------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 and preservational electronic archive. 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. ===================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 No Evidence in Mexican Case A district judge in Tepic (400 miles northwest of Mexico City) in August released eight Indians accused of participating in a drug cult that allegedly killed about 30 people. The action represents another blow to the spectacular case launched by federal police in July. No human remains were found, and senior church officials in the area denied the existance of a satanic cult. Philadelphia Daily News, 8/30/90, 13. 2 Matamoros Horror Conviction A Texas college student charged in connection with possibly ritual murders committed by a Matamoros, Mexico-based drug-running cult practicing occult rituals has been convicted of criminal association and given a six-year prison term, the maximum allowed for that charge in Mexican law. Sara Aldrete, 25, a Mexican national, and ten other cult members still face more serious charges in the deaths of at least 15 people, including University of Texas student Mark Kilroy, an uninvolved American whose kidnapping off a street in nearby Brownsville, TX, triggered the probe that led to revelations about the group. Cult Awareness Network News, 9/90, 4, 8. 3 Ex-Rajneeshees Arrested Four former disciples of the late Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh were arrested in September - in West Germany, England, and South Africa - and charged with conspiracy to murder a federal prosecutor several years ago. The alleged target of the conspiracy was U.S. Attorney Charles Turner, the lead prosecutor in the case against Rajneesh himself for violation of immigration laws. St. Petersburg Times, 9/19/90, 23A. 4 Prominent Well-wishers (at Moon's birthday party) Dignitaries gathering for Rev. Sun Myung Moon's 70th birthday party in Korea include 24 American congressmen, seven senators, and 23 former heads of state. Daily Telegraph (London), 2/3/90. 5 Singapore: Moonies Ousted as "Prejudicial to Public Welfare" The Singapore Government once again officially banned the Unification Church from the island when it dissolved a front organization known as the Moral Home Society on July 1. The government decided that the UC's "continued existence was prejudicial to public welfare and good order." But the government allowed to remain open the church's commercial arm, Tongil Singapore. A government statement objected to the Moonies' presence in Singapore because the group: - Asked students to lie to their parents, telling them that they were staying with friends or in hostels when they were actually attending UC workshops on campus. - Urged students to treat parental objections to their involvement as "satanic interference," and to leave their homes. - Urged members to conceal from prospective members the fact that they would be jointing the Moonies' movement. - Asked members to lie to schools or institutions, saying that they were going on an educational tour, when they were really attending a Moonies' conference in London in August 1989. - Claimed that the Moral Home Society had government support, and got Malaysians to join the group by promising them permanent residency in Singapore. - Urged followers "to sacrifice their careers and forsake their loved ones" to adopt and spread the Moonies' way of life. The government report also noted that local leaders of the cult preached values that could harm a multi-religious society such as Singapore, and cited one Moonie leader telling forty workshop participants to memorize that Christianity was a "poison" and was "foolish" doctrine. He also said that governments which did not believe in the Divine Principle (the summation of UC teachings) were satanic. The Singapore Government statement concluded: "Since the Moral Home Society is a front to revive the Moonie movement in Singapore, and since its teachings and methods will harm religious harmony, family life, and social cohesion in Singapore, the Government has decided to dissolve the society. Take a Closer Look (newsletter of CCG Ministries, Perth, Australia), July/August 1990, 6. 6 Scotland: "The Way International" Denounced. Thousands of followers of the controversial Way International have been called by leaders of a breakaway section of the group to a Christmas convention at Gartmore House, in Scotland's Trossachs region. The convocation is a bid to establish the Rev. Chris Geer as head of The Way, which is based in the U.S. Gear claims that The Way's founder, the late Victor Paul Wierwille, appointed him to carry on the group's work. Geer appears to have taken over Gartmore House, purchased by The Way In Great Britain Ltd. five years ago for œ 238,000. Rigid Controls Former fifteen-year Way member Chris Leggett, who says the group "took my freedom, my life, my mind, and my independence," warned Scots: "What they did to me they could be doing now in Gartmore House. You'd better believe it before it's too late." Speaking from Virginia, where he is undergoing a course of deprogramming, Leggett spoke of mind control techniques and control of the environment used by The Way to recruit and indoctrinate members. Then, he said, "you provide free labor for them, you're kept on campus and not allowed to leave, and made to feel an elitist group against the rest of the world. They indoctrinate you so you're scared to death to leave the group." Speaking hesitantly, still in the midst of deprogramming, he says: "They worked on phobias . . . tell you you'd become possessed with bad spirits or the devil." Although Leggett has his two daughters with him, his wife, with whom he is engaged in a bitter custody dispute, remains in the group. Geer has challenged official Way leader Craig Martindale in a series of stormy meetings at the organization's Ohio headquarters, claiming that evil spirits have invaded the hierarchy. He claims Wierwille, who visited him in Scotland just before he died, gave him his last will and testament as he could trust no one else. Sunday Mail, 9/30/90, 1, 6-7. Former member and Way leader in Ireland Padraig Butterly - who once ran the group's Gartmore House in Scotland - says that followers lived in fear of being possessed by the Devil, that grown men and women were reduced to sobbing in corners, and that leader Chris Geer spoke directly to God and thought he was Moses or an Apostle. The 33-year-old pub owner, who ran Gartmore in 1987, said "The whole thing was a farce," . . . The Way will answer no questions, and they rule by fear and intimidation." Money