may now approach.

In BCE 376 there was dissension in Buddhist ranks. A band of dissident monks rebelled against the simplicity of the order's rules and were accused of changing the canonical scriptures. However, in BCE 240, under the patronage of the Emperor Asoka, a Council finally settled the canon, although it was not set down in written form until BCE 29

The Buddha expressly disclaimed either supernatural powers or divine birth. He worked no miracles and pointed his disciples to themselves as the source of their own salvation. The earliest followers did not even make statues of him, indicating his presence by means of symbols, such as the Wheel of the Law, symbolizing his first sermon, the empty throne, Nirvana, a Bodhi-tree, the lotus flower (his birth) and a pair of footprints.
The later Buddhist slowly elevated the Buddha into godhead. Just as the Christians, but much more rapidly, elevated Jesus of Nazareth into the Christ figure, so the Buddhists did, more slowly with the Buddha. He became on object of worship, to whom prayers and offerings were to be made, concepts wholly foreign to the Buddha himself, as the same would have been to Jesus.

There are parallels between Orphism and Buddhism, very close ones. Both sects lived in monastic communities, abstained from taking life or, if they ate meat, believed in the doctrine of metempsychosis. Pythagorus may have wandered as far as India. There are strong links between Greece, Persia and India around the era of the 6th century BCE.

An exceedingly significant event occurred around BCE 260 when King Asoka of Magadha, having been converted to Buddhism and become a Buddhist monks, sent forth into many countries an army of Buddhist missionaries. Such was the significance of this move in turning an Indian religion into a world religion that we have accounts of the missionaries and many of their names. They spread throughout India itself, into Ceylon and Burma. In time the Buddhists were to spread to China, Japan, Tibet and Thailand. And, significantly, they also went into Egypt, Macedonia and other parts of Asia Minor.

LINKS WITH OTHER FAITHS

Already there were strong links between the Buddhists of India and many Greeks due to the presence of the Greek warriors in northern India. Asoka counted as friends Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt, Magas of Cyrene, Alexander of Epirus, and Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia. In the East Buddhism was rapidly absorbed by the animistic peoples the monks encountered. Centuries later in the South Seas missions and in Africa the Christian priests were to gain rapid ground among animists.

The links between Buddhism and the religions of the Middle East can be found everywhere. A casket dating back to the early part of the Christian era shows the Buddha together with the Sun and Moon deities. At the site of palace at Jandial, in India, stands the remains of a Zoroastrian fire-temple. In later Buddhist iconography there appears nimbus or aureole, which seems to be derived from Persian sources and which was later adopted by the Christians in representations of the saints.

Even in the literature. Buddhist texts give us, for example: 'Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love.' (Dhammapada 5) and again: 'Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good. Let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth.' (D. 223). Sounds very familiar to Christian ears!

By the first century CE numerous sects had arisen within the Buddhist world. Kanishka, ruler at Peshawar around 120 CE to 160 CE, who had converted to Buddhism, called a Council at Kashmir to settle disputes. It met together for six months and as a result Buddhism, effectively split into two major groupings. The Council resulted in a 'northern' Buddhism being established, with commentaries provided on the scriptures, along with an encyclopedia. This brand of Buddhism saw a full flowering of the notion that the Buddha was a Saviour God, living and incarnate, working for the salvation of the human race.

The influences of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and the Greek religions were working here. Gautama was but the latest of a series of Avatars or incarnations of the Primeval Spirit. One incarnation of the Buddha was known as Amida or Amitabha, the God of Boundless Light. He has a strong following in China and Japan. Through the God of Boundless Light salvation comes by faith, the believer is born again, as in the Christian doctrine.
Buddhism and Christianity reacted upon one another. This was especially so in the first and second centuries CE by which time there was constant intercourse between the East and Asia Minor. Clement of Alexandria (around 200 CE) shows himself to be well informed on Buddhist doctrine. Most significant are the close resemblances between Gnostic doctrine and Mahayana Buddhism.

BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY

In a number of documents occur birth stories of both Jesus of Nazareth and of the Buddha that show close parallels although none can say whether the Western stories infiltrated the East or vice-versa. One late curiosity was the appearance in the 9th century CE of the story Baalam and Josaphat, by John of Damascus, which actually describes the Buddha as a Christian prince!

Tibetan Buddhism is yet a variant on the mainstream. It incorporates elements of aboriginal Mongolian demon-worship and there is a curious admixture of elements possibly derived from Catholic ritual. The Abbé Huc, who visited Lhasa in 1845 wrote: 'The crosier, the mitre, the dalmatic, the cope or pluvial which the grand llamas wear on a journey, or when they perform some ceremony outside the temple: the service with a double choir, psalmody, exorcisms: the censer swinging on five chains and contrived to be open or shut at will: benediction by the llamas with the right hand extended over the heads of the faithful: the chaplet, sacerdotal celibacy, lenten retirements from the world,the worship of saints, fasts, processions, litanies, holy water, these are the points of contact between the Buddhists and ourselves.'

That there were such influences is confirmed by a close association recorded between Nestorian monks in China, residing in monasteries between 635 CE and 841 CE, where they were in contact with the Buddhists of Tibet and Nepal. Before the Communist takeover of Tibet in 1952, 25 percent of the male population of Tibet were Buddhist monks.

The Buddhist doctrine includes belief in hell and purgatory. Scenes of torment from the Buddhist hell are depicted in the Tiger Balm Gardens, Singapore. A Buddhist initiation ceremony for novice virgin nuns involves forcing short pointed sticks into the nun's scalp then setting them alight. The novices, mostly in their teens, are expected to prove they are worthy of being received into the order, by going through this ordeal without demur.

For a full week before the ceremony the young nuns go through rituals including fasting and meditating. They are watched at all times by monks and on the last day have their heads shaved, after which they make a vow never to touch a man, not even his hand. They then enter the temple and kneel in a row. One by one the girls bow their heads while a high priest forces the pointed sticks, about the size of a short matchstick, into their bare scalps. About twelve are inserted and then lit and allowed to burn down to the skin.

Reportedly the pain is excruciating and many of the novices writhe in agony but remain silent through the ordeal. Others cannot stand the pain and cry out in their distress. When the nuns enter their new life the only possession they are allowed is a holy book they are given after initiation.

BUDDHIST CONFLICTS. In South Korea in April 1994 conflict erupted between rival groups of Buddhist monks. Temples were attacked and monks brandishing sticks, hoses and other weapons, attacked one another. Hundreds were involved in the fighting between the two rival groups. Reformist monks staged a sit-in at the Buddhist headquarters at the Chogye Temple in Seoul after police stopped their attempts to oust a group of conservative monks. The conservatives were accused of corruption and of diverting religious funds to assist politicians. The Reverend Suh Eui-Hyun, head of the Korean Buddhists, was especially targeted for abuse. A squad of about one thousand police surrounded the monks as they engaged in pitch battles in the temple precincts. 134 monks were arrested.

BUNDLING.

The practice once known as AGAPETISM, found in the Christian Church from around the 3rd century, developed in time into the curious form of sleep arrangement known as bundling. This activity reached its peak in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, especially in the USA. It involved the sharing of a common bed by two young people, male and female, the couple not engaging in sexual activity. At least that was the theory.

Such activities were not unknown elsewhere in the world. A form of bundling was reportedly practised by the Lobi and Ovimbundu tribes of South-West Africa in earlier times. Among the Dinka people of Africa young boys of the tribe had the right to bundle with girls of their own age group. If a boy wished to bundle with a particular girl he had to obtain the permission of the other boys of his group. Such bundling was harmless and did not lead to sexual congress.

And, interestingly, one of the Arabian Nights tales portrays a situation akin to bundling as practised by latter-day Christians. Prince Camaralzaman finds himself mysteriously transported into the bed of the beautiful sleeping Princess Budoor. He falls more and more in love with her as the minutes pass and believes his father must have put the maiden there as a test. He is tempted to steal a kiss but at the last moment forbears and, instead, places a ring upon her finger as token of his love. At length he falls asleep and is returned magically to his own place. Naturally, as in all good fairy stories, the lovers are one day reunited.

Throughout the following centuries there will be found occasional references to activities of this nature but nothing to equal the sudden surge among certain groups in America. It was a practice, in fact, already well known in the Old World and it was natural that it was taken over with the colonists travelling across the Atlantic. It was popular particularly in the British Isles, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Holland from the 17th century onwards. In Holland the practice was known as questing and it was common for a young lover to enter the house by a special window for this purpose. In Holland and in Switzerland the parents knew of the presence of the boy in the girl's house but did not complain. The liaisons were thought to be entirely innocent of sexual connection; whether they all were is another matter. The lovers were even allowed to take off some of their clothing - but not all.

VIGOROUS OUTBREAK

Why there was a renewed and quite vigorous outbreak of this strange activity in the New World has never been fully explained. We may observe, though, that conditions were such as to favour the growth of many strange religious doctrines and practices. In fact, it would probably be true to say that in no period of history and in no other area did there arise such a concentrated cacophony of conflicting religious views as in 19th century America.

In this context religion and sexuality became inextricably mixed, resulting in some very strange activities and beliefs indeed. Some think it was either the Welsh or the Dutch who first introduced bundling to the American continent although there is evidence that the American Indians practised a form of bundling long before the white men came.

There are isolated instances of the practice noted right back to the first days of the colonies but it reached its peak between about 1700 and 1800. The explanations given by the believers were many. Chief among them was the notion that in cold places like New England it saved fuel for two young people to sleep in the one bed! Thus at first the practice tended to be confined to the poorer classes, where both firewood and candles were additional items to allow for in tiny household budgets. Indeed, many of the homes comprised but one room.

It was thus a not uncommon practice to move over and allow a passing traveller half of one's bed. A visitor there in 1788, Abbé Robin, highlighted this fact. 'The Americans in these parts are very hospitable,' he remarked. 'They have commonly but one bed in the house, and the chaste spouse, although she were alone, would divide it with her guest, without hesitation or fear.' But there is yet another explanation given. The houses were tiny and beyond the house in cold weather there was nowhere for a young couple to meet in courtship. They could not gather by the family fireside; altogether too public a place! So instead, fully clothed, they went to bed together and exchanged their fond words away from the ears of the family.

If boy and girl were approaching marriage to one another, which was often the case, little harm would result. But the preachers of the day frowned on the practice and there is little doubt that something more than innocent pleasure resulting from generated warmth was not the only pleasure obtained. Some parents were concerned about possible untoward results and erected low vertical boards in the centre of the beds, sufficient hindrance to prevent coupling but not so as to stop innocent hand-holding and small talk. Other parents ensured that their daughters wore tight-fitting garments, especially over the lower parts of the body, or even tied the girl's ankles together to prevent union.

UNFORTUNATE RESULTS

In some places, among them Massachusetts and Connecticut, the practice was more widespread and well-entrenched than elsewhere. According to many observers 'unfortunate results' were not commonly experienced, although some fell into 'sin'. There is no doubt that even under the harsh religious rule of the Puritans many babies were born out of wedlock, but bundling was not the only reason! Indeed some believed it was a lesser cause than other contacts. On the other hand it has been suggested that bundling was encouraged by parents as a means of hastening the day when their daughter would find a safe haven as a wife and mother. Marriage was considered of utmost importance and more often than not contracted at an early age.

A British officer, Lieutenant Francis Stanbury, was a bit taken aback by the practice. He had been travelling through a country area and his servant had not arrived with his bedding. The people, hospitable as always, offered to share their two beds, but first they inquired as to his rank. Then the lady of the house told him: 'Our Jonathan [the husband] and I will sleep in this, and our Jemima and you shall sleep in that.' He continued:

I was much astonished at such a proposal, and offered to sit up all night, when Jonathan immediately replied, 'Oh la! Mr Ensign, you won't be the first man our Jemima has bundled with, will it Jemima? when little Jemima who, by the by, was a very pretty, black-eyed girl, of about 16 or 17, archly replied, 'No father, not by many, but it will be with the first Britisher.'

It was all too much for the Lieutenant. He scurried off to find somewhere else to sleep. Not all of us would be so quick to escape, I fancy! From the time of the French and Indian wars, however, conditions began to change, especially in relation to sexual mores. Young men returning from the wars were no longer the innocents they once were. The chance to occupy the bed of a charming young woman was too much for flesh and blood! There were other things on their minds than mere small talk and hand-holding. Alarmed religious leaders began to preach against the practice in earnest. Near Boston, one preacher, Haven by name, preached towards the end of the 18th century what was described as 'a long and memorable discourse' denouncing the practice.

GROWING SIN!

'Growing sin,' i.e., intercourse and pregnancy, et al, could be attributed, he claimed, to the 'frequent recurrence of the fault to the custom then prevalent of females admitting young men to their beds who sought their company with intentions of marriage.' The cat was now out of the bag! Meanwhile humorists and ballad-writers began to mock the practice and poke fun at bundlers, after which the decline really set in and little by little bundling was abandoned. The German and Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania were probably the last to give up the strange custom. It is mentioned, for example, in a court record of 1845 from that area but was also still being practised late in Connecticut. One commentator reported:

Such great command have the females acquired, that several who have bundled for years, it is said, have never permitted any improper liberties. Indeed, it is considered as not in the least indelicate....the females say, that the Dutch boys would never think of acting improperly.

Finally, there was the curious fact that as the 19th century progressed and more open intimacy was permitted among young people some alarmed parents felt it was safer for their daughters to engage in bundling than allow themselves to be wooed on the family sofa! In any event, natural forces took a hand. Larger houses, with more rooms - and beds - saw the practice slowly decline. But across the seas in Britain bundling continued in some parts right up to the turn of the century, especially in the country areas of Wales and Scotland, where it effectively merged into outright liaisons for the purposes of sex, what one might almost term 'trial marriages'.

And, interestingly, even in those times, when bundling had died a natural death, there were many recorded cases of premarital sexual congress that came before the Church assemblies. See further under: CAMP MEETINGS.

BURIAL ODDITIES. In Bukhara, Uzbegistan, the corpse was not put underground. A mud platform was built and a barrel-shaped vault built over it, with a small square hole. Burial usually took place within 12 or 15 hours of death. The hole was there to allow the soul to escape to Paradise and it was thought this might take up to three days to occur. No believer dared touch any part of the body for fear of hindering its owner reaching Paradise; however, cats and dogs creep into the hole and drag out pieces of decaying flesh. Due to lack of space in the city graves were built on top of graves, several stories high. Eventually these would collapse and skeletons were then scattered about, with decaying bodies being found among crumbling graves.

Henry Cook was a Mayfield, Wellington (USA) farmer who had an accident. He fell beneath his tractor and as a result had to have a leg amputated. As he emerged from the effects of the anaesthetic he learned that his relatives had been concerned to give his leg a decent Christian burial in consecrated ground. They arranged for a fancy coffin lined with silk and the leg was duly interred. The relatives believed that the injured man's soul might suffer if his whole person was not buried in a proper manner.

When the remains of long-dead children were uncovered in the grounds of a former Sydney orphanage in the 1990s the usual superstitious nonsense was mouthed. A dispute arouse about moving the bones, now more than one hundred years old! But one matter was agreed upon, whether or not the bones were removed from their site, everybody thought the 'children' (e.g. the bones) should finally be 'placed to rest'. A spokesperson for the group, Ms Marie Burdett, commented: 'Even if the cemetery is maintained there is one thing for certain, we will be giving these children a proper burial.'

CAGLIOSTRO, Count Allesandro di. His real name was Guiseppe Balsamo. He adopted the name by which he is best known. Born in Palermo in 1743, Cagliostro travelled widely with his attractive wife, Lorenza Feliciani, peddling an 'elixir of immortal youth', along with occult teachings from Freemasonry and other sources. Eventually the INQUISITION caught up with him and condemned him to prison for teaching Freemasonry. He died in prison in Rome in 1795.

CALENDAR, The. There are and have been many calendars in use throughout the world. The Gregorian and Jewish calendars differed by 13 days in 1990. It should be noted that there is no divinely-ordained scheme of marking the passing of the days and years. There have been innumerable systems through the millennia. Some people mistakenly think that the god Jesus Christ is the central figure of history. Such folk date their calendars in years AD ('Anno Domini') or years BC ('Before Christ'). But the preacher from Nazareth is certainly not 'my Lord' and neither is he Lord of millions of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Rationalists and other people. Therefore the terms BCE and CE - 'Before the Common Era' and 'Common Era' are to be preferred for dating purposes.

In the event, it is about 100 percent certain that Jesus the Nazarene was not born in year zero at zero hours and one second! Nobody is certain as to when he was born, nor where, nor exactly when he died, although he probably did die in Jerusalem, victim of his own foolishness.

CALIXTUS 3rd, Pope. Had at least one illegitimate son, Francesco Borgia, who became Archbishop of Cosenza.

CALVINISM. The theological system based upon the teachings of John Calvin, the reformer who worked in Geneva, Switzerland, chiefly expounded in his work The Institutes of the Christian Religion. While there have been numerous churches that are considered to be specifically calvinistic in doctrine and/or practice, Calvin's influence also extends into many other denominations, e.g. the Church of England or ANGLICAN church. Old engraving of John Calvin:

CAMPBELL, Naomi. Top model Naomi Campbell was featured in a series of posters advertising jeans in Italy in October 1995. Naomi is a big favourite with Italians but the posters outraged the Catholic Church. Featured were such statements as: ‘Wash in holy water’, ‘It will cost you 10 Hail Marys’ and ‘Even Lucifer was an angel’. The Church described the advertisements as ‘blasphemous’.

CAMP MEETINGS. In the era that saw the passing of the practice of BUNDLING, a habit that had seen a certain measure of sexual licence among religious folk, a new phenomenon arose, that of the camp meeting, later known as the revival. Begun as a way of drawing together isolated people to hear Gospel messages, the camp meetings on occasions developed into veritable orgies of sexual congress. In the USA the ground for such gatherings was well prepared around the mid-1800s. The isolated settlements and farmhouses offered fertile soil in which to plant the seed of religious enthusiasm. Men would, through isolation, be rendered morose and despotic and women might even be driven to insanity. Insanity was not an uncommon occurrence among the pioneers in the scattered lands of the West.

The camp-meetings that flourished drew large numbers of women. It was noticed by observers that women isolated for long stretches of time would naturally be drawn to occasions where they might mix with other women. They were susceptible, too, to the excitement generated in the meeting. But a sexual element obtruded also. Of course, this was never the intention of the well-meaning organisers and in general among the settlers, moral standards were high. Although men could, and did, stray from the path and forget their marriage vows, women rarely did, not because they were especially pure but because the woman suffered far greater opprobrium if she did stray.

