The Commercialization of Thai Buddhism into a Modern Prosperity Cult

Jan Servaes
InDepthNews
January 26, 2024

BANGKOK | 26 January 2024 (IDN) — General and former Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha opened his royalist shirt during a press conference on May 16, 2016 to reveal the dozen amulets on his chest. He explained that these would give him moral support in negotiations with Russian President Putin. Thus, Thailand's then leader claimed that spiritual "resources" blessed by monks with a reputation for magic helped him in international diplomacy.

While wearing 'guardian angels' has always been present in Thai culture, openly showing them off is a recent phenomenon, especially among businessmen and the military.

General Prayuth was not the first. Like many politicians and businessmen before him, the first thing General Prayuth did after overthrowing a democratically elected government on May 22, 2014 was to carry out a "purification ritual" based on animism and spiritualism to ward off all kinds of evil. "Despite its outwardly modern appearance, daily life in Thailand still prominently features pre-Buddhist animist beliefs," noted Amy Sawitta Lefevre for Reuters.

Peter Jackson of the Australian National University, who gives this example in his "Capitalism Magic Thailand. Modernity with enchantment" argues that since around 2000, these practices have not only become more common, but also considered legitimate and mainstream, especially with the public support of the military, the conservative elite and the monarchy. Banks and large companies sponsor the production and distribution of amulets, offering them as promotional gifts.

We have regularly noticed that they are also sold in many Buddhist temples, especially in the north (Lamphun, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai) and northeast (Isarn) of the country.

The popular abbot Phra Kruba In-thon Panya Wutthano, of Wat San Pa Yang Luang in Lamphun, who is mainly consulted as a fortune teller and astrologer, only receives during 'office hours'.

Amulets are offered for prizes from 3 to 100$

The hybridization of Thai Buddhism

Thai social scientist Patchanee Malikhao concludes in "Culture and Communication in Thailand" that from a historical perspective, Thai Buddhism is a hybridization of animism, Theravada Buddhism and Brahmanism. Massive urbanization and an increasingly interconnected world are bringing animism into the 21st century. The second chapter's title in Jackson's book is very appropriate: "Buddhist in Public, Animist in Private life".

As Thailand has gone through four phases of globalization, from the archaic period to proto-globalization, globalization and contemporary globalization, Thai Buddhist beliefs and practices have also adapted accordingly.

Malikhao attempts to answer the following questions:

1) How the Sangha, or Buddhist 'Vatican' of Thailand, has been affected since it became part of the state during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) from 1868 to 1910;

(2) How economic and social development is impacting Thai Buddhism, especially its animist beliefs, cults, Hindu deities, and astrology; and

(3) How Thai mass media and new social media create hypes about Buddhism, animism and the further commercialization of Buddhism.
Cults of Wealth

Peter Jackson takes these questions into his investigation of wealth cults centring on a range of Buddhist, Hindu, Chinese and Thai spirits and deities that have become prominent features of Thailand's religious landscape since the 1980s. Although different in origin, these cults are not isolated examples of ritual innovation, but rather form a richly intersecting symbolic complex that is now central to national religious life, including monastic Buddhism. In the past, people mainly looked to gods, spirits and amulets for protection. But now the main goal is 'prosperity' and 'wealth'.

Drawing from multiple religious and cultural origins, Jackson describes the many similarities between the cults of wealth, their close relationship with cults of amulets and professional 'phi' (spirit) media, and traces how these wealth cults symbolically intersect in a wide range of environments and ritual products.

Each cult has its own history, has developed around a certain divine or magical figure, has its own forms of ritual expression and often also has its own shrines and places of prayer and pilgrimage.

Four main categories of wealth cults can be distinguished based on the type of deity or spiritual figure targeted by ritual devotion: cults of Thai kings and other royal personalities; cults of Chinese gods; cults of Hindu gods; and cults of magical monks, both living and dead, from the Thai Theravada tradition. For example, the cult of the Hindu god Ganesh has expanded rapidly since the turn of the century. More and more white-robed lay ascetics called reusi (from the Sanskrit rishi) are now offering spiritual advice for wealth and well-being.

According to Chris Baker in The Bangkok Post, Jackson focuses on four areas:

The first is the worship of gods and historical figures who do not formally belong to Buddhism. For example, in 1956, the Erawan Hotel in Bangkok erected the Brahma Shrine which was converted by worshipers into a second city pillar for the commercial district, and was soon joined by a whole pantheon of Hindu deities in other shopping complexes.

In the 1990s, the equestrian statue of King Chulalongkorn became the center of daily worship.

Soon after, the Chinese Mahayana bodhisattva Kuan Im became popular and her image began appearing in Buddhist temples.

Phra Nang Chamathewi is venerated in Chiang Mai, the first queen of the Hariphunchai (Lanna) kingdom from the 7th century.

The second focus is on monks who have acquired a reputation for supernatural expertise as a result of their ascetic lifestyle. Among them were famous monks of the past, contemporary monks with auspicious names such as 'money', 'silver' or 'Phra Multiply' Luang Phor Khoon, a local monk from rural Korat who promised his followers: "I will make you rich."

The third focus is on amulets, often produced by these magical monks. Over the course of the 20th century, they replaced many other items as they were more convenient for modern clothing and lifestyle. They were first popularized among police and military, but then expanded into a mass market.