Butterly quit The Way in March, after 14 years, along with scores of other British followers. He says it was Geer's rule of fear that finally made him see they had been controlled for one result - the mass giving of cash, first to The Way Great Britain Ltd., then direct to Gartmore House. "We are still holding half a million pounds in Ireland," he said, "money given by followers which I won't pass on to The Way." At one point, he added, Irish followers alone were giving œ2,000 a week. But that was "peanuts" compared to what was going to England and to Gartmore House. Butterly said, "One of the many tragedies is that Gartmore House was bought by honestly believing Christians throughout the world and it has been turned into a property of his will." More Stories Butterly's view is supported by ex-member Karl Edwards, 29, who says he gave thousands of pounds to The Way but is now just glad to be out. "To be honest, at times I thought suicide would be a good way out. I watched people being destroyed. All over the main rooms and corridors of Gartmore, Geer set up his cameras linked to his room. He watched and listened to us all the time. He controlled our lives. Now I'm out of bondage after 11 years." Teenager Peter Renton, from Dunbar, said that before he fled to London, "I was brainwashed. It was hypnotic. Like drug addiction I knew it was bad for me but I still had to have more." Only 16 when a workmate introduced him to the group, he remembers his first sermon given by Geer: "I remember him staring at me. It was as though his message was directed at me. It made me feel elated." Every Sunday he went to Gartmore, handing over a total of œ500. "You feel guilty if you don't give anything," he said. Peter finally fled after becoming obsessed by the thought that the Devil would claim him. "Finally I told them I wasn't coming back, but they kept phoning and wouldn't leave me alone. They made me leave Scotland. I had no choice. I was driven from my own country." 7 Japan: Political Cult (maverick Buddhist sect, Asahara Cult) Maverick Buddhist sect leader Shoko Asahara, who makes his devotees drink his blood and sip potions brewed from his hair, is running for parliament in Japan. He offers salvation from what he predicts will be a US-Japan economic war, a surge in nationalism, and a revival of militarism. Asahara's notoriety has grown since police questioned him last year about the disappearance of a lawyer who fought for families that lost children to his cult, which is said to number 40,000. The Asahara cult is one of several new religions that have sprung up to sate rich Japanese youngsters' thirst for the meaning of life, at a cost of about œ4,000 for the premium course in yoga meditation and psychic power. The Times (London), 2/7/90, 10. 8 Britain: MP and CARP (MP's interviewed by Moonies) Higher Education minister Robert Jackson has been criticized by Tory colleagues for agreeing to be interviewed in a magazine published by CARP, the student wing of the Unification Church. The magazine, New Meanings, advertises the interview prominently on the cover of its current issue, which is circulated on campuses and claims to have 5,000 readers. Sunday Telegraph, 5/6/90. 9 Russia: Krishnas in Moscow The local leader of the Hare Krishna movement, Sergei Zuyev, says "Our movement has been increasing in number so fast, it is hard to keep up count." He estimated up to 10,000 followers are now among the 300 million Soviet citizens. "Hare Krishna isn't only a religion," he said, but "a philosophy of spiritual happiness and that is what we try to provide . . . Young people are open to what we are trying to teach." Detroit News, 8/19/90, 4A. 10 Spain: COG Raided (Children of God's alleged incest) Barcelona police are investigating charges of incest and other sexual abuse by members of the Children of God following a three-year investigation of the group and a recent raid of two villas owned by the group. The majority of 22 children taken into custody in the raid are Americans. Cult Awareness Network News, 8/90, 3. 11 Australia: "The Family" (led by fugitive Anne Hamilton-Byrne) A Melbourne police report recommends an investigation of the activities of "The Family," a cult-like group led by fugitive Anne Hamilton-Byrne. Matters to be investigated include the deaths of three women followers who died soon after selling their homes and giving their money to the sect; the disappearance of eight adopted children; two cases where mothers were coerced into giving up their babies for adoption to sect members, the forging of passports; the transfer of large amounts of money from Australia to the US. Ann Hamilton-Byrne is alleged to have "adopted" and raised children as her own, dying their hair blond, and carrying out bizarre, pseudo-religious practices involving the use of the drug LSD. The Sun (Melbourne), 5/17/90, 1-2, 8. ================================================================= If this is a copyrighted work, you are acknowledging by receipt of this document from FACTNet that on the basis of reasonable investigation, you have not been to obtain a copy elsewhere at a fair price, and that you are and will abide by the following copyright warning. WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photo copies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified by law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." 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For additional verification see image files contained in the file with same name and .ZIP extension. UPDATED ON: UPDATED BY: 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 DOS FILENAME OF TEXT FILE: CO0990AC.TXT DOS FILENAME OF IMAGE FILES: none ADMINISTRATIVE CODE: OK SECURITY CODE: SCO DISTRIBUTION CODE: RO DESCRIPTION FOR BBS FILE LISTING: The Cult Observer Sept/Oct 1990 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 No Evidence in Mexican Case. | [Alledged drug cult killings] | 2 Matamoros Horror Conviction. | 3 Ex-Rajneeshees Arrested. | 4 Prominent Well-wishers (at Moon's | birthday party). | 5 Singapore: Moonies Ousted as "Prejudicial | to Public Welfare". | 6 Scotland: "The Way International" | Denounced. | 7 Japan: Political Cult (maverick Buddhist | Sect, Asahara Cult). | 8 Britain: MP and CARP (MP's interviewed | by Moonies). | 9 Russia: Krishnas in Moscow. | 10 Spain: COG Raided (Children of God's | alleged incest). | 11 Australia: "The Family" (led by | fugitive Anne Hamilton-Byrne). For additional verification see the contributor of the document. UPDATED ON: 8/10/94 UPDATED BY: FrJMc =================================================================