42 Hours, $500, 65 Breakdowns: My lost weekend with the trademark happy, bathroom-break hating, slightly spooky inheritors of est

Laura McClure
Mother Jones
Volume 34/August 2009

After nearly 40 hours inside the basement of Landmark Education's world headquarters, I have not Transformed. Nor have I "popped" like microwave popcorn, as the Forum Leader striding back and forth at the front of the windowless gray room has promised. In fact, by the time he starts yelling and stabbing the board with a piece of chalk around hour 36, it's become clear that I'll be the hard kernel left at the bottom of this three-and-a-half-day Landmark Forum. I have, however, Invented the Possibility of a Future in which I get a big, fat raise, a Future I'll Choose to Powerfully Enroll my bosses in, now that I am open to Miracles Around Money.

My reluctance to achieve Breakthrough Results is clearly not shared by many of my fellow Forum attendees. Even on day one, most seem positively elated to have plunked down 500 bucks for a more efficient, passionate, powerful life. "Hey, it's cheaper than therapy," a therapist-turned-real estate agent tells me. He ponders how to persuade one of his employees to pony up for the Forum. She's going through a rough patch, he explains - the recession, her marriage.

Not that being broke or brokenhearted would make her a minority in this room; several attendees talk about being between jobs, and one woman says she's on welfare. In the scribbled shorthand of my furtive notes, PW stands for "incidents of public weeping." I lose track after the PW count hits 65. Landmark Education, a for-profit "employee-owned" private company, took in $89 million last year offering leadership and development seminars (and cruises, and dating services, and courses for kids and teens). It claims that more than 1 million seekers have sat through its basic training, which is offered in seven languages in 20 countries. Its consulting firm, the Vanto Group, has coached employees from Apple, ExxonMobil, JPMorgan Chase, and the Pentagon.

Though it's hardly a secret, Landmark does not advertise that it is the buttoned-down reincarnation of the ultimate '70's self-actualization philosophy, est. Erhard Seminars Training was founded by Werner Erhard, a former used car salesman who'd changed his name from Jack Rosenberg, moved to Northern California, and dabbled in Dale Carnegie, Zen, and Scientology before seizing upon the idea that you, and only you, are responsible for your own happiness or unhappiness, success or failure. Est's marathon Transformation sessions were legendary for their confrontational tactics (Erhard calling his students "assholes"), inscrutable platitudes ("What is, is, and what ain't, aint"), and the pressure put on participants to bring in new recruits for the next cycle of events.

In 1985, Erhard changed est's name to the innocuous-sounding The Forum. Amid controversy over his convoluted tax records, he left the country in 1991 and slid into obscurity. But before he did, he sold the company's "technology" to his former employees, who used it to create The Landmark Forum. Erhard's brother, Harry Rosenberg, is Landmark's CEO.

Like a successful grad of its own program, Landmark has shed its past hang-ups and realized Breakthrough Results. "We are on the list of offerings in the human-resources departments in hundreds of companies around the world," boasts PR director Deborah Beroset. The company's language of personal productivity, confidence, and communication (much of it trademarked) has become white noise in corporate America - and possibly in your personal circle, too. "Authentic life," anyone? Landmark's corporate clients bring not just respectability but more warm bodies bearing checks. (Landmark relies entirely on word-of-mouth advertising.) The yoga apparel chain Lululemon pays for its employees to enroll in Landmark. Other firms have been sued by employees claiming they were pressured to attend the Forum: In 2007, a Virginia man accused his former employer of firing him for his "refusal to embrace Landmark religious beliefs." Not that Landmark itself condones such arm twisting. At the start of my session, we were asked to affirm that we were attending of our own free will. A couple of people who confessed otherwise were asked to leave. Still, I talked with several who'd been sent by their employers.

The profitable field Landmark helped pioneer is now crowded with life coaches, time-management gurus, and productivity bloggers. Like David Allen's Getting Things Done or Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Landmark is just one of dozes of quasi-philosophies that promise to empty your inbox and fulfill your personal goals. And maybe survive the recession. Since the Great Depression, when Dale Carnegie's seminars on how to win friends and influence people became popular, the personal development industry has bloomed under darkening economic skies. Forget work/ life balance; that's so 2008. How to do more in less time is today's hot productivity trend. (Landmark's website touts a survey in which one-third of Forum grads reported that their incomes rose at lest 25 percent after participating; 954 percent of those attributed it to the program.) Yet if Landmark is just another outpost in lifehacking country, why does it seem so insidious?

