Cult News

A Canadian judge ruled against members of the so-called “Church of God Restoration,” a controversial fringe group that has been called a “cult.” The group has no affiliation whatsoever with the established Church of God denomination and was founded by American Daniel Layne.

Some reporters chose to call this simply a “spanking case,” as reported by the National Post.

It seems that many within the Canadian media were essentially taken in by staged photo ops and seemingly rehearsed interviews promoted by the Layne group in an apparent effort to influence public opinion and perhaps intimidate the judge.

But Judge Eleanor Schnall apparently wasn’t taken in or put off at all.

Instead the judge ruled decisively against the parents and for Child and Family Services. In her ruling Judge Schnall effectively upheld that the child welfare agency acted properly when it removed seven children from their homes to protect them from being beaten with a belt, clothes hanger and the metal end of fly swatter.

Harsh corporal punishment is taught and often encouraged by the Layne church, which has branches in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Other parents associated with a Layne church in California were charged with “involuntary manslaughter” regarding medical neglect. Layne also teaches his followers to refuse modern medicine.

The parents involved in the Canadian case of child abuse are prohibited from further corporal punishment and are required to allow child welfare workers to inspect their children if requested.

A controversial organization called “Champions for Christ” is recruiting prominent pro athletes like quarterback Mark Brunell of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The organization now boasts it has 100 NFL, 20 NBA and 10 NHL members. It is also targeting college athletes for recruitment as well.

But what articles about Champions for Christ seem to neglect is its links to “Maranatha Ministries” founded by Bob Weiner. Maranatha was often called a “cult” during the 1980s

Greg Ball and Rice Brooks who co-founded Champions for Christ in 1991, were once both leaders within Maranatha Ministries, which folded in 1989 amidst serious allegations. Former members and families said Maranatha was excessively authoritarian, abusive and controlling.

Maranatha promoted something called “shepherding.” That is, the concept of putting members under the authority of a “spiritual shepherd.” This practice is often discussed in close association with authoritarian forms of “discipleship ”

Bob Weiner and Maranatha are mentioned within the book “The Discipling Dilemma” by Flavil Yeakley, which is a critical analysis of such practices.

An ad hoc committee of Christian scholars produced a report about Maranatha in 1984, which acknowledged that it had “an authoritarian orientation with potential negative consequences.” Five years later the ministry folded. Weiner admitted mistakes, but insisted that “Ninety-nine percent of what we did was right.”

Is any part of Weiner’s admitted 1% of wrongdoing now part of the game plan put together by his former subordinates Ball and Brooks at Champions for Christ? According to Charisma Magazine they have brought their “passion” from Maranatha to their new work. Does that “passion” include any portion of the “shepherding” that sank Maranatha?

Greg Enis running back for the Chicago Bears caused some concern when he chose Greg Feste of Champions for Christ as both his minister and agent. Feste also negotiated endorsement deals for Mark Brunell.

Later Enis fired Feste and said “I think I was taken advantage of.”

According to tax records Feste gave Ball $34,015 in 1995. Was that Ball’s cut from Enis or a tithe?

What is Champions for Christ? A ministry or multi-level marketing scheme that uses the Gospel for profit as well as prayer? Is it simply a spin-off of a former “cult” using “shepherding” tactics to fleece a new flock?

As the group expands its turf amongst professional athletes in America it seems that such critical questions might be answered more fully and in-depth.

It certainly appears that some athletes that have become involved with Champions for Christ are intensely devoted to the organization. Mark Burnell says he plans to be “working full-time” for the group after his football career ends. Houston Texans lineman Tony Boselli said, “I believe God has called me to the full-time ministry when I retire.”

But who would Boselli be serving, God or Mr. Ball and his cohorts at Champions for Christ?

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.

The Mormon Church (LDS) bought a city block adjacent to their Salt Lake City temple through a controversial deal with the city in 1999. They then heavily restricted activity on the property, which included the exercise of free speech.

Converting the property from public to private seemed to be a practical way to essetially create a buffer zone for the historic temple. And the church made this clear by imposing rules that specifically prohibited evangelical Christians from preaching and handing out anti-Mormon tracts on the block they bought.

Ultimately a lawsuit ensued and the LDS won the first round when a Mormon judge ruled in its favor. However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) appealed that decision and a federal court in Denver reversed the lower court’s rulings, reports the Salt Lake City Tribune.

The evangelicals are now back and exercising their free speech by proclaiming Mormonism a “false religion.” LDS leaders are not happy and contemplating whether they will appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

It seems that within Utah, a state dominated if not controlled by the Mormon Church, officials are often willing to do just about anything to accommodate the powerful religion. Allowing the church to buy city property to create the buffer zone looks like one example.

Interestingly, the Mormon religion promotes the idea that America is God’s promised and special land. But the constitutional rights that uniquely define the United States, such as free speech and the free exercise of religion, don’t seem to matter much to Mormons unless it’s their own. This seems odd for a religion that came to Utah as a result of “persecution.”

