December 4, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, 'Jim Jones was a friend of mine'; Rabbi warns about power of cults, by Julie Wolf,
December 4, 1978, The Daily Register, page 1, 2 Jonestown survivors home to Tinton Falls,
________________________________________________________________________________
February 5, 1979,
Association. Davis was the rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, New York. Davis was a regular contributor to The Jewish Post and Opinion, where he had a column. Davis served on the President's Commission on Equal Opportunity, in the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration.
Civil rights work
In 1952, Davis founded the Kentucky Committee on Desegregation. In 1965 he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and was appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by President Johnson.
Opposition to the Unification Church
In 1970, when two of his congregants' children became involved with the Unification Church, Davis began to educate himself more about the nature and methodology of cults. He soon became involved in assisting the parents of "cult children". Davis directed and appeared in the film, You Can Go Home Again, produced by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Davis observed commonalities among the young people he counseled that had joined cults. He found that most of these individuals were dropouts from mainline churches and synagogues - and that they were on a quest for idealism, community and a sense of belonging.
Davis founded and headed the national anti-Moon organization called Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families, which in 1976 comprised 500 families. Davis stated that he received letters from distraught parents all over the United States, telling "the same story". He elaborated his points, asserting that the recruitment tactics used by the Unification Church are "a form of hypnotism". In November 1976, Rabbi Davis spoke at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester, New York, on the topic of "The Moon People And Our Children". He has also compared the Unification Church to the Nazi Youth movement, and to the Peoples Temple.
Other work opposing controversial groups
At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the mid-1950s became the home for the first Peoples Temple group in Indianapolis, Indiana. When informed of the massacre at Jonestown, Guyana, Davis remarked: "I keep thinking what happens when the power of love is twisted into the love of power". In 1981, Davis was quoted in Ronald Enroth, Ph.D.'s book Youth, Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults as comparing the Church of Scientology to "the Nazi youth movement".
Davis later testified at a Congressional panel organized by Senator Bob Dole that he had received death threats due to these statements. In 1982, Davis received the Leo J. Ryan Award, named for the only Congressman to die in the line of duty, Representative Leo J. Ryan. In 1990, Davis criticized the Jews for Jesus movement as being "devious" and "deceptive". He further stated that "people who accept Jesus as the Messiah by definition Christians; they are not Jewish."
Other work opposing controversial groups
At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the mid-1950s became the home for the first Peoples Temple group in Indianapolis, Indiana. When informed of the massacre at Jonestown, Guyana, Davis remarked: "I keep thinking what happens when the power of love is twisted into the love of power". In 1981, Davis was quoted in Ronald Enroth, Ph.D.'s bookYouth, Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults as comparing the Church of Scientology to "the Nazi youth movement".
Davis later testified at a Congressional panel organized by Senator Bob Dole that he had received death threats due to these statements. In 1982, Davis received the Leo J. Ryan Award, named for the only Congressman to die in the line of duty, Representative Leo J. Ryan. In 1990, Davis criticized the Jews for Jesus movement as being "devious" and "deceptive". He further stated that "people who accept Jesus as the Messiah by definition Christians; they are not Jewish."
Later life
Herbert L. Rosedale, at the time president of the American Family Foundation, said of Davis: "A great and gentle radiance has left our scene with the death of Rabbi Maurice Davis. He was one of the people who first brought me into the circle of those devoted to helping cult victims. His compassion and vision were inspiring. He saw clearly the dangers which awaited those who lost their free will to totalism."
Education: Hebrew Union College, Rabbinical degree
Awards, honors: 1982 - Leo J. Ryan Award
Works: You Can Go Home Again, film director, produced by Union of American Hebrew Congregations
See also: List of cult and new religious movement researchers
____________________________________________________________________________
January 22, 1979, New York Magazine, page 5, Moon Madness: A New Suicide Cult In the Works?
New York Magazine - Jan 22, 1979 - Page 5 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?id=ZtECAAAAMBAJ
________________________________________________________________________________
February 5, 1979,
Association. Davis was the rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, New York. Davis was a regular contributor to The Jewish Post and Opinion, where he had a column. Davis served on the President's Commission on Equal Opportunity, in the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration.
Civil rights work
In 1952, Davis founded the Kentucky Committee on Desegregation. In 1965 he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and was appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by President Johnson.
Opposition to the Unification Church
In 1970, when two of his congregants' children became involved with the Unification Church, Davis began to educate himself more about the nature and methodology of cults. He soon became involved in assisting the parents of "cult children". Davis directed and appeared in the film, You Can Go Home Again, produced by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Davis observed commonalities among the young people he counseled that had joined cults. He found that most of these individuals were dropouts from mainline churches and synagogues - and that they were on a quest for idealism, community and a sense of belonging.
Davis founded and headed the national anti-Moon organization called Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families, which in 1976 comprised 500 families. Davis stated that he received letters from distraught parents all over the United States, telling "the same story". He elaborated his points, asserting that the recruitment tactics used by the Unification Church are "a form of hypnotism". In November 1976, Rabbi Davis spoke at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester, New York, on the topic of "The Moon People And Our Children". He has also compared the Unification Church to the Nazi Youth movement, and to the Peoples Temple.
Other work opposing controversial groups
At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the mid-1950s became the home for the first Peoples Temple group in Indianapolis, Indiana. When informed of the massacre at Jonestown, Guyana, Davis remarked: "I keep thinking what happens when the power of love is twisted into the love of power". In 1981, Davis was quoted in Ronald Enroth, Ph.D.'s book Youth, Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults as comparing the Church of Scientology to "the Nazi youth movement".
Davis later testified at a Congressional panel organized by Senator Bob Dole that he had received death threats due to these statements. In 1982, Davis received the Leo J. Ryan Award, named for the only Congressman to die in the line of duty, Representative Leo J. Ryan. In 1990, Davis criticized the Jews for Jesus movement as being "devious" and "deceptive". He further stated that "people who accept Jesus as the Messiah by definition Christians; they are not Jewish."
Other work opposing controversial groups
At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the mid-1950s became the home for the first Peoples Temple group in Indianapolis, Indiana. When informed of the massacre at Jonestown, Guyana, Davis remarked: "I keep thinking what happens when the power of love is twisted into the love of power". In 1981, Davis was quoted in Ronald Enroth, Ph.D.'s bookYouth, Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults as comparing the Church of Scientology to "the Nazi youth movement".
Davis later testified at a Congressional panel organized by Senator Bob Dole that he had received death threats due to these statements. In 1982, Davis received the Leo J. Ryan Award, named for the only Congressman to die in the line of duty, Representative Leo J. Ryan. In 1990, Davis criticized the Jews for Jesus movement as being "devious" and "deceptive". He further stated that "people who accept Jesus as the Messiah by definition Christians; they are not Jewish."
Later life
Herbert L. Rosedale, at the time president of the American Family Foundation, said of Davis: "A great and gentle radiance has left our scene with the death of Rabbi Maurice Davis. He was one of the people who first brought me into the circle of those devoted to helping cult victims. His compassion and vision were inspiring. He saw clearly the dangers which awaited those who lost their free will to totalism."
Education: Hebrew Union College, Rabbinical degree
Awards, honors: 1982 - Leo J. Ryan Award
Works: You Can Go Home Again, film director, produced by Union of American Hebrew Congregations
See also: List of cult and new religious movement researchers
____________________________________________________________________________
January 22, 1979, New York Magazine, page 5, Moon Madness: A New Suicide Cult In the Works?
New York Magazine - Jan 22, 1979 - Page 5 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?id=ZtECAAAAMBAJ
Vol. 12, No. 4 - Magazine
According to former members, the church — like Jim Jones's ill-fated People's ...Maurice Davis, a White Plains rabbi who has deprogrammed 128 Moonies, says ...
Rocky Mountain Hai - Rabbi JayR (Bahir) Davis (official website)
Congregation Emanu-El, Wichita, KS
Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation
Rabbi Davis' sermon after marching with Rev Dr. Martin Luther King
______________________________________________________________________________
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979) Joint-Congressional Proceedings
Chaired by Senator Bob Dole
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PARTICIPANTS – INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE
UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. [Between pages 18-19 of
Transcript of Proceedings].
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PARTICIPANTS – "THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES"
February 5, 1979
318 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C.
Joel Alexander – Former coal miner; set up debriefing center in Tucson, Freedom of Thought Foundation, presently unable to operate due to numerous lawsuits; has highest success rate of any team of debriefers; both senators from Arizona have written to concerned constituents and directed them to Mr. Alexander; working now to make conservatorship legal in order to continue work.
Robert Boettcher – Former foreign service officer with the State Department in Washington, D.C., Japan and Vietnam; staff director of the Fraser subcommittee on international organizations, investigation Korean-American relations, specifically ties between Rev. Moon and the Korean government influence-buying campaign in the United States; currently writing book on subcommittee findings.
Dr. John Clark – B.A. from Macalester College, 1949; graduate of Harvard Medical School in psychiatry; Harvard Student Public Health Service; presently in private practice, working with ex-cult members for past five and one-half years; associate Clinical professor for Harvard Medical School at Massachusetts General.
Flo Conway – Co-author with Jim Siegelman of the book “Snapping”; Saturday Evening Post production manager until 1966; graduate of University of New Mexico; M.A. and Ph.D. work, University of Oregon, where she pioneered one of the first interdisciplinary programs in communications; co-author with Jim Siegelman, of upcoming article, “Snapping: Welcome to the ‘80s,” to appear in March issue of Playboy magazine.
Rabbi Maurice Davis – Senior rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, N.Y.; faculty member of Manhattan College; actively engaged in combating cults for over five years; responsible for separating 128 young people from cults.
Daphne Greene – Past chairman of the Graduate Theological Union; appointed to Advisory Committee for National Parks; resigned from all employment to investigate reporting regarding cults; does some deprogramming; past director of Society of Ethics and Life Sciences of the Hastings Institute.
Jeremiah S. Gutman – Director of American Civil Liberties Union and currently a chairman on the privacy committee; director of the New York ACLU and Council; worked with Lawyer Constitutional Defense Commission, a civil rights organization, 1964-1967, in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi; author of article “Constitutional and Legal Dimensions of Deprogramming; has represented in court numerous organizations and various members (Unification Church, Church of Bible Understanding, People’s Temple, Hare Krishna); has represented many synagogues and Methodist federations; attorney with firm of Levi, Gutman, Goldberg and Kaplan of New York City.
Father James LeBar – Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of New York; priest at parish of St. Catherine Laboure in Ulster County, N.Y.; director of communications of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and upstate counties; did preparatory work for archidiocese at Cathedral College; philosophical and theological studies at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers.
Barry Lynn – Ordained minister with United Church of Christ; member of D.C. bar; M.A. in psychology from Boston University; J.D. from Georgetown University; legislative counsel for Office of Church and Society, United Church of Christ.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES – Page Two
Ted Patrick – Raised in Chattanooga, Tenn.; involved in civil rights movement in San Diego, southern California area from 1950s on; active in local Democratic politics and organizer of political club that registered 10,000 minority voters in less than 30 days; led picketing and protest against area chain stores, supermarkets and schools; Governor Reagan appointed him in 1968 to special representative for community relations for San Diego and Imperial counties; organized first anti-cult group, Free-C.O.G. (Parents Community to Free Our Sons and Daughters from the Children of God); has been active deprogrammer of cult members, regardless of legal ramifications.
Professor Herbert Richardson – M.A., Ph.D., Harvard University; M.Div., Boston University; ordained minister of United Presbyterian Church of U.S.A.; theological consultant, Unification Church; professor of religious studies, University of Toronto, 1968-1979; author and editor of the following: “Deprogramming: Documenting the Issue,” “A Time for Consideration: A Scholarly Appraisal of the Unification Church” (with D. Bryant), “Proceedings of the University of Toronto/Toronto School of Theology, Conference on Deprogramming,” “Religion and Political Society” (with J. Moltmann et al), “Toward American Theology.”
Jim Siegelman – Co-author with Flo Conway of the book “Snapping”; graduate of Harvard; awarded the Fiske Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge; his writings have appeared in New Times, Playboy, Harper’s Weekly and a national newspaper syndicate; co-author with Flo Conway of upcoming article, “Snapping: Welcome to the ‘80s,” to appear in March issue of Playboy magazine.
Jackie Speier – For past three years was legal counsel to the late Rep. Leo Ryan of California; accompanied him to Guyana and did preliminary investigation in to cults regarding their tax exempt status; B.A. political science from University of California, Davis; J.D. from Hastings College; worked on U.S. Court of Appeals; law clerk in federal magistrate’s court in North California district; employed in San Francisco city attorney’s office; conducted meetings with Scientology members.
Rev. Dr. George W. Swope – American Baptist clergyman; adjunct professor of psychology and sociology at Westchester Community College, New York; advisor to more than 100 young people who have left cults; speaker on TV and radio and to college and community groups.
James E. Wood Jr. – Since 1972 has been executive director of Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, representing eight national bodies of the United States; B.A. in philosophy from Carson Newman College; M.A. in history of religion from Columbia University; B.D. Ph.M., Ph.D., in history of religions from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; post-doctoral studies at Yale in East Asian studies and Naganuma School of Japanese Studies in Tokyo; professor of history of religion from 1950-1955 in Japan; professor of history of religion and director of Interdepartmental studies at Baylor University; founding editor of “Journal of Church and State,” widely written articles and books on church-state relations and history of religion; latest book was “Nationhood and the Kingdom.”
Neil A. Salonen – President, the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (Unification Church).______________________________________________________________________________
Lois Romano (1998-03-02). "A Core Collection of Clinton Enemies". The Washington Post.
Philip Weiss (1997-02-23). "Clinton Crazy". The New York Times.
"Clinton Body Count". Snopes.com. 2012.
Murray Waas (1998). "The Falwell connection". Salon.com.
The Clinton Chronicles DVD DVD produced by Pat Matrisciana
_________________________________________________________________________
Cult Awareness Network
From Wikipedia
Not to be confused with New Cult Awareness Network.
CAN, the Cult Awareness Network
Logo, (Old) Cult Awareness Network
Formation 1978
Extinction 1996
The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an organization that provided information on groups that it considered to be cults, as well as support and referrals to exit counselors and deprogrammers.[1][2] It was founded in the wake of the November 18, 1978 deaths of members of the group Peoples Temple and assassination of Congressman Leo J. Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana, and was shut down in 1996, though its name and assets were bought and used by theScientology organization in a hostile takeover,[3] who used the name as the title of the unrelated organization, New Cult Awareness Network.
CAN and its representatives were known for being highly critical of Scientology, Landmark Education, and other groups and new religious movements, referring to some of these groups as "destructive cults."
Contents
1 History
1.1 Foundation
1.2 Landmark Education
1.3 Church of Scientology's response
1.4 Jason Scott case
1.5 60 Minutes special report
1.6 Congress record statement on Waco
1.7 Demise of the "Old CAN"
2 Reception
3 References
4 External links
_____________________________________________________________________
Categories:
Anti-cult organizations and individuals
Critics of the Family International
FREECOG, or Free the Children of God (Family International), originally named The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God was founded in 1971. Scholars consider it the first Anti-cult movement group.[1] FREECOG eventually merged with the Cult Awareness Network, which later as a result of their activities bankrupted and was bought by the Church of Scientology, an organization that the original founders of CAN strongly opposed.
[edit] Overview
FREECOG was the first organized "anti-cult" group,[1] formed in large part in response to the total commitment required by the Children of God. One of the founders of FREECOG is Ted Patrick, widely considered the "Father of Deprogramming".[2][3][4]
FREECOG accused the Children of God of brainwashing and used various methods including conservatorship and deprogramming to counter the group. By the mid 1970s, as the Children of God and other new religious movements grew and expanded around the world, a wider anti-cult movement developed in North America, Western Europe, and elsewhere. In the early 1980s many of the parent groups merged into what became known as the Cult Awareness Network, which is now owned by the Church of Scientology.
[edit] ThankCOG
In response to FREECOG, a smaller group called ThankCOG (Thankful Parents & Friends of the Children of God) emerged, founded by parents of Children of God members who were pleased that their children had found religion and were free from drugs.
[edit] References
a b Melton., Gordon (2002). "The Modern Anti-Cult Movement in Historical Perspective". In Jeffrey Kaplan (Ed.). The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira. p. 268.ISBN 0-7591-0204-X.
_____________________________________________________________________________
December 7, 1978, Edmonton Journal, page D-1, Moonies make land purchase without money,
Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown - Page 29 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=025321632X
David Chidester - 2003 - Religion
Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown David Chidester ... The anticult leaderRabbi Maurice Davis summarized this new perspective on cults before ..
The New Religious Movements Experience In America - Page 5 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0313328072
According to former members, the church — like Jim Jones's ill-fated People's ...Maurice Davis, a White Plains rabbi who has deprogrammed 128 Moonies, says ...
Rocky Mountain Hai - Rabbi JayR (Bahir) Davis (official website)
Congregation Emanu-El, Wichita, KS
Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation
Rabbi Davis' sermon after marching with Rev Dr. Martin Luther King
______________________________________________________________________________
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979) Joint-Congressional Proceedings
Chaired by Senator Bob Dole
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PARTICIPANTS – INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE
UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. [Between pages 18-19 of
Transcript of Proceedings].
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PARTICIPANTS – "THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES"
February 5, 1979
318 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C.
Joel Alexander – Former coal miner; set up debriefing center in Tucson, Freedom of Thought Foundation, presently unable to operate due to numerous lawsuits; has highest success rate of any team of debriefers; both senators from Arizona have written to concerned constituents and directed them to Mr. Alexander; working now to make conservatorship legal in order to continue work.
Robert Boettcher – Former foreign service officer with the State Department in Washington, D.C., Japan and Vietnam; staff director of the Fraser subcommittee on international organizations, investigation Korean-American relations, specifically ties between Rev. Moon and the Korean government influence-buying campaign in the United States; currently writing book on subcommittee findings.
Dr. John Clark – B.A. from Macalester College, 1949; graduate of Harvard Medical School in psychiatry; Harvard Student Public Health Service; presently in private practice, working with ex-cult members for past five and one-half years; associate Clinical professor for Harvard Medical School at Massachusetts General.
Flo Conway – Co-author with Jim Siegelman of the book “Snapping”; Saturday Evening Post production manager until 1966; graduate of University of New Mexico; M.A. and Ph.D. work, University of Oregon, where she pioneered one of the first interdisciplinary programs in communications; co-author with Jim Siegelman, of upcoming article, “Snapping: Welcome to the ‘80s,” to appear in March issue of Playboy magazine.
Rabbi Maurice Davis – Senior rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, N.Y.; faculty member of Manhattan College; actively engaged in combating cults for over five years; responsible for separating 128 young people from cults.
Daphne Greene – Past chairman of the Graduate Theological Union; appointed to Advisory Committee for National Parks; resigned from all employment to investigate reporting regarding cults; does some deprogramming; past director of Society of Ethics and Life Sciences of the Hastings Institute.
Jeremiah S. Gutman – Director of American Civil Liberties Union and currently a chairman on the privacy committee; director of the New York ACLU and Council; worked with Lawyer Constitutional Defense Commission, a civil rights organization, 1964-1967, in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi; author of article “Constitutional and Legal Dimensions of Deprogramming; has represented in court numerous organizations and various members (Unification Church, Church of Bible Understanding, People’s Temple, Hare Krishna); has represented many synagogues and Methodist federations; attorney with firm of Levi, Gutman, Goldberg and Kaplan of New York City.
Father James LeBar – Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of New York; priest at parish of St. Catherine Laboure in Ulster County, N.Y.; director of communications of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and upstate counties; did preparatory work for archidiocese at Cathedral College; philosophical and theological studies at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers.
Barry Lynn – Ordained minister with United Church of Christ; member of D.C. bar; M.A. in psychology from Boston University; J.D. from Georgetown University; legislative counsel for Office of Church and Society, United Church of Christ.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES – Page Two
Ted Patrick – Raised in Chattanooga, Tenn.; involved in civil rights movement in San Diego, southern California area from 1950s on; active in local Democratic politics and organizer of political club that registered 10,000 minority voters in less than 30 days; led picketing and protest against area chain stores, supermarkets and schools; Governor Reagan appointed him in 1968 to special representative for community relations for San Diego and Imperial counties; organized first anti-cult group, Free-C.O.G. (Parents Community to Free Our Sons and Daughters from the Children of God); has been active deprogrammer of cult members, regardless of legal ramifications.
Professor Herbert Richardson – M.A., Ph.D., Harvard University; M.Div., Boston University; ordained minister of United Presbyterian Church of U.S.A.; theological consultant, Unification Church; professor of religious studies, University of Toronto, 1968-1979; author and editor of the following: “Deprogramming: Documenting the Issue,” “A Time for Consideration: A Scholarly Appraisal of the Unification Church” (with D. Bryant), “Proceedings of the University of Toronto/Toronto School of Theology, Conference on Deprogramming,” “Religion and Political Society” (with J. Moltmann et al), “Toward American Theology.”
Jim Siegelman – Co-author with Flo Conway of the book “Snapping”; graduate of Harvard; awarded the Fiske Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge; his writings have appeared in New Times, Playboy, Harper’s Weekly and a national newspaper syndicate; co-author with Flo Conway of upcoming article, “Snapping: Welcome to the ‘80s,” to appear in March issue of Playboy magazine.
Jackie Speier – For past three years was legal counsel to the late Rep. Leo Ryan of California; accompanied him to Guyana and did preliminary investigation in to cults regarding their tax exempt status; B.A. political science from University of California, Davis; J.D. from Hastings College; worked on U.S. Court of Appeals; law clerk in federal magistrate’s court in North California district; employed in San Francisco city attorney’s office; conducted meetings with Scientology members.
Rev. Dr. George W. Swope – American Baptist clergyman; adjunct professor of psychology and sociology at Westchester Community College, New York; advisor to more than 100 young people who have left cults; speaker on TV and radio and to college and community groups.
James E. Wood Jr. – Since 1972 has been executive director of Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, representing eight national bodies of the United States; B.A. in philosophy from Carson Newman College; M.A. in history of religion from Columbia University; B.D. Ph.M., Ph.D., in history of religions from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; post-doctoral studies at Yale in East Asian studies and Naganuma School of Japanese Studies in Tokyo; professor of history of religion from 1950-1955 in Japan; professor of history of religion and director of Interdepartmental studies at Baylor University; founding editor of “Journal of Church and State,” widely written articles and books on church-state relations and history of religion; latest book was “Nationhood and the Kingdom.”
Neil A. Salonen – President, the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (Unification Church).______________________________________________________________________________
The Clinton Chronicles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Clinton Chronicles)
| The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Patrick Matrisciana |
| Produced by | Patrick Matrisciana |
| Release date(s) | 1994 |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton is a 1994 film that accused Bill Clinton of a range of crimes. The video, directed by conservative activist Patrick Matrisciana, was characterized by The Washington Post as a "bizarre and unsubstantiated documentary."[1]
The New York Times reported that it was a poorly documented "hodgepodge of sometimes-crazed charges."[2] It helped perpetuate a conspiracy theory known as the "Clinton Body Count" about a list of associates Clinton was purported to have had killed.[3] The deaths listed in the film have largely been discredited due to deliberate bias, weak circumstantial evidence, and coincidence.[3]
The film was produced by Citizens for Honest Government, a project of a Westminster, California organization named Creative Ministries Inc., partially funded by Larry Nichols, a long-time Clinton opponent, and distributed with help from the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who also appears in the film.[1] Over 300,000 copies of the film were put into circulation.[2]
To promote the film, Falwell aired an interview with Matrisciana, who was silhouetted to conceal his identity as he pretended to be a journalist who afraid for his life.[4] Matrisciana later acknowledged that he was not in any danger, but that the interview was staged for dramatic effect at Falwell's suggestion.[4]
Sources
Lois Romano (1998-03-02). "A Core Collection of Clinton Enemies". The Washington Post.
Philip Weiss (1997-02-23). "Clinton Crazy". The New York Times.
"Clinton Body Count". Snopes.com. 2012.
Murray Waas (1998). "The Falwell connection". Salon.com.
External links
The Clinton Chronicles at the Internet Movie DatabaseThe Clinton Chronicles DVD DVD produced by Pat Matrisciana
Cult Awareness Network
From Wikipedia
Not to be confused with New Cult Awareness Network.