Part of it is the in-your-face, hard-sell ethos embedded in the corporate DNA it inherited from est. Forum grads are urged to stay involved and "invite" friends and family. After finishing the Forum, I received calls asking me to volunteer at the Landmark call center and come in for one-on-one coaching. The company also vigorously guards its reputation from critics. After I told Beroset I'd be writing an article on my mixed feelings about the Forum, she called several times and sent me an email that might be described as threatening - but in the most benign, centered kind of way.

I first heard about Landmark while working as a Peace Corps recruiter. Every now and again I'd see it listed at the end of someone's resume, occupying the same spot as, say, a Kiwanis leadership award, or a pastime like water polo. Applicants described it as a professional development seminar - most had been signed up by employers - and gave glowing reports. "You should try it," they invariably added. I forgot about the whole thing until a generally sane, well-meaning friend called me one weekend with a frog in his throat. He was at some time-management seminar, he'd really gotten a lot out of this thing, and would I want to come by and learn more next Tuesday night? It was hard to say no. But then I googled Landmark.

Eventually, as part of an ongoing attempt to hack my own overscheduled life, I did sign up for the Landmark Forum. I vowed to go in with an open mind and to follow the rules, no matter how restrictive. That meant taking just one meal break per 13-hour session, no Advil or other over-the-counter drugs, no speaking out unless called to the microphone by the Leader, and wearing my name tag at all times. I signed a six-page disclaimer in which I declared that I understood that after attending the Forum, people with no history of mental or emotional problems had experienced "brief, temporary episodes of emotional upset ranging from heightened activity ... to mild psychotic-like behavior."

At 9 a.m. on a Friday I find myself sardined into a basement room with 129 other people, listening to David Cunningham,j a boomer in a dark suit and bright purple shirt, whose first language seems to be Tent-Revival Baptist Preacher. (I later learn that he was raised a fundamentalist in Florida.) He informs us that he has personally led more than 50,000 people to Transformation. He's here to tell us that "anything you want for yourself and your life is available from being here this weekend." He starts by taking a few questions from the floor. A querulous man observes that the phrases carefully ruler-lined on the chalkboard seem like poor English. ("In the Landmark Forum you will bring forth the presence of a New Realm of Possibility for yourself and your life.") David agrees. "It's very poor English. You know why? Because the usual confines of language would not allow your Transformation this weekend."

Another man is called to the mic. He wants to know how Landmark is different from est. David sighs. "If I had to sum it up, here's what I'd say: They're both about Transformation, but est was very experiential. It was the '70s, okay? Your access was an experience. Your access this weekend is going to be just through conversation. We realized we could do it just through conversation." And that's the last we hear of that.

A slight, blond woman sitting next to me confides that she's here only because her boyfriend paid her way - with the subtext that this was an offer she couldn't refuse. She shows me a packet of notes tied with a bow. They're from a friend who attended a Forum and thought it was brainwashing. In the corner of the top sheet is written, "To be opened on 'breaks.'" Why "breaks" in quotes, I wonder?

I soon find out. "Break" is a misleading term at an all-day workshop that offers no snacks, no drinks other than Dixie cups of water, a single mealtime, and only loosely scheduled pauses to use the bathroom. Also, every break has a corresponding assignment. The first one: Call someone who'd like to hear from you and tell them where you are. I call my brother. "So, it's like the Hare Krishnas of time management," he says slowly. On the next break, I hid in a bathroom stall and read a Landmark flyer seemingly translated from Martian: "What would it be like if the San Francisco center was your center of being, and reflected in this, you were being your center? ... What if your way of being in the center gives the center its being and you are given your being from the space created in the center?"

By ten o'clock Friday night, 13 hours in, David is curing headaches with visualization techniques (an old Erhard trick) and redefining basic math. "How many items am I holding up?" he asks, holding up a Kleenex box and a chalkboard eraser. "Two," we say in unison. He puts the eraser down. "Now how many am I holding up?" he asks. One? "Two," he says. "The box and everything else." We repeat this until it makes sense - kind of. David promises that tomorrow, people will start to pop.