However, students of the subject have noted a specific link between religious excitement and sexual morality. James D. Davis, a pioneer lawyer in Memphis, wrote about the camp meetings held in the sparsely-populated areas between Raleigh and Memphis prior to 1830:

There may be some who think that a camp-meeting is no place for lovemaking; if so they are very much mistaken. When the mind becomes bewildered and confused, the moral restraints give way, and the passions are quickened and less controllable. For a mile or so around a camp-meeting the woods seem alive with people; every tree or bush has its group or couple while hundreds of others in pairs are seen prowling around in search of some cosy spot. (Quoted by Will and Merritt Hale in History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, Chicago 1913)

A cleric, the Rev. John Brook, wrote:

All denominations of Christians except the Cumberland Presbyterian, opposed them [the camp-meetings] with all their power . . . There was a great many who thought it would have disgraced their wife or daughter forever if they stayed on the camp ground at night. Sometimes their wives and daughters would be so convicted that they would go up to be prayed for - they would come into the altar in great haste to get them out. Those who were praying for them would reason with them and entreat them to let them get religion, but to no purpose; out they would have them, right or wrong.

Then in great rage, cursing the straw pen, as they called the altar; and off home they would take them . . . If the children of other denominations would get religion among us, they would rather that they would be anywhere else than in the Methodist church. They would do all in their power to keep them out, and, if they had joined, to get them out again . . .

It was dangerous for a Methodist preacher to walk out of the encampment unless he had a respectable company with him, for there were some, it would seem, always watching for some opportunity to tell a slanderous tale among them; and as there were more or less women of ill fame lurking about, they only wanted suitable circumstances to give colouring to their hellish designs. (Quoted by Will and Merritt Hale in History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, Chicago 1913)

All manner of odd activities occurred under the heady influence of spiritual fervour. For example, on one occasion some otherwise chaste and devout young ladies ran naked through the countryside during a revival. One has only to read of the incredible occurrences in revival meetings to perceive the link between sexuality and spirituality. Twisting bodies, convulsive movements, shrieks and gesticulations, indeed, the physical writhings of the worshippers so often approximate the movements of the person experiencing orgasm as to make the connection an obvious one. In his aptly-titled book Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals (New York, 1906) Davenport reproduces an account of an 1801 Kentucky revival meeting involving some 20,000 people which went on for several days:

The whole body of persons who actually fell helpless to the earth during the progress of the meeting was computed . . . to be about three thousand persons, about one in every six . . . At no time was the floor less than half covered. Some lay quiet, unable to move or speak. Some talked, but could not move. Some beat the floor with their heels. Some, shrieking in agony, bounded about like a live fish out of water. Many lay down and rolled over and over for hours at a time. Others rushed wildly over the benches, and then plunged, shouting, 'Lost! Lost! into the forest.

Next to the 'falling' exercise the most notable and characteristic Kentucky phenomenon was the 'jerks'. The unhappy victim shook in every joint. Sometimes the head was thrown from side to side with great rapidity. Again the feet were affected and the subject would hop like a frog. Often the body would be thrown violently to the ground, where it would continue to bound from one place to another. Peter Cartwright declares that he has seen more than 500 jerking at once in the congregation . . .

Another phenomenon not so common was the 'barking' exercise. The votaries of this dignified rite gathered in groups on all fours, like dogs, growling and snapping their teeth at the foot of a tree as the minister preached, a practice which they designated as 'treeing the Devil'! . . . Many of these camp-meeting folk lay insensible, sometimes for hours, but when they recovered from the swoon it was to relate, in what were called 'strains of heaven,' experiences of interviews with departed friends and visions of glory.

It is not surprising that accusations of sexual impropriety were levelled at people attending the Kentucky meetings and these charges did not come from hostile laymen but from clergymen. Interestingly at around this era one particular group of Baptists, the Separates, unusually for such folk, practised 'touching' or physical contact between members as a manifestation of Christian love. They touched with hands, arms and even lips. See further under: REVIVALS. See also: SEXUALITY AND RELIGION.

CANCER. The Reverend Clifford Oden, a Baptist minister from Texas, wrote a book entitled, Thank God I Have Cancer! (New York, Arlington House, 1976). The writer stated that he had cancer of the colon for seven years but has lived with it 'under control.' The blurb stated: 'Rev. Oden . . . reasons that if God made man with cells that produce cancer, He also gave man natural means to control those cells.'

CANNIBALISM. Many, including Karl Jung, have noted the motif of cannibalism underlying the Christian communion feast (Protestant) or mass (Catholic and Orthodox). Interestingly, the early Christians criticized the pagans, accusing them, among many faults, of being man-eaters. However, in their turn the pagans accused the Christians of cannibalism. After all, the Church's chief act of worship involves partaking of 'the body and blood' of the god Christ. Clearly the Christian feast, of similar nature to other religious feasts, provides more than a hint of vestigial cannibalism.

It is also of interest to note that some of the North American Indians, who practised cannibalism, used identical phraseology to that of the Church, describing their actions as 'eating the flesh and drinking the blood' of their slain enemies. Many cannibals believed that by eating the flesh of others they would incorporate into themselves virtues. Thus Christians 'take . . . eat' the body of Christ, so they believe, and drink his blood, entirely identical to cannibal practice.

CARDINALS. In the Middle Ages the cardinals of the Church of Rome lived like worldly princes, with all the trappings of such. Their appointments ensured they held offices and benefices that provided a steady flow of funds to support their lavish lifestyle, funds, it should be noted, that in the end were drawn from the pockets of the Catholic laity, many of them poor people. It is not surprising, therefore, that many an ambitious father worked assiduously to see his son made a cardinal.

It was almost the invariable case that some reward was received by the reigning pope in return for such an appointment, directly in cash or in kind, through some quid pro quo. This system never flourished more actively than during the reign of ALEXANDER 6th, the Borgia Pope. One historian actually recorded the exact amounts paid by a group of churchmen who became cardinals under Alexander's reign. The money in this case went to supply Alexander's son Cesare with funds to prosecute his wars.

As to their mode of life, Paolo Cortese said in his book De Cardinalatu that the holder of this office should be rich and of noble birth and have a superb palace. In fact, this is just what most cardinals had and as many as a hundred or more staff were needed to keep such a palace running efficiently. So great were the demands made for cardinals to live in this ostentatious way that often they fell into debt as a result! The lucky ones, those who succeeded in getting close to the reigning pontiff, would have additional benefices handed out to them.

Beyond the first ambition, to become a cardinal, lay a greater one, to become one day pope. Thus, in turn, did the cardinals form alliances and work towards their hoped-for election to this high office.

CASEY, Bishop Eamonn. In a follow-up to the story on sexual abuse by priests and others in the churches news broke early in May of a long-standing relationship between the Roman Catholic Bishop of Galway, Dr Eamonn Casey, 65, and a lady now living in Boston, USA. The Irish Times broke the story, claiming that the bishop had been supporting the lady to the tune of $150,000 and more over a period stretching back to 1976, when the bishop is said to have fathered a child to her. It was the same year in which he was appointed to his post at Galway.

It appears the woman had recently laid claim to a 'final payout,' presumably of a somewhat substantial nature, and the news leaked to the press. Already, on one day alone in 1990, she had received the sum of $US115,000. The bishop is known for a strong anti-American streak and some people claim the whole thing is a conspiracy by 'someone' to get him. The Bishop left Ireland and spent some time in South America so as to 'devote himself to mission work!' He has, however, since returned to Ireland (in 2006).

The whole affair proved to be a major embarrassment to the moralizing Irish Catholic Church. What is more startling is that the bishop apparently, 'borrowed' or somehow obtained the money from a church slush fund. He says he has restored it all since.

The bishop is certainly not alone. Since the affair surfaced another priest has stated he knew of a retired Irish bishop who had a mistress and a current one who still has a 'relationship'. Not to mention dozens of priests who have affairs - and babies! And in just twenty years past over 1,000 Irish priests have left the church to marry. When the monasteries were under attack in England and France and access was gained to many of these walled and secretive institutions an interesting discovery was made. In the depths of the crypts beneath the buildings were thousands of bones - of small babies killed off to hide the results of the sexual activities of the priests and nuns.

And this is the church that carries on so loudly about abortion and the rights of the unborn child. Meanwhile Mr Peter Hepplewaite, now a layman and married, but apparently once a Jesuit priest who was in the know, has told the British press that this is not at all unusual! It appears the Catholic Church has a special fund which is used to 'pay off' women who get put in the family way through the activities of its priests. The money is provided to care for the children.

Mr Hepplewaite says that some 10 or 12 cases occur each year in England alone. When the scandal broke Bishop Thomas Finnegan, another member of the Irish hierarchy, called for prayers for Bishop Casey.

CATHARI. One of many groups of dissidents who rebelled against the Church of Rome in the Middle Ages were the Cathari. They were found in Italy, Germany and southern France. The best-known branch of the movement, that in southern France, where they were known as the Albigenses, suffered fearful persecution in the 12th century. The Church attached the convenient labels of 'Satanists' and 'sacrificers of children' to them. Many of the characteristic claims made of witches were levelled at them, e.g. that they flew through the air to their meetings. See further under: ALBIGENSES. See also: WALDENSES.

CATHERINE OF SIENNA, Saint. A 14th century mystic, noted for her ecstatic prayer and morbid devotion to the 'Precious Blood' (of Jesus the Nazarene), a sort of cult within the Catholic Church that was finally suppressed in 1969. Towards the end of the 15th century there was a curious mass movement, with nuns appearing in convents all over Italy bearing stigmata in hands and feet and claiming spiritual intercourse with St Catherine. See further under: STIGMATA.

CATHOLIC ART SHOW OFFENDS. An art show staged in September 1994 in a gallery operated by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word upset many people. The gallery, in the Archdiocese of San Antonia, featured works by a Houston artist, (Mrs) Donell Hill under the title 'Spiritual, Sensual, Sexual'. The gallery is described as a 'centre for spirituality and art.' No sooner had the exhibition opened than the phones started ringing. There were hundreds of calls. After he saw one of the artworks reproduced in the local newspaper, one complainant, a 65-year-old Catholic man, tried to visit the gallery but found it had already been locked up. That must have been a disappointment.

Commented bemused gallery director, Sister Alice Holden: 'Sexuality is a tremendous gift from God.' She insisted she had prayed before allowing the artworks to be displayed. But Archbishop Patrick Flores said he was 'highly offended, insulted and hurt.' Among the paintings is one showing an angel having intercourse on an altar. Obviously this is incorrect for, according to theology, angels are sexless! There were also attractive arrangements of porcelain genitalia, a painting of a man on a burning cross (which had something to do with AIDS) and other works that were of such character that the artist expressed her surprise that the nuns were willing to exhibit her paintings.

CATHOLIC CHURCH STATISTICS. In 1963 there were 1463 people studying for the priesthood in Australia; in 1973 there were 723, and in 1993 only 287. In 1950 sixty-two percent of Australian Catholics attended Sunday Mass regularly; in 1989 only 29 percent did. By 1994 the figure was down to 20 percent. More than 90 percent of Australian Catholic high school students reportedly give up practising their faith within a year of leaving school. Almost all of the religious orders are dying. And, of special interest, numerous theological bodies and groups within the Church of Rome are openly questioning the antiquated conservative views propagated by the Vatican.

According to statistics compiled by the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, noted by the late Mr B.A. Santamaria in a September 1995 column in The Australian, the weekly attendance of Catholics is not even that high but just 19 percent! Added to this figure are some people who attend fortnightly or monthly. Mr Santamaria added that in some dioceses the figure is down as low as 12 percent.

Brother Marcellin Flynn in his book The Culture of Catholic Schools, noted that of Year 12 Catholic secondary school students almost one-third have ceased going to weekly mass even before they leave school. Mr Santamaria also quoted a poll conducted by the New York Times and CBS that only one-third of practising Catholics believed in the supposed [my word] real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Only about one-third supported the official Church line on moral issues.

A variety of statistics compiled by pollsters during 1995 in the USA highlight the rot that has set in within the ranks of the Catholic laity. Between 75 and 85 percent of Catholics disagreed on Church teaching on issues such as divorce and remarriage, birth control by artificial means and sex before marriage. Two-thirds disagreed with the official line on abortion and accepted the pro-choice view. Around 60 percent thought priests should be allowed to marry and that woman should be ordained. About half of all Catholic thought the Church’s stand against homosexual behaviour is wrong.

CATHOLIC DOGMAS. The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, proclaimed 1854; the Dogma of Papal Infallibility, proclaimed 1870; the Dogma of the Bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary, proclaimed 1950.

CATHOLIC NEWSPAPERS. In August 1990 it was announced that the Melbourne (Australia) Catholic Advocate newspaper was to cease operations after 122 years. It was the last of the Victorian Catholic papers. The Tribune closed 20 years previously. The Catholic Worker and several smaller particular-interest journals had also gone earlier. There were at that point Catholic papers left only in Western Australia, Queensland and NSW.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS. Are children attending Catholic schools brainwashed? Pope Pius 2nd said, in 1929: '. . . the whole of the training and teaching, the whole organization of the school - teachers, curriculum, schoolbooks on all subjects - must be impregnated with the Christian spirit under the guidance and motherly vigilance of the Church, that religion comes to provide the foundation and culminating perfection of the whole training.' A statement issued by Vatican 2 in 1965 said: 'It [Catholic schooling] strives to relate all human cultures eventually to the news of salvation, so that the light of faith will illumine the knowledge which students gradually gain of the world, of life, and of mankind.'

It is, wrote the Tasmanian Catholic newspaper,in 1883, essential to have schools where 'the very atmosphere is Catholic; in which free expression can be given by both teacher and scholar to Catholic words and sentiments, not in a stipulated time, but all day long where Catholic prayers are said, and the crucifix and image of the Virgin Mother are ever in view.' Archbishop Guildford Young said: 'The Catholic schools are the hinges on which the doors of the Catholic Church swing...The distinctive function of a Catholic school is to teach the truths revealed by God.' See also: CHILDREN BRAINWASHED.

CATS. The Egyptians worshipped the cat, associating it with the moon. It was especially sacred to the goddesses Isis and Bast. Other people, however, associate the black cat with darkness and death and the medieval Christians thought the cat was the witch's familiar, hence superstitions involving cats.

CELESTIAN CHURCH OF CHRIST. A shadowy sect operating in the United Kingdom and Belgium in the 1990s. The headquarters was reportedly in London but the membership seems to be drawn from among Nigerians or British citizens of Nigerian origin.

CELIBACY. 'When it [the Catholic Church] succeeded in imposing celibacy, it made priests more markedly separate from the rest of the world, and no doubt stimulated their power influences, as asceticism does in most cases.' (Bertrand Russell: Power, p. 42) Celibacy was not the official rule until well into the Christian era and through many centuries bishops priests lived openly and sometimes secretly with wives and concubines.

During the 1970s Mar Eshai Shimum, 66, then Patriarch of the Syrian Church of the East, abandoned his vows of celibacy and defected from the church so as to marry. In doing so he caused a major rift in the ranks of the membership. A gunman, named by police as David Malek Ismail, 40, decided to execute judgment on the former cleric and shot him dead in the doorway of the home where he lived with his wife. Police arrested the alleged killer in a nearby pizza parlour.

CENSUS FIGURES. Is Australia a Christian country? The same question could surely be asked of the USA or Britain or Canada or New Zealand. What constitutes a Christian nation? The answer seems obvious - a country where the majority of the population claims to be Christian. By such a criterion the matter cannot be debated. Every census shows an overwhelming proportion of people listing themselves as Christians of one stripe or another. (There are hundreds of hues in the Christian rainbow.)

Australia, then, fairly claims to be a Christian country. Or does it? Looking about me every day of my life I fail to see it! The vast throngs engaged in daily business don't look preoccupied with Christ. Certainly those leaning against the bars in the pubs don't look like they are witnessing to the faith once delivered to the saints. Nor those urging on the horses at Randwick Racecourse. Nor those dotted about our numerous beaches or sprawled in the back alleys of Kings Cross alongside their needles. Of course, you say, I am judging by mere appearances. True, but the appearances speak tellingly, don't they?

This is a secular society, make no mistake about it! But curiously over 80 percent of these same people fill in their census forms and steadfastly maintain they are Christians! Hard to figure, isn't it? Personally, I cannot reconcile the supposed teachings of Jesus of Nazareth with being a druggy, or a wino or gambling away my substance in the lotteries or on the gee-gees. I cannot reconcile the Nazarene's teachings with screwing down my business associates nor chiselling the public of their hard-earned loot. Or abusing my children. Or robbing an old lady. Or bashing an old man. Or raping someone. Somehow I think, if we added it all up we would find there are not quite so many genuine Christians in our population as say they are!

And yet the leaders of the Churches use these statistics to justify their meddling in our private lives. This is a Christian country, they confidently assert, rolling out the census figures to back their specious assertions. The Americans and the British likewise. But there is an acid test that comes direct from that holy book of the Christians, the Bible (if there are any Christians left out there who still believe this farrago of deceit, mayhem and nonsense). We may apply it without fear to the situation for it has, after all, the seal of the Word of GOD to back it. St Paul, who, after all, founded Christianity, commanded the faithful: ' . . . not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is' (Hebrews 10: 25). They met together regularly, once in every week at the least, to pray, to hear sermons and to have fellowship. In fact the Christians of one of the first groups, those gathering around James and John in Jerusalem, met not merely weekly but - daily to worship.

So the test of whether people can fairly claim to be Christian is whether or not they attend church services weekly. Happily Australia, judged by this standard, misses out - badly. Some figures suggest that the attendances at regular Sunday services may be chalked up to about 11 percent of the population. Even on a monthly basis a mere 15 percent manage to drag themselves along and encourage the clergyman!

We are told that Christians hold all the secrets of the universe. That their god, Jesus Christ, is lord of that universe. That he is coming again to judge us all and those who do not believe are condemned to eternal damnation! I tremble! If such things were in fact true, wouldn't his followers be flocking in droves to his temples at every opportunity. Evidently they don't themselves believe all this nonsense they mouth so glibly, which at least gives us cause for hope, I suppose.