CAN, the Cult Awareness Network
Logo, (Old) Cult Awareness Network
Formation 1978
Extinction 1996
The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an organization that provided information on groups that it considered to be cults, as well as support and referrals to exit counselors and deprogrammers.[1][2] It was founded in the wake of the November 18, 1978 deaths of members of the group Peoples Temple and assassination of Congressman Leo J. Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana, and was shut down in 1996, though its name and assets were bought and used by theScientology organization in a hostile takeover,[3] who used the name as the title of the unrelated organization, New Cult Awareness Network.
CAN and its representatives were known for being highly critical of Scientology, Landmark Education, and other groups and new religious movements, referring to some of these groups as "destructive cults."
Contents
1 History
1.1 Foundation
1.2 Landmark Education
1.3 Church of Scientology's response
1.4 Jason Scott case
1.5 60 Minutes special report
1.6 Congress record statement on Waco
1.7 Demise of the "Old CAN"
2 Reception
3 References
4 External links
_____________________________________________________________________
Categories:
Anti-cult organizations and individuals
Critics of the Family International
FREECOG, or Free the Children of God (Family International), originally named The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God was founded in 1971. Scholars consider it the first Anti-cult movement group.[1] FREECOG eventually merged with the Cult Awareness Network, which later as a result of their activities bankrupted and was bought by the Church of Scientology, an organization that the original founders of CAN strongly opposed.
[edit] Overview
FREECOG was the first organized "anti-cult" group,[1] formed in large part in response to the total commitment required by the Children of God. One of the founders of FREECOG is Ted Patrick, widely considered the "Father of Deprogramming".[2][3][4]
FREECOG accused the Children of God of brainwashing and used various methods including conservatorship and deprogramming to counter the group. By the mid 1970s, as the Children of God and other new religious movements grew and expanded around the world, a wider anti-cult movement developed in North America, Western Europe, and elsewhere. In the early 1980s many of the parent groups merged into what became known as the Cult Awareness Network, which is now owned by the Church of Scientology.
[edit] ThankCOG
In response to FREECOG, a smaller group called ThankCOG (Thankful Parents & Friends of the Children of God) emerged, founded by parents of Children of God members who were pleased that their children had found religion and were free from drugs.
[edit] References
a b Melton., Gordon (2002). "The Modern Anti-Cult Movement in Historical Perspective". In Jeffrey Kaplan (Ed.). The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira. p. 268.ISBN 0-7591-0204-X.
Ted Patrick, Religious Freedom Watch
Dan Fefferman, The Rise and Fall of “Deprogramming” In the United States, International Coalition for Religious Freedom, July 21, 2010
Chryssides, George (1999).Exploring New Religions.Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 346–348. ISBN 0-8264-5959-5.
________________________________________________________________________________
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Joint-Congressional Proceedings,
statements by Rabbi Maurice Davis
"Statement of Rabbi Maurice Davis."
Dan Fefferman, The Rise and Fall of “Deprogramming” In the United States, International Coalition for Religious Freedom, July 21, 2010
Chryssides, George (1999).Exploring New Religions.Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 346–348. ISBN 0-8264-5959-5.
________________________________________________________________________________
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Joint-Congressional Proceedings,
statements by Rabbi Maurice Davis
"Statement of Rabbi Maurice Davis."
| INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. P.74-80. of Transcript of Proceedings. |
Senator Dole. Congressman Ottinger would like to introduce the next witness.
Mr. Ottinger. The next witness is a constituent of mine, Rabbi Maurice Davis. He comes from White Plains, a Rabbi of the Jewish Community Center. He is a faculty member at Manhattan College. He has been actively involved with working with young people to deprogram them from cults for over five years. He is responsible for separating some 128 young people from these organizations.
I would just like to take the opportunity to welcome a very distinguished constituent.
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December 7, 1978, Edmonton Journal, page D-1, Moonies make land purchase without money,
Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown - Page 29 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=025321632X
David Chidester - 2003 - Religion
Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown David Chidester ... The anticult leaderRabbi Maurice Davis summarized this new perspective on cults before ..
The New Religious Movements Experience In America - Page 5 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0313328072
Eugene V Gallagher - 2004 - Religion
Jim Jones, quickly became the primary examples of the destructive nature of cults. ...Rabbi Maurice Davis: "the path of segregation leads to lynching every time
Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America: African ... - Page 39 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0275987175
Eugene V. Gallagher, W. Michael Ashcraft - 2006 - Religion
See David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: an Interpretation of Jim Jones, the ... See the breathtakingly general statement of Rabbi Maurice Davis: "the path of ..
Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America [Five ... - Page 39 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0313050783
Eugene V. Gallagher, W. Michael Ashcraft - 2006 - Cults
See David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: an Interpretation of Jim Jones, the ... See the breathtakingly general statement of Rabbi Maurice Davis: “the path of ..
Maurice Davis (rabbi) - Shopping-enabled Wikipedia Page on Amazon
www.amazon.com/wiki/Maurice_Davis_(rabbi)
Maurice Davis (December 15, 1921 - December 14, 1993) was a Rabbi, and ... At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the ..
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History - Page 327 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0887388019
1987 - Religion
Others' views of Jones: Louise Moseley, Indianapolis Central Christian Church ... AI; Barton Hunter, AI; Dorothy Hunter, AI; Rabbi Maurice Davis, LCJ 1 1 /22/78. ...articles, probably circa 5/12/59, G3A1, CHS; Jim Jones, FBI file O1B11; cf.
Catholic Priests, CIA within the "Anti-Cult" Movement
www.spirituallysmart.com/catholic_cultists.html
A fourth MK-Ultra veteran with AFF, Rabbi Maurice Davis, actually financed the psychotic Rev. Jim Jones of the People's Temple suicide church, in Jones's early ...
The Changing Faces of Cults - Culteducation.com
www.culteducation.com/faces.html
... leads to Auschwitz. The path of cults leads to Jonestown. We ignore this fact at our peril." --Rabbi Maurice Davis ... Jim Jones - 1978. The Jonestown Massacre ...
Mystics and Messiahs:Cults and New Religions in American History - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0199923728
Philip Jenkins - 2000 - Religion
Anticult critic Rabbi Maurice Davis explicitly compared the new cults to German ...Pastor Jim Jones briefly made his People's Temple a potent political forcein ...
Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America [Five Volumes]
edited by Eugene V. Gallagher, W. Michael Ashcraft
Jim Jones, quickly became the primary examples of the destructive nature of cults. ...Rabbi Maurice Davis: "the path of segregation leads to lynching every time
Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America: African ... - Page 39 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0275987175
Eugene V. Gallagher, W. Michael Ashcraft - 2006 - Religion
See David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: an Interpretation of Jim Jones, the ... See the breathtakingly general statement of Rabbi Maurice Davis: "the path of ..
Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America [Five ... - Page 39 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0313050783
Eugene V. Gallagher, W. Michael Ashcraft - 2006 - Cults
See David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: an Interpretation of Jim Jones, the ... See the breathtakingly general statement of Rabbi Maurice Davis: “the path of ..
Maurice Davis (rabbi) - Shopping-enabled Wikipedia Page on Amazon
www.amazon.com/wiki/Maurice_Davis_(rabbi)
Maurice Davis (December 15, 1921 - December 14, 1993) was a Rabbi, and ... At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the ..
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History - Page 327 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0887388019
1987 - Religion
Others' views of Jones: Louise Moseley, Indianapolis Central Christian Church ... AI; Barton Hunter, AI; Dorothy Hunter, AI; Rabbi Maurice Davis, LCJ 1 1 /22/78. ...articles, probably circa 5/12/59, G3A1, CHS; Jim Jones, FBI file O1B11; cf.
Catholic Priests, CIA within the "Anti-Cult" Movement
www.spirituallysmart.com/catholic_cultists.html
A fourth MK-Ultra veteran with AFF, Rabbi Maurice Davis, actually financed the psychotic Rev. Jim Jones of the People's Temple suicide church, in Jones's early ...
The Changing Faces of Cults - Culteducation.com
www.culteducation.com/faces.html
... leads to Auschwitz. The path of cults leads to Jonestown. We ignore this fact at our peril." --Rabbi Maurice Davis ... Jim Jones - 1978. The Jonestown Massacre ...
Mystics and Messiahs:Cults and New Religions in American History - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0199923728
Philip Jenkins - 2000 - Religion
Anticult critic Rabbi Maurice Davis explicitly compared the new cults to German ...Pastor Jim Jones briefly made his People's Temple a potent political forcein ...
Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America [Five Volumes]
edited by Eugene V. Gallagher, W. Michael Ashcraft
Mystics and Messiahs:Cults and New Religions in American History - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=0199923728
Philip Jenkins - 2000 - Religion
Anticult critic Rabbi Maurice Davis explicitly compared the newcults to German ...Pastor Jim Jones briefly made his People's Temple a potent political forcein ...
Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown - Page 29 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=025321632X
Anticult critic Rabbi Maurice Davis explicitly compared the newcults to German ...Pastor Jim Jones briefly made his People's Temple a potent political forcein ...
Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown - Page 29 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?isbn=025321632X
David Chidester - 2003 - Religion
Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown David Chidester ... The anticult leaderRabbi Maurice Davis summarized this new perspective on cults before .
Maurice Davis - Biography — JewAge
jewage.org/wiki/ru/Article:Maurice_Davis_-_Biography
Maurice Davis (December 15, 1921 - December 14, 1993) was a rabbi, and ... At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the ..
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Maurice Davis (December 15, 1921 - December 14, 1993) was a rabbi, and human rights activist. He was a past director of the American Family Foundation, now known as the International Cultic Studies Association. Davis was the rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, New York. Davis was a regular contributor to The Jewish Post and Opinion, where he had a column. Davis served on the President's Commission on Equal Opportunity, in the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration.
Civil rights work
In 1952, Davis founded the Kentucky Committee on Desegregation. In 1965 he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and was appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by President Johnson.
Opposition to the Unification Church
In 1970, when two of his congregants' children became involved with the Unification Church, Davis began to educate himself more about the nature and methodology of cults. He soon became involved in assisting the parents of "cult children". Davis directed and appeared in the film, You Can Go Home Again, produced by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Davis observed commonalities among the young people he counseled that had joined cults. He found that most of these individuals were dropouts from mainline churches and synagogues - and that they were on a quest for idealism, community and a sense of belonging.
Davis founded and headed the national anti-Moon organization called Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families, which in 1976 comprised 500 families. Davis stated that he received letters from distraught parents all over the United States, telling "the same story". He elaborated his points, asserting that the recruitment tactics used by the Unification Church are "a form of hypnotism". In November 1976, Rabbi Davis spoke at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester, New York, on the topic of "The Moon People And Our Children". He has also compared the Unification Church to the Nazi Youth movement, and to the Peoples Temple.
Other work opposing controversial groups
At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the mid-1950s became the home for the first Peoples Temple group in Indianapolis, Indiana. When informed of the massacre at Jonestown, Guyana, Davis remarked: "I keep thinking what happens when the power of love is twisted into the love of power". In 1981, Davis was quoted in Ronald Enroth, Ph.D.'s bookYouth, Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults as comparing the Church of Scientology to "the Nazi youth movement".
Davis later testified at a Congressional panel organized by Senator Bob Dole that he had received death threats due to these statements. In 1982, Davis received the Leo J. Ryan Award, named for the only Congressman to die in the line of duty, Representative Leo J. Ryan. In 1990, Davis criticized the Jews for Jesus movement as being "devious" and "deceptive". He further stated that "people who accept Jesus as the Messiah by definition Christians; they are not Jewish."
Later life
Herbert L. Rosedale, at the time president of the American Family Foundation, said of Davis: "A great and gentle radiance has left our scene with the death of Rabbi Maurice Davis. He was one of the people who first brought me into the circle of those devoted to helping cult victims. His compassion and vision were inspiring. He saw clearly the dangers which awaited those who lost their free will to totalism."
Education: Hebrew Union College, Rabbinical degree
Awards, honors: 1982 - Leo J. Ryan Award
Works: You Can Go Home Again, film director, produced by Union of American Hebrew Congregations
See also: List of cult and new religious movement researchers
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New York Magazine - Jan 22, 1979 - Page 5 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?id=ZtECAAAAMBAJ
Vol. 12, No. 4 - Magazine
According to former members, the church — like Jim Jones's ill-fated People's ...Maurice Davis, a White Plains rabbi who has deprogrammed 128 Moonies, says ...
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979) Joint-Congressional Proceedings
Chaired by Senator Bob Dole
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Categories:
Anti-cult organizations and individuals
Critics of the Family International
FREECOG, or Free the Children of God (Family International), originally named The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God was founded in 1971. Scholars consider it the first Anti-cult movement group.[1] FREECOG eventually merged with the Cult Awareness Network, which later as a result of their activities bankrupted and was bought by the Church of Scientology, an organization that the original founders of CAN strongly opposed.
FREECOG was the first organized "anti-cult" group,[1] formed in large part in response to the total commitment required by the Children of God. One of the founders of FREECOG is Ted Patrick, widely considered the "Father of Deprogramming".[2][3][4]
FREECOG accused the Children of God of brainwashing and used various methods including conservatorship and deprogramming to counter the group. By the mid 1970s, as the Children of God and other new religious movements grew and expanded around the world, a wider anti-cult movement developed in North America, Western Europe, and elsewhere. In the early 1980s many of the parent groups merged into what became known as the Cult Awareness Network, which is now owned by the Church of Scientology.
In response to FREECOG, a smaller group called ThankCOG (Thankful Parents & Friends of the Children of God) emerged, founded by parents of Children of God members who were pleased that their children had found religion and were free from drugs.
Melton., Gordon (2002). "The Modern Anti-Cult Movement in Historical Perspective", The cultic milieu : oppositional subcultures in an age of globalization, Edited Jeffrey Kaplan and Heléne Lööw, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira. p. 268.
Ted Patrick, Religious Freedom Watch
July 21, 2010, International Coalition for Religious Freedom, The Rise and Fall of "Deprogramming" In the United States, by Dan Fefferman,
Chryssides, George (1999).Exploring New Religions.Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 346–348. ISBN 0-8264-5959-5.
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The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Joint-Congressional Proceedings,
statements by Rabbi Maurice Davis
"Statement of Rabbi Maurice Davis."
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INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. P.74-80. of Transcript of Proceedings.
Senator Dole. Congressman Ottinger would like to introduce the next witness.
Mr. Ottinger. The next witness is a constituent of mine, Rabbi Maurice Davis. He comes from White Plains, a Rabbi of the Jewish Community Center. He is a faculty member at Manhattan College. He has been actively involved with working with young people to deprogram them from cults for over five years. He is responsible for separating some 128 young people from these organizations.
I would just like to take the opportunity to welcome a very distinguished constituent.
STATEMENT OF RABBI MAURICE DAVIS, SENIOR RABBI, JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK.
Rabbi Davis. Thank you, Congressman Ottinger. Thank you, Senator Dole.
There is a touch of deja vu about this gathering. Three years ago you convened just such a meeting as this is at which I was privileged to speak. I thanked you then. And I thank you now.
Between then and now the Fraser Subcommittee has published its report declaring that the laws of this land have been systematically violated by the Unification Church; we have watched the cults proliferate; we have witnessed the horror of Jonestown; and we cannot help but ask when is something going to be done.
Now, I am a Jew, and I am a Rabbi, and I cherish -- as do my people -- the grandeur of the First Amendment. That amendment prevents, and properly so, the government from investigating the beliefs of any group that calls itself religious; but it does not prevent the government from investigating the activities of any group, whatever its name might be.
No man and no group in this country is above the law. Indeed, for 1000 years and more my people have lived with the Hebrew phrase, "Di nai delma cultna de nai." [Phonetic.]
"The law of the land is the law."
Unless that law is upheld and enforced, we all of us are victims and we Jews know this very well.
I have here, Senator Dole and gentlemen, resolutions from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the New York Federation of Reformed Synagogues, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, all pointing out the very real dangers implicit in the cults that plague our land.
In the interests of time, I shall not read these, but I shall hand them to you, Senator Dole.
In fact, the Central Conference of American Rabbis has established a National Commission on Cults which it is my privilege to chair.
We are concerned, gentlemen. We are deeply concerned with cults. So let me begin by offering not a definition of cults since everyone has said you must not do this, but let me offer you a description of cults.
It seems to me that any cult has to have the following characteristics:
One, a dictatorial leader, often called charismatic, who has total and unlimited control over his group.
Two, followers who have abdicated the right to say no, the right to pass judgment, the right to protest, who have sold their souls for the security of slavery.
Three, possibly the most dangerous doctrine known to our civilization, that the end justifies the means; therefore, any thing from the Moonies' heavenly deception to the violence of Synanon to the theft of government documents by Scientology, to the brutality of the Children of God, all the way to the murder-suicide of Jonestown, all is permitted because the ends justify the means and there is no one there to tell them no.
Four, unlimited funds. The Unification Church with its some $50 million brought in each year by its mobile fund raising teams is duplicated by the Hare Krishnas dressing as Santa Claus or the Children of God sending out their women as fishers of men.
Five, the instilling of fear, hatred, and suspicion of everyone outside the camp, of the entire outside world in order to keep the victims in line.
You put them all together gentlemen --
Voice. That is not true --
Rabbi Davis. You have a prescription for violence, for death, for destruction. It is a formula that fits the Nazi Youth Movement as accurately as it describes the Unification Church.
Voice. That's a lie.
Rabbi Davis. Or the People's Temple.
I do not address myself to the responses in the audience. I do not address myself to their religious beliefs. That right they have, and I defend it; but I will not defend their right to violate the law of this land or the mind of the young.
During the last five years I have helped rescue 128 young men and women without ever once violating the law, without ever once resorting to force or restraint; but I tell you what I have done: I have peeled off the surface and entered into an underworld of madness, and you have to see what I have seen to understand the horror of it all.
You have to see a young man hearing that his mother was dying and calling out to him and believing it, simply turning aside and saying, "Sorry, I am just too busy."
You have to hear them bragging about how they took the last dollar from a poor man by telling him lies.
You have to hear my midnight phone calls promising that I would be killed by noon because "Father says you must die."
Now the latest. You have heard what happened to Congressman Ryan, didn't you?
You have to see letters forged on my stationery calling off meetings we had scheduled, anonymous letters to my temple demanding that I be fired for having written what in fact they wrote ni my name. Or you have to see this anonymous pamphlet which has already been distributed to you entitled "Who Are Senator Dole's Experts on Cults?"
Every single statement concerning me is not only a lie, but there are -- these are lies that they know are lies with, of course, the exception of spelling my name correctly, for which I thank them, and the description of me as an incendiary or a torch, upon which I refuse to comment.
(Laughter.)
Ladies and gentlemen, every path leads somewhere. That is what a path is all about. The path of segregation leads to lynching every time. The path of antisemitism leads to Auschwitz every time. The path of the cults leads to Jonestown and we watch it at our peril.
(Applause.)
(Chorus of boos.)
Senator Dole. Let me just caution the audience -- either side -- I understand there are some who feel very strongly on both sides. We are under time constraints. This is an information session for Senators, Congressmen, members of our staff. We will have control of the meeting.
I just caution anyone who doesn't want to abide by those rules to leave now.
Rabbi Davis. Thank you, sir.
Senator Dole, gentlemen of Congress: the primary task of a nation is to protect its citizens. That is what nations were created for in the first place. A nation that cannot protect its citizens is a failure. A nation that does not even try is a catastrophe.
Whatever the problems, whatever the difficulties, whatever the pitfalls, we have to try.
How many Jonestowns must there be before we begin to do something?
Gentlemen of the Congress: I am not here to protest against religion, or against religions. I am here to protest against child molesters, for as surely as there are those who lure children with lollypops in order to rape their bodies, so, too, are there those who lure children with candy-coated lies in order to rape their minds.
In the name of two million victims and four million parents and a country bewildered and frightened and ashamed, I tell you this has to stop.
(Applause.)
Senator Dole. Our next witness is Daphne Green.
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The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Joint-Congressional Proceedings
Chaired by Senator Bob Dole
INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States Joint-Congressional Proceedings
Chaired by Senator Bob Dole
1979
______________________________________________________________________
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Joint-Congressional Proceedings,
statements by Jackie Speier
"Statement of Jackie Speier."
INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. (Statement: P.24-30., Questions: P.126-128.) of Transcript of Proceedings.
[Statement of Jackie Speier, P.24-30.]
Senator Dole. Some of the members will have to leave and then come back. I understand Senator Zorinsky has about three other meetings. He will be in and out.
Let's start off with our first witness, Ms. Jackie Speier, former legislative aide to the late Congressman, Leo Ryan.
We have had to limit the witnesses to five minutes.STATEMENT OF JACKIE SPEIER, FORMER LEGAL COUNSEL TO THE LATE REPRESENTATIVE LEO RYAN OF CALIFORNIA.
Ms. Speier. Good morning. Thank you, Senator Dole.
First of all, I would like to compliment you on your courage to address the sensitive issue that has been engulfed in controversy and tragedy. Under significant pressure, you have come together to, hopefully, illuminate some of the critical issues facing our country with regard to cults and mind control.
Although I was a victim of the attempted murder, a witness to the assasination of Congressman Leo J. Ryan, and exposed to the encampment at Jonestown, I do not present myself here before his Committee as an expert on mind control or cults.
What I have to offer to this Committee are my personal thoughts, observations, and conclusions regarding Congressman Ryan's research and investigation into cults and particularly the People's Temple.
Cults are not new in American society. They have been an integral part of the American fabric since the inception of this nation.
Since the early 1970s more than 10 million Americans have embraced cult activities.
As society has become highly industrialized and sophisticated, changes have occurred that I believe bear heavily on the recent proliferation of cults in the United States.
The People's Temple, while not a religious cult, was, without a doubt, a cult. The people who were attracted to Jim Jones apparently were unwilling or unable to fulfill all of their needs in what many of us would consider acceptable bounds of human behavior.
The breakdown of the family unit in the United States along with individuals' overwhelming desire to be accepted preceded the tragedy we now know as Jonestown.
The major religious cults in the United States show surprising similarities. They offer a ready-mad substitute family coupled with a very strong charismatic leader acting as a father figure who has the ability to mesmerize his followers.
Mind control seems to be implemented through intimidation, coercion, force, adn sometimes aberrant sexual conduct, drugs, food deprivation, sleep deprivation, and divestment of worldly possessions.
Congressman Ryan and I spoke to nearly 100 people at the Jonestown encampment. I was exceptionally troubled by my interviews of several adolescent women. In response to simple questions about their future goals and possible return to the United States, the responses were frighteningly similar: the answers were devoid of normal emotion, speaking in monosyllables and quite often not in proper response to the questions asked, making it appear that certain answers were programmed to field a number of questions.
These women showed little interest in careers or college goals, expecting an early marriage within the cult to be the only option in life.
It was a sad experience to see so many lost and misdirected people whose ability to seek individual goals had been totally destroyed.
In the late Congressman's 11th Congressional District lies the suburban community of Burlingame. From this town of 30,000 people came 12 persons who joined the People's Temple in Guyana. All 12 were white, came from families with above average income, and all were previously members of some established church. 10 of these 12 are now dead from the mass murder-suicides that took place in Jonestown. And the two surviving have been questioned by the Guyana authorities with regard to their involvement with the attack of the Port Kaituma Airstrip.
From the beginning of Congressman Ryan's investigation into cults, we were concerned about cults which were purporting to espouse certain religious beliefs but were in fact pursuing quite different courses, courses that tragically led to the death of over 900 American citizens.
Some religious cults with federal tax-exempt status as religious organizations are apparently stockpiling weapons according to reports in the Washington Post and other news papers. One such report stated the West Virginia headquarters of the Hare Krishna organization has a vast arsenal of weaponry stockpiled.
In Santa Barbara, California a small religious cult was recently found to have collected large quantities of weapons as well.
Such hoarding of weapons must be questioned when it appears such collection goes beyond the scope of an individual's Constitutional right to self-defense.
U.S. federal authorities recovered an extraordinary amount of weapons at the Jonestown encampment: automatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns. What few weapons were registered at Jonestown were ostensibly kept to protect the encampment from external attack.
