Cult News

According to one religious scholar Oprah Winfrey has crossed the line from celebrity to religious icon.

Kathryn Lofton, speaking at an annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) said the popular talk-show host has “rituals,” which she placed within specific categories such as “reading, writing and buying.”

Lofton says that Winfrey has created a belief system that is based upon “self-indulgence and relaxed reflection,” reports the Salt Lake City Tribune.

Huh?

This far-fetched analysis was apparently taken seriously amongst Lofton’s colleagues at their Salt Lake City conference.

However, members of the SSSR are less likely to accept any meaningful analysis about groups often called “cults.” In fact, they don’t like to use the “C” word. Instead, they prefer the “politically correct” label of “New Religious Movements” (“NRMs”).

It seems that many SSSR members have become little more than “cult apologists.”

SSSR member Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi appeared to express a minority opinion within the group when he lamented, “Leading scholars in the field decided to take a stand in the propaganda war over the legitimacy and reputation of certain NRMs and to work together with them in order to give them much needed public support.”

Beit-Hallahmi cited a memo made public that demonstrates such ongoing collaboration.

He also pointed out that prominent members of the SSSR such as David Bromley, Chairman of its Publication Committee and Eileen Barker have attended cult-subsidized conferences. Bromley has also been paid to testify in court on behalf of cults.

Other SSSR members have likewise offered themselves for hire as expert witnesses against claims of “brainwashing.”

The President Elect of the SSSR Rodney Stark, recipient of one of its “research awards,” has also received funding to attend “cult” conferences.

Gordon Melton, closely associated with the SSSR and linked through their website, once received an all expenses paid trip to Japan, courtesy of the infamous cult Aum.

Melton quickly concluded that the group was innocent of criminal wrongdoing and offered his analysis during press conferences in Japan, which was that Aum was likely the victim of discrimination and/or persecution.

However, it has since been proven through much physical evidence and court testimony, that Aum was responsible for the poison gas attack of Tokyo’s subways, which caused twelve deaths and sent thousands to the hospital. Many of Aum’s leaders are now in prison; some have been sentenced to death.

Perhaps Ms. Lofton should have looked to her own organization’s members as examples of “self-indulgence and relaxed reflection”?

Unlike the destructive cults some SSSR members have chosen to defend, Winfrey is a benign phenomenon, with a devoted following of fans. Oprah certainly hasn’t gassed anyone.

Tomoko Matsumoto the wife of infamous cult leader Shoko Asahara was released from prison after serving six years this week, reports Mainchi Daily News.

Aum was responsible for the 1995 gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system that killed 19 and injured thousands.

Matsumoto’s husband (a.k.a. Chizuo Matsumoto) remains in prison and it’s doubtful that he will ever be released. Instead, the cult leader will probably end his days there with a death sentence.

Asahara’s wife says she is no longer connected to the cult and wants a divorce, but her estranged husband isn’t cooperating.

However, if Mrs. Matsumoto will just be patient she should be a widow soon enough.

Karen Robidoux 27 is charged with the murder of her one-year-old son Samuel. The child was starved to death, supposedly due to a “prophetic vision,” which allegedly led the baby’s parents to withhold solid food for 51 days.

Robidoux’s husband Jacques was also charged and found guilty in a previous trial. He is now serving an automatic life sentence in prison.

Karen Robidoux’s lawyer says that cult “brainwashing” rendered his client “powerless” to stop the starvation of her son and that she felt compelled to follow the group’s beliefs.

Robidoux plead not guilty and now claims she is no longer a member of the cult called “The Body,” which is led by her father-in-law Roland Robidoux, reports NBC News of Providence.

However, the prosecutor scoffs at the brainwashing defense and says cult members still visit her weekly.

There is no doubt that what motivated Karen Robidoux to starve her child was religious devotion. She had no other reason to kill her baby and the prosecution hasn’t offered another motive.

But the jury in Jacques Robidoux’s trial rejected any religious defense and instead convicted the father regardless of his faith.

Will a second jury now find Karen Robidoux innocent due to sympathy for a mother driven by “prophecy” and peer pressure to neglect her child to death? It seems doubtful that the jury will place its sympathy with anyone other than the baby Samuel.

