Protecting freedom of mind by exposing cults and mind control...
because only you have the right to control your mind.

FACTNet, Inc. -- Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network
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Hits to FACTNet since 1/1/97 over 4,000,000

Inside

(ADDENDUM) Your name may soon be in the hands of Scientology

(1) Happenings at FACTNet

(2) Town Rises above Attempt to Stir Racial Hate

(3) A Warning on the Evils of Scientology

(4) Faith Healing What about When Children Die?

(5) Cult Expert Jolly West Dies

(6) News Briefs

(7) New Human Rights Foundation Gains Approval

(8) Cult Awareness Events, Meetings, & Announcements

(9) Newsletter corrections

In this issue Aum Shin Rikyo, Branch Davidians, Concerned Christians,

Genesis Associates, Heaven's Gate, Followers of Christ Church, ISKCON (Hare Krishna), ICC, Ku Klux Klan, Landmark, Millennium cults, MSIA, Neo-Nazism, New Bethany Baptist Church, People's Temple (Jim Jones), Satanism, Scientology, Sukyo Mahikari, Teen Help, Unification Church, United Pentecostal Church of Brazil, Wiccan Cult, Yahweh ben Yahweh, Zhushen cult

(ADDENDUM) Your name may soon be in the hands of Scientology

As the January-March issue of the FACTNet newsletter was being printed, an astonishing decision was handed down by Judge Thomas Quinn in the ongoing case involving the original and authentic Cult Awareness Network and its records. It is important for FACTNet subscribers to be aware of this decision because it may personally affect many of you.

NEWS FLASH Your name and address may soon be in the hands of Scientology, by order of the court

If you ever called the original Cult Awareness Network for help, if you ever sent them a letter or a check, if you ever received their newsletter, Scientology may soon know all about it. Judge Thomas Quinn of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois just ordered that all Cult Awareness Network records be turned over to the sheriff for public sale. Scientology is very likely to be the top bidder.

Since the time that Scientology sued the authentic Cult Awareness Network out of existence and took it over (Scientologists now answer the phones), the files that belonged to the original organization have been in legal limbo. They have been in storage in the Chicago area, under the stewardship of people from the old Cult Awareness Network. The records include all confidential correspondence, financial records, and membership and subscriber lists including more than 10,000 names. This may include you.

On Friday, March 12, 1999, Judge Quinn ordered the records be handed over to the Cook County sheriff for public sale. Thus, unless an affluent challenger seeks to out-bid Scientology at auction, the records may soon be in Scientology's possession. If this happens and you are in the records, be on notice that you may receive materials from Scientology, the Scientology-run CAN, and/or other Scientology front groups (Partial list of front groups at <http//www.factnet.org/Scientology/front.htm>). In this case, FACTNet would suggest you send a note to the sender demanding that you immediately be removed from the mailing list. Such removal is required by law if you request it, and violators may be fined. We would also ask that you send FACTNet a copy of any materials you receive, so we can try to monitor how the original Cult Awareness Network's records are being abused.

Since the original organization has no money to appeal Judge Quinn's decision, there is little hope that the records will not be turned over, although the turnover won't happen for 60 days. Judge Quinn has indicated that he will not welcome incoming letters on his decision, even from those who may be affected by it.

Any questions may be sent to Edward Lottick , M.D., acting chairman of the board of the (original) Cult Awareness Network and president of the Foundation for Human Rights. Address Edward Lottick , 41 Gershom Pl, Kingston, PA 18704; telephone 570-287-1377; email elottick@aol.com.

Especially in the wake of another disappointing decision regarding the original Cult Awareness Network, we hope you will continue to support FACTNet and other organizations that have been able to persevere only through your help.

(1) Happenings at FACTNet

We are happy to present the January-March issue of the FACTNet newsletter. For the time being, we are publishing the newsletter on a quarterly basis due to a lack of financial resources. Meanwhile, other important projects are in the works.

Already this year, FACTNet co-sponsored CULTinfo's cult awareness conference in Stamford, CT (see article below). The conference received excellent attendance, especially as CULTinfo's first. CULTinfo announced at the conference that their organization is now the Leo J. Ryan Educational Foundation. FACTNet would like to express our gratitude to the foundation for inviting us to co-sponsor this inspirational event.

Perhaps the most exciting project for an Internet-based organization is a major renovation to our web site through the expertise of our new webmaster, Grady Ward . Grady has been involved in exposing cults on the Internet for years, and we are honored to welcome him to FACTNet. The new web site will still be located at <www.factnet.org>, and will feature easier linking, better aesthetics, and a focus on multimedia, such as videos of cult awareness events. Look for a grand reopening of the FACTNet site in April!

Another of FACTNet's main endeavors for 1999 will be to help people once they make the decision to leave a cult. We are looking into the establishment of a sanctuary, a safe house where former cult members will be able to recover physically and mentally from their experience while learning the basic skills they need to survive in the real world.

In the meantime, FACTNet is in strong need of your assistance. Please consider sending FACTNet a donation at this critical time, as we strive to continue our operations and our lawsuit with Scientology. See <www.factnet.org/donation/htm> for donating details.

Sincerely,

Justine Janette, Executive Director

Your Donations at Work

We strive to stretch each contribution to its fullest. In so doing, we track use of the FACTNet web site versus operating costs incurred by FACTNet. For December through February

FACTNet web site pages viewed

Dec 69,662 Jan 64,661 Feb 70,005

FACTNet web site hits

Dec 325,647 Jan 315,656 Feb 297,113

FACTNet expenses

Dec $39,799 Jan $104,522 Feb $11,854

Cost per web site hit

Dec $0.12 Jan $0.33 Feb $0.04

(2) Town Rises above Attempt to Stir Racial Hate

James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man, was killed June 7, 1998 by three young white men in a racial crime that is often described as one of the grisliest of the post-civil rights era.

The brutal murder brought national attention to Jasper, Texas, a small city in the pinewoods north of Houston. The first of three defendants, John William King, 24, stood trial there through February. King hoped the gruesome killing, which involved dragging Byrd behind a speeding truck, would draw initiates to a white supremacist group he was planning to organize, to be called The Texas Rebel Soldiers Division of the Confederate Knights of America. The Southern Poverty Law Center, of Montgomery, Alabama, confirmed that Confederate Knights of America is a North Carolina-based faction of the Ku Klux Klan.

