------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 The Rev. Mr. Moon at Bridgeport U.... The Unification Church-owned Washington Times (5/31/92, A2) reported only briefly on the deal giving control of the financially troubled University of Bridgeport to the church' s Professors World Peace Academy, which the paper describes as "a New York-based academic arm" of the church receiving 90 percent of its funding from the church. The Professors Academy would give the school $50.5 million over the next five years. School officials say the new donors have promised the university full academic freedom. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported (6/27/92, 28) that the New England Association of Schools and Colleges has dropped its threat to revoke the University of Bridgeport's accreditation. The school will be on probation while the association monitors its finances in the coming school year. Prior to a Bridgeport rally against the takeover, ex- member Steve Hassan charged that "the Moonies are doing exactly what they were doing in the '70s, but much more quietly. They are using mind control, they are using deception, they are encouraging people to separate from their loved ones and families, and they still want to take over the world." Journalist Fred Clarkson, who has studied the Unification Church, warned that the church would not act any differently at UB than it has when involved in any other organization, like the Washington Times. "Whether the institution is a church or a newspaper or a business or a university, the church approaches things in essentially the same ways -- a series of steps, whatever it takes, to get power over people, institutions, nations." (Connecticut Post, 6/26/92, A2) Academic Richard Quebedeaux, who has been an academic consultant to the church's International Religious Foundation, doubts that the Moon organization can afford the Bridgeport deal because, he says, the organization is billions in debt, partly due to money-losing investments like the Washington Times -- even the Unification Theological Seminary in New York is in financial straits -- partly because it is unable, for a number of reasons, to raise as much money as it did in the '80s in Japan, the source of a great partof its traditional wealth. Quebedeaux remarks that Moon may be a great religious leader but he is a poor businessman. (Letter in The New York Times, 6/13/92) Opposition to the deal is still being expressed by some students and faculty as well as members of the wider community -- a "Coalition of Concerned Citizens" has been founded -- but Richard Allen, a professor of English who has researched the church, says he does not feel his academic freedom will be compromised. He believes that the Unification Church is "an evolved cult that has terrible PR (public relations). This is extraordinarily exciting if it works. We'll be a real international university with a mission." (New Haven Register, 5/10/92, A13) 2 ... and Other Moon Matters. Alexander Haig, Orrin Hatch, Benjamin Hooks, Jerry Falwell, Antonia Novello. United to Serve America. Mass wedding. $1 BILLION SPENT ON TIMES. Honored attendees at the black- tie tenth anniversary celebration for The Washington Times, apart from the Rev. Mr. Moon himself, were Alexander Haig, Orrin Hatch, the NAACP's Benjamin Hooks, Jerry Falwell, and Surgeon General Antonia Novello. The Rev. Mr. Moon said in his speech, "The fact is, I have invested clog to $1billion in this newspaper during the past 10 years." (Washington City Paper, 5/29/92, 18) UNITED TO SERVE AMERICA, a UC-sponsored group, whose nationl co-chairmen include Dr. Donald Sills, President of the Coalition for Religious Freedom, long-time close supporter and defender of the the church 's activities, is active in the San Francisco Bay area organizing community support for action to overcome inner-city problems. (Cult Observer Report, 8/ 27/92). The group is also active in Raleigh, NC, where there is some argument in the community over whether the UC connection should preclude local cooperation. The Shaw Divinity School, to which the UC has given financial backing, supports United's goals. (Raleigh News & Observer, 3/14/92, 6B) MASS WEDDING. "Thirty thousand couples made history and matrimony here [Seoul, South Korea] yesterday, shouting 'I do' across South Korea and several other nations in the largest of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's 11 mass weddings." Twenty thousand couples, each participant paying from $300 to $2,000 each for expenses depending on their country of origin, "stood under a broiling sun at Seoul's Olympic stadium to shout their vows in unison, then sat back to watch their joint wedding day made memorable by sky divers, darting glider planes painting the sky with colored smoke, and the liberation of hundreds of doves and thousands of red, white, and blue balloons that drifted across the city." Ten thousand couples took their vows before television screens in Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Zaire, where the visages of the Rev. Mr. Moon and his wife were beamed by satellite transmission. (From "Strangers of the morning shout 'I do' 60,000 times," Washington Times, 8/26/92, A1, A8). [The Washington Times is owned by the Unification Church] 3 IN THE COURTS 3 Scientology's Legal Tactics [Courts describe Scientology] From "The Two Faces of Scientology," by William W. Home, The American Lawyer, July/August 1992, 