Cult News

Last year at Oscar time former daytime TV star Rosie O’Donnell was angry with a “cult” that used her to do voiceover for its small-documentary, which was later nominated for an Oscar.

They lost.

But what made Rosie mad? The openly lesbian celebrity didn’t appreciate the group trading on her name, when she found out later that they had a history of discrimination against gays and blacks.

The group called “The Work,” is led by an aging former actress named Sharon Gans, but was once known as the “Theater of all Possibilities” in San Francisco, before leaving the Bay area amidst allegations of abuse.

Last year O’Donnell said, “What is my luck that of all the theater groups in the world, the one I pick would be a cult?”

What a difference a year makes.

Sharon Gans has apparently decided to liquidate some assets. And up on the block is a $1.45 million dollar estate in upstate New York.

The “estate,” or what some might see as a “cult compound,” was only just recently completed for the nonprofit corporation Gans controls called “The Hudson Valley Artists Association.”

It is located near the town of Pawling and is surrounded by 20 acres of “beautiful countryside,” touts the sales ad, which can now be viewed on-line.

Paid for by Gans’ devotees is a main house with 4,800 square feet. And that three- bedroom main residence boasts a ballroom that can accommodate a hundred. The compound also includes a guesthouse, caretaker cottage, two duplex studio buildings, a large workshop and a heated inground swimming pool with a “deep end.”

It looks like “cult” members may have taken a dive into the “deep end” on this property. Public records show they put up more than a million dollars, seemingly to please their “teacher.”

However, Gans has now apparently decided she’s had enough of Pawling.

And why not?

The “cult” leader still controls other properties worth millions of dollars in Manhattan and Montana. Her sprawling ranch/compound near Kalispell has more than a hundred acres. It not only has a heated pool, but a sauna too.

Members toiled for years to remodel and improve this “ranch” for their leader.

Ms. Gans still has yet another private estate in New York near Croton, which was put up for sale not long ago.

Gans is almost 70, maybe she is engaged in estate planning and/or rearranging her portfolio?

So if some cult leader is looking for a compound, there is one just waiting for devoted sycophants and ready to occupy. Of course chain link fencing and guard gates are not included, but this might be negotiable for the right buyer.

However, Pawling residents are probably hoping cult leaders will pass up this buying opportunity and instead a new owner might opt for some better use.

The real estate agent suggested that the compound could become an “Inn” and/or “restaurant.” Certainly, this would be a more benign purpose for the property that might actually raise neighborhood home values.

What about an Inn with ballroom dancing and gourmet dining? Someone should be able to put together a menu featuring better fare than what Sharon Gans has been serving.

A 35-year-old white supremacist allegedly recruited teenage boys as young as 13 in Wisconsin and offered them weapons training, reports WISN News in Milwaukee.

Michael Faust was arrested after authorities found illegal weapons stashed at his grandmother’s farm.

The racist was reportedly teaching teenagers to fire weapons at a nearby field.

Faust previously served prison time for attempted murder.

As if parents didn’t have enough to worry about with drugs, drinking and sexually transmitted diseases, they may now need to add racist recruiters to their list.

But Faust could pull 60 years for his latest offense. That sounds about right, to help families keep their children safe by taking the racist off the streets, at least until he’s too infirm to walk them.

Showtime began airing a reality television program devoted to exposing unproven claims, pseudo-science, supposed “psychics” and “spirit mediums,” amongst other assorted and/or apparent mumbo-jumbo.

Las Vegas magicians Penn & Teller are the hosts and they promise to debunk everything from claims about the dangers of second hand smoke, to global warming.

The show is titled, “Penn & Teller: Bulls—t.”

Some journalists already have begun sniping or snickering, such as LA Times reviewer Brian Lowry and NY Times critic Ron Werthemir.

The two journalists didn’t seem to like the show. Lowry called it “humbug,” while Werthemir describes the program as only “mildly interesting.”

Let’s face it, titillating and sensational claims often draw better ratings than a dose of reality. And this type of “Reality TV” may just be a little too real for many within the viewing audience.

But maybe its time for a show that features some cynical scrutiny? Shouldn’t it be a welcome addition to the growing roster of reality-driven TV programming?

The debunking team’s first target was the so-called “performance art” known as “cold reading.” That is, someone sifting around and asking general questions, then holding forth and giving even more general answers, until someone is convinced they posses “psychic power” or “paranormal ability.”