A Brutal Death

James Byrd was walking home late at night from a family party when the three men allegedly picked him up. Investigators said he was driven into the woods, beaten, then chained at the ankles and dragged behind a pickup truck for about three miles.

In the trial of John Williams King, prosecuting attorney Guy James Gray cited Byrd's autopsy, stating that "James Byrd, at the time he was chained in the back of the pickup truck, was alive. He was conscious. And he was using his elbows and his body in every way he could to keep his head and shoulders above the pavement" [Washington Post, February 17, 1999]. Gray went on to tell jurors that the wound patterns shown in photos submitted as evidence made it "plain and obvious" that Byrd was conscious when the dragging which dismembered and killed him began.

Despite King's not guilty plea, on February 25 he was sentenced to death. King's two accused accomplices, Shawn Allen Berry, 24, and Lawrence Russell Brewer, 32, will shortly face separate death penalty trials.

A Noble Response

The investigation of the murder and ensuing trial have been markedly absent of the racism that King hoped to incite with his act of racial violence. Byrd's relatives and other black residents of Jasper have praised the white sheriff, Billy Rowles, for his handling of the case. Whites in the town have applauded black residents for their calm preceding and during the first trial in the killing. And the jury that found King guilty of murder and sentenced him to death was comprised of eleven white men and women and one black man who was elected and served as the jury's foreman.

(3) A Warning on the Evils of Scientology

[FACTNet director Robert Minton spoke at the CULTinfo conference February 12, 1999 in Stamford, CT. Following are excerpts from his talk, "A Warning on the Evils of Scientology."]

Good evening. I would like to extend a very special thanks to CULTinfo for your commitment to continuing the fight against the evils of cults, and for having the courage to sponsor this conference. I extend my best wishes for the success of your organization...

I am a director of FACTNet. We too are a counter-cult group and we are part of an ongoing strategy on the Internet to disseminate information about cults. Most recently, our emphasis has been on defeating a dark and evil enemy the so-called "Church" of Scientology.

One of the major problems of Scientology is that its special brand of evil dislikes any attempt by anyone to expose the true criminal nature of this pernicious cult. I can assure you, however, that I am here tonight continuing to do just that.

...Before I get into the main text of my speech, I do wish to share with you some insights into Scientology that came about last summer as a result of fifteen hours of meetings with top Scientology officials...

I agreed to these meetings because at the time I naively thought it might be possible to carry on a dialogue with these people for the purpose of bringing about reforms of some of their most abusive practices.

...I concluded by the third and last one that communicating on any rational level with these or any other Scientology leaders was impossible. The arrogance and disdain with which they treated me during these meetings was born of a firmly held belief that anyone critical of Scientology is nothing but a hindrance to their forward progress, something to be neutralized in any possible way...

Since these meetings, Scientology has stepped up its attacks on me. But I am not the kind of person who has tended to avoid confrontation...

But what has happened to me is only one example of the many tactics Scientology uses to silence its critics and, generally, to keep the outside world at bay.

It is painful, emotionally difficult work to come to an understanding of Scientology. However, it must be done to become an effective critic and to educate others to the danger of this organization...

I have gained incredibly valuable insights from my long discussions with both current and former high-level Scientologists about what it is like to be in this cult. Many of these people have become good friends, and I have been able to see that far from being in any way discredited by their experience in Scientology, they have an insight into the dark side of human nature that it would benefit all of us to comprehend.

We need to embrace them as equals and... understand what they have been through... They have seen the face of pure evil. They have a powerful and frightening story to tell, and we must listen to them and understand the true nature of Scientology through their hearts and minds.

One former member has told me of being imprisoned behind barbed wire and guarded by police dogs twenty-four hours a day. He tried to leave but was physically restrained and deprived of sleep and nourishment until he became compliant. Gradually, as he was subjected to ever increasing levels of indoctrination, he felt that his soul lost everything of meaning... his soul had been literally cracked...

Another former...member...was pregnant when she was sent to the prison camp. She, along with all the others, was forced to do extremely strenuous physical labor for thirty hours at a time, with only three hours off until the next shift. People became so exhausted that they would fall asleep while working and injure themselves with their hammer, saw, or other tools...

They were utterly degraded as human beings, allowed only minimal nourishment, very little sleep, and many became extremely ill and feverish because of the concerted pattern of abuse while their immune systems were already so compromised...

My friend told me she was terrified that she was harming her baby and begged her captors to be allowed to sleep and eat for the sake of her unborn child. But no one was willing to risk noncompliance with the orders of senior management. She finally escaped, but her baby was already damaged. Doctors thought the mother had been on drugs during her pregnancy because of the kind of damage the fetus had suffered. They thought he was a crack baby, because when he was born he was...under three pounds at full term.

She couldn't tell them the truth, she couldn't tell them what she had actually subjected her baby to. So she let the doctors believe it was drugs. It took many years of therapy for the child but, miraculously, this woman and her child have normal lives today...

Tragically, we will never have a chance to hear Lisa McPherson 's story of imprisonment and abuse...Scientology succeeded in literally destroying her life. Several women have told of the heart-breaking series of abortions they were forced to undergo...The scars of such experiences can never be erased.

Others have told of senior management's obsession with illegal weapons, stockpiling AK-47s and Uzis, and of afternoons spent conducting shoot-a-thons, using photographs of critics and blown staff members as targets...

Given all of this, it is difficult enough for someone coming out of the devastating experience of Scientology. From what these people have described to me - and mind you, these are the lucky ones, the ones who found the strength within themselves to escape -- they come out of this nightmare terribly disoriented, psychologically and emotionally numb, and with no clear understanding of what has happened to them...

Many in this country consider it an exaggeration to compare Scientology to Nazi Germany; yet, clearly Germany today sees Scientology as utterly fascist. Germany is doing everything they can to stop Scientology and other totalist groups, because they recognize in them characteristics of another Nazi party.

In Greece last week, the press reported that Scientology has obtained military intelligence secrets from the Greek government following Greece's expulsion of Scientology.