Indeed, some attendees have popped even before they return to the basement at nine the next morning. Others pop while tearfully offering "shares" about being molested or abandoned, about illnesses and divorces, their suicidal parents. There is applause for stories of calling loved ones and offering forgiveness, and David gently prods the storytellers to invite their family members to attend a Forum - or even pay for them to attend. A woman re-creates a beautiful conversation she had with her mother this morning and ends by singing "Wind Beneath My Wings."

Next, David calls up a woman - I'll call her Rose - who is estranged from her siblings. She reports that when she called her sister this morning, it did not go well. "I'm going to get a little intense now," David warns us with a smile, which he drops as soon as he turns to Rose. "You know the mod of celebration after the last share?" She nods. "What's the room in now?" David shakes his head ruefully. "You were 'screamed at' by your sister? There's no such thing as screaming." People start fidgeting and making for the door; there hasn't been a bathroom break in three hours. "You see, people are leaving," David says. "This is why people don't want to be around you, why your siblings don't want to be around you. You're too dead to feel," he says.

By now, tears are streaming down Rose's face. She asks to sit down; he says nothing. Finally, she thanks David, and he gives her a long hug before she takes a seat. Later, I walk over to tell her that I didn't like how David treated her. To my surprise, she disagrees. After being publicly humiliated, she phoned her sister again, and this time her sister listened. "I guess this is what I needed to hear," Rose tells me, smiling.

By Sunday, I'm in open rebellion. I come bearing contraband- a newspaper, coffee, snacks, and Advil. "How are you?" I ask the minder at the door as I slap on my name tag. "I'm truthful," he says, giving me the stink-eye. I Invent the Possibility of staying far away from Landmark seminars in the future. We get Monday off. When I take a hard seat in the basement for Tuesday's final Special Evening, I'm surprised to find I almost - almost - start crying. It's like seeing a room of beloved camp friends after a year apart. The air is festive and buzzing with chatter about our day and a half away from each other. I think, This is great! No wonder people have brought along dozens of friends to sign up.

David quiets the crowd and sends the friends away with a group of minders. Turning to the rest of us, he says, "You know how I wished you big Problems on Sunday? Well, now I wish you big Breakdowns. Because a Breakdown is nothing more than the gap between your life now and the life you're committed to living. Your job is to step into that gap." He smiles. "When you came in here Friday morning, you were so certain about who you were, weren't you? You walked in certain, and tonight you're walking out uncertain. It could take years to become certain about who you are again. That's what the rest of the Landmark Curriculum for Living is for: to help you resolve that uncertainty."

Suddenly, I want him to love me as his student, to make him smile, to hear him tell me I'm doing a good job in my life. There are more "shares"; David tears up for the third time in two hours. "I love you forever," he tells us. "If you ever wonder if someone loves you, the answer is yes. David loves you."

And then, without warning, he launches into the hard, hard sell. "I am committed to having every one of you register for the Advanced Course tonight," he says. He's no longer smiling. We can demonstrate our commitment to ourselves, to David, to Landmark - all for $650, a $200 discount - but only if we act now.

Before I get up and leave for good, I spot Rose. She's sitting in the front row, gazing expectantly at David, ready to take the next step toward Transformation, Possibility, and EnrollmentTM.

Sidebar Articles

The Hunger Artist

In 1977, est guru Werner Erhard had a vision: He was going to end world hunger by 1997. To that end, he started the Hunger Project, a nonprofit that quickly picked up celebrity sponsors including John Denver, Valerie Harper, and Jimmy Carter's son Chip. But, as Mother Jones reported in December 1978, the group had no intention of actually feeding the starving, just raising "awareness" of hunger - and est. The article also exposed Erhard's complicated web of offshore tax shelters. In response, est threatened to sue. It didn't, but participants in one seminar were instructed to "focus all your negative energy on the people responsible for this terrible slander." Twelve years after it was supposed to become obsolete, the Hunger Project now has only one former Erhard associate on its board and notes it has "no ties to Mr. Erhard or his interests."

Landmark Moments

1971 - Werner Erhard has breakthrough while driving across Golden Gate Bridge; founds est (Erhard Seminars Training)

1973 - Erhard drives a black Mercedes with the vanity plate "SO WUT."

1975 - Est claims to have trained 65,000 people; Erhard dreams of training 40 million.

1975 - John Denver releases "Looking for Space," about his est enlightenment. Later, he asks other est grads to stop sneaking backstage.