Australia is NOT, decidedly, a Christian country, probably never ever was one! And a good thing, too. Speaks volumes for the plain common sense of ordinary Australians. If only they would stop calling themselves Christians in the censuses. Not carried away with religious nonsense as are the Americans, who are much better church attenders, fondly remembering their 18th century Puritanism. Or the Islamics everywhere, living in their 13th century mental straightjacket.

In future, then, when the Christian power-brokers want to present their viewpoint on a given issue, let it be done honestly, not claiming they represent the Christian majority of the population but admitting they represent a mere - and, hopefully, dwindling - minority!

CHILDREN BRAINWASHED. From Umfundisi Missioner to the Zulus, by Father Thomas M. Calkins, O.S.M., carrying the Imprimatur of William E. Cousins, Archbishop of Milwaukee, July 1, 1959: 'Native kids are missionaries' meat. They are the seeds of the Church, the pillars of the parish, little grinning black ragamuffins with running noses and dirty hands. It pays for missionaries to work on them. They are not yet barnacled with paganism, have not been steeped in the superstitions of their elders. They're open-minded, pliable, game for anything - even white-skinned priests with their tall tales about a Man named Jesus.'

And again, later: 'There is nothing like a mission boarding school for training good Catholic native children. It can't be beat for grounding these shiny black pagan kids in Catholicism. When you have them in tow twenty-four hours a day for nine months of the year, they're bound to absorb something.' The author of these words was at least honest. The Protestants, too, were very active in the mission school field.

CHILDREN OF GOD, The.

The Children of God is the name of a radical cult formed in the USA, with a strong belief in the Second Coming of Christ. It was founded and led by David ('Moses') Brandt Berg, a man of Scandinavian descent, in 1968, then aged 49, who built his group with the aid of lurid, well-illustrated Mo Letters issued first to the faithful, then sold on the streets. Berg was an outcast from another 'hot gospeller' group.

One must grudgingly admire Berg's Mo Letters. They were artfully written and attractively illustrated with line drawings. They dealt with topical issues and they seemed to hit right at the target - the uncommitted but searching teenager. But so lurid were these documents that they stirred the Attorney-General of New York to investigate some of the letters for 'pornographic' content.

A typical piece of Berg's writing compared sexual delights with the spiritual wonders of 'total intimacy with a very sexy, naked God Himself in a wild orgy of the Spirit.' There have always been many allegations levelled against the sect for involving teenage members in sexual encounters. And there seems little doubt that the sect did indeed involve its young members in sexual activities in the name of the faith. One of Berg's letters said it all. It was entitled, 'Hookers For Jesus.' In it a nubile mermaid was depicted hanging from a hook and line and making advances to a nude youth. An illustrattion from one of the Mo Letters:

The sect's literature is heavily laced with drawings of attractive young females, with shapely bare breasts. Headings include Nuns of Love and God's Whores. These two titles referred to the young females prostituting their bodies to entice men, preferably financially well-off men, in what is euphemistically called the 'ministry of love', to 'save their souls' and, incidentally, to get them to donate money to the sect. Young girls were taught in one comic strip in the literature that the best way to get into men's hearts is to get into their beds. Ex-members have asserted that the sect in more recent times even came to operate its own escort agencies.

It was alleged that Berg and his followers advocated as an article of the faith sex between adults and children, including incestuous relationships, critics quoting sect literature describing such relationships as being 'natural' and 'acceptable'. In time legal action was taken against the cult in the USA, Canada, Spain and other countries, usually related to the question of children and sex.

COMET COLLISION

In the seventies Berg taught that the comet Kahoutek would collide with the earth, beginning the Battle of Armageddon. As the comet neared earth members poured forth into the highways and byways of the world, trying to convince citizens to repent and be saved. When the comet missed earth they changed the date of Armageddon to 1993. (it is now 2007 and we still await the End!)

Berg's own grown daughter has appeared publicly and condemned her father for his activities. 'My dad is just an evil personality,' she said. 'I had to keep looking upon him as my father but as the leader of a worldwide movement he was destroying people's lives.' Early in 1991 Australian TV featured recent activities of the sect in Asia, especially in Thailand, a country that serves as one of the chief magnets to the pedophiles of the world. It was claimed that young children, especially girls as young as 10 years of age, were reportedly being put to work as juvenile prostitutes there.

An activity described in the group's literature as 'Little Flirty Fishing' for Jesus was graphically highlighted when a young girl (who looked about 11 or 12) rescued from the group explained unabashedly that one of the best ways of getting people into God's kingdom was to 'get into bed' with them. This is what they had been taught. And this from the lips of a young child. A film showed the girls 'working the streets' in Asia by singing from a platform. A young man who tried to prevent the girls being taken back by their parents defended the sect's activities vigorously and stated on camera that he thought there was nothing wrong with the girls prostituting their bodies in the sect's service.

But the sect's own literature also shows photos of even younger children, male and female, mostly naked and engaged in obviously sexual activities. Some are as young as 2 or 3 years of age. It is also noteworthy that Berg's Mo Letters have appeared in three different versions. A simple and inoffensive version would go to new converts, the 'babes,' as they are known to the inner circle, and be sold on the streets. A stronger version would go to regular disciples. An uncensored heavy version, containing erotic material, visions and suchlike, would go to the elders, shepherds and 'leaders of tribes.' The text is often accompanied by sexually suggestive artwork, featuring the ever-present alluring bare-breasted young females and phrases such as 'Eye the bait.' Ex-members have truly described the sect as 'the sex cult'.

SEXY GOD?

Mo Letters said things like: 'We have a very sexy God and a very sexy religion and a very sexy leader with an extremely sexy young following.' and 'I frequently examine the bodies of women.' What is Berg's background? Berg's parents were both evangelists and his mother had some fame as a so-called prophetess. Berg in his younger years had been pastor for the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Arizona and had engaged in youth work. The Christian and Missionary Alliance itself is a far-out fundamentalist organization and has been the subject of some concern for its activities over the years. Berg, like so many in the fundamentalist-revivalist hothouse, moved about from group to group. Some say he was tipped out of the Alliance.
At the time he started his movement he was managing a coffee house for Teen Challenge, another American evangelical religious body, and he also had some association with the Church of God, but soon branched out on his own.

David Berg once bragged of sexual virility before the age of 10 and also said he had 'heard voices' when he sat alone in a tree. Obviously following in the footsteps of his prophetess mother! No wonder in later years he took upon himself the mantle of Prophet of God and gave himself out, as so many hundreds of others have done, as the authentic voice of God. Another sidelight on Berg is provided for us through the information that his Mexican maid was said to 'lull him to sleep' with the aid of oral sex.

Berg first organized his movement along the line of tribes, the leaders adopting Biblical titles, such as Caleb or Joshua, instead of their given names. The (mostly) young converts are quickly absorbed within the enfolding arms of the group and 'shielded from negative influences' or 'the attacks of the Devil', which may even take the form of parents trying to get children to leave again.

In fact parents are generally painted in the darkest colours, converts being warned that parents are often the means by which the Devil works to lure the convert from his or her chosen path. Such sects carefully program the new believer in what might happen; i.e. parents trying to persuade them to return. The young person becomes so convinced of the rightness of what he or she hears, that when parents do turn up on the doorstep their immediate reaction is, well I was warned it would be like this. Self-fulfilling prophecy works its wonders yet again in the human psyche!

FINANCIAL SECRETS

It is always interesting to know something of the finances of such groups. There is, of course, a great web of secrecy woven about such matters and all such organizations are greatly assisted in countries like the USA and Australia by the tax-free status they enjoy. Members are not allowed to go to outside jobs, the organization providing for all their material needs. It should be noted here that much of this 'provision' actually comes from resources of the members themselves who have given all their possession into the hands of the group! This flow of goods and income from new recruits is supplemented by the sect obtaining by fair means or foul handouts of food from anyone who can be cajoled into helping, along with cash donations from starry-eyed business people who think they were thereby helping another worthy cause.

A great deal of money was made in the early days from selling the colourful literature churned out by Berg. By the mid-1970s some 350 different Mo Letters had been produced. And these were hawked about the streets on a daily basis by the converts. Each was assigned a quota of sales, one figure being given as 2000 pieces per member per week. Those who failed to achieve their quota were treated as failures and urged to do better. Shining examples were held up to them. One girl was quoted in the sect literature as selling 6,832 pieces of literature during a 36-hour period. She was held up as a paragon of virtue and an inspiration to all.

New Times quoted in 1974, one colony in Staten Island pushing out 40,000 pieces per week. At 10¢ a piece (the figure then) that was $4,000 per week turnover. Commented the paper: 'That adds up to $200,000 per year, that's a lot of untaxable spare change. And only God, and maybe Moses David, knows where it all goes.' Certainly sect members do not.

A typical case of a young child literally trapped into the sect was that of Sarah Lane who, at the age of 6 years, was taken by her father from Australia to Thailand in September 1986. On the morning of September 11, Sarah's mother, Attaya, saw her husband Michael leave home with little Sarah. She believed he was on his way to enrol the small child in a school in Greensborough, Victoria. Instead, the pair had flown straight to Thailand. Michael was a member of the Children of God and Thai-born Attaya had met her future husband in Thailand. For a time the couple had stayed in the sect's various communes but often fought over sect ideals.

PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR

Sect members aided Michael in the deception and at first Mrs Lane had no idea where her daughter was. It took two years, and the help of a private investigator, before Mrs Lane discovered her little daughter was in Bangkok. Later the sect moved Sarah and her father to Singapore. As has been seen in Australia, frequent moves from place to place are a common feature of the sect. Mrs Lane, whose story was told on Australian TV, was deeply concerned as to what would be happening with her daughter in Thailand. She knew the sect believed in free love and had very liberal views on child sex.

Reunion finally and fortuitously came about through the need for Mr Lane to renew Sarah's Irish passport, which would have to be done when she turned 10. Irish embassies around the world were alerted and finally, when Mr Lane went to renew the passport at Dublin, Sarah was taken into protective custody by authorities while the matter was settled. In November 1990, mother and daughter were reunited halfway around the world in Ireland.

Even then Mrs Lane had more heartache as her little girl had become attached to her father and wanted the family to be together. Eventually Sarah did return to Australia with her mother, where she rejoined her other brother and sisters and settled down happily again. Since Sarah returned Mrs Lane has carefully avoided trying to get her daughter to talk about her experiences. She does know the child was made to work all the time at such tasks as looking after babies and cleaning toilets.

Children are trained up in the sect under firm discipline. Numerous stories have surfaced about physical child abuse and heavy-handed discipline, although no doubt only a fraction has been told, as the sect manages very well to maintain the secrecy it do dearly loves. Some children taken from Australian sect group homes were reportedly warned 'not to talk.' But typical of disciplinary methods used was the punishment of a small baby girl. An escaper told how the little girl was forced to feed on her own vomit as a form of punishment. A female member carried out this bizarre discipline. A teenage boy, whose parents had since left the group in Australia, reported that on one occasion he was held down and given a sound thrashing with a leather strap for mentioning the Devil. He was told it was to drive out the 'bad spirit' in him.

BEATEN WITH CANES

Children did not attend public schools and they were required, it was claimed, to 'smile all the time'. If they cried they were beaten with bamboo canes and wooden paddles and other forms of harsh discipline were used. Moses Berg taught that parents should start beating children from the age of eighteen months or two years. These same very young children had to have Bible verses drummed into them, learned by heart, according to Berg. Other punishments included long periods of enforced silence. And another method of disciplining children involved sending them away from their own family to live in households interstate or even overseas for a period, as long as two years in some cases.

Victorian Government officials claimed that if the children were returned to their parents they would be isolated and forced to undergo a retraining period, due to their contact with the Systemites, the sect's term for outsiders, those in The System, from which they had fled. A girl aged about 10 who'd been taken out of the cult said that if she said anything bad about the sect, she would 'probably get a slap across the face or the cane.'

The Children of God have in recent times resurfaced under a new name, The Family of Love. It has had others, too, such as Love in Action. These name-changes are reminiscent of the Moonies, a group that has an endless stream of deceptive 'fronts' through which it operates. According to some observers the re-named group has toned down some of the more extreme views. The sect ceased being known as the Children of God in 1978 when 300 leaders were reportedly sacked after they were found to be living high off the profits of the church.

However, David Berg still seemed to be playing a part in their affairs. This is the man who said publicly: 'I practise what I preach and I preach sex, boys and girls. Hallelujah!' And further: 'God created boys and girls able to have children.' The Children of God, by whatever name the group goes, has been operating in Australia for about 25 years and has hundreds of members in the country. In the mid-1970s young Australian teenagers in hundreds, searching for 'something', flocked into the arms of the proselytizers from the COG. The snappy booklets, sold on streets in cities and towns, promised happiness in this life and bliss in the one to come. As it has always been very secretive it is hard to estimate numbers accurately. There are believed to be between 9,000 and 15,000 members worldwide, spread through about 40 countries.

CHILDREN OF GOD IN AUSTRALIA.
Until recently Australia had been considered a 'safe haven' for the sect. However, a certain degree of paranoia is always evident for members tend to move frequently from state to state and even country to country. Early on the morning of Friday, May 15, 1992, a co-ordinated raid took place on sect properties in Sydney and Melbourne. Police in both states were joined by child welfare workers in the raids. Altogether 144 children were taken away and 70 adults were to be questioned. It was said to be the largest raid of its kind ever conducted in Australia.

It was organized, so the authorities said, because of concern felt over certain allegations that had been made as to the physical, emotional and psychological welfare of the sect's children. Officials who organized the raids said that on previous occasions, when they had sought assistance from relatives looking for converts or children, the sect members had vanished overnight. The children, who were kept in protective custody for some time, ranged in age from two years to fourteen.

In the end, after prolonged legal action in both states, the status quo was more or less restored. Very little hard evidence of anything untoward was produced by police. The Reverend David Milliken, formerly chief of religious broadcasting for the ABC, pointed out that many of the people involved were not members of the Children of God sect. The fact that they lived out a rather bizarre lifestyle was insufficient reason to act in the 'draconian' fashion as the welfare agencies had.

Milliken appeared on television with Mr Peter McGauran, MP, a Federal National Party parliamentarian from Victoria, deeply concerned with the activities of the sect. Mr McGauran had been involved a case involving the sect. The parliamentarian disagreed with Milliken and praised the raiders. He said they had been trying to pin the group down for a long time but it moved about every three months and the children had rehearsals for rapid flight. McGauran asserted that in the late 1960s and early 1970s the Children of God group was 'nothing more than a pedophile organization' although it had toned down such activities later. He criticized the practice of teenage girls sleeping in the same bedroom with married adults, where they would 'probably witness sexual activities.' He claimed that the children's education was 'a mess' and that state educational authorities had been 'conned' into allowing the children to be given home tuition. There were also charges made that social security was being rorted in various ways.

NAKED DANCING

At an unspecified earlier period, described as 'a long time ago', videos had been shown to the group showing naked couples dancing. Children had been present at these showings. One of the sect mothers denied that her own children had seen these and continued: 'It happened such a long time ago, anyway. We're not wild hippies any more. We are now grown up with children and have assumed middle-class values. We had to go through a lot of changes, such as cleaning up the way people abused the liberal attitude towards sex and the 'flirty fishing' outreach programs. We just got tripped off on the sexual aspect and realized we had to look hard at our practices and get back on track.'

Like many modern sects vigorous efforts are made to stop members or ex-members 'blowing the whistle' on activities behind closed doors. In television appearances in Australia following the raid, especially on the Nine Network's A Current Affair program, ex-members reported being threatened if they exposed the sect's inner secrets. Sect literature contained advice on 'how to confound those who persecute us'.

One young man, son of a woman who escaped, told how at the age of 12 he was told it was 'time I started my role as an adult and they would choose someone out for me' - for sex. Members shared their bodies around and an older married woman was chosen for the boy's first sexual experience. Her husband was quite aware of what was happening and did not object. He, like all members, believed it was the 'natural thing to do'. A female ex-member said that if members tried to avoid such 'duty' they would be treated as being rebellious to God.

Confirmation of these claims is a little hard to obtain. However, it is certainly true that the Prophet 'Moses' Berg often preached: 'God created boys and girls able to have children by about 12 years old' and he advocated child brides and child sex. 'Love-making in the spirit' as the literature described the sect's sex experiences, started at an early age.

Once embraced in the arms of the Children, it became extremely difficult to escape. The subtle brainwashing carried out in this as in all such fringe groups, wove an invisible net about the convert. Actual physical restraint is seldom necessary in such cases, although secluding people and keeping them behind closed doors and high walls certainly helps in the process of making them submissive.

SEXUAL FREEDOM

Certainly the present group does have definite links to the original sect. Two of the parents involved, known as 'Paul' and 'Joy', who had, as it happens, nine children, were interviewed on ABC Radio's Religious program. While they strenuously denied any of the accusations of sexual misconduct involving children, Paul did admit: 'There was a period in the past when there was a lot more sexual freedom in our group; this was about five or six years ago, but it ended. You probably heard about flirty fishing and suchlike things; there was an emphasis on relationships and that sort of thing. That was a chapter in our history. But it's past, it's over.'

'Do you allow genital contact with minors?' they were asked. 'It has never been a policy of our group; it may have happened in individual cases but it has never been a policy of our group and we have never indulged in it.' Turning the debate around somewhat, these parents complained that the children were now being asked questions by social workers that they had never had to answer before. It is clear from these comments that there is indeed a strong link with the Children of God, even if the group now goes under a different name. Police allege that quantities of Children of God literature were found in premises used by the Family.

As at mid-1993 David Berg still seemed to be around, reclusive but in control. In the later years Berg had been increasingly isolated from the rank-and-file, working through trusted lieutenants. He was at one stage in Europe but was last reported to be holed up in Japan, where he still had a hand in the sect's activities. He reportedly fled there in 1974 to avoid a US Government investigation into the sect's finances and alleged tax evasion. He was also being sought by two or three other countries in relation to the sect's activities. Japan has effectively become the centre for the sect's recent activities. Literature and videos are being produced there and sent around the world.

In November 1994, it was reported that David Berg had died at the age of 75. In what country he died was not reported by the sect and some ex-members have expressed doubts that he has died. They point out that he is wanted by authorities in several countries on charges related to child sex abuse and that reports of his death might be s smokescreen. It is claimed that, in spite of assurances to the contrary, the sect still employs prostitution involving minors to gain converts and allows sexual contacts between adult and juvenile sect members. Reportedly Berg's wife, Maria, had taken over the leadership of the group.