Following a statement by Scientology's President, Heber Jentzsch, in Denmark last week that Scientology would be fully accepted within Europe during the next five to ten years, Spanish officials, the very next day, in their ongoing prosecution against Scientology, have requested thirty years of jail time for Mr. Jentzsch...

In 1996, the leader of Scientology in France was convicted of involuntary homicide when he was found to be responsible for having driven a Scientologist to suicide. Twelve other Scientologists were given lesser sentences...

In 1997, a Milan court sentenced twenty-nine members of Scientology to between nine and twenty months of jail time for criminal association after they were found to have been defrauding members, committing extortion, cheating mentally incapacitated members, and evading as much as $50 million in taxes.

Three years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the largest single libel award in Canadian history -- $1.6 million -- for attempting to smear Crown Prosecutor Casey Hill. Scientology decided to ruin Mr. Hill's reputation after Scientology was raided in a 1983 criminal investigation.

In 1991, Scientology in Toronto was criminally convicted for breach of the public trust after they stole police documents and spied on police and government agencies.

Twenty years ago the FBI viewed Scientology as a menace to society when it staged the largest raid in US history...Today however, Scientology has miraculously transformed itself into a "religion" and assaults Washington with an army of celebrity puppets who rub shoulders with the leaders of our country and wax lyrical about the "benefits" of...Hubbard's technology.

Our own media is asking serious questions about Scientology... Further, the United States has been warned by governments and judges all over the world during the last thirty years about the evils of Scientology, and yet we have other countries shaking their heads at the apparent naivete of our government. Clearly a massive education effort is needed to enlighten our government about this cult.

The Internet can be extremely valuable in this education effort... It is my firm conviction that we CAN blame people for not getting it, and in fact, we MUST. History has taught us many painful lessons about apathy, arrogance, and ignorance...

...Vigilance is necessary to keep Scientology from running roughshod in the United States over our civil rights, the legal system, and the civil and human rights of its captives...

In this way, we can hope that enough momentum will build, so that the United States will eventually take a stand against this evil cult. Scientology is both a menace to our society and to our way of life.

In closing I would like to quote from a review of the book Dianetics. It was written by Milton Sapirstein and published in The Nation in 1950. I first noticed this quote in the Washington Post on December 6, 1998, when Richard Leiby wrote about Lisa McPherson 's life and death in Scientology. I was very taken by Sapirstein's grasp of this evil forty-eight years ago

"The real, and, to me, inexcusable danger in Dianetics lies in its conception of the amoral, detached, 100 per cent efficient mechanical man -- superbly free-floating, unemotional, and unrelated to anything. This is the authoritarian dream, a population of zombies, free to be manipulated by the great brains of the founder, the leader of the inner manipulative clique."

The entire counter-cult community exists to ensure that this message continues to be heard. I personally am proud to be a part of this movement and to count you as my friends.

(4) Faith Healing What about When Children Die?

In Oregon, state representative Bruce Starr is introducing a bill (House Bill 2494), which if passed would hold parents criminally liable for relying solely on prayer for healing their children.

The bill was introduced partly in response to the death of a boy in Clackamas County, Oregon in 1998 for which his parents were not prosecuted, even though his death was preventable with standard medical care. Clackamas County District Attorney Terry Gustafson refused to prosecute the parents of the 11-year-old boy who died of treatable diabetes. The dead boy's parents are members of the Followers of Christ Church, an Oregon City group that relies only on faith healing and opposes the use of doctors.

Currently, if Oregon parents treat their sick children with prayers rather than medical care, and the children are injured or die, state law allows the parents to declare their religious beliefs as a legal defense to charges of child abuse or homicide. Oregon's statues are among the weakest in their protection of children whose parents rely on faith healing. Only six other states have such sweeping immunity clauses for parents who claim faith healing as a defense, although 40 other states have some measure of religious shield.

The bill proposed by Starr has bipartisan support, and debate is expected to weigh the benefits of protecting children against potential harms from reducing faith healers' freedom of religion. "I hope that we will instead focus on children who are dying for a lack of medical care," Starr said. The ACLU has historically taken an ambiguous position on this issue, generally supporting the state's right to intervene in situations dangerous to children, but opposing prosecution of parents whose children have died due to lack of treatment for treatable medical problems.

According to The Oregonian [January 22, 1999], Representative Starr said of the proposed bill, "This levels the playing field for all children in Oregon. Regardless of their religion, parents must provide adequate medical care for their children." The Oregonian conducted an investigation in 1998 and found that "more than 70 Followers of Christ children have died since the mid-1950s, many from treatable illnesses. This is perhaps the largest cluster of faith-healing deaths ever documented, experts have said."

Letter to FACTNet

ABC News had a segment tonight on this church in Oregon. They believe in faith healing not medicine, and enough children and adults have died in the church from refusal to seek medical care that the Oregon legislature is passing laws prohibiting parents from refusing to seek medical care.

This is an interesting (if tragic) issue which could be the crux to press the mind-control/ex-cult issue... On the one hand you have public policy which says Congress can't legislate against anyone's faith, on the other hand you have faith that is hurting people physically (overly rigid faith healers) and emotionally (mind-control and authoritarian cults).

Can anything be done in the marketplace of ideas, if not the public policy arena, to say, "Enough is enough. Here is what human rights are Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and where religion abrogates these, the law will step in"?

Yes, people have the right to say, "I'd rather die because my faith is in God, not medicine, and if I die after prayer only then God must want me to die." But don't we have an equal right to say... "Just because you would rather die by faith, don't make your children die in the same way"?

Where do we draw the line between religion based on faith, and religion that is impractical and needlessly harmful? Where do we get off accepting others' pronouncements of what God wants as the same as what God wants?

Questions for thought and discussion.