1976 - Ex-Yippie Jerry Rubin recounts Erhard's spiel: "He listened to people's miseries ... laughed in their faces and screamed, 'YOU ASSHOLE, YOU CAUSED IT!'"

1977 - Woody Allen encounters a defensive est acolyte in Annie Hall.

1979 - Mork & Mindy features David Letterman playing a guru name Ellsworth, founder of ERK (Ellsworth Revitalization Konditioning).

1985 - Est changes its name to the Forum.

1988 - Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk attends the Forum; later credits it with his "big epiphany moment."

1989 - Nicolas Cage buys Erhard's palatial San Francisco pad, which one boasted a soundproof room, an elaborate security system, and a bedroom painted black.

1991 - Erhard goes into exile. Landmark buys est's "technology" and reportedly promises to pay Erhard a licensing fee for 18 years.

1993 - While in Moscow, Erhard appears on Larry King Liive; claims Scientologists are out to get him.

2002 - Six Feet Under's Ruth Fisher tries the Plan, "One of those '70's self-discovery clubs that yell at you and don't let you go to the bathroom for 12 hours."

2006 - Erhard breaks media silence in Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard, a film co-produced by his lawyer.

2007 - Erhard unveils new management philosophy coauthored with a Harvard Business School professor and the CEO of Landmark's consulting arm. Message: "integrity is the pathway to trust."

2009 - Landmark claims to have trained more than 1 million people. 

Father Divine

May 19, 2009

KESQ-TV in Palm Springs, CA interviews a La Quinta man, the adopted son of International Peace Movement founder Father Divine. He's making a bid for the leadership of this controversial church.

Trance 101

Mel Bezalel
The Jerusalem Post
April 30, 2009

"It's a little bit like when milk is boiling over, you can take a drop of cold water and dip it in, and it all settles down. When stress begins to build up, it erupts into violence."

Perhaps it isn't surprising that when international director and raja ("administrator") of Transcendental Meditation in Israel, Kingsley Brooks, talks about the practice in which he's been involved for 35 years, he speaks using elusive terms and near-constant metaphor. After all, the specifics of the practice are only revealed to those who train in it - which requires three preliminary steps and four sessions spread over four consecutive days, taught only by qualified Transcendental Meditation teachers.

Benefits of the practice, based on the constantly quoted "600 research studies," are commonly noted to include a feeling of relaxation and respite from stress and anxiety, memory improvement and enhancing the brain's creativity. The organization's Web site also purports that TM improves the attention span, immune system, academic and job performance, tolerance levels and slows the aging process, reduces blood pressure and mortality rates. On a global level, it's also claimed that TM practiced en masse reduces societal stress and crime rates.

At the most basic level of TM, when members spend 20 minutes meditating twice a day - morning and evening - the practice involves a set of Hindu-inspired meditation techniques which are said to bring practitioners to a higher level of consciousness through reciting a mantra which is secret and unique to each meditator. While members practice it with their eyes closed, their bodies move into a deep rest called "restful alertness." It's described as a unique feeling not experienced during other levels of consciousness - such as being awake, sleeping or dreaming.

During his visit to Israel last month with his wife, Lesley - a "partner" in his work - Brooks dedicated much of his time to promoting TM in schools or "consciousness-based education." One test case is already under way at an Arab school in the North, that cannot currently be named due to the early stages of the program's development. The TM program has been running for 10 months and already the school (comprising 300 pupils) has reported a marked shift in its students' behavior. One teacher who previously worked as the principal reported: "You can say that largely the school had two periods - before the introduction of TM and after it. Before the project, the school was on the verge of a total collapse. We had many problems, a lot of violence, both verbal and physical. Today, the school's climate is better, the atmosphere is more relaxed. There is also improvement in the students' desire for achievements, which is expressed in better grades. There is more optimism... so much so that we received the education award as second in the country for reduction of violence."

Students in the school are not obligated to study TM, says Brooks. Although most do, those who don't wish to have "quiet time" instead - which is simply the observance of silence in the classroom while the other students meditate. One 17-year-old student from the Arab school said the program has made a real difference: "My behavior has changed for the better after learning TM. I am more relaxed and I am feeling that even in moments when I feel down there is an inner happiness that emanates from my body and dominates my behavior. I take things quietly, just the opposite than before when I was very nervous. I feel inner joy that controls my behavior all the time. TM is the best thing that happened to me in my life."

