THEISTWATCH FOR JULY 6, 1995 Washington, D.C. - HELMS' REMARK ON AIDS DRAWS QUICK RESPONSE

THEISTWATCH FOR JULY 6, 1995

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Washington, D.C.--HELMS' REMARK ON AIDS DRAWS QUICK
RESPONSE
Oregon--RAJNEESH FLUNKIES ACCUSED IN MURDER PLOT
United States--FROM SELMA TO CENSORSHIP
World--THEISTWATCH SHORT SHOTS

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HELMS' REMARK ON AIDS DRAWS QUICK RESPONSE
 
by Conrad Goeringer
 
     Republican Senator Jesse Helms has targeted an act
which would provide money for the care and treatment of
people with AIDS. Arguing that AIDS is the ninth-leading
cause of death in the U.S., but receives more federal
financing than diseases which kill more people, Helms also blamed
the disease on gays who engage in "deliberate,
disgusting, revolting conduct."  That brought a quick
response from gay activists, health officials, and the
mother of Ryan White, the young boy who died of AIDS in
April of 1990 following a blood transfusion. The act was
named after Ryan White.

     Passed originally in 1990, the Ryan White Care Act is a
five-year program which is now up for congressional
reauthorizing. Co-sponsors reflect a surprising diversity
of ideology and party affiliation, from conservatives
like Orrin Hatch of Utah, to liberals such as Barbara Boxer and
Christopher Dodd. On March 29, the Senate Labor and
Human Resources Committee approved renewal of the program, but
slashed the amount of funding to $690 million. Since
then, the act has stalled. Some AIDS activists blame Helms, along
with Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole who is busy
courting religious support in his quest for the GOP
presidential nomination.

     The House version has hit a snag by having an
amendment that would deny act funding to states that did
not mandate the testing of newborns for AIDS. Civil
liberties groups have protested that as an invasion of
privacy, and some AIDS health care professionals and
advocates suggest testing would simply scare away women prone to
the disease who might fear the government would steal
their infants. The House version was scheduled for a vote
before July 4.

     The conservative Family Research Council told the New York
Times (July 5) that "we won't support it (the Ryan
White Act) without mandatory testing." A policy analyst for the
group said that Dole was taking a wait-and-see attitude on the
House action before deciding his next move for the
Senate version.

     Meanwhile, there were immediate challenges to Helms'
statistics about AIDS. The National Organization Responding to
AIDS, a coalition of 150 groups, said that "This is not the time
to retreat on AIDS," noting that Helms' figures
took into account sums for research, prevention and
housing. When all federal money is calculated, government
outlays for heart disease total $36.3 billion, cancer adds up to
$16.9 billion, and AIDS is funding at only $6
billion.

     Ryan White's mother accused Helms of blaming victims
for the disease. "After three months the bill is still not
scheduled for Senate action, and Sen. Helms apparently
hopes it never will be," said Jeanne White-Grinder. "He
seems to want to blame people with AIDS for being sick. . . . I
wonder if he feels the same about Americans dying of
cancer because they smoke?"

              Helms As "Point Man" for Dole?

     The role of Sen. Bob Dole in all of this is not lost
on those who have been watching the Kansas Senator court
the votes on the GOP right-wing. Although he is listed as a "co-
sponsor" of the Ryan White Care Act, Dole doesn't want to
alienate religious conservatives. Having Helms play a
pivotal role in stalling the funding process allows Dole to use
procedural strategies to kill the program, all without a floor
vote. Critics note that this was essentially the
tactics used to derail the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster
as Surgeon General.

     The controversy surrounding the funding demonstrates
the fears on Capitol Hill about the influence of the
Christian conservatives. Some religious fundamentalists
have advocated mandatory AIDS testing of various groups, a
strategy which, say AIDS activists, would merely drive the
epidemic further "underground" and stigmatize people with
(or suspected of having) AIDS.

     Helms' remarks also reinforce perceptions that AIDS is a
"Gay" disease which is the result of moral failure, sin, or what
the senator terms "unnatural acts." Ryan White,
however, was just thirteen when he was diagnosed with AIDS in
1988; he contracted the HIV virus from a blood transfusion. By
"going public," he touched off a widely publicized
battle against both the disease and the intolerance
surrounding it in his hometown. His mother told Reuter's
News Agency that the legislation was important. "If the
bill does not move, a lot of people will die. Support in
name only is no longer enough. The reality is that the
lifeline is in danger and we need action."



RAJNEESH FLUNKIES ACCUSED IN MURDER PLOT
 
by Conrad Goeringer
 
     As cults go, the Oregon commune founded by the late
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was probably a scary place. At least
that's the picture described by former followers of the
self-proclaimed "rich man's guru" who surrounded himself
with a staff of pliant devotees and a fleet of expensive
Rolls Royce automobiles. Cult members essentially took over the
small town of Antelope, Oregon. There were stories of
wiretaps, cult-operated surveillance, and attempts to
organize "hit squads" to eliminate townspeople and others
who didn't follow Rajneesh.