CHILDREN'S CRUSADE, The.
The ill-fated Children's Crusade took place in the 13th century. Although from time to time doubts have been expressed as to the truth of the story of this crusade, modern research has established that it was indeed a historical event - one with tragic consequences, as the great majority of those who set out fell by the wayside and perished. Those who struggled on to the end were taken captive and sold into slavery. The end of some of them is told in the Chronicle Rhythmicum (in Rauch's Rerum Austriacarum Scriptores): 'All the children were brought together by Friso . . . he mutilated the eyes and feet of the boys who were sold. The maids were defiled in Brindisi and sold far and wide to the most evil money-grubbers.'

From the end of the 11th century the (adult) Crusades had been launched to recover from the Muslims the 'Holy Land' - as Palestine was called by the Christians. The first Crusade was sent forth by Pope Urban 2nd and eight others were launched over the next hundred or so years. Taken as a whole the Crusades met with indifferent success, for eventually the Muslims recovered Jerusalem and asserted their rule over the area. The First Crusade had achieved apparent success but eventually the tenuous hold Christendom had on the Holy Land was broken and around 1146 a Second Crusade was preached by St Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux. It was an unmitigated disaster but still the vision of a Christianized Holy Land persisted.

There was a notion abroad that the sinfulness of the populace had resulted in failure and that only the truly pure in heart could ever win the Holy Land back for Christ. Thus there was a receptive atmosphere for the preaching of a French shepherd boy, Stephen by name, who from around June 1212, went about declaring that Jesus had commanded him to lead a company of children on a Crusade to reconquer the Holy Land and deliver the Holy Sepulchre from the infidel.

Stephen was the son of a shepherd at Cloyes. Reportedly he sang a song which, translated, ran: 'Jesus, Lord, repair our loss; Restore to us the holy cross.' Whether he actually sang such words may be doubtful but, by whatever the means employed, he did draw a band of children to his side. Miracles reportedly followed Stephen everywhere he went.

CRUSADER TALES

Stephen as a small boy had heard the inspiring tales of the Crusaders. But these earnest men had failed and the Saracens still held Jerusalem. Stephen now stepped forth from the crowds of eager young listeners and announced that he had received a special visitation from Jesus Christ, who had appointed the boy as prophet and leader of an army of children destined to win back the land for Christendom. The strength of the innocents should prevail where the sword had failed was the message preached with great fervour. Stephen was next found at St Denys, near Paris, where he preached his message of victory. Soon hordes of children were flocking to hear and to obey. They rallied around his standard, set up at Vendôme.

When children and youths began to respond to this message it was not thought at all unusual by the populace. Children had already accompanied adult Crusaders before. This time, however, it was to be children only (at least that was the initial intention) and soon thousands, rich and poor, were streaming from their homes and loved ones to join the young preacher on his crazed mission. The cry went forth that it was the 'will of GOD' that they should go, so off they went - quite unprepared for the pathetic tragedies that lay ahead. Groups came from other parts of France. The chronicle of Rouen claimed 30,000 in all but this is probably on the high side.

Thus it came about that hordes of children, without proper supplies and certainly without weapons, had started with high hopes and great faith on a series of disastrous journeys across Europe and into defeat, illness, torture, slavery and death. With great naïveté they believed the waters of the sea would divide for them that they might pass over dryshod and that the walls of Jerusalem would collapse before them. And unbelievers would fall prostrate before them without a blow being struck.

It was one of the craziest ventures of all time. Only the superstition and indifference of the adult Christians allowed such a foolish venture to proceed. Details are scarce but a little of the story has filtered down to us through the centuries. To be fair, King Philip Augustus and many Church officials tried to dissuade the children but with little success.

GERMAN CHILDREN

Meanwhile in Germany another boy-preacher, child of peasants, Nicholas by name, from the city of Cologne, arose with the same message and soon German boys and girls were streaming from their homes as well. Nicholas led them on foot from Cologne in 1212. Mostly they were boys aged around 12 years or so, with a small number of girls as well, and they were counted in 'many' thousands. They came from noble homes and from poor. The former were well equipped with food and money for their long journey. In both countries fathers and mothers dare not oppose their children for it might be said they opposed GOD himself if they did. Meanwhile there was a third young boy who arose also to preach a crusade but his name has not been recorded. The first child army to set forth was the German. When news of this reached France enthusiasm waxed even stronger in Paris. Thousands gathered, boys and girls, young and old. So great was their devotion to their leader that they provided him with a carriage and he was surrounded by a band of youths who hailed him as a saint.

The French army took as its motto: 'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.' Each child had a little red cross sewn onto the shoulder of his coat. Then they started on their journey, a little behind their German brethren.

It is claimed that 20,000 or 30,000 marched from Paris in that fateful year of 1212, but nobody knows for certain. It was doubtless at least several thousands. They headed south to Marseilles but had little idea of geography and were soon asking the way. Eventually they reached the coast and the great city, where they, too, expected a miracle would allow them to cross the sea. This seemed to be a common thread of an idea. Day after day they waited, each morning rising in hope to find the sea still there!

They had insufficient funds to hire ships; some in despair even returned to their homes. But, eventually, as they deliberated, two merchants, Hugo Ferreus and William Porcus, came forward and expressed their deep desire to 'serve God' and aid the children on their journey. To the cries of praise from many of the people of Marseilles, these men provided seven ships, into which it is said some five thousand children crowded. (Which perhaps indicates that, even allowing for defectors, the claimed figures of 20,000 or 30,000 were, in fact, exaggerated.)

The children went on board in a festive air, watched by crowds of Marseilles people, one fine August morning. A number of priests and other adults had by now joined the venture and soon they stood on the high poops of the ships, leading the children in singing the hymn, Come, holy ghost our souls inspire. Soon the ships were fading from sight but the people could hear the singing for a long time as the distance between them increased.

TAKEN BY SLAVERS

Months went by, then years, but nothing was heard of the children. Ships came to the busy port and went again but none had news. Eighteen years were to pass before the deathly silence was broken. Then a sole priest, aged and worn, appeared one day to tell how the men who had provided the seven ships were in reality slavers and in the pay of the Saracens, the very people the children were aiming to overthrow. He and his fellow-priests had also been made slaves but finally he had managed to escape and was there to tell the horrible tale.

The seven ships had taken the children straight to their doom. Some had been sold to the Saracens at Alexandria, others at various points along the coast of North Africa. Yet others had been sent into slavery in distant Baghdad, trudging wearily in chains on foot across the very Palestine they had hoped to liberate. A few who had defied their new masters had been tortured and executed. The young girls had been sent into the harems.

But these all were perhaps the unfortunate ones. Two of the ships had actually been wrecked at the island of San Pietro, not far from Sardinia, and all on board had been drowned. A ruin on that island is thought to be a church later erected to commemorate the dead children. Pope Gregory had given the name Ecclesia Novorum Innocentium to a building on the island.

Meanwhile the Germans had followed the banks of the Rhine until the Alps rose up ahead of them, a terrible barrier. They crossed Mount Cenis by the only rough track in existence at that time. The heat of the valleys and plains had been intense and many of the children gaily set forth up through the mountains in the lightest of clothing. That summer there had been a great drought in the area and the children, already believing they would somehow receive divine aid to overcome the barrier of the sea, now believed that the drought meant they would pass over on dry land. They had not gone far up into the heights when the bitter conditions resulted in hundreds dropping from exhaustion and the intense cold, to die where they lay.

Many were poorly clad and suffered badly as they crossed the mountain ranges. Such footwear as they had thought to carry soon wore out and many were reduced to trudging barefoot on the long marches. Numbers were simply lost along the way, never to be seen again. Quite a contingent of the rich and obviously well-fed boys, carrying provisions and good clothing with them, soon fell prey to the innumerable human vampires waiting along their route. Not only men but women swept down upon the marching children and seized what they could.

REDUCED NUMBERS

At the summit of the pass lay a monastery and great was the astonishment of the monks when the singing army of children arrived at their gates - by now a drastically reduced number. They were on their way to win Jerusalem back from the Saracens, they told the monks. Soon they were moving yet again, down into Genoa, an important centre. The people there, too, were greatly astonished when they arrived.

Here the children ran into unexpected opposition. The city authorities, somewhat alarmed at having so many high-spirited boys running loose in their town, at first said they could stay for one week, after which time they had to move on. Then, even more alarmed, they reduced the period to a single night. After this they offered them a choice: either they must leave and go their way or must agree to be adopted into local families. Many hundreds, tired of the long march, agreed to stay, especially many of the boys of noble families. Thus in later times Genoese families were able to claim kinship with French nobility!

The dedicated ones prepared to continue their journey. Next morning they ran down to the sea shore, still believing they could somehow cross the waters to Palestine. They waited day after day but nothing happened. A few of their number drifted back to the city and were also adopted. Some returned all the way to Cologne, where they were greeted with scorn and derision. A determined remnant remained steadfast and, failing to find a way across the sea, and unable to pay for ships, they set forth again on the road, this time to Rome.

Eventually some did reach Rome, where the Pope told them to go home, but not before extracting a promise from them to be true to their vows and join the Crusaders when they were adults. At this point Nicholas seems to have drifted out of history and nothing more is ever heard of him again, although it was said he was afraid to return to Germany in defeat. As a result, or so the story goes, the village people back home, enraged, hanged the boy's father!

Meanwhile the second German army, under the unnamed boy leader, avoided the Alps and, after many desertions, crawled along the coast to Italy, until they reached the Brindisi, where after much suffering, some found themselves being seized and sold as slaves. It was quite common in those times to seize travellers for this purpose and both Christians and Muslims had no hesitation in grabbing such prizes.

Hundreds of young boys and girls must have ended their days in harems or working as household drudges. Certainly of this second group the young girls especially fell prey to slavers. Just a few of those intended for slavery were saved by a kindly bishop. The small party of remaining pilgrims now continued on their way to the Holy Land but it is believed that not one single child, of all who set forth from both Germany and France, ever reached Palestine and only a pitiful few ever managed to find their way back to their own homes. Thus ended the amazing story of the futile Children's Crusade. See also: CRUSADES, The.

CHILDREN, Sick. See under: FAITH HEALING.

CHRISTIAN COALITION. As at February, 1996, membership of this US fundamentalist group was listed as 1.7 million. Its leaders was Dr Ralph Reed.

CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM. Christian fundamentalism was defined by a conference at Niagara in 1895 which set forth 'five essential beliefs', which turned out to be, in fact, six: The verbal inerrancy of the Christian Scriptures (i.e. Old and New Testaments), the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Birth, the substitutionary view of the Atonement, the physical Resurrection of Christ, and his bodily Return. Nothing less than 'the leap of faith' would suffice to accept these six amazing propositions! They are all patently absurd.

At a feminist book fair in Melbourne (Australia) in July 1994 the menace of fundamentalist religion, particularly Islamic and Christian, was highlighted. A delegate from Delhi, India, Urvashi Butalia, commented: 'Women's sexuality is tightly controlled. Fundamentalism targets the bodies of women . . . In order to preserve the purity of the race or the religion you have to control the sexuality of women.' Thus fundamentalist Islamics tend to want women to be circumcized and fundamentalist Christians demand the right to control women's wombs.

CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONIST MOVEMENT. A loose coalition of politically right-wing American fundamentalists whose basic tenet is that society should be rebuilt having reference to Old Testament principles, including the use of the death penalty in the form of stoning for a range of offences including ‘blasphemy,’ abortion, sodomy, witchcraft, and disrespect to one’s parents.

CHRISTIANS ATTACKING CHRISTIANS. While Dr Thomas Barnado, an Evangelical Anglican, was establishing his work among children in London he was drawing large crowds to Sunday mission meetings, many of whom had once attended meetings held by a Baptist preacher, the Rev. George Reynolds. In 1874 Barnado was preaching in a converted hotel, known as the Edinburgh Castle, while Reynolds preached in a nearby chapel.

The Baptist preacher now became jealous of Barnardo's success and was alarmed at the declining numbers of his congregation. Reynolds found a way to score off his rival. He located a lady who was separated from her husband and who had engaged in prostitution. The lady, reportedly never sober after midday, was cajoled into claiming Barnado she had granted sexual favours to the noted preacher. Reynolds now spread this story around.

Barnado acted swiftly, once he knew what was afoot, and some deacons from his church, accompanied by the lady's own mother and a doctor, visited the lady and challenged her story. But not before there were further ramifications. Barnado had another rival, Frederick Charrington, whose life and work were closely paralleled to Barnado's. He ran a boys' home and mission and had been furious when he heard that Barnado had acquired a second site on the Mile End Road for another mission.

When Charrington learned from Reynolds about the alleged sexual escapades of Barnado he seized on the story with glee, taking it up and paying for handbills and other literature carrying the report to be distributed widely. Soon the public press was involved and Reynolds now wrote, using a pen-name, Protestant Dissenter, to a paper denouncing Barnado for his lifestyle. Thereafter the affair became a public scandal, with letters, some of them very long and mostly written under pen-names, flying to and fro and accusations coming thick and fast. Barnado himself even entered the lists on his own behalf with an anonymous epistle of praise. He had apparently given a false clerical name to the paper that carried this letter.

The affair dragged on in a most unseemly manner, Barnado's enemies calling into question his whole charitable work. In fairness to Barnado it must be said that there was never any substance in the main charges laid against him; Barnado was a sincere and earnest carer for young people and dealt honestly with funds received. In the end Barnado issued a writ against Reynolds. Even the Government became involved and efforts were made to have Barnado drop the writ. He did so on the understanding that Reynolds and Charrington sign a three-way peace agreement, which they did.

But the troubles rumbled on through the year 1876. Although Reynolds and Charrington had agreed to the truce, they continued to issue attacks anonymously. Meanwhile, Barnado had also been attacked for using the title 'Doctor' when his only degree had been an MD obtained by mail order from the University of Giessen! He now travelled secretly to Edinburgh and spent four months obtaining a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons. In one of his own publications it was claimed he had been ill during his otherwise unexplained absence.

In December 1876 Reynolds issued a 62-page book, priced at one shilling, in his own name, Dr Barnado's Homes: Startling Revelations. The book re-stated all the charges levelled against Barnado, including sexual misdemeanours, and added charges of cruelty to the children, using false photographs, his subterfuge in the letter affair and in using the term 'doctor' in describing himself. Now Barnado was blacklisted by the charity watchdog, known as the Charity Organization Society. At this critical juncture, when it looked as if all might be lost, the trustees called in an independent firm of accountants to investigate and advise whatever they found. Their report was perfectly satisfactory and the trustees now called upon all concerned to settle the matter before a group of arbitrators.

After many months of debate the arbitrators finally issued their statement. It cleared Barnado of just about every charge laid against him, although he was criticized for locking boys up in solitary confinement, a practice he had in any event discontinued. He was also criticized for 'before and after' photos of orphans, some of which had been faked. In the matter of the anonymous letter no decision was reached, although it was believed if Barnado had not actually penned it, he had supplied the material to some other person to do so. And the work itself was not criticized. The Barnado institutions were 'real and valuable charities and worthy of public confidence and support,' was the final summation. Ah, see how these Christians love one another!

CHRISTIANS AWAKE. A sect in Birmingham, Alabama (USA), that claimed in the 1980s that all politicians are under the control of 'UFO Zionist Freemasons'. They also asserted that Jesus is the Antichrist and that the Washington Monument is a phallic symbol erected by 'Masonic Jews and Catholic devils.'

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. Mrs Mary Baker Eddy, born in 1821, was the founder of Christian Science. As a young woman she suffered from ill health and tried many notions and potions but eventually only found help in spiritual healing. Thereafter she taught her system of religion, which she called Christian Science. She asserted that matter is an illusion and only mind is reality and that illness, suffering and death are the effects of false thinking. However, eventually Mrs Eddy fell ill again and for some time her illness was kept from the faithful as she could not be cured. She proved the reality of conventional wisdom by dying in 1910, yet her followers have continued with their hopes to this day.

John Finnie, Christian Science leader, told the magazine The Picture in September 1990 said that if any of his four children or eight grandchildren was horribly injured in a car smash he still would not seek medical help. Instead he would call in a Christian Science nurse to dress their injuries at home, then pray. He was commenting following the case in the USA of Christian Scientist parents David and Ginger Twitchell, whose 18-months-old child died when they failed to seek medical aid.

Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, died of pneumonia in 1990. He, too, was a practising Christian Scientist. It was reported that doctors later said a simple injection of penicillin would have saved him but he had refused to have one. True, when he realized he was seriously ill, Henson initially trusted in his faith to save him but he did receive medical treatment and the claim he refused the injection my be incorrect.

Christian Scientists can usually point to allegedly miraculous cures to bolster their claims. A heart attack or a stroke strikes and the person recovers after prayer. But many spontaneous and sometimes apparently miraculous cures of various maladies occur without prayer or belief in a divine agency. This is common knowledge in medical circles. Puzzling, yes, but proving anything, no! See also: FAITH HEALING.

CHRISTIANS DEBATE THE RESURRECTION. Christians have themselves been casting doubts upon the historic truth of the alleged resurrection of Christ for a century or more. Quite rightly, too! It is all a bit hard to swallow when you think about it. But then, if you throw away the doctrine of the Resurrection you throw away Christianity (which would be no sad loss to the world). For that is what their own Bible says: 'But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain.' St Paul said it in I Corinthians 15: 13, 14.

Understandably the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury (Britain) got a bit miffed when two of his clergy appeared on a BBC TV program and expressed naughty doubt. He has urged a return to the faith of the fathers. Which, incidentally, is the faith not of Protestantism and the Evangelicals but of the Church of Rome, a faith established in the fourth century, not the first. But Church of England clergy and even bishops have been at the forefront of the doubters of the curious theory that Jesus floated off into the stratosphere. For a detailed analysis of the Resurrection myth see my paper The RESURRECTION: WORLD'S GREATEST FRAUD?

CHRISTMAS. Most (although not all) Christians celebrate Christmas - the birth of Jesus of Nazareth - on December 25. This is a purely arbitrary date as nobody knows when the Christian prophet was born; and not even where he was born (the New Testament gives two place!). Many religions have celebrations on or about December 25. The Jews have Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. Pagan Scandinavians had the Feast of the Frost King. Rome had the Saturnalia. Egypt had a midwinter festival to honour Horus. Mithraism celebrated the feast of Sol Invictus. The Druids had an annual ceremony, cutting mistletoe. The Hindus celebrated the feasts of Diwali and Taipongal.