The fourth focus is on spirit mediums that contact powerful figures from the past or from the divine world to provide advice and assistance.

Jackson suggests that this explosion occurred in part because the authorities overseeing Buddhism became less vigilant in the late 20th century, and because too often sexual and financial scandals damaged the image of monks.
The affinity between Buddhism and capitalism

Moreover, the development of modern economics, consumerism and especially the media has completely changed the environment for all these practices.

As the 21st century begins, these have continued to proliferate and diversify, spreading into and finding new followers in Thailand and in neighboring East and Southeast Asian countries.

The emphasis on improving happiness and acquiring wealth is not an entirely new feature of local Thai religiosity. The various prosperity cults represent a contemporary, commodified expression of long-standing patterns in Theravada devotionalism. Jackson emphasizes that there is "an elective affinity between Buddhism and capitalist expansion" and that "Theravada Buddhism does not preclude a positive appreciation of the pursuit of wealth, nor does it preclude a positive connection between the pursuit of wealth and the pursuit of salvation".

The results of a survey of Thai values among city dwellers and farmers shows that certain superstitious behaviors such as "fortune telling" and "lucky numbers" are practiced more among Bangkokians than among the rural population. No difference was found in terms of education or training level.

"This casts some doubt on the theory that there is a negative correlation between education and supernatural beliefs and behavior. However, it is a dominant value behavior that is characteristic of the Thai. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that some very powerful people in Thailand have their personal well-known fortune teller," said NIDA researcher Suntaree Komin.

In Thailand, these new and increasingly popular variants of rituals now form a symbolic complex in which originally different sects around Indian gods, Chinese gods, and Thai religious and royal figures have coalesced in commercial spaces and media sites to sacralize the market and wealth production. This complex of cults of wealth, amulets and spiritual mediumship, emerging within popular culture, is supported by all levels of Thai society, including those at the top of economic and political power.

New digital media and social networks have quickly become central features of the expanding field of Thai popular rituals and beliefs. Jackson therefore concludes that 'modern enchantment' emerges from the confluence of three processes: the production of occult economies by neoliberal capitalism, the auratizing effects of technologies of mass mediatization, and the performative power of ritual in religious fields where practice/form takes precedence above the doctrine/content.

References:

Peter A, Jackson (2022), Capitalism Magic Thailand. Modernity with Enchantment, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, 381 pp. ISBN: 978-981-4951-09-8. https://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg/publication/7784

Patchanee Malikhao (2017), Culture and Communication in Thailand, Springer, Singapore, 141pp. ISBN:978-981-10-4123-5. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-10-4125-9 [IDN-InDepthNews]

Photo: Decline of Buddhism in Thailand. Source: RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, PBS.

IDN is the flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate.

https://indepthnews.net/the-commercialization-of-thai-buddhism-into-a-modern-prosperity-cult/

Thailand hosts UFO music festival in city that sect claims is 'Area 51 of Asia'

A Buddhist UFO sect in central Thailand claims it has been communicating with extraterrestrial beings for more than two decades

Once uneasy over the group’s growing repute and apocalyptic vibes, officials in Nakhon Sawan have now embraced the tourism opportunity with the ‘first UFO music festival in Asia’


Todd Ruiz

South China Morning Post
January 19, 2024


It didn’t take long for the aliens to reveal themselves. Thailand’s first UFO music festival hadn’t even started when a shimmering vessel sailed through the twilight sky over a hilltop that’s become a transdimensional conduit for representatives of a galaxy-spanning alien federation.

At least that’s the fast-held belief of those who trek to Khao Kala, where devotees believe an ancient stargate makes such encounters possible. As the sun dipped towards the sugar cane-field horizon on January 12, Siwadon Chantanasewi and a dozen-or-so other festival crew members had ascended the nearby hill to take in the sunset when Khao Kala lived up to its hype.

“I was just saying that the aliens probably knew that the event was happening and would seize the chance to show they are real,” Siwadon said. “I thought they might fly past, maybe just pop by for a moment. I had this strong feeling.”

Within moments, he felt goosebumps from head to toe. “That’s when the UFO appeared to our right. It was a very large ship. It was the brightest thing in the sky,” he added. On video shot from his phone, a pulsing ball of light is seen passing overhead and changing course in defiance of Newtonian physics.

This is all apparently very normal stuff at Khao Kala. It’s here in the central province of Nakhon Sawan that a Buddhist UFO sect says it has been communicating with two extraterrestrial members of a so-called Milky Way Federation for over two decades. And they have brought bad news: doom is coming for Planet Earth.

Local officials who were once uneasy over the controversial sect’s growing repute and apocalyptic vibes – Khao Kala’s meditation centre was raided four years ago and shut down for allegedly encroaching on protected land – have gone from mounting opposition to embracing opportunity.

Thus it was on January 13 that Nakhon Sawan’s mayor declared his city would become a destination for UFO tourism, starting with “Belief Fest”.

“It’s the first UFO music festival in Asia, here in Khao Kala, the ‘Area 51 of Asia’,” Mayor Narongchai Jindapan declared from the stage. “It’s where you can see the most UFOs in Thailand.”