-Steve Deyo

(5) Cult Expert Jolly West Dies

Dr. Louis Jolyon "Jolly" West, admired and endeared psychiatrist and cult expert, died of cancer at his home in Los Angeles January 2 at the age of 74. Dr. West began studying mind control with American soldiers who had undergone brainwashing through torture while in captivity during the Korean War. For 20 years, Dr. West headed the psychiatry department and Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. During his accomplished career, he conducted court-ordered examinations of Jack Ruby and Patricia Hearst. In 1989 Dr. West retired but remained active, continuing his research and mentoring students. Dr. West was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and is survived by his wife Kathryn, son John, and daughters Anne and Mary. A tribute to Jolly West by UCLA is available at

<http//www.mentalhealth.ucla.edu/av/gr981201lw.ram>.

(6) News Briefs

AUM SHIN RIKYO. Despite Aum Shin Rikyo's horrible act of terrorism of gassing the subways of Tokyo four years ago, and despite prison terms meted out to many of Aum's leaders and the loss of its tax privileges as a religious organization, the Japanese-based cult is not only still in existence, it is undergoing a revival. Membership is up, businesses are flourishing, and property purchases soar. Japan's Public Security Investigation Agency (PSIA) has published two reports warning of the resurgence of the cult. "As far as we can see," says the head of the PSIA's Aum unit, "the potential danger represented by the cult hasn't diminished at all."

Such reports have led to actions like those of villagers of Kita Mimaki. A recent property acquisition by Aum Shin Rikyo in the village of Kita Mimaki motivated the local villagers to drastic measures to discourage their unwanted neighbor. Pooling their few resources, they erected a 24-hour surveillance system so that when a party of approximately 30 Aum members turned up early one morning to move in, they were confronted by 500 villagers summoned from their beds at 400 a.m. by the village's public address system. The cultists were permitted to remove some equipment and leave, but villagers fear they will return.

BRANCH DAVIDIANS. While he was a member of the Branch Davidians, George Roden, 60, was part of the cult's leadership under guru David Koresh. Roden left the group in 1987 after a gun battle with Koresh. In December, Roden was found dead outside a psychiatric hospital. An employee of Big Spring State Hospital in Texas found Roden's body on hospital grounds. Roden was apparently trying to escape from the hospital. A preliminary autopsy indicated he died of a heart attack.

CONCERNED CHRISTIANS. The latest episode involving the Concerned Christians cult is now centered on Rafina, a small town 15 miles west of Athens, Greece. Twenty members of the Denver-based group, recently deported from Israel to Denver for allegedly plotting to instigate a shoot-out with Jerusalem police in an attempt to hasten the return of Christ, are suspected to be among other Concerned Christians members in Greece. Greek security officials are investigating reports from the media that the twenty cult members joined other members of their group in rented apartments and villas in the nearby hillside community of Neo Voutza. Authorities ordered surveillance of the two sites and together with immigration officials are attempting to determine if these individuals are in fact members of the Denver-based group. Concerned Christians leader, former Denver resident Monte Kim Miller, disappeared with his followers in late September 1998. Some members resurfaced in Jerusalem only to be deported by Israel. Miller, who founded the group, prophesied an apocalypse would strike Denver last fall, and intends to die on the streets of Jerusalem in December 1999 only to rise again in three days. He has made other doomsday predictions and claims to be the voice of God.

GENESIS ASSOCIATES. Known as "the two Pats," Patricia Mansmann, psychologist, and Patricia Neuhusel, licensed social worker, co-founded Genesis Associates in Pennsylvania in the late 1980's. Genesis was conceived as a professional practice specializing in drug and alcohol counseling, but now both founders may have their licenses revoked. Apart from several active lawsuits filed against Genesis, Prosecuting Attorney Bernadette Paul and the state Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, filed formal charges in February contending "the two Pats" used dangerous and unprofessional counseling techniques. Genesis has been under scrutiny for years because of the Pats' use of techniques they call "rage work" and "detachment" therapies. "Rage work" involves members beating each other with pillows and plastic bats while others scream obscenities at them, and with "detachment," couples must split up and parents must cut off all contact with children, associating with nobody except others in the Genesis "Network." Neither of these practices is accepted as standard, and may be harmful to clients. Mansmann, whose psychologist's license was suspended for two years, violated her suspension agreement by continuing to treat clients regularly. Like the complaint filed in 1996, the state again seeks to revoke the pair's licenses, but permanently this time, accompanied by fines of $10,000 for each count of wrongdoing.

HEAVEN'S GATE. In March 1997, 39 Heaven's Gate cult members committed mass suicide in a rented southern California mansion. On February 22, after a two-year court battle for the rights to property that belonged to the deceased cult members, surviving ex-cult members Mark and Sarah King of Phoenix were not granted rights to the belongings. The property will go to the San Diego Public Administrator's Office to auction off, and proceeds from the auction will go to families of the deceased members to offset expenses for funerals and burials. "We're pleased that the court validated what we believed to be all along, that this is a simple case of California law," said Public Administrator Don Billings, according to the Associated Press [February 23, 1999]. He said that a public auction of the belongings will not be scheduled until the Kings' legal opportunities to appeal are exhausted. As administrator of the estate, Billings' initial plan to auction the estate to raise money to pay $100,000 in funeral claims filed by families of the deceased cult members, was blocked by the Kings' petition, and an end is not yet in sight. The property in question consists of items such as plastic patio furniture, bunk beds, televisions, and computers. The 39 cult members drank a fatal mixture of applesauce, barbiturates, and alcohol, believing claims by their leader Marshall Applewhite that they would be picked up by a UFO following the Hale-Bopp comet. Applewhite was among the dead.

INTERNATIONAL CHURCH OF CHRIST (ICC). "I have known people who come out, and they're destroyed. Our goal is to limit their effectiveness on the campus," said Adam Looney of Christ in Action Student Ministries when asked about the International Church of Christ (ICC), which is recruiting student "disciples" at Texas Tech University campus. According to Grear Howard of Baptist Student Ministries, ICC encourages students to cut off communication with their parents, sever relationships with anyone not involved with ICC, and donate large amounts of money. A dozen Texas Tech University ministers, citing ICC histories raising concerns at 30 other American universities, are uniting to urge students on their campus to avoid the religious group, calling it America's most dangerous cult.