Broadly speaking the northern European festivals celebrated the victory of the Sun-God over the powers of darkness. The actual birth-date of Jesus, Christmas Day, was debated at some length among the learned clerics. Some of them proposed dates in March, others April or May, the Eastern Church thought January 6 (which it sticks by even today). Finally Rome settled on December 25, the festival date celebrating Mithra, the solar deity! The day came at the end of the period of the Solstice festivities. Entirely appropriate, I would say, as Jesus Christ was often compared by writers in the early Church to the sun and the Bible is filled with references to primitive sun and moon worship.

Mr Gerry Holmes, a lawyer specializing in Family Court matters in Melbourne (Australia), warned in December 1991 that Christmas festivities can lead to the break-up of hundreds of marriages. 'Unfortunately,' he said, 'Christmas seems to be the season for disputes and the problem seems to be growing. As a result, Family Court judges often have to conduct hearings out of hours, and sometimes even at home, because disputes can get so acrimonious.' It is a well-attested fact that the Christmas 'season of goodwill' sees an upsurge in violence and even death in the family situation!

CHRISTMAS CHEER FROM CHRISTIAN GIVERS. In the 'season of goodwill' in 1991 a good 'god-fearing' Protestant in Northern Ireland blew up a Catholic man in the presence of his 5-year-old daughter, while another good 'god-fearing' Catholic girl gave a thoughtful gift - of exploding chocolates - to a soldier.

CHURCH ATTENDANCES. From The Illustrated (UK), Nov 3, 1956: 'In 1955 the BBC Audience Research Service published figures of a survey it had made into churchgoing. This covered all denominations. Over the whole of England, Scotland and Wales only 25% of the small number of people interviewed said they went to church most Sundays. 36% said they went to church a few times a year. 39% said they went hardly ever or not at all.'

From surveys conducted between 1939 and 1984 in the USA: Lowest weekly attendance of Protestants, 36%, in 1950; in 1984 highest, 42%. Catholics attended, 72% in 1959, the high, but only 52% in 1984, the low point. From 1965 to 1983 the Episcopal Church of America suffered an 18% decline in membership.

The most recent Australian Census figures indicate that 26% of the population claim to 'belong' to the Catholic Church, 24% were Anglicans and 25% give no specific religious belief, i.e., either specifying 'no religion' or 'religion not stated.' This latter segment is the fastest growing portion of the population. In 1966, the proportion was 11%, in 1971 it was 13%, in 1976 it was 20%, in 1981 it was 22%.

December 1990 figures from a joint survey conducted in New Zealand by the Christian Research Association and in Australia by the ANU Social Science Survey: 16% of New Zealanders attend church weekly, 11% of Australians. 6% of New Zealanders attend monthly, 14% Australians. Annually about 30% of Australians and 23% of New Zealanders attend church. New Zealand figures, based on a sample 1000 people, 18+, showed Pentecostalists were the best attenders - 70% weekly, followed by Baptists 50%, versus Catholic 20%. However these figures are disputed from other sources.

Mr B.A. Santamaria, a good Catholic, stated in an article in The Australian (16/2/91) that of all Anglicans only 6% attend church regularly and of Catholics (4 million) the figure is 22-23% (about 900,000). 30 years ago the figure was 54%. In October 1994 a British charity group, Christian Research, predicted that by the year 2005 church congregations in the United Kingdom would be down by about one million. In 1994 it was reported that 6.7 million were regular worshippers in Britain. This would drop to 5.7 million by 2005. While the group expected one million new members to join churches it was expected they would lose about two million - half from deaths and half from an 'exodus'. The reason for the latter would be, it was believed, 'disillusionment'.

CHURCH BUILDING - largest. The largest Christian church building in the world, measured in physical terms, is the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, at Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast. It was built by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny in his tribal village and consecrated by Pope Paul 2nd in September 1990. The president claimed he built it with own money; opponents say he used stolen state funds. The tip is 157 metres high (St Peter's, Rome, is 136 metres), its walls are made of 15,000 stained glass panels, said to be more than all the stained glass in French churches. Marble covers an area of 12 hectares. The President died in December 1993 and was buried, with suitable pomp, in his grand cathedral in February 1994, mourned by 7,000 guests.

CHURCH OF ARMAGEDDON. Also known as Love Israel. See under LOVE FAMILY, The.

CHURCH OF CHRIST - Mark 2. In the early 1990s an aggressive American body known as the Church of Christ began recruiting disciples, especially targeting students of universities. The first hint of their activities came from Brisbane (Australia). They had taken the name of another well-established Australian religious body, the Church(es) of Christ (Mark 1), which has been existence for about 150 years! The Australian body is known in the USA as the Disciples of Christ.

The latest bearer of that name is another far-out sect, preaching hellfire and brimstone and all the usual superstitious dogma of extreme Christian fundamentalism. They, too, undoubtedly believe in the imminent return of Jesus the Nazarene.

The University of Queensland at one stage barred the group from its campuses. Members moved into group houses and baptisms took place in backyards. There was pressure exerted to obey - members being told to whom they could speak on the phone, what to eat and when they could sleep. They were not allowed to enter into relationships outside the church and reportedly had to give up all their money to the leaders. The techniques used are much the same as other cults. One ex-member left and went into a psychiatric hospital to recover. The group aimed to have a church established in every capital city of the world by the year 2,000. Awaiting HIS return no doubt! I have no further information about them.

CHURCH OF FRIENDS OF THE TRUTH. aka: FRIEND OF TRUTH CHURCH. A Japanese sect. In November 1986 seven female members of this church were found dead on a beach in Wakayam, western Japan. Reportedly they had committed suicide following their leader's death.

CHURCH OF IRON OAK. A religious group described as a ‘Wiccan Church’, with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. In mid-1996 the group was involved in a dispute with the council of the City of Palm Bay after holding festivals in the backyard of a suburban house. However, it was later alleged that the complaints made to the council by some (but not all) neighbours were based on religion rather than other reasons. It was alleged by the complainants that nude dancing and child and animal sacrifices had taken place. No proof whatever of these claims was ever submitted, so the Church sued the Council and won.

CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST CHRISTIAN. An integral part of the ARYAN NATIONS group of white supremacists. The church believes that Jesus of Nazareth was an Aryan rather than a Jew and that white Anglo-Saxons are the true 'chosen people'.

CHURCH OF LOVE. In December 1988 US Federal prosecutors brought a case alleging multiple fraud against Donald S. Lowry, then 59, founder and leader of the Church of Love. The US court in New York was told that the church was allegedly a 'front' for a mail-order sex-fantasy scam. Pictures of nude females and letters were exchanged with donors, who were promised retirement in a paradise called Chonda-Za. Lowry was described as a former English teacher and had a female assistant, also charged, Pamala St Charles, 25.

The prosecutors said 31,000 men from almost every State of the USA had contributed to the funds and had been cheated out of an estimated $US.4.5 million. Nude 'angels' coaxed lonely men to donate funds to the Church's treasury. No further information has come to hand.

CHURCH OF SATAN. The Church of Satan was founded by Anton Szandor LaVey in San Francisco in 1966. LaVey wrote The Satanic Bible. LaVey's primary thesis is that we should not have our two thousand year-old guilt-trip but should enjoy life here and now. His religion is one of self-indulgence.

LaVey ran away from his home in Oakland, California, when he was 16 and joined a circus. A cage boy at first, he later became an assistant lion tamer. At 18 he left the circus to join a carnival, running an act telling fortunes with astrology. He also learned hypnosis and played the organ and began to develop all-round showmanship, which was to stand him in good stead later. He went on to play the organ at various San Francisco burlesque shows and religious tent-shows.

La Vey later claimed that the hypocrisy he had witnessed as a teenager moving in evangelistic circles had turned him away from Christianity. In this he is not alone! LaVey told a reporter: 'On Saturday night I would see men lusting after half-naked girls dancing at the carnival, and on Sunday morning when I was playing the organ for tent-show evangelists . . . I would see these same men sitting in the pews asking God to forgive them and purge them of carnal desires. And the next Saturday night they'd be back at the carnival or some other place of indulgence.'

He married and entered the San Francisco City College to study criminology. At this time he added to his other accomplishments photographic skills. He went to work as a police photographer. He told Argosy magazine in 1975: 'I saw the grimmest side of human nature, people shot by nuts, knifed by friends, kids splattered in the gutter by hit-and-run drivers.'

Leaving the police work and resuming organ playing, LaVey turned away from the Church that, in his view, 'thrived on hypocrisy' and soon became involved with black magic, collecting occult knowledge and putting together his Satanic Bible, a best-selling work. Upon its cover was the Sigil of Bahomet. It drew on the writings of Crowley, Levi, Lovecraft and Jung, and promised personal power for the initiate and preached a gospel embracing the pleasures of the flesh. More than one million copies of the book have been sold around the world. La Vey shot to almost overnight celebrity status as a result of staging public black masses as showbiz events - complete with music, colour and art-deco backdrops. Walpurgisnacht - a spring festival - is particularly marked for celebrations.

The Church of Satan was formed, with LaVey as its head. It soon boasted 7,000 members. Second to LaVey in the church hierarchy was the Hollywood notable Kenneth Anger (Hollywood Babylon, et al). The Church reached its peak of fame, or notoriety, in the 60s and 70s. LaVey at one stage walked around the streets with a lion in tow and drove an oversize custom-built black hearse. He was a paid consultant on Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. He directed Susan Atkins (Manson Family) in a revue, Topless Witches' Sabbath. Atkins played a corpse, a role which she evidently relished, as she often stayed on the casket after the rest of the cast left the stage! His church has also been credited with introducing 'satanic influences' into rock music. While the Church of Satan has had an enormous influence, well beyond its actual size, it is not wholly responsible for this trend.

LaVey claimed his lovers included Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. Sammy Davis, Jnr, was also reportedly involved with the Church of Satan at one stage. Jayne was said to be a member of the Church at the time of her death and some believe she died, in a motor accident, as a result of a curse being placed upon her boyfriend, who was with her at the time. LaVey was allegedly jealous and had warned Jayne to keep away from the young man.

CHURCH OF SATANIC BROTHERHOOD. A splinter group, offshoots of Anton LaVey's CHURCH OF SATAN, centred on Dayton, Ohio. They publish material pertaining to the worship of Satan and excerpts from The True Grimoire, a medieval handbook of demonology.

CHURCH OF THE CREATOR. A right-wing US group preaching white supremacy. It was founded around 1972 by Ben Klassen a Ukrainian who settled in the USA and was author of many books setting forth his racist views. It was being headed in 1994 by Rick McCarty, who described himself as Pontifex Maximus ('High Priest'). Anti-Semitic, and anti-black, the church has only a tenuous link with any orthodox Christian group. It wants to see 'parasitic Jews' and 'mud races' ousted from anywhere in the world and says a holy war is coming, to be fought over this issue. The church is believed to have engaged in violence to further its aims.

The Church of the Creator boasts of having a network of adherents who are in prisons around the world, locked up for racially-motivated crimes. Members have been arrested on charges of kidnapping, assault, and murder. The group promotes its founder's books, in particular, Racial Loyalty, The White Man's Bible, Salubrious Living, and Nature's Eternal Religion. Some countries have banned some of Klassen's books. Klassen suicided in August 1993.

CHURCH OF THE FINAL JUDGEMENT. Also known as The Process. The Process was founded by Robert and Mary Anne de Grimston in London in 1962. Robert was from an aristocratic family, his wife was a madam. After they married they formed the church with doctrines involving Satanism and psychotherapy. Former members of the group were being investigated [end-1985] for possible involvement in crime sprees, drug trafficking and child abuse. The husband and wife have reportedly since split.

CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN OF THE FULLNESS OF TIMES. The Mormons have spawned numerous offshoot sects, many resulting from the capitulation of the church to US Government demands in the latter part of the 19th century to end the practice of polygamy. Breakaway polygamists persisted, and still do. In fact, many orthodox Mormons even today have multiple wives, church authorities looking the other way.

Back in the early 1970s Ervil LeBaron, then aged 28, a former American Mormon, launched just such a sect. It was called the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times. LeBaron was a polygamist. The sect was dominated by LeBaron, who claimed he was divinely inspired. Soon he launched a murderous campaign against various people accused of being apostates.

The Mormon Church holds, (or doesn't hold, depending on which authority you listen to) a doctrine known as Blood Atonement. In effect this prescribes a sentence of death for anyone who, through gross sin (such as murder) would otherwise be excluded from the Celestial Kingdom. Thus a murderer who merely served a life sentence in jail would be excluded; he must die to atone for his sin and ensure his place in eternity.

LeBaron believed fervently in this doctrine and put it into effect. First of all his own brother, Joel, was murdered. Then, in 1978, he told one of his wives that GOD had spoken to him and commanded him to 'blood atone' Dean Grover Vest, a sect member who was considered to have become an apostate. The wife, Vonda White, was to carry out the deed herself. GOD was very specific, in fact, telling the prophet that Vonda was to 'fix Vest a hot meal' and 'while he is at the table enjoying the dinner,' the lady was to position herself behind him and 'shoot him in the back of the head until he is dead.' Apparently the wife obediently did so.

Later a loyal disciple, Lloyd Sullivan, told LeBaron he was 'having trouble' with his wife. LeBaron conveniently received another message from GOD, which he passed on to the disciple. He was to take his wife south and do her in. 'Deep-six her there,' was apparently GOD's message. In due course LeBaron even received a message from GOD to dispose of his own daughter, Rebecca. She was to be sent on a 'one-way ticket.' GOD sure used direct modern language while communicating to his prophet. In all LeBaron is believed to have murdered himself or had murdered to order up to 30 people before the law caught up with him.

CHURCH OF THE MOST HIGH GODDESS. In 1990 William and Mary Ellen Tracy ran an order in a Los Angeles suburb. Describing themselves as the high priest and priestess of the order, the couple admitted that sexual intercourse was an important ingredient in the church's worship. The matter came to a head when they went to court to sue the City for wrongful arrest.

Officials believed the church was merely a front for prostitution and staged a raid one day, taking the couple into custody. High priestess Tracy, however, told a court that church members donated money to support the spiritual work done there. They also enjoyed sex together but the two activities were, she claimed, quite separate. 'It is very clear the money is not given for sex,' she said outside the courtroom. It was, she claimed 'given for sacrifice.' The suit alleged violation of religious freedom. A judge agreed to hear the case. [No further information]

CHURCH OF THE MOVEMENT OF SPIRITUAL INNER AWARENESS. Generally known by its last initials, MSIA. Founded in 1971 in the USA by a teacher, Roger Delano Hinkins (60 in 1994), who later adopted the title John-Roger. John-Roger claimed that his body contained the Mystical Traveller, a spirit that previously inhabited the body of Jesus of Nazareth. He also claimed to be inhabited by an even higher spirit, an entity that appears every 25,000 years.

The cult would appear to target the wealthy and famous. It has been accused of 'sexual perversion' and psychological abuse of members. There was a controversy in 1994 when it was claimed Arianna, wife of an aspiring US Presidential candidate, Michael Huffington, was under the influence of John-Roger. Reportedly Arianna was baptized by him in the Jordan River in Israel during a pilgrimage in 1984. She has denied he is influencing her.

CHURCH OF THE QUIVERING FLESH. Reported in February 1991 in the USA but I know not what sends them a-quivering.

CHURCH UNIVERSAL AND TRIUMPHANT. Headed by Mrs Elizabeth Clare Prophet. a Doomsday sect that prepared its members for the End. It didn't come when prophesied but the sect continues. Its headquarters is located at Corwin Springs, Montana, USA. The church has a nuclear fall-out shelter and members keep guns by their side 'just in case'. At one point the group owned some armoured personnel carriers and semi-automatic rifles but the US Government persuaded them to hand these over, in return for the forgiveness of a $US.4 million tax debt.

Mrs Prophet teaches a heady mixture of Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism and even Hercules has a place in the pantheon of saints, with special emphasis on apocalyptic warnings. Members holed up in Montana were required to spend hours at a time 'decreeing' - repeating chants over and over at high speed.

CITIZENS' ELECTORAL COUNCIL. This Australian group was founded in Queensland in the 1980s by the League of Rights. It is now the Australian wing of the movement headed by Lyndon LaRouche, a radical right-winger with far-out views of many issues. LaRouche has espoused views that are anti-Jewish, anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-abortion, and more. There is a suggestion that the Council has links to fundamentalist Christian groups.

CIVITAVECCHIA. In 1994 there was installed in the port town of Civitavecchia, north of Rome (Italy), a replica of the famous statue of the Madonna of MEDJUGORJE, in Yugoslavia. The copy, about 40 cm tall, soon aped its parent and wept tears. Pilgrims followed, anxious to see the holy miracle. In all, until April 1995, the statue reportedly wept 14 times. But the pilgrims were causing such problems that the local prosecutor then ordered the statue's removal from its public place. It was said that tests were being conducted. [No further details.]

CLAIRVOYANTS.

ROME, Aug 21, 1991: The fall of President Gorbachev came as no surprise to Renucio Boscolo, the Italian writer who for months has said the 16th century mystic Nostradamus predicted it would happen this northern summer. [Reuter]

ROME, Aug 22, 1991: [Gorbachev restored to office] Silence from Renucio Boscolo.

Around the world dramatic reports reach us from time to time, claiming that many successes are achieved by clairvoyants and suchlike dabblers in the Other World. Criminal cases seem to attract the practitioners of the mystic arts like flies. The publicity is good for business after all. The most dramatic instance of such a case occurring in our own country (Australia) involved the disappearance of the three Beaumont children. World-famous Dutch clairvoyant Gerard Croiset, a successful exponent of the mystic arts - so we were told - became involved.

From time to time Adelaide police were bothered by clairvoyants and mystics who claimed they knew where to find the children. None, however, produced them! Then some concerned citizens contacted famous Dutch clairvoyant Gerard Croiset. Croiset at first worked from the Netherlands and the Adelaide people relayed information about the disappearance to him through interpreters (as he neither spoke nor understood English). His Adelaide followers even hired a helicopter to take photographs of the Glenelg beachfront area and these, with other information, prints and press clippings about the case, were sent to the clairvoyant back in the Netherlands.