Historically, there has been little sympathy in court for cult members when their actions cause deaths.

This has been proven repeatedly through the Manson Family trials and the death sentences handed out to members of Aum in Japan. Nine Aum members have been sentenced to death thus far for their roles in the 1995 gas attack of Tokyo’s subway system that killed 19 and injured thousands.

Former Manson family followers such as Leslie Van Houten have found little sympathy even after thirty years in prison. Van Houten has been denied parole over and over again.

Charles Manson was not present for the grizzly Tate-La Bianca murders, but he was charged and convicted for his role anyway, as a cult leader who controlled his followers like puppets.

However, Roland Robidoux the leader of “The Body,” has yet to be charged with any crime.

This summer there were negotiations between the prosecutor and Karen Robidoux’s lawyer for a plea agreement. There was some speculation that she might plea guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

If history remains consistent a plea agreement is probably the best outcome she can expect.

Like other cult members who have caused deaths in the past, Karen Robidoux will likely have many years in prison to reflect upon her actions and the group that led her to tragedy.

Justice grinds slowly in Japan, but it does seem to grind fine and completely.

Seiichi Endo, once “health minister” for the notorious cult “Aum” helped produce the gas used in an attack on Tokyo subways seven years ago. He was sentenced to death by hanging today in a Tokyo courtroom. Endo is the ninth member of Aum to receive a death sentence, reports Mainichi Daily News.

The judge rejected a “brainwashing” defense offered by Endo’s lawyers. Once again proving that such a defense is not viable when violent cult members kill people.

Aum murdered 19 and injured thousands through the 1995 attack.

Aum’s once supreme leader Shoko Asahara has not been sentenced yet. However, It seems certain that he will eventually receive the death penalty.

Andrew Parker 23 murdered his 22-year-old brother and then killed himself, according to Morning Call. The older brother had battled depression for some time.

Both brothers were raised within a notorious “sex cult” now called “The Family,” but formerly known as the “Children of God.” The group was founded by pedophile “Moses” David Berg. The boy’s parents met within the group and still appear to be active members.

The “Children of God” has been the subject of much bad press for its strange sexual practices that included fund-raising through “flirty fishing,” which many saw as simply prostitution and the sexualizing of children at an early age. The group published tracts preaching such concepts.

Actor River Phoenix, nominated for an Oscar for his role in the film “Running on Empty,” was also raised within the group. Phoenix once said he lost his virginity at age four. He later died at 23, the result of a drug overdose.

Former members, especially those raised within the “Children of God,” often seem to struggle with emotionally and psychologically debilitating side effects. Some former members say it takes years to overcome the residual post-traumatic stress and depression caused by the group. Many have turned to drugs; especially young people with a history in the organization.

Who knows what demons drove Andrew Parker? Were he and his brother two more casualties of the “Children of God”?

The “death cult” Aum of Japan, notorious for gassing Tokyo’s subways, is now selling pats on the head. That’s right, for only $12,500 dollars or about 1.5 million Japanese yen, you can receive “sacred energy” by getting a little tap on the top of your head from Aum’s new leader Fumihiro Joyu, according to Mainichi Shimbun.

Apparently Aum needs the cash. The group once sold its former leader Shoko Asahara’s bath water. But Asahara either isn’t taking any baths in prison, or the authorities aren’t letting his used water leak out. So the cult that supposedly went broke in 1995, is now promoting the so-called “Shakty Pat” to raise funds.

Despite its attack during 1995 on Tokyo’s subways with poison gas and the fact that its leader Shoko Asahara is locked up and likely to be sentenced to death, Aum is still plugging along according to the Japan Times.

The group peaked at 10,000, but later bottomed out well below 1,000. But now it’s growing albeit very slowly. Today Aum has just over 1,000 die-hard followers, half live in the cult’s remaining compounds. They are closely watched by the Japanese authorities and must report to a security agency regularly. The Japanese are not taking any chances on their number one terrorist cult.

One die-hard Aum devotee recently said of Asahara, “What he did may never be forgiven by the Japanese people, but I truly believe that what he taught will one day be recognized as the great legacy of human civilization.” Right, and so will the teachings of Hitler, once we forget about the Holocaust.