LANDMARK EDUCATION CORPORATION. Elle Magazine writer Rosemary Mahoney, on an assignment for the publication, took The Landmark Forum course, Landmark's primary educational program. She followed up by writing an article for the September 1998 issue of Elle, where she asserted that The Landmark Forum was an elaborate pyramid scheme and implied that hypnosis was used to convince Landmark students that they had experienced actual results. In response to the article, Landmark Education Corporation filed a complaint against Elle Magazine and Mahoney, stating the article damaged their business reputation and defamed the reputation of Landmark course leader Beth Handel. Landmark, based in San Francisco with offices in 35 cities in the United States, is seeking $10,000,000 in actual and punitive damages.

MILLENNIUM CULTS. A number of law enforcement agencies are taking precautions for the possibility of apocalyptic cults staging violence to spark their prophecies of world destruction with the turn of the millennium (which some view as December 31, 1999, and some as December 31, 2000). "With the coming of the next millennium, some religious apocalyptic groups or individuals may turn to violence as they seek to achieve dramatic effects to fulfil their prophecies," FBI Director Louis Freeh warned at a February congressional hearing on counter-terrorism. Freeh went on to cite "rogue terrorists," such as Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, as potentially the most urgent risk to U.S. interests worldwide, while cautioning that the domestic threat must not be ignored in the face of the approaching millennium. "The possibility of an indigenous group like Aum Supreme Truth [Aum Shin Rikyo] cannot be excluded," he stated, referring to the cult responsible for the 1995 nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway system which injured thousands and killed twelve.

MOVEMENT OF SPIRITUAL INNER AWARENESS (MSIA). John-Roger, or J-R, leader of the MSIA cult, prevailed in a lawsuit against University of California, San Diego religion professor David Lane. MSIA sued Lane for providing on his web page a copy of the book Life 102 What to Do When Your Guru Sues You. Written by Peter McWilliams, former 15-year devotee of John-Roger, the book exposes John-Roger and the harmful cult practices McWilliams encountered. As part of a legal settlement, McWilliams gave MSIA rights to the book; but before the lawsuit concluded McWilliams gave universal permission to mirror the book on web sites. Lane hosted the book on his site even though J-R was threatening to sue, because Lane thought that once material was on the web with permission from the author and publisher, it could remain there. And he believed the material was too important to take away from the public. In addition, he was making no money from having it on his site. A judge recently ordered Lane to remove the book from his site, and even made him responsible for J-R's court costs and legal fees. Lane may go bankrupt and is considering an appeal. He may be reached at dlane@weber.ucsd.edu.

NEO-NAZISM. In mid-February hundreds of Neo-Nazis clashed with police in Budapest, Hungary, resulting in injuries to eight officers and arrests of 34 protesters. Skinheads from Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, and even as far away as England met there to mark the anniversary of a retreat by elite Nazi troops in February 1945 due to Russian army advancement. Carrying Nazi flags and dressed in black, the Neo-Nazis marched in formation and gave speeches, insisting as one attendee told RTL Klub TV news that "We are here in peace." Later that evening, a clash erupted at the Viking beer hall and discotheque, when celebrating skinheads attacked police officers visiting the premises on a routine patrol.

NEW BETHANY BAPTIST CHURCH. Julie Gertz, 25, and Tracy Zwickle, 35, both spent time as teen-agers behind the barbed wire compound of New Bethany Baptist Church in Arcadia, Louisiana. Regarding the disciplinary actions taken there, Gertz says, "I mean, there were beatings of 80 to 100 licks. I mean, you basically stopped counting after 80." New Bethany was a girls' facility in the 1980s, but is now a detention facility for boys sent there by their parents. It receives no court supervision.

SATANISM. On February 19, satanic cult members in Russia were convicted on charges of murder with aggravating circumstances. The cult members, whose ages range from under 20 to 80, stood trial in the city of Donskoi, for two ritual murders in 1998. The cult's leader, Yelena Kuzina, 80, was sentenced to five years in prison. Her oldest son, second in command in the cult, was sentenced to ten years. Defense lawyers of the Satanists said they would protest the sentences.

SCIENTOLOGY. Major proceedings against Scientology will be taking place in Spain. Prosecutors are recommending a 30-year prison sentence for Scientology president Heber Jentzsch and other sentences for 17 other leading Scientology members and adherents. The indictment in the case, which will take place before a court in Madrid, describes Scientology as an "extremely dangerous organization" and questions its status in Spain as a religious organization. Among the 12 charges are tax evasion and formation of an illegal association. Scientology is alleged to have financially exploited its adherents and to have applied methods that are detrimental to health and without scientific basis.

SCIENTOLOGY. "We're conducting a comprehensive inspection," stated a Moscow police officer, on the scene at the three-story wing of a factory that Los Angeles-based Scientology rents as its Moscow headquarters. Moscow police, officers of the city prosecutor's office, and the Federal Security Service searched four Scientology offices on February 25 as part of an ongoing investigation and criminal case that was brought against the organization, according to Moscow's city prosecutor's office. Scientology is charged with illegal commercial activities and infringements of safety and the rights of individuals.

SCIENTOLOGY. Documents seized from the now-dissolved Scientology Center of Applied Philosophy of Greece (KEFE) reveal Scientology had top secret military records and other confidential legal documentation in their possession. Greece's military intelligence is investigating to determine how such top-secret documents such as a detailed map of the military area of Hellikon Airport, could fall into the hands of Scientology. Meanwhile, the Greek Appeals Court ordered the dissolved KEFE to return documentation connected to a December trial involving 15 Scientologists accused of systematically keeping files on politicians, journalists, judges, clergymen, and other Greek leading personalities. The trial was postponed to February 12 to recover the evidence necessary, but much of the contents of these folders, containing incriminating evidence on the 15 suspects, are now missing.

SCIENTOLOGY. The Criminal Court of Lausanne, Switzerland sentenced a member of Scientology to six months in prison suspended. The Scientologist was found guilty of exploiting the psychological instability and depression of a 38-year-old person who paid 20,000 francs (about $13,500) for Scientology courses. Charges of fraud were dismissed.