Croiset, then 58, received suitable visions and relayed these to his Australian followers, who then carried out his instructions to dig here, there and, in fact, everywhere. His suggestions kept changing. The believers even attempted, at his suggestion, to flush out a one-and-a-half km concrete drainpipe that had become blocked. The blockage remained; then it was discovered that the same drainpipe had not been blocked and had been completely checked out by police in the earlier searches! Again, at his suggestion, they employed a bulldozer to shift tonnes of sand from the grounds of an institution for retarded children, Minda Home, Somerton. But Croiset's visions seemed continually to fail him.

UNFAZED

Unfazed by these setbacks, Croiset eventually arrived in Adelaide in person in a blaze of publicity, during which, curiously, the already discredited clairvoyant received a tumultuous welcome from press and public. It was claimed that the welcome was as great as that given to the Beatles. But the crowds were to be disappointed again. Croiset was 'certain' he knew where the children were buried. They had, he claimed, been trapped in a fall of sand, according to his 'visions.' He had seen them in some sort of pit and a 'cube-shaped house' and then saw them buried under sand.

There followed what can only be described as an amazing charade. And a cruel one for the ever-hopeful parents. The morning after his arrival, starting out at 9 am armed with a sketch pad, camera and tape-recorder, Croiset led a party on the search. Two days later, after going through all manner of ever-changing activities, including dramatic episodes where he 'felt ill' (a sign, he said, of being close to a place where there had been a tragedy!) Croiset failed to produce anything. Although he did give waiting reporters one titillating piece of information; back in the Netherlands, he said, he had seen Jane removing her underclothes in a bunker; sure sign of a sex crime. And that would have been the end of the matter, except that Croiset managed to come up with one last dramatic attempt to prove himself.

A woman had phoned him saying she heard children's voices outside her home on the night they disappeared. This was enough. Croiset sprang into action and, forgetting his previous vision of a sandpit burial, pointed to a new food warehouse that had just been built near where the lady lived in the suburb of Paringa Park. The children were buried under the concrete floor, about 2 to 3 metres down! It was definite, he said.

Croiset said he thought the children had been late leaving the beach and were too afraid to go home so had sheltered in a hole on the site of what was then an old brick factory. They had, according to his vision, pulled a plank over them and then the sides of the hole had caved in. Jane's earlier experience in the bunker seemed to be forgotten in this latest version of Croiset's imaginings.

CROISET FLEES

But Croiset was not waiting to find out if he was right. He was off again, flying out to America on another case, leaving his Adelaide supporters to decide what to do next. Now an agitation arose to dig up the floor. The building's owners said it would cost $7,000 to replace. The government wisely refused to employ public moneys in such a crazy venture, even although under great pressure to do so. However, in spite of his failings there were still Croiset believers around and a committee of citizens was formed who eventually raised the money.

Not before being informed that Croiset had told someone he had been looking for a way out when he nominated the warehouse. But nothing could stop the believers. A wall of the factory was knocked down and the floor was dug up - and, needless to say, no bodies were found. But this was just one case, near at hand. We get told of so many successes but what of the failures? They are usually glossed over, yet in a number of major cases clairvoyants failed dismally to live up to their claims. In one case in particular, as we shall see, the efforts of one of these deluded self-promoters had disastrous consequences for an innocent man!

Then there was the sad case of the missing Melbourne (Australia) schoolgirl, Karmein Chan, who was found dead after twelve months' fruitless search. Karmein was abducted from her home in April 1991. Late in July a desperate Mrs Chan told the Melbourne newspaper Truth that she had consulted several psychics, all of whom told her Karmein was still alive and would be found.

As is frequently the case with clairvoyants, one of them, an American woman, Dale Shear, who was consulted by Mrs Chan and who gave out her message over the phone from her headquarters in Lake Toho, USA, claimed after Karmein's body was discovered that she had really believed the child to be already dead when she was consulted in November 1991. She had, she said, wanted to spare the Chans from pain and had said so after talking with the grieving mother.

Innumerable modern crimes have seen the clairvoyants crawling out of the woodwork in droves. These included the murders perpetrated by Chris Wilder, where the 'sure' information from a clairvoyant proved dismally wrong, and the case of the Boston Strangler where an innocent man was subjected to a harrowing ordeal, being taken into police custody as a result of the work of one of these charlatans. Finally, in our own day, clairvoyants were busybodying around Coober Pedy (South Australia) looking for two missing young women, especially a visiting Italian tourist, Anna Rosa Liva, 30, who disappeared mysteriously 14 hours after she arrived in the town. Ms Liva's brother, Constantino, came all the way out from Italy after being told by an Italian clairvoyant (these deluded pests surface everywhere) that his sister was alive but in pain and was being held captive about 90 km from the town. He failed to find her. Surprising!

PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF!

With so many clairvoyants pursing so many cases there are bound to be a few 'hits'! But clairvoyants and prognosticators are notoriously unable to predict their own fate! Inside the back of recent editions of the lengthy book Sex Signs by Judith Bennett is the sad note: 'Judith Bennett was completing Sex Signs only days before she died in a tragic crash at O'Hare airport, on her way to the American Booksellers' Association to speak about the book.' Presumably Ms Bennett was unable to foresee that the plane she was booked on would crash!

It was the famous Peter Hurkos who was involved in the Boston Strangler episode. Born Pieter Cornelis van der Hurk in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, on May 21, 1911, Hurkos curiously, although perhaps not surprisingly, probably achieved his greatest fame for being involved in this case and yet he proved to be a complete flop! He gave this description of the murderer to police in 1964: 'He is not too big, maybe five feet seven, eight . . . high hair line, with a mark or spot on his left arm, something wrong with his thumb. He has an accent . . . a French accent . . . he has to do with a hospital . . . '

As a result of his description police arrested the wrong man! The real killer turned out to be Albert DeSalvo. Yet years later when Hurkos collaborated with a reporter, Norma Lee Browning, who wrote a book on the seer, he had not given up. There, right in the front of the book, is the amazing statement: 'The man Peter Hurkos described is not Albert DeSalvo, the accused Strangler. He is the man Hurkos still claims is the real killer.'

Anne-Marie Mykita, mother of 16-year-old Juliet, one of the girls who died at Truro, South Australia, in a series of murders in 1977 and 1978, told of how a friend went to see a clairvoyant. She showed a photograph of Juliet to the seer and asked: 'Is she still alive? Is she all right?' 'Oh, yes,' replied the man, 'very much alive - and living with a group of people in . . . Sydney, I think. I believe I could find her actually. I can see the street.' Juliet had at this point in time been dead for some weeks!

When a young woman, Anita Cobby, died at Blacktown NSW in February 1986, the clairvoyants came out of the woodwork, phoning information to the police. There were so many of them that one investigator became known as the Officer in Charge of Clairvoyants. One even went to the field where the murder occurred and, placing a crystal ball on the ground, began chanting, after which she announced that the murderers would be found 'near a kindergarten'. It proved to be another false lead!

CLEMENT 6th, Pope. See under: BLACK DEATH, The.

CLERGY STRESS. We read (in a report published on October 5, 1995) that most Anglican clergy were so stressed from the demands of their work that they are either ‘burnt out’ or bordering on this state. The survey of 142 clergy in southern Queensland was conducted under official sanction. Seventy percent of those questioned fell into categories ranging from being fully burnt out and needing help to those bordering on such a state. The research was instigated after one clergyman suffered a nervous breakdown, not uncommon!

When the report was released a spokesman for the Sydney Anglican diocese, the Venerable Paul Perini, hastened to assure the press that Sydney priests were probably not as stressed the Queensland one. But, he added, they ‘had access to a strong counselling service’ - indicating that some of them at least needed counselling. So much for the ‘power of Christ’ to transform life!

CLERICAL MAYHEM. There were turbulent times in France in the Middle Ages when loving Christians frequently killed off other loving Christians. Revolts, forced abdications, murders, and general notorious living appear to be the order of that day. In 1186, for example, the Abbot of Trois-Fontaines was assassinated by a monk. In 1210 the Abbot of Fontgombault was poisoned. In the same year the Prior of Salles was murdered by the canons of the church at the very moment he rose to sing mattins. Also in the same year the monks at Tulle were divided into two factions, each with its own Abbot. Physical battles between the factions resulted in the destruction of the monastery! In 1216 the monastery of Saint-Martial at Limoges, was very nearly likewise destroyed when three abbots were in dispute with one another.

In 1212 Geoffrey of Donzy, Prior of La Charité, France, was living 'scandalously', as were his monks, and was commanded by the Abbot of Cluny, who headed his order, to attend him and answer for his behaviour. Geoffrey refused, sending a monk in his place. The Abbot himself therefore went to La Charité but was greeted with a shower of rocks thrown from the bell tower. His horse was badly wounded and he himself nearly died. The Abbot took refuge in the home of a citizen, only to find himself surrounded by soldiers sent into the town by the Prior. Geoffrey himself appeared at the town gates surrounded by a posse of monks armed with cudgels. Negotiations followed but the Prior refused to yield to the Abbot and in the end the latter had to rely on Philip Augustus to assist him to take control of the rebellious priory.

In 1216 a monk in the Abbey of Déols was murdered by another monk. There were so many rebellions in this era that from 1218 onwards monks being appointed administrators of priories were forced to swear obedience to the abbots. However this did not bring an end to the strife. There were continual complaints to authorities, including the Pope and the King, about the behaviour of this or that official. A curious incident occurred around the year 1200. Nicholas of Saint-Martin, a monk at Tournai, was in perpetual conflict with his Abbot so one day stole the seal of the community and ran off. Using the seal he forged letters with the intention of ruining the Abbot, and travelled to Rome with these. However, he failed in his endeavours.

A major conflict arose in 1185 affecting a very strict monastic order, the Grandmontains of Limousin. Founded in 1073 the members of the order followed the strictest routines of asceticism and mortification. The seeds of discord were sown from the very beginning, for in order to maintain the isolation of the monks, a company of lay brothers conducted the practical affairs of the order. Within a hundred years the order had become wealthy and the body caring for its temporal affairs outnumbered by about twenty to one the spiritual brothers. In 1185 on the occasion of the election of a Prior-General the monks and lay brothers had rival candidates and each group elected theirs. Conflict broke out and in every monastery of the order the lay brothers deposed the monks, turning them out of their cells and generally giving them a rough time, including on occasions subjecting them to physical assault. For three years numerous bishops, kings and even the Pope tried to bring the warring parties together without success.

In 1188 Pope Clement 3rd annulled the election of the rivals and caused a third to be elected. Both sides now swore to keep the peace and life appeared to return to normal in the Grandmontain establishments. Not so! Within two years the whole conflict started up again. The monks were once more ejected from their cells and treated violently. They appealed to Rome for aid but there was hesitation from that quarter. It appears that someone had pointed out that the lay brothers controlled the purse-strings of what was a very wealthy order so the Pope hesitated to intervene. In 1190 the King of France brought the parties together yet again. Scarcely had he left for the Crusades when the conflict erupted anew. Again approaches were made to Rome but the Pope vacillated. Pope Innocent 3rd tried to reconcile the two groups in 1214 and again in 1216 but it is said that the strife continued in the order until the middle of the 12th century.

CLERICAL SYNDICATE. In the latter part of the 17th century a syndicate of impoverished clergymen was organized by the Reverend Dr Keith working from the Fleet Prison, London. Directed by Keith from the safe confines of the jail, the clergy garnered funds from weddings they performed for society elopers. It is said that Keith made a large fortune from this activity.

CLEMENT 7th, Pope. Pope Clement 7th, Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, was the illegitimate son of Giulio, conceived after a sexual liaison with a mulatto maidservant.

COE, Jack. Evangelist and faith healer Jack Coe would walk down a line of wheelchair-bound supplicants and one by one lift them out of their chairs and let them go. If they fell down he simply told them they lacked faith! At the age of 39 Jack Coe contracted polio and died.

COLE, Janet. On March 20, 1987, Janet Cole, 37, drove herself from Seattle to North Portland, where she booked into the Ramada Inn with her 5-year-old daughter Brittany. In the bathroom adjoining her motel room Mrs Cole put Brittany into a bath and drowned her. The woman had originally intended to take her own life by means of a drug overdose after the event but instead called police, who found the little girl's body on a bed in the room.

When Mrs Cole was arraigned the court ordered a psychiatric evaluation which found that she was severely disturbed. The psychiatrists blamed this on her involvement with a small Pentecostalist sect, the Community Chapel and Bible Training Centre in Burien, Washington. The complex, estimated to have cost $US 9 million, was operated by the Rev. Donald Lee Barnett, a former minister of the larger Pentecostalist body, the Assemblies of God.

Barnett was known for his teaching that people can be possessed by demons. Children are included in these assaults. He also taught that children who had not reached the age of accountability would enter heaven. Mrs Cole had brought the two teachings together and decided she could best protect her daughter from evil by killing her before she reached that age.

COLIGNY, Admiral Gaspard 2 de. Or Coligni. Born 1519, died 1572. Son of a marshal of France and a distinguished citizen, he was converted to Protestantism while imprisoned by the Spaniards and became joint leader, with Louis 1st, Prince of Condé, of the French HUGUENOTS. He arranged to send colonies of Huguenots to the New World. He became one of the first to die during the MASSACRE OF ST BARTHOLOMEW.

COLLEGIATE ASSOCIATION FOR THE RESEARCH OF PRINCIPLE. Otherwise known by the abbreviation CARP. One of the many 'front' names used by the Unification Church, whereby innocents are conned. 'Principle' is one of Dr Moon's catch-cries. See further under: MOONIES, The.

COLOMBIA. The Latin American nation of Colombia is a particular case where the people were effectively enslaved to the Vatican. Under the country's 1886 Constitution Catholicism was declared the state religion. In 1887 a Concordat was signed between the Vatican and Colombia, further enslaving the people. Under these arrangements, for example, divorce was absolutely forbidden, even in the case of those who had been married in civil ceremonies. Marriage was henceforth to be indissoluble and legally binding for the couple and their descendants.

It was not until almost a hundred years later, in 1976, that new laws were drawn up, allowing greater freedom to Colombians in the matter of divorce, although even then it was an extremely difficult process. The Concordat between Rome and Colombia remained in force in many respects, in particular in allowing special privileges to the ecclesiastical courts. The power of the Catholic Church in Colombian society remained, seen clearly exercised in the constant persecutions, sometimes fearsome and leading to death, experienced by members of the various Protestant denominations working in the country following World War 2.

In 1924 the notorious Law 24, sponsored by Colombian President Concha, specified that anyone contracting a civil marriage was automatically excommunicated. It went even further than that. Not only did the couple get thrown out of their Church but any judge, witness, secretary or other person involved in such a ceremony was also ipso facto excommunicated. This was in direct conflict with Article 53 the Constitution which declared: 'The State guarantees all citizens freedom of conscience, belief and worship within the bounds of Christian morality and the law of the land.' So powerful was the influence of Rome that, nevertheless, the new edict went into force.

There was indeed a provision in the country's rules that allowed people to opt out of the Church prior to marriage, known as abjuration, thus avoiding the stigma of excommunication. However, this entailed a humiliating process. The couple had to submit to extensive interrogation, to submit in writing to a magistrate their intentions, and then the declaration was made public. The abjuration was incorporated into the marriage banns, posted up in the town hall and parish and had to be ratified during the marriage ceremony.

The Catholic Church continued also to exercise political power. A typical example occurred in March 1975, when the Bishops of Risaralda vetoed the appointment of Dora Luz de Botero as Governor of the Departement on the grounds that she had married a second time. The official Catholic statement denounced this as 'social behaviour offensive to a people's dignity.' President M. Lopez caved in to the Church fathers with this amazing statement, which appeared in the newspaper El Espectator (March 5, 1975):

The scandal has damaged the reputation of a wife and mother; the Government has perhaps injured [the lady] by appointing her in her capacity as a literacy expert to carry out the Government's experimental literacy program in Risaralda . . . If, after having been subjected to such unchristian treatment, after having been refused nomination merely because she had been divorced and then contracted a civil marriage, rather than remain single and live with someone unofficially, [the lady] prefers not to accept the position, I will gladly replace her with another citizen, male or female.

Because of the control exercise by the Church of Rome over Colombian society abortion has always been carried out, except in very exceptional circumstances, in clandestine back-street operations, endangering the lives of the poor who mainly resort to such establishments. In the early 1970s it was estimated that somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 such abortions were occurring each year. In 1971 an average of two women died each week as a result of such abortions. Further, the powerful Church influence resulted in many families literally throwing their teenage daughter into the streets should they become pregnant. The girls ended up as prostitutes. Because of these conditions illegitimate births were also widespread. Cohabiting couples represented in various parts of the country anything from around 20 percent of the population up to more than 70 percent! Clearly the people themselves evidently rejected Vatican strictures on sexual activities outside of formal marriage.

COMPARATIVE RELIGION. The Sacred Kural, a Tamil work, from around 100 CE, expresses these teachings:

Forgiving trespasses is good always,
Forgetting them is even higher praise.
If each his own as neighbour's faults would scan
Could any evil hap to living man?

Though men should injure you, their pain
Should lead but to compassion,
Do naught but good to them again
Else look to thy transgression.

Although there are close parallels between Indian religious expressions and Christianity it is the general opinion of scholars that the early Christian presence in India, especially through St Thomas at Malabar, is not responsible but that coincidence has played its part in forming these concepts. Or else, they are 'universal truths' recognized by humans in various eras and places. There are parallels also between the Gita and the New Testament, the Avatars and the Incarnation, childhood stories concerning Krishna and Jesus and in many other areas.

CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA. Front organization in the USA for Christian fundamentalist views on issues such as gender, family, teenage sexuality, abortion and other controversial areas of concern. Such bodies are essentially fascist in nature and wish to impose their particular moral standards and views on the rest of society. Other bodies with similar views include the NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR WOMANHOOD and FOCUS ON FAMILY.

CONFESSIONAL,The. Early in 1994 a Sicilian Catholic priest disclosed the confessions of a Mafia killer. In March of that year Pope John Paul stated that confessional secrets had to be respected 'without exception'. For some of the earlier history of the Confessional see under: JESUITS, The.
It was reported by The Sydney Morning Herald in late 1995 that private confessions by Catholics were down to a new low. One parish priest was quoted as saying the number attending confession on a typical Saturday prior to Vatican 2 (mid-1960s) would be about 250, requiring three priests to deal with them. In 1995 the figure was about six people only on average.