Obviously the arsenal was maintained for purposes only remotely relating to self-defense. The arsenal seems specifically designed to exterminate those who were not supportive of the cult.
The attack on our official party at the Port Kaituma Airstrip is historical evidence of this statement.
Although I strongly believe an investigation must be conducted with regard to religious groups that may be formed for other purposes, I must strongly caution against a Modern type witch hunt or any lessening of true religious freedom.
Also, the government must be extremely cautious to a persecuting a group for merely being unusual or espousing different views of religion.
So it must be asked: what does this ad hoc committee intend to do from this day forward?
The Congress has a responsibility to the American people to preserve and protect the Constitutional rights of the people.
Equally, the Congress must exercise leadership in the manner of cults and mind control.
To my knowledge, I am the only person in this room who spent time with Jim Jones during the last days of his life. When he spoke, he spoke as a broken man, a man who knew there would be no tomorrow for himself and now, as we know, for people who believed in his ultimate plan.
I am a victim of Guyana, but I am alive and very mindful of my responsibility to try and inform others about the tragedy.
I hope this Committee, during the course of its investigation, will also be mindful of perhaps the singularly most important fact of Jonestown: It can happen again.
Thank you.
Senator Dole. Thank you, Ms. Speier.
Will you be able to stay for a while?
Ms. Speier. I will be able.
Senator Dole. Bill Whitehurst is now here.
Bill, do you have a statement to make?
Mr. Whitehurst. No. I am a little late. The farmers held us up on the 14th Street Bridge.
Senator Dole. I figured that out.
Mr. Whitehurst. Thank you.
Senator Dole. It might be helpful -- Bob Boetcher, would you identify yourself in your statement as far as background?
Mr. Boetcher. Yes, sir.
Questions of Jackie Speier by Senators, Congressmen, pages.126-128.
Senator Dole. We are trying to figure out how we might -- are there any questions of Ms. Speier?
Senator Zorinsky?
Senator Zorinsky. Ms. Speier, thank you very much. My question is brief. I am sure it can be answered very briefly also. During your testimony this morning, you indicated taht weapons were involved in the Jonestown incident where there were semi -- and semiautomatic weapons needed for the defense of the group, as I understand your statement.
Ms. Speier. We were told there were a number of small weapons that were registered with the Guyanese government at Jonestown. We found out later that there was an arsenal of weapons, far more extensive than the type of weapons that you would hold to maintain some sort of self-defense.
The weapons that were used on us at the air strip were part of that arsenal.
Senator Zorinsky. Did you receive any indication as to the prime purpose of the stockpiling of weapons?
Ms. Speier. No. We had no knowledge of the purpose of the stockpiling, other than it was for defensive purposes, because of the jungle community that they were living with.
Senator Zorinsky. That prompted the need to have those type of weapons, because of the nature of the jungle surrounding the area?
Ms. Speier. That's correct. Again I have to stress that they had registered only a few of those weapons. The arsenal they had on had at the time of the massacre and the murders at the air strip were in numbers that I cannot even ascertain myself at this point.
Senator Zorinsky. Thank you very much.
It concerns me. The federal laws in automatic and semi-automatic weapons definitely are being violated. I think this Congress certainly has every right, authority, to seek into which laws are being violated such as these weapons laws.
Thank you.
Ms. Speier. Thank you.
Senator Dole. Thank you very much, Ms. Speier.
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March 24, 2008, WND, The N.Y. Times and the bisexual bishop - WND, by Les Kinsolving,
– ... Bishop Paul Moore was a leading patron of the notorious Jim Jones in ... Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his ...
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"The Secret Life of Jim Jones: A Parapolitical Fugue" by ... - Jonestown
jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Articles/hougan-lobster.htm
What follows is an interim report about Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. ...... the man who gave the Peoples Temple its start was the Rabbi Maurice Davis.
Maurice Davis (rabbi) Forum
www.forumjar.com/forums/Maurice_Davis_(rabbi)
You have found the Maurice Davis (rabbi) Forum on Forum Jar. This forum is a place where people who are interested in Maurice Davis ... Jim Jones Forum ...
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November 22, 1978, AP - The Daily News, Jones' Son Blames Him For Mass Suicide Rite,
White Plains Rabbi Maurice Davis of the White Plains Jewish Community Center who knew Jim Jones in Indianapolis, Indiana back in the late 1950's says he remembers him as an "idealistic, earnest young man."
Davis said his temple was moving from the downtown area of Indianapolis to the suburbs, and that Jones wanted to buy the building. Rabbi Davis said "When we sold it to him, it was an interracial, non-denominational church."
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[Blog]
Who Was Jim Jones? by Jason Jeffrey,
Who Was Jim Jones - Gnostic Liberation Front
www.gnosticliberationfront.com/who_was_jim_jones.htm
Other researchers see Jim Jones as the victim of a U.S. government operation. ......MK-ULTRA-linked psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West, Rabbi Maurice Davis was ...
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[Blog]
[PDF]
Who Created the Jones Cult–And Why - Executive Intelligence Review
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv05n47-19781205_011-who_created_the_j...
Jim Jones in Jonestown. Guyana, was ... Jim Jones assembled 800-900 of his zombie followers in the center ..... of Rabbi Maurice Davis, an executive committee ...
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[PDF]
National News - Executive Intelligence Review
larouchepub.com/eiw/.../eirv09n30-19820810_062-national_news.pdf
Aug 10, 1982 –
Rabbi Davis confirms ties to Scientology EIR's Investigative Leads staff has learned that on May 8 Arnon Hanani, representing the intelligence division in the New York and Israeli Church of Scientology cult, met secretly with Rabbi Maurice Davis of the Westchester County, New York "Citizens Engaged in Freeing Minds" to reaffirm a "special arrangement" in effect between them since 1975.
Davis is an "anti-cult" spokesman with the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League previously involved in the MKUltra drug and mind-control operations in Lexington, Kentucky during the 1950s, and a major sponsor of the late Rev. Jim Jones during the 1960s.
Hanani also met with Dr. Philip Abromowitz, the director of the New York Jewish Community Relations Center's Taskforce on Missionary Cults, an espionage agency overseen by the Israeli Interior Ministry and funded in part by Dope Inc.-linked businessman Max Fisher.
Hanani boasted, "I told him [Davis], 'Look, it's simply very easy for me to handle you. It's very easy to work together. Why should a person spend $20,000 on a deprogrammer if they can just come to me .... If [Davis] wants to establish a line to me ... I will see if things can be handled.' "
Asked if "Rabbi Davis will function as a complaint department for you," Hanani stated, " Yes."
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[PDF]
How Henry Kissinger Will Be Destroyed - Executive Intelligence ...
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv09n40-19821019_020-how_henry_kissin...
Oct 19, 1982 – page 28
It is exemplary that the notorious Jim Jones of Jonestown, Guyana notoriety, was launched by the joint sponsorship of Rabbi Maurice Davis and Bishop Paul Moore. His original, Indianapolis based cult, was moved to Ukiah Valley, California, to become one of the experimental psychedelic cult projects spawned by the MK -Ultra project of Aldous Huxley, Gregory Bateson, and the Palo Alto "think-tank" complex. At the time of his death, Bateson, the former husband of Margaret Mead, was official of the cult-building Lindisfame center of the New York Anglican diocese, and was promoting the spread of witchcraft-cults around the United States.
The proliferation of what most citizens view as "fake religions," from Timothy Leary's and the Disciples of Christ's Jim Jones, on up and down, are part of the same process, and are chiefly run out of British intelligence conduits, including the hierarchy of the Church of England and the London Tavistock Institute.
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[PDF]
Who's Behind the Jim Jones Cult? - Executive Intelligence Review
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv05n46-19781128_031-whos_behind_the_...
Jim Jones' cult, the People's ... The following report on the Jim Jones "People's ....Rabbi. Maurice Davis. (presently of White Plains, New York) are important ..
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TFP Cult and the Gnostic Church Caught in a Plot to Murder the Pope
https://www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv11n41-19841023_031-tfp_cult_an...
close associate of Rabbi Maurice Davis. Rabbi ... responsible for providing Jim Jones, head of the famous. Jonestown, Guyana massacre, with his first temple.
[PDF]
Who's Behind the Jim Jones Cult? - Executive Intelligence Review
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv05n46-19781128_031-whos_behind_the_...
Jim Jones' cult, the People's ... The following report on the Jim Jones "People's ....Rabbi. Maurice Davis. (presently of White Plains, New York) are important ..
[PDF]
TFP Cult and the Gnostic Church Caught in a Plot to Murder the Pope
https://www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv11n41-19841023_031-tfp_cult_an...
close associate of Rabbi Maurice Davis. Rabbi ... responsible for providing Jim Jones, head of the famous. Jonestown, Guyana massacre, with his first temple.
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Will the U.S. Keep Its Nuclear Lead?
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv20n19-19930514_061-will_the_us_keep_...
MK-Ultra programs. Rabbi Maurice Davis, another member of the CAN advi ... of Galen Kelly, and also helped create cult leader Jim Jones by arranging for an .
[PDF]
From MK-Ultra Brainwashing to the American Family Foundation
https://larouchepub.com/.../eirv16n40-19891006_034-from_mk_ultra_b...
Oct 6, 1989 – phants in the jungles of Oklahoma, Rabbi Maurice Davis was ... shock and induced sleep: "Rabbi Davis as chaplain func ... Jim Jones and ...
[PDF]
The Child Pornography Lobby Protects Cults, Drugs, and Mass Murder
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv10n49-19831220_027-the_child_pornogr...
murderers of this century: Reverend Jim Jones of the People's Temple, and ... John the Divine Cathedral, Rabbi Maurice Davis of White. Plains, New York ...
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Jim Jones .Power Of Love Twisted Into The Love Of Power .
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19781126...
Jim Jones was "an obviously intelligent, eager, concerned person of great ... building from a congregation headed by Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of White Plains, ...
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November 26, 1978, The Spokesman Review, page B-1, Jim Jones: Power of love twisted into the love of power, by James Feron, [Continued page B-2]
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Rabbi warns about power of cults - Red Bank Register Archive ...
www.yumpu.com › www.yumpu.com › Magazines
Among the men who stayed behind were two of cult leader Jim Jones' adopted sons. ...youth Rabbi Maurice Davis, of the Jewish Community Center in White Plains, ...Rabbi Davis and Rev Jones of the People's Temple worked together on ...
Sexual Revelations about Episcopal Bishop Highlights - VirtueOnline
www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?...
Mar 2, 2008 – ... Bishop Paul Moore was a leading patron of the notorious Jim Jones in... Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his ...
Maurice Davis (Rabbi) - Dictionary, Sensagent
dictionary.sensagent.com/Maurice%20Davis%20(Rabbi)/en-en/
Definitions of Maurice Davis (Rabbi), synonyms, antonyms, derivatives of ... At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the ...
F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network ...
www.xenu-directory.net/mirrors/www...net/misc/.../CO0493AE.TXT
As Rabbi Maurice Davis [Emeritus Director of the American Family ..... The Branch Davidians, like the deadly Peoples Temple of Jim Jones, perceive the world ...
View by: study guides - International Cultic Studies Association
icsahome.com/infoserv_respond/by_studyguide.asp?...
Ryan was shot to death on the orders of Jim Jones at the airstrip as he was leaving Guyana. (Jeannie Mills was also .... —Rabbi Maurice Davis. Read the article ...
Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00149) - Theosophy
www.theosophy.com/theos-talk/200303/tt00149.html
Mar 9, 2003 – (The) possibility is that Jonestown was a mass mind-control ...psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West, Rabbi Maurice Davis is involved in an ... It may be more than a strange coincidence that Rabbi Davis arranged for Jim Jones to use ...
VirtueOnline - News - Exclusives - Sexual Revelations about ...
Luncheon speakers Dr Maurice Temerlin and Mrs. Jane Temerlin, MSW, who conduct individual marital and group psychotherapy in Oklahoma City, gave summaries of their findings about the coercive and manipulative techniques employed by leaders of five psychotherapy/self-help cults they have studied. Mr. Kenneth Wooden, author of Children of Jonestown, now a producer for ABC News 20/20, gave an account of the means by which Jim Jones of the People's Temple used children -- many placed in his church’s care by state agencies -- to manipulate People’s Temple families before they were finally murdered at Jonestown in November of 1978.
Former Unification Church member Steve Hassan, now a counselor, lecturer, and active force in FOCUS, demonstrated his strategies for communicating with cult members in a presentation that included role-playing exercises with participation by members of the audience.
Guest speakers at dinner on Friday were Brian Allen and his wife, Lynn, formerly of the ‘Love Family.’ Brian is the son of comedian Steve Allen, and was the subject of his father’s 1982 book Beloved Son. The Allens spoke candidly and movingly of their 13-year involvement in the group, the difficulties created by the ever-increasing domination of their leader, Love Israel, and their decision to leave in 1983.
An unusual feature of Friday’s session was the “Masters of Deception” presentation by professional magician Danny Korem, who demonstrated stage magicians’ techniques sometimes used by unscrupulous individuals to “prove” their “psychic” ability. Mr. Korem also showed a television film entitled “Psychic Confession,” the story of a young man who had studied techniques such as breath control and then used his abilities to convince others that he was a “psychic.” Mr Korem painstakingly learned the same techniques, exposed the “psychic,” and persuaded him to confess on camera.
Mrs. Earlene Williams, founder of “Parent Watch,” an organization which helps in the search for missing children, some of whom may have disappeared into cults, addressed the conference on the subject of “Coercive-Persuasive Magazine and Selling Groups.” She described the problems arising from the activities of certain sales companies which organize traveling crews of young people to sell magazines and other products door-to-door.
A panel of discussion of the “Shepherding/Discipleship” movement was moderated by Betty McConahy of P.A.I.F., the CFF/CAN Pittsburgh affiliate. Speakers were Randy Heller, author of Deprogramming for Do-It Yourselfers: A cure for the common cult; Steve Montgomery of CAC-CFF Houston, who is currently researching the “charismatic movement;” David Clark, a former member of a shepherding group, now a counselor and archivist for CAN and FOCUS; and Dr. Ronald Enroth. Each member of the panel spoke about a different aspect of the fast-growing Shepherding movement, although all emphasize the possible political danger represented by the belief shared by many of these groups that they have a mandate to establish a theocracy in the United States.
The Cult Observer, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1984
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July 7, 2010, sdsu.edu, Was Jonestown a self-sustaining community?
Although Jonestown was a thriving community, it never reached its goal of being self-sufficient, and likely would have continued to have difficulties in reaching that goal, even without the catastrophe of November 18, 1978.
The land under cultivation and food production was flourishing, but couldn’t keep up with the challenge of feeding a thousand people three times a days. Pictures from Jonestown, such as those included in the 1978 booklet, Jonestown: A Model of Cooperation, showed lush gardens and fields, although the claim that the farm was producing more than 25 food crops apparently reflected the project’s plans rather than its reality. The chickery produced both eggs and chicken, and the piggery was a source of pork and ham.
Nevertheless, one of the purposes of the Temple’s permanent presence in Guyana’s capital of Georgetown was to receive food shipments from the States and to acquire local foodstuffs which Jonestown did not produce, including other meat and fish, rice, flour, sugar, and basic staples in the community’s diet.
With the initial construction of Jonestown completed – the early pioneers had built the facilities on their own, and was resourceful in creating an elementary infrastructure – people could explore ideas for some light industry, both to reduce dependence on the outside world and to generate products for sale in Georgetown. By November 18, the community had established soap- and toy-making enterprises, and was in the process of developing a small commercial sawmill.
Still, it was dependent upon the outside world for its survival. In September 1978, the last month for which there are complete figures, 173 Jonestown residents received more than $36,000 in Social Security checks, and this money went to support the project. The community also relied upon continued financial contributions and business profits from Temple enterprises in the States.
There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that the community was originally designed to accommodate about 700 people, not the 1000 who showed up, and especially not with so many people arriving in so short a time, during the summer and early fall of 1977. Secondly, as the demographics of Jonestown show, its population was both disproportionately young and even more disproportionately old, with a resultant squeeze on the number of able-bodied young and middle-aged adults who could actually do the work.
Finally, reports about food from individuals living in Jonestown describe a precipitous drop in quality and quantity beginning in 1978. This drop indicates an unwillingness to dip into the Temple’s millions of dollars in bank accounts, and may reflect the existence of plans to put a murder-suicide plan into effect when the time seemed opportune.
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May 18, 2011, sdsu.edu, Was Peoples Temple responsible for the deaths of some of its former members?
There have been at least eight deaths in which Peoples Temple was alleged to have had some involvement. None have been substantiated, although the stories continue to circulate in apostate accounts.
• Maxine Harpe, who had attended Temple services in Ukiah and who reportedly turned over about $2400 from the sale of a former residence to the church, was found hanging in her garage in March 1970. Following Maxine’s funeral, her three children were placed in Temple foster homes which, according to several accounts, collected more than $10,000 in welfare support checks on their behalf. While the Mendocino County Coroner ruled the death as a suicide, one of the eight articles that San Francisco Examiner religion reporter Lester Kinsolving wrote in 1972 about the Temple – and the first of four that went unpublished – raised the issue of foul play and suggested that Temple members who were in county government colluded to collect the various payments. Forty years later, Maxine's son Daniel believes that his mother wanted to get out of the Temple and that she did not kill herself. The official verdict of suicide still stands, however, and no one has been charged with any crime related to the death.
• In November 1973, Western Addition activist and Temple member Rory Hithe was shot to death in a room full of witnesses, mostly other Temple members. The shooting itself was not the mystery, but the motive – and its connection to the Temple – is unclear, much less the alleged role of Jim Jones in ordering the killing. Temple guard Chris Lewis, who himself would die under mysterious circumstances four years later (see below), was arrested and tried for the crime, although he was acquitted on grounds of self-defense.
• Truth Hart, a follower of Father Divine in Philadelphia before she joined Peoples Temple in 1971, died of congestive heart failure in July 1974. While Hart, a black woman in her sixties, had had numerous health problems, several Temple antagonists have claimed that her death was accelerated on Jones’ orders. Truth Hart had become disenchanted with Jones’ teachings, especially his denigration of the Bible, and had threatened to leave. The Temple leader decided to use her as an example of what would happen to former members who left “Father’s protection,” and directed a Temple nurse to order a drug known to induce heart attacks. A few days before Hart’s death, according to these accounts, Jones predicted her demise.
• John Head had been a patient receiving treatments for depression at a mental health hospital in Mendocino County where several Temple members worked. He also was the recent beneficiary of a $10,000 insurance settlement, but rather than investing the money in stocks, bonds or other money-making instruments, he took the advice of an unknown Temple member and purchased silver bullion. The same friend later urged him to leave the job he had at a masonite plant in Ukiah – the employer of numerous other Temple members – and to withdraw the silver to provide money for him to live on. Two days later, John Head joined the Temple himself and turned over the silver in return for life care. The relationship lasted three weeks before Head called his parents and told them of his unhappiness and his plans to leave. The following day – October 19, 1975 – he died following a fall from the roof of a three-story warehouse. Noting the young man’s history of depression, the county coroner ruled the death a suicide.• Bob Houston had been a youth counselor with Peoples Temple by day and a railroad worker at night, when he was found dead in a railway yard in San Francisco, apparently crushed by a train car, in the fall of 1976. Although the death was ruled an accident, a number of people believed there were too many unexplained factors surrounding the event, including the fact that the gloves he always wore for his safety while working were found neatly folded some distance from the body. The efforts of Bob’s father Sam Houston to involve his elected U.S. Representative – Leo J. Ryan – represented the first steps that led to the congressman’s trip to Guyana in November 1978. The official verdict of accidental death still stands.
• Chris Lewis was an early Temple success story – he was a drug addict who went through a Temple rehabilitation program – and when he was tried later on murder and assault charges stemming from the Hithe shooting, the Temple devoted many of its resources to his defense. The relationship was an uneasy one, though: Lewis worked security for the church, but was rumored to provide some muscle when Jones needed it, threatening people who went against the Temple. When Lewis was murdered in the Bayview-Hunters Point district of San Francisco in late 1977, the police concluded that the crime was either drug-related or a vengeance killing, but without a suspect, nothing could be proven. That didn’t stop either Jones from lauding Lewis as a martyr who had been killed by Temple enemies, or members of the Concerned Relatives from pointing out Lewis’ increasing liability to the Temple cause.• In February 1980, fifteen months after the Jonestown tragedy, former Temple members Deanna and Elmer Mertle – who defected from the church, changed their names to Al and Jeannie Mills, and founded the Human Freedom Center – were found murdered execution style in their Berkeley home. Their deaths raised the specter of Temple hit squads, even as the police turned their attention to the Mills’ son Eddie, who was in the house at the time. Although Eddie was briefly detained as part of a cold case investigation in 2005, he was soon released and no one has ever been charged in connection with the crime.
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1994, The Cult Observer 11, Vol. 11 No. 1, In Memoriam: Rabbi Maurice Davis,
Scientology Operations Revealed Children Beaten "Lovingly" 6
CUT Firearms and Tax Exemption Linked New Book: Captive Hearts, Captive Minds 8
AMERICAN FAMILY FOUNDATION
American Family Foundation News American Family Foundation committee members, and others who are vital to AFF' s research, information, and education functions, will learn of one another's recent activities in this column. Of course, much more work occurs than is reported to us. We'll try to relate the news in the order we receive it.
WACO AGAIN?
Faye Snider, M.S.W., of the AFF Social Work Committee, who has a private practice in Waban, MA, and her daughter, Beth Snider Glick, M.S.W., who works at the Massachusetts General Hospital, will be presenters at the seventeenth annual Family Therapy Network Symposium at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., in March. Their subject: "Can Waco Happen Again? What Family Therapists Should Know About Cults." In their workshop,they "will explore the different types of cults and the sophisticated psychological methods they use to attract new members, as well as the impact of cult involvement on a family and the recovery resources psychotherapy has to offer."
AFF BOOK DISTRIBUTION
Dr. Madeleine Tobias (pictured below) reports that when she went to the Dartmouth (NH) Bookstore to have them orderRecoveryFrom Cults(edited by Dr. Michael Langone, published by W.W. Norton, available through AFF and bookstores), she found two copies already prominently displayed on the shelves.
CLARK SCHOLARSHIPS
Former cult members who received scholarship grants from the John Gordon ClarkFund have written letters of thanks to Cynthia Kisser of the Cult Awareness Network, which makes the grants named for AFF's founding scholar, and she has kindly forwarded copies to us. The awards enabled recipients to attend the annual CAN conference, held in November '93 in Minneapolis.
JEWS AND CULTS
At that conference, Marcia Rudin and Dr. Sandy Andron were among the speakers, and their remarks concerning Jewish membership in, and recruitment by, many cultic groups were reported in December in American Jewish World "The Jewish community doesn't give a lot of support to organizations that help keep Jews from cults while at the same time, Jews are often targeted by messianic groups. And just because a group is Jewish or Jewish-run doesn't make it safe," according to Marcia Rudin. Dr. Andron: "They [a growing number of messianic groups becoming a major problem for the Jewish community] recruit everywhere--on the street comer, in schools, at fast-food restaurants. To stop them from being successful in recruiting kids, we... need to have councils of kids at various grade levels and learn about what concerns them. And we have to offer continuing Jewish education." He further stated,... "Catholics go into cults looking for freedom, but Jewish kids join because they are looking for structure."
FOR SOCIAL WORKERS
William Goldberg, M.S.W., led a seminar on cults in contemporary American society, sponsored by the Scarsdale (NY)Adult School, last December. Mr. Goldberg, a clinical social worker with ten years of experience in co-leading a group for former cultists, used the Branch Davidians as an example to discuss recruitment techniques, methods used to achieve a state of mind control, life within a cult, intervention to help those who have been seduced, warning signs to help determine if a group is a cult, and steps that a free society can take to deal with this problem. The Cult Observer 2 Vol. 11 No. 1 1994
IN MEMORIAM
Rabbi Maurice Davis: Human Rights Champion
Rabbi Maurice Davis, Director Emeritus of the American Family . Foundation [publisher of The Cult Observer], died late last year after a long illness. A graduate of the Hebrew Union College, and the retired rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, New York, Rabbi Davis devoted his life to the campaign for human rights. He founded the Kentucky Committee on Desegregation in 1952, and in 1966 he marched with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery. In 1965 he served as chairman of the President's Commission on Equal Opportunity.
