From:    Brad Hicks 
To:      All, 08-Nov-89 10:56edt
Subject: AMER: Statement of Purpose

Filename: AMER-SOP.TXT

Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

1.  AMER will defend the right of every American to
    practice his or her own religion, insofar as that
    religion's practices do not directly harm anyone.  In
    particular, AMER will actively campaign for tolerance
    for magical and Earth-centered religions.

2.  AMER will work to promote a positive image for magical
    and Earth-centered religions, and to counter negative
    propaganda about such groups.

3.  AMER will promote cooperation among the various magical
    and Earth-centered religious groups.

4.  AMER will serve as a source of accurate information on
    magical and Earth-centered religions and practices.

For more information: AMER
                      11220 West Florissant, Suite 288
                      Florissant, MO  63032

 * Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis, MO * 1-314-741-2231 * (1:100/523)


To:      All, 08-Nov-89 11:02edt
Subject: AMER: The Truth About Human Sacrifice

Filename: TRUTH-HS.TXT

Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions
presents...

THE TRUTH ABOUT HUMAN SACRIFICE

From Los Angeles, California, to Matamoros, Mexico, to Long Island, New York
come a growing number of terrifying reports of the ultimate horror: occult
human sacrifices.  Experts who have been interviewed in the newspapers and on
the certain talk shows warn of a rising death toll due to Satanism and the
occult.  One self-proclaimed expert goes as far as to allege that Satanists
kill as many as 60,000 people each year in the United States alone.  Others
tell of children and teenagers who have been compelled or persuaded to kill
for Satan's sake.

But there is more to these stories than these self-proclaimed "experts" are
telling you.  We at the Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions thought that
you really might want the rest of the facts.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Not a single one of the self-styled "experts" on "occult-related crime"
actually knows anything about the magical and Earth-centered religions that
they so blithely lump together as "the occult."  For example, Randall Emon,
Larry Jones, and Jack Roper, all self-proclaimed "experts" on the occult, warn
against reading anything actually written by an occultist.

Well, if they're not reading the primary source material, where do these
"experts" get their vast store of knowledge?  From each other.  A casual
search through their literature shows that they quote each other all the time,
instead of consulting any legitimate sources.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

If you look into most of the alleged "occult human sacrifices," you'll see
that the claims just don't hold water.  For example, Satanism had nothing to
do with the widely-publicized murder of Gary Lauwers by Ricky Kasso on Long
Island.  Gary Lauwers was no "innocent sacrifice."  According to ample
testimony, Kasso was a drug dealer who executed Lauwers for stealing ten bags
of PCP, or "angel dust," from Kasso and then bragging about it to their mutual
friends.

The unpleasant events in Matamoros, Mexico have been warped to "prove" that
Satanists and occultists commit murder in their rituals.  But if you read the
actual articles on the story, you'll discover that at least nine of the
thirteen dead were members of rival drug gangs who were killed in turf wars. 
Further, the group was practicing a twisted form of Palo Mayumbe, which is a
hybrid of Catholicism and African folk religion quite common among Hispanics. 
There was no resemblance to the magical, Earth-centered, or Satanic religious
groups that the "experts" are trying to blame.

In the case of the much-celebrated trial of Sean Sellers, the youngest man on
Oklahoma's death row, it was his defense attorney who tried to convince the
jury that somewhere in Tulsa there was a shadowy Satanic High Priest who had
ordered Sean to kill three people.  This attempt to transfer the blame away
from Sellers was rejected by the jury.  Presumably, this was because no
evidence exists that there were any organized Satanists in Tulsa, let alone a
High Priest to have given these orders, and also because Sellers' choice of
victims made his selfish motives quite obvious: he killed a store clerk who
refused to sell him alcohol and the parents who were trying to separate him
from his girlfriend.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Those who label such crimes "occult-related" are defending the unlikely claim
that sick, twisted people like Richard "The Night Stalker" Ramirez and David
"Son of Sam" Berkowitz would never kill if they never discovered "the occult."
Psychopaths don't kill because of the occult; they use the occult as an excuse
to kill.

The "occult-crime experts" blame all magical and Earth-centered religions for
every crime committed by anyone who imitates them.  This is absurd.  Were the
grisly sexual murders and cannibalism of retarded women by self-styled
"Bishop" Gary Heidnick "Christ-related?"  And shall we blame the Bible for the
murder of his followers by ordained Christian minister Jim Jones?

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Some of  the claims of some of the "occult investigators" would be funny if
there weren't people who believed them.  For example, many "occult
investigators" repeat Dr. Al Carlisle's claim that each year two to three
times more Americans are sacrificed to Satan than were killed in the entire
Viet Nam war.  When Dr. Carlisle was asked where he got his numbers, he
admitted that he made them up, and that he knows of no actual human
sacrifices.

For religious reasons, the "occult-crime experts"  are trying to focus police
attention on less than sixty of the one million violent crimes committed in
the last ten years.  Law enforcement agencies should track down murderers and
the courts should deal with them harshly--regardless of their religion.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The Truth About AMER

The Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions (AMER) is a St. Louis-based
organization made up of representatives of several distinct Magical and/or
Earth-centered religious traditions.  Its members have only one thing in
common: all of them feel that they have been unfairly blamed by some in the
media and in law enforcement for the problems of today's society.