Alex Kutai, National Director of the International Meditation Society of Israel, says he has been approached by three other schools interested in adopting the program - one of which comprises 2,000 students.

The schools program is important to the movement, says Brooks. "We feel that the potential for everyone is great, but particularly for young people. If they have this technology to develop their full potential when they're young," he says, "then when they get older they're already ahead in being as ideal citizens as they can be."

The TM school project began in America and is now also notably popular in South America. Currently, 60,000 high-school students practice TM worldwide. TM views schools as "peace generators" that can be particularly effective in Israel, says Kutai, because of the immense amount of stress caused by the [Israeli-Arab] conflict. "People are feeling they need something to strengthen and relax them - to lose the stress accumulated every day."

Eighteen months ago, renowned film director David Lynch, who established The David Lynch Foundation to raise money for "consciousness-based education and world peace," met with Shimon Peres about the possibility of implementing TM in Israeli schools. "[Lynch] told Peres the only way we can improve the quality of life here [in Israel] is to create more groups in schools," recalls Brooks. "Mr. Peres was very impressed with the idea and said his only request was that it work for both Arab and Israeli kids."

One recent example of academic research that supports the movement's claims is a pilot study carried out by George Washington University in December last year on children with ADHD. Though the sample only included 10 children aged 11-14, findings revealed that after three months, twice-daily meditations produced improvements in attention, working memory, organization and behavior regulation. Co-author of the study, Sarina J. Grosswald, said: "Teachers reported they were able to teach more and students were able to learn more because they were less stressed and anxious."

However, despite the number of research studies conducted on TM, the introduction of the technique in schools is not always welcomed. Just two years ago, parents at the Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, California, protested vehemently upon discovering that the David Lynch Foundation was offering the school a $175,000 grant for teaching TM. One objector, Gina Catina, who grew up in the TM movement and was responsible for bringing the technique to two California schools in the 1970s, wrote a letter to the school board to voice her dismay. She accused the movement of being a cult, describing side-effects suffered by TM practitioners she knew and disputing the movement's identity as "non-religious." The funding was subsequently withdrawn by the foundation. Also on the theme of religion, in 1979, a federal court ruled that a course titled Science of Creative Intelligence/Transcendental Meditation could not be taught in New Jersey public schools because it "had a primary effect of advancing religion and religious concepts" and violated the First Amendment.

Many critics of TM take issue with the movement's supposedly "non-religious" standpoint, taking issue specifically with the allusions to Hindu gods that appear in the TM puja - initiation ceremony. Hindu gods such as Shakti, Krishna and Vishnu are all mentioned in the private ceremony, in Sanskrit, and some say their personal mantras include them, too. Bob Roth, spokesperson for the international TM movement and national director of expansion, states that the Hindu connection is purely "cultural" however: "The culture goes back thousands of years, and it's nonsense to say that mantras are names of gods - 100 percent absolute nonsense. It just creates fear and there is no basis to it whatsoever."

One TM critic is Mitch Kapor, who founded Lotus Software and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the international non-profit advocacy organization. Kapor was involved with TM for seven years until 1976 and trained as a TM teacher. "TM is heavily promoted as a scientifically-validated, secular method of stress reduction," says Kapor, "whereas in fact the TM technique is inextricably bound up in a religious Hindu tradition, as is obvious to anyone who considers the mandatory TM initiation ceremony and the supposedly secret mantras. Proponents of TM twist themselves into pretzels to deny or explain away these inconvenient facts, but the real reason they do such things is as part of a drive to recruit as many people as possible into the TM movement." Kapor has strong objections to the program being taught in schools, despite initially experiencing some relaxation benefits from TM himself. Kapor believes that the twice-daily sessions being introduced in schools are designed to recruit members to the movement, who will then become much more involved.

Those who do immerse themselves in the movement often go on to become TM teachers and many practice an advanced technique known as "rounding" - intensive meditation that can last for several hours at a time. It is with rounding that more issues reportedly surface with regard to physical and mental side-effects, though the movement officially states there are none, pointing again to its store of 600 studies.

