Cult News

Robert Kennedy Jr. is scheduled as a featured speaker at a school that has been called a “cult.”

The son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), one-time Attorney General of the United States and brother of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) will soon be appearing in Yelm, Washington to lecture at the controversial “Ramtha School of Enlightenment.”

The school is led by former Tacoma housewife J.Z. Knight, who claims that she is the chosen channel for a 35,000 year old spirit and prehistoric general from the lost continent of Atlantis named “Ramtha.”

According to the school’s Web site Kennedy should be passing through for his presentation this Thursday.

The “Speaker Event” is restricted to “current students” during what is referred to as the group’s “Primary Retreat,” which costs $1,000.00

Those attending will pay an additional $30 to hear Kennedy, though there are discounts for children and seniors.

His topic will be “Crimes Against Nature,” which is a critique against the Bush administration’s environmental policy.

To enter the event you “MUST HAVE [A] CURRENT ID BADGE” (emphasis not added). The gates to the group’s “ranch” will open Thursday March 10th “at 4 PM and close PROMPTLY at 6.”

But what does Ramtha have to do with RFK Jr.? And why would the son of Bobby Kennedy want to speak within her gated compound?

Is this 50-something environmental activist and member of the famous Kennedy political clan somehow connected to a purported “cult,” or has he just been conned?

J.Z. Knight and her devoted followers (called “Ramsters” by Yelm residents) have been known to bag big names for promotional purposes.

A recent independent film produced by some of Ms. Knights students titled “What the Bleep” included comments from noted experts, one later said that he didn’t realize how his interview would be used.

“In the movie, my views are turned around 180 degrees,” Philosopher David Albert of Columbia University told Willamette Week in a subsequent interview about his participation in the project.

Likewise, Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin seems a bit embarrassed by her starring role in the film.

Has Robert Kennedy Jr. become the latest dupe of the Washington New Age guru?

Mr. Kennedy is the chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper, an organization of fishermen, which is dedicated to “defending the Hudson [and] protecting…communities.” He also is a Clinical Professor and Supervising Attorney at the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University in White Plains, NY.

But does the chief prosecutor feel that a so-called “cult” community in the Pacific Northwest needs protection?

It doesn’t look like Ms. Knight needs any help from Mr. Kennedy. She has a multi-million dollar annual income through her company JZK Inc. and lives in a 12,000-square-foot French-style chateau with six bedrooms, seven fireplaces, a spiral staircase and an indoor pool.

Does RFK Jr. think that speaking to a roomful of Ramsters will somehow advance his cause?

Or is Mr. Kennedy launching a campaign to save the rivers of Washington, they do have quite a few, not to mention all those salmon and fishermen.

It looks like RFK Jr. may be swimming upstream this time, and arguably in polluted waters.

“What the Bleep” was he thinking when he signed up to speak at this venue?

CultNews tried to find out by calling Riverkeeper, but that organization had nothing to say other than referring inquiries to Mr. Kennedy’s offices at Pace. His executive assistant there Mary Beth Postman in turn passed the call on to Keppler Speakers, a speaker’s bureau in Arlington, Virginia that books his lectures.

According to his Web site subsection at Keppler Kennedy speaks on such topics as “Our Environmental Destiny,” “The Power of Law” and “A Contract with Our Future,” but J.Z. Knight apparently opted for US environmental policy.

Does this mean that the Ramtha School of Enlightenment has taken up the cause of environmental policy?

Perhaps the Ramsters think that the lost continent of Atlantis sunk due to toxic dumping or was washed away as a result of prehistoric global warming.

No.

It’s more likely that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is simply a name used to chum the water and promote the school’s “Primary Retreat”?

And it looks like JZK hooked RFK Jr. through his agent.

CultNews got a callback from John Truran the designated spokesperson for Keppler. He confirmed that Kennedy is booked to speak this week at the Ramtha School for a fee.

When asked if Robert Kennedy Jr. understood that he would be lecturing before a restricted audience composed of Ramtha students behind the closed gates of a compound Truran replied, “I don’t know.”