Sound familiar?

Pen and Teller went after the likes of cable guru John Edward and his show “Crossing Over.”

But pessimistic former magician and fellow debunker Randi said, “No amount of evidence is going to shake them,” a reference to the diehard fans of such sensational paranormal shows.

Maybe so, but it’s good to see some semblance of balance coming to television in this area.

A purported “cult” leader’s previous criminal conviction was overturned yesterday by Taiwan’s High Court, on the grounds that his conduct warranted the “constitutional protection for religion,” reports The Taipai Times.

The so-called “mystic” Sung was convicted for bilking his followers through a scheme largely based upon supernatural claims supported by doctored photographs.

However, a court later decided, “There is no evidence to prove that Sung cheated his followers and forced them to donate.” And that the man’s crimes were actually protected as a “religious activity.”

It appears that if a con artist employs a religious ruse to perpetrate a fraud in Taiwan, that activity may be considered a legally protected act and therefore enjoy immunity from prosecution.

Get ready for more “cults” to set up shop in Taiwan.

The court has certainly cleared the way for a comfortable and promising business environment, within which they can thrive.

Once women became “Hookers for Christ” for the “cult” called the “Children of God,” now known as “The Family.” They engaged in what their leader “Moses” David Berg referred to as “flirty fishing.” That is, using sexual attraction to lure and then hook new members.

Berg died in 1994. And “The Family” claims it has abandoned such practices.

But apparently the Japanese “cult” Aum, now known as Aleph, is following in Berg’s footsteps.

Female Aum members are allegedly luring men to meetings, but eventually attempt to introduce them to theit “cult” leader, reports The Mainichi Daily News.

But the latest twist to “flirty fishing” it seems, is to cast the hook out on-line through the Internet.

Aum’s desperation to find new recruits has apparently caused it to embrace an old “cult” tradition.

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.

In the Philippines children were initially taken out of a “cult” called “Salva Me,” due to claims of abuse and neglect.

However, later Judge Pampio Abarintos ordered them returned to their families, despite their involvement in the strange cult.

But the judge warned cult members, “Do not neglect your children. Your children are not your personal property. If your beliefs interfere with their rights to live normal lives, the government will certainly intervene,” reports The Manila Bulletin.

These words clearly define what can easily be seen as the limits of religious freedom regarding many cults. That is, religious expression does not excuse child abuse, neglect and/or other illegal activities.

Rev. Arthur Allen Jr., leader of the “House of Prayer,” ended his three-month jail sentence last week for whipping children in his church.

But three months in the cooler hasn’t changed the arrogant preacher. Allen said, “I should be congratulated. Given a medal,” reports The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Apparently the jury didn’t agree. They convicted Allen for “cruelty to children” and “aggravated assault.”

The “House of Prayer” leader still has ten years of probation ahead of him. Allen says, “[Probation] doesn’t allow me to preach all the Bible, so that’s just ungodly.”

Apparently the preacher forgot to read verses within the New Testament that enjoin believers to obey civil authority.

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?

John and Vicki Tubiolo wanted to know how their church spent money. But the church had other ideas. Rather than let the Tubiolo’s check the books, their church threw them out and now the matter is in court, reports The Herald Sun.

The Abundant Life Church of Hillsborough, North Carolina started as a bible study, but it ended up as an independent non-denominational church.

John Tubiolo had questions about church finances when a building project was proposed. He said, “What we wanted was a financial report with the beginning balance, the ending balance and what happened in between.”

He is now in court attempting to compel the church to show him that information.

However, the church says he has no right to see its books. And it looks like a judge will ultimately resolve the matter.

Do you know how the money is spent at your church, mosque, synagogue or religious organization?

The more accountability an organization has, the more likely things are all right.

That is, each layer of accountability typically insures those below are behaving properly. It’s not always good enough to rely on innate goodness; it is most often safer to have people watched through system of checks, balances and financial transparency.

Many religious organizations have elected boards, bylaws, auditing procedures and denominational accountability to insure that things are being handled appropriately.

Though all independent churches don’t represent a risk, obviously the more accountability the safer the situation is.

Who is your religious leader accountable to?

John Tubiolo wasn’t so sure. His attorney observed, “We’ve never received anything in minutes or bylaws.”

It’s probably not a good idea to wait until a situation arises to check about bylaws and accountability. Perhaps people who are shopping for a place to worship should check things like this out before becoming involved and contributing money.