AMER's Statement of Purpose:

1.  AMER will defend the right of every American to practice his or her own
religion, insofar as that religion's practices do not directly harm anyone. In

particular, AMER will actively campaign for tolerance for Magical and
Earth-centered religions.


2.  AMER will work to promote a positive image for Magical and Earth-centered
religions, and to counter negative propaganda about such groups.


3.  AMER will promote cooperation among the various Magical and Earth-centered
religious groups.


4.  AMER will serve as a source of accurate information on Magical and
Earth-centered religions and practices.

For more information about AMER, send a stamped, self-addressed long envelope
to AMER, 11220 West Florissant, Suite 288, Florissant, Missouri 63032.



From:    Brad Hicks 
To:      All, 08-Nov-89 11:10edt
Subject: AMER: The Truth About Ritualized Child Abuse

Filename: TRUTH-RA.TXT

Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions
presents...

THE TRUTH ABOUT RITUALIZED CHILD ABUSE

These days the newspapers and the television are both full of reports of a
heinous new crime wave.  Self-proclaimed "adult survivors" and parents of
alleged child victims tell stories of sexual abuse, physical torture,
degradation, and of being forced to participate in the torture and slaying of
animals and even human beings.

The reports almost unanimously blame a vast, coordinated, world-wide
conspiracy of Satanists and other occultists.  Allegedly, this conspiracy has
infiltrated day-care centers, schools, and churches across the nation and has
as a goal the moral and spiritual destruction of this entire generation.

A vast network of groups, such as Believe the Children, Child Lures, Cult
Crime Impact Network, and the self-proclaimed US Citizens' Commission on Crime
and Narcotics, have spent tens of thousands of dollars over the past five
years to promote these stories.  But there are a few facts about their
accusations that these "experts" aren't telling you.  We at the Alliance for
Magical and Earth Religions thought that you really ought to know.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Not one of these cases has ever produced so much as one tiny piece of evidence
that any of the alleged rituals ever took place.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

In case after case, children have described ritual rooms where they were
molested, described robes worn and implements used by their molesters, and
identified fields where bodies of animals and humans were buried.  But in
every single case: searches of the buildings revealed no such rooms; searches
of the homes of the accused discovered no such robes or implements; fields
where bodies were allegedly buried have turned out not to have been disturbed
in this century and no human or animal remains have been found.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

There are exactly two kinds of accusers in cases of alleged "ritualized
abuse."  The most common type are child witnesses, and in every case which has
made the news so far, the children made these accusations only after they had
all been questioned repeatedly, and insistently, by one person or small group.
A former prosecutor resigned from the infamous McMartin case, complaining that
the person who lead the questioning of the children "could make a baby confess
to being molested."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The other witnesses on whose testimony the entire ritualized child abuse scare
depends are women who claim to be "adult survivors of ritual abuse."  What do
all of these women have in common?

 * They have been diagnosed as either schizophrenics or as
   sufferers of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD).
 * They claim to know full well the identities of  the
   conspirators who arranged for and participated in their
   abuse.
 * They accuse those conspirators of participating in or
   planning such felonies as child pornography, child
   prostitution, or murder.
 * None of these women will name a single suspect.
 * None of these cases has resulted in successful
   prosecution for as much as a single crime.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The nation's top expert on child sexual abuse considers these accusations to
be entirely false.  Special Agent Ken Lanning, who heads up the FBI's center
on crimes against children, has investigated over 200 allegations of
ritualized abuse and has come to the conclusion that every single one of them
was a false accusation.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The most vaunted piece of evidence that these crimes exist is that so many of
the "victims" are all telling the same story.  This is no surprise at all. 
For over five years a well-financed industry has provided investigators with
lists of leading questions to ask children, descriptions of alleged ritual
scenes, and in fact all of the details that repeat from case to case.  It was
in just this fashion that the original Inquisition provided similar lists to
their "investigators," to provide people with accusations to use.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The ritualized child abuse scare diverts attention away from the realities of
child sexual abuse.  The Center for the Scientific Evaluation of Religion
reported that even if all of the allegations of ritualized abuse were
true--and as we've seen, they aren't--American children are 20 times more
likely to fall into an uncovered swimming pool and drown than they are of ever
being ritually molested.

Each year there are approximately three or four alleged cases of ritualized
abuse--and approximately 113,000 documented cases of children being sexually
abused by relatives and "close family friends."  And the more time we as a
nation spend searching for scapegoats, the more children will be sexually and
physically and mentally abused.  We will not end this crisis until we are
ready to face the real facts about child abuse.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The Truth About AMER

The Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions (AMER) is a St. Louis-based
organization made up of representatives of several distinct Magical and/or
Earth-centered religious traditions.  Its members have only one thing in
common: all of them feel that they have been unfairly blamed by some in the
media and in law enforcement for the problems of today's society.

AMER's Statement of Purpose:

1.  AMER will defend the right of every American to practice his or her own
religion, insofar as that religion's practices do not directly harm anyone. In
particular, AMER will actively campaign for tolerance for Magical and
Earth-centered religions.

2.  AMER will work to promote a positive image for Magical and Earth-centered
religions, and to counter negative propaganda about such groups.

3.  AMER will promote cooperation among the various Magical and Earth-centered
religious groups.

4.  AMER will serve as a source of accurate information on Magical and
Earth-centered religions and practices.

For more information about AMER, send a stamped, self-addressed long envelope
to AMER, 11220 West Florissant, Suite 288, Florissant, Missouri 63032.