Past practitioners of TM have publicly spoken out about the alleged side-effects, including American social worker John Knapp, who joined the TM movement in 1972. Although Knapp speaks with 23 years of his own experience in TM, his role as a social worker specializing in recovery from toxic groups, abusive churches and cults and his website about the alleged problems of TM, mean that he is in frequent contact with those suffering with problems related to their experience with the technique. After signing up for TM to boost his grades at the age of 18, Knapp recalls that he had "a cultic relationship with the organization." Soon, Knapp became more involved with TM and began practicing rounding. "I was spending so much time and money on TM that other very important areas of my life were being completely neglected," he says. "During the time I was most involved, for about 20 years I only saw my family a handful of times." Although he is clear to state that it wasn't a directive from the organization, he says it was "a non-stated judgment."

Knapp says he suffered several side-effects from his intensive meditation practice, such as head-shaking (which he occasionally still experiences), disassociation or "spacing out," problems with his memory and a movement where his head would rapidly flip left and he'd feel an energy surge in his spine. On visiting the doctor, it was suggested that he'd developed a kind of Tourette 's syndrome. Knapp says that past TM practitioners contacting him have also reported involuntary twitching, grimacing, shouting and other tick-like behavior.

Mentioning difficulties with the meditation was difficult in the movement, explains Knapp, because "to bring up any, what they called 'negativity,' meant that you were likely to be ostracized from the group. If you had any problems with the meditation, and people did, it was the kind of thing you did behind closed doors."

In Knapp's experience, many of the problems experienced by meditators were explained away by teachers with a concept known as 'stressing,' 'stress release' or 'body purification,' where the body experiences temporary ticks as part of the body's healing process.

TM spokesperson Roth acknowledges that this process can occur, but stresses that its occurrence is rare. "Just like if a person has a weak heart, they have to modify their exercise program. It has happened from rounding and that is why we are careful about who gets the additional practice." However, he denies that TM has any sustained adverse effects and responded, in reference to Knapp's experience, that complainants practicing TM in the 1970s are an exceptional case because of the popular use of drugs at that time: "People who have trouble with rounding are those who in the 1970s... many of whom had a history of taking hallucinogenic drugs. Since then, there have been thousands of people who have gone on to teach TM with no problems whatsoever. Now, to go on a teacher training course, one has to be shown to be healthy with no drugs in their past." However, Knapp asserts he's been in contact with those experiencing problems who learned the meditation after that period.

Despite the anecdotal discussion, Roth maintains that there is no scientific evidence to give any cause for concern: "There has never, ever, ever been a published study with a control group published in a [peer-reviewed] journal in America that has ever shown any negative side effects of TM. And that is unequivocally the case."

Part of the problem with determining the legitimate benefits and problems of TM is the conflicts within the scientific community. As with many areas of research, some of the studies offer contradictions. Although the movement quotes the "600 studies" in its favor, some have been criticized for bias and a lack of scientific evidence. For example, a research paper published in June 2007 by the University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice Center for the US Department of Health and Human Services, stated about meditation research (TM included): "We found the methodological quality of meditation research to be poor, with significant threats to validity in every major category of quality measured, regardless of study design."

Therefore, either Roth's statement regarding the lack of scientific evidence for TM side-effects is not straightforward, or he is simply uninformed. Such studies do exist, such as Stanford University's Leon Otis's 1984 study which revealed that although 52-64 percent of the subjects who practiced TM in the study did not list a single adverse effect, "adverse effects do occur in a sizeable percentage of those who take up the practice," and "the number and severity of complaints were positively related to duration of meditation. Of considerable interest," states the research, "is the finding that the specific adverse effects reported were remarkably consistent between groups and formed a pattern of people who had become anxious, confused, frustrated, depressed and/or withdrawn since starting TM."

There are additional studies that follow similar veins; however, it seems that for every study published, a counter study is produced to dispute the scientific claims. It is important to highlight that much of the criticism launched at TM is, on the whole, focused on the more intensive practicing of the technique.

If Kapor's suspicions are correct about the TM movement attempting to enlist pupils to the movement so they'll become devout members, should there be some concern about the meditation's introduction in schools, or is it pure conjecture?

Hana Shadmi, director of psychology and counseling services at the Education Ministry, says she is encouraged by the research on TM. "I think overall, based on my familiarity with it [TM], it can help give people tools for focus, calmness and healing, which are positive in a school. I know of work that has been done in schools that people said resulted in calmness and a decrease in violence. People have reported good results in schools."

