From: Lady Byron Area: Base of Set To: Creeping Death 7 Aug 94 17:34:20 Subject: Hi UpdReq CD> When they tell you they are lurking, if ya read the CD> messsage that is what I wuza replyin to. Wow, that must've been an old message! He hasn't been on for over a year! Lady Byron :)= 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Balanone Area: Base of Set To: All 7 Aug 94 11:01:04 Subject: British Report on SRA UpdReq * Originally By: David Bloomberg * Originally To: All * Originally Re: British Report on SRA * Original Area: Victim's Of False Accusations Of Abuse(FidoNet) * Forwarded by : Blue Wave v2.12 * Original Message Posted via SKEPTIC * Date: 03 Aug 94 17:52:09 * From: David Bloomberg @ 1:2430/2112 * To: All * Forwarded by: Christopher Baker @ 1:374/14 * Message text was not edited! @MSGID: 1:2430/2112 44d6e04a Report dismisses Satanic child abuse as a myth by Hugh Muir This material posted 9 June 1994 by Clive Feather Clive D.W. Feather | Santa Cruz Operation | If you lie to the compiler, clive@sco.com | Croxley Centre | it will get its revenge. Phone: +44 923 816 344 | Hatters Lane, Watford | - Henry Spencer Fax: +44 923 210 352 | WD1 8YN, United Kingdom | His comments are in square brackets. There is also a sidebox, Origins in Book of Revelations. (See next message) [Reproduced without permission from the Daily Telegraph, Friday June 3, 1994 (edition *). This is a reputable daily UK newspaper.] Evangelical Christians and healthcare professionals using dubious information were held responsible yesterday for the myth that children have been victims of widespread ritual and Satanic abuse. A report ordered by Mrs Virgina Bottomley, the Health Secretary, said Christians campaigning against new religious movements had been "a powerful influence encouraging the identification of Satanic abuse". They were joined by psychologists and childcare workers who engineered the hysteria which led to children being taken from their parents in Rochdale, Nottingham, and Orkney. Of 84 cases examined by the researchers, however, no evidence was found to justify any allegation of Satanic abuse and only three claims of ritual abuse were substantiated. Professor Jean La Fontaine, the report's author, said that even these three cases did not merit the description of ritual abuse as the desire for sex was more important than the element of ritual. "I think the evangelicals created the climate in which people could believe this sort of thing was happening" she said. "People began thinking that perhaps it was something they hadn't seen because they hadn't looked and though they had better start looking. That argument is mistaken because we are not talking about a different kind of abuse. It is the same old sexual abuse." Prof La Fontaine added: "In these cases, the children were worryingly disturbed. It was easy to make a mistake by assuming that, because the children were so damaged, what had happened to them must have been so much worse than normal sexual abuse". She said claims that the children themselves alleged Satanic and ritual abuse were false. "The fact is that the small children didn't actually say these things. They said bits and pieces that were picked up by the adults." "You can never say that something doesn't exist. All I can say is that there is no evidence in the cases I have examined." Prof La Fontaine's report was welcomed by Mrs Bottomley, who said there had been "speculating and scaremongering" for years. Calling on professionals to study it, she said: "Professor La Fontaine has abused the myth of Satanic abuse". The 36-page study, called _The_Extent_and_ _Nature_of_Organised_and_Ritual_Abuse_, was commissioned in 1991 after children were removed from their homes in Rochdale and Orkney. It defines ritual abuse as "sexual abuse where there have been allegations of ritual associated with the abuse, whether or not these allegations have been taken any further or tested in the courts". Satanic abuse is defined as "a ritual directed to worship of the Devil". Aided by researchers at Manchester University, Prof La Fontaine asked for details of organised and ritual abuse of children reported between January 1988 and December 1991 and received 211. Researchers studied the records of police and social services departments in eight local authority areas. The Lord Chancellor's Office gave Prof La Fontaine and her team access to 34 files referring to children who had alleged ritual abuse and had been made wards of court. Researchers found that 967 cases of organised abuse and 85 of ritual abuse had