Cult News

The so-called “International Academy for Detoxification Specialists” looks like another way for Scientology to market its “technology” and recruit adherents.

The organization says it wants “to address the human consequences of environmental contamination.”

How?

Why through “a detoxification program developed by L. Ron Hubbard” the founder of Scientology, of course.

A brief summary of that program includes “daily doses of immediate-release niacin,” “intermittent sauna to force sweating” and “ingestion of cold-pressed oils.”

Where did they come up with this strange solution for environmental contamination?

Well, they say that “the protocol is fully described in L. Ron Hubbard’s book Clear Body Clear Mind.”

This is the same protocol most often referred to as the “purification rundown,” commonly proscribed through Scientology’s supposed cure for drug abuse, called Narconon.

Apparently, Scientology has simply found yet another way to market its same old tired “technology,” but this time as a solution for environmental hazards and pollutants.

However, when questioned about Narconon a doctor at the National Institute on Drug Abuse said, “We know of no peer-reviewed scientific literature to support this program.”

A Swedish expert summarized it succinctly; “There is no documentation to show that the Hubbard method of detoxification… conforms to scientific standards and medical experience.” And he added, “The risks and side effects of the treatment method have also not been evaluated in a serious way.”

Buyer beware.

Maybe a better and probably cheaper solution to suspected contamination is a visit to your regular doctor and/or HMO.

On December 28, 2002 the Dallas Morning News published a review of the book Nothing is Impossible by Christopher Reeve. The actor and director, now widely known for his efforts to promote spinal cord injury research, wrote his latest book about coping with paralysis and ongoing recovery.

The newspaper review by Richard Dickey stated, “Reeve credits both Scientology and extensive physical therapy for his overall improvement.”

That was a false statement.

CultNews first broke the story that Christopher Reeve actually was critical of Scientology within his new book.

When contacted Mr. Dickey did not explain his review, but eventually admitted he was wrong.

This week on Tuesday February 4th a correction was run as follows:

“A review of the book Nothing is Impossible by Christopher Reeve that ran on Page 6G on Dec. 28th, 2002, incorrectly said that Reeve praised Scientology for part of his recovery process after an accident that left him paralyzed. Reeve wrote that his personal experience with the Church of Scientology was unfulfilling and short lived.”

The book by Reeve is inspirational. But not only regarding the actor’s heroic struggle with paralysis. It is also inspiring to learn about his spiritual quest, which is strikingly different from many Hollywood types.

Reeve’s inquiry has not been driven by narcissism, nor is it neat or easily settled. He offers no simple solution or convenient epiphany. Instead Reeve is a man whose commitment to truth supercedes self-serving answers.

He chronicles decades of a spiritual journey that includes many interesting, often peculiar groups. And his piercing critical analysis is illuminating.

Unlike Tom Cruise, John Travolta and other stars enamored with Scientology, Reeve relatively quickly recognized apparent methods of manipulation used by the organization to recruit and retain members.

Maybe the star of Superman doesn’t really have x-ray vision, but it seems he saw through Scientology.

Scientology finally achieved tax-exempt status in Germany this month, reports Deutsche Welle.

The organization has striven for years to accomplish this.

One German critic said Scientology “operates as nothing other than a business syndicate with a Mafia-like structure.” And Hamburg’s Scientology commissioner called the organization “dangerous.”

Now defunct George Magazine once reported how Scientology used Hollywood celebrities to lobby Washington and pressure Germany. Stars like John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Isaac Hayes spoke out against the German government.

No doubt German Scientologists are happy about their new tax-exempt status. Some might even shout out “Heil Hubbard.” L. Ron Hubbard was the founder of Scientology.

However, the majority of Germans will likely continue to be suspicious about Scientology.

Germany’s tragic 20th Century history should make it easy for anyone to understand why its people would be concerned about an essentially totalitarian regime growing in their midst.

According to a recent press report Scientology continues to be monitored closely by 15 of Germany’s 16 states.

The website Girlcomic.net decided to dedicate a section to religion recently, and everything from “Jewish Nerds” to Yoga was discussed and joked about.

One comic Kimmy Gatewood wrote about a fun-filled evening at Scientology headquarters in New York.

The apparently street-wise comic quipped that it was cheaper than a Broadway Show.

She took the “free personality test,” walked around and even saw a film short.

Gatewood says, “I fell out of my seat laughing.”

Besides the humor what can be readily be seen from her story is how smooth Scientology can be. First it’s free, then Gatewood is quoted only $25.00 for a handbook.

No doubt their come on would have escalated as courses and “auditing” would be suggested, which can get pretty pricey.

But like many groups called “cults,” Scientology comes on slow and escalates involvement in gradual increments.

It’s an effective sales approach. Actor Chris Reeve was taken in for awhile and he’s a Cornell graduate.