If tourists flock to Thailand’s beaches, temples, nightlife, and national parks, then why not its aliens? Nakhon Sawan is in flyover country and absent from most travel itineraries, an aquatic crossroads where four major rivers merge into the mighty Chao Phraya which flows down to Bangkok and the gulf, carving hills like Khao Kala into the flood basin over millennia. Its largest tourist draw has been a massive freshwater marsh that’s seen dwindling visitors.


Cosmic chords

Belief Fest drew around 1,000 people to a ploughed-over sugar cane field, where 30 bands were headlined by bad boy rock legend Sek Loso. It was well-run, musically had things for everyone, and mostly kept to its exacting schedule.

Attendees sported schwa-eyed sunglasses and temporary UFO tattoos. Foreheads and biceps were painted with celestial glyphs and ETs in raver apparel.

Grinning from beneath a pair of pointy prosthetic ears, Pimpaporn Hanrak shared that while she had yet to see an alien, she had no doubt that they were out there. The universe is too large a place for there not to be other life, according to the 30-year-old, who was proud to welcome them to her native Nakhon Sawan.

Belief Fest leaned hard into alien kitsch. Revellers could pose for mock alien abductions at one of the many Instagram-ready photo spots arranged around the festival grounds. Black-eyed cartoon aliens danced and menaced the audience from large displays looming over the bands.

The festival was a lot of fun if a little sparsely attended. Great production values but still local and chill.

This was the secular, scrubbed version of Khao Kala necessary to win support from the government as well as major corporate sponsors that included Pepsi and the nation’s largest telecom.

UFO Khao Kala, the group which operates a camp and meditation centre at the base of the nearby hill of the same name, was not officially involved – nor invited. None of its core members or leaders appeared on stage.


The C-word

Thailand has a rich tapestry of wild beliefs including ghosts, magic, extraterrestrials, and even darker deities. And Thai Buddhism’s high tolerance for pluralism means embracing such beliefs is not viewed as apostasy.

But traditionalists and ecclesiastical authorities are uncomfortable with those that stray too far into the outer limits, especially when they amass power and influence. In 2017, the military government sent security forces to raid the massive compound of a popular sect centred around a UFO-shaped temple.

UFO cults aren’t new. They blossomed with the New Age movements of the 20th century, from Japan’s Happy Society and French Raelism to Scientology in the United States. That UFO Khao Kala believes Earth to be on the verge of nuclear devastation does not make it an outlier, and only a few such as Heaven’s Gate and the Order of the Solar Temple have imploded in spectacular violence.

A half-kilometre from the festival’s three stages at Khao Kala’s headquarters, veteran alien-whisperer Num Yodnin was listening with approval to the festival echoing across the hills. He said the group’s legal disputes with the government were resolved, and the festival would help mainstream its message.

“It’s going to raise awareness of what’s going on at Khao Kala to many people,” Num said. “It’s going to help people know about the aliens.”

Num claimed he sees UFOs “every day”, and that unitiatied visitors can see them, too.

“They will see what I’ve seen. They can come and figure it out from what they see, not just from things on social media or word of mouth. I want people to come here and see with their own eyes and decide if it’s true or not true.”

As for those who came to Belief Fest in hopes of seeing a UFO: “Absolutely. I guarantee that if you come here, you will see it.”

This author did not see any UFOs during the festival.


‘Seeing UFOs was so easy’

In lieu of Num or his Khao Kala peers, the festival’s public face was host Pete Tongchua, a wealthy 55-year-old actor who helped pay Belief Fest’s roughly 3 million baht (US$84,000) price tag.

If Khao Kala is Thailand’s Scientology, then Pete is its Tom Cruise. Rugged charm? Boyish allure? Ageless and magnetic? Check. He’s got a great jawline and a chiselled, masculine edge belied by soft-spoken earnestness. In the late 1990s, he won two best actor awards for his role in the TV dramas Sor Sam Sai and Angkor.

Pete is also a diehard believer, and those beliefs are anything but down to earth.

Born in Los Angeles, Pete went to school in Oklahoma and university in San Francisco, before moving to Thailand. A lifelong sci-fi nerd, he was first keyed into UFOs in 1997, when a media frenzy erupted after hundreds of people spotted mystifying lights above Phoenix, Arizona.

It was around the same time that a rural family near Khao Kala supposedly received the first alien message. Word spread. Not long after, Pete’s brother visited Khao Kala to film a reality show.

“He came back to me in Bangkok and said, ‘Dude, you won’t believe it. Seeing UFOs was so easy’,” Pete said. It was later in Nakhon Sawan that Pete saw his first UFO, a large silvery object hovering just above the ground. He says it blinded him with light after he hit it with a laser pointer to confirm it was real.

According to Pete and statements published by UFO Khao Kala, they are in touch with two members of the galactic federation. Beings from the world of Loku – location unknown – and a race living much closer on the planetoid of Pluto.

Their purpose is nothing less than preparing humanity for an imminent and inevitable nuclear holocaust – at least what’s left of it.

“They can change nothing. Whatever is going to happen will happen. They worry about the people, the life on the planet, especially the humans,” Pete said. “We don’t know how many will make it through the big disaster coming up.”

Plutonians and Lokurians believe those who have trained their minds will better survive the coming mass casualty event on a devastated world bereft of the comforts they have known.

