Cult News

In its “Roll Call” of those who died during 2002 Associated Press describes a purported “cult leader” accused of “brainwashing” and sexual exploitation as simply a “guru who advocated respect for all faiths through his motto “Truth is One, Paths are Many,” reports Fox News.

However, the late “guru” Satchidananda, who died this past August, actually recruited people for his own “path,” which largely consisted of honoring, obeying and serving his own needs.

Yogaville, the ashram in rural Virginia Satchidananda founded, was a place used to contain the guru’s most devoted followers and generate revenue. It has now become something of a shrine to his ego as well.

Associated Press seems to have done little more than run an ashram press release. Fox likewise posted the report apparently without any meaningful background research.

But many articles have been previously published about Satchidananda, which reflect the guru’s deeply troubled history and a litany of allegations about abuse and sordid sex scandals.

It is true that the good are listed along with the bad on the Associated Press 2002 “Roll Call.” You will find mob bosses Joseph Bonnano and John Gotti along with the Queen Mother of Great Britain and slain journalist Daniel Pearl listed together.

However, perhaps it would have been better to provide a more accurate description of the boss of Yogaville, rather than just echo the perception of his devoted followers.

Senator Richard Lugar, the incoming chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, found time in his busy schedule last week to help out Rev. Sung Myung Moon.

The Indianna Republican attended a conference at a Washington hotel sponsored by the “Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace,” one of many front organizations used by Moon’s Unification Church.

Lugar was the “keynote” speaker, which drew many Washington notables reports the Washington Times, a newspaper controlled by Moon.

Rev. Moon was ultimately honored for his “33 years of activity in United States.” What “activity” is that? Critics say Moon’s activities in the US include “cult recruitment” and “brainwashing.” But of course that wasn’t mentioned.

It is also unlikely that Lugar and others who attended the coference discussed Rev. Moon role as a self-proclaimed “messiah,” supposedly sent by God to finish the job Jesus never completed. Or that Moon not long ago officiated over the marriage of Jesus in “spirit world,” so that the Savior of the New Testament would be able to enter heaven.

At the conference Lugar said, “The United States of America has in many ways rediscovered the world,” but apparently the senator hasn’t discovered much about Rev. Moon, or he’s deliberately ignoring it.

George H. Bush has a history of cooperation with Rev. Moon, who has paid the former president millions of dollars for speaking engagements internationally. Barbara Bush often accompanied her husband.

There were repeated pleas made to the Bush family from affected families devastated by the Moon “cult” to cease their seeming support. But despite those appeals they continued to appear at such events.

Mr. and Mrs. Bush Sr. claim Moon shares their “family values.”

Huh?

What “family values” would those be, maybe mass marriage ceremonies?

President George W. Bush had a representative at the recent Moon conference. James Towey, director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives was there. Towey said he hoped the administration would have “better results” in the coming year regarding the funding of “faith based” social welfare programs.

Does Rev. Moon hope to benefit from such funding?

Moon apparently stages these self-serving events for more than just his ego, they promote the impression that he is a “world leader.” Unlike Jesus, Moon is not an apolitical “messiah.”

And when well-recognized leaders like Lugar agree to speak at such events they help Moon succeed with that agenda, which assists the Unification Church in the recruitment and retention of members.

At the conference the Indianna senator observed that “ignorance…is inexcusable as well as dangerous,”

Shouldn’t this Hoosier heed his own advice? Lugar’s seemingly willful “ignorance” of how Moon is using him is clearly both “inexcusable” and potentially “dangerous.”

South Korean officials have raided “BioFusion Tech Inc.,” a company controlled by Raelians with offices in Seoul, reports the BBC.

Cloning is not illegal in South Korea, but doing medical research without a license is.

The conclusion that is likely to emerge from documents seized in Korea will probably match what authorities found out through a previous raid on Raelian facilities in the United States. That is, the group is nowhere near achieving the technology and expertise required to produce a human clone. And that claims to the contrary are apparently a hoax concocted to gain attention.

