------------------------------------------------------------------- F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network, Incorporated) a non-profit computer bulletin board and electronic library 601 16th St. #C-217 Golden, Colorado 80401 USA BBS 303 530-1942 FAX 303 530-2950 Office 303 473-0111 This document is part of an electronic lending library. F.A.C.T.Net does not sell documents, it only lends them according to the terms of your library cardholder agreement with F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. ------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD CATALOG ENTRY ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Cults in Germany Scientology Extremism Scientology has a penchant for espionage and political extremism, according to Der Spiegel (7/12/92). The group observes no legal ground rules and accepts no answerability to the government in power, majority rule, or the rights of the oppositions. Whatever would restrict Scientology's complete freedom is ignored. Further, Scientology has no internal democracy. Education For 250 marks per child, Bremen Scientologists offer a "child communication course" that includes picture books on the teachings of founder L. Ron Hubbard. Children 1-6 are confined from noon to 7 pm in a basement apartment of the building where their parents study and are drilled on Hubbard's laws. In the evening the children are taken by minibus to two residences where they are picked up by their often single parents. Overtired, the last ones are picked up around 2 am. "The children see nothing of their parents." Required exercises include staring into each other's eyes for an hour. Any child who cries or does not cošperate has to start over again. They also take a sauna and vitamins. The children later attend a private Scientology school. (Hamburger Morgenpost, 7/24/92) Fronts Management Academy AMK ("Privaten Academie fur Management & Kommunication) is an active Scientology front. It is associated with WISE, the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, which spreads the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard in industrial and economic circles and in the political world. (Frankischer Tag, 12/16/92) Totalitarianism The Christian Democratic Union [a major political party] has criticized Scientology for its "reckless money schemes" and "inhuman therapy" as well as its "totalitarianism [and] despising of healthy human thinking." (Frankfurter Rundschau, 12/15/92) The Hamburg State Security will observe Scientology, according to the Suddeutsche Zeitung (12/7/92), which associated with Scientology "an ideology with notably totalitarian principles" that has "nothing to do with religion" and is "predominantly political." Impulse (11/92), meanwhile, remarks that Scientology "wants to control us," and despite setbacks and bad press, the "raving" sect is again on an expansion course. It looks at eastern Germany as a new El Dorado and has planted a number of secret projects there; Scientology wants to control the economy through real estate holdings and front organizations. It's a Mafia strategy. . . Narconon [the Scientology drug rehabilitation program] substitutes one drug for another: Scientology. State Concern The Bavarian State Ministry for Public Worship, Education, Science and Art in April, 1992, responding to a state parliament request for advice on "youth religions and sects," and their activities, says that the state must be more than a neutral observer, but must play a role in enforcing existing statutes that apply to the situation. The ministry reply refers to a notable difference between the statements and activities of some cultic groups. (Cult Observer Report) Unification Church Recruiting The Unification Church's Professors World Peace Academy [now in control of the University of Bridgeport in the U.S.] is actively recruiting members, even clergy, and offering pre-paid trips to conferences in Hawaii, plus honoraria and the same deal for a companion. (Lutheran Monthly News, 8/92) The church, because it comes in sheep's clothing, had largely been forgotten by the public. But it has had ample time to build up in Germany, where leader Sun Myung Moon has invested heavily in machine tool plants. There was widespread interest in Germany, and indeed in other countries, in attending an organizing conference of the church's Women's Federation for World Peace, led by Moon's wife. (The Bavarian Evangelical Sundaypaper, 12/13/92) 2 Austria: Cult Study A study by a Viennese psychologist shows that one-third of youngsters surveyed are in real danger of joining cults. Of 1150 between 14-16 years of age, 30% were very susceptible; 20% had already been approached by a cult; 3% had already visited a cult; 17% were skeptics; 9% were "anti-religious"; and 80% were very interested in religious questions. The professor who conducted the study said that much too little is known about cults. (Kurier, 8/7/92) 3 Russia: TM Active ISKCON (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or Hare Krishnas) are very successful in Moscow, having filled a sports stadium with 30,000 people for a giant mass meditation featuring the singing of Boy George. The show included video wall screens and spiritual multi-media shows. ISKCON claims to be the third largest religion in the country after Islam and Christianity. (Allgauer Zeitung, 7/17/92) 4 Raelians and Scientologists Attack Education Center [Montreal. Sexual abandon.] A group representing the Raelians and the Church of Scientology have accused the Montreal-based Info Cult (Info Secte) of belonging to an international criminal network that profits from kidnapping. But Info Cult director