Japanese cult leader Shoko Asahara, once the head of Aum, the group responsible for the 1995 poison gas attack upon Tokyo’s subway system, is still on trial.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, has been sitting in court for almost seven years, reports Kyodo News Service.
Japanese justice grinds very slowly, but finely.
But now the man once revered as a virtual god and whose bath water was sold to followers refuses to speak.
Asahara who can barely see has chosen to also become mute, refusing to cooperate even with his attorneys. It seems the man who once spoke endlessly now thinks by not responding he is somehow in control.
Whatever.
Delusion dies hard. And Asahara’s variety of megalomania, relatively common amongst cult leaders, seems irrepressible.
However, whether Asahara deigns to speak or not the overwhelming evidence and testimony presented by prosecutors speaks for itself.
Asahara will be convicted and then probably sentenced to death.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the leader of a controversial church in Georgia called the “House of Prayer” and two of his followers, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rev. Arthur Allen Jr. has apparently violated the terms of his probation, the result of a criminal conviction for “cruelty to children.”
Allen and church members routinely engaged in brutal beatings and whippings of children.
The leader and his followers had agreed to stop such discipline as a term of their probation. But it seems the fanatical Allen and his flock may have failed to follow that agreement.
Throughout the trial and subsequent press coverage Allen always appeared arrogant and unwilling to submit to any authority other than “God.”
However, Allen like many other fanatical leaders, seems to rely upon his own interpretation of what “God” wants, based upon his understanding of scriptures.
It appears the pastor has no meaningful accountability to a denominational authority, or an independently elected board that may fire or discipline him.
In what seems like an effort to retaliate against child protection services and the courts House of Prayer members have recently filed a federal lawsuit, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Regardless of whatever litigation his followers may file Allen seems destined to spend time soon within jail. Perhaps the pastor may make the jailhouse, his new “house of prayer.”