Rabbi Davis first began helping cult victims in 1970, when two congregants' children became involved in the Unification Church. In time, he personally counseled nearly 200 cultists to leave destructive groups. He also directed and appeared in the film, You Can Go Home Again, a cult-education production of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. In 1982, Rabbi Davis received the Cult Awareness Network's Leo J. Ryan award, given in memory of the congressman murdered during an investigation of Jonestown. He marched with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery.
A great and gentle radiance has left our scene with the death of Rabbi Maurice Davis. He was one of the people who first brought me into the circle of those devoted to helping cult victims. His compassion and vision were inspiring. He saw clearly the dangers which awaited those who lost their free will to totalism. I remember vividly one of my early contacts with Rabbi Davis, when an attorney for a destructive group was trying to get him to explain what he had said to a member of that group when she returned briefly to her family and agreed to speak with him. "I prayed with her," he said. "I prayed that she remember the teachings of her youth and her love for her family ." The lawyer for the group was taken aback. "Is that all you did?", he said. "Was that all it was.'? ....Yes," Rabbi Davis answered, "the rest was up to her."
It was that blend of hope, vision, and respect for the judgment of others that became the cornerstone of the American Family Foundation' s ideals. We owe much to Rabbi Davis and we honor him with our continued commitment. Herbert L. Rosedale President, American Family Foundation He served as chairman of the President's Commission on Equal Opportunity. He saw clearly the dangers which awaited those who lost their free will to totalism.
1994, The Cult Observer 3 Vol. 11 No. 1,
IN THE COMMUNITY
Scientology Operations Revealed The Church of Scientology, the secretive, combative international organization that recently won a decades-long drive for Federal tax exemption, counts assets of about $400 million and appears to take in nearly $300 million a year $400 MILLION from counseling fees, book
IN ASSETS sales, investments and other sources, according to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service. A review of this material in October showed that while the group spends heavily on legal fees--some $30 million during 1987 and 1988-- advertising and commissions for fund- raisers, and is spending $114 million to preserve the writings and tapes of its deceased founder that it calls its scripture, its top officials are paid salaries comparable to those of the leaders of Protestant denominations. The level of these salaries challenges former members of the group and other critics who assert that Scientology is a sham religion run more as a business for the financial benefit of senior members.The organization typically pays fundraisers 10 percent of what they bring in. The IRS, when asked, would not verify the salary figures, but said the information provided by the church was "sufficient" to determine that "there were no issues of inurement that could have prevented" approval of the tax exemption.
Although leaders do not appear to make large salaries, some had relatives on the payroll. For example, the church employs the father, stepmother, brother, and sister-in-law of David Miscavige, the highest placed Scientology ecclesiastical official. Some of the fundraisers--who are paid commissions based on donations raised from parishioners-- eamed several hundred thousand dollars annually, but these "disseminators" are considered Field Staff members and not church members themselves. Nor are disseminators considered employees although they raise money for the Intemational Association of Scientologists on a full-time or part-time basis.
(From "Scientologists Report Assets of $400 Million," by Robert D. Hershey, Jr., The New York Times, 10/22/93, A12) Parishioners' Donations Donations from parishioners are key to Scientology's wealth.
Scientologists pay up to thousands of dollars each for counseling in a process known as auditing that is supposed to rid them of negative thoughts and improve their lives. Critics call it a scam, but church lawyers describe the method thus: "All prices and rates are set to enable churches of Scientology to provide the services, scriptures, and other materials of the religion to more and more members of the general public so that everyone eventually can achieve spiritual salvation. Accounting System To keep track of all this, Scientology uses a new electronic accounting system, which it described to the IRS thus: "Over the years a very precise system has evolved whereby each function in a church is given a statistic which is recorded weekly, plotted against time and reported each week to CSI (Church of Scientology International). The statistics give a complete picture of whether a particular Church is performing its duties in accordance with Scripture." The exhibits attached to this statement are graphs showing dollar income. Low Personnel Costs The documents indicate that Scientology personnel costs are low; staffers are paid $50 a week, live in a communal setting, and spend over 14 hours a day on religious work. (From "Scientologists release information showing how they work," by David Dahl and Carl Vicks, Citizens' Voice [Wilkes-Barre, PA], 10/15/93, 20)
REMAKING
As part of its "expansion" effort THE IMAGE in the wake of last fall's Internal Revenue Service ruling declaring most of its operation tax-exempt, Scientology announced it was ready to take on media critics in a major promotional campaign to try to mend its public image. The first part of the campaign is to be a combative media blitz and a 590-page $19.95 paperback entitled What is Scientology? The church says in the book's promotions that it has "survived 40 years of vicious media harassment and just keeps getting bigger and stronger every day. It's an international phenomenon Continued on the next page
1994, The Cult Observer Vol. 11 No. 1,
IN THE COMMUNITY that isn't going away." Corporate-image experts say that taking a con- frontational approach to a tarnished image is risky, but the head of a leading New York public relations firm noted that responding to public allegations is often important in retaining the confidence of members. The new Scientology campaign is said to include a documercial entitled "The Problem of Life," which dramatizes the story of "a couple who are looking for answers to the questions of life." The couple unsuccessfully visits a doctor, a psychotherapist, and a marriage counselor. "At the end, they find out Scientology could provide the answers," a spokeswoman said. (From "Church of Scientology to Launch Campaign to Improve Its Image," Wall Street Journal, 10/20/93, B5)
Ann Archer for Applied Scholastics
Ann Archer, a star of the movie Fatal Attraction, spoke in August to 30 children at the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Club in Washington, DC, about the importance of learning and the virtues of Applied Scholastics, a program that teaches adults and children how to learn that was developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Archer does not try to avoid the Scientology connection; she mentions it before she is asked. But she says that Applied Scholastics is only a learning program. "We're not trying to make little Scientologists." The program is, in fact, used in the DC schools as part of the Saturday Learning Extension Program, a one-on-one tutorial program. (From "Merrie- Go-round," by Merrie Morris, The Washington Times, 8/3/93, El) [The Washington Times is owned by the Unification Church]
Archer was in Washington seeking federal funding for Applied Scholastics. "A person can learn anything when he knows the technology to learn," she gushed, looking lovely in an olive suit, suede pumps, and flashy Armani shades. Archer, a long-time Scientologist, raves about the program's "miracles" in L.A. ghettos, but said that it was its success with her own 8-year-old son that got her going. (From "The Reliable Source," by Lois Romano, The Washington Post, 8/3/93, E3)
Willie Gault for Narconon
National Football League star Willie Gault is the subject of a lengthy interview in a recent issue of The Truth About Drugs, a four-page tabloid aimed at young people by Narconon, the anti-drug program sponsored by Scientology. In the article Gault says, "When I first heard about Narconon from Kirstie Alley, I thought it was definitely a worthwhile program. (Cult Observer Report) Bart Simpson's Voice Selling Scientology Actress Nancy Cartwright, the voice of TV's Bart Simpson, is appearing in a 30-minute television infomercial that the Church of Scientology---of which she is a member--hopes will expose more people to church founder L. Ron Hubbard's message and increase the number of people seeking Scientology counseling. Helping Cartwright sell the production are a number of celebrities, including jazz pianist Chick Correa. They are all selling a $69.95 package that includes the book Dianetics, the Scientology "bible," audio and video tapes, and other instructional material to help buyers begin counseling themselves and others. Scientology is not actually mentioned in the informercial. According to Scientology brochures, the infomercial campaign "is designed to create a HUGE public demand forDianetics and flow people all the way from their initial purchase of a Dianetics book, video, or audio tape through to arrival into our organization and enrollment on [sic] further services." Regarding her experience of Scientology, Cartwright says in the infomercial: "My abilities increased tenfold. I look at myself now, and I'm doing things that I never thought I could do before." (From "Scientology's words to hit the airwaves," by Wayne Garcia, SL Petersburg Times, 8/28/93, 1A, 3A)
CONSULTING
Numerous complaints about the FRONT Scientology-connected Sterling Management Systems programs sold to professionals like dentists and veterinarians reflect a clear, but usually unstated, connection between the training and the religion, according to one expert observer, Herbert L. Rosedale, a New York City attorney and president of the American Family Foundation [publisher of The Cult Observer]. Rosedale, who represents dozens of medical professionals free of charge, says: "After having taken or agreed to some kind of business consultation with Sterling Management Systems, representations were made that the business management (techniques) would not work if they [the Continued on page 6 The
1994, Cult Observer 5 Vol. 11 No. 1,
IN THE COMMUNITY
Children Beaten "Lovingly"
A former member of a small Gwinnett County, GA, religious sect has accused the group of child abuse. Six years ago, Kelli Huth and her husband Mike adopted Lawrence Clark's interpretation of the Bible, which includes strict and often violent disciplinary measures for children and requires women to remain silent during services. She reported abuse of her children to state officials, who granted custody of the children to her father and stepmother after a hearing in juvenile court. A final custody hearing was scheduled for September, 1993. The nameless sect, which has about a dozen adult members and 30 children and lives in a small underground house in Suwanee and on a 12-acre farm in Dacula, forbids members from associating with anyone who believes differently. Many of the women call their husbands "sir" and the men practice group "reproof," during which they scold their wives for up to 30 minutes for something as minor as an unfinished household task. Members are taught to use wooden rods or refrigerator hoses to strike their children as many as 100 times on the buttocks or bottom of the feet, often until they bled, according to testimony. Members testified that they sing to their children and offer encouragement during beatings, insisting they don't strike in anger. Child welfare investigators say the children equate pain with love. Huth's oldest daughter said "the only way she knew her daddy loved her was because he whipped her," according to one investigator. "He would tell her he loved her while he was doing it." (From "North Georgia religious sect draws scrutiny for disciplinary methods," Associated Press, The Moultrie [GA] Observer, 8/2/93)
Scientology connects romantic professionals, "didn't resolve their personal problems."
The resolution inevitably involves the Church of Scientology, he said. Many professionals around the country, like those Rosedale represents, are seeking to get back the money they paid for Sterling training--sometimes costing tens of thousands of dollars--and some have filed suit, alleging, among other things, that Sterling's use of Scientology "communications" courses in its training caused psychological harm. (From "Vet quits 1 crusade and joins another," and "Struggle between cults and critics grinds on," by Michael Lopez, Times Union [Albany, NY], 6/13/93, H1, H5)
Dodging Clearwater Ordinance
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September that a Clearwater, FL, city ordinance requiring charitable organizations--including religions--to keep records of how they use donated money, and authorizing investigations by a city attorney if people complain, was unconstitutional. The court also said there was "explicit evidence that the City Commission conducted its legislative process from the beginning [1983 and 1984] to end with the intention of singling out Scientology for burdensome regulation." (From "Will Clearwater raise the white flag on Scientology?," by Ned Seaton, St. Petersburg Times, 10/17/93, 7)
White House Policy Director at Rally
White House drug policy director Lee P. Brown took pan in a rally for a drug-free America sponsored by the Church of Scientology, the controversial organization which has been the subject of numerous criminal investi- ations. Brown, who joined fifty D.C. children in taking a drug-free pledge before a battery of television news cameras, said he discovered the Scientology connection only later, but indicated that he would have taken part nonetheless. "Anything that [can] be done to minimize the number of youths who are involved in drugs we want to be involved in," he said. The local head of the U.S. Marshals Service, which was also involved in the program, said he knew of the Scientology backing and "I have allied myself with an issue... I take no political stance with the organization [Scientology]. (From "Sponsor of Drug-Free Rally Catches Some Unawares," by Laurie Goodstein, The Washington Post, 8/10/93, D1)
Santeria Sacrifices Celebrated
The high priest of the Santeria sect in Miami, FL, slit the throats of hogtied beasts on June 26 in a ritual Continued on page 10
1994, The Cult Observer 6 Vol. 11 No. 1,
IN THE COURTS CUT
Firearms and Tax Exemption Linked
Weapons stockpiled by the Church Universal and Triumphant were secretly moved off of the group's Paradise Valley [Montana] ranch in March, following the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms February raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, according to court papers filed in Washington, D.C., in June.
Where the guns and ammunition have gone was not revealed, although two armored personnel carriers in the group's possession were apparently returned to an armaments dealer in New Jersey. The papers were filed in connection with a suit filed by the church to reverse an Internal Revenue Service ruling in 1992 revoking CUT's tax-exempt status. (From "Feds track CUT weapons activity," by Karin Ronnow, Livingston [MT] Enterprise, 6/30/93)
The arms were collected, according to the papers, allegedly through a complicated stock scheme in the late 1970s that may have allowed CUT to "launder" trusted staff members' salaries for the purposes of funding an armed survivalist organization. According to U.S. Department of Justice attorney Stuart Gibson, the survivalist "club" was part of the CUT leadership's long-standing pattern of "attempting to conceal activities from other members of CUT's staff, from CUT's general membership, and from the general public."(From "Feds suspect CUT gun money scheme," and "Papers give details of 'survival' club," by Karin Ronnow, Livingston [MT] Enterprise, 7/1/93), 1, 3)
Expose Sidetracked
Publication of a book about the Church Universal and Triumphant by critic Katherine Schmook was cancelled by Viking/Penguin press following the reconciliation of CUT leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet and her daughter, Moira Lewis, the book's co-author. Moira Lewis has threatened to sue for libel if the book is published, says Schmook. She adds that Viking decided that publishing was too big a risk, "and they don't want any part of it." (From "CUT expose sidetracked-- co-author makes up with 6uru mom," by Karin Ronnow, Livingston [MT] Enterprise, 7/2/93)
Pressure in the Workplace
Christina M. Goudeau, of Baton Rouge, LA, filed suit against her former employers, Landmark Dental Care, in June, claiming religious discrimination. She said they fired her because she refused to go along with them in joining the Church of Scientology and using Scientology practices and terminology in the office. She says the dentists pressured her to join after they attended meetings and seminars by Sterling Management Systems, the Dianetics Foundation, and the Church of Scientology. (From "Suit blames Scien- tology for firing" by Fred Kalmbach, The Advocate [Baton Rouge], 6/16/93)
Experts on "Mind Control" Day in Court
A Supreme Court decision in June concerning the admissibility of expert scientific testimony may affect court cases involving allegations of mind control. In Daubert vs. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, the court threw out the test applied by a lower court that expert scientific testimony in a field such as psychology must be based on methods or conclusions that "have gained general acceptance" by the scientific community in that field.
Under the new test, federal trial judges must "screen" expert testimony to "ensure that any or all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is not only relevant, but reliable." But it will no longer be permissible to exclude expert testimony merely for lack of "general acceptance." Reasons argued in cases where testimony on mind control has been excluded in the past--sometimes it has not been excluded-- will no longer be valid in future cases. (From "Court Ruling on Scientific Evidence: A Just Burden," by Natalie Angier, New York Times, 6/30/93, A8 and "Supreme Court issues new ruling on expert testimony," "by David J. Bardin, Cult Awareness Network News, 8/93, 3)
Awareness Network Deflects Scientology
A Minnesota Scientologist in August was refused a court injunction seeking to prevent Free Minds--the local affiliate of the national Cult Awareness Network--from keeping her out of their meetings.
Holly Hagerty claimed that her exclusion by Free
Continued on the next page
1994, The Cult Observer 7 Vol. 11 No. 1,
READING
"Captive Hearts, Captive Minds" In the soon-to-be-published Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, authors Madeleine Landau Tobias and Janja Lalich address recovery issues for those who have been in cults, cult-like groups, or relationships with ultra-authoritarian individuals.
Carol Giambalvo, author of Exit Counseling: A Family Intervention, said, "This comprehensive book takes the former cult member through all the necessary healing stages--from understanding the effects of mind control and cult involvement to taking positive steps toward a healthy, balanced recovery... I highly recommend this book, which respects the strength, courage, dignity, and intelligence of former cult members."
Philip Zimbardo, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, calls Captive Hearts, Captive Minds "must reading for everyone who wants to understand the powerful appeal that cults exert over so many ordinary people..." Author and entertainer Steve Allen says "I strongly recommend this penetrating and insightful study," while Eugene Methvin, a Senior Editor at Reader's Digest, wishes that "every cult member, and every family of a cult member, struggling to free himself from the trauma of membership in a destructive relationship could read Captive Hearts, Captive Minds. It offers the powerful healing medicine of understanding."
The most common post-cult difficulties such as feelings of guilt and shame, loss of self-esteem, fear and confusion, depression and others are covered, with sections on relationships with family and friends, career and belief issues, the special needs of those born and raised in a cult and those who experienced sexual or physical abuse. Included are over a dozen first-person accounts of healing and recovery, written by former members of a variety of cults.
There are guidelines for finding professional help, as well as a chapter on therapeutic issues specifi-cally for mental health and other professionals. The book also provides an overview of the cult phenomenon, thought reform, and characteristics of cult leaders. Madeleine Tobias, a former cult member, is a psychotherapist and exit counselor in private practice since 1979. She now specializes in working with current and former cult members and their families. Janja Lalich was in a political cult for 10 years. She is a freelance editor and writer, and is coordinator of the San Francisco area support group for former cult members (FOCUS).
Both authors are members of advisory committees of the American Family Foundation (publisher of The Cult Observer). Published by Hunter House Publishers (Alameda, CA), the book will be available in early March.
Deflects Scientology Co.,i..edSromp~ge 7 Minds was religious discrimination. Scientologists in several other states have sought, and been refused, similar injunctions on similar grounds in the past year. (From "Scientologist loses injunction against CAN in Minnesota," Cult Awareness Network News, 9/93, 5)
Criminal Child Abuse Bill, Resolution Pass
The Massachusetts Senate in October passed a criminal child abuse bill, in the process not only defeating a strong effort by the Christian Science Church to add a religious exemption to the bill, but voting to repeal the religious exemption in current law [that allows denial of medical treatment on religious grounds]. The bill is now in a House-Senate conference committee. (Cult Observer Report). The American Medical Association in June, meanwhile, passed a resolution asking the Secretary of Health and Human Services "to exercise administrative authority to urge state officials to repeal existing child abuse and neglect religious exemption provisions in state statutes." And the American Academy of Pediatrics, in written testimony to the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, stated that "It is the Academy's position that nothing short of an outright repeal of all religious exemptions from state laws will afford children the legal protection they truly deserve against abuse and neglect..." From Children' s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, No. 2, 1993, 10-12)
INTERNATIONAL
Italy Judgment Against Scientology, Translated from "Condannata la 'chiesa' di Scientology," La Repubblica (Rome), 11/10/93
The Court of Appeals in Milan has overturned a two-year-old verdict acquitting 73 members of the Church of Scientology--which was "invented" by the American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard--on charges of conspiracy, extortion, and undue influence (fraud).
After listening for eleven hours to deputy attorney general Annamaria Caruso, "We are not here to put the religious faith of the Church of Scientology on trial, but a group of people who were certainly members of that church and in whose name crimes were committed." the magistrates on the court found the Scientologists guilty and handed down sentences ranging from three months to four-and-one-half years. The court also sentenced previously acquitted Scientolgy officials from various regional centers for tax evasion.
In a 300-page statement Caruso emphasized that it was not religion that had been on trial. "This is no crusade," she said. "We are not here to put the religious faith of the Church of Scientology on trial, but a group of people who were certainly members of that church and in whose name crimes were committed... Their religious beliefs," Caruso insisted, "are of l no concern to us here. But those who hold those beliefs are in the dock today because they violated the criminal Code. What we are concerned with is the conduct and methods used to persuade others to use the very same methods."
On July 2, 1991, after a two-year trial, charges against the accused were dropped, to the great joy of Dianetics [Scientology] practitioners, who greeted the verdict with hooliganish singing and shouting. The grounds for the acquittal judgment, which ran just 100 pages compared to the two volumes needed to summarize the 45 charges brought against the defendants--did not stand up to the evidence presented to the appeal court by Caruso and Public Prosecutor Pietro Forno. [We thank Dr. Alberto Lolli for assistance in translating this story.]
Australia "All One Voice"
Cultic Induction Alleged
Former members of a secretive group called everything I was looking for," said a former woman All One Voice, which has amassed millions disciple. "But I soon realized the group had a hidden of dollars through extensive recruiting agenda . . . they wanted, and succeeded in, taking around Australia, have accused the sect control of my life. For two years I lost contact with , of brainwashing, blackmail, .intimidation, reality.
They changed my name. They told me how to and excessive control of followers. love and even how to think. I had no personality of All One Voice, which counts anti-nuclear activist my own."
Other former members told how they were Dr. Helen Caldicott as one of its senior members, and deprived of food, sleep, and privacy during what they claims to be a peaceful, nature-loving organization, described as "harrowing induction courses." During has thus far bought up about 40 properties in the these inductions they had to participate in 24-hour Leongatha and Warragul districts of Goppsland, in the sessions aimed at "cleansing their minds and bodies state of Victoria, not far from Melbourne. and totally changing their own perceptions of reality According to former members, recruits are to that of the sect." Said one, "After days of fasting required to pay hundreds of dollars to attend seminars, and virtually no sleep, I was ready to accept anything and if they cannot pay, they must do menial tasks for that was put to me. I was extremely vulnerable. senior cult members. "At first I thought the group was Continued on page 10
1994, The Cult Observer 9 Vol. 11 No. 1,
CULTS ON CAMPUS
More Concerns About BCC
Movement Offshoots of the Boston Church of Christ Movement (BCC), now active on numerous campuses around the U.S., and in Europe, continue to make news because of their controversial practices, which include a rigid control of students' lives that some observers characterize as cultic and dehumanizing.
Two recent articles present the typical current situation, with former followers, on the one hand, sustained by other critics, discussing how involvement harmed them, and, on the other hand, some current members, as well as the group's local leaders, praising and defending the experience. "All in the name of God," by Tammie Adams, The Beacon (Florida International University) and "Seattle Church of Christ too controlling, some say," by Lee Moraiwaki and Susan Gilmore, The Seattle Times' Seattle Post Intelligencer, 7/11/93, B1, B2)
Student Psychologist's Analysis Some of the practices of Alpha Omega, a religious organization at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, have been questioned by John Arnold, a psychology major and former member of the BCC movement.
Arnold believes Alpha Omega is a cult because it is sponsored by the Central Florida Church of Christ, an affiliate of the BCC, -- which in turn is listed by the national Cult Awareness Network as an organization about which numerous complaints have been received.
Arnold says Alpha Omega has cult-like characteristics: it claims a monopoly of truth; it degrades members financially and emotionally; it requires submission to authority and a communal lifestyle; and fosters a phobic fear of leaving the group.
Alpha Omega member Gregg Eargle responded: "The people who don't want to change their lives call us a cult. We are trying to be as much like the First Century church . . . because the thing we emphasize is total commitment to Jesus." (From "Alpha Omega's tactics questioned," by Robin Longaker, The Central Florida Future [student newspaper], 9/21/93, 1, 7)
All One Voice
Continued from page 9
Rafael Aron, a counselor [associated with Jewish social service agencies] who helps cult victims and their families said that in recent months he has counseled several former members who had been emotionally and psychologically damaged by their involvement with the group, which, he says, "is certainly not what it seems to be."
"They use sophisticated mind-control methods to take charge and win favor with their subjects, said Aron.
"Those who have found themselves involved with the group have been unable to cut the ties because they (All One Voice) know too much about them. It's all been too deep, too intimate. Too much has happened for them to be able to feel free. The trouble is, if you want to leave this group they hold every bit of information about you that anybody could ever want to know about you. It's as if someone is holding their passport to life." (From "Cult victims tell of brainwash courses," by Wayne Jones, Sunday Herald [Melbourne], 7/11/93)
Santeria sacrifice of 19 animals, including a black ram and two goats.
The event was a rare public ceremony intended to give thanks for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a city ordinance barring animal slaughter unconstitutionally interfered with the Afro-Caribbean religion.
The Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, which filed the lawsuit that led to the decision, stated that the sacrifices would, as a rule, be kept private, because "public offering of animals is offensive to our traditions and violates the privacy of the ritual. And it's our belief that it offends the sensibilities of the community at large." (From "Cult marks victory with sacrifices," Tampa Tribune, 6/27/93, 7)
1994, The Cult Observer 10 Vol. 11 No. I
PROFESSIONAL PROFILES
F. H. Buddy Martin (M.A., University of Massachusetts), a Texas native and evangelist-minister of the University Church of Christ, in San Marcos, is now working with a jailed Branch Davidian survivor of the Waco siege. In doing so, he has come a long way in the last decade.
In the early '80s he was living on Cape Cod, attending graduate school (majoring in educational counseling, with an emphasis on communications and clinical work), when a local church group asked Mr. Martin's wife to speak, at a women's retreat, about the controversial Boston Church of Christ. The couple then set out to learn what they could about the group. Interviews with current and former BCC members persuaded Mr. Martin that they had been recruited and maintained thanks to classic manipulation of the double-blind method.
He and his wife saw what amounted to destructive cultism clearly in all this, but only came to give it that name after a newspaper article about cultic processes, by Steven Hassan, came to their attention and they began to study the emergent literature in the field, eventually consulting the work of Lifton, AFF director Margaret Singer, and many more AFF associates, who now count Mr. Martin among their number.
Soon, Mr. Martin was working as part of an exit counseling team. Although he says cultism is not, at bottom, a Biblical matter at all, he helped--and continues to help-- cult members see the patterns of deception and manipulation inherent in religious cult recruitment by first pointing out "false" and inconsistent doctrines and practices. If the group can be shown to distort the Bible, Mr- Martin feels, a member can then be open to see how the group is deceptive and destructive in secular ways. This is the approach he has been using with the Branch Davidian member he is counseling; she now appears to be recognizing the mind-controlling nature of the Koresh group. (Mr. Martin gained access to her because he has for some time past been a volunteer counselor and Bible studies group leader at the jail in which the woman is being held.) For his efforts to persuade members of Bible-based cults to leave their groups--his pamphlet about BCC, Multiplying Ministries, has been very influential--Mr. Martin was roundly defamed: one cultic church spread the rumor that he had left Cape Cod to escape a child abuse investigation; another put it about that he had gone "underground" in order better to "steal" church members (so successful was he in persuading numbers of them to leave). But he has survived all of this, reputation enhanced rather than tarnished, and he carries on. Nadine Winocur Craig (M.A., Pepperdine University) is a new AFF research associate and book reviewer who is currently completing work toward her doctorate in psychology at Pepperdine.
She has already had some of her research published in the Cultic Studies Journal (Vol. 7, No. 2) in a paper titled "The False Transformational Promise of Bible-Based Cults: Archetypal Dynamics."
The paper is "exploratory and theoretical, building upon the author's interaction with approximately 25 families with Bible-based cult members who have requested intervention counseling," ú.. and "numerous informal interactions with former cult members." In the past six years, Ms. Craig has been of help to a considerably larger number of families with cult-involved members as well, since her knowledge and understanding of coercive persuasion and group manipulation afford her a comprehensive overview of the situation.
She has also been a resource to the BBC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on background issues related to a Bible-based cult, and she was interviewed by local news stations and newspapers for her views on Waco and other cults. For her dissertation, Ms. Craig has gathered a team of researchers to help conduct her investigation into the etiology of psychological distress in former group members. They will be looking at pre-group, and post-group factors contributing to distress, and they will consider groups of all types. Ms. Craig says she "hopes to make research along these lines an ongoing component of [her] work as a psychologist." Ms. Craig is an executive committee member and member of the Speakers' Bureau of the Commission on Cults and Missionaries of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles. She enjoys speaking to professional and lay audiences, including religious and youth groups. She presented a paper with her colleague, Doni Whitsett, Ph.D. (see Cult Observer profile, Vol. 10, No. 9) titled "The cult phenomenon: Cult affiliation and clinical assessment issues," to the L.A. County Psychological Association in October 1993.She gave two presentations on cult awareness training in March 1992 to branch offices of Family Services of Long Beach, CA. She also provides outpatient psychotherapy to adults, families, and children, both long- and short-term. Her other interests include work with victims of violent crime and unethical social influence. We look forward with great interest to a fruitful association with this dynamic addition to AFF's professional roster. The Cult Observer 11 Vol. 11 No. 1 1994
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Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown David Chidester ... The anticult leaderRabbi Maurice Davis summarized this new perspective on cults before .
Maurice Davis - Biography — JewAge
jewage.org/wiki/ru/Article:Maurice_Davis_-_Biography
Maurice Davis (December 15, 1921 - December 14, 1993) was a rabbi, and ... At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the ..
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Maurice Davis (December 15, 1921 - December 14, 1993) was a rabbi, and human rights activist. He was a past director of the American Family Foundation, now known as the International Cultic Studies Association. Davis was the rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, New York. Davis was a regular contributor to The Jewish Post and Opinion, where he had a column. Davis served on the President's Commission on Equal Opportunity, in the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration.
Civil rights work
In 1952, Davis founded the Kentucky Committee on Desegregation. In 1965 he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and was appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by President Johnson.
Opposition to the Unification Church
In 1970, when two of his congregants' children became involved with the Unification Church, Davis began to educate himself more about the nature and methodology of cults. He soon became involved in assisting the parents of "cult children". Davis directed and appeared in the film, You Can Go Home Again, produced by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Davis observed commonalities among the young people he counseled that had joined cults. He found that most of these individuals were dropouts from mainline churches and synagogues - and that they were on a quest for idealism, community and a sense of belonging.
Davis founded and headed the national anti-Moon organization called Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families, which in 1976 comprised 500 families. Davis stated that he received letters from distraught parents all over the United States, telling "the same story". He elaborated his points, asserting that the recruitment tactics used by the Unification Church are "a form of hypnotism". In November 1976, Rabbi Davis spoke at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester, New York, on the topic of "The Moon People And Our Children". He has also compared the Unification Church to the Nazi Youth movement, and to the Peoples Temple.
Other work opposing controversial groups
At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the mid-1950s became the home for the first Peoples Temple group in Indianapolis, Indiana. When informed of the massacre at Jonestown, Guyana, Davis remarked: "I keep thinking what happens when the power of love is twisted into the love of power". In 1981, Davis was quoted in Ronald Enroth, Ph.D.'s bookYouth, Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults as comparing the Church of Scientology to "the Nazi youth movement".
Davis later testified at a Congressional panel organized by Senator Bob Dole that he had received death threats due to these statements. In 1982, Davis received the Leo J. Ryan Award, named for the only Congressman to die in the line of duty, Representative Leo J. Ryan. In 1990, Davis criticized the Jews for Jesus movement as being "devious" and "deceptive". He further stated that "people who accept Jesus as the Messiah by definition Christians; they are not Jewish."
Later life
Herbert L. Rosedale, at the time president of the American Family Foundation, said of Davis: "A great and gentle radiance has left our scene with the death of Rabbi Maurice Davis. He was one of the people who first brought me into the circle of those devoted to helping cult victims. His compassion and vision were inspiring. He saw clearly the dangers which awaited those who lost their free will to totalism."
Education: Hebrew Union College, Rabbinical degree
Awards, honors: 1982 - Leo J. Ryan Award
Works: You Can Go Home Again, film director, produced by Union of American Hebrew Congregations
See also: List of cult and new religious movement researchers
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New York Magazine - Jan 22, 1979 - Page 5 - Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?id=ZtECAAAAMBAJ
Vol. 12, No. 4 - Magazine
According to former members, the church — like Jim Jones's ill-fated People's ...Maurice Davis, a White Plains rabbi who has deprogrammed 128 Moonies, says ...
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979) Joint-Congressional Proceedings
Chaired by Senator Bob Dole
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Categories:
Anti-cult organizations and individuals
Critics of the Family International
FREECOG, or Free the Children of God (Family International), originally named The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God was founded in 1971. Scholars consider it the first Anti-cult movement group.[1] FREECOG eventually merged with the Cult Awareness Network, which later as a result of their activities bankrupted and was bought by the Church of Scientology, an organization that the original founders of CAN strongly opposed.
FREECOG was the first organized "anti-cult" group,[1] formed in large part in response to the total commitment required by the Children of God. One of the founders of FREECOG is Ted Patrick, widely considered the "Father of Deprogramming".[2][3][4]
FREECOG accused the Children of God of brainwashing and used various methods including conservatorship and deprogramming to counter the group. By the mid 1970s, as the Children of God and other new religious movements grew and expanded around the world, a wider anti-cult movement developed in North America, Western Europe, and elsewhere. In the early 1980s many of the parent groups merged into what became known as the Cult Awareness Network, which is now owned by the Church of Scientology.
In response to FREECOG, a smaller group called ThankCOG (Thankful Parents & Friends of the Children of God) emerged, founded by parents of Children of God members who were pleased that their children had found religion and were free from drugs.
Melton., Gordon (2002). "The Modern Anti-Cult Movement in Historical Perspective", The cultic milieu : oppositional subcultures in an age of globalization, Edited Jeffrey Kaplan and Heléne Lööw, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira. p. 268.
Ted Patrick, Religious Freedom Watch
July 21, 2010, International Coalition for Religious Freedom, The Rise and Fall of "Deprogramming" In the United States, by Dan Fefferman,
Chryssides, George (1999).Exploring New Religions.Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 346–348. ISBN 0-8264-5959-5.
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The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Joint-Congressional Proceedings,
statements by Rabbi Maurice Davis
"Statement of Rabbi Maurice Davis."
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INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. P.74-80. of Transcript of Proceedings.
Senator Dole. Congressman Ottinger would like to introduce the next witness.
Mr. Ottinger. The next witness is a constituent of mine, Rabbi Maurice Davis. He comes from White Plains, a Rabbi of the Jewish Community Center. He is a faculty member at Manhattan College. He has been actively involved with working with young people to deprogram them from cults for over five years. He is responsible for separating some 128 young people from these organizations.
I would just like to take the opportunity to welcome a very distinguished constituent.
STATEMENT OF RABBI MAURICE DAVIS, SENIOR RABBI, JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK.
Rabbi Davis. Thank you, Congressman Ottinger. Thank you, Senator Dole.
There is a touch of deja vu about this gathering. Three years ago you convened just such a meeting as this is at which I was privileged to speak. I thanked you then. And I thank you now.
Between then and now the Fraser Subcommittee has published its report declaring that the laws of this land have been systematically violated by the Unification Church; we have watched the cults proliferate; we have witnessed the horror of Jonestown; and we cannot help but ask when is something going to be done.
Now, I am a Jew, and I am a Rabbi, and I cherish -- as do my people -- the grandeur of the First Amendment. That amendment prevents, and properly so, the government from investigating the beliefs of any group that calls itself religious; but it does not prevent the government from investigating the activities of any group, whatever its name might be.
No man and no group in this country is above the law. Indeed, for 1000 years and more my people have lived with the Hebrew phrase, "Di nai delma cultna de nai." [Phonetic.]
"The law of the land is the law."
Unless that law is upheld and enforced, we all of us are victims and we Jews know this very well.
I have here, Senator Dole and gentlemen, resolutions from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the New York Federation of Reformed Synagogues, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, all pointing out the very real dangers implicit in the cults that plague our land.
In the interests of time, I shall not read these, but I shall hand them to you, Senator Dole.
In fact, the Central Conference of American Rabbis has established a National Commission on Cults which it is my privilege to chair.
We are concerned, gentlemen. We are deeply concerned with cults. So let me begin by offering not a definition of cults since everyone has said you must not do this, but let me offer you a description of cults.
It seems to me that any cult has to have the following characteristics:
One, a dictatorial leader, often called charismatic, who has total and unlimited control over his group.
Two, followers who have abdicated the right to say no, the right to pass judgment, the right to protest, who have sold their souls for the security of slavery.
Three, possibly the most dangerous doctrine known to our civilization, that the end justifies the means; therefore, any thing from the Moonies' heavenly deception to the violence of Synanon to the theft of government documents by Scientology, to the brutality of the Children of God, all the way to the murder-suicide of Jonestown, all is permitted because the ends justify the means and there is no one there to tell them no.
Four, unlimited funds. The Unification Church with its some $50 million brought in each year by its mobile fund raising teams is duplicated by the Hare Krishnas dressing as Santa Claus or the Children of God sending out their women as fishers of men.
Five, the instilling of fear, hatred, and suspicion of everyone outside the camp, of the entire outside world in order to keep the victims in line.
You put them all together gentlemen --
Voice. That is not true --
Rabbi Davis. You have a prescription for violence, for death, for destruction. It is a formula that fits the Nazi Youth Movement as accurately as it describes the Unification Church.
Voice. That's a lie.
Rabbi Davis. Or the People's Temple.
I do not address myself to the responses in the audience. I do not address myself to their religious beliefs. That right they have, and I defend it; but I will not defend their right to violate the law of this land or the mind of the young.
During the last five years I have helped rescue 128 young men and women without ever once violating the law, without ever once resorting to force or restraint; but I tell you what I have done: I have peeled off the surface and entered into an underworld of madness, and you have to see what I have seen to understand the horror of it all.
You have to see a young man hearing that his mother was dying and calling out to him and believing it, simply turning aside and saying, "Sorry, I am just too busy."
You have to hear them bragging about how they took the last dollar from a poor man by telling him lies.
You have to hear my midnight phone calls promising that I would be killed by noon because "Father says you must die."
Now the latest. You have heard what happened to Congressman Ryan, didn't you?
You have to see letters forged on my stationery calling off meetings we had scheduled, anonymous letters to my temple demanding that I be fired for having written what in fact they wrote ni my name. Or you have to see this anonymous pamphlet which has already been distributed to you entitled "Who Are Senator Dole's Experts on Cults?"
Every single statement concerning me is not only a lie, but there are -- these are lies that they know are lies with, of course, the exception of spelling my name correctly, for which I thank them, and the description of me as an incendiary or a torch, upon which I refuse to comment.
(Laughter.)
Ladies and gentlemen, every path leads somewhere. That is what a path is all about. The path of segregation leads to lynching every time. The path of antisemitism leads to Auschwitz every time. The path of the cults leads to Jonestown and we watch it at our peril.
(Applause.)
(Chorus of boos.)
Senator Dole. Let me just caution the audience -- either side -- I understand there are some who feel very strongly on both sides. We are under time constraints. This is an information session for Senators, Congressmen, members of our staff. We will have control of the meeting.
I just caution anyone who doesn't want to abide by those rules to leave now.
Rabbi Davis. Thank you, sir.
Senator Dole, gentlemen of Congress: the primary task of a nation is to protect its citizens. That is what nations were created for in the first place. A nation that cannot protect its citizens is a failure. A nation that does not even try is a catastrophe.
Whatever the problems, whatever the difficulties, whatever the pitfalls, we have to try.
How many Jonestowns must there be before we begin to do something?
Gentlemen of the Congress: I am not here to protest against religion, or against religions. I am here to protest against child molesters, for as surely as there are those who lure children with lollypops in order to rape their bodies, so, too, are there those who lure children with candy-coated lies in order to rape their minds.
In the name of two million victims and four million parents and a country bewildered and frightened and ashamed, I tell you this has to stop.
(Applause.)
Senator Dole. Our next witness is Daphne Green.
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The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Joint-Congressional Proceedings
Chaired by Senator Bob Dole
INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States Joint-Congressional Proceedings
Chaired by Senator Bob Dole
1979
- Biographical Sketches of participants (Between pages 18-19)
- Statements, Congressman Ottinger, P.11-13.
- Statements, Senator Zorinsky, P.13-15.
- Statements, Congressman Giaimo, P.16-17.
- Statement, Jackie Speier, P.24-30., Questions: P.126-128.
- Statement, Robert Boetcher, P.30-35
- Statements, John Gordon Clark, M.D., P.38-45., Questions: P.147-158.
- Statements, Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, P.45-53.
- Statement, Joel Alexander, P.53-57
- Statement, Ted Patrick, P.62-68.
- Statement, Rabbi Maurice Davis, P.74-80.
- Statement, Daphne Green,P.80-84.
- Statement, Rev. Dr. George Swope, P.91-95.
- Statement, Father James LeBar, P.103-107.
______________________________________________________________________
The Cult Phenomenon in the United States (1979)
Joint-Congressional Proceedings,
statements by Jackie Speier
"Statement of Jackie Speier."
INFORMATION MEETING ON THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED STATES, February 5, 1979, 318 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. (Statement: P.24-30., Questions: P.126-128.) of Transcript of Proceedings.
[Statement of Jackie Speier, P.24-30.]
Senator Dole. Some of the members will have to leave and then come back. I understand Senator Zorinsky has about three other meetings. He will be in and out.
Let's start off with our first witness, Ms. Jackie Speier, former legislative aide to the late Congressman, Leo Ryan.
We have had to limit the witnesses to five minutes.STATEMENT OF JACKIE SPEIER, FORMER LEGAL COUNSEL TO THE LATE REPRESENTATIVE LEO RYAN OF CALIFORNIA.
Ms. Speier. Good morning. Thank you, Senator Dole.
First of all, I would like to compliment you on your courage to address the sensitive issue that has been engulfed in controversy and tragedy. Under significant pressure, you have come together to, hopefully, illuminate some of the critical issues facing our country with regard to cults and mind control.
Although I was a victim of the attempted murder, a witness to the assasination of Congressman Leo J. Ryan, and exposed to the encampment at Jonestown, I do not present myself here before his Committee as an expert on mind control or cults.
What I have to offer to this Committee are my personal thoughts, observations, and conclusions regarding Congressman Ryan's research and investigation into cults and particularly the People's Temple.
Cults are not new in American society. They have been an integral part of the American fabric since the inception of this nation.
Since the early 1970s more than 10 million Americans have embraced cult activities.
As society has become highly industrialized and sophisticated, changes have occurred that I believe bear heavily on the recent proliferation of cults in the United States.
The People's Temple, while not a religious cult, was, without a doubt, a cult. The people who were attracted to Jim Jones apparently were unwilling or unable to fulfill all of their needs in what many of us would consider acceptable bounds of human behavior.
The breakdown of the family unit in the United States along with individuals' overwhelming desire to be accepted preceded the tragedy we now know as Jonestown.
The major religious cults in the United States show surprising similarities. They offer a ready-mad substitute family coupled with a very strong charismatic leader acting as a father figure who has the ability to mesmerize his followers.
Mind control seems to be implemented through intimidation, coercion, force, adn sometimes aberrant sexual conduct, drugs, food deprivation, sleep deprivation, and divestment of worldly possessions.
Congressman Ryan and I spoke to nearly 100 people at the Jonestown encampment. I was exceptionally troubled by my interviews of several adolescent women. In response to simple questions about their future goals and possible return to the United States, the responses were frighteningly similar: the answers were devoid of normal emotion, speaking in monosyllables and quite often not in proper response to the questions asked, making it appear that certain answers were programmed to field a number of questions.
These women showed little interest in careers or college goals, expecting an early marriage within the cult to be the only option in life.
It was a sad experience to see so many lost and misdirected people whose ability to seek individual goals had been totally destroyed.
In the late Congressman's 11th Congressional District lies the suburban community of Burlingame. From this town of 30,000 people came 12 persons who joined the People's Temple in Guyana. All 12 were white, came from families with above average income, and all were previously members of some established church. 10 of these 12 are now dead from the mass murder-suicides that took place in Jonestown. And the two surviving have been questioned by the Guyana authorities with regard to their involvement with the attack of the Port Kaituma Airstrip.
From the beginning of Congressman Ryan's investigation into cults, we were concerned about cults which were purporting to espouse certain religious beliefs but were in fact pursuing quite different courses, courses that tragically led to the death of over 900 American citizens.
Some religious cults with federal tax-exempt status as religious organizations are apparently stockpiling weapons according to reports in the Washington Post and other news papers. One such report stated the West Virginia headquarters of the Hare Krishna organization has a vast arsenal of weaponry stockpiled.
In Santa Barbara, California a small religious cult was recently found to have collected large quantities of weapons as well.
Such hoarding of weapons must be questioned when it appears such collection goes beyond the scope of an individual's Constitutional right to self-defense.
U.S. federal authorities recovered an extraordinary amount of weapons at the Jonestown encampment: automatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns. What few weapons were registered at Jonestown were ostensibly kept to protect the encampment from external attack.
Obviously the arsenal was maintained for purposes only remotely relating to self-defense. The arsenal seems specifically designed to exterminate those who were not supportive of the cult.
The attack on our official party at the Port Kaituma Airstrip is historical evidence of this statement.
Although I strongly believe an investigation must be conducted with regard to religious groups that may be formed for other purposes, I must strongly caution against a Modern type witch hunt or any lessening of true religious freedom.
Also, the government must be extremely cautious to a persecuting a group for merely being unusual or espousing different views of religion.
So it must be asked: what does this ad hoc committee intend to do from this day forward?
The Congress has a responsibility to the American people to preserve and protect the Constitutional rights of the people.
Equally, the Congress must exercise leadership in the manner of cults and mind control.
To my knowledge, I am the only person in this room who spent time with Jim Jones during the last days of his life. When he spoke, he spoke as a broken man, a man who knew there would be no tomorrow for himself and now, as we know, for people who believed in his ultimate plan.
I am a victim of Guyana, but I am alive and very mindful of my responsibility to try and inform others about the tragedy.
I hope this Committee, during the course of its investigation, will also be mindful of perhaps the singularly most important fact of Jonestown: It can happen again.
Thank you.
Senator Dole. Thank you, Ms. Speier.
Will you be able to stay for a while?
Ms. Speier. I will be able.
Senator Dole. Bill Whitehurst is now here.
Bill, do you have a statement to make?
Mr. Whitehurst. No. I am a little late. The farmers held us up on the 14th Street Bridge.
Senator Dole. I figured that out.
Mr. Whitehurst. Thank you.
Senator Dole. It might be helpful -- Bob Boetcher, would you identify yourself in your statement as far as background?
Mr. Boetcher. Yes, sir.
Questions of Jackie Speier by Senators, Congressmen, pages.126-128.
Senator Dole. We are trying to figure out how we might -- are there any questions of Ms. Speier?
Senator Zorinsky?
Senator Zorinsky. Ms. Speier, thank you very much. My question is brief. I am sure it can be answered very briefly also. During your testimony this morning, you indicated taht weapons were involved in the Jonestown incident where there were semi -- and semiautomatic weapons needed for the defense of the group, as I understand your statement.
Ms. Speier. We were told there were a number of small weapons that were registered with the Guyanese government at Jonestown. We found out later that there was an arsenal of weapons, far more extensive than the type of weapons that you would hold to maintain some sort of self-defense.
The weapons that were used on us at the air strip were part of that arsenal.
Senator Zorinsky. Did you receive any indication as to the prime purpose of the stockpiling of weapons?
Ms. Speier. No. We had no knowledge of the purpose of the stockpiling, other than it was for defensive purposes, because of the jungle community that they were living with.
Senator Zorinsky. That prompted the need to have those type of weapons, because of the nature of the jungle surrounding the area?
Ms. Speier. That's correct. Again I have to stress that they had registered only a few of those weapons. The arsenal they had on had at the time of the massacre and the murders at the air strip were in numbers that I cannot even ascertain myself at this point.
Senator Zorinsky. Thank you very much.
It concerns me. The federal laws in automatic and semi-automatic weapons definitely are being violated. I think this Congress certainly has every right, authority, to seek into which laws are being violated such as these weapons laws.
Thank you.
Ms. Speier. Thank you.
Senator Dole. Thank you very much, Ms. Speier.
_____________________________________________________________________________
March 24, 2008, WND, The N.Y. Times and the bisexual bishop - WND, by Les Kinsolving,
– ... Bishop Paul Moore was a leading patron of the notorious Jim Jones in ... Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his ...
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"The Secret Life of Jim Jones: A Parapolitical Fugue" by ... - Jonestown
jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Articles/hougan-lobster.htm
What follows is an interim report about Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. ...... the man who gave the Peoples Temple its start was the Rabbi Maurice Davis.
Maurice Davis (rabbi) Forum
www.forumjar.com/forums/Maurice_Davis_(rabbi)
You have found the Maurice Davis (rabbi) Forum on Forum Jar. This forum is a place where people who are interested in Maurice Davis ... Jim Jones Forum ...
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November 22, 1978, AP - The Daily News, Jones' Son Blames Him For Mass Suicide Rite,
White Plains Rabbi Maurice Davis of the White Plains Jewish Community Center who knew Jim Jones in Indianapolis, Indiana back in the late 1950's says he remembers him as an "idealistic, earnest young man."