However, little Kimmy was not an easy mark. She concludes, “All in all, an evening well spent in my continual search to understand others. More important, a lesson well learned in celebrity-endorsed cults. You’ll never get me, Travolta!”

When President George Bush gave his State of the Union address Tuesday it was reported (“Bush Touts Religion-Based Drug Treatment,” Associated Press, January 29, 2003 by Laura Meckler) that Henry Lozano of Teen Challenge in California, was sitting with the first lady throughout the presentation.

Bush pushed the idea of funding faith-based drug rehab programs with federal money.

But would it be appropriate to include Teen Challenge within such a scheme?

According to Teen Challenge literature its entire approach can be summarized as “Basic Confrontational Evangelism.” And the organization has stated specifically, “The only cure for . . . drug abuse, is Jesus Christ.”

The Teen Challenge program is essentially religious training and indoctrination.

There is nothing wrong with including faith as a meaningful component when confronting drug abuse. And such approaches can be successful.

But should federal money be used to pay for a sectarian cure? This would certainly seem to set a troubling precedent.

Before televangelist Pat Robertson received $500,000 for a pet program through Bush faith-based funding, he pointedly objected to the president’s project.

Robertson previously said such grants would be like opening “Pandora’s Box.” And that once opened would not easily be shut.

How can the federal government decide which theologically based cures should be funded?

Would Scientology’s Narconon drug rehab receive federal money? What about Krishna? They might have a substance abuse solution based upon chanting? Maybe the Raelians have some special cure coming from outer space?

Will the government now be in the business of judging which religion works best?

J. Gordon Melton in apparently now promoting the seventh edition of his book called the “Encyclopedia of American Religions.”

But don’t expect to see any meaningful critical analysis or fact-driven revelations within this tome. Instead the part-time teacher and library worker at the University of California in Santa Barbara, basically reiterates whatever religious groups tell him.

For example, you won’t read that space aliens from another planet are the actual basis for Scientology’s theology.

In a short study by Melton about Scientology he again fails to even mention the premise that forms the basis for its entire belief system.

Why?

Because Scientology didn’t tell Mr. Melton that and they don’t want this information discussed within his published work.

Is this beginning to sound a bit specious for a supposed scholar?

Melton’s encyclopedia retails for $310.00, which may partly explain its ranking on Amazon.com at well below 500,000.

However, Mr. Melton and his book got some good press recently in an article by Richard Ostling, carried by Associated Press.

What Ostling doesn’t mention is the more sordid side of the author’s work. Melton has often been called a “cult apologist.”

In fact Mr. Melton refuses to use the term “cult.” Instead he prefers to call groups like Scientology, “The Family” and Ramtha, “new religions” or “new religious movements” (NRMs).

Maybe this is because they pay him.

Melton often works for groups called “cults,” either through cult-funded “research projects,” books or as an expert witness.

J.Z. Knight, who leads the Ramtha group, hired him to write the book for her titled Finding Enlightenment: Ramtha’s School of Ancient Wisdom.

Scientology has recommended Melton as a resource. And after the Cult Awareness Network was bankrupted by that group’s litigation and its name was bought by a Scientologist, Gordon Melton became a “religious resource” recommended by the “new Cult Awareness Network.”

Mr. Melton seems eager to help “cults” whenever he can.

He once flew to Japan to defend the cult Aum, right after it released poison gas within Tokyo’s subway system. While thousands of victims were being rushed to hospitals Mr. Melton flew in, all of his expenses were paid for by the criminal cult.

For a “scholar” Gordon Melton often seems indifferent concerning historical facts.

Jim Jones was responsible for the cult mass murder-suicide of more than 900 people in Jonestown November 18, 1978. However, Mr. Melton said, “This wasn’t a cult. This was a respectable, mainline Christian group.”

Melton has earned a reputation for largely ignoring and/or discounting the testimony of former cult members.

Professor Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi of the University of Haifa noted, “In every single case since the Jonestown tragedy, statements by ex-members turned out to be more accurate than those of apologists and NRM researchers…It is indeed baffling…the strange, deafening, silence of [such scholars]…a thorny issue…like the dog that didn’t bark… should make us curious, if not outright suspicious.”

Is Gordon Melton such a silent scholar, or perhaps even a “silent partner”? After all he is often paid by cults.

Melton was prominently mentioned within a confidential memo written and distributed by Jeffery Hadden. This memo has been cited as a kind of “smoking gun,” regarding the tacit cooperation of like-minded “cult apologists.”

Within that memo the now deceased Hadden cited Melton’s importance and willingness to cooperate in an organized effort, which would hopefully be funded by “cults,” to essentially quell criticism about them.

Hadden said, “We recognize that Gordon Melton’s Institute is singularly the most important information resource in the US, and we feel that any new organization would need to work closely with him.”

