Cult News

“Scientology Volunteer Ministers” cooked and served meals to workers cleaning up after Hurricane Lili in Louisiana, reports the Daily Advertiser of Acadiana.

The same group has done other volunteer work, such as “assisting” workers at Ground Zero after 9-11.

But is this a genuine effort to help, or a thinly veiled publicity stunt using high profile disasters to promote Scientology’s own interests?

A closer look at their recent effort in Louisiana is somewhat revealing through its cost effectiveness. That is, no cost to Scientology. The meals were made from food donated by local residents. Likewise, an area restaurant donated its kitchen and utilities.

Scientology provided the labor of 50 “volunteers,” which doesn’t cost the church anything. Those volunteers then prepared and delivered the meals wearing bright yellow T-shirts with the logo “Scientology Minister” across the front. They probably paid for their own gas.

So for virtually nothing out of pocket, the controversial church got a photo op and some publicity for little more than rounding up some of its faithful to work for free.

It seems that authorities have finally decided to crack down on the most powerful polygamist group in Utah.

A policeman from Hildale, Utah, which is dominated by the polygamist group known as “Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” (FLDS), has been charged by Utah’s attorney general with bigamy and illegal sex, reports the Associated Press.

FLDS member Rodney H. Holm 36 has three wives and two of them are sisters. His third wife, his first wife’s sister, bore Holm two children before reaching 18.

Holm’s first wife is also criminally charged for abetting the crimes of her husband.

The polygamist policeman’s lawyer, who also represents the FLDS, claims his client is being persecuted. He says Holm is guilty of nothing more than “living [his] religion and teaching it.”

This seems to be a common refrain when members of some religious groups called “cults,” are held accountable for their actions by authorities. They seem to feel that anything done in the name of their beliefs is legal, or at least should be immune from prosecution.

But certainly a lawman like Holm should have known better than that.

Newly created Catholic Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, is accused of once being a friend of Francisco Franco, the former dictator of Spain, reports The Guardian.

Balaguer apparently never made a point of voicing any meaningful criticism of the fascist who was once supported by Nazi Germany. He also supplied Franco with ministers from amongst his own following.

Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer was the founder of Opus Dei, a controversial ultra-conservative sect within Catholicism, which has received approval and considerable encouragement from the current Pope.

Opus Dei has been described as “cult-like” by critics and some former members that say its methods are often harsh, manipulative and controlling.

European fascism of the 1930s was characterized by personality-driven regimes. First there was Italy’s Mussolini then Germany’s Hitler and ultimately Spain’s Franco. But Franco unlike his contemporaries, ruled long after the war ended, until his death by natural causes.

Fascism can easily be seen as “cult-like.”

Perhaps the authoritarianism and order tha Franco brought to Spain was not that unsettling to Balaguer, who after all created a seemingly authoritarian right-wing order of his own.

The criminal case against Dwight York (aka “Malachi York”), the leader of the Nuwaubians, may be the largest case regarding child molestation in the history of the United States, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

A Putnam County grand jury in Georgia on October 3rd handed down a 208-count indictment. York is named in 197 counts. This almost doubles the previous counts York was charged with.

It appears that York, who once served a sentence for a felony conviction in New York State, may end up being incarcerated for the rest of his life in Georgia if convicted.

Child molesters don’t do well in prison. If York is locked up he will probably be put in protective custody. Sadly, it seems that there was little meaningful protection for the many children and families York allegedly harmed within his cult over the years.

According to the father of al-Qaeda terrorist Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber” who attempted to blow up a plane bound for the United States from Britain, his son was once “gentle and caring,” reports the BBC. But then Reid’s father says his son was “brainwashed” by Muslim extremists to do things “not by our family beliefs.”

However, the father of John Walker Lindh, the “American Taliban,” apparently doesn’t see his son as “brainwashed,” despite his strange transformation from a California child of affluence to an Afghan “freedom fighter.”

Frank Lindh instead seems to think that his son found his “inner Muslim.” Mrs. Lindh explains, “As a parent, you want your kids to follow their heart,” reports Time Magazine.

Frank Lindh takes the stance of almost an apologist. He concludes, “John went (into Afghanistan) to help the mujahedin, as he understood the people Ronald Reagan called the ‘freedom fighters.'”