But a Raelian leader enjoying a photo op in Great Britain of course thought otherwise. He insisted, “I believe completely that a human clone has been created. It is no hoax.” And then added, “I could be a clone and you would never know,” reports the Sunday Mirror.

Right.

It does appear that reality is often subjective to Raelians. And for them “science” seems to be something substantiated through feelings rather than facts.

This “cloning” story now appears to be sputtering to its inevitable end, which is the exposure of Boisselier and her company Clonaid as a fraud.

However, Rael’s followers are unlikely to lose faith even if the world scientific community firmly establishes that their group lied about its “science.” After all they are “true believers” and will continue to believe whatever Rael tells them.

Rael can simply explain away whatever he wants to his faithful flock. The apologetic for the cloning claim will probably sound like an “X-Files” script, some “conspiracy” to suppress the “truth,” which is still “out there.”

And Raelians are known for being “out there,” not for their critical thinking and piercing logic.

Mainstream society may not easily understand such seemingly mindless behavior, but it’s instructive to remember the preposterous Sci-fi stories Rael has already told, which are firmly accepted by his followers.

Raelians believe that Claude Vorilhon, now known as “Rael,” is actually the offspring of an alien being from outer space that artificially inseminated his mother and that Jesus and Buddha once met with him on another planet.

Is it really that difficult for these folks to swallow one more ridiculous story from their leader? I don’t think so. Don’t expect to see any mass defection of Raelians, if Boisselier’s and Rael’s cloning claims are proven false.

Reporters have commented about the “glassy eyed” look many Raelians have. Never mind, some say there is no such thing as “cult brainwashing.” However, “brainwashing” does seem to explain much of the denial and irrational behavior exhibited by the Raelians.

Karen Robidoux says she was “brainwashed” by her husband to cooperate in the starvation death of her one-year-old son Samuel.

Robidoux is charged with murder and was expected to stand trial early next month. But now that date has been bumped pending a psychological evaluation reports WMTW News in Massachusetts.

Robidoux’s husband Jacques has already been convicted of murder and is serving an automatic life sentence.

Karen Robidoux and her attorney have decided upon a risky high stakes courtroom strategy that is likely to fail. It is doubtful a jury will have much sympathy for the cult brainwashing defense.

No doubt Robidoux, like other members of the group known as “The Body,” experienced a mental transformation through coercive persuasion. But with the death of a baby as a consequence, whatever sympathy exists will be vested in the mother’s victim and not her mental suffering.

A better courtroom strategy would be to seek the best plea bargain possible and hope that the claim of cult brainwashing would somehow soften her sentence.

Maybe the prosecutor offered Robidoux and her lawyer nothing and she now has nothing to lose?

A multi level marketing (MLM) scheme called “Trek Alliance,” the brainchild of Kale Flagg and Rich Von, has been shut down by order of the United States Federal Trade Commission.

On December 6, 2002 the United States Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit alleging deceptive marketing practices against Trek, subsequently a federal judge issued a Temporary Restraining Order and appointed a receiver to control the company’s frozen assets.

But the first action actually taken against Trek was last December, when the State of Wisconsin filed a complaint alleging “misrepresentations and other unlawful practices.”

Flagg and Von were formerly associated with Equinox, another MLM founded by their mentor Bill Gouldd. Equinox was closed and later liquidated through federal action.

Now any visitors to the Trek website will see an announcement posted by Robb Evans, its Temporary Receiver. Evans was the receiver who liquidated Gouldd’s Equinox.

Many complaints were generated by Trek and some were posted at my website as either personal stories or visitor comments within a designated archive.

Trek typically preyed upon young urban professionals or recent college graduates looking for work.

Trek often cold called people who posted their resumes on Internet websites such as HotJobs.com, Monster.com. and/or FlipDog.com. The company also placed misleading ads for job opportunities in local newspapers.

Their usual pitch was that job interviews were taking place and appointments were available. People who came in would then be subjected to an elaborate recruitment effort to pull them into the MLM. And instead of being offered a salary, they would be asked to buy “starter kits.”