SCIENTOLOGY. Washington Beltway power couple Greta Van Susteren and John Coale have some measure of influence on this country's government, legal system, and media. The fact that they are Scientologists may be of concern given Scientology's goal of taking over government and media, its history of infiltrating government offices, and writings by Scientology's founder that Scientology should use the legal system to "destroy and harass" its opponents and "ruin them utterly." Van Susteren is a Cable News Network legal analyst and a co-host of CNN's Burden of Proof. Coale is a wealthy trial-lawyer, a mover behind the multi-billion-dollar anti-tobacco lawsuits, and has been described as an "unabashed 'ambulance chaser.'" They have dined at the White House. Like their high-profile secular contacts in Washington, their connections to high-level Scientologists are many. Loretta Miscavige, mother of Scientology leader David Miscavige, is their law firm accountant. Scientologist actor Tom Cruise offered to make a movie based on Coale's exploits in India. Coale represented fellow Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley in her divorce from singer Michael Jackson. In 1993, Van Susteren and Coale as a legal team played a small role in Scientology's litigations to take over the Cult Awareness Network, which is now run by Scientology. In Washington, Van Susteren is a Clinton apologist, and Coale recently took on a case of political interest to Clinton supporters, and has made generous political donations, including $20,000 to various Democratic Party arms in 1998. Coale and Van Susteren are not eager to draw attention to their adherence to Scientology.

SCIENTOLOGY. Dianetics, Scientology's foundational publication, made a list of "The 99 worst things this century," compiled by London's Evening Standard [January 12, 1999]. Dianetics was written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and published in 1950. The work was among eleven books which made the "99 worst" list.

SUKYO MAHIKARI. Sukyo Mahikari, said by former members to propagate neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic propaganda, has successfully applied for charitable status in Britain, where they have recently recruited 300 new members. The European and African headquarters of the Mahikari cult, based in Luxembourg, reportedly received a grant of $60,000 to refurbish its offices. Police say the group is linked to Aum Shin Rikyo and that current Mahikari members were part of Aum's 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway. A spokesman for Sukyo Mahikari denied allegations that the cult is linked to Aum Shin Rikyo or that it is anti-Semitic. Concerned former members feel the cult is preparing for a "baptism of fire" that will attempt to end the world next year. A leaflet prepared by the cult announces, "Under the present circumstances there is the terrible possibility that mankind might be annihilated by the baptism of fire." This, former members point out, is the same language used by other cults, including Aum Shin Rikyo and the Solar Temple, whose members committed mass suicide three years ago.

TEEN HELP/WORLD WIDE ASSOCIATION OF SPECIALTY PROGRAMS. Boulder, Colorado businesswoman Alexia Parks has for two years led a movement to expose a network of religious and secular compounds in the United States and abroad that incarcerate American teens. The teenage victims of these compounds often arrive after their parents have come to often wrenching decisions to send their children to a private lockup as a way to save their offspring from drugs, alcohol, and crime. Some programs of this type work well, but Teen Help (also going by the name World Wide Association of Specialty Programs) reportedly has sent families spiraling into terrifying emotional, legal, and financial nightmares. Treatment of the teens is alleged to be abusive, and absolutely not what those who advocate "tough love" refer to. One of the "schools" being run in Brno in the Czech Republic was closed down and its directors arrested. Following are the names and locations of Teen Help-associated compounds Paradise Cove--Apia, Western Samoa; Tranquility Bay--Treasure Beach, Jamaica; Casa By the Sea--Ensenada, Mexico; Cross Creek Manor--LaVerkin, Utah, USA; Carolina Springs Academy--Donalds/Due West, South Carolina, USA; Red Rock Academy--Saint George, Utah, USA; Linden House for Pregnant Teens--Saint George, Utah; and Spring Creek Lodge--Thompson Falls, Montana. Two others have been closed down Morava Academy--Brno, Czech Republic; and Sunrise Beach--Cancun, Mexico. Since publishing her informational "American Gulag" on the Internet, Parks has become a lightning rod and forum for the controversy surrounding private imprisonment of American kids. As a response to overwhelming e-mail concerns, she has established a Web page - <www.TeenAid.org> - where parents compare notes. She is considering converting American Gulag into a hardcover book.

UNIFICATION CHURCH. The New Hope Ranch - a 74,000-acre complex with a school, research center, meeting house, and dining hall - serves as the Latin American operations center for Sun Myung Moon's Association of Families for Unification and World Peace, formerly and widely known as the Unification Church. More than 100 people living at the facility were ordered evacuated in January 1999 after a prosecutor charged it was dumping untreated sewage into two rivers in Mato Grosso do Sul State. The evacuation was ordered by a judge who was sitting in for vacationing Judge Geraldo de Almeida Santiago, who, upon his return, overturned the order, calling it "hasty'' and motivated by the "religious prejudice of the citizens of Jardim."

UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH OF BRAZIL. The killings started in December when cult leader Francisco Bezerra de Morais said he began hearing voices from God ordering him to kill "enemies of Jesus" and punish other members of the cult through ritualistic beatings. Speaking from jail in a telephone interview with Reuters, Morais said he killed a woman and ordered fathers to beat their children to death because they were demons. He and his followers murdered a total of six people, including three children, using their fists, clubs, and metal chains. Morais, known by his followers as Toto, headed a 60-member cult along with his wife at a rogue branch of the United Pentecostal Church of Brazil, located in the Amazon jungle. The couple was arrested in December 1998 after the church's former leader, left for dead after a savage beating, informed police of the killings.

WICCAN CULT. Randall James was a member of the so-called Wiccan Cult when he committed suicide in Texas at the age of sixteen. His parents said they were unaware of their son's inner torment until his suicide. Journals he left behind reveal a confused youngster torn between a dangerous cult and doing what was right. Through words and pictures, Randall described his involvement with a group that uses the name Wiccan Cult. The group is to be distinguished from the traditional Wiccan movement, whose members practice white magic and are devoted to creating harmony with nature.

YAHWEH BEN YAHWEH. In 1992, former Oakland Raiders defensive player Robert Rozier admitted to killing seven men as part of his cult activity with leader Yahweh ben Yahweh. For his testimony against Yahweh, Rozier was given a reduced prison sentence and put in the federal witness protection program in California. He was recently arrested for violating his program agreement by writing bad checks totaling $125.24, which due to a new "three strikes" California law might send him to prison for life. In his 1992 trial, Rozier recounted how he and other Yahweh followers went in search of killing white people, whom Yahweh called "white devils," to be part of Yahweh's religious sect. Following this testimony, jurors convicted Ben Yahweh and six followers of conspiring to commit murder to maintain their religious empire. Yahweh's cult considers itself a lost black tribe of Israel.

