alt_religion_scientology/FACTNetARS19980715

From: "FACTNet International" < XXX-Obsolete.email.Deleted-XXX >
Subject: European Parliament Applauded for Anti-Cult Initiatives
Date: 1998/07/15
Message-ID: <01bdb049$964ef4e0$586853ce@deb>
Newsgroups: alt.mindcontrol,alt.misc,alt.motherjones,alt.recovery.religion,alt.religion.scientology,alt.religion.scientology.squick.squick.squick,alt.religion.scientology.xenu,alt.support.ex-cult,talk.religion.misc

European Parliament Applauded for Anti-Cult Initiatives

The European Parliament is urging European Union states “to clamp down
on religious cults which might harm young and vulnerable peopleÂ… to
ensure that information is made available about the dangers of cult
membership,” according to the Independent [July 11, 1998], of London. A
report produced by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties and
Internal Affairs committee encourages the Parliament to address the
problematic aspects of dangerous cults, such as mental and physical
abuse, and dangers to public safety.

Such cult-related preventative activity is rare for a government
organization, despite the highly publicized cult violence over the last
four years, the somber statistics of the little-understood problem, and
the upcoming millennium which is predicted to spark more catastrophes.

Recent Cult Tragedies in the News
*1994, more than 60 members of EuropeÂ’s Solar Temple cult were induced
to mass suicide in France and Switzerland.

*1995, JapanÂ’s Aum Shin Rikyo cult released sarin nerve gas in Tokyo
subway killing ten and injuring thousands. Only last month (June, 1998)
testimonies from recent trials of Aum Shin Rikyo members revealed that
for years prior to the 1995 attack, the group released lethal germ
warfare in Japan, targeting the Japanese Legislature, the Imperial
Palace, and even the US military base at Yokosuka. The poisons were not
detected at the times of their releases, and apparently caused no
deaths. The attacks were intended to spark the apocalypse Aum Shin Rikyo
postulates is coming. Meanwhile, about 200 current members met for a
fundraising conference in late April, 1998, paying up to $1,500 each to
attend.

*1997, 39 members of the HeavenÂ’s Gate cult ingested a combination of
vodka and drugs, committing suicide. Members were convinced that the
only way to survive Earth’s being “recycled” in the year 2000 was to be
picked up by a UFO flying in the wake of the Hale-Bopp comet.

*1998, Scientology has faced allegations of member suicides, deaths, and
psychotic breaks; when Germany refused to recognize Scientology as a
bona fide religious organization, contending the cult is a threat to
democracy, the United States accused Germany of “intolerance” and caused
international diplomatic tensions.

Somber Statistics
While recent cult tradegies have received a great deal of media
coverage, many facts regarding cults are rarely divulged to the general
public.

*Of the 912 People's Temple members who died in Jonestown, Guyana in
1978, 276 were children, and of more than 80 who died at Waco, Texas in
1993, 25 were children.

* An estimated 5,000 economic, political, and religious groups have used
tactics of coercive mind control to deceptively influence 20 million
victims in the United States alone in the last ten years, including 2.5
million at any given time. Worldwide figures are even greater. [Cult
expert Dr. Margaret Singer, Cults in Our Midst].

*The cult problem is so prevalent, the chances of a family member
joining a cult are greater than a family member catching chicken pox,
four times greater than contracting AIDS, 90 times greater than
contracting measles, and 45,000 times greater than contracting polio.
[Dr. Paul Martin, cult expert and director of Wellspring Retreat &
Resource Center, Ohio, USA].

*25% of the millions of cult members worldwide "will suffer enduring,
irreversible harm that will affect their ability to function adequately
in emotional, social, family, and occupational domains," according to
Dr. Martin. For every person who becomes a cult member, many more are
impacted; parents, children, other family, and friends suffer personal
and often economic loss.

*Entire societies, numbed by coercive psychological influence, are more
likely to allow large-scale tragedies. Perhaps the most devastating
example is the Holocaust. Cult mind control is totalitarian, and as such
is anathema to democracy. Democracy is founded on the principle that
humanity is rational; for democracy to work, people must be capable of
using their critical faculties. Mind control works by bypassing
rationality and eliminating free will. Without free will, all other
basic human freedoms, such as freedom of expression, freedom of speech,
freedom of religion, become utterly meaningless. Eventually if left
unchecked, it would destroy all basic human freedoms and ruin democracy.

Despite the human and societal damage caused by cults, few
organizations exist to help prevent or lessen the damage. Until very
recently, governments worldwide have not created systematic programs to
respond to the problem. The work has been done by non-profit
organizations and by people working on individual bases, studying the
cult phenomenon, counseling cult members and ex-members, prosecuting
those guilty of cult-related crimes and abuses, and educating others on
the dangers of cults. According to Dr. Martin, “Compared to other social
or medical problems, the havoc created by destructive cultism is the
most understudied, neglected, and ignored mental health and social
problem in the world... If the symptoms exhibited in former cult members
were attributed to a virus, it would be considered a worldwide
epidemic…” The cult problem is growing quickly and is expected to
accelerate as the millennium approaches.

Fortunately, for all its destructiveness, mind control can be diffused
rather easily. Education is vital in helping cult members leave the
destructive organizations they feel tied to. According to Dr. Singer,
90% of cult members, given the opportunity to take a few days away from
the group to be given full information, consequently leave the
destructive organization.

The European ParliamentÂ’s proposed solutions focus on education and
prevention. The United Press International [July 14, 1998] reports the
Parliament is giving priority to “protecting people through information
and advice, ‘allowing individuals to make a well-informed and
independent choice and providing help if they wish to leave a cult.’”
The report urges the European Parliament, in addition to providing
education, to monitor the activities of potentially dangerous cults,
produce a survey of such activities, and establish an “international
educational network about cults,” according to UPI. In addition, BBC
World TV [July 13, 1998] reported that “The European Parliament's
resolution calls forÂ… bringing so-called psychological services by
cults, like counseling, under Consumer Protection Law; and possibly
extending the powers of Europol, the fledgling FBI for Europe.”

In recent months, other government organizations have also begun plans
to address the cult problem. The United Nations Commission on Human
Rights brought a Special Rapporteur to the United States in January to
discuss dangers posed by cults, with FACTNet director Robert Minton
among many others. In April, the Belgian Parliament approved the
establishment of a public Information and Advice Center on Harmful
Cults. The center's purpose is to study cults, provide information and
advice to the public, and set up a study center accessible by the
general population. Once every two years, the center is required to
report to the Parliament and Belgium's Council of Ministers [From
Belgium newspaper, Het Belang van Limburg, April 29, 1998].

FACTNet, as a nonprofit provider of solutions to cult and mind control
problems, is extremely pleased that governments are taking initiative to
actively address the cult problem.

For information on mind control and cults, see
.

For more information on UN meeting with FACTNet director, see “FACTNet
director meets with UN [February 4, 1998]” at
.

A short summary of the Belgian governmentÂ’s plans is available at
.

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harms caused by destructive cults and mind control. FACTNet's web page,
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