Davis said his temple was moving from the downtown area of Indianapolis to the suburbs, and that Jones wanted to buy the building. Rabbi Davis said "When we sold it to him, it was an interracial, non-denominational church."
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[Blog]
Who Was Jim Jones? by Jason Jeffrey,
Who Was Jim Jones - Gnostic Liberation Front
www.gnosticliberationfront.com/who_was_jim_jones.htm
Other researchers see Jim Jones as the victim of a U.S. government operation. ......MK-ULTRA-linked psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West, Rabbi Maurice Davis was ...
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[Blog]
[PDF]
Who Created the Jones Cult–And Why - Executive Intelligence Review
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv05n47-19781205_011-who_created_the_j...
Jim Jones in Jonestown. Guyana, was ... Jim Jones assembled 800-900 of his zombie followers in the center ..... of Rabbi Maurice Davis, an executive committee ...
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[PDF]
National News - Executive Intelligence Review
larouchepub.com/eiw/.../eirv09n30-19820810_062-national_news.pdf
Aug 10, 1982 –
Rabbi Davis confirms ties to Scientology EIR's Investigative Leads staff has learned that on May 8 Arnon Hanani, representing the intelligence division in the New York and Israeli Church of Scientology cult, met secretly with Rabbi Maurice Davis of the Westchester County, New York "Citizens Engaged in Freeing Minds" to reaffirm a "special arrangement" in effect between them since 1975.
Davis is an "anti-cult" spokesman with the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League previously involved in the MKUltra drug and mind-control operations in Lexington, Kentucky during the 1950s, and a major sponsor of the late Rev. Jim Jones during the 1960s.
Hanani also met with Dr. Philip Abromowitz, the director of the New York Jewish Community Relations Center's Taskforce on Missionary Cults, an espionage agency overseen by the Israeli Interior Ministry and funded in part by Dope Inc.-linked businessman Max Fisher.
Hanani boasted, "I told him [Davis], 'Look, it's simply very easy for me to handle you. It's very easy to work together. Why should a person spend $20,000 on a deprogrammer if they can just come to me .... If [Davis] wants to establish a line to me ... I will see if things can be handled.' "
Asked if "Rabbi Davis will function as a complaint department for you," Hanani stated, " Yes."
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[PDF]
How Henry Kissinger Will Be Destroyed - Executive Intelligence ...
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv09n40-19821019_020-how_henry_kissin...
Oct 19, 1982 – page 28
It is exemplary that the notorious Jim Jones of Jonestown, Guyana notoriety, was launched by the joint sponsorship of Rabbi Maurice Davis and Bishop Paul Moore. His original, Indianapolis based cult, was moved to Ukiah Valley, California, to become one of the experimental psychedelic cult projects spawned by the MK -Ultra project of Aldous Huxley, Gregory Bateson, and the Palo Alto "think-tank" complex. At the time of his death, Bateson, the former husband of Margaret Mead, was official of the cult-building Lindisfame center of the New York Anglican diocese, and was promoting the spread of witchcraft-cults around the United States.
The proliferation of what most citizens view as "fake religions," from Timothy Leary's and the Disciples of Christ's Jim Jones, on up and down, are part of the same process, and are chiefly run out of British intelligence conduits, including the hierarchy of the Church of England and the London Tavistock Institute.
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[PDF]
Who's Behind the Jim Jones Cult? - Executive Intelligence Review
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv05n46-19781128_031-whos_behind_the_...
Jim Jones' cult, the People's ... The following report on the Jim Jones "People's ....Rabbi. Maurice Davis. (presently of White Plains, New York) are important ..
PDF]
TFP Cult and the Gnostic Church Caught in a Plot to Murder the Pope
https://www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv11n41-19841023_031-tfp_cult_an...
close associate of Rabbi Maurice Davis. Rabbi ... responsible for providing Jim Jones, head of the famous. Jonestown, Guyana massacre, with his first temple.
[PDF]
Who's Behind the Jim Jones Cult? - Executive Intelligence Review
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv05n46-19781128_031-whos_behind_the_...
Jim Jones' cult, the People's ... The following report on the Jim Jones "People's ....Rabbi. Maurice Davis. (presently of White Plains, New York) are important ..
[PDF]
TFP Cult and the Gnostic Church Caught in a Plot to Murder the Pope
https://www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv11n41-19841023_031-tfp_cult_an...
close associate of Rabbi Maurice Davis. Rabbi ... responsible for providing Jim Jones, head of the famous. Jonestown, Guyana massacre, with his first temple.
PDF]
Will the U.S. Keep Its Nuclear Lead?
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv20n19-19930514_061-will_the_us_keep_...
MK-Ultra programs. Rabbi Maurice Davis, another member of the CAN advi ... of Galen Kelly, and also helped create cult leader Jim Jones by arranging for an .
[PDF]
From MK-Ultra Brainwashing to the American Family Foundation
https://larouchepub.com/.../eirv16n40-19891006_034-from_mk_ultra_b...
Oct 6, 1989 – phants in the jungles of Oklahoma, Rabbi Maurice Davis was ... shock and induced sleep: "Rabbi Davis as chaplain func ... Jim Jones and ...
[PDF]
The Child Pornography Lobby Protects Cults, Drugs, and Mass Murder
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv10n49-19831220_027-the_child_pornogr...
murderers of this century: Reverend Jim Jones of the People's Temple, and ... John the Divine Cathedral, Rabbi Maurice Davis of White. Plains, New York ...
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Jim Jones .Power Of Love Twisted Into The Love Of Power .
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19781126...
Jim Jones was "an obviously intelligent, eager, concerned person of great ... building from a congregation headed by Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of White Plains, ...
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November 26, 1978, The Spokesman Review, page B-1, Jim Jones: Power of love twisted into the love of power, by James Feron, [Continued page B-2]
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Rabbi warns about power of cults - Red Bank Register Archive ...
www.yumpu.com › www.yumpu.com › Magazines
Among the men who stayed behind were two of cult leader Jim Jones' adopted sons. ...youth Rabbi Maurice Davis, of the Jewish Community Center in White Plains, ...Rabbi Davis and Rev Jones of the People's Temple worked together on ...
Sexual Revelations about Episcopal Bishop Highlights - VirtueOnline
www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?...
Mar 2, 2008 – ... Bishop Paul Moore was a leading patron of the notorious Jim Jones in... Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his ...
Maurice Davis (Rabbi) - Dictionary, Sensagent
dictionary.sensagent.com/Maurice%20Davis%20(Rabbi)/en-en/
Definitions of Maurice Davis (Rabbi), synonyms, antonyms, derivatives of ... At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the ...
F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network ...
www.xenu-directory.net/mirrors/www...net/misc/.../CO0493AE.TXT
As Rabbi Maurice Davis [Emeritus Director of the American Family ..... The Branch Davidians, like the deadly Peoples Temple of Jim Jones, perceive the world ...
View by: study guides - International Cultic Studies Association
icsahome.com/infoserv_respond/by_studyguide.asp?...
Ryan was shot to death on the orders of Jim Jones at the airstrip as he was leaving Guyana. (Jeannie Mills was also .... —Rabbi Maurice Davis. Read the article ...
Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00149) - Theosophy
www.theosophy.com/theos-talk/200303/tt00149.html
Mar 9, 2003 – (The) possibility is that Jonestown was a mass mind-control ...psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West, Rabbi Maurice Davis is involved in an ... It may be more than a strange coincidence that Rabbi Davis arranged for Jim Jones to use ...
VirtueOnline - News - Exclusives - Sexual Revelations about ...
www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7849
Mar 2, 2008 – ... Bishop Paul Moore was a leading patron of the notorious Jim Jones in... Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his ...
Peter Hearty brings you POTD - The Big Chief Rabbi ... - Platitude
www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?m=06&y=12...
May 22, 2012 – After 22 years in prison, Troy Davis was executed for the murder of off... Maurice Glasman wonders if Labour's immigration policies have .... Bloomingly Reverend James Jones, Lord Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of Prisons ...
Peter Hearty brings you POTD - The Big Chief Rabbi ... - Platitude
www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?m=12&y=11...
After 22 years in prison, Troy Davis was executed for the murder of off duty ... MauriceGlasman wonders if Labour's immigration policies have fuelled the far right. ....Bloomingly Reverend James Jones, Lord Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of ...
Continuing Counter Reformation: 10/1/08 - 11/1/08
continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html
Oct 22, 2008 – A fourth MK-Ultra veteran with AFF, Rabbi Maurice Davis, actually financed the psychotic Rev. Jim Jones of the People's Temple suicide church
Cults: Public Perceptions vs. Research - Rick Ross
www.rickross.com/reference/general/general431.html
... perished under the psychological oppression of deranged leaders such as Jim Jones,..... An imminent pioneer in cult education Rabbi Maurice Davis once ...
Masters and Slaves: The Tragedy of Jonestown - by Fanita English ...
www.ideajournal.com/articles.php?id=7
by F English - Cited by 1 - Related articles
... in the personalities of people like Hitler and Jim Jones, the leader of Jonestown, .....In hearing of the deaths in Guyana, Rabbi Maurice Davis, who had sold ...
Beware Folks, ICSA is really AFF - New Day News.com Ministries
www.newdaynews.com/openhouse/index.cgi/noframes/read/24063
Apr 7, 2006 – A fourth MK-Ultra veteran with AFF, Rabbi Maurice Davis, actually financed the psychotic Rev. Jim Jones of the People's Temple suicide church ...
Is Satanism in Your School Yard? - Rense
rense.com/general61/satanism2.htm
Along with Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his .....attended by such notables as Temple president James Park Morton, who is ...
Buddy Walthers - JFK Assassination Debate - The Education Forum
educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate
Mar 26, 2008 – Attempts were made by Jim Garrison to persuade Walthers to testify at the ..... Rabbi Maurice Davis is another "expert'' guarding America from ... Jim Jones, whose followers were murdered with poisoned Kool-Aid in Guyana.
jerome davis - God's Politics Blog
www.faithandimmigration.org-www.faithandimmigration.org/.../jerome-...
Unlike pieces by Jim Wallis and Sojourners staff, other opinions expressed on this blog do not necessarily represent the position of Sojourners. God's Politics ...
The Anti-Religious Movement - True Parents Organization
www.tparents.org/library/unification/books/tbns/TBNS-07.htm
Rabbi Maurice Davis seems to be the originator of the anti-religious movement in .... 9 Since San Francisco was the home of Jim Jones's People's Temple, any ...
[PDF]
Spiritual Leaders - International Fellowship of Reconciliation
www.ifor.org/resources/Spiritual_Leaders_IFOR_V3_P3.pdf
Linn, James W., Jane Addams: A Biography. ..... Just as the War ended, Holmes's old friend, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, of Chicago's Abraham Lincoln .... Marion Cronbach and her husband, Rabbi Maurice Davis would provide Cronbach with two ...
The Washington Times - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times
Moon asked Richard L. Rubenstein, a rabbi and college professor who had written on ...including the newspaper's first editor and publisher, James R. Whelan, have .... In 2007, the liberal Mother Jones news magazine said that the Times had ..... Unification Church political activities · Danny K. Davis · Maurice Davis · Irving ...
1978: JONESTOWN, GUYANA, MASSACRE: A Planned Military ...
theparadisereporter.wordpress.com/.../1978-jonestown-guyana-massacre-...
Jul 6, 2011 – Contrary to reports in the controlled major media, Jim Jones was born .....who gave the Peoples Temple its start was the Rabbi Maurice Davis.
July 6, 2011, The Paradise Reporter, 1978: Jonestown, Guyana, Massacre: A Planned Military "Distraction" & "Cover",
July, 1981, The Campaigner, There Are No Lone Assassins, by Linda de Hoyos,
from the July 1981 issue of - 12 MB pdf image-file
to The Campaigner PDF-version node
Violence and Religious Commitment: Implications of Jim Jones's ...
books.google.com › Religion › Christianity › Denominations
Implications of Jim Jones's People's Temple Movement. Front Cover. Ken Levi ...Salvation and suicide: an interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple .
List of British Jews - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Jews
David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; son of Albert Neuberger, brother of James Neuberger ...
The Rappin' Rabbis - Wikisimpsons, the Simpsons Wiki
simpsonswiki.net/wiki/The_Rappin'_Rabbis
Feb 18, 2013 – The Rappin' Rabbis are a rap group comprising of rabbis. They are claimed to be Springfield's answer to the Benedictine monks.
Rock Creek Park - Washington, DC - National Park, Park | Facebook
www.facebook.com/RockCreekNPS
Jon Foley, Doug Barker, Susan Headden, David Lysy, Karen and Jim Prust, Cynthia ...Meaghan Cuddy, Lori Sousa, Ellen Jones, Alysha Chadderdon, Adam Boyd, ....Between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Bunche is Rabbi Maurice Davis.
Jewish Communities and Records - - JewishGen
www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/susser/joseph/jessophistory2.htm
The object of writing to the Chief Rabbi was to prevent an act which would give ... Davis) whose daughter Polly married Hyam Collins their great Grandfather. .... A6) and Mortimer (1857-1926) married Miriam daughter of John Jones (W15) issue 1. ... marriedMaurice Keyser whose daughter Beryl married Robert Hurst (J12).
Maurice Davis (rabbi) : Wikis (The Full Wiki)
www.thefullwiki.org/Maurice_Davis_(rabbi)
Maurice Davis (December 15, 1921 - December 14, 1993) was a Rabbi, and ... At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the ...
Talmudic Truth 2 - Destruction Of America
www.destructionofamerica.4t.com/custom2.html
Mr. James Yaffe commented in agreement: .... Rabbi Maurice Kapprow of the Williamsburg Jewish Congregation of Orlando, ... Rabbi Maurice Davis declared: ...
Leo J. Ryan Award - Search engine optimization
www.pozycjonowaniestron.net76.net/?Search_engine...Leo_J...
In Memoriam, Rabbi Maurice Davis, collected obituaries; Opus Dei -A House of ... as well as an article on both Jones and his involvement and the investigation ...
Vincent Bugliosi weighs in on JFK assassination - JFK ...
educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate
Feb 3, 2007 – Rabbi Maurice Davis is another “expert'' guarding America from cults ...Jim Jones, whose followers were murdered with poisoned Kool-Aid in ...
[PDF]
British Psychiatry: From Eugenics to Assassination - Executive ...
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv21n40-19941007_028-british_psychiatry...
James Bevel, who, with Chaitkin, is leading a national ...... Rabbi Maurice Davis is another "expert" guarding. America from ... Jim Jones, whose follow ers were ...
[PDF]
Cult Awareness Brainwashers, Galen Kelly Exposed - Executive ...
https://www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv20n12-19930319_056-cult_awaren...
Jim Jones in Guyana. Scarff said he lied ..... Rabbi Maurice Davis is a member of the CAN advi ... helped create cult leader Jim Jones by arranging for an empty ...
Leo J. Ryan Award - Wikipedia
readtiger.com/wkp/en/Leo_J._Ryan_Award
He was assassinated in Guyana, while investigating Jonestown and The ... member, New York State Assembly; 1982 - Rabbi Maurice Davis; 1983 - Rev.
[PDF]
Download the poster version we hand-delivered to - PICO National ...
www.piconetwork.org/.../poster-version-letter-from-Newtown-clergy.pdf
Rich Hendricks | Ms. Roberta Shadensack | Sister Abj Jones | Sister Nancy ....Elizabeth Bolton | Rabbi Ira Book Minister James Booker | Rev. .... Roger Dart | RabbiBraham David | Bishop Jeffery Davis | Dr. Herbert Reynolds Davis .... Cedric A Harmon | Pastor Chris Harrell | Dr. Forrest Harris | Rabbi Maurice Harris | Rev.
Selma to Montgomery marches | QuickiWiki
www.quickiwiki.com/en/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches
Fred Shuttlesworth, Rabbis Abraham Joshua Heschel and Maurice Davis, and at least one nun, all of whom were depicted in a famous photo. On March 22 and ..
2007 ACF Fall - Packet by Trygve Meade - #11 [report this tossup]
History — American
A new federal agency that was created by this bill was first chaired by a rabbi who sold a synagogue to Jim Jones, Maurice Davis. In the House, this bill was almost stalled in the Rules Committee by Chairman Howard Smith. One of its opponents in the Senate remarked about it "You can't legislate morality." It was deemed constitutional under the Commerce Clause in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US after it was signed into law by the still fairly new President Lyndon Johnson. FTP, identify this law, followed the next year by a Voting Rights Act, that prohibited all sorts of discrimination based on race, sex, religion, and other things.
_________________________________________________________________________
1984, The Cult Observer, Vol. 1, No. 4, Ryan Award to Dr. Clark, Sandy Andron,
CFF Cult-Awareness Meets
Cult Observer Staff Report
The Leo J. Ryan Award of the Citizens Freedom Foundation has been given to Dr. John G. Clark, Jr., of Boston, and Sandy Andron, Ed. D. Of Miami.
The awards were made in conjunction with the annual conference of the CFF/Cult Awareness Network and Former Cultists Support Network (FOCUS) held in Chattanooga October 26-28.
The Ryan Award is given annually by CFF/CAN, in commemoration of the Congressman slain in Guyana in 1978 during his investigation of Jim Jone’s People’s Temple, to the person or persons judged most active in focusing public attention on the dangers of destructive cults.
Dr. Clark is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Family Foundation (AFF), the cult research and education organization based in Weston, Mass. His extensive clinical experience with former cult members and their families has established him as one of the foremost authorities in the field. An internationally known speak, Dr. Clark later addressed the conference on the need for perseverance in its educational efforts. Dr. Sandy Andron is Youth Program Director for the Central Agency for Jewish Education in Miami, and serves on the Advisory Board of the AFF. He works with high school students and their teachers, and has written a short, illustrated preventive education curriculum for use in school systems.
The conference opened on a contemporary note with a discussion, moderated by CFF/CAN Treasurer Frank Tillman, on the role of computers in aiding the CFF national network. This was followed by an overview of the problem of destructive cults by Hope Evans, co-founder of the Dallas/Forth Worth Cult Awareness Council (CAC), counselor Joe Alexander, Sr., and Charles McNickle. The program for FOCUS, the self-support network of former cult members coordinated by CFF/CAN board member Paul Engel, opened with forums on the subjects of therapy cults and the “Shepherding” phenomenon.
The role of the clergy in educating the public bout destructive cultism, aiding affected families, and stimulating an awareness among their colleagues of the problems created by cults was the focus of two panel discussions. “How Clergy Can Meet the Needs,” moderated by Dr. Sandy Andron, featured comments by Dr. Ronald Enroth, Professor of Sociology at Westmont College, (Santa Barbara, CA), author of Youth, Brainwashing, and the Extremist Cults, and 1982 recipient of the Leo J. Ryan award; Rabbi R. L. Kravitz, a member of the Commission on Cultic Proselytization of Our Youth of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and Director of North Dakota’s American Jewish Committee; Rabbi Dr. Joe Weizenbaum of Temple Emmanuel in Tucson; and Dr. George Swope, a Baptist minister and Ph. D. In psychology, co-founder with Rabbi Maurice Davis of CERF (Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families) and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Family Foundation. Additional comments were supplied by Father James LeBar, Regional Coordinator, Office of Communications, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The FOCUS session, as in years past, included a panel on Religious and Spiritual Concerns of Ex-Members. Panelists were Father Walter DeBold, Professor of World Religions at Seton Hall University, Dean Ron Loomis, Director of the Union and Student Activities at Cornell University; Dr. Swope; and Rabbi Weizenbaum.
Mar 2, 2008 – ... Bishop Paul Moore was a leading patron of the notorious Jim Jones in... Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his ...
Peter Hearty brings you POTD - The Big Chief Rabbi ... - Platitude
www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?m=06&y=12...
May 22, 2012 – After 22 years in prison, Troy Davis was executed for the murder of off... Maurice Glasman wonders if Labour's immigration policies have .... Bloomingly Reverend James Jones, Lord Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of Prisons ...
Peter Hearty brings you POTD - The Big Chief Rabbi ... - Platitude
www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?m=12&y=11...
After 22 years in prison, Troy Davis was executed for the murder of off duty ... MauriceGlasman wonders if Labour's immigration policies have fuelled the far right. ....Bloomingly Reverend James Jones, Lord Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of ...
Continuing Counter Reformation: 10/1/08 - 11/1/08
continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html
Oct 22, 2008 – A fourth MK-Ultra veteran with AFF, Rabbi Maurice Davis, actually financed the psychotic Rev. Jim Jones of the People's Temple suicide church
Cults: Public Perceptions vs. Research - Rick Ross
www.rickross.com/reference/general/general431.html
... perished under the psychological oppression of deranged leaders such as Jim Jones,..... An imminent pioneer in cult education Rabbi Maurice Davis once ...
Masters and Slaves: The Tragedy of Jonestown - by Fanita English ...
www.ideajournal.com/articles.php?id=7
by F English - Cited by 1 - Related articles
... in the personalities of people like Hitler and Jim Jones, the leader of Jonestown, .....In hearing of the deaths in Guyana, Rabbi Maurice Davis, who had sold ...
Beware Folks, ICSA is really AFF - New Day News.com Ministries
www.newdaynews.com/openhouse/index.cgi/noframes/read/24063
Apr 7, 2006 – A fourth MK-Ultra veteran with AFF, Rabbi Maurice Davis, actually financed the psychotic Rev. Jim Jones of the People's Temple suicide church ...
Is Satanism in Your School Yard? - Rense
rense.com/general61/satanism2.htm
Along with Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his .....attended by such notables as Temple president James Park Morton, who is ...
Buddy Walthers - JFK Assassination Debate - The Education Forum
educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate
Mar 26, 2008 – Attempts were made by Jim Garrison to persuade Walthers to testify at the ..... Rabbi Maurice Davis is another "expert'' guarding America from ... Jim Jones, whose followers were murdered with poisoned Kool-Aid in Guyana.
jerome davis - God's Politics Blog
www.faithandimmigration.org-www.faithandimmigration.org/.../jerome-...
Unlike pieces by Jim Wallis and Sojourners staff, other opinions expressed on this blog do not necessarily represent the position of Sojourners. God's Politics ...
The Anti-Religious Movement - True Parents Organization
www.tparents.org/library/unification/books/tbns/TBNS-07.htm
Rabbi Maurice Davis seems to be the originator of the anti-religious movement in .... 9 Since San Francisco was the home of Jim Jones's People's Temple, any ...
[PDF]
Spiritual Leaders - International Fellowship of Reconciliation
www.ifor.org/resources/Spiritual_Leaders_IFOR_V3_P3.pdf
Linn, James W., Jane Addams: A Biography. ..... Just as the War ended, Holmes's old friend, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, of Chicago's Abraham Lincoln .... Marion Cronbach and her husband, Rabbi Maurice Davis would provide Cronbach with two ...
The Washington Times - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times
Moon asked Richard L. Rubenstein, a rabbi and college professor who had written on ...including the newspaper's first editor and publisher, James R. Whelan, have .... In 2007, the liberal Mother Jones news magazine said that the Times had ..... Unification Church political activities · Danny K. Davis · Maurice Davis · Irving ...
1978: JONESTOWN, GUYANA, MASSACRE: A Planned Military ...
theparadisereporter.wordpress.com/.../1978-jonestown-guyana-massacre-...
Jul 6, 2011 – Contrary to reports in the controlled major media, Jim Jones was born .....who gave the Peoples Temple its start was the Rabbi Maurice Davis.
July 6, 2011, The Paradise Reporter, 1978: Jonestown, Guyana, Massacre: A Planned Military "Distraction" & "Cover",
July, 1981, The Campaigner, There Are No Lone Assassins, by Linda de Hoyos,
from the July 1981 issue of - 12 MB pdf image-file
to The Campaigner PDF-version node
Violence and Religious Commitment: Implications of Jim Jones's ...
books.google.com › Religion › Christianity › Denominations
Implications of Jim Jones's People's Temple Movement. Front Cover. Ken Levi ...Salvation and suicide: an interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple .
List of British Jews - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Jews
David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; son of Albert Neuberger, brother of James Neuberger ...