CONFLICTS. A dispute arose in the late 1980s in western Sydney when Catholics attacked a local bishop for closing down their church, St Joseph's. Lebanese Christians besieged the bishop. They claimed they had built the building through their hard work, and it was worth one million dollars. Some members even mortgaged their own homes to help raise funds. But the bishop ignored the lay people and decided to close the church and sell the property. The lay people claimed the bishop wanted to use the money for other purposes, particularly to construct a new church building at Enfield, another suburb. The bishop reinforced his high-handed action by sending security guards to change the locks on the building and even sacked their priest. On one occasion 800 protesters gathered outside the bishop's residence and wouldn't budge.

CONFUCIUS. [Kung Ch'iu] According to tradition on the eve of the birth of Confucius his mother, Chen-tsai, saw two dragons descend onto their roof, while the gods of Five Stars ringed the house. As heavenly music was heard, a voice came to the woman, telling her that an 'uncrowned king' was to be born in the household and that he would rule the Central Kingdom for centuries and centuries. Another story related that his mother, being a virgin, actually conceived after experiencing coitus with a 70-year-old warrior. Evidently Jesus is not alone in being born of a virgin! But then, virgin births were commonplace in the ancient world.

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. Like most groups the Congregationalists were divided among themselves. In the American colonies in the 18th century there were two early parties, known as the Old Sides and the New Sides. The former were conservatives who believed reason had a part to play in Christian faith. The latter thought that many of the Old Sides ministers were not even converted! There was also a Strict Congregational Church. And some Strict Congregationalists left that church and became Separate BAPTISTS. In recent times the Congregationalists on the whole have become absorbed into the Uniting Church.

CONVENT LIFE AND SEXUALITY. The convents and monasteries were hothouses of smouldering, repressed sexuality. The celibate monks and nuns, turning from the sexual allure of a human fleshly partner, instead drove their sexuality into strange paths - outwardly, in devotion to the image of the naked bleeding man upon the cross, inwardly in the adoption of peculiar thought patterns and the mortification of the flesh.

Significant is the term appropriated by some of the sisterhood to their vocation - they described there state thus: they had become victims of Jesus, a revealing phrase indeed, one that recurs many times in the biographies of the saints and devotional literature of the church. Indeed, there is a company of nuns extant in France known as the Victims of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This order was formed by Julie-Adele de Gerin-Ricard who was, she said, commanded by God to establish, in his own divine words, un bonquet de vierges ('a bouquet of virgins'). Julie-Adele, daughter of an aristocratic family, was to become Mother Marie Victime. The work began in 1842 as an austere contemplative order buried away from the world; it has been buried, more or less, ever since. They rise early, eat in silence and pray for hours. And in between do practical work. But chiefly they contemplate, bowing before the naked figure on the cross and adoring the One to whom they are effectively married. Physical chastity, one of the vows of every nun and brother, has been replaced by a spiritual union of a peculiar kind.

Through the pages of the lives of the saints as we read them we sense in its intensity this mystical marriage union. Truly nuns are described as the brides of Christ. They certainly think of themselves as such. A famous devotional classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, says: 'A naked intent directed unto God, without any other cause than Himself sufficeth wholly' for the person devoted to such a life. Even the terminology of the devotional writings seizes upon an emotive word, naked, linking the spiritual with the earthy.

The priests were often as lascivious as other men, sometimes more so. An incident recorded of one in Paris, Abbé Terrai, shows that this good man delighted in the pleasure of the sight of a naked female as well as anyone [and some of us do not hypocritically pretend otherwise!]. He had among his friends a well-known prostitute, La Prairie, who related how female visitors who joined the priest at his table were expected to do so nude and eat their meals thus with him. This custom was, indeed, followed elsewhere at that time among libertines, towards the end of the 18th century.

On one occasion a lady visitor called at the priest's house on the Rue Notre Dame and noticed a covered painting on one wall. The priest removed the covering to show the portrait of an attractive naked female. 'Madame, it's the costume,' the man remarked, indicating thereby that he expected his visitor to disrobe likewise. In the 16th century the Jesuit priests at Lyon persuaded the ladies to wear open chemises. This practice was copied in 1789. The Jesuits were well-known for their habit of requiring penitent young females to bare their backs (and a little more) to be whipped. See also: SEXUALITY AND RELIGION. An old engraving depicing the whipping of a female penitent by a priest:

CONVERSION. Christians are not alone in having conversion experiences! Bhagwan (= God, Hindi) Shree Rajneesh, the Indian guru, wrote of his experience of becoming 'enlightened' at the age of 21: 'That night another reality opened its door, another dimension became available. Suddenly it was there - the other reality, the separate reality, the really real or whatever you want to call it. That night I became empty and I became full. I became non-existential and I became existence. That night I died and was reborn.'

The Bagwan's experience was not unlike that of the Buddha and his particular revelations, or illumination, as his experience is termed by followers. He received his own special dose of heavenly radiation while seated beneath a peepul-tree. [The modern version has it as pipal. The word peepul comes from the peers, or spirits, believed by the pious to inhabit such trees.] Regrettably little detail has come down to us of the Buddha's enlightenment, although we are told that, like Jesus later (and others!), he was assailed by Mara, the Prince of Darkness, who sought by terrors and temptations to deflect him from his holy purpose.

A somewhat more detailed account of revelation concerns another holy man of the East, Vardhamana Mahavira, founder of Jainism, yet one more offshoot from the Hindu-Indian religious tree. He was probably born in 599 BCE, and at the age of 42, while seated deep in meditation was, like the Buddha, enlightened. Or so the story goes. Thus it is recounted: 'Omniscient and comprehending all objects, he knew all conditions of the world, the gods, men and demons; whence all come, where they go, whether they are born as men or animals, or become gods or hell-beings: their food, drink, doings, desires and the thoughts of their minds; he saw and knew all conditions of the whole world of all living beings' (F. Max Muller, ed, The Sacred Books of the East, Oxford Press). Was the eastern Prophet here being shown that same vista to be spread before the eyes of Jesus one day in the future upon that exceeding high mountain?

Zarathustra is another early and extremely fascinating character, coming before Paul and Muhammad. The Zoroastrian scriptures declare that the chief deity, Ahura Mazda (the 'Wise Lord') revealed himself to the Prophet. Regrettably we have only sketchy details of this particular revelation. It would have been of great interest to compare in fuller detail the revelation given to Zarathustra with that given to others of his ilk. Zarathustra says of himself that he received a commission from Ahura Mazda to purify religion (Yasna 44:9). Apparently the revelations came to him as he tended the sacred flame at the altar. The god, chief of the pantheon of Iranian deities, revealed to him the word which he proclaims now to men. It was brought, as it was to Muhammad, through the agency of an angel.

It is Zarathustra's mission to teach men to obey Ahura Mazda and strive after what is termed the Right (Asha), through which they shall gain the best of both this world and the one to come. It is especially noteworthy that Zarathustra believed his calling as Prophet occurred in 'the fulness of time,' that is, just when such a person was needed in history to proclaim the truth of Ahura Mazda to mankind at large. The same would be said in his day of Jesus and his proclamation of the truth of Yahweh.

A Muslim holy man, Al Ghazzali, who was Professor of Theology at Baghdad, described his experience of conversion when he discovered he was 'redeemed by a light which God caused to penetrate into my heart.'

Commenting on the hellfire preacher John Wesley, Horace Walpole said: '[Wesley was] as evidently an actor as Garrick. He spoke his sermon, but so fast, and with so little accent, for I am sure he has often uttered it, for it was like a lesson. There were no parts and eloquence on it; but towards the end he exalted his voice, and acted very ugly enthusiasm.' Sargent in Battle for the Mind compares Wesleyan conversions with war neuroses: 'The mute can talk, the deaf can hear...' after treatment of affected personnel. Sargent's book is a goldmine of information for anyone wishing to pursue this topic. He points out that all manner of stimuli are employed by the converters to achieve their ends - including fasting, dancing, singing, lighting, incense, drugs and even whipping.

Perhaps these stimuli can best be summed up as all being forms of suggestion. And suggestion is akin to hypnotism. There is much that is obviously hypnotic in the atmosphere of revivalist and evangelistic meetings or even in, for example, the liturgy of the Church of Rome (although perhaps diminished now that Latin has been abandoned). In the latter we have the robed figures, the movements, the candles, the chants, the organ, all producing an atmosphere of semi-hypnotic quality. In the more extreme Protestant sects, particularly in Pentecostalism, we have hand-clapping, and vocal ejaculations and the repetitive chanting of phrases, and music, and all manner of stimuli working to produce an atmosphere where reason is swamped by emotion.

The experience of conversion is often a learned one, taking place in a particular social context and in a manner normal to that particular group. Interestingly, conversions are not all religious ones. Political ones are commonplace. A former German Red Army Faction member, Michael Baumann, wrote that when West Berlin police shot and killed a friend during a 1967 demonstration, he had a tremendous flash (see PAUL, Saint) that eventually convinced him that 'we must now fight without mercy.'

CONVERSIONS - Celebrity. Just before his death in 1959, General Shiro Ishii, head of notorious Unit 731 in Japan, was baptised as a Roman Catholic. General Ishii was the infamous head of the program to carry out medical experiments on live humans during World War 2.

Bob Dylan at the age of 40 reportedly became a 'Born Again' Christian and thereafter produced two LPs - Long Time Coming, and Saved. Early in 1988 it was reported Jack 'Murph the Surf' Murphy, who spent 20 years in prison for murder and the famous Star of India jewel theft, was out on probation and preaching the Gospel in Palm Bay, Florida. In 1978 it was reported that the Texas (USA) Baptist Convention was spending $1.5 million for newspaper ads and 'God Spots' - TV and radio commercials featuring testimonies by people 'converted to Christ.' One notable example shown on the TV ads was that of Eldridge Cleaver, 41, confessed rapist and ex-Black Panther.

General Manuel Noriega, Panamanian strongman, taken to the USA to face trial on drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges, in August 1991, while in prison sought to be baptized as a 'born again' Christian. And the figure of the prisoner-carrying-Bible has become a frequent and nauseating feature of many criminal trials.

COONEYITES. A small sect founded by Edward Cooney. They have beliefs not dissimilar to Exclusive BRETHREN. They only meet in members' homes, never in special buildings set aside for worship, and believe that baptism of believers is necessary to salvation, along with faith in Jesus, but only as preached in their assemblies. Like many sects they believe they alone have the truth!

COOPERITES, The. A Christian sect with communes in New Zealand. The last-known leader was Australian-born Neville Barclay Cooper, 67, aka Hopeful Christian. The cult, which appears to be an offshoot of the BRETHREN movement, encourages a reclusive lifestyle. The women and girls wear drab clothing and headscarves.
In 1993 police raided two of the group's communes, alleging criminal activities involving children. The outcome of this action is unknown.

COPTIC CHURCH OF ETHIOPIA. The Coptic Church of Ethiopia appears to have links with the original group of Christians who met together in Jerusalem and who were opposed to Saint Paul. The Church maintains some of the practices of the Hebrew religion, just as the followers of James would have done. (They were, for example, daily attending the synagogue services.) Circumcision of boys is prescribed and they maintain the notion that 'the meat of any beast that does not chew the cud and cleave the hoof' is unclean. They also refuse to allow people to attend worship in their churches if they have had sexual intercourse on the previous day. This is considered to be an 'unclean' action!

COUÉ, Emile. Emile Coué, born in 1857, was a French mental healer from Troyes, who later worked in the city of Nancy, opening a free clinic there in 1910. Rather appropriately Coué ran his clinic in a building located on the rue Jeanne d'Arc. Coué was responsible for curing many people of various ailments, much in the manner of religious healers but with this big difference: Coué made no claim of receiving divine assistance in his work. Coué was, in fact, a pharmaceutical chemist but he understood the awesome power of the human imagination. He perceived that the human mind could bring on illness and that the same human mind could banish it.

Many might laugh today at Coué's simple ways and his famous formula, 'Day by day in every respect I am getting better and better,' but Coué was among the pioneers of what we now call psychosomatic medicine. There were some failures, but innumerable people were cured, positively and permanently. Coué, and those who have followed him, were every bit as successful as the faith healers but with this important difference: he did not have the effrontery to attribute his powers to divine intervention. The powerful operation of the imagination of man is alone responsible for all that passes for the miraculous in our world. Coué died in 1926.

COR UNUM. Cor Unum (‘Single Heart’) is a Belgian sect headed by Andre Pestiaux, known to his followers as Father André de St Paul, the 13th Apostle. Pestiaux founded the sect in 1983 following a series of visions he said he had of Christ. Members practice natural medicine, rejecting blood transfusions, vaccinations and surgery. In 1997 the sect was accused of practising illegal medicine and of keeping some followers captive. In April of that year police raided seven properties involved with the sect and arrested the leader and another leading member, Dominique Le Maire, charging him with fraud, holding people against their will and association with criminals. Pestiaux, aged 45, was charged with illegally practising medicine. Followers were drawn from Belgium, France and Austria.

COWPER, Reverend Patrick. Mr Cowper was Minister at the Church in Fife, Scotland, in the year 1704, when a case of suspected witchcraft was drawn to his attention. Beatrix Lang had asked Patrick Morton, son of the local blacksmith, to make her some nails. He was busy as the time, working on an urgent job, but promised to make the nails as soon as possible. Beatrix Lang left him, muttering under her breath, and the next day Patrick happened to see her throwing hot embers into a basin of cold water. He immediately suspected that a spell was being cast on him and soon fell ill. As the days passed he succumbed to fits and his stomach became swollen and fever wracked his body. He even thought he saw Satan at the foot of his bed.

When Mr Cowper heard this story he hurried to the boy's bedside and coaxed the accusation from the boy that Beatrix Lang had bewitched him. He also added the names of other villagers to the list of those in league with Satan. Beatrix Lang was an important person in the community but that did not save her and she and other suspects were arrested and thrown into the town jail. The worst specimens of humanity were given the task of acting as jailers and the minister himself instructed them to submit the women to every form of degradation, sexual attack, and torture they could think of.

After some days of torment the women confessed but when they appeared before the assembled presbytery Beatrix Laing withdrew her confession. The minister now ordered her to be beaten and put in the town stocks. There she was assaulted further by the town rowdies, with the minister's approval. Eventually she was taken from the stocks and put into a tiny windowless dungeon, where she was kept in solitary confinement for the next five months. The poor woman was, after representations from many villagers, set free, but died some time later as a result of her privations.

Meanwhile some of the other accused were further ill-treated, the minister himself administering several brutal floggings to one woman, Janet Cornfoot. Some days later she managed to escape but an enraged mob, led by the minister, found her. She was dragged to the beach, her hands and feet tightly bound, and a long rope attached to her waste. One end of this was attached to a ship at anchor and the men of the village took the other end and swung the poor woman back and forth through the water until she nearly drowned. Dragged again out of the water but still alive, she was beaten and then a heavy wooden door was laid on her body as she lay on the sand. This was piled with boulders until she was pressed to death.

When the mayhem subsided in the village, Patrick Morton, the young blacksmith, confessed that his accusations had been completely false.

CREATION. Old editions of the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible list the year of the Creation, 4004 BCE, as computed by (Arch)bishop Usher of Armagh, Ireland in the 17th century. The theologian Dr Lightfoot, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, was more precise - he calculated that the world was created at 'nine o'clock in the morning' on October 23 in the year 4004 - exactly. Earlier Luther had claimed that Adam and Eve entered the Garden at noon and ate the fruit 'at about two o'clock.' This dating was abandoned by the compilers of the Revised Version as being inconsistent with modern knowledge. However, it must be noted that those who support the literal interpretation of the Bible cannot escape such a date; it is traced back through the 'history' of the book.

There are innumerable creation myths, including the Biblical one. Hammurabi (2123-2081 BCE) in his Code 'given by the Sun-God' said: 'When Anu and Enlil gave me the lands of Sumer and Akkad to rule, and entrusted their sceptre to me, I dug the canal "Hammurabi-the-abundance-of-the-people" which bringeth water for the lands of Sumer and Akkad. The scattered people of Sumer and Akkad I gathered, with pasturage and watering I provided them; I pastured them with plenty and abundance, and settled them in peaceful dwellings.'

CREATION SCIENCE. The unscientific nature of so-called 'creation science' is highlighted in a statement made by Professor John Symonds, formerly Associate Professor and Dean of Science, University of Sydney. Answering the question as to the nature of creation science the Professor commented: 'It is simply an organization which is basically founded by people with a Christian commitment. We want to make that quite clear, that we regard our Christian commitment as applicable to our scientific disciplines, whether they be geology, or biology, or chemistry, or physics or whatever.' [ABC interview in 1988]. In other words, the normal disciplines observed by science were to be subservient to Christian faith which is surely quite unscientific.

CREATION SCIENCE FOUNDATION. Headquarters located at Toowoomba, Queensland (Australia). A fundamentalist group dedicated to perpetuating the myths of Creationism, especially among the young.

CRIME SPREE. In January 1991, the 37-year-old pastor of the Covenant Alliance Church (USA) was arrested and accused of engineering 14 bank robberies. It was claimed he had used the proceeds, amounting to $US.50,000, to pay gambling debts and hire prostitutes. He was described as a 'friendly, caring family man.' The robberies took place from September 1989. He had sometimes used disguises. He was found guilty in February 1991.

CRITICISM, textual. Methods of Biblical and other textual criticism are discussed in some detail in the extremely important work on the life of Jesus of Nazareth, simply titled Jesus, by Charles Guignebert, Professor of the History of Christianity at the Sorbonne. For example, Professor Guignebert discusses Mark 9:41: 'For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.' 'We are struck by the expression "because ye belong to Christ",' writes Guignebert, 'which seems very strange in the mouth of Jesus.' How true! Jesus was never called 'Christ' in his own lifetime.

Lagrange, a sympathetic critic, himself admits that it is a Pauline mode of expression, which is never found in either the Synoptic Gospels or in Acts. He puts the responsibility for it on some copyist, while Batiffol thinks it is the adaptation of a saying of Jesus for the purpose of supporting Christian preaching.' For an early Higher Critic see: ABEN-ESRA.

CROWLEY, Aleister. Edward Alexander Crowley, later known simply as Aleister, was undoubtedly the single most famous - or infamous - figure in the recent history of the occult movement, notorious in the eyes of many, revered by many more. Crowley was born at Leamington, England, on October 12, 1875, into a family of fanatical - and wealthy - Exclusive BRETHREN, or Darbyites. In 1887 his father died and was sent as a border to a Darbyite school in Cambridge run by a former Anglican clergyman d'Arcy Champney. Like so many of his kind - and Anglican clergy seemed to run many schools in Britain - Champney was a sadist and among other modes of control used a system of informers to spy on the boys.