In a related incident, East Newark, New Jersey resident John Armstrong, 40, was charged with murder in the 1984 stabbing death of a homeless white man, a killing that the Essex County Prosecutor said was carried out as "a sacrifice" to honor the leader of the Yahweh ben Yahweh cult.

ZHUSHEN CULT. Chinese authorities recently raided a 10,000-member doomsday cult and arrested 20 followers, including leader Liu Jiaguo. The Zhushen (God and Spirits) cult, prominent in the provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Yunnan, is known for its proclamation that an apocalypse is coming in the year 2000. Before founding Zhushen in 1993, leader Jiaguo was a follower of another cult, Peiliwang, whose leader was executed for rape. Jiaguo was also arrested in June 1998 and before that in 1991 (after which he escaped prison). Current charges by law enforcement officials accuse Jiaguo of using his position to rape 27 girls, the youngest of whom was only 13 years old, and for the extortion of 300,000 yuan (36,300 dollars).

OTHER NEWS BRIEFS
Headlines on the FACTNet Web Site

Scientologists eliminate anti-Scientology campaign venue [February 26, 1999]

Deported Denver-based cultists suspected in Greece [February 18, 1999]

Former senior Aum Shin Rikyo member sentenced [February 17, 1999]

My experience with Children of God/The Family, Part VII [February 18, 1999]

Reverend Moon's business empire faces financial ruin [February 4, 1999]

Victims of subway gas attack still suffer
[February 2, 1999]

(7) New Human Rights Foundation Gains Approval

The Foundation for Human Rights has received an approval letter from the IRS confirming its non-profit status. Furthermore, the board of the Foundation for Human Rights has approved the authentic Cult Awareness Network as one of its designees for protection of the human rights of its members. It is now once again possible to defend the original Cult Awareness Network despite the fact that its bank account is frozen and at risk at a very small balance. Its records and archives continue to be under attack.

The Foundation for Human Rights was established to defend such fundamental human and civil rights as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. Assaulting the authentic Cult Awareness Network directly assaults those freedoms. Assisting the authentic Cult Awareness Network directly furthers these human rights and is in keeping with the United States Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations, and the purposes of the Foundation for Human Rights. To support the Foundation, send a check made out to the Foundation for Human Rights to 41 Gershom Place, Kingston, PA 18704, USA. You may mark the check "for defense of CAN," and your donation is tax deductible.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Ed Lottick at 570-287-1377 or elottick@aol.com.

--Ed Lottick, MD

(8) Cult Awareness Events, Meetings, & Announcements

Events

CULTINFO CONFERENCE

The CULTinfo conference, which was February 12-14 in Stamford, Connecticut and co-sponsored by FACTNet, was a powerful event for the more than 100 who attended, including FACTNet directors and staff. It was a gathering of many people involved in cult awareness work, such as exit counselors, ex-members, clergy, and many others. It was incredibly heartening to see many people doing such good work for cult awareness, and it is interesting to see the niches of that work people are carving out, from preparing police officers to recognize cult situations to lobbying state legislatures for cults-on-campus prevention. A handful of cult members attended, too, and mildly disrupted FACTNet's panel on Cults and the Internet, but were welcome nonetheless. Congratulations and thanks to CULTinfo for organizing a successful and inspiring conference!

CULT INFORMATION SERVICE CONFERENCE

Family and Personal Cult Problems and the Millennium Threat, April 18

Cult Information Service, Inc. (CIS), a cult awareness organization, is hosting an all-day conference Sunday, April 18 in Newark, New Jersey. The conference will focus on cults' impacts on individuals and families and dangers of millennium groups.

WHAT Cult Information Service all-day conference, Sunday, April 18, 1999, 830 a.m. - 500 p.m.

WHERE Holiday Inn-North, Newark, NJ (Directions New Jersey Turnpike to exit 14. Hotel is on service road, second exit after toll.)

REGISTRATION $75 per person (includes coffee and lunch); $85 after April 7. Discount hotel rates available at $89.99 per night at Holiday Inn.

CONTACT Cult Information Service, Inc. at 201-833-1212 or PO Box 867, Teaneck, NJ, 07666. For lodging, Holiday Inn-North at 973-589-1000.

MOUNTAIN STATES CONFERENCE

Cults, Gangs, & Hate Groups, April 23-24

The Religious Movement Resource Center (RMRC) and United Campus Ministry (UCM) are hosting a conference in Fort Collins, Colorado April 23-24. UCM has served Colorado State University and its students for 50 years, and its mission includes educating on cults and hate groups. RMRC has been a program of UCM for 17 years; its focus is to educate and provide information on destructive cults and hate groups. The conference will feature Ron Loomis, internationally recognized cult expert, as keynote speaker, as well as 10 workshops on various topics.

WHAT Cults, Gangs, & Hate Groups Mountain States Conference, Friday and Saturday, April 23-24, 1999

WHERE First Presbyterian Church, Fort Collins, CO (instructions to be provided with registration package)

REGISTRATION Both days $175 (before April 15; includes Saturday lunch); Friday only $100; Saturday only $100; ex-member panel only $20.

CONTACT RMRC/UMC at 970-482-8487 or ucm@lamar.colostate.edu or 629 South Howes, Fort Collins, CO, 80521

AFF CONFERENCE

International perspectives on cults, psychological manipulation, and society, May 14-16

AFF, a professional organization founded in 1979 to study cults and psychological manipulation, is holding a conference May 14-16.

What International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) conference, Friday, May 14 - Sunday, May 16

WHERE University of Minnesota, St. Paul. Lodging available at the Ramada Inn, Roseville, MN, at special rates of $59/night.

CONTACT International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), PO Box 2265, Bonita Springs, FL 34133; Tel. 914 514-3081; fax 941 514-3451; <http//www.csj.org>

Meetings

FOCUS MEETINGS HELD MONTHLY IN BOSTON

Focus is a support group for former cult members. Focus meetings are for ex-members of cult groups only.