The Rappin' Rabbis - Wikisimpsons, the Simpsons Wiki
simpsonswiki.net/wiki/The_Rappin'_Rabbis
Feb 18, 2013 – The Rappin' Rabbis are a rap group comprising of rabbis. They are claimed to be Springfield's answer to the Benedictine monks.
Rock Creek Park - Washington, DC - National Park, Park | Facebook
www.facebook.com/RockCreekNPS
Jon Foley, Doug Barker, Susan Headden, David Lysy, Karen and Jim Prust, Cynthia ...Meaghan Cuddy, Lori Sousa, Ellen Jones, Alysha Chadderdon, Adam Boyd, ....Between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Bunche is Rabbi Maurice Davis.
Jewish Communities and Records - - JewishGen
www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/susser/joseph/jessophistory2.htm
The object of writing to the Chief Rabbi was to prevent an act which would give ... Davis) whose daughter Polly married Hyam Collins their great Grandfather. .... A6) and Mortimer (1857-1926) married Miriam daughter of John Jones (W15) issue 1. ... marriedMaurice Keyser whose daughter Beryl married Robert Hurst (J12).
Maurice Davis (rabbi) : Wikis (The Full Wiki)
www.thefullwiki.org/Maurice_Davis_(rabbi)
Maurice Davis (December 15, 1921 - December 14, 1993) was a Rabbi, and ... At one point in time Davis had sold Jim Jones a synagogue building which in the ...
Talmudic Truth 2 - Destruction Of America
www.destructionofamerica.4t.com/custom2.html
Mr. James Yaffe commented in agreement: .... Rabbi Maurice Kapprow of the Williamsburg Jewish Congregation of Orlando, ... Rabbi Maurice Davis declared: ...
Leo J. Ryan Award - Search engine optimization
www.pozycjonowaniestron.net76.net/?Search_engine...Leo_J...
In Memoriam, Rabbi Maurice Davis, collected obituaries; Opus Dei -A House of ... as well as an article on both Jones and his involvement and the investigation ...
Vincent Bugliosi weighs in on JFK assassination - JFK ...
educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate
Feb 3, 2007 – Rabbi Maurice Davis is another “expert'' guarding America from cults ...Jim Jones, whose followers were murdered with poisoned Kool-Aid in ...
[PDF]
British Psychiatry: From Eugenics to Assassination - Executive ...
www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv21n40-19941007_028-british_psychiatry...
James Bevel, who, with Chaitkin, is leading a national ...... Rabbi Maurice Davis is another "expert" guarding. America from ... Jim Jones, whose follow ers were ...
[PDF]
Cult Awareness Brainwashers, Galen Kelly Exposed - Executive ...
https://www.larouchepub.com/.../eirv20n12-19930319_056-cult_awaren...
Jim Jones in Guyana. Scarff said he lied ..... Rabbi Maurice Davis is a member of the CAN advi ... helped create cult leader Jim Jones by arranging for an empty ...
Leo J. Ryan Award - Wikipedia
readtiger.com/wkp/en/Leo_J._Ryan_Award
He was assassinated in Guyana, while investigating Jonestown and The ... member, New York State Assembly; 1982 - Rabbi Maurice Davis; 1983 - Rev.
[PDF]
Download the poster version we hand-delivered to - PICO National ...
www.piconetwork.org/.../poster-version-letter-from-Newtown-clergy.pdf
Rich Hendricks | Ms. Roberta Shadensack | Sister Abj Jones | Sister Nancy ....Elizabeth Bolton | Rabbi Ira Book Minister James Booker | Rev. .... Roger Dart | RabbiBraham David | Bishop Jeffery Davis | Dr. Herbert Reynolds Davis .... Cedric A Harmon | Pastor Chris Harrell | Dr. Forrest Harris | Rabbi Maurice Harris | Rev.
Selma to Montgomery marches | QuickiWiki
www.quickiwiki.com/en/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches
Fred Shuttlesworth, Rabbis Abraham Joshua Heschel and Maurice Davis, and at least one nun, all of whom were depicted in a famous photo. On March 22 and ..
2007 ACF Fall - Packet by Trygve Meade - #11 [report this tossup]
History — American
A new federal agency that was created by this bill was first chaired by a rabbi who sold a synagogue to Jim Jones, Maurice Davis. In the House, this bill was almost stalled in the Rules Committee by Chairman Howard Smith. One of its opponents in the Senate remarked about it "You can't legislate morality." It was deemed constitutional under the Commerce Clause in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US after it was signed into law by the still fairly new President Lyndon Johnson. FTP, identify this law, followed the next year by a Voting Rights Act, that prohibited all sorts of discrimination based on race, sex, religion, and other things.
_________________________________________________________________________
1984, The Cult Observer, Vol. 1, No. 4, Ryan Award to Dr. Clark, Sandy Andron,
CFF Cult-Awareness Meets
Cult Observer Staff Report
The Leo J. Ryan Award of the Citizens Freedom Foundation has been given to Dr. John G. Clark, Jr., of Boston, and Sandy Andron, Ed. D. Of Miami.
The awards were made in conjunction with the annual conference of the CFF/Cult Awareness Network and Former Cultists Support Network (FOCUS) held in Chattanooga October 26-28.
The Ryan Award is given annually by CFF/CAN, in commemoration of the Congressman slain in Guyana in 1978 during his investigation of Jim Jone’s People’s Temple, to the person or persons judged most active in focusing public attention on the dangers of destructive cults.
Dr. Clark is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Family Foundation (AFF), the cult research and education organization based in Weston, Mass. His extensive clinical experience with former cult members and their families has established him as one of the foremost authorities in the field. An internationally known speak, Dr. Clark later addressed the conference on the need for perseverance in its educational efforts. Dr. Sandy Andron is Youth Program Director for the Central Agency for Jewish Education in Miami, and serves on the Advisory Board of the AFF. He works with high school students and their teachers, and has written a short, illustrated preventive education curriculum for use in school systems.
The conference opened on a contemporary note with a discussion, moderated by CFF/CAN Treasurer Frank Tillman, on the role of computers in aiding the CFF national network. This was followed by an overview of the problem of destructive cults by Hope Evans, co-founder of the Dallas/Forth Worth Cult Awareness Council (CAC), counselor Joe Alexander, Sr., and Charles McNickle. The program for FOCUS, the self-support network of former cult members coordinated by CFF/CAN board member Paul Engel, opened with forums on the subjects of therapy cults and the “Shepherding” phenomenon.
The role of the clergy in educating the public bout destructive cultism, aiding affected families, and stimulating an awareness among their colleagues of the problems created by cults was the focus of two panel discussions. “How Clergy Can Meet the Needs,” moderated by Dr. Sandy Andron, featured comments by Dr. Ronald Enroth, Professor of Sociology at Westmont College, (Santa Barbara, CA), author of Youth, Brainwashing, and the Extremist Cults, and 1982 recipient of the Leo J. Ryan award; Rabbi R. L. Kravitz, a member of the Commission on Cultic Proselytization of Our Youth of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and Director of North Dakota’s American Jewish Committee; Rabbi Dr. Joe Weizenbaum of Temple Emmanuel in Tucson; and Dr. George Swope, a Baptist minister and Ph. D. In psychology, co-founder with Rabbi Maurice Davis of CERF (Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families) and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Family Foundation. Additional comments were supplied by Father James LeBar, Regional Coordinator, Office of Communications, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The FOCUS session, as in years past, included a panel on Religious and Spiritual Concerns of Ex-Members. Panelists were Father Walter DeBold, Professor of World Religions at Seton Hall University, Dean Ron Loomis, Director of the Union and Student Activities at Cornell University; Dr. Swope; and Rabbi Weizenbaum.
Luncheon speakers Dr Maurice Temerlin and Mrs. Jane Temerlin, MSW, who conduct individual marital and group psychotherapy in Oklahoma City, gave summaries of their findings about the coercive and manipulative techniques employed by leaders of five psychotherapy/self-help cults they have studied. Mr. Kenneth Wooden, author of Children of Jonestown, now a producer for ABC News 20/20, gave an account of the means by which Jim Jones of the People's Temple used children -- many placed in his church’s care by state agencies -- to manipulate People’s Temple families before they were finally murdered at Jonestown in November of 1978.
Former Unification Church member Steve Hassan, now a counselor, lecturer, and active force in FOCUS, demonstrated his strategies for communicating with cult members in a presentation that included role-playing exercises with participation by members of the audience.
Guest speakers at dinner on Friday were Brian Allen and his wife, Lynn, formerly of the ‘Love Family.’ Brian is the son of comedian Steve Allen, and was the subject of his father’s 1982 book Beloved Son. The Allens spoke candidly and movingly of their 13-year involvement in the group, the difficulties created by the ever-increasing domination of their leader, Love Israel, and their decision to leave in 1983.
An unusual feature of Friday’s session was the “Masters of Deception” presentation by professional magician Danny Korem, who demonstrated stage magicians’ techniques sometimes used by unscrupulous individuals to “prove” their “psychic” ability. Mr. Korem also showed a television film entitled “Psychic Confession,” the story of a young man who had studied techniques such as breath control and then used his abilities to convince others that he was a “psychic.” Mr Korem painstakingly learned the same techniques, exposed the “psychic,” and persuaded him to confess on camera.
Mrs. Earlene Williams, founder of “Parent Watch,” an organization which helps in the search for missing children, some of whom may have disappeared into cults, addressed the conference on the subject of “Coercive-Persuasive Magazine and Selling Groups.” She described the problems arising from the activities of certain sales companies which organize traveling crews of young people to sell magazines and other products door-to-door.
A panel of discussion of the “Shepherding/Discipleship” movement was moderated by Betty McConahy of P.A.I.F., the CFF/CAN Pittsburgh affiliate. Speakers were Randy Heller, author of Deprogramming for Do-It Yourselfers: A cure for the common cult; Steve Montgomery of CAC-CFF Houston, who is currently researching the “charismatic movement;” David Clark, a former member of a shepherding group, now a counselor and archivist for CAN and FOCUS; and Dr. Ronald Enroth. Each member of the panel spoke about a different aspect of the fast-growing Shepherding movement, although all emphasize the possible political danger represented by the belief shared by many of these groups that they have a mandate to establish a theocracy in the United States.
The Cult Observer, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1984
________________________________________________________________________________
July 7, 2010, sdsu.edu, Was Jonestown a self-sustaining community?
Although Jonestown was a thriving community, it never reached its goal of being self-sufficient, and likely would have continued to have difficulties in reaching that goal, even without the catastrophe of November 18, 1978.
The land under cultivation and food production was flourishing, but couldn’t keep up with the challenge of feeding a thousand people three times a days. Pictures from Jonestown, such as those included in the 1978 booklet, Jonestown: A Model of Cooperation, showed lush gardens and fields, although the claim that the farm was producing more than 25 food crops apparently reflected the project’s plans rather than its reality. The chickery produced both eggs and chicken, and the piggery was a source of pork and ham.
Nevertheless, one of the purposes of the Temple’s permanent presence in Guyana’s capital of Georgetown was to receive food shipments from the States and to acquire local foodstuffs which Jonestown did not produce, including other meat and fish, rice, flour, sugar, and basic staples in the community’s diet.
With the initial construction of Jonestown completed – the early pioneers had built the facilities on their own, and was resourceful in creating an elementary infrastructure – people could explore ideas for some light industry, both to reduce dependence on the outside world and to generate products for sale in Georgetown. By November 18, the community had established soap- and toy-making enterprises, and was in the process of developing a small commercial sawmill.
Still, it was dependent upon the outside world for its survival. In September 1978, the last month for which there are complete figures, 173 Jonestown residents received more than $36,000 in Social Security checks, and this money went to support the project. The community also relied upon continued financial contributions and business profits from Temple enterprises in the States.
There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that the community was originally designed to accommodate about 700 people, not the 1000 who showed up, and especially not with so many people arriving in so short a time, during the summer and early fall of 1977. Secondly, as the demographics of Jonestown show, its population was both disproportionately young and even more disproportionately old, with a resultant squeeze on the number of able-bodied young and middle-aged adults who could actually do the work.
Finally, reports about food from individuals living in Jonestown describe a precipitous drop in quality and quantity beginning in 1978. This drop indicates an unwillingness to dip into the Temple’s millions of dollars in bank accounts, and may reflect the existence of plans to put a murder-suicide plan into effect when the time seemed opportune.
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May 18, 2011, sdsu.edu, Was Peoples Temple responsible for the deaths of some of its former members?
There have been at least eight deaths in which Peoples Temple was alleged to have had some involvement. None have been substantiated, although the stories continue to circulate in apostate accounts.
• Maxine Harpe, who had attended Temple services in Ukiah and who reportedly turned over about $2400 from the sale of a former residence to the church, was found hanging in her garage in March 1970. Following Maxine’s funeral, her three children were placed in Temple foster homes which, according to several accounts, collected more than $10,000 in welfare support checks on their behalf. While the Mendocino County Coroner ruled the death as a suicide, one of the eight articles that San Francisco Examiner religion reporter Lester Kinsolving wrote in 1972 about the Temple – and the first of four that went unpublished – raised the issue of foul play and suggested that Temple members who were in county government colluded to collect the various payments. Forty years later, Maxine's son Daniel believes that his mother wanted to get out of the Temple and that she did not kill herself. The official verdict of suicide still stands, however, and no one has been charged with any crime related to the death.
• In November 1973, Western Addition activist and Temple member Rory Hithe was shot to death in a room full of witnesses, mostly other Temple members. The shooting itself was not the mystery, but the motive – and its connection to the Temple – is unclear, much less the alleged role of Jim Jones in ordering the killing. Temple guard Chris Lewis, who himself would die under mysterious circumstances four years later (see below), was arrested and tried for the crime, although he was acquitted on grounds of self-defense.
• Truth Hart, a follower of Father Divine in Philadelphia before she joined Peoples Temple in 1971, died of congestive heart failure in July 1974. While Hart, a black woman in her sixties, had had numerous health problems, several Temple antagonists have claimed that her death was accelerated on Jones’ orders. Truth Hart had become disenchanted with Jones’ teachings, especially his denigration of the Bible, and had threatened to leave. The Temple leader decided to use her as an example of what would happen to former members who left “Father’s protection,” and directed a Temple nurse to order a drug known to induce heart attacks. A few days before Hart’s death, according to these accounts, Jones predicted her demise.
• John Head had been a patient receiving treatments for depression at a mental health hospital in Mendocino County where several Temple members worked. He also was the recent beneficiary of a $10,000 insurance settlement, but rather than investing the money in stocks, bonds or other money-making instruments, he took the advice of an unknown Temple member and purchased silver bullion. The same friend later urged him to leave the job he had at a masonite plant in Ukiah – the employer of numerous other Temple members – and to withdraw the silver to provide money for him to live on. Two days later, John Head joined the Temple himself and turned over the silver in return for life care. The relationship lasted three weeks before Head called his parents and told them of his unhappiness and his plans to leave. The following day – October 19, 1975 – he died following a fall from the roof of a three-story warehouse. Noting the young man’s history of depression, the county coroner ruled the death a suicide.• Bob Houston had been a youth counselor with Peoples Temple by day and a railroad worker at night, when he was found dead in a railway yard in San Francisco, apparently crushed by a train car, in the fall of 1976. Although the death was ruled an accident, a number of people believed there were too many unexplained factors surrounding the event, including the fact that the gloves he always wore for his safety while working were found neatly folded some distance from the body. The efforts of Bob’s father Sam Houston to involve his elected U.S. Representative – Leo J. Ryan – represented the first steps that led to the congressman’s trip to Guyana in November 1978. The official verdict of accidental death still stands.
• Chris Lewis was an early Temple success story – he was a drug addict who went through a Temple rehabilitation program – and when he was tried later on murder and assault charges stemming from the Hithe shooting, the Temple devoted many of its resources to his defense. The relationship was an uneasy one, though: Lewis worked security for the church, but was rumored to provide some muscle when Jones needed it, threatening people who went against the Temple. When Lewis was murdered in the Bayview-Hunters Point district of San Francisco in late 1977, the police concluded that the crime was either drug-related or a vengeance killing, but without a suspect, nothing could be proven. That didn’t stop either Jones from lauding Lewis as a martyr who had been killed by Temple enemies, or members of the Concerned Relatives from pointing out Lewis’ increasing liability to the Temple cause.• In February 1980, fifteen months after the Jonestown tragedy, former Temple members Deanna and Elmer Mertle – who defected from the church, changed their names to Al and Jeannie Mills, and founded the Human Freedom Center – were found murdered execution style in their Berkeley home. Their deaths raised the specter of Temple hit squads, even as the police turned their attention to the Mills’ son Eddie, who was in the house at the time. Although Eddie was briefly detained as part of a cold case investigation in 2005, he was soon released and no one has ever been charged in connection with the crime.
______________________________________________________________________________
1994, The Cult Observer 11, Vol. 11 No. 1, In Memoriam: Rabbi Maurice Davis,
Scientology Operations Revealed Children Beaten "Lovingly" 6
CUT Firearms and Tax Exemption Linked New Book: Captive Hearts, Captive Minds 8
AMERICAN FAMILY FOUNDATION
American Family Foundation News American Family Foundation committee members, and others who are vital to AFF' s research, information, and education functions, will learn of one another's recent activities in this column. Of course, much more work occurs than is reported to us. We'll try to relate the news in the order we receive it.
WACO AGAIN?
Faye Snider, M.S.W., of the AFF Social Work Committee, who has a private practice in Waban, MA, and her daughter, Beth Snider Glick, M.S.W., who works at the Massachusetts General Hospital, will be presenters at the seventeenth annual Family Therapy Network Symposium at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., in March. Their subject: "Can Waco Happen Again? What Family Therapists Should Know About Cults." In their workshop,they "will explore the different types of cults and the sophisticated psychological methods they use to attract new members, as well as the impact of cult involvement on a family and the recovery resources psychotherapy has to offer."
AFF BOOK DISTRIBUTION
Dr. Madeleine Tobias (pictured below) reports that when she went to the Dartmouth (NH) Bookstore to have them orderRecoveryFrom Cults(edited by Dr. Michael Langone, published by W.W. Norton, available through AFF and bookstores), she found two copies already prominently displayed on the shelves.
CLARK SCHOLARSHIPS
Former cult members who received scholarship grants from the John Gordon ClarkFund have written letters of thanks to Cynthia Kisser of the Cult Awareness Network, which makes the grants named for AFF's founding scholar, and she has kindly forwarded copies to us. The awards enabled recipients to attend the annual CAN conference, held in November '93 in Minneapolis.
JEWS AND CULTS
At that conference, Marcia Rudin and Dr. Sandy Andron were among the speakers, and their remarks concerning Jewish membership in, and recruitment by, many cultic groups were reported in December in American Jewish World "The Jewish community doesn't give a lot of support to organizations that help keep Jews from cults while at the same time, Jews are often targeted by messianic groups. And just because a group is Jewish or Jewish-run doesn't make it safe," according to Marcia Rudin. Dr. Andron: "They [a growing number of messianic groups becoming a major problem for the Jewish community] recruit everywhere--on the street comer, in schools, at fast-food restaurants. To stop them from being successful in recruiting kids, we... need to have councils of kids at various grade levels and learn about what concerns them. And we have to offer continuing Jewish education." He further stated,... "Catholics go into cults looking for freedom, but Jewish kids join because they are looking for structure."
FOR SOCIAL WORKERS
William Goldberg, M.S.W., led a seminar on cults in contemporary American society, sponsored by the Scarsdale (NY)Adult School, last December. Mr. Goldberg, a clinical social worker with ten years of experience in co-leading a group for former cultists, used the Branch Davidians as an example to discuss recruitment techniques, methods used to achieve a state of mind control, life within a cult, intervention to help those who have been seduced, warning signs to help determine if a group is a cult, and steps that a free society can take to deal with this problem. The Cult Observer 2 Vol. 11 No. 1 1994
IN MEMORIAM
Rabbi Maurice Davis: Human Rights Champion
Rabbi Maurice Davis, Director Emeritus of the American Family . Foundation [publisher of The Cult Observer], died late last year after a long illness. A graduate of the Hebrew Union College, and the retired rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, New York, Rabbi Davis devoted his life to the campaign for human rights. He founded the Kentucky Committee on Desegregation in 1952, and in 1966 he marched with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery. In 1965 he served as chairman of the President's Commission on Equal Opportunity.
Rabbi Davis first began helping cult victims in 1970, when two congregants' children became involved in the Unification Church. In time, he personally counseled nearly 200 cultists to leave destructive groups. He also directed and appeared in the film, You Can Go Home Again, a cult-education production of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. In 1982, Rabbi Davis received the Cult Awareness Network's Leo J. Ryan award, given in memory of the congressman murdered during an investigation of Jonestown. He marched with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery.
A great and gentle radiance has left our scene with the death of Rabbi Maurice Davis. He was one of the people who first brought me into the circle of those devoted to helping cult victims. His compassion and vision were inspiring. He saw clearly the dangers which awaited those who lost their free will to totalism. I remember vividly one of my early contacts with Rabbi Davis, when an attorney for a destructive group was trying to get him to explain what he had said to a member of that group when she returned briefly to her family and agreed to speak with him. "I prayed with her," he said. "I prayed that she remember the teachings of her youth and her love for her family ." The lawyer for the group was taken aback. "Is that all you did?", he said. "Was that all it was.'? ....Yes," Rabbi Davis answered, "the rest was up to her."
It was that blend of hope, vision, and respect for the judgment of others that became the cornerstone of the American Family Foundation' s ideals. We owe much to Rabbi Davis and we honor him with our continued commitment. Herbert L. Rosedale President, American Family Foundation He served as chairman of the President's Commission on Equal Opportunity. He saw clearly the dangers which awaited those who lost their free will to totalism.
1994, The Cult Observer 3 Vol. 11 No. 1,
IN THE COMMUNITY
Scientology Operations Revealed The Church of Scientology, the secretive, combative international organization that recently won a decades-long drive for Federal tax exemption, counts assets of about $400 million and appears to take in nearly $300 million a year $400 MILLION from counseling fees, book
IN ASSETS sales, investments and other sources, according to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service. A review of this material in October showed that while the group spends heavily on legal fees--some $30 million during 1987 and 1988-- advertising and commissions for fund- raisers, and is spending $114 million to preserve the writings and tapes of its deceased founder that it calls its scripture, its top officials are paid salaries comparable to those of the leaders of Protestant denominations. The level of these salaries challenges former members of the group and other critics who assert that Scientology is a sham religion run more as a business for the financial benefit of senior members.The organization typically pays fundraisers 10 percent of what they bring in. The IRS, when asked, would not verify the salary figures, but said the information provided by the church was "sufficient" to determine that "there were no issues of inurement that could have prevented" approval of the tax exemption.
Although leaders do not appear to make large salaries, some had relatives on the payroll. For example, the church employs the father, stepmother, brother, and sister-in-law of David Miscavige, the highest placed Scientology ecclesiastical official. Some of the fundraisers--who are paid commissions based on donations raised from parishioners-- eamed several hundred thousand dollars annually, but these "disseminators" are considered Field Staff members and not church members themselves. Nor are disseminators considered employees although they raise money for the Intemational Association of Scientologists on a full-time or part-time basis.
(From "Scientologists Report Assets of $400 Million," by Robert D. Hershey, Jr., The New York Times, 10/22/93, A12) Parishioners' Donations Donations from parishioners are key to Scientology's wealth.