Trek gained an increasingly bad reputation, so they used an array of different names such as “Majestic Enterprise” in Minnesota, “Bay State Marketing Group” in Massachusetts, “Liberty Alliance” in Pennsylvania, “Bay Street Marketing” in Florida, “Chesapeake Group” in Maryland, “Carolina Marketing” in North Carolina, “Midwest Alliance” in Indiana, “Dynamics International” in Illinois, “Pacific Alliance” in California and “Mountain Edge Alliance” in Arizona.

Largely due to the effectiveness of the Internet through websites like MLM Survivor, the Rip Off Report and my own Rick Ross.com, potential victims of Trek were able to access information quickly before becoming involved. This helped many people avoid being taken in and exploited by the MLM.

Some former Trek associates were virtually wiped out financially. It was not uncommon for the MLM’s victims to run up their credit cards and seek loans to fund their participation in Trek, putting them deeply in debt.

Trek, like many other MLM schemes popular in the United States and around the world, seems to sell “dreams.” Specifically, “get rich quick” dreams. And within the group environment Trek created some felt that dream was promoted through a kind of “cult like” “brainwashing,” which apparently was Trek’s real business.

MLMs represent an unregulated industry with a troubled history and anyone considering involvement should understand that. Trek and Equinox are cautionary examples.

MLMs may provide money for those at the top, but it seems that too often little if any meaningful income flows to the distributors below and/or near the bottom.

Before becoming involved in any MLM, due diligence is important. And that process of examination should include an understanding of “What’s Wrong With MLMs.”

As always, “Let the buyer beware.”

Jonestown remains an object lesson about the destructive potential of cults. Cult leader Jim Jones led his followers to an isolated camp in Guyana, later murdered a United States congressman and then commanded his people to commit suicide.

In 1978 almost 1,000 people were killed, including more than 200 children.

With the possible exception of the Ugandan group known as the “Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments,” Jonestown is the largest cult suicide in recorded history. The Ugandan group’s death toll may have exceeded Jonestown, but due to forensic problems will never be precisely known.

Now it seems some religious scholars want to soften the image of the tyrannical Jones, who led his followers to tragedy. This is reported within the Sacramento Bee in an article entitled “What was the lure?…religious scholars are re-examining the hold Jim Jones had on his followers.”

One scholar says, “It’s time to take a critical look to see what this religious movement was all about.”

“Religious movement” or “new religious movement” (NRM) is politically correct language for the more common term applied to destructive groups like the Peoples Temple, which is “cult.”

But an academic quoted within the article said, “That’s a term we use to describe religious groups we don’t like…It’s so loaded with negative connotations. If we label something a cult, then we don’t make any effort to understand it.”

However, understanding what Jones was all about is really rather simple. By most accounts he was a psychopath, who exercised harsh dictatorial control over his flock.

Perhaps the single most defining characteristic of a cult is a charismatic personality like Jones who becomes the group’s defining element and a locus for absolute power. Tellingly, the so-called “Peoples Temple,” ultimately became known as “Jonestown.”

One survivor explained Jim Jones this way, “I never liked the look in his eyes. He preached fear. God isn’t about fear. God is about love.”

But an academic quoted within the Sacramento Bee preferred to see Jones as a preacher of “social justice and racial equality [who] promised…[life] would get better.”

Maybe so, but Jones like many other cult leaders lied. Instead of providing a better more enlightened life, he led his followers to murder and suicide.

Sadly, some religious scholars today have become little more than “cult apologists.” And rather than listening closely to the first-hand accounts of former members, they frequently prefer to dismiss them as disgruntled “apostates.”

It seems that some academics would like to somehow alter the image of Jonestown. But history has etched this event so clearly it unlikely that the efforts of any revisionists, no matter how “scholarly,” can change its real significance.

One survivor told the Sacramento Bee, “I think it’s important for people to know what happened there.” And certainly what is “important” is the lesson learned about dangers posed by destructive cults, and not some supposed understanding of a “new religious movement’s” theology.