“They want people to know how to manage their minds,” Pete said. “If your mind hasn’t been trained and taken to a higher state, then you might go baa. You might go crazy.”

He references the popular Ufologist concept of “awakening”, which posits that aliens aren’t sadistically abducting people to probe their nethers but benevolent beings facilitating enlightenment.

The aliens are basically Buddhists, which explains why they have chosen Thailand, of all places, to make contact. That and the conveniently located stargate, of course.

“Buddhism is the only religion that you can raise your state of mind by believing or by doing meditation to follow the Middle Way,” he added.

So how much time do we have to level up our consciousness?

“We can’t say if it’s tomorrow or the next day or in five years or 10 years,” Pete said.

Khao Kala has previously pinned specific dates on the cataclysm that have come and gone. But it’s definitely sooner than later. “Some say that it’s already too late,” Pete added.

So, should Thailand worry about it all ending with a Heaven’s Gate-level body count? “No, no, no,” Pete said. “Never.”

As a successful actor with over two decades of screen credits, Pete isn’t fragile when his beliefs are questioned. He gets it if even his friends think he’s crazy.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “I only think it’s crazy not to talk or think about it.”



Todd Ruiz

Todd Ruiz first reported from the front lines in Afghanistan in late 2001 and then worked at newspapers in Los Angeles after earning a degree in Journalism. He's covered news, politics and culture in Thailand and Southeast Asia for 15 years as a reporter and newsroom managing editor. His work spans topics from human rights to underground music.



https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3249062/thailand-hosts-ufo-music-festival-city-cult-claims-area-51-asia

7 Buddhist monks accused of embezzling more than $5.3 million donated to temple in Thailand

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI
AP
May 11, 2023

BANGKOK (AP) — Seven Buddhist monks are among nine suspects who are being held in pretrial detention after being arrested for allegedly embezzling assets worth about 300 million baht ($8.9 million) from donations received by a temple in Thailand’s northeast, authorities said Thursday.

The Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases said the actions of the ringleaders in the case “gravely undermined Buddhism.”

Five monks and a driver were sent to pretrial detention on Thursday, according to a statement from the court in Bangkok. They were arrested at Wat Pa Thammakhiri in Nakhon Ratchasima province when police conducted a raid Tuesday and uncovered property worth about 100 million baht ($2.9 million) allegedly hidden by the suspects.

Cash, jewelry and amulets were found in many spots, including the monks’ private quarters, police said. Some items were buried underground.

The first arrests in the case occurred last Friday, when police took into custody the temple abbot and a famous monk, Kom Kongkaew, who were accused of stealing over 180 million baht ($5.3 million) of the temple’s money.

Kom, his sister, and the abbot were denied bail Monday. The court said that after he was taken into custody, Kom instructed the six suspects arrested this week to hide the valuables that were discovered by police. The court deemed all nine to be flight risks who might tamper with evidence.

Police said the abbot, Wutthima Thaomor, told them that Kom advised the monks to use some of the stolen funds to purchase jewelry.

The abbot, along with Kom and his sister, are accused of taking the donation money by withdrawing cash from the temple’s bank account and handing it over to be deposited in the sister’s bank account, in which police discovered 130 million baht ($3.8 million). Another 51 million baht ($1.5 million) in cash was found at her home.

Some Buddhist temples in Thailand are extremely wealthy because their followers donate large amounts as a way of making religious merit.

https://apnews.com/article/thailand-buddhism-monks-embezzlement-61b7cf3d81315581974b8d2c02358799

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/19-20/2020

Sexual Abuse, Dhammakaya, Thailand, Alt-Catholics, Cult Murder, Panama

Boston Herald: 11 victims who claim Lawrence priest sexually abused them settle for $1.4M: Mitchell Garabedian

"A Catholic order has agreed to pay nearly $1.4 million to 11 "courageous" clergy sexual abuse victims who claimed that a Lawrence priest abused them in the 1970s, their lawyer announced on Thursday.

Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who specializes in sexual abuse cases, said he settled the clergy sexual abuse claims with the Augustinian Order in February for a total amount of $1,375,000.

The 10 women and one man — now in their 50s — claimed that Father John J. Gallagher sexually abused them at St. Mary's School in Lawrence, where they were students.

Gallagher, who died in 2006, was also previously accused of abusing three women when they were children at the Lawrence parish — which led to a $1 million settlement in 2018.

The abuse of the 11 victims happened from about 1974 to 1978 while they were about 8 to 14 years old, according to Garabedian."

The Irish Sun: MONK-EY BUSINESS 

How 'Hitler-obsessed' leader of Buddhist sect 'stole £25m and brainwashed millions' – before disappearing off the map.

"ON a huge compound in the heart of Thailand, thousands of white-robed men, women and children unite in a chant as Buddhist monks collect food offerings from the crowd.

When the ceremony is over the devotees form a huge queue at a cashpoint to take out thousands of pounds for donations - as tannoy messages tell them handing over cash is the way to "Nirvana".

The incredible scenes, in a stunning spaceship-like temple in Bangkok, were filmed by Channel 4's Unreported World at the 50th birthday celebrations of the controversial Dhammakaya movement.