The 12-year-old soon found himself in trouble, being accused of lying in a drunken stupor. In spite of his protests, the headmaster believed his spy and Crowley was sentenced to complete isolation from everyone else on a bread-and-water diet. This sentence continued for several months until an uncle extricated the boy from the school. After a period of home study he was sent, aged 14, to Malvern where, according to Crowley's own account, sodomy was the most common activity among the boys.

Eventually he went to Cambridge University where, aside from enjoying an active and pleasant sex life with numerous females, he became interested in magical matters. In between times he occasionally indulged in homosexual activities, taking a passive role. By now he was known as something of a poet. He was for a time a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, along with several other notable figures, including W.B. Yeats. Eventually Crowley developed what were termed 'extreme practices' which undoubtedly involved various sexual activities, and was eventually expelled from the Order.

He now set up his own order of magick (Crowley always spelt it that way), known as the Silver Star, and embarked on a career that was destined to bring him in time much notoriety. In 1900 he married Rose Kelly and, together with his wife, travelled widely thereafter. He wrote several books on magical practices, the first being written while visiting Egypt with his wife, a slim volume, The Book of the Law.

After consulting the I Ching in March 1920 he settled in Sicily, where he stayed with a group of disciples for several years, at what was known as the Abbey of Thelema, near Cefalù. There were many rumours that claimed all manner of orgiastic activities took place in the Abbey, that drugs were used and that animals and even babies were sacrificed in hideous rites. This latter probably never happened but encouragement to believe such an idea comes from Crowley's own Book of the Law, which refers to the practice. Certainly sex magic was practised but this was always a part of Crowley's rites.

It was also claimed that disciples engaged in terrible PENANCES. Certainly Leah Hirsig, Crowley's female companion at that time (he had many, mostly young), inflicted humiliations on Crowley (doubtless on his orders), including burning his breast with a cigarette and getting him to eat her excrement. Crowley took a male disciple, Paul (or Raoul) Loveday, an Oxford undergraduate, and his wife, a fashion model, Betty May, to live with him on the island. Some months later it was reported that Loveday had died. Betty May returned to England and talked to the newspapers. Headlines screamed and Crowley was denounced. It was even speculated that it was a ritual murder. The disciple, however, had died of enteritis. Eventually the Italian authorities tired of their unwelcome guests and threw them out.

Back in England Crowley became known as The Great Beast and courted, and gained, massive publicity for his allegedly dark doings. One newspaper described him as 'the wickedest man alive'. He was undoubtedly a rebel, a sexually promiscuous person and a great egotist but whether he was as wicked as portrayed is another matter. It is probably more accurate to say he was a supreme poseur. His own wife and child died tragically and in 1947 Crowley himself died. Among his works were Confessions, Magick in Theory and Practice, and Secret Rituals of the O.T.O.

CRUCIFIXES BANNED. Trouble erupted in Bavaria, the predominantly Catholic southern German State, out of which arose Nazism, in 1995 when a constitutional court banned the crucifix from schools. The court decision arose from the concern of the parents of a child who was distressed at the image of the bleeding mangled Jesus in her classroom, a morbid image beloved of Catholics.

In September a mass rally of an estimated 30,000 people in Munich demanded a reversal of the court decision. Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber told the crowd that the Government was looking at legislation to overturn the ruling, which was based on Germany’s constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the Vatican have joined in the denunciations of the decision.

CRUCIFIXION. In 1966 a French physician, Jacques Bréhant, who had been studying the crucifixion of Jesus for the previous thirty years, stated that he had concluded death had come by suffocation. His conclusion was drawn from a study of the Gospel records, from Latin references to crucifixion, and from eyewitness accounts of crucifixions carried out by the Germans more recently. The victim, he said, nailed to the cross with all the weight of the body pulling on wrists and ankles, alternately shifted his weight about in a vain endeavour not only to gain relief from the agony but more because of a desperate struggle for breath. Eventually he slumped exhausted, hanging on the nails, and now the diaphragm could not longer expel carbon dioxide from the lungs. The victim actually died from suffocation.

The Gospel account of the death of Jesus reported that he died after three hours but Bréhant asserted he could not have lasted this long. Bréhant, a devout Roman Catholic, also pointed out that the traditional pictures of Jesus on the cross were painted some hundred years after crucifixion had been banished and 400 years after the event itself. They did not properly represent the death of the prophet. The Romans, he said, reserved the cross lifted on high for important personages. Jesus was a nobody who would have been done to death on a small T-frame, the type used for common criminals.

In modern times Christians sometimes remember the crucifixion of their prophet by re-enacting this event, even in some cases actually having themselves nailed to crosses. At Easter, 1990, in Philippines thirteen men were nailed to crosses to re-enact Christ's death, while thousands more had themselves flogged.

In February 1978 Eliana Barbosa, a Brazilian girl aged 16, had a dream in which a 'kindly old man who looked like God' told he she could only rid herself of the demons within by being crucified. With the aid of her family and pious believers Eliana had a cross made of solid timber, over 3 metres tall. It was to be set up on a hillside and when the time came a crowd estimated at 6,000 gathered to see the sight.

The girl was to be bound to the cross, not nailed, so to simulate the wounds of Jesus she had her hands and feet sliced with razor blades and a crown of thornbush placed upon her head. She was then hoisted aloft while the believers dipped their handkerchiefs in her blood, in between imbibing beer and hot dogs from the convenient stalls nearby. For three days Eliana hung there and then was taken down, to be proclaimed as a saint.

CRUEL GODS. See under: MISTAKES OF DEITY.

CRUSADES, The.
The Crusades embarked upon by Christian Europe to recover the 'Holy Land' from the infidel (i.e. Islam) were the occasions for outbursts of unbridled cruelty. Both sides perpetrated all manner of outrages but if anything the Christians outdid their opponents on every hand.

Under the oppressive rule of Caliph HAKIM or al-Hakim, known as The Mad Caliph (11th century) Christian pilgrims were still permitted to travel to Jerusalem but many ended their days kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and then, perhaps, if they were fortunate, ransomed. But there were many obstacles along the way. The Turks had seized ARMENIA at the battle of Manzikert in 1071, which affected the safety of pilgrims.

In November 1095 at Clermont, in the Auvergne, Urban 2nd issued his famous appeal to Christendom to crusade against the infidels. The Crusaders, bloodthirsty warriors as much as religious zealots, perhaps more so, soon showed their true colours. In 1096 the First or so-called People's Crusade, under Peter the Hermit and Walter Sans-Avoir, reached Cologne at Easter time.

Within weeks Peter and Walter had left that city but, according to the historian Orderic Vitalis, soon after they departed 'bloody scenes occurred which filled their contemporaries with horror. They were the work of local Germans . . . particularly indulging in horrible massacres of the Jews.' To be fair to the Catholics the Bishop of Mainz took some of the Jews under his protection, and forthwith ordered that some of the murderers should have their hands cut off, not exactly a full measure of justice.

The massacres continued in other places, at Speyer, at Mainz and in Worms. Jews had their houses destroyed and goods pillaged. A synagogue was demolished, and the scrolls of the sacred Torah were dragged into the streets. Several people, including women, died. It was later claimed that the actual Crusaders themselves took no part in these outrages but they certainly inspired them and soon, in any event, they too became violent. As they moved through Europe they pillaged and abused the hand of friendship held out towards them.

HUNGARIAN OUTRAGES

The Hungarians were soon to regret making the Crusaders welcome in their land. Instead of appreciation they received abuse. The Crusaders set fire to granaries and, worse, seized many young girls and subjected them, in the words of a chronicler, Guibert of Nogent, 'to every kind of violence'. They 'dishonoured marriage by tearing wives from their husbands; they plucked out or singed the beards of their hosts; none thought any longer of buying the goods he might need, but each lived by his wits, murdering and plundering, and all boasted with supreme effrontery that they would do the same to the Turks.' One should add that this account came from the pen of a 12th century Christian monk, who was being remarkably frank about his compatriots.

When they confronted the Turks they discovered that it was not going to be so easy to subdue their enemy. In one encounter besieged Christians were reduced to cutting open the veins of their horses and donkeys to provide a substitute drink, so scarce was water. In another battle, at Civetot, the Crusaders left behind their women and children, along with some old people, while they escaped. The Turks slaughtered all. It was said that the bones of these Christians were later incorporated into the walls of the city, mixed with the mortar.

The First Crusade ended in the year it began, with little achieved. Peter the Hermit, however, was hailed for his doubtful achievements and became in time a hero figure. By the end of the same year four more expeditions of knights set forth on the task of destroying the infidel's power. In 1097 they joined forces in Constantinople and crossed the Bosphorus, besieging Antioch, which was taken in 1098.

As the armies approached the Byzantine capital, the Emperor, Alexius Commenus, trembled. It was said that he 'knew their impetuosity, their unstable and fickle character.' They would happily violate any treaty if they thought material wealth awaited such action. The Greeks felt disdain for the Franks and dreaded the approach of a people they thought of as barbarians. The Byzantines were correct. Soon there was trouble, the Crusaders plundering and destroying. Fighting broke out between the troops of the two Christendoms.

DECAPITATED

When the Crusaders attacked the Turks at Nicea they decapitated some of their captives and used a CATAPULT to hurl the severed bleeding heads into the Turkish ranks, seeking thereby to spread terror among their enemies. The Bishop of Le Puy was one of the leaders responsible for this action. Writing of the siege of Antioch one Crusader proudly boasted that the 'Soldiers of Christ . . . fought the inhabitants of Antioch and the countless troops who came to its aid. In all seven battles with the help of the Lord God we were the victors and killed large numbers of enemies.' Everywhere heads were severed and carried off as tokens of victory.

But worse atrocities were to follow. Outside the city of Antioch, laid under siege by the Crusaders, the armies feared spies and saboteurs. It was decided to make an example of some captured Turks, to put the fear of the Christian deity into anyone who tried to betray them. Bohemond, Count of Tripoli, proposed, that certain of the Turks should be dragged from prison and handed over to the executioner. The captives were forthwith slain and roasted over a fire. Special care was taken to make it appear that the bodies of the Turks were to be eaten by the Crusaders, inquirers being told that the council had decided forthwith that all enemies and prisoners taken in future would be so treated. Such stories spread far beyond the walls of Antioch and were retold in years to come in distant parts.

In 1099 the Crusaders reached the environs of Jerusalem, the prize they so dearly wished to take from the infidel. Again hunger and thirst were their enemies. The plains about Jerusalem were waterless and barren. It was now June and burning heat now assaulted their worn bodies. Still with them was the redoubtable Bishop of Le Puy, who proclaimed an edict that a reward of twelve deniers would be paid for the head of a Turk brought to him. Some heads soon arrived at the bishop's tent and these were set upon very long poles and displayed before the city.

The attack on Jerusalem was a bloody one. It was reported that at one point there was such slaughter that the Crusaders were 'wading in blood up to their ankles.' The Temple itself ran with blood. Upon the roof of the Temple a large number of men and women had taken refuge. There was no to be no Christian mercy; on the following morning the Crusaders climbed the roof of the edifice and cut down all alike, men, women and children, severing heads as they went. Many of the poor citizens threw themselves to their deaths rather than be cut down by the Christian swords.

SARACEN BODIES

The bodies of the Saracens were dragged from the city and piled up beyond its walls to be burnt. It was said that the entire city was almost filled with corpses. 'Funeral pyres were set up like milestones' to deal with the decaying bodies. Thus on July 15, 1099 Jerusalem fell to the Christians. But William of Tyre, chronicler of these events, added the comment: 'It was impossible to behold without horror that mass of dead, and even the sight of the victors drenched with blood from head to foot was also a ghastly sight.'

The Christians now occupied the city but reverses were soon to follow. Some of their number had already departed on the return journey to Europe when Egyptian forces arrived outside Jerusalem, intent on re-taking the city from the invaders.

Quite aside from the barbarities they perpetrated, the Crusaders also themselves suffered natural perils, their deity apparently abandoning them to their fate on occasions. In 1097, for example, one of their vessels was suddenly and unexpectedly cast from the high seas and wrecked upon rocks, resulting in the loss of about 400 people of both sexes by drowning. A chronicler of the time lamented: 'How mysterious and incomprehensible are the judgments of God!' Truly!

Never mind, when some of the corpses were retrieved something miraculous had occurred. Upon the shoulder-blades of some of them marks were seen, in the form of a cross, impressed into their flesh. The chronicler commented: 'So it was the Lord's wish that these people, who had died in his service, should keep upon their bodies, as witness to their faith, the victorious sign that they had in their lifetime worn upon their clothing.' Such are the happy thoughts of the faithful.

More disasters followed. Another chronicler reported that is was 'certain that about six hundred men were lost' on some particular ships, drowned at sea in a tempest or cast upon rocky barren shores. They, too, however, bore the same sign of the cross. And the story inspired the people. Soon many of those yet alive were affecting to produce crosses upon their bodies. One traced the device with his own blood upon his flesh and proudly showed it to all who were interested. Another even claimed that a blemish he bore in the pupil of his eye was a divine sign, serving as a warning that he should undertake the journey.

In a vain endeavour to gain applause and the halo of sanctity many of the Crusaders now resorted to all manner of trickery to achieve such aims. All kinds of colouring materials were used to produce instant crosses upon their bodies, and gaudy colours splashed about to produce miraculous fleshly imprints. An abbot incised his forehead with a piece of sharpened iron, to produce his very own instant miracle. All claimed their stigmata came from above and in such an atmosphere of fervour it was not unexpected that signs should soon appear in the skies. A cross appeared in the clouds.

LEAD BY A GOOSE?

A final outburst of the ridiculous followed. A woman on her way through France to Jerusalem was accompanied by a goose. Immediately a report spread through the camps that the Lord had chosen a goose to rescue the Holy City. It was even claimed that rather than the woman leading the goose, the goose was leading her. The goose even accompanied the lady into a church. Regrettably for the faithful the goose died ere it left the shores of its native land.

Even long drawn-out cold rain was enough to carry off some of the crowd. Chroniclers reported that men and women in the camps sometimes actually perished as a result of exposure to the elements. Outside the Turkish-held city of Antioch the horde suffered from the cold of winter and from torrents of rain falling upon their heads as the siege lasted for months. Eventually, for want of provisions, famine stared the people in the face and the army was reduced to destitution. The only way to survive was to lay waste the farms in the nearby countryside.

At Antioch the Crusaders were checked by forces of the Sultan Kerbogha. While now their own deity had apparently abandoned them they, for their part, inveighed against 'the sacrilegious enemies of God' who opposed them. A chronicle of the day tells of the disastrous situation confronting the European horde. Famine stalked the army. 'A little roll of bread was sold for a bezant - no need to talk about wine! The flesh of horses and donkeys was sold and eaten . . . the famine was so great that the leaves of fig-trees, vines and thistles were cooked for food. Others cooked and ate the dried skins of horses, camels, oxen and buffalo.' The head of a horse minus tongue was sold for two or three sous. And again, as elsewhere, the blood of horses sustained the knights' lives. Never mind; they endured it all 'for the sake of Christ' while the enemy's God seemed to bestow his favours upon his armies.

They were, however, sustained with visions, of St Andrew among others. This saint forthwith produced the Holy Lance, said to have pierced the side of Jesus as he hung upon the cross. And there were more wonderful signs in the sky. A large star appeared over the city of Antioch by night, after which it split into three and fell into the camp of the Turks. Such an event must surely have wreaked havoc, killing multitudes, but apparently not so. It was apparently a very small star!

EXPENSIVE WATER

When the Crusaders were besieging Jerusalem, provisions were eagerly awaited; coming by ship. Bread was not obtainable for ten days. Even the water of the Pool of Siloam was sold dearly. Water carried in the skins of oxen and buffalo became contaminated, causing illness. The Saracens poisoned some fountains and springs.

In the year 1194 a Crusader army arrived in the Gulf of Akaba in the Red Sea, intent on constructing a large fleet with which to attack the Infidel in Al-Makkah (Mecca) on the coast of Arabia. A harbour was constructed and for three years an army of Christian workers toiled at constructing a fleet soon to number 230 vessels.

In 1197 the fleet sallied forth, carrying on board an army of over 8,000 Christian soldiers, another 12,000 local mercenaries and 4,200 slaves. However a sudden storm arose and scattered the fleet. Most of the ships were cast onto the rocks or foundered in the seas. The Crusaders who survived the storm and made it to the shore were taken prisoner by the Muslims, who believed the incident was the result of the vengeance of Allah.

Christian prisoners had their eyes gouged out and the eye-sockets filled with hot sand, then were paraded naked through the streets of al-Makkah, to be jeered at by the crowds. Finally they were slaughtered. Only three of the ships survived. In 1197 an Arab army attacked the Christian encampment in the Gulf and wiped out the remainder of the Christian Army. Evidently in this particular encounter between Christians and Muslims the god of the latter was the more powerful! See also: CHILDREN'S CRUSADE.

CULTS AND SECTS. Of the making of cults, sects and other religious groups there is no end. Tens of thousands have been born, flourished for a while and, mostly, died again. The 16th century REFORMATION saw an unleashing of cult-making zeal. Although with what might be termed orthodox heresies, such as Lutherans and CALVINISTS and ANGLICANS there were the ANABAPTISTS, the WALDENSES, ALBIGENSES, Perfectists, Lollards, Poplicans, Arnaldists, Bohemian Brethren and many more. Prophets rose and fell. Groups came and went. Later it was METHODISTS, CONGREGATIONALISTS, PRESBYTERIANS, BAPTISTS, BRETHREN and all their manifold variants.

In October 1987 it was reported that an unnamed American religious sect had set itself up in Western Australia after claiming to authorities that the members wanted to start a jewellery business. In fact the group set up a commune. Two of the cult leaders had reportedly bought land in the Bickley Valley, near Perth, in the Shire of Kalamandu for $230,000. One of their number was said to be a 'top jewellery designer' in the USA. No more than five of the migrants were ever employed in making jewellery, according to reports. Defectors from the sect claim that they originally came here from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to escape a nuclear holocaust they believed would envelop the USA. After this occurs they would move on the Israel, to await the coming of Christ there. The group claimed, after complaints, that they were awaiting the arrival or more machinery before they could employ any more people.

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