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo caused a scandal when he married a follower of Rev. Moon in a mass wedding officiated by the “cult leader.” It is unclear if that marriage was ever consummated.

But after more than a year of rehabilitation and maybe some “deprogramming” the prelate is back in action. He renounced his marriage and explained that he might have been “brainwashed.”

Ironically his former “Moonie” bride claimed it was the Catholic Church who “brainwashed” her husband and is now controlling him through undue influence.

It is somewhat bizarre that the Unification Church, so often accused of “brainwashing,” would now be willing to offer this as an explanation for the bishop’s change of heart. Rev. Moon and his apologists have often said there is no such thing as “cult brainwashing.”

Apparently when someone rejects them, such a position can be revised.

Milingo is now approved to resume his clerical duties. He recently led his first mass in some time, reports Reuters.

Looking back over the curious saga of the bishop and the “cult,” it seems what started as a clever propaganda ploy ultimately backfired on the Unification Church. They not only lost the bishop, but “lost face” too.

Instead of getting good press for the Rev. Moon, Milingo’s story proved once again that the church often engages in strange behavior. However, it’s doubtful that its would-be “messiah” will mend his ways.

More likely is that Bishop Milingo has learned something about the world of cults through his painful personal experience. And perhaps the Pope and his Curia have come to realize that even a bishop can be vulnerable to “mind control.”

Kip McKean; the founder of what was once the most rapidly growing group called a “cult” in the United States has resigned as its leader. McKean’s “International Church of Christ” grew from only a handful of devoted followers in the late 70s, to more than 100,000 within “170 nations,” according to its former head.

The ICC began 23 years ago and was once known as the “Boston Church of Christ” or “Boston Movement.” McKean started the group shortly after he was let go as a campus minister by the Houston Memorial church of Christ. The church ceased to support McKean largely for the same “sins” he now freely admits to. But more importantly due to the doctrines he taught.

In a resignation announcement now widely circulated through the Internet McKean admitted that his “biggest sin is arrogance.” He also said he “fostered an environment where people were afraid to speak up.”

But perhaps the most compelling reason for his resignation can be attributed to McKean’s admitted but unspecified “sins” that “surfaced” within his family, culminating in concern about their “spiritual condition.”

Interestingly, this is not the first time a leader of the movement has stepped down due to unspecified “sins.” The first such scandal was Chuck Lucas of the Cossraods church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida, who was McKean’s mentor.

Marty Wooten a leader of the ICC church in Los Angeles once claimed that there was “no greater discipler, disciple, brother, husband, father, leader, and friend than Kip McKean.” Wooten was apparently wrong. And according to recent reports he has also left leadership.

Steve Johnson another admirer of McKean once stated, “With eyes wide open I’m following Kip McKean; Consciously, Intentionally.” Johnson seems to have followed his idol out the door. Reports say he has left a key ICC leadership slot in New York.

In what looks increasingly like a “palace coup” many top ICC leaders closely associated with McKean appear to be moving on with their maker.

The ICC teaches a controversial form of “discipleship” that requires every member to have a “discipleship partner” selected for them by the group. This system has been criticized as an extreme means of controlling people. Former members have compared it to “brainwashing.”

Research once done with the cooperation of the Boston church seems to indicate that such criticism was true. That research and subsequent analysis was published in the seminal book regarding the movement titled “The Discipling Dilemma” by Flavil Yeakley.

Yeakley demonstrated that the group’s members did more than “follow the leader,” they actually were largely cloning him. Through “discipleship” training they mimicked personality traits of Kip McKean.

Perhaps this is what McKean meant when in 1992 he said, “Your church is going to be just like you.”

Scott Green an ardent disciple demonstrated this in 1988 when he said, “I want to be able to imitate Kip McKean. I want to preach like him. I want to think like him. I want to talk like him.”

The ICC essentially claims exclusivity as the “Kingdom of God.” The implicit understanding amongst its members is that they alone are “true disciples” and therefore “Christians.” Others outside their system are most often seen as “lost” and without salvation.