The Buddhist sect, which has millions of followers around the world, including in the UK, has been criticised as a money-obsessed "cult" which has fleeced its devotees."

Millennial: Young Catholics, An Ancient Faith, A New Century: How Alt-Catholics and Their Allies Undermine the Pope and Catholic Unity

"What I and many other Catholics recognized in Pope Francis was how he put the principles of our faith—the Gospel of Jesus Christ—into action. This was reinforced by his words. In his homilies, addresses and interviews, he constantly admonished us to understand that without humility, repentance, conversion, transformation and a heart filled with tenderness and hope, our faith was hollow and self-referential.

It was also clear to me that Pope Francis' vision for the faith is precisely the cure for the embattled, embittered and polarized church in the United States.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the U.S. church agrees.

Since the early days of this papacy, there has been a growing and concentrated effort to undercut Pope Francis' message….

The opposition to Francis—bolstered by the publication of a document signed by four cardinals who insinuated that "Amoris Laetitia" violated immutable Catholic doctrines on marriage, adultery and objective truth—has become relentless. Well-known Catholic apologists who openly encourage opposition to Pope Francis and the bishops—including extreme voices like Michael Voris of Church Militant and the popular YouTube commentator Taylor Marshall—have wildly popular multimedia platforms and go largely unchallenged by church leaders.

This is not simply a social media phenomenon. Many Catholics across the country hear figures like Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò—the former Vatican nuncio to the United States who has repeatedly attacked Francis after calling for the pope to resign in 2018—praised from the pulpit. Articles disparaging the pope are shared among groups of Catholics and posted on parish websites. I have several friends who belong to Catholic book clubs where members will refuse to read anything by Pope Francis.

Since I began writing and speaking publicly about this phenomenon, I have heard from hundreds of Catholics who have seen their families and communities divided over Pope Francis. In some parishes—and even some diocesan seminaries—negativity toward Francis has become so commonplace that those who support him feel compelled to keep their views to themselves. One priest told me that several seminarians referred to their seminaries as "Francis-free zones."

Francis' less reactionary critics have done little to stem the rise of their much more vicious counterparts. Nor has this story received significant public attention from U.S. bishops or Catholics who support the pope. Quite often, they will actively discourage others from speaking out publicly against these reactionary leaders, arguing that to do so would give them the attention they crave. But as we have witnessed in the United States and international politics, the "establishment" can no longer afford to ignore these powerful populist movements."

Independent: Mass grave of victims 'killed in violent exorcism' linked to religious cult in Panama

"Authorities in Panama have discovered a mass grave they believe contains the bodies of people tortured and killed by a religious cult.
Investigators had to hike through the mountains for 10 hours to reach the grave in a remote indigenous province in the country's north-west.
Skeletal remains are being removed from the grave where they will later be forensically examined.
The discovery comes after another grave containing seven bodies was exhumed in January.
Police alleged an indigenous-run religious sect performed exorcisms on victims to make them "repent for their sins".
The deceased victims included a pregnant mother and her five children, and the family's teenage neighbour.
A further 15 people were being held captive in a makeshift church and forced to participate in bizarre rituals which included the sacrifice of a goat.
Public prosecutor Azael Tugri said they believe a different sect is responsible for the new mass grave.
"At this time it is not possible to determine either the sex or the number of people [found in the grave]," he told local media.
The grave is located about 210 miles west of Panama City on the jungle-clad Caribbean coast.
All the remains will be sent to a morgue where a forensic examination will be carried out."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultEducationEvents.com

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.

Facebook

Flipboard

Twitter

Instagram

Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.

Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.

Please forward articles that you think we should add to CultNEWS101.com.

Thanks

CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/13/2020

Lawrence Ray, Mindfulness, Conversion Therapy, LGBT, Indonesia  Spain, LDS, L'Arche International, France, Shincheonji Church, Corona Virus, Korea, Scientology, Heaven's Gate, Thailand

NY Post: Sarah Lawrence 'sex cult' victim overdosed while working for alleged leader

"One of the female victims of the alleged cult founded in a Sarah Lawrence dorm room nearly overdosed in North Carolina while under leader Larry Ray's spell, according to a new report.The woman, identified as "Yalitza," was found unconscious from an apparent drug overdose in a Staples parking lot in sleepy Southern Pines, after Ray reported her missing in October 2013, according to police records obtained by The Pilot newspaper.At the time, Yalitza, whose last name was withheld by The Pilot, was living and working at the home of Ray's stepfather, Gordon Ray, in Pinehurst, North Carolina, along with a small group of Larry Ray's 'students.'"

New Statesman: How mindfulness privatised a social problem

The £3.4trn industry encourages a preoccupation with the symptoms of mental illness, rather than their social causes.

" ... In December 2008, while forcibly evicting tenants from a concrete high-rise in south London, Southwark Council pulled off a remarkable feat of complacency. Though residents didn't know it at the time, every flat in the development that replaced the Heygate Estate would be sold to foreign investors, despite the council's repeated promises of new social housing.

Recognising that people were "stressed", councillors hired life coaches and "spiritual ministers" to run workshops teaching residents how to progress emotionally. The company behind the workshop, the Happiness Project, was founded by the British positive psychologist Robert Holden, the author of Shift Happens! The firm's motto was: "Success is a state of mind; happiness is a way of travelling; love is your true power."