Speaking about the possible side-effects, Shadmi added: "I cannot say anything bad about this... I am not familiar with enough literature that says it is addictive, but it is possible... anything that you overuse in any excessive way can take something that can be good and make it bad. I believe in Israel there are kids who will find it hard enough to do 20-minute sessions, [let alone] doing it excessively. Who [will take part] and how they will be trained, will it be supervised, who will supervise - all these questions, which I have no answer to, puts hesitation in my responses. There is a lot of uncertainty and lack of knowledge. The question is whether it is appropriate for school."

Aharale Rotshtein, principal of regional high school Shar Ha'Negev, near Sderot, has been practicing TM for around six years. He visited the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Iowa, the original TM school, eight years ago to see how the practice is applied in schools. Together with his staff, Rotshtein is currently thinking about introducing the technique into his school. "It's a wonderful way of having a little rest," he says. "During the busy, noisy day, it's 40 minutes you can be with yourself, clearing your head. It makes me think more effectively and physically be more effective."

However, despite practicing TM himself, Rotshtein emphasizes that there are points about the method that he finds problematic: "It becomes religious if you follow it to the end. As a free person I don't like this way; I like to use it as a technical way and not more. It's not ideology, it's only a way to give you rest. If you continue with it and it becomes religious, it becomes very dangerous in my point of view."

Other schools less familiar with TM, such as the Hebrew Reali High School in Haifa, remain open-minded about the technique despite claims from critics. School spokeswoman Galit Diamant commented: "Many educational initiatives were born in our school, later to be adopted by the Education Ministry. Our school has always been open to new and innovative educational concepts and will continue to do so, provided that they are congruent with our fundamental values: love of mankind, love for our country and contribution to society and tolerance."

Despite the issues that exist, the TM movement maintains that intensive "rounding" could hold the solution for wider societal betterment. "Having a group practice meditation in an advanced program of meditation," says Brooks, "creates a peaceful influence that spreads to the whole world. Just like individuals have stress, a country has stress."

According to TM research, when just one percent of the population is practicing TM, it's as if the whole country is practicing it - and crime rates and other social problems spontaneously drop. With the advanced meditation program, known as the TM-Sidhi program, just the square root of one percent of the population is needed in order to effect societal change - known as the "Maharishi Effect." In 1983, a group of Sidhi experts travelled to Israel, which resulted, according to one TM study, in decreases in war deaths, war intensity, crime rates, traffic accidents and fires, as well as increases in measures of well-being such as the stock market.

There are of course papers questioning the validity of the study, such as Barry Markovsky and Evan Fale's 1997 piece, which discusses the occurrence of Jewish holidays, for example, as a significant influencing factor on statistics that was excluded from the study. However, it is with the global effect of TM in mind that the Israeli TM movement hopes to establish, in addition to school programs, a new Center for Israel Peace and Invincibility - "a place where large groups of peace-creating experts can learn and practice the Invincible Defense Technology [in essence, Maharishi Effect]," according to its publicity pamphlet. This new facility will house 500 meditators and cost NIS 100 million. Funding is currently being sought from a single, unnamed donor.

Alamo judge delays two girls’ abuse hearings

Andy Davis
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

October 15, 2008

Hearings on abuse allegations involving two girls taken from Tony Alamo’s religious compound in southwest Arkansas will be postponed to give attorneys for the Arkansas Department of Human Services time to take sworn depositions from out-of-state witnesses, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The girls are among six, ages 10 to 17, who were removed from the compound in Fouke during a raid on Sept. 20. All the girls are now in foster homes.

Alamo, the 74-year-old head of a ministry that also has operations in Fort Smith, California and New Jersey, was arrested in Arizona on Sept. 25 on a federal charge of transporting minors across state lines to engage in sexual activity. Authorities have not elaborated on what Alamo is accused of doing or whether the charges relate to the girls now in foster care.

Miller County Circuit Judge Jim Hudson is presiding over the protective services cases of two of the girls, and Judge Joe Griffin is handling the two cases involving the other four girls, who are two pairs of sisters.

Hudson’s cases had been set for adjudication hearings, in which he will make a final ruling on whether the girls were abused, on Oct. 20, with hearings in Griffin’s cases to follow the next day.