75-82 The exceedingly litigious Church of Scientology is now zealously pursuing a wide range of legal actions against critics -- for example, a $416 million libel suit against Time magazine, approximately 100 suits pending against the Internal Revenue Service, and more than ten against the Cult Awareness Network. The campaign hearkens back, say Scientology opponents, to the church' s paranoid past reliance on the organization's most damning legacy -- "fair game," a doctrine written by church founder L. Ron Hubbard specifying that Scientologists can use any means necessary to destroy their enemies. The Los Angeles law firm of Bowles & Moxon, which does more of the church's work than any other firm, and acts as Scientology's de facto in-house department, now seems to apply a sort of restrained fair game policy both inside and outside the legal arena. For instance, the firm, in which all four partners are themselves Scientologists, uses detectives to investigate, thoroughly and sometimes intrusively, "anyone the church has a bone to pick with," according to one detective who has done a substantial amount of work for the church. At the same time, it should be noted, Scientology employs a stable of reputable lawyers, such as longtime libel counsel Jonathan Lubell of New York's Morrison Cohen Singer & Weinstein, who filed the Time suit, to help in both prosecution and defence of litigation in which it is involved. These lawyers give credence to church leaders' suggestions that it has cleaned house since the bad days of the late 1970s, when several leaders were sent to jail for breaking into government offices. Church officials now say that allegations of brainwashing, harassment, and other 'fair game' tactics that civil plaintiffs cite today in claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress -- and similar attacks in the May 1991 Time article that are subjects of the current suit -- are baseless attacks on First Amendment protected religious practices. The question is, which legal type -- Bowles & Moxon or Lubell -- represents the real face of Scientology? Former member Gerry Armstrong, who in 1986 received an $800,000 settlement from Scientology in a suit claiming harassment and emotional distress, claims, Iike many other litigants and their lawyers, that he is still being harassed for continuing to criticize Scientology. Los Angeles Superior CourtjudgePaul Breckenridge said, in a ruling on Armstrong's case, that "In addition to violating and abusing its own members' civil rights, the organization over the years with its 'fair game' doctrine has harassed and abused those persons not in the church whom it perceives as enemies." The ruling invigorated older civil suits against the church that stemmed from records the FBI had seized from the church following the 1979 convictions in the government office break-ins. Civil liberties lawyers tended to defend these suits on religious freedom grounds. But some lawyers, including some of the civil libertarians, pursued more questionable tactics: flooding dockets with motions, suing those who had sued the church in multiple jurisdictions, and even suing the plaintiffs' lawyers or bringing charges, never proved, about alleged unethical or illegal activities of these counsel. California superior court judge Ronald Swearinger, who presided in a 1986 case in favor of an ex-member over Scientology, told how trial lawyer Earl Cooley, a fervent Scientologist once associated with a prestigious Boston law fwm, filed a number of unsuccessful "writs and motions" throughout the trial in an attempt to halt it, and three days into the trial moved for the judge's disqualification based on "some secret conversation I'd had with someone I'd never heard of." The Scientology lawyers also filed a federal civil rights action against both him and the judge who sat on the case prior to him, on the theory, says Swearinger, that by allowing the case to go to trial, the judges were denying the church its civil rights. In addition, says Swearinger, "I was followed [at various times] throughout the trial... and during the motions for a new trial. All kinds of things were done to intimidate me, and there were a number of unusual occurrences during that trial. My car tires were slashed. My collie drowned in my pool. But there was nothing overtly threatening, and I didn't pay attention to the funny stuff." Church officials denied having anything to do with these actions. Bowles & Moxon's Timothy Bowles, who in the late 1970s worked as a paralegal in the very Scientology office where, unbeknownst to him, he says, massive covert operations against the government were being run at the time, admits to hiring private detectives, but only for use investigating personal injury or to serve subpoenas. Yet one detective paid with checks drawn on Bowles & Moxon accounts says that he was told many times to do thorough investigations of people involved in cases other than personal injury, including "trying to find dirt." An investigator said: "[Scientologists are] terribly vindictive and can cause you [any] amount of trouble." Private investigator Alan Chow provided written answers to questions provided by the American Lawyer that he concedes were reviewed and modified by the church because "I don't want any lawsuits coming down on me." Three of the investigators say their work for the church included surveillance, as well as interviews with their subjects' fiends, families, and