That people about to lose their homes were stressed is hardly surprising. The council encouraged residents to look inwards, towards their brain chemistry, and in doing so cast itself as a solution, rather than a cause of the problem. Its response typified the idea of "magical voluntarism", which the writer Mark Fisher described as "the belief that it is within every individual's power to make themselves whatever they want to be".

The connection between stress and economics is well documented. In their 2009 book The Spirit Level, Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson identified a strong correlation between inequality and poor reported mental health. In a report published last month, Dr Dainius Puras, the UN's special rapporteur on health, stated that confronting inequality would be a more effective prophylactic for poor mental health than excessive therapy or medication.

Yet governments often opt for treatments that focus on the individual rather than social maladies. "Most don't want to be thinking about how their policies might be contributing to problems in the first place," says David Harper, a clinical psychologist at the University of East London. In the UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a treatment that focuses on raising awareness of negative emotions and developing coping strategies.

A preoccupation with the symptoms of mental illness, rather than their social causes,  is because there's no "big drug lobby behind prevention", Harper says. Treatments such as CBT have proved a cost-effective cattle prod for herding the mentally ill off welfare benefits. As chancellor, George Osborne introduced the therapy for 40,000 recipients of Jobseeker's Allowance as part of a back-to-work agenda."

Gayle's TV: "Spirit of homosexuality! Get away, Satan! "

[Google Translation]
"Madrid . Year 2020. Although it seems hard to believe, there are still people and even organizations that treat homosexuality as a disease. To cure it they create conversion therapies . It has happened this week in an evangelical church in Madrid , one of the only four autonomous communities along with Aragon, Andalusia and Valencia in which these practices are expressly prohibited. It has been denounced by the Telecinco program " Viva la vida " that with one hidden camera has recorded one of these practices to cure homosexuality."

Vice: Indonesians Are Turning To Exorcisms to 'Cure' Members of the LGBTQ Community

"After evening prayer at the mosque, 33-year-old Syifa's* parents asked her to lie down on a prayer rug. As they recited verses from the Quran, Syifa tried her best to contain her laughter. After all, they were trying to exorcise her gayness out of her. "It was just so dumb to me, but I tried to appreciate what they were trying to do for me," she told VICE.

As a Muslim Syifa was no stranger to exorcisms, or efforts to expel demons and spirits that wreak havoc on wordly bodies. But Syifa was certain that she wasn't possessed, she was just bisexual.

The process took about half an hour, after which Syifa was still bisexual. Although she is now in a relationship with another woman, she feels that her parents' attempts to exorcise her at least gave them some peace of mind.

Syifa decided to come out after ending her two-year marriage with a man she never loved, deciding instead to spend her life with another woman. She did not want to hurt her parents' feelings by telling them their efforts to convert her had been unsuccessful.

'[My parents] didn't know how to handle it, but they wanted to do something because they believe that being gay is wrong," Syifa said.""

KIVI: A look at the religious circle surrounding Chad and Lori Daybell

" ... Chad and Lori are or have been members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they are also affiliated with several informal groups whose teachings go contrary to what one would hear in a typical Latter-day Saint congregation.

East Idaho News reached out to several people in east Idaho who were or are part of these semi-secretive groups. Several have agreed to go on the record with their names, and others have agreed on the condition of anonymity, as they are still active Latter-day Saints or fear retaliation from other members of these groups.
There doesn't appear to be any sort of formal organization or clear doctrine among these non-conventional groups of Latter-day Saints. In fact, many of the people interviewed by East Idaho News reported vastly different experiences."

Washington Post: Jean Vanier, once seen as a Nobel or sainthood candidate, now accused of abusive sexual relationships

"When he died nine months ago, Jean Vanier — founder of L'Arche International, a worldwide organization supporting adults with intellectual disabilities — was lauded as a moral exemplar to people around the globe and a likely future saint in the Catholic Church.
This weekend, his organization published a report shattering that image.
Vanier, who died in May at age 90, had coercive sexual relationships with six women during his lifetime, which left the women hurt and in need of psychological therapy for years, L'Arche's report said Saturday. The alleged behavior took place in France.
The response in some corners was rapid. On Sunday, the University of Notre Dame revoked two awards given to Vanier. In 1994 the school gave him the Notre Dame Award, and in 2014 the school's Kellogg Institute gave him the Ford Family Notre Dame Award for International Development and Solidarity, the school said in a statement Monday. Notre Dame President the Rev. John Jenkins said 'The L'Arche report was thorough, rigorous and fair.'"

Korea Herald: More than 550,000 sign petition to dissolve Shincheonji by force

"Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have called for the forcible dissolution of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, a shadowy Christian sect that has been identified as a hotbed of new coronavirus infections.
Over 552,000 people have signed an online petition to that effect since Saturday, when it was filed on the website of the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae. Any petition that gets more than 200,000 signatures within a month requires an official response from Cheong Wa Dae.
The opaque group, which claims to have over 240,000 followers, has come into the spotlight as the majority of COVID-19 cases were traced to its branch in Daegu.
As of Monday morning, 456 people linked to the sect tested positive for the virus, accounting for 59.8 percent of the country's 763 cases. The tally rose to 833 in the afternoon, but it was unclear how many of the new cases were linked to Shincheonji.
Public uproar intensified as health authorities said they were struggling to reach out to Shincheonji members in Daegu but hundreds had not responded."