     In 1985 the commune disbanded after the Bhagwan
pleaded guilty to arranging sham marriages amongst the
followers, some of whom were Indian citizens who then
managed to immigrate to the United States. Bhagwan was
deported back to Poona, India, and died there in 1990.

     Now two followers of Rajneesh are being charged with
taking part in "killing conferences" which were organized
to plot the murder of the U.S. Attorney for Oregon. The
government's case was presented against two British
citizens in opening arguments in Portland last Wednesday,
July 5. The pair are charged with forming "hit teams" and
purchasing firearms in a plot to assassinate Charles
Turner, then Oregon's main federal prosecutor. Although
Sally-Anne Croft and Susan Hagan insist they are innocent, they
were indicted in 1990 along with other cult members
and extradited from Britain this year following a five-year legal
battle.

     The hit attempt was never carried out, but the
government insists that cult members were dispatched to
Texas and New Mexico to purchase weapons while using
false identification. One team was assembled to track
Turner's movements, finding out such details as where his
office and home were located. The present U.S. Attorney
said that the government would produce the weapons
which had been recovered from a lake years after
the commune had disbanded.

     Croft and Hagen were among 4,000 people who lived on
the sprawling commune. Croft, who called herself Ma Prem
Savita, was described by her attorney as the product of a
working-class family in England who was "smitten" with
Rajneesh, but became disenchanted when the Bhagwan told her that
he was not concerned for his followers, only his
Rolls-Royce cars and a collection of Rolex watches.

     Susan Hagen went by the name Ma Anand Su. Her attorney
insisted that there was no murder plot, even one
orchestrated by the mysterious "Sheela," the woman who ran the
commune for Rajneesh. Ma Anand Sheela was the cult name for
Sheela Birnstiel, also indicted in the plot and
believed to be living in Switzerland. Some reports identify her
as the person behind an attempt to poison restaurant
food in nearby Antelope, with the purpose of killing the
townspeople who were generally hostile to the Rajneesh
settlement.


FROM SELMA TO CENSORSHIP

A civil rights advocate is now crusading for restrictions
on freedom of speech

by Conrad Goeringer

     Is this a case of a great crusader for civil rights
and the liberation of women gone astray? It may be. C.
DeLores Tucker has emerged as a controversial crusader in
the effort to ban so-called "gangsta rap" and other forms
of music and lyrics which she claims are "the source of
many of Blacks' social ills," according to the Philadelphia
Inquirer (July 6). She's teamed up with conservative
culture guru William Bennett of the "Empower America" group
(which, charge some, should be more aptly titled "Empower
The State") and was blasting away at Time-Warner records
before Kansas Senator Bob Dole hoped on that car of the
"culture wars" bandwagon parade. 

     Since 1993, Tucker has been picketing, organizing, and
pressuring music executives to do something about musical
lyrics she says are lewd, violent and anti-women. She's
gotten lots of encouragement from 60s-70s pop idol Dionne
Warwick who may be doing more harm to human society by
promoting pseudo-science schemes like the "Psychic Friends
Hotline," but that's another THEISTWATCH topic. Tucker's
National Political Congress of Black Women has targeted
rappers like Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur.
Her critics charge that she, along with her new-found
religious conservative allies, are creating a climate for
cultural and ultimately political censorship. "Her position is
ludicrous and untenable from the standpoint of most
minority groups," notes Michael Meyers of the New York
Civil Rights Coalition. 

     "She won't admit it, but she's calling for censorship, and
creating an atmosphere in which minorities, who are
most often the targets of such initiatives, will suffer
disproportionately."

     Tucker, the daughter of a minister, quotes the Bible
frequently in defending her new position as self-appointed
cultural pit bull, trying to contrast the songs sung
"during the darkest days of slavery" with the "filth" of
today.

     Tucker's credentials on behalf of civil rights have
been impressive, at least up to this point. She earned her "badge
of zeal" when she was ordered out of a Detroit
restaurant at age twelve for being Black and was arrested
during a protest at age seventeen in Philadelphia while
picketing a hotel which refused to admit Black athletes.
She marched on the road to Selma and served on the national Board
of the NAACP. She has been a leader in working on
behalf of Black women throughout the country.

     She may have a point about some rap lyrics; there was a time
when Eldridge Cleaver, one of the leaders of the
Black Panther Party, reveled in the sexual conquest of
White women and came dangerously close to defending rape as some
sort of "revolutionary act." That didn't and should
not be used to justify the censorship of his book "Soul On Ice."
(Unfortunately, Cleaver went on to "find Jesus,"
convert to the Mormon superstition, and become a "yes" man for
conservative republicans like Ronald Reagan and Orrin
Hatch. So much for the dialectic of history!) Today, there is a
good deal of rage, anger, sexism and hatred in some
lyrics and much of it is misunderstood outside of the Black
community. It is doubtful that William Bennett even has a
clue!

     The best antidote to "bad" speech isn't censorship.
It's MORE speech, free speech, "good" speech. William
Bennett and his religious cohorts just cannot seem to learn that
message; perhaps DeLores Tucker will, while there's
still time.

