Allegations of strange rites involving naked women and olive oil have all of Bermuda talking about Rev. Stanley Lee and his Evangel Tabernacle church.

Former church members have complained to Police and the news media that Rev.

Lee "anointed'' their naked bodies, including their private parts, with olive oil between 1983 and 1994.

But children at Rev. Lee's Christian Deliverance Academy say they like the private school because it protects them from violence and drugs they say are prevalent in the public system.

"It's a good school and a good environment,'' said Umiko Simmons, 16. At other schools, "there's a lot of fighting and drugs and weapons are brought.'' Yesterday, school officials led The Royal Gazette on a tour of the academy on Clarendon Road in Smith's, Parish. About 30 children between five and 18 years old dressed in tan and white uniforms were working quietly in two large classrooms.

Principal Mr. Vincent Williams and other officials answered all questions posed about what happens at the school. But they would say nothing about the charges levelled at Rev. Lee, the school's president.

"That has nothing to do with the school,'' Mr. Williams said. "We have no comment, really, about that.'' While Mr. Williams and supervisor Mrs. Mary Ball are church members, Mr.

Williams said only four of the students are.

Yet Rev. Lee's Evangel Tabernacle is in the same building as the Christian Deliverance Academy he co-founded in 1987. Children in the main classroom gaze at portraits of him and his wife Olive, and Rev. Lee visits the students once a week.

Yesterday, Rev. Lee would neither confirm nor deny the allegations against him, including those from the school's co-founder, Dr. Muriel Wade-Smith.

"I have no comment concerning that,'' he said.

"I started out for heaven and I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way. What the Press says about me doesn't make me. If I call you a green cheese, does that make you a green cheese?'' Asked if that meant he denied the charges, Rev. Lee said it did not. He was not commenting on the allegations, which included physical abuse of children at the school.

Until recently, the school had plans for 75 students and expansion renovations were under way, but about half the parents withdrew their children after allegations appeared in the Bermuda Sun last Friday. Rev. Lee said that did not concern him.

"Some owe money,'' he said. "Outside of that, I'm not concerned.'' Mr.

Williams, 46, said parents who had already paid a full year's tuition and decided to withdraw their children "because of this trash that's gone on'' were given refunds "no questions asked.'' Police have investigated complaints from former church members and sent a file to the Attorney General's Chambers, a spokesman said yesterday.

Registered with the Education Ministry since 1993, the school can be inspected by Ministry officials at any time but is not subject to regular inspections, said acting Permanent Secretary Dr. Joseph Christopher.

Chief Education Officer Mr. Dean Furbert visited the school this week. His report is awaited, Dr. Christopher said.

Mr. Williams said Mr. Furbert came on Tuesday and enjoyed the visit so much he returned the next day for school devotions. A photograph recently pinned to the bulletin board shows Mr. Furbert leading a song at the school piano.

"There were some things that he discussed that were very helpful to us,'' Mr.

Williams said.

Asked if he feared CDA could be shut down, "we don't expect that at all,'' Mr. Williams said. "There is no indication of even that kind of speculation.'' "This school is all right,'' said student Stephanie Darrell. "There's a lot of discipline. Most of the stuff we learn is mostly about God, and (how) life is not easy.

"I think it's a positive environment,'' she said. "When I came here I found out I didn't have to worry about drugs and knives.'' As for a 14-year-old boy who said he tried to hang himself in the school washroom in 1989 after a beating by Rev. Lee, Mrs. Ball said the school accepts children from different backgrounds and they are "not all angels.'' She recalled the apparent suicide attempt but denied it was related to school beatings. "They come here with their problems,'' she said of the students.

"If a child did do something like that, what could we do?'' Mr. Williams prayed aloud before taking a reporter and photographer on a tour.

"We at the Christian Deliverance Academy don't do anything until we ask God,'' Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Williams taught in the public system until he came to CDA in 1991. But when he first arrived, "my spirit was not right,'' he said. "It was a foul spirit from dealing with rebellious students all the time.'' Rev. Lee, who "takes no nonsense,'' fired him. Mr. Williams said God has since humbled him, and he returned as principal in January.

Children like school The academy does not currently have students in its nursery or pre-school, so all 30 students are divided into two groups. Upstairs, Mr. Williams' wife Brenda supervises 12 students in the primary division, five of whom are "special needs'' students with learning difficulties.

Using workbooks from the Texas-based Accelerated Christian Education curriculum, each child works independently at his or her own pace. Children even mark their own tests, learning honesty and getting "instant feedback.'' A former community health nurse, Mrs. Williams trained at the ACE Teaching Centre in Louisville and returns there periodically for refresher courses. Mr.

Williams said CDA is one of 10,000 schools in 100 countries using the ACE system.

There are five main subjects -- Math, English, Social Studies, Science, and Word Building. Religion and scripture is woven throughout all the lessons.

There is play as well as work, and the school counts the boys' 800-metre champion and a member of the youth cricket team among its students.

Discipline is strict and corporal punishment is meted out with a stick, Mr.

Williams said. "In the last year we've had two cases,'' he said. Parents are encouraged to attend and administer the `licks' across the hand or backside themselves, he said. But they also sign a waiver allowing the principal to punish if they are not available.

"First of all, the word of God is read to them,'' Mr. Williams said. "Then, they are dealt with. Usually, they get two less (strokes) than they should. If it's supposed to be five, they'll get three.

"Then we love them back. We tell them that we love them and provide the means for them to come back to the learning centre so they won't feel the shame of their punishment.'' Usually, only new students require corporal punishment, he said. A three-night orientation camp is held at Paget Island before each school year.

"I like this school because it's fun and they teach you about God,'' said Hugh Seymour, 7.

"I like the school because it's got Jesus in it and it's got the Bible in it,'' said Jared Ingham, 6. Other schools have "violence.'' Mrs. Williams' daughter, Ms Syreeta Cann, 20, is a graduate of the academy who is now in her second year at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mrs.

Ball's daughter, another graduate, was taken out of Berkeley Institute to attend the school.