*A New Dutch "Right-to-Die" Law Makes Euthanasia and
Doctor-Assisted Suicide Easier.*
The February 22 issue of _Time_ magazine reports that the
parliament in the Netherlands "approved the world's most liberal
rules on euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide. Both practices are
still technically illegal, but doctors won't be charged if they
notify coroners of their actions and if they follow certain
guidelines. Among them: the patient must be mentally competent;
must be suffering unbearable pain and request euthanasia
repeatedly; and the doctor must consult a second physician before
proceeding."
Dr. Hans Wessel, who has taken part in euthanizing patients,
said: "Doing euthanasia, I'm sick for a week afterward...Is the
patient manipulating me? Am I playing God? I'm quite ambivalent
about it," the March 14 _Los Angeles Times_ reported.
-------------
*The Children of God -- A Sect that Fled from the United States in
the Mid-1970s Amid Controversy -- Has Resurfaced in the United
States as "the Family."*
The March 21 _Los Angeles Times_ reports that in earlier years
the sect's "gospel of free love outraged critics. Under fire from
deprogrammers and child-abuse authorities, the cult virtually
disappeared. It's back -- calling itself 'the Family' and saying it
has changed. But former members are skeptical."
The article notes that "in the beginning, there was
controversy: predictions that Comet Kohoutek signaled God's
destruction of America, claims that Douglas MacArthur and the Pied
Piper were speaking from beyond the grave, and charges that Jews
and blacks were conspiring to ruin the world....There was also sex.
Lots of sex. All in the name of Jesus." The cult's free-love gospel
"urged women to use their bodies to hook new converts." This was
called "flirty fishing."
Some twenty years ago, "Berg and other members fled the U.S. --
partly because of Kohoutek, partly because of the New York attorney
general's charity fraud division. Its 1974 investigation accused
the Children of -- among other things -- tax evasion, rape,
polygamy, draft dodging, incest, and kidnapping."...
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