CNN: How one man's epiphany on a Seoul mountain in 1955 laid the foundation for many religious sects in South Korea

"Members of the Shincheonji religious group dress in identical white shirts, black pants and name tags when they gather to hear founder Lee Man-hee preach.

There are no chairs, except for those provided for the elderly or sick. They sit on the floor to listen to sermons to maximize space.

The religious practices of Shincheonji are in the public eye because the movement appears to be the source of South Korea's growing novel coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 5,000 people there.

Shincheonji, however, is not the only fringe faith in the country. Today there are hundreds of similar minority religious groups in South Korea -- including Christian ones -- according to Tark Ji-il, a professor at Busan Presbyterian University and a respected expert on the country's religious movements.

Some of their leaders claim to be prophets or argue they alone have an unmatched ability to interpret the Bible. A few are notorious for calling on worshipers to do things that look, to the outside world, strange at best and abusive or violent at worst.

Though there is no accepted consensus as to why so many of these new religious movements proliferated in South Korea, many trace their roots back decades to Japan's colonization of South Korea and the military dictatorship that ruled the country when it gained independence after World War II in 1945."

Tampa Bay Times: Clearwater robocall sounds like it's from #Scientology. Republicans did it.

"In a robocall sent to voters Thursday, the person on the line sounded like a Church of Scientology member talking to fellow parishioners. She urged them to vote for Kathleen Beckman, a candidate for Seat 3 on the City Council.
"Beckman stands with Scientologists and we must stand with her," the woman declared.
The call, however, was the work of Republican operatives, a bit of political misdirection just days before a landmark city election on March 17.
Beckman was indeed endorsed by a group of parishioners, but she suspects the call was designed to turn voters against her by linking her to the controversial church. She called it dishonest.
The Florida Values Coalition, the stated sender of the robo call, is a political committee backed by a string of Republican money and GOP interest groups.
It was registered with the state in August by Stafford Jones, a longtime Republican Party of Florida figure who was named in 2014 court records that showed GOP consultants drew gerrymandered Legislative maps and used third parties to push them.
Almost all of the Coalition's $3,300 came from another committee chaired by Jones, Liberty4Florida, which got most of its $70,000 from Citizens Speaking Out Committee, according to state records. That group, also chaired by Jones, has nearly $1.3 million in funding from three dozen other committees with names like Citizens for a Conservative Future and Sunshine State Conservatives.
An advocacy group run by Scientologists recently endorsed one candidate for each of the three, nonpartisan City Council races. But the robocall only highlighted parishioners' support of Beckman, a retired teacher and Democrat challenging the no party affiliated Seat 3 incumbent Bob Cundiff and two Republicans, Bud Elias and Scott Thomas.
Cundiff, Elias and Thomas all said their campaigns were not involved in the robocall."

Video: Mysterious Two (Heaven's Gate)

"Believe it or not Hollywood thought that a story about a man and his wife who said they were from space would make a great movie. They had no idea they what would happen in the future when that couple created a cult called Heaven's Gate."

CTN News: Former Monk Turned Burglar Arrested after "Invisibility Spell" Didn't Work

"A burglar claiming to be a former monk says his "invisibility spell" he learned as a monk didn't work leading to his captured by police. The burglar claims he used the spell many times before when robbing homes.

This time the spell didn't work because he took off his pants, leading to his arrest. Security footage was able to capture him in action, including when he left the house wearing just a shirt and his underwear.

Police Major Gen. Nanthachat Supamongkol in Udon Thani reported the arrest of 32 year-old Anurak Promwang 32 years on 21 February 2020. Mr. Anurak was charged with burglary of a local pharmacy."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.

Facebook

Flipboard

Twitter

Instagram

Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.

Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.

CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/7/2019

Thailand, Animal Abuse, Transcendental Meditation, Marianne Williamson, Documentary, Pastafarians, NXIVM

RNS: Half the tigers rescued from Thai temple reported dead

"More than half the tigers rescued three years ago from a Buddhist temple in Thailand where they served as a popular tourist attraction have died of disease, wildlife officials said Monday.

The tigers were vulnerable to illness because of inbreeding, leading to laryngeal paralysis causing respiratory failure, said national parks official Patarapol Maneeorn. Eighty-six of 147 rescued tigers kept at government-run wildlife sanctuaries have died."

" ... Police found tiger skins and teeth and at least 1,500 amulets made from tiger bones when they raided the temple, as well as 60 cub carcasses stuffed in freezers and in formaldehyde in jars.

Tiger parts, such as ground bones, are popular as traditional medicine in Asia. Tiger hides can sell for tens of thousands of dollars in China."

FiveThirtyEight: Why Marianne Williamson's Brand Of Spirituality Isn't Working

" ... Something about Williamson's unconventional candidacy, though, has certainly sparked voters' curiosity. After all, a candidate who flits between the worlds of traditional, institutional religion and New Age spirituality is a rarity in presidential politics. And she was the most-searched candidate after the first night of the July debate, when she accused President Trump of harnessing the "dark psychic force of collectivized hatred" and declared that she wants "a politics that speaks to the heart."