neighbors. These inquiries are perfectly legal. Still, if opposing counsel and judges are investigated, as one detective claims -- and Moxon denies that this happens-- it does raise ethical concerns. So far as the Cult Awareness Network is concerned, executive director Cynthia Kisser says that nine suits by individual Scientologists or church organizations, in five different jurisdictions claiming religious discrimination, fraud, and deceit are collectively an effort to bankrupt a major critic. Last November, Scientology filed defamation suits against five of the sources used by Richard Behar, author of the damning Time article, including one action against Pittsburgh lawyer Peter Georgiades, who has advised several former umbers in litigation against the church 's management consulting affiliate, Sterling Management Systems. Says Georgiades, "This suit was filed to harass and silence me so I won't represent plaintiffs against Sterling ." Whether or not Time succeeds in getting the $400 million libel suit dismissed, it seems certain that myriad damning rulings against Scientology will be placed in the court record and subject Scientology and its lawyers -- including Bowles & Moxon -- to judicial and public scrutiny. 4 Voodoo lnfluencer Cops Plea [Rhett Leslie Faison] A Mount Rainier, MD, woman accused of coercing two boys into sex acts by threatening them with voodoo curses struck a plea agreement with prosecutors in July that will keep her out of jail but mandate that she stay away from young boys. A 19-year old alleged that Mrs. Rhett Leslie Faison, 45, had ordered him and his sibling four years ago to participate in sex acts or suffer curses against them and their parents. (Washington Times, 7/17/92, B9) [The Washington Times is owned by the Unification Church] 5 Szimhart Kidnapping Case Defense Fund The Center for Christian Information in Santa Fe, NM, has set up a defense fund on behalf of Joseph Szimhart and eight others who have been indicted on charges of kidnapping in connection with the abduction of a female member of the Church Universal and Triumphant earlier this year for the purpose ofdeprogramming her. Charges against the woman's mother and sister have reportedly been dropped. Szimhart, meanwhile, recently appeared as an expert witness for Jeff Knight, former husband of famed Ramtha channeler J. Z. Knight. Jeff Knight claims he was under undue influence when he agreed to a very low divorce settlement several years ago. (Cult Observer Report, 8/20/92) 6 Teens Allege Magazine Sales Slavery Teenagers are again telling stories of how they lived a life of virtual slavery working for companies such as the American Marketing Network, travelling around the country selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door. A 19-year-old from Pennsylvania, who answered an ad in her local paper, told how she worked six days a week from 9 a.m. to as late as 2 in the morning, earning as little as $7 a day -- less on days she failed to meet her quota -- how she was discouraged from contacting their parents, and how she was threatened when she told her crew chief she wanted to go home. According to Earlene Williams, of Parent Watch in New York City, "on any given day, conservatively, I'd say there are 30,000 kids and over 200 companies involved. This is a billion-dollar- plus industry." (From "Teens say magazine sales jobs like slavery," by George Weigel, Seattle Times/Seattle Post- Intelligencer, 6/21/92, A7) 7 Scientology Course Deductions Rejected A federal tax court judge has upheld previous decisions that money paid for Scientology courses cannot be deducted from income taxes. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that fixed fees for Scientology auditing [counseling] were "pay for services" and therefore not deductible as disinterested gifts. A California couple recently tried to deduct $10,854 they paid the church for Advanced Scientology, a solitary study course, but a special judge rejected the deduction, saying there must be a clear, free intentiion to make a gift. The Szabos paid for services at an established, fixed rate and could not have received the services if they paid less. (Cult Awareness Network News, July 1992, 2) 8 IN THE COURTS 8 Scientology Guilty on Spying Charges A Toronto jury has convicted the Church of Scien- tology and three of its members on breach-of-trust charges in connection with espionage allegedly perpetrated by Scientology's secretive Guardians' Office. The defendants were found not guilty of theft. Scientology said it would appeal the convictions -- the prosecution of which, including an associated libel suit, has cost the church at least $10 million -- on the ground that it was improper to charge the Scientology organization as well as individual members in connection with illegal activities that were of no apparent benefit to the organization. The criminal charges were laid in 1984, a year after an estimated two million documents were seized in a raid on the Toronto Scientology headquarters. That raid followed the discovery of information in files seized at Scientology's world headquarters in Cali- fornia that appeared to have come from Scientology "plants" in Ontario. (From "Church of Scientology found guilty," by Thomas Claridge, Globe and Mail, 7/27/92, A17) The decision may have marked the first time in Canadian history that a church was tried and convicted of crimes against the government. Prosecutors charged the