Mrs. Lindh explains, “When kids get a certain age, you let them go. You wish them well, and you help them, and you support, and you never stop loving them, but you let them explore the world and find themselves.”

The Lindhs not only let their son go, they paid $6,000 for him to be “brainwashed” at an Islamic school in Yemen and quite literally were his “support” financially to “explore the world” of radical Islam.

Should the Lindhs have paid closer attention to their vulnerable son? Did their permissiveness and money enable John Walker Lindh to ultimately become an “American Taliban”?

John Walker Lindh apologized and wept when he was recently sentenced to twenty years in prison. Now the Lindhs will only be a part of their son’s life through scheduled visits observed by guards.

Richard Reid laughed when he pled guilty in a Boston court and boasted of his commitment to Osama bin Laden. His father expects him to die in prison.

There is little sympathy for “brainwashed” Islamic extremists in the United States. The hijackers who murdered more than 3,000 people on September 11th ended that.

As other terrorists and extremists are arrested, more sad stoies will likely emerge of children lost to “brainwashed” fanaticism. But hopefully these fanatics will be stopped before murdering the members of other families.

Richard Reid’s father said, “I am just grateful that he did not succeed. There were 196 other souls on that plane other than my son.”

The burgeoning growth industry of self-improvement within the United States continues to include exotic spiritual mentors. And India has been a fount for a litany of purported “gurus,” “swamis,” “yogis” and other would-be “god-men” that have enthralled Americans.

But in India such supposedly “spiritual” types are increasingly seen as simply tricksters or confidence men. And the police in Bombay are busting them, reports Reuters.

One Indian official who has exposed more than a few explained, “[Our] campaign is meant to be an eye-opener. We want to put a complete stop to those posing as god-men.”

But in the United States the First Amendment precludes putting a “complete stop” to any “religious” endeavor. So many of the “god-men” of India have immigrated to a more open market. After all, why work Bombay when you can come to America and make the big bucks?

Since the sixties a virtual wave of Indian gurus has washed upon the shores of North America. And seemingly gullible Americans have proven over and over again that they are willing to buy the wares of these “god-men” and a few “god-women” too.

The list of such spiritual entrepreneurs keeps growing.

There was Swami Satchidananda (now deceased), Guru Sri Chinmoy (still carrying on in Queens New York), Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (perhaps the richest guru on earth), Guru Maharaji (a boy wonder), Swami Prabhupada (deceased founder of “Krishna Consciousness”), Sai Baba, Swami Muktananda (deceased founder of Siddha), Yogi Bhajan of 3HO, Swami Rama and let’s not forget the notorious Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who was deported before he died.

A new female “guru” is breaking into the American market named “Chalanda Sai Ma.” She is apparently a former pupil of Sai Baba and others, but is now touring solo.

Of course the United States appears to have plenty of homegrown flim flam, which includes an assortment of psychics, faith healers, mediums and even snake handlers. And American authorities are often far less vigilant than their Indian counterparts, when it comes to protecting the public.

Still, despite easily accessible homegrown holy men, there seems to be something about flowing saffron robes, mantras and exotic India that exicites the imagination of many within the US spiritual marketplace. Many “god-men” seem to know how to tap into that market, or that is, turn on the tap to cash in.

The historic success of Indian gurus in the US seems to have inspired a growing list of American wannabes that have taken on Indian names and titles.

Frank Jones from Brooklyn is now “god-man Adi Da,” Fred Lenz was called “Zen Master Rama,” a former New York housewife Joyce Green calls herself “Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati,” Mike Shoemaker became “Swami Chetananada” and Donald Waters became “Swami Kriyananda,” just to name a few.

Some of the “god-men” have turned out to have feet of clay. There have been several scandals and a few lawsuits regarding sexual misconduct and other allegations.

The old consumer adage “buyer beware” seems to be equally appropriate advice within the spiritual marketplace.

One Indian activist intent upon exposing “god-men” as simply con-men said, “It’s easy money — without any investment. As long as fear exists among people such god-men will thrive.”

In George Orwell’s seminal classic “1984” “Big Brother,” the omnipresent totalitarian society that controls his fictional world, seeks to wipe out any history it doesn’t like.

It appears that Scientology is now vying to become “Big Brother” of the World Wide Web.