One non-Mormon Salt Lake City councilwoman who was outvoted regarding the sale of the property in question observed, “This is very symbolic for a lot of people of the tension between the LDS Church and the non-LDS people [in Utah].”

What will the church do now? The mayor of Salt Lake City has apparently decided to bail out of the situation and will not join the LDS in any further court battles. A good politician usually knows when to cut his losses. Hopefully the Mormon hierarchy, known for its historic pragmatism, will do the same.

In Texas, the state that gave us David Koresh and the Waco Davidians, a new cult is “brewing” quite literally.

The St. Arnold Brewing Company of Houston, Texas has developed a cult following of deeply devoted beer drinkers. So devoted in fact, they actually paid for the privilege of being inscribed on the brewery’s new water tank, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Texans must take their beer seriously and in Houston for some this has taken on almost religious proportions.

Brock Wagner owner of the brewery “obviously has done something right,” according to one expert who commented to the Chronicle. The proof is he didn’t need to pay for new equipment, instead he simply called upon the faithful to “pony up.”

But unlike David Koresh, Wagner is just stacking cases of beer, not ammunition.

Perhaps fanatical partakers of the good brewery’s product might get in trouble if they drive while under its influence, but no one is likely to make a federal case out of it.

Despite massive failure rates cited by respected scientists regarding cloning the “Raelians,” cult followers of a former French journalist who now calls himself “Rael,” claim that they have done it. That is, that ten cloned humans are now growing within the wombs of designated surrogates reports CNS News.

Rael and his devotees have turned publicity into a a sacred rite. They seemingly pull one stunt after another to gain attention. One day it’s bashing Catholics and burning crosses, the next day it’s cloning claims.

What will the group based upon outer space myths come up with next?

The Raelians appear to be like the proverbial “boy who cried wolf” and the media is becoming increasingly bored with their histrionics.

William Pierce the founder of the National Alliance has been dead three months, but his followers are managing to keep busy. In state after state they have doled out hate tracts on parked cars, doorways and porches.

This apparently organized effort has been reported across the United States in such places as West Virginia, Wyoming and Colorado.

Of course the peripatetic Neo-Nazis are doing their promotional effort anonymously, as local residents certainly do not appreciate it. The Alliance’s handouts often seem to be regarded as little more than annoying litter.

Their tracts tout such themes as “White History Month” and “Just say no to diversity.”

This recent flurry of activity seems to be a frantic attempt to prove there is still life after Pierce for the National Alliance. But Pierce’s posthumous legacy appears to only be fodder to fill up trashcans.

The Mungiki are an outlawed “cult” in Kenya. However, despite their status the group is still active. Three people were killed in riots staged by the Mungiki this week, reports The Nation in Nairobi.

The Mugiki sect was founded in 1980 and advocates “traditional African values” such as female circumcision, regarded by many as mutilation.

The crackdown on the sect began last year when leaders were arrested. Many Kenyans have died since as a direct result of repeated confrontations with authorities and rival sects.

Africa’s cult problems reached a climactic point in 2000 when a doomsday cult in Uganda called “The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments” became the largest recorded cult murder/suicide in history.

About 1,000 members of the splinter schismatic Catholic group led by Joseph Kibwetere perished. No accurate count of the cult’s victims will ever be known, but the government recovered hundreds of bodies buried, burned and hidden by the group.

Since the Ugandan tragedy of 2000 African governments seem to have become more “cult conscious” and now appear to monitor the activities of violent and potentially dangerous groups closely.

The crack down on the Mungiki can be seen as an extension of this new commitment, which has included increased surveillance and law enforcement.

The Washington D.C. area serial sniper has now claimed the lives of seven people in a shooting spree that began little more than a week ago.

As in most major national crime stories speculation has been intense. What is his profile? How does he think? These are the questions law enforcement experts are now asking in an effort to catch the murderer.

A provocative clue surfaced recently when the killer left behind a tarot card upon which was written, “Dear Policeman, I am God.”

Professionals that use such cards for “readings” or “fortune telling” were quick to point out that the specific card found, known as the “death card,” was misused, reports the New York Post.

One tarot reader said the killer must have picked the card “to scare people,” clearly an observation that did not require clairvoyance.

The media has speculated that the serial sniper might be a “hate group” or “cult” member.

However, the police in this case appear to have ruled out racial or religious hatred as motivation for the murders. The shootings fit no pattern demographically and have included people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

The murders also appear to be random and not a ritual, excluding the activities of a “cult.”

Tarot readers that commented for the Post got two things right, which was more common sense than an exercise in any metaphysical discernment. The sniper seeks attention and is delusional.

When this killer is caught he will probably fit the historic profile established by previous serial murderers such as San Francisco’s “Zodiac” killer or Richard Ramirez the “Night Stalker” of Los Angeles.

The serial sniper is no doubt deeply disturbed. He is likely to be a loner and not the member of an organized group. If he is a “true believer,” it is probably a commitment to his own version of religion, such as Ramirez a self-styled “Satanist.” And like Ramirez it is the sniper’s own demons that drive him.

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.