Scientologists pay up to thousands of dollars each for counseling in a process known as auditing that is supposed to rid them of negative thoughts and improve their lives. Critics call it a scam, but church lawyers describe the method thus: "All prices and rates are set to enable churches of Scientology to provide the services, scriptures, and other materials of the religion to more and more members of the general public so that everyone eventually can achieve spiritual salvation. Accounting System To keep track of all this, Scientology uses a new electronic accounting system, which it described to the IRS thus: "Over the years a very precise system has evolved whereby each function in a church is given a statistic which is recorded weekly, plotted against time and reported each week to CSI (Church of Scientology International). The statistics give a complete picture of whether a particular Church is performing its duties in accordance with Scripture." The exhibits attached to this statement are graphs showing dollar income. Low Personnel Costs The documents indicate that Scientology personnel costs are low; staffers are paid $50 a week, live in a communal setting, and spend over 14 hours a day on religious work. (From "Scientologists release information showing how they work," by David Dahl and Carl Vicks, Citizens' Voice [Wilkes-Barre, PA], 10/15/93, 20)
REMAKING
As part of its "expansion" effort THE IMAGE in the wake of last fall's Internal Revenue Service ruling declaring most of its operation tax-exempt, Scientology announced it was ready to take on media critics in a major promotional campaign to try to mend its public image. The first part of the campaign is to be a combative media blitz and a 590-page $19.95 paperback entitled What is Scientology? The church says in the book's promotions that it has "survived 40 years of vicious media harassment and just keeps getting bigger and stronger every day. It's an international phenomenon Continued on the next page
1994, The Cult Observer Vol. 11 No. 1,
IN THE COMMUNITY that isn't going away." Corporate-image experts say that taking a con- frontational approach to a tarnished image is risky, but the head of a leading New York public relations firm noted that responding to public allegations is often important in retaining the confidence of members. The new Scientology campaign is said to include a documercial entitled "The Problem of Life," which dramatizes the story of "a couple who are looking for answers to the questions of life." The couple unsuccessfully visits a doctor, a psychotherapist, and a marriage counselor. "At the end, they find out Scientology could provide the answers," a spokeswoman said. (From "Church of Scientology to Launch Campaign to Improve Its Image," Wall Street Journal, 10/20/93, B5)
Ann Archer for Applied Scholastics
Ann Archer, a star of the movie Fatal Attraction, spoke in August to 30 children at the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Club in Washington, DC, about the importance of learning and the virtues of Applied Scholastics, a program that teaches adults and children how to learn that was developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Archer does not try to avoid the Scientology connection; she mentions it before she is asked. But she says that Applied Scholastics is only a learning program. "We're not trying to make little Scientologists." The program is, in fact, used in the DC schools as part of the Saturday Learning Extension Program, a one-on-one tutorial program. (From "Merrie- Go-round," by Merrie Morris, The Washington Times, 8/3/93, El) [The Washington Times is owned by the Unification Church]
Archer was in Washington seeking federal funding for Applied Scholastics. "A person can learn anything when he knows the technology to learn," she gushed, looking lovely in an olive suit, suede pumps, and flashy Armani shades. Archer, a long-time Scientologist, raves about the program's "miracles" in L.A. ghettos, but said that it was its success with her own 8-year-old son that got her going. (From "The Reliable Source," by Lois Romano, The Washington Post, 8/3/93, E3)
Willie Gault for Narconon
National Football League star Willie Gault is the subject of a lengthy interview in a recent issue of The Truth About Drugs, a four-page tabloid aimed at young people by Narconon, the anti-drug program sponsored by Scientology. In the article Gault says, "When I first heard about Narconon from Kirstie Alley, I thought it was definitely a worthwhile program. (Cult Observer Report) Bart Simpson's Voice Selling Scientology Actress Nancy Cartwright, the voice of TV's Bart Simpson, is appearing in a 30-minute television infomercial that the Church of Scientology---of which she is a member--hopes will expose more people to church founder L. Ron Hubbard's message and increase the number of people seeking Scientology counseling. Helping Cartwright sell the production are a number of celebrities, including jazz pianist Chick Correa. They are all selling a $69.95 package that includes the book Dianetics, the Scientology "bible," audio and video tapes, and other instructional material to help buyers begin counseling themselves and others. Scientology is not actually mentioned in the informercial. According to Scientology brochures, the infomercial campaign "is designed to create a HUGE public demand forDianetics and flow people all the way from their initial purchase of a Dianetics book, video, or audio tape through to arrival into our organization and enrollment on [sic] further services." Regarding her experience of Scientology, Cartwright says in the infomercial: "My abilities increased tenfold. I look at myself now, and I'm doing things that I never thought I could do before." (From "Scientology's words to hit the airwaves," by Wayne Garcia, SL Petersburg Times, 8/28/93, 1A, 3A)
CONSULTING
Numerous complaints about the FRONT Scientology-connected Sterling Management Systems programs sold to professionals like dentists and veterinarians reflect a clear, but usually unstated, connection between the training and the religion, according to one expert observer, Herbert L. Rosedale, a New York City attorney and president of the American Family Foundation [publisher of The Cult Observer]. Rosedale, who represents dozens of medical professionals free of charge, says: "After having taken or agreed to some kind of business consultation with Sterling Management Systems, representations were made that the business management (techniques) would not work if they [the Continued on page 6 The
1994, Cult Observer 5 Vol. 11 No. 1,
IN THE COMMUNITY
Children Beaten "Lovingly"
A former member of a small Gwinnett County, GA, religious sect has accused the group of child abuse. Six years ago, Kelli Huth and her husband Mike adopted Lawrence Clark's interpretation of the Bible, which includes strict and often violent disciplinary measures for children and requires women to remain silent during services. She reported abuse of her children to state officials, who granted custody of the children to her father and stepmother after a hearing in juvenile court. A final custody hearing was scheduled for September, 1993. The nameless sect, which has about a dozen adult members and 30 children and lives in a small underground house in Suwanee and on a 12-acre farm in Dacula, forbids members from associating with anyone who believes differently. Many of the women call their husbands "sir" and the men practice group "reproof," during which they scold their wives for up to 30 minutes for something as minor as an unfinished household task. Members are taught to use wooden rods or refrigerator hoses to strike their children as many as 100 times on the buttocks or bottom of the feet, often until they bled, according to testimony. Members testified that they sing to their children and offer encouragement during beatings, insisting they don't strike in anger. Child welfare investigators say the children equate pain with love. Huth's oldest daughter said "the only way she knew her daddy loved her was because he whipped her," according to one investigator. "He would tell her he loved her while he was doing it." (From "North Georgia religious sect draws scrutiny for disciplinary methods," Associated Press, The Moultrie [GA] Observer, 8/2/93)
Scientology connects romantic professionals, "didn't resolve their personal problems."
The resolution inevitably involves the Church of Scientology, he said. Many professionals around the country, like those Rosedale represents, are seeking to get back the money they paid for Sterling training--sometimes costing tens of thousands of dollars--and some have filed suit, alleging, among other things, that Sterling's use of Scientology "communications" courses in its training caused psychological harm. (From "Vet quits 1 crusade and joins another," and "Struggle between cults and critics grinds on," by Michael Lopez, Times Union [Albany, NY], 6/13/93, H1, H5)
Dodging Clearwater Ordinance
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September that a Clearwater, FL, city ordinance requiring charitable organizations--including religions--to keep records of how they use donated money, and authorizing investigations by a city attorney if people complain, was unconstitutional. The court also said there was "explicit evidence that the City Commission conducted its legislative process from the beginning [1983 and 1984] to end with the intention of singling out Scientology for burdensome regulation." (From "Will Clearwater raise the white flag on Scientology?," by Ned Seaton, St. Petersburg Times, 10/17/93, 7)
White House Policy Director at Rally
White House drug policy director Lee P. Brown took pan in a rally for a drug-free America sponsored by the Church of Scientology, the controversial organization which has been the subject of numerous criminal investi- ations. Brown, who joined fifty D.C. children in taking a drug-free pledge before a battery of television news cameras, said he discovered the Scientology connection only later, but indicated that he would have taken part nonetheless. "Anything that [can] be done to minimize the number of youths who are involved in drugs we want to be involved in," he said. The local head of the U.S. Marshals Service, which was also involved in the program, said he knew of the Scientology backing and "I have allied myself with an issue... I take no political stance with the organization [Scientology]. (From "Sponsor of Drug-Free Rally Catches Some Unawares," by Laurie Goodstein, The Washington Post, 8/10/93, D1)
Santeria Sacrifices Celebrated
The high priest of the Santeria sect in Miami, FL, slit the throats of hogtied beasts on June 26 in a ritual Continued on page 10
1994, The Cult Observer 6 Vol. 11 No. 1,
IN THE COURTS CUT
Firearms and Tax Exemption Linked
Weapons stockpiled by the Church Universal and Triumphant were secretly moved off of the group's Paradise Valley [Montana] ranch in March, following the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms February raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, according to court papers filed in Washington, D.C., in June.
Where the guns and ammunition have gone was not revealed, although two armored personnel carriers in the group's possession were apparently returned to an armaments dealer in New Jersey. The papers were filed in connection with a suit filed by the church to reverse an Internal Revenue Service ruling in 1992 revoking CUT's tax-exempt status. (From "Feds track CUT weapons activity," by Karin Ronnow, Livingston [MT] Enterprise, 6/30/93)
The arms were collected, according to the papers, allegedly through a complicated stock scheme in the late 1970s that may have allowed CUT to "launder" trusted staff members' salaries for the purposes of funding an armed survivalist organization. According to U.S. Department of Justice attorney Stuart Gibson, the survivalist "club" was part of the CUT leadership's long-standing pattern of "attempting to conceal activities from other members of CUT's staff, from CUT's general membership, and from the general public."(From "Feds suspect CUT gun money scheme," and "Papers give details of 'survival' club," by Karin Ronnow, Livingston [MT] Enterprise, 7/1/93), 1, 3)
Expose Sidetracked
Publication of a book about the Church Universal and Triumphant by critic Katherine Schmook was cancelled by Viking/Penguin press following the reconciliation of CUT leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet and her daughter, Moira Lewis, the book's co-author. Moira Lewis has threatened to sue for libel if the book is published, says Schmook. She adds that Viking decided that publishing was too big a risk, "and they don't want any part of it." (From "CUT expose sidetracked-- co-author makes up with 6uru mom," by Karin Ronnow, Livingston [MT] Enterprise, 7/2/93)
Pressure in the Workplace
Christina M. Goudeau, of Baton Rouge, LA, filed suit against her former employers, Landmark Dental Care, in June, claiming religious discrimination. She said they fired her because she refused to go along with them in joining the Church of Scientology and using Scientology practices and terminology in the office. She says the dentists pressured her to join after they attended meetings and seminars by Sterling Management Systems, the Dianetics Foundation, and the Church of Scientology. (From "Suit blames Scien- tology for firing" by Fred Kalmbach, The Advocate [Baton Rouge], 6/16/93)
Experts on "Mind Control" Day in Court
A Supreme Court decision in June concerning the admissibility of expert scientific testimony may affect court cases involving allegations of mind control. In Daubert vs. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, the court threw out the test applied by a lower court that expert scientific testimony in a field such as psychology must be based on methods or conclusions that "have gained general acceptance" by the scientific community in that field.
Under the new test, federal trial judges must "screen" expert testimony to "ensure that any or all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is not only relevant, but reliable." But it will no longer be permissible to exclude expert testimony merely for lack of "general acceptance." Reasons argued in cases where testimony on mind control has been excluded in the past--sometimes it has not been excluded-- will no longer be valid in future cases. (From "Court Ruling on Scientific Evidence: A Just Burden," by Natalie Angier, New York Times, 6/30/93, A8 and "Supreme Court issues new ruling on expert testimony," "by David J. Bardin, Cult Awareness Network News, 8/93, 3)
Awareness Network Deflects Scientology
A Minnesota Scientologist in August was refused a court injunction seeking to prevent Free Minds--the local affiliate of the national Cult Awareness Network--from keeping her out of their meetings.
Holly Hagerty claimed that her exclusion by Free
Continued on the next page
1994, The Cult Observer 7 Vol. 11 No. 1,
READING
"Captive Hearts, Captive Minds" In the soon-to-be-published Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, authors Madeleine Landau Tobias and Janja Lalich address recovery issues for those who have been in cults, cult-like groups, or relationships with ultra-authoritarian individuals.
Carol Giambalvo, author of Exit Counseling: A Family Intervention, said, "This comprehensive book takes the former cult member through all the necessary healing stages--from understanding the effects of mind control and cult involvement to taking positive steps toward a healthy, balanced recovery... I highly recommend this book, which respects the strength, courage, dignity, and intelligence of former cult members."
Philip Zimbardo, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, calls Captive Hearts, Captive Minds "must reading for everyone who wants to understand the powerful appeal that cults exert over so many ordinary people..." Author and entertainer Steve Allen says "I strongly recommend this penetrating and insightful study," while Eugene Methvin, a Senior Editor at Reader's Digest, wishes that "every cult member, and every family of a cult member, struggling to free himself from the trauma of membership in a destructive relationship could read Captive Hearts, Captive Minds. It offers the powerful healing medicine of understanding."
The most common post-cult difficulties such as feelings of guilt and shame, loss of self-esteem, fear and confusion, depression and others are covered, with sections on relationships with family and friends, career and belief issues, the special needs of those born and raised in a cult and those who experienced sexual or physical abuse. Included are over a dozen first-person accounts of healing and recovery, written by former members of a variety of cults.
There are guidelines for finding professional help, as well as a chapter on therapeutic issues specifi-cally for mental health and other professionals. The book also provides an overview of the cult phenomenon, thought reform, and characteristics of cult leaders. Madeleine Tobias, a former cult member, is a psychotherapist and exit counselor in private practice since 1979. She now specializes in working with current and former cult members and their families. Janja Lalich was in a political cult for 10 years. She is a freelance editor and writer, and is coordinator of the San Francisco area support group for former cult members (FOCUS).
Both authors are members of advisory committees of the American Family Foundation (publisher of The Cult Observer). Published by Hunter House Publishers (Alameda, CA), the book will be available in early March.
Deflects Scientology Co.,i..edSromp~ge 7 Minds was religious discrimination. Scientologists in several other states have sought, and been refused, similar injunctions on similar grounds in the past year. (From "Scientologist loses injunction against CAN in Minnesota," Cult Awareness Network News, 9/93, 5)
Criminal Child Abuse Bill, Resolution Pass
The Massachusetts Senate in October passed a criminal child abuse bill, in the process not only defeating a strong effort by the Christian Science Church to add a religious exemption to the bill, but voting to repeal the religious exemption in current law [that allows denial of medical treatment on religious grounds]. The bill is now in a House-Senate conference committee. (Cult Observer Report). The American Medical Association in June, meanwhile, passed a resolution asking the Secretary of Health and Human Services "to exercise administrative authority to urge state officials to repeal existing child abuse and neglect religious exemption provisions in state statutes." And the American Academy of Pediatrics, in written testimony to the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, stated that "It is the Academy's position that nothing short of an outright repeal of all religious exemptions from state laws will afford children the legal protection they truly deserve against abuse and neglect..." From Children' s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, No. 2, 1993, 10-12)
INTERNATIONAL
Italy Judgment Against Scientology, Translated from "Condannata la 'chiesa' di Scientology," La Repubblica (Rome), 11/10/93
The Court of Appeals in Milan has overturned a two-year-old verdict acquitting 73 members of the Church of Scientology--which was "invented" by the American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard--on charges of conspiracy, extortion, and undue influence (fraud).
After listening for eleven hours to deputy attorney general Annamaria Caruso, "We are not here to put the religious faith of the Church of Scientology on trial, but a group of people who were certainly members of that church and in whose name crimes were committed." the magistrates on the court found the Scientologists guilty and handed down sentences ranging from three months to four-and-one-half years. The court also sentenced previously acquitted Scientolgy officials from various regional centers for tax evasion.
In a 300-page statement Caruso emphasized that it was not religion that had been on trial. "This is no crusade," she said. "We are not here to put the religious faith of the Church of Scientology on trial, but a group of people who were certainly members of that church and in whose name crimes were committed... Their religious beliefs," Caruso insisted, "are of l no concern to us here. But those who hold those beliefs are in the dock today because they violated the criminal Code. What we are concerned with is the conduct and methods used to persuade others to use the very same methods."
On July 2, 1991, after a two-year trial, charges against the accused were dropped, to the great joy of Dianetics [Scientology] practitioners, who greeted the verdict with hooliganish singing and shouting. The grounds for the acquittal judgment, which ran just 100 pages compared to the two volumes needed to summarize the 45 charges brought against the defendants--did not stand up to the evidence presented to the appeal court by Caruso and Public Prosecutor Pietro Forno. [We thank Dr. Alberto Lolli for assistance in translating this story.]
Australia "All One Voice"
Cultic Induction Alleged
Former members of a secretive group called everything I was looking for," said a former woman All One Voice, which has amassed millions disciple. "But I soon realized the group had a hidden of dollars through extensive recruiting agenda . . . they wanted, and succeeded in, taking around Australia, have accused the sect control of my life. For two years I lost contact with , of brainwashing, blackmail, .intimidation, reality.
They changed my name. They told me how to and excessive control of followers. love and even how to think. I had no personality of All One Voice, which counts anti-nuclear activist my own."
Other former members told how they were Dr. Helen Caldicott as one of its senior members, and deprived of food, sleep, and privacy during what they claims to be a peaceful, nature-loving organization, described as "harrowing induction courses." During has thus far bought up about 40 properties in the these inductions they had to participate in 24-hour Leongatha and Warragul districts of Goppsland, in the sessions aimed at "cleansing their minds and bodies state of Victoria, not far from Melbourne. and totally changing their own perceptions of reality According to former members, recruits are to that of the sect." Said one, "After days of fasting required to pay hundreds of dollars to attend seminars, and virtually no sleep, I was ready to accept anything and if they cannot pay, they must do menial tasks for that was put to me. I was extremely vulnerable. senior cult members. "At first I thought the group was Continued on page 10
1994, The Cult Observer 9 Vol. 11 No. 1,
CULTS ON CAMPUS
More Concerns About BCC
Movement Offshoots of the Boston Church of Christ Movement (BCC), now active on numerous campuses around the U.S., and in Europe, continue to make news because of their controversial practices, which include a rigid control of students' lives that some observers characterize as cultic and dehumanizing.
Two recent articles present the typical current situation, with former followers, on the one hand, sustained by other critics, discussing how involvement harmed them, and, on the other hand, some current members, as well as the group's local leaders, praising and defending the experience. "All in the name of God," by Tammie Adams, The Beacon (Florida International University) and "Seattle Church of Christ too controlling, some say," by Lee Moraiwaki and Susan Gilmore, The Seattle Times' Seattle Post Intelligencer, 7/11/93, B1, B2)
Student Psychologist's Analysis Some of the practices of Alpha Omega, a religious organization at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, have been questioned by John Arnold, a psychology major and former member of the BCC movement.
Arnold believes Alpha Omega is a cult because it is sponsored by the Central Florida Church of Christ, an affiliate of the BCC, -- which in turn is listed by the national Cult Awareness Network as an organization about which numerous complaints have been received.
Arnold says Alpha Omega has cult-like characteristics: it claims a monopoly of truth; it degrades members financially and emotionally; it requires submission to authority and a communal lifestyle; and fosters a phobic fear of leaving the group.
Alpha Omega member Gregg Eargle responded: "The people who don't want to change their lives call us a cult. We are trying to be as much like the First Century church . . . because the thing we emphasize is total commitment to Jesus." (From "Alpha Omega's tactics questioned," by Robin Longaker, The Central Florida Future [student newspaper], 9/21/93, 1, 7)
All One Voice
Continued from page 9
Rafael Aron, a counselor [associated with Jewish social service agencies] who helps cult victims and their families said that in recent months he has counseled several former members who had been emotionally and psychologically damaged by their involvement with the group, which, he says, "is certainly not what it seems to be."
"They use sophisticated mind-control methods to take charge and win favor with their subjects, said Aron.
"Those who have found themselves involved with the group have been unable to cut the ties because they (All One Voice) know too much about them. It's all been too deep, too intimate. Too much has happened for them to be able to feel free. The trouble is, if you want to leave this group they hold every bit of information about you that anybody could ever want to know about you. It's as if someone is holding their passport to life." (From "Cult victims tell of brainwash courses," by Wayne Jones, Sunday Herald [Melbourne], 7/11/93)
Santeria sacrifice of 19 animals, including a black ram and two goats.
The event was a rare public ceremony intended to give thanks for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a city ordinance barring animal slaughter unconstitutionally interfered with the Afro-Caribbean religion.
The Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, which filed the lawsuit that led to the decision, stated that the sacrifices would, as a rule, be kept private, because "public offering of animals is offensive to our traditions and violates the privacy of the ritual. And it's our belief that it offends the sensibilities of the community at large." (From "Cult marks victory with sacrifices," Tampa Tribune, 6/27/93, 7)
1994, The Cult Observer 10 Vol. 11 No. I
PROFESSIONAL PROFILES
F. H. Buddy Martin (M.A., University of Massachusetts), a Texas native and evangelist-minister of the University Church of Christ, in San Marcos, is now working with a jailed Branch Davidian survivor of the Waco siege. In doing so, he has come a long way in the last decade.
In the early '80s he was living on Cape Cod, attending graduate school (majoring in educational counseling, with an emphasis on communications and clinical work), when a local church group asked Mr. Martin's wife to speak, at a women's retreat, about the controversial Boston Church of Christ. The couple then set out to learn what they could about the group. Interviews with current and former BCC members persuaded Mr. Martin that they had been recruited and maintained thanks to classic manipulation of the double-blind method.
He and his wife saw what amounted to destructive cultism clearly in all this, but only came to give it that name after a newspaper article about cultic processes, by Steven Hassan, came to their attention and they began to study the emergent literature in the field, eventually consulting the work of Lifton, AFF director Margaret Singer, and many more AFF associates, who now count Mr. Martin among their number.
Soon, Mr. Martin was working as part of an exit counseling team. Although he says cultism is not, at bottom, a Biblical matter at all, he helped--and continues to help-- cult members see the patterns of deception and manipulation inherent in religious cult recruitment by first pointing out "false" and inconsistent doctrines and practices. If the group can be shown to distort the Bible, Mr- Martin feels, a member can then be open to see how the group is deceptive and destructive in secular ways. This is the approach he has been using with the Branch Davidian member he is counseling; she now appears to be recognizing the mind-controlling nature of the Koresh group. (Mr. Martin gained access to her because he has for some time past been a volunteer counselor and Bible studies group leader at the jail in which the woman is being held.) For his efforts to persuade members of Bible-based cults to leave their groups--his pamphlet about BCC, Multiplying Ministries, has been very influential--Mr. Martin was roundly defamed: one cultic church spread the rumor that he had left Cape Cod to escape a child abuse investigation; another put it about that he had gone "underground" in order better to "steal" church members (so successful was he in persuading numbers of them to leave). But he has survived all of this, reputation enhanced rather than tarnished, and he carries on. Nadine Winocur Craig (M.A., Pepperdine University) is a new AFF research associate and book reviewer who is currently completing work toward her doctorate in psychology at Pepperdine.
She has already had some of her research published in the Cultic Studies Journal (Vol. 7, No. 2) in a paper titled "The False Transformational Promise of Bible-Based Cults: Archetypal Dynamics."
The paper is "exploratory and theoretical, building upon the author's interaction with approximately 25 families with Bible-based cult members who have requested intervention counseling," ú.. and "numerous informal interactions with former cult members." In the past six years, Ms. Craig has been of help to a considerably larger number of families with cult-involved members as well, since her knowledge and understanding of coercive persuasion and group manipulation afford her a comprehensive overview of the situation.
She has also been a resource to the BBC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on background issues related to a Bible-based cult, and she was interviewed by local news stations and newspapers for her views on Waco and other cults. For her dissertation, Ms. Craig has gathered a team of researchers to help conduct her investigation into the etiology of psychological distress in former group members. They will be looking at pre-group, and post-group factors contributing to distress, and they will consider groups of all types. Ms. Craig says she "hopes to make research along these lines an ongoing component of [her] work as a psychologist." Ms. Craig is an executive committee member and member of the Speakers' Bureau of the Commission on Cults and Missionaries of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles. She enjoys speaking to professional and lay audiences, including religious and youth groups. She presented a paper with her colleague, Doni Whitsett, Ph.D. (see Cult Observer profile, Vol. 10, No. 9) titled "The cult phenomenon: Cult affiliation and clinical assessment issues," to the L.A. County Psychological Association in October 1993.She gave two presentations on cult awareness training in March 1992 to branch offices of Family Services of Long Beach, CA. She also provides outpatient psychotherapy to adults, families, and children, both long- and short-term. Her other interests include work with victims of violent crime and unethical social influence. We look forward with great interest to a fruitful association with this dynamic addition to AFF's professional roster. The Cult Observer 11 Vol. 11 No. 1 1994
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thanks for info...
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