WHAT Support group for ex-members of cult groups, 1st Wednesday of every month

WHERE Boston area

CONTACT Co-facilitators Mike and Nancy at 617-353-5269, option 2

WOUNDED PILGRIMS CHAT/SUPPORT GROUP

Internet chat for former members of closed, high demand groups, relationships, or cults, as well as loved ones of current and former members.

WHAT Internet chat for ex-members and loved ones, Saturdays, 1000 p.m. EST

WHERE America Online

CONTACT Maureen Griffo at mgriffo@aol.com for more information

Announcements

FACTNET FEATURE My Experience with Children of God/The Family

FACTNet presents an ongoing series by a former member of the Children of God cult, also known as The Family. Parts I-VII currently appear on the FACTNet web site. Series begins at <www.factnet.org/cults/children_of_god/experience_i.html>

ORIGINAL CULT AWARENESS NETWORK, INC. OPENS WEB SITE

The original Cult Awareness Network, Inc. has set up a web site at <www.CAN-Inc.org> to keep the public informed of its status and ongoing legal battles. Take some time to visit. [Note: March 23, 1999 site is off-line. -- GW]

NEW HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION GAINS APPROVAL

The Foundation for Human Rights is a rather new organization whose mission is to help people whose human rights have been violated, particularly through cults or mind control. The organization recently received tax-exempt status from the United States Internal Revenue Service, and is receiving donations. The foundation's head is Dr. Ed Lottick, esteemed advocate of cult awareness. See article above.

WOLLERSHEIM CASE REFERRED BACK TO SUPERIOR COURT

Lawrence Wollersheim's long legal battle with Scientology continues, still yet to receive his multi-million dollar judgment from Scientology. Recently, the California appellate court referred the case back to superior court to adjucate whether the superior court's earlier decision met the correct standard of a "preponderance of evidence," rather than the "substantial level of evidence" standard which the court used. This presents a great advantage to Wollersheim to bring forth new witnesses, defectors, and evidence that have appeared since the case was sent to appeals. Lawrence Wollersheim and his attorneys feel they will easily meet the "preponderance of evidence" standard and produce new information that will further discredit both Scientology's corporate sham and the basis for its tax-exempt status.

TEACHERS' PRESS ALLYING MILLENNIUM FEARS CALENDARS, THINKING LOGICALLY

The Teachers' Press in Brookfield, Illinois has compiled a brief curriculum on calendar history as a way to ally students' irrational views associated with the year 2000 AD For $1.00, they will send a "Student Text" (6 pages) and "Teacher's Manual" (11 pages). The curriculum is intended for teachers and home-schooling parents, but it makes interesting reading for anyone. It discusses calendars as human-created tools, gives a short history of the faulty development of our calendar, and explains why our calendar's millennium, if calculated correctly, should have happened a few years ago. For a copy of the lesson, contact The Teachers' Press at 703-485-5983 or 703-387-7057 (f) or teacherspr@aol.com or 3731 Madison Ave, Brookfield, IL 60513.

NEW BOOK OUT ON CONTROL WITHIN FAMILIES

If You Had Controlling Parents How to Make Peace With Your Past

By Dan Neuharth, Ph.D. HarperCollins/Cliff Street Books, $ 25.

"Brainwashing, whether by a cult or a controlling family, is designed to hide responsibility and distort accountability --to keep anyone from daring to announce, 'The emperor has no clothes.'...Though brainwashing is powerful, it is not foolproof. If it were, everybody would be indoctrinated into cults and no cult member would ever leave. Yet only a minority of people ever joins a cult, and the majority of cult members eventually leave...Similarly, parental overcontrol has its limits."

TWISTED SCRIPTURES BOOKS HELPING PEOPLE READ THEIR WAY OUT OF DESTRUCTIVE CHURCHES, CULTS

Exit counselor Mary Alice Chrnalogar's book Twisted Scriptures appeared in bookstores last year. Since then she has received numerous letters of appreciation from people and estimates hundreds have left abusive groups after reading it. The book explains the characteristics of controlling and abusive groups. According to Chrnalogar, many cult members don't recognize the control their group wields until someone points it out to them. Twisted Scriptures seeks to point out such dangers in a non-controlling arena. The book and her expertise tend toward abusive Bible-based churches. To order the book, call Chrnalogar's hotline at 423-629-0082.

BOSTON HERALD JOURNALIST JOSEPH MALLIA RECEIVES TOP AWARD

Joseph Mallia, a reporter for the Boston Herald, won a first-place investigative reporting award for "Scientology Unmasked," a five-part series on Scientology's activities in New England. The series described how Scientologists targeted black families for recruitment, and how the church's Narconon anti-drug group deceptively got $1 million from local school boards and businesses to give lectures in public and private schools. Mallia's award was part of the 1998 New England Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest. The series is available at <http//www.bostonherald.com/scientology/>.

FOR CULT AWARENESS ORGANIZATIONS AND PROFESSIONALS

If you have an event, meeting, or announcement and you would like FACTNet to publicize it in the newsletter or on the web site, please let us know. Also please let us know if you provide a service related to cult awareness and would like to be added to FACTNet's referral list, the Cult Information Referral Service (CRIS), on the Internet at <http//www.factnet.org/cris.htm>. Lastly, please contact us with any additions you would like FACTNet to make to our free newsletter subscription list, including friends, associates, clergy, government representatives, etc.

(9) Newsletter corrections

CORRECTION. The October-December issue included a factual error regarding the name of the daughter killed along with ex-People's Temple members Jeanne and Al Mills. The girl who was murdered was Daphene, Jeanne Mills' daughter from a previous marriage, rather than Linda, Al Mills' daughter from a previous marriage. FACTNet extends our gratitude to Linda and her family for correcting this error, our sincere apologies for it, and our congratulations for comprising today "one gloriously happy family."

CLARIFICATION. A news brief on ISKCON in the October-December issue included unclear language regarding homosexuality. The sentence "Several other self-proclaimed gurus fell from grace due to serious charges of...homosexuality" was meant to refer to charges considered serious within ISKCON, not by FACTNet.

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