church as well as the members because evidence showed that the organization's leaders, including founder L. Ron Hubbard, trained and encouraged followers to steal secret information from police and other government bodies. Police said the 1983 Toronto raid uncovered thousands of official documents which prosecutors say Scientologists obtained by infiltrating police and government offices in Canada in the 1970s. Scientology legal maneuvering delayed the trial's start for nearly eight years, although in the 1980s four individuals pleaded guilty to various charges related to the case. Scientologists infiltrated the government agencies by getting jobs and then using their positions to copy or steal information from Ontario Provincial Police, Toronto Metro Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Revenue Canada' s Ottawa taxation offices, and the Ontario attorney general's office, according to testimony. The defense maintained that the church had nothing to do with the spying, and said that the former Scientologists who testified against the church were "a small band of criminals... who captured the church for a time." (From "Scientology gets criminal conviction in Canada," Cult Awareness Network News, July 1992, 1, 4) 9 Suit Over "Boot Camp From Hell" A class action suit has been filed against a Californian who gives a five-day $15,000 seminar for prospective real estate entrepreneurs that turns out to be a boot camp from hell, according to some disgruntled course attendees. They say that Tom Vu's get-rich-quick scheme puts them through hours of real estate motivational lectures in a chilly room -- some from midnight to dawn, with no breaks for meals. Attendees are even followed to the bathroom and hassled to hurry back, according to the suit. A lawyer for the plaintiffs said, "Ws a form of coercive persuasion or brainwashing." (From "Lawsuit Claims Guru 's Road to Riches Has Dead End," by Jane Bryant Quinn, San Francisco Chronicle, 612/92, B3) 10 "Est" Succesor Involved in Trial [The Forum, Werner Erhard] A Silver Spring, MD, woman has testified in a federal court in Alexandria, VA, that her two-day attendance at a group workshop known as The Forum -- created by Est founder Werner Erhard -- led to a breakdown and commitment to a psychiatric facility. The woman has brought a $2 million civil suit againstLandmarkEducation Corp., which sponsored the weekend session and the man who led it. Stephanie Ney, 45, alleges that Landmark recklessly employed sophisticated psychological techniques that it knew could endanger the well-being of its participants, in part because group leaders get no training. (From "Self-Help Course Allegedly Shattered a life," by Robert F. Howe, Washington Post, 7/7/92, B3) 11 Top Yahweh Aides Sentenced Two top aides toYahweh Ben Yahweb, Judith Israel and Jobe Israel, have been sentenced to 16 years in prison for helping run a murderous campaign of terror under the black religious leader' s command. Yahweh Ben Yahweh himself, who could serve up to 20 years for racketeering and conspiracy, awaits sentencing, which has been delayed because he has dismissed his attorney, Alcee Hastings. Prosecutors said that Judith Israel guarded the doors of the sect's Temple of Love in Miami and watched her own children join in the fatal beating of a sect member in 1983. "That' s how devoted she was to the violence going on there and the power that was being created," prosecutor Trudy Novicki said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Scruggs asked for a harsh sentence for Jobe Israel, whom he described as a fanatic "who would do anything at anytime for Yahweb Ben Yahweh ." The defense continued to maintain that the Yahwehs were being persecuted for a misunderstood lifestyle. (From "Top Yahweh aides get 16 years for part in conspiract," by Michael Warren, Naplies [FL] Daily News, 8/21/92, 2BN) 12 IN THE COMMUNITY 12 School Wins Scientology Award [Hillside High, Raleigh] Students at Hillside High School, in Raleigh, NC, have won a $5,000 award in a contest sponsored by an anti- drug program of the "Concerned Businessmen's Association of America, which has been linked to the Church ofScientology, areligious philosophy that some call acult." The contest, part of a Scientology effort to get its message into the hands of young people, included giving students 1,000 books titled The Way to Happiness, by Scientology founderL. Ron Hubbard. Over 3.5 million were distributed to students nationwide. This spring, some of the books found their way into the nearby Wake County school system, which later issued a warning that although the book claimed not to be a religious work, it espoused the views and philosophy of Scientology. Hillside officials said that they were unaware of the Scientology connection when they entered the contest. One school principal said she at first found the book "a wonderful common-sense guide for children as well as adults to live by." The Durham City Superintendent said she had not known about the Scientology connection, but still wanted to recognize the students for the good work they did to get the award. She added that the celebration would emphasize the students' activities and de-emphasize the award. The middle school principal who authorized distribution of the book recalled it when a substitute teacher gave him a copy of a Time article critical of Scientology. (From "School celebrates award associated with Scientology," by Susan