Ostling’s article carried by the AP cites Melton’s “nonpartisan objectivity,” but can anyone who objectively reviews his actual professional history really conclude that J. Gordon Melton is nonpartisan?

President Bush has recently appointed David L. Caprara his new director of VISTA, reports The Washington Post.

Caprara’s previous job was heading an organization closely associated with Rev. Sun Myung Moon called the “American Family Coalition.” Just one of a myriad of front organizations ultimately controlled by the founder of the Unification Church.

A quick perusal of the American Family Coalition website reveals they heavily promote “faith based programs.”

Will Mr. Caprara become Rev. Moon’s mole at VISTA?

Caprara also did well during the last Bush administration. The first President Bush made him an official within the Housing and Urban Development Department.

The Bush family has longstanding ties to Rev. Moon, who has paid Bush Sr. millions of dollars to show up and speak at various venues, which ultimately promotes the public persona of Moon.

What’s up now with the second Bush White House?

Is the son following in his father’s footsteps and doing a little “Moon-walking”?

Bill Clinton was the best friend in the White House Scientology ever had.

Is the Bush family now picking its own special “cult” to be friendly with? Or is this all just a strange coincidence?

Jeffrey Hadden 66, who taught religious studies at the University of Virginia, died this past Sunday of cancer, reports Associated Press.

The AP says the professor’s “work promoted religious tolerance.”

However, Hadden can instead easily be seen as a “cult apologist” who focused much of his energy in later life on defending groups called “cults.”

Hadden worked closely with Rev. Moon’s Unification Church and was recommended as an expert by Scientology.

However, Hadden insisted that such groups not be called “cults,” but instead “new religious movements.”

A confidential memo written by Hadden during 1989 and later made public revealed a network of academics, scholars and related operatives who sought to neutralize and/or discredit criticism of cults. Hadden hoped that these efforts might be funded by “cult” organizations.

Academics like Hadden, became increasingly controversial and some scholars saw them as a source for potential “public scandal.”

Rutgers Professor of Sociology Benjamin Zablocki said, “The sociology of religion can no longer avoid the unpleasant ethical question of how to deal with the large sums of money being pumped into the field by the religious groups being studied…in the form of subvention of research expenses, subvention of publications, opportunities to sponsor and attend conferences, or direct fees for services, this money is not insignificant, and its influence on research findings and positions taken on scholarly disputes is largely unknown. This is an issue that is slowly but surely building toward a public scandal.”

Jeffrey Hadden was the recipient of such “sums of money.” One example is his defense of Scientology as a paid expert in court.

Hadden’s website, which the AP refers to as a “comprehensive” resource about “religious movements,” was actually a part of the professor’s ongoing effort to defend “cults” and discredit their critics.

The AP claims Hadden believed in “tolerance and freedom,” but he was often intolerant of former cult members that exposed abuses and his confidential memo does not seem to encourage freedom of expression, at least not for those who disagreed with his views.

During the 90s as acts of cult violence, scandal, suicide and/or abuse became more commonplace, Hadden’s apologies rang hollow. And subsequently his importance and influence as an objective serious scholar waned.

In the end, though some “cults” may lament the loss of a friend and defender, much of Jeffrey Hadden’s work as an academic scholar seems suspect.

Are the books of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, really hot sellers or are the author’s sales instead the result of loyal Scientologists buying up their icon’s fiction?

“If not the Hubbardites but the apostates and investigative reporters are to be believed, ‘Battlefield Earth’ was a required purchase, and another church scam.” says Salon Magazine.

Never mind, Yahoo is running a less critical rehash of a press release touting Hubbard’s “‘Battlefield Earth’ — the biggest single science fiction novel in electronic publishing.”

Uh huh.

But if Battlefield Earth was so good as a book why did it bomb at the box office as a movie? It ultimately won “Razzies” as the worst movie of the year.

Well, some books just don’t translate into good movies. Right?

But USA Today said, “[The script is] deeply dumb, depressingly derivative.”

Hey wasn’t the script based upon Hubbard’s story or what?

How much money does Scientology extract from the millions left behind by Elvis and his ever-growing trust left to his only heir Lisa Marie Presley?

No one knows for sure, but there have been persistent rumors that folks may occupy a seat or two on the Presley Trust, who are friendly with the controversial church, which has been called a “cult.”

Fox News wonders just how much money from Elvis fans finds its way into the coffers of Scientology.

Ironically, Elvis himself reportedly didn’t like Scientology.

According to a close associate “The King” once said, “F – – – those people! There’s no way I’ll ever get involved with that son-of-a-bitchin’ group. All they want is my money.”

An old Elvis crony said, “He’d s – – t a brick to see how far Lisa Marie’s gotten into it.”

Would Elvis fans ” s – – t a brick” to learn that money spent at Graceland, or on Elvis mementos and re-released music, might just be finding its way to “that son-of-a-bitchin’ group”?