Showing posts with label Rigpa Fellowship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rigpa Fellowship. Show all posts

Sep 12, 2019

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/12/2019




Jehovah's Witnesses, Sogyal Rinpoche, MLM's, Ku Klux Klan 
"After decades of silence, John Michael Ewing and Heather Steele spoke publicly for the first time ... describing years of sexual abuse at the hands of leaders in the religious group they grew up in, The Jehovah's Witnesses."

"A British charity founded by a disgraced Buddhist guru, who died last week after he was accused of sexual misconduct towards some of his followers, faces further controversy after it emerged that one of its trustees was found responsible for covering up abuse.

Patrick Gaffney was a trustee of the Rigpa Fellowship, which was founded by the Tibetan guru Sogyal Lakar, known as Sogyal Rinpoche, who died aged 72 in Thailand on Wednesday after going into hiding following the claims.

Weeks before Lakar's death, Gaffney – the guru's right-hand man who co-edited his bestselling The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying – was banned by a watchdog from working with charities for eight years."


" ... Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a method of selling a product through a network of distributors, who receive financial incentives for recruiting others. It is common for someone to make as much money from recruiting people just as from selling the actual product. Examples of companies that use this business model include Arbonne, Avon, LuLaRoe, Nutrimetics, and Mary Kay.

Dr Máire O Sullivan, a lecturer in advertising and marketing with a focus on gendered consumption at Edge Hill University, has previously referred to MLMs as "legal pyramid schemes".
"I think that the structure itself is flawed and as soon as recruiting becomes the focus, you are entering pyramid scheme territory," she says, adding that she believes the only way to properly regulate them is to prohibit the incentive to recruit.

Many women pay to sign up just to receive the product discounts offered to distributors, or to get the enticing start-up kit that contains everything a person needs to advertise the products to others. Unfortunately, it often isn't as easy as buying one kit and getting out with your dignity intact."


"PayPal suspended a Ku Klux Klan fundraising account last week after it was criticized for allowing the white supremacist and antisemitic group to accept donations through its service, according to BBC News.

PayPal suspended the account used by the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on Friday, six days after it was first flagged by activists on social media, the British news outlet reported.

The San Jose-based company had pledged two years ago to "evaluate all sites" that used its service to fund the KKK and other organizations advocating racist views."




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Dec 2, 2018

New Charity Inquiry: Rigpa Fellowship

Charity Commission For England and Wales
Press release

New Charity Inquiry: Rigpa Fellowship


Charity Commission investigates Rigpa Fellowship.

Published 29 November 2018

From: The Charity Commission

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, is today announcing that it has opened a statutory inquiry into Rigpa Fellowship (279315). The inquiry was opened on 8 November 2018.

The charity, which is based in London, has objects to advance the Buddhist religion, and provides religious education, training and activities.

The Commission has been engaging with the charity since August 2017 over serious concerns about adult safeguarding. The regulator’s concerns have escalated in the course of this engagement, prompting the opening of a statutory inquiry.

The inquiry will examine the charity’s governance, policies and practices with regard to adult safeguarding, particularly in relation to:

  • its response, general handling and disclosure to the Commission and other agencies in relation to serious adult safeguarding incidents
  • its responsibility to provide a safe environment for its beneficiaries, staff and other charity workers in the delivery of its programmes

More generally the inquiry will examine the charity’s:

  • recruitment and supervision of its employees, volunteers and other charity workers
  • financial controls and their application
  • responsibility to maintain its reputation as a charity which can be entrusted with public support and the confidence of its beneficiaries, staff and volunteers

It is the Commission’s policy, after an inquiry has concluded, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were.

Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

Ends

Notes to editors

  1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work see the about us page on GOV.UK.
  2. Search for charities on our check charity tool.
  3. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.
Press office

Email pressenquiries@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk
Press enquiries - office hours0300 065 2123
Press enquiries - out of hours07785 748787

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-charity-inquiry-rigpa-fellowship