Kauffman, TheNews & Observer [Raleigh], 6/9/92, 1A, 11A) 13 "Straight, Inc." Closes in Maryland Although Straight, Inc. eluded Virginia officials, seeking to close it for mistreating patients by fleeing to Maryland last July, the adolescent substance abuse center could not outrun a drop in the number of patients, and last week closed its Washington area office in Columbia. Virginia mental health officials had accused Straight of conducting improper patient restraint, strip searches, sleep deprivation and "spit therapy." Before these accusation, Straight -- which still maintains five facilities in other states -- was considered a model drug abuse treatment program, and was visited in 1985 by Nancy Reagan and Princess Diana. (From "Straight Office Closes Down, "by JeffErlich, The Times, Springfield, VA, 3/5/92, 3) 14 Cult Awareness Network Conference The Chicago-based Cult Awareness Network' s annual national conference will take place at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in Los Angeles November 5-8. Entitled "Upholding Integrity: Cults Invade Our Communities, Our Families, Ourselves," the convocation includes among program speakers and workshop presenters entertainer Steve Allen and such nationally recognized experts as Louis Jolyon West, M.D., of UCLA, Dr. Margaret Singer of the University of California (Berkeley), and Dr. Robert Cialdini of Arizona State University, author of Influence. [The last three speakers are associated with the American Family Foundation, publisher of The Cult Observer]. 15 Leaving "The Way" Two teenage women, recruited at Madison, WI, mall by The Way International, came forward in April to credit the organization for helping them to overcome loneliness and frustration, but said that they eventually left the group in part because it tried to separate them from their families. They s aid The Way criticized recruits if family members didn't join and that recruits are told family members who don't join are Satan. The two also acknowledged that they rethought their involvement in The Way after a Texas man abducted his daughter from her Madison apartment in March in hopes of breaking her commitment to the group. (From "Cultlike ministry taps converts' loneliness," by Donise Sanders, Wisconsin State Journal [Madison] 4/19/92, 1A, 8A) 16 Rajneesh Still Speaks A column written by "Osho," a name used by the late Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, appeared in the April/May 1992 issue of New Frontier (pp. 23-24)magazine, a publication devoted to New Age spirituality and thinking with a claimed readership of over 300,000. In the column, headed by Rajneesh's picture, the guru answers the question: "What is tantra, and what does it have to do with sex?" (Cult Observer Report 8/30/92) 17 Concern for Children in Texas Group [Branch Davidians, Waco, Vernon Wayne Howell, Bruce Ghent, written before the disaster] An Australian father has expressed concern that his son and daughter, both adults, are in danger of joining in a suicide pact in Texas organized by Vernon Wayne Howell, leader of a Seventh Day Adventist group, founded during the Depression, called the Branch Davidian Seventh Day Adventists, now based just outside Waco. The father, Bruce Ghent, and his wife, belonged to the group in the 1980s. The Davidians, who expect the imminent end of the world, have a history of violence and in fighting; the most recent past leader is serving a prison sentence for murder. They practice severe corporal punishment of children and h ave been accused of violating child labor laws and of threats against judges. Texas authorities say they are concemed about the Davidians but that there is nothing they can do about the present situation. (Herald-Sun, 4/18,/92, 5) ================================================================= DOS FILENAME OF TEXT FILE: CO0792AB.TXT DOS FILENAME OF IMAGE FILES: CO0792.TIF ADMINISTRATIVE CODE: OK SECURITY CODE: SCO DISTRIBUTION CODE: RO DESCRIPTION FOR BBS FILE LISTING: The Cult Observer, Vol. 9 No. 7, 1992. 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. This edition of the Cult Observer was produced by an electronic scanner, making it possible that a few scanning errors could have been introduced into the text inadvertently. Please consult the printed text if there are any suspected textual inaccuracies. U.S.A. STORIES | 1 The Rev. Mr. Moon at Bridgeport U | 2 ... and Other Moon Matters. Alexan- | der Haig, Orrin Hatch, Benjamin | Hooks, Jerry Falwell, Antonia Novello. | United to Serve America. Mass wedding. | 3 Scientology's Legal Tactics [Courts | describe Scientology] | 4 Voodoo lnfluencer Cops Plea [Rhett | Leslie Faison] | 5 Szimhart Kidnapping Case | Defense Fund | 6 Teens Allege Magazine Sales Slavery | 7 Scientology Course Deductions Rejected | 8 Scientology Guilty on Spying Charges | 9 Suit Over "Boot Camp From Hell" | 10 "Est" Succesor Involved in Trial | [The Forum, Werner Erhard] | 11 Top Yahweh Aides Sentenced | 12 School Wins Scientology Award | [Hillside High, Raleigh] | 13 "Straight, Inc." Closes in Maryland | 14 Cult Awareness Network Conference | 15 Leaving "The Way" | 16 Rajneesh Still Speaks | 17 Concern for Children in Texas Group | [Branch Davidians, Waco, Vernon | Wayne Howell, Bruce Ghent, written | before the disaster] For additional verification see the contributor of the document. UPDATED ON: 9/29/94 UPDATED BY: FrJMc =================================================================