Michael Kropfeld [a member of the editorial board of The Cult Observer] dismissed the allegations as outrageous, saying that the purpose of the non-profit organization is to educate the public about the growing cult phenomenon in Quebec. "Their ultimate goal is to close us down," Kropveld said. "We offer people access to information on cults. We serve as a sort of consumer protection agency." A Scientology spokesman said Info Cult is against all religious minorities and should be abolished. He said Info Cult was linked to the Cult Awareness Network which kidnapped members of religious minorities in order to deprogram them. "If Kropveld doesn't engage in kidnappings himself, he's affiliated with the Cult Awareness Network and has knowledge of their kidnappings," the spokesman said. Kropveld denied the Cult Awareness Network is involved in kidnapping and said his organization is strongly opposed to abducting people from cults in order to deprogram them. He said his group helps families reestablish contact with a relative who has joined a cult and has been brainwashed. Charles-Yvan Giroux, father of the Ra‘lian church of northwest QuŽbec, said his group and Scientologists have formed a coalition to unite all religions. (From "Groups hurl accusations at anti-cult organization," The Gazette, Montreal, 4/1/93) The Raelian movement, with some 5,000 estimated followers in Quebec and 30,000 around the world, is led by former French sportswriter Claude Vorhilon, now called Rael, who claims to have met extraterrestrials when he was 27. Following a personal revelation that human beings were first made in a laboratory not far from Israel, he began traveling the world and propagating the Raelian doctrine of spiritualist beliefs, peace, love, and tolerance which have garnered him followers, many of them middle class and prosperous, from Europe to North America, Japan, and Australia. [Followers believe that the extraterrestrials chose the Jews to be their messengers and sent a series of prophets to them, and that Ra‘l was the latest and last of them.] Rael affects a futuristic white costume, and a medallion on his neck, as he slowly walks through a crowd of followers followed by his entourage of beautiful young people during a visit to a campground in Valcourt, where 500 have gathered to participate in a "sensual" meditation seminar. The Raelians, who stress sexual freedom, have given out free condoms from their "condom-mobile" to Catholic school students all over Montreal in order, they say, to prevent sexually transmitted disease and unwanted pregnancy. Departing for the day, Rael climbs into his white convertible where two girls wait expectantly in the back seat. One journalist has called the group "a sort of spiritual Club Med." Info Secte [the French translation for Info Cult], which provides information on cults in Canada, says that most complaints about the group related to its sexual promiscuity. "We've received complaints from spouses now alienated from that lifestyle," said Yves Casgrain, Info Secte's director of research. Casgrain also characterizes the movement as anti-democratic, where only those with a high IQ are able to lead and vote. Ra‘l, predictably, is an ardent proponent of genetic purity, a topic he refuses to discuss in Quebec but which has caused problems for him in France. (from "Rael and 500 disciples in a 'a spiritual Club Med'," by Nathalie Collard, La Voix de L'Est, Granby, QuŽbec, 7/17/92) 5 Britain: Homeless Complain of Central London Church of Christ The Central London Church of Christ (CLCC) [an offshoot of the equally controversial Boston Church of Christ in the U.S.) is under attack again for its work among the homeless in London. "They're up there with the Scientologists and the Moonies," Maddie Fielden, of the Evangelical Alliance, remarks, "We've had a lot of the homeless expressing concern." CLCC representative John Partington retorts, "We won't just throw food at people." The idea is to wean people off the streets and into the church's "community houses" where several members of the church already live. But the church's many enemies think the only aim is to make converts. There are 1,300 church members in London and about 400 in the Manchesterand Birmingham Churches of Christ and elsewhere in Britain. The horror stories about the CLCC seem exaggerated - according to cult expert Eileen Barker, an academic who also heads a cult information and referral service - and a panic response to aggressive proselytizing of vulnerable individuals. (From "Love and sects on the streets," a letter to the editor by Paul Barker, The Times, 12/30/92, 11) ================================================================= DOS FILENAME OF TEXT FILE: CO0393AC.TXT DOS FILENAME OF IMAGE FILES: none ADMINISTRATIVE CODE: OK SECURITY CODE: SCO DISTRIBUTION CODE: RO DESCRIPTION FOR BBS FILE LISTING: The Cult Observer March 1993 SORT TO: AFF CONTRIBUTOR: American Family Foundation (AFF) LOCATION OF ORIGINAL: American Family Foundation (AFF) NOTES: Back issues and selected reprints of the Cultic Studies Journal are available from the American Family Foundation, P.O. Box 2265, Bonita Springs, FL 33959-2265. FOREIGN STORIES | 1 Cults in Germany: Scientology | Extremeism. Education. Fronts. | Totalitarianism. State Concern. | Unification Church. | 2 Austria: Cult Study | 3 Russia: TM Active | 4 Raelians and Scientologists Attack | Education Center [Montreal. Sexual | abandon.] | 5 Britain: Homeless Complain of | Central London Church of Christ For additional verification see the contributor of the document. UPDATED ON: 8/23/94 UPDATED BY: FrJMc =================================================================