But the more voters learned more about her, the less they seemed to like her."

" ... According to the Pew Research Center, about one-third of Democrats identify as "spiritual but not religious" — an amorphous identity that has a lot in common with Williamson's nondenominational spiritual practice. She identifies as Jewish and still attends High Holiday services, but she also practices transcendental meditation. She rose to prominence as a commentator and teacher of "A Course In Miracles," a mystical book published in 1976 whose author claimed to be dictating revelations from Jesus.

'She's really the definition of spiritual but not religious," said Laura Olson, a political science professor at Clemson University, about Williamson. "In that sense, she represents — and you'd think might be able to reach — a very sizeable group of Americans.'"

The Guardian: Documentary follows Pastafarians as they strain for recognition

"Some time next year, the European court of human rights will decide on the case of a Dutch woman who feels unfairly treated because her country's highest court has told her she cannot wear a plastic colander on her head for her ID photo.

It may combine Mienke de Wilde's plea with that of an Austrian former MP, Niko Alm, who proudly wears the offending kitchen utensil on his official documents but now insists his country recognise Pastafarianism – the faith both follow – as a religion.

Watching the pair closely is Mike Arthur, an independent American film-maker whose smart, funny but above all thought-provoking documentary, I, Pastafari, about the world's fastest-growing faith premieres in the US in October."

Complex: Former Nxivm Member Reveals How She Recruited People to Sex Cult

" ... In an interview with Refinery29, Edmondson role-played her way through a typical pitch for the cult's seminars. She showed the ways that she focused on insecurities that a recruit might have and used them as an opening to bring them on-board. 

"Well, first things first: You don't attempt any kind of a pitch until you have established a rapport. That's something that has always come naturally to me, just chit chatting and engaging with people. Part of pitching is that you kind of want to tailor the approach to the specific person and what they're looking for," she said. 

She said that similar approach went all the way up the line, with senior officials convincing others that the sex and rituals were also part of a path to betterment. Edmonson has the founder's initials branded on her and said it was sold as self-improvement. 

'If you look at the branding ritual as an example, they convince you that you are triumphing over your own weakness," she said. "One of the things that can be helpful in terms of an explanation is to look at the ways in which cults are similar to abusive relationships. Nobody seeks out an abusive partner, but so many people stay in these relationships longer than they should — they make excuses, they ignore red flags, and they allow themselves to be emotionally manipulated.'"

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.

Facebook

Flipboard

Twitter

Instagram

Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.

Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.

Please forward articles that you think we should add to CultNEWS101.com.

CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/25/2018

Books, Religion and Family Law, Worldwide Church of God, Wirapol Sukphol, Sexual Abuse, Buddhism, Thailand

K5 News: A stark new memoir about life inside a cult

" ... Renee Linnell is an accomplished businesswoman who achieved many high-profile goals before she turned 35, before realizing she'd been living under the control of a cult. In her new memoir, The Burn Zone, she shares the heartbreaking situation that opened her up to falling victim for nearly seven years, to people who called themselves spiritual teachers, and how she finally reclaimed her identity and life."

Phsy: New book studies friction between religion, family law

" .... 'For religious people in the U.S., there are strange crosscurrents in the country right now. We have cases from the Supreme Court that decide – correctly I believe – that institutions where religious values have traditionally had tremendous influence, like marriage, don't belong to religious people to decide for the rest of the country,' she said. "At the same time, a decision like Hobby Lobby – the 2014 Supreme Court decision that allows businesses to cite religious beliefs to exclude contraceptives from insurance plans – has left some in the faith community believing they have an unfettered right for their religious beliefs not to be burdened."

"Together, those decisions have sparked a sense among religious people that they've lost control over much that is deeply important to them."

"The book, published by Cambridge University Press, features original scholarship by Wilson, University of Illinois law professors Richard Kaplan and Robin Kar, and national and international scholars on the tension between religious freedom and the state's protective function. It also features an introduction by U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch."

Little Village Magazine: ‘Snap Judgment’ host Glynn Washington talks growing up in a cult, Ira Glass and the dark side of storytelling

"On Thursday, Nov. 1, National Public Radio host and raconteur Glynn Washington will bring his storytelling sensation, Snap Judgment LIVE, to Iowa City’s Englert Theatre. That night, some of the world’s best storytellers will take the stage to tell real life stories, set to the beat of a live band. Snap Judgment LIVE offers a truly unparalleled performative experience — especially for anyone who enjoys storytelling programs like This American Life or The Moth."

"Little Village recently spoke with Washington about how he tells the story of his own life — a story which starts with his upbringing in an apocalyptic cult, the Worldwide Church of God."

Reuters: Jailed Thai ex-monk gets further 16 years for child rape, abduction

"A former Buddhist monk who sparked outrage in Thailand over his lavish lifestyle and is already serving time for fraud was sentenced to a further 16 years in prison on Wednesday for abducting and raping a child."

"Wirapol Sukphol, formerly known by his monastic name of Luang Pu Nenkham, was sentenced in August to 114 years in prison after a court found him guilty of fraud, money laundering and computer crimes."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.
CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.

Facebook
Google+
Flipboard

Twitter

Instagram

Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.

Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.