Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Legal, Scientology Arbitration, Obituary, Dr. Herbert Benson, Meditation
CNN: Quiboloy on FBI's most wanted list
"The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released the "wanted" posters for megachurch leader Apollo Quiboloy and two other church members for sex trafficking charges.
According to the FBI, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder is wanted for "his alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the United States, via fraudulently obtained visas, and forced the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity, donations that actually were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders."
"It is alleged that females were recruited to work as personal assistants, or 'pastorals,' for Quiboloy and that victims prepared his meals, cleaned his residences, gave him massages and were required to have sex with Quiboloy in what the pastorals called "night duty," the FBI said.
It added that Quiboloy has ties to Calabasas, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Kapolei, Hawaii.
Moreover, Teresita Dandan and Helen Panilag were also included in the wanted list for their alleged participation in the labor trafficking scheme."
"The Church of Scientology has argued that a California appeals court made a mistake when it granted members a "sweeping and unbounded" right to leave the church.
The California Court of Appeal ruled on Jan. 20 that church members cannot be bound to a perpetual agreement to resolve disputes before a religious arbitration panel after the members have left the faith.
The case arises from allegations against Danny Masterson, a church member and a star of "That '70s Show" who faces a criminal trial on rape charges later this year. Masterson's accusers filed suit in 2019, alleging that the church had orchestrated a "Fair Game" campaign against them in retaliation for going to the LAPD, which included stalking them, hacking their emails, tapping their phones, poisoning their pets and running them off the road.
The church denied the allegations, and it sought to force the accusers to adhere to an agreement they had signed upon joining the church decades earlier, under which they agreed to resolve all disputes in a church-run arbitration proceeding. The appeals court sided with the accusers, overturning a lower court ruling.
"Scientology's written arbitration agreements are not enforceable against members who have left the faith, with respect to claims for subsequent non-religious, tortious acts," the three-judge panel ruled.
In a petition for rehearing filed on Thursday, Scientology's attorneys argued that the ruling is unprecedented and makes several errors.
"This Court became the first in the nation to hold that 'freely executed' religious arbitration agreements cannot be enforced over the First Amendment objections of a party who claims to be a 'non-believer,'" argued attorneys William H. Forman and Matthew D. Hinks. "This holding adopts a distinct rule concerning the enforcement of religious arbitration agreements that discriminates against religions and violates the Federal Arbitration Act ('FAA')."
The church's attorneys noted that courts have repeatedly upheld religious arbitration agreements. They argued that the court's grant of a "right to leave a faith," is "sweeping and unbounded," effectively allowing one party to back out of a valid agreement once they no longer wish to be bound by it.
'The right to leave the faith, as defined by this Court, includes the right to narrow the scope of freely executed contracts containing forum selection clauses that call for resolution of disputes in Church arbitration," the church's attorneys argued. "There is no end to this 'right.' … The 'right to leave a faith' cannot serve as a trump card to void express and unambiguous contractual provisions.'"
Boston Globe: Dr. Herbert Benson, who documented and promoted meditation's health benefits, dies at 86
Pioneer of mind/body medicine bridged the gap between medicine and spirituality.
" ... When Dr. Benson subsequently studied the physiological responses of those who practiced transcendental meditation, "the facts were incontrovertible," he later wrote in one of his books.
"With meditation alone," he said, "the T.M. practitioners brought about striking physiologic changes — a drop in heart rate, metabolic rate, and breathing rate — that I would subsequently label 'the Relaxation Response.' "
He titled his first book "The Relaxation Response," which was a best-seller when it was published in 1975.
That response brought a measure of celebrity. Barbara Walters interviewed Dr. Benson on TV and he testified before Congress about the mind/body relationship.
"Because it was such a great hit, he had the opportunity to become a celebrity author and make gobs of money," Fricchione said.
"He decided no, that wasn't going to be it for him," Fricchione added. "He understood if you choose to go in that direction, you really carve yourself out from being taken seriously as a researcher. That's what he did. He stayed at Harvard and stuck to hard-won research findings."
His key finding was that there are documentable health benefits to meditating for 10 to 20 minutes each day:
Sit quietly and comfortably and pick a word, a phrase, or a prayer that fits within your belief system. Close your eyes, relax your muscles, and breathe slowly, saying your word or phrase as you exhale. Shrug it off if other thoughts intrude — say "oh, well" and return to repeating your word, phrase, or prayer.
The benefits, he said, are wide-ranging.
"Eliciting the relaxation response can help bring blood pressure under control with less medication," Dr. Benson told a psychiatric conference at McLean Hospital in Belmont in 1980.
"Meditation also can reduce extra heart beats in cardiac arrhythmias, can ease circulatory problems, migraine and tension headaches, and is extremely useful in treating anxiety attacks," he said. 'The only side effects are the same as those of prayer.'"
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