Lawyers representing the organization that Time Magazine once called “The Cult of Greed,” have successfully persuaded an Internet historical archive to purge its files of material Scientology deems inappropriate, through its interpretation of the controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, reports England’s Times on Line.

According to noted experts, destructive totalistic cults seek to control information.

Robert Jay Lifton, author of “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” wrote, “The totalist environment seeks to establish domain over all that [it] sees and hears, reads or writes, experiences, and expresses…It creates an atmosphere uncomfortably reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984.”

Lifton has often been cited to explain the mindset of destructive cult members and the process cults often use to produce that mindset.

Now Scientology seems to be demonstrating not only its apparent propensity to foster parallels with Orwellian themes, but also revealing aspects of its seemingly totalistic tendencies as well.

Has the “cult” created by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard cast itself as the Internet’s “Thought Police”?

The bizarre “cult” called the “Raelians” is at it again. Leader Claude Vorilhon (aka “Rael”) will apparently do anything for attention. First, it was cloning humans and now it’s bashing Catholics, reports the Montreal Gazette.

Vorilhon wants Canadian Catholics to renounce the faith and burn a cross to announce their apostasy. And “Rael’s” loyal minions are passing out flyers with little wooden crosses to create his latest contrived controversy.

Though the “cult leader,” who claims to commiserate with aliens from outer space, is often seen as little more than a joke by the media, Catholics in Canada aren’t laughing.

An obscure former journalist of little note, Vorilhon now 55, found his true calling when he started a “cult.”

There are an estimated 3,000 Raelians, which affords “Rael” a comfortable lifestyle. The media attention not only feeds his ego, but also helps to recruit and retain members, which ultimately means more cash flow for the former working-journalist through his new religion.

The Attorney General of Arizona is involved in a deliberate effort to stall and/or cover up information about “criminal activity including rape, incest, assault, kidnapping, forced marriages of underage girls, weapons violations and welfare fraud,” according to the Phoenix New Times.

The New Times is a prominent Southwest newspaper known for its investigative journalism. It claims to have received through a confidential source a “three page memo” that outlines the criminal activities of the Arizona polygamist group known as the “Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (FLDS). This memo also explains how the Attorney General of Arizona intends to suppress that information to avoid possible political problems.

However, the largest newspaper in Arizona says that the memo received by the New Times and other media, is a fraud and did not originate from the Attorney General’s office. Instead The Arizona Republic reports it came from the “the basement of the Arizona Department of Corrections headquarters” in downtown Phoenix.

An official spokesperson for the Attorney General said, “The document is completely bogus.” That spokesperson then declined to comment about a claimed “criminal probe” now supposedly underway regarding the FLDS.

It remains unclear what law enforcement officials intend to do about the FLDS. What is clear is that the group has historically been engaged for some time in a pattern of abuse and very rarely has been the focus of a “criminal probe.”

It appears that the FLDS has received a dispensation for its conduct or a kind of blanket immunity from criminal prosecution. This seems to be due to concerns about the political fallout that might occur if any meaningful action took place to enforce the law in Colorado, City Arizona, which is where the FLDS is largely situated.

It should be noted that this is an election year and the Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano is running for governor.

Ms. Napolitano claims to have met with Utah officials to form a “joint task force.” The FLDS does span both sides of an area on the Arizona-Utah border.

It will be interesting to see if the claimed “task force” ultimately takes any meaningful action. It just may turn out that the review of the facts and the political situation within the fraudulent memo were not “bogus.”

“Cult” leader Lucille Poulin testified in a Canadian courtroom that “God” told her to beat children under her control, reports the National Post.

Poulin claimed that she asked, “God, do we have to hit these little ones?” Then she explained that the beatings were “What God said to do.”

Poulin seemed to be threatening the children who reported her saying, “They all might be damned, I’m not damning them, but they’re in great danger.”

It seems that the 78-year-old former Roman Catholic nun is delusional. But when asked if she was, of course Poulin denied it.

Seemingly unfazed by the court proceedings she proclaimed, “I know without a shadow of a doubt if I died right now, I would be with Jesus in glory. I have passed judgment already. There will be no judgment for me.”

But the point is what judgement Poulin passed upon the defenseless children she brutalized within her commune. The “cult” leader claimed she was protecting them from “evil.” However, the real “evil” that threatened the children appears to have been Poulin herself.