The ICC has historically been a totalitarian regime with power concentrated at the top of a hierarchical pyramid. McKean was known by the singular title of “World Evangelist.”

Now it seems a small tight knit group of men at the top, led by McKean’s former right hand man and frequent apologist Al Baird, has assumed power. And the demise of some of Kip’s most devoted sycophants can be seen as simply a consolidation of control by the new leadership.

It appears McKean and his family will be generously provided for despite their “spiritual condition.” Al Baird announced that the former “World Evangelist” has moved “into a full-time ministry role with the South Region of the Los Angeles church.”

It is unclear how McKean will continue to maintain his relatively lavish lifestyle, which has included a $500,000 condo in an exclusive gated community within Pacific Palisades owned by the church, expensive schools for his children and other perks.

Does Kip have a “golden parachute” like many exiting corporate CEOs? Or did he put away a substantial stash like some of Enron’s old execs? Maybe his old pal Al knows? Full and meaningful financial disclosure of all compensation paid to leadership has never been the policy of the ICC.

It is unlikely that the ICC will now fade away. Kip did build a “kingdom” and the remaining royalty at the top have a vested interest in continuing it.

Al Baird is also likely to continue Kip’s doctrinal legacy of “discipleship,” despite its problems. And it is unlikely that any significant democratic reforms, which would bring greater accountability to the organization, will be implemented anytime soon. No one should readily expect meaningful financial transparency from the ICC either, through its recent regime change.

It seems Kip McKean once again made a rather interesting observation in a 1992 leadership conference when he said, “I know this is either a total reflection of this man’s life, or he has lived such an atrocious life before the Lord, that this is a rejection of his life…your church is going to be just like you.” Little did he know then that he would actually later appear to have been speaking prophetically and to many definitively–about both himself and the ICC.

Kip McKean was once proclaimed as “The greatest living treasure that God has given the kingdom on the face of the earth,” now he seems little more than a former king who either abdicated or was deposed.

But the “reflection of this man’s life,” his “kingdom,” goes on. And what defines some kingdoms best, is that they are often ruled by despots.

The members of a political “cult” called the “Symbionese Liberation Army” once posed as “revolutionaries” in the 70s, but now most seem to prefer the American middle-class.

A remnant of the group gathered in a California courtroom to confess their past crimes as part of a deal for lighter sentencing. They were charged for the murder of a bank customer during a robbery.

Once anti-establishment they now looked prim, proper and “coifed,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

One former SLA member Kathleen Soliah lived for many years as a suburban soccer Mom before being caught. Certainly nothing revolutionary about that.

Once upon a time all these middle-aged and middle-class folk were followers of an escaped convict named Donald DeFreeze, who liked to call himself “Field Marshall Cinque.” And they taunted authorities while committing a series of violent crimes.

Their goal was supposedly “revolution” and a rejection of middle-class American values. But “revolution” under the guidance of felon DeFreeze, turned out to be bank robbery, kidnapping and murder.

The SLA reached its height of media attention by kidnapping and then “brainwashing” heiress Patty Hearst. She was converted into an SLA adherent largely through confinement and torture.

Hearst would have been the prosecution’s star witness, if her former captors had not chosen to make a deal rather than stand trial.

Until the SLA members cut that deal they mocked Hearst and ridiculed her version of events. But in the end through a required public matriculation, the former radicals essentially confirmed the accuracy of her recollections, which she later said gave her a sense of closure.

Some SLA members may serve as little as three years for murder due to the terms of their plea agreement.

Perhaps the final piece of the SLA saga fell into place yesterday when its last remaining fugitive James Kilgore 55 was apprehended in South Africa, reports Reuters.

And so it ends, not with another pipe bomb explosion, once the favored signature of these 70s radicals, but rather with a public confession and an apology in a courtroom.

Ironically, in the end all the surviving SLA members appeared to want was to somehow be part of the same society they once rejected.

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.