THEISTWATCH SHORT-SHOTS
 
by Conrad Goeringer
 
     Let's lead off today's installment with a tip 'o the
hat to American Atheists member Ron Barrier, for his great letter
in USA TODAY (July 6, 1995). Under the heading
"Student prayer ruins graduation ceremonies," Ron made some
excellent points about this critical First Amendment issue,
including:

     "Extremist groups like Focus on the Family are setting an
unethical and un-American example by encouraging
complete disregard and disrespect for the beliefs of other
Americans and their families, as well as complete contempt for
the First Amendment to our Constitution."

     Ron aptly labeled school prayer "cheap, side-show
antics that serve no purpose other than to demonstrate to
the uninterested just how pious (prayer advocates) they
are."

     Amen! to that, Ron.

                      ***************

     If you think that differing religious sects can't get along,
events in the town of Steelton, Pennsylvania,
suggest that even various blocs within the same religion
don't tolerate each other. Consider the case of this town's new
church, Prince of Peace. It was created by
consolidating several other churches and parishes,
including St. Mary's Church all part of a "downsizing" move by
local church honchos faced with declining enrollment and
attendance. The 125 parishes have been reduced to 99 (keep up the
good work!), but the religious gerrymandering has
offended parishioners who happen to be Croatian. Last
Sunday, they poured into the Prince of Peace church intent on
expressing their displeasure. They dressed in black,
occupied the front of the church near the altar, and
recited "The Lord's Prayer" in Croatian. Associated Press
noted that one protester was "distressed when, during the
Mass, sacramental oils from each of the five former
parishes were blended in a ritual symbolizing their
merger."

     "They're trying to blend us all together so we don't
have any identity," said the disgruntled churchgoer.

     One's ideological alarm bells should be ringing loud
and clear when people start talking about "identity" in
such a context, or engage in acts of sympathetic magic like
mixing "sacramental" brews and engaging in other acts of
juju here in the twentieth century. As for the Croatian
aspect of this, draw your own conclusions!

                      ***************

     Is it to be PRESIDENT or POPE for California
Congressman Robert K. Dornan? Choices, choices . . . It's
still summer in New Hampshire, but Republican hopefuls are
already lining up for that state's presidential primary,
which so far has Sen. Bob Dole with a commanding lead and
Texan Phil Gramm somewhat behind, but with plenty of
conservative cash to spare.  And further back is a ragtag
assortment of wannabe's, including commentator Pat
Buchanan, religious-conservative talk show host Alan Keyes, and
Rep. Dornan. This unholy trinity gathered at the New
Hampshire Conservative Political Victory Fund gathering on July 4
in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, before 500 righteous,
religious and reactionary party faithful. Dornan decided to
attack Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, calling his
Washington colleague a "Marxist creep." According to
Reuters, he also "called for the excommunication of
Catholics who support abortion and vowed to form a third
party if the GOP nominated a pro-abortion rights
candidate." Not be outdone, Buchanan promised, "If I am
elected to the Oval Office, I will be the most pro-life
president in the history of the republic."

     Yeah, Pat, that's what scares us about guys like you.

     And Mr. Dornan, let's get it straight once and for
all. You're running to please the electorate, not the Roman
Church Curia.

                      ***************

     File this under the category "Dumbing Down in
America." A study by Michigan State University finds that
many common reading materials are, alas, "considerably
beyond the comprehension of many adults." That includes
lead newspaper stories which are written at the 12th grade level.
Nearly one-fourth of adults with an average of ten
years of schooling read only at the fourth-grade level.

     There's more: according to USA TODAY (July 6), "U.S.
high school students who are not bound for college lag
behind their French, German, and Scottish peers in academic
skills." Quoting a study by the American Federation of
Teachers, the paper went on to note that European students unlike
Americans -- receive " 'consistent, coordinated
instruction as they progress,' meet measurable standards
and emerge better prepared for the workforce."  And while
religious conservatives are busy calling for school prayer and
more religion as the solution to the world's problems, consider
this: in his delightful new book "1939, The Lost
World of the Fair," David Gelernter chronicles the history of
that famous exhibition and the world in which it was
held. Things, of course, were different then, but at least in the
naivete of pre-World War II America, the attitude of the
population toward science and technology was for the
most part positive. Indeed, that fair with its Trylon and
Perisphere symbolized a benevolent "world of tomorrow" and an
affirmation of the philosophy of progress. And while
only a fraction of the population had been to college
(about 4 percent compared to 20 percent or so today),
attitudes concerning education and learning were different.
Gelernter notes that "the 1940 sixth-grader evidently knew around
25,000 words, versus 10,000 for the 1990's edition."

     One final note about that 1939 fair. The main
attraction was the vast Futurama exhibit where tourists
were whisked over a miniature future world complete with
cities and superhighways. All of this was the creation of
visionaries like Norman Bel Geddes. It portrayed a "gentle
utopia, not a perfect but a comfortable one." Gelernter
adds that "One thing the world of tomorrow DIDN'T have was
churches, and their absence (in the Futurama tour) was
noted with disapproval. . . . For the 1940 season hundreds were
added."


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