occured over four years - meaning that eight percent of all sex abuse allegations involved ritual abuse. Nearly a third of the cases came from the East Midlands, with 21 of those in Nottinghamshire. London had 12 and another 14 occured in the South East. Twelve cases were found in the North West. Primarily, the cases involved "very poor people". Of the men said to have been involved, fewer than a third had a job and only three had middle class occupations. [Nottinghamshire has a population of about 1 million and London (for these purposes) about 6.5 million, out of a total for England and Wales of 49 million (I believe that the study excluded Scotland and Northern Ireland).] The killing of humans was alleged in 35 cases but could not be proved in any of them. Ceremonial robes were mentioned in 28 cases but evidence was found in only two. Once allegations had been made, Prof La Fontaine found that interviews with children were badly conducted, with frequent and aggressive questioning. "What is defended as 'what children say' may be nothing of the sort", the report said. The myth distracted attention from the real plight of many abused children. Ms Valerie Sinason, a consultant child psychologist at the Tavistock Clinic in London, said: "I think it is very worrying to have Mrs Bottomley, a former social worker, discounting the pain of children and adults who come forward and say this is happening to them". @ Origin: The more one knows, the less one believes. (1:2430/2112) @PATH: 2430/1 3701 3615/50 374/1 98 14 -!- GenMsg [0002] (cbak.rights@opus.global.org) ! Origin: Rights On! for Privacy! It's a Right not a privilege! (1:374/14) 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Balanone Area: Base of Set To: All 7 Aug 94 11:01:48 Subject: Origins UpdReq * Originally By: David Bloomberg * Originally To: All * Originally Re: Origins * Original Area: Victim's Of False Accusations Of Abuse(FidoNet) * Forwarded by : Blue Wave v2.12 * Original Message Posted via SKEPTIC * Date: 03 Aug 94 17:53:12 * From: David Bloomberg @ 1:2430/2112 * To: All * Forwarded by: Christopher Baker @ 1:374/14 * Message text was not edited! @MSGID: 1:2430/2112 44d6e0f2 Origins in Book of Revelations There was a sharp reaction from evangelical Christians last night to the suggestion that they were to blame for spreading the myth of satanic abuse [writes Damian Thompson]. The Rev Clive Calver, the Evangelical Alliance director, said he was "dismayed that evangelicals should be dismissed for responding pastorally to people alleging ritual abuse and for seeking to share information with others". But to critics, the report was further evidence that the scare was rooted in the millenarian belief that the world is entering a dark chapter called the "end time" in which the Devil will hold sway. Dr Bill Thompson, a Reading University sociologist, said the "satanic abuse" concept was invented by American fundamentalists convinced that Christ's imminent return will be preceeded by a period of satanic rule foretold in the Book of Revelation. He said: "They needed evidence of satanic activity to validate their religious beliefs". In the past, he argued, fundamentalists helped engineer "moral panics". Satanic abuse, he said, was "the perfect scare". It could be used to convince would-be converts that the end-time was approaching, but could also be toned down for the benefit of social workers. "It's very clever. You can leave out the stuff about the end of the world and concentrate on lists of the signs of abuse" he said. A spokesman for the Evangelical Alliance said yesterday that the Alliance was still convinced that ritual abuse occured. @ Origin: The more one knows, the less one believes. (1:2430/2112) @PATH: 2430/1 3701 3615/50 374/1 98 14 -!- GenMsg [0002] (cbak.rights@opus.global.org) ! Origin: Rights On! for Privacy! It's a Right not a privilege! (1:374/14) 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Charles Nemo Area: Base of Set To: Lady Byron 8 Aug 94 12:05:50 Subject: LHP Tarot Sent UpdReq KE> A Giger deck. Is this a usable deck or is KE> it inclomplete and/or has KE> artwork inapropriate to what it is supposed to represent? LB> LB> Usable? Possibly (depending on what you wanna LB> use it fer). Incomplete? Yes. Only the major LB> arcana. Artwork appropriate? Depends on how LB> strong your imagination is. Agreed. There are many decks that don't really "speak" to me, and this is one. Even so, I like it for the artwork; I can never see too much of Giger's stuff. 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718