But the Human Services Department asked for the hearings to be delayed, saying it needs more time to take sworn depositions from witnesses. Those witnesses include three to eight minors who live outside the state or more than 100 miles from Texarkana, Hudson said.

At a hearing Tuesday, Hudson granted delays in his cases, moving the hearings to the week of Nov. 17. He said Griffin will likely make a similar ruling.

“Some part or all of my two, and some part or all of his two, will start on the 17th,” Hudson said late Tuesday afternoon after the hearing, which was closed to the public. “We will try to schedule the four of them in some sane fashion that week.” At a hearing Sept. 26, Hudson found probable cause to believe the girls in his cases had been abused, and he ordered them to remain in foster care until the adjudication hearings. The parents in Griffin’s cases waived their rights to probable-cause hearings.

In Hudson’s cases, both parents of one girl and the father of the other girl are members of Alamo’s church. They were represented at Tuesday’s hearing by attorney Marshall Moore of Texarkana, who didn’t return calls late Tuesday.

Attorney Pamela Fisk of Texarkana, Texas, has been appointed to represent the mother who does not belong to the church. There was no answer at Fisk’s office late Tuesday.

The girls did not attend Tuesday’s hearing, but they were represented by court-appointed attorneys Amy Freeman and Carla Reyes, Hudson said.

At the adjudication hearings, the judges will decide whether the abuse allegations are supported by a preponderance of the evidence. They could order the children to return home, possibly with conditions, keep them in foster care or place them with relatives. Documents in the cases are confidential, and the hearings are closed to the public.

It is common for the Human Services Department to request that an adjudication hearing be postponed, especially in case involving out of state witnesses, department spokesman Julie Munsell said.

“There’s a lot of time and effort involved in locating people and then getting to depose them or gather some statements from them,” Munsell said.

Authorities have said they are investigating allegations that children were physically and sexually abused at the compound and that child pornography was produced there.

In his sermons and in interviews, Alamo has said the Bible teaches that girls are old enough to be married when they begin menstruating, but he has said that he does not allow underage marriages in his church. He has also denied that any children have been abused at the compound or that pornography was produced there.

On Tuesday, Alamo was still “en-route” to Arkansas from the Coconino County jail in Flagstaff, where he left more than a week ago, said Richard O’Connell, the U. S. marshal for the western district of Arkansas. He said Alamo should arrive in Arkansas this week.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/240310/

Kabbalah Centre sues spin-off Universal Kabbalah Communities

Kabbalah changed Shaul Youdkevitch's life.
Brad A. Greenberg

Jewish Journal
October 2, 2008

The native Israeli had never been religious, then as a college student he discovered the esoteric teachings of Jewish mysticism and felt like a missing piece of his life had been put back in place. Soon after finishing school, Youdkevitch joined the faculty of the Kabbalah Centre, first as a teacher in Israel and later landing in Los Angeles, raising his family in the ministry and living in staff housing for almost three decades.

In February, Youdkevitch, who created and oversaw the center's teaching materials, and his wife, Osnat, left the center because of frustrations with the higher-ups, and decided to start their own kabbalah community in Los Angeles, calling it October 2, 2008. Shaul Youdkevitch said his goal was to become a kabbalah evangelist, to develop curriculum and programs that could be adopted by synagogues and communities unaffiliated with any organized kabbalah community, even his own.

"It was my life; I didn't want to give it up," Youdkevitch said in an interview. "And more than that, I wanted to share it with people all around the world."

But their efforts quickly attracted the attention of the Kabbalah Centre's leadership, and on July 14, Shaul and Osnat Youdkevitch were sued by their former employer of 28 years.

The lawsuit, which seeks damages in excess of $100,000 as well as any profits, accuses Universal Kabbalah Communities of unfairly competing, of stealing "trade secrets," of setting up a Web site and using an acronym (UKC) that people could confuse with the Kabbalah Centre (TKC), of trying to steal the center's members and of claiming to be intellectual successors to the teachings of Rabbi Philip Berg and his predecessors.

The 23-page suit cites numerous cases in which their activities allegedly violated California law. Among them, that their Web site, www.livekabbalah.org, is too similar to the center's, www.kabbalah.com, and that Universal Kabbalah Communities invited members of the Kabbalah Centre to a celebration on the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Yehuda Brandwein, who led the center before he handed the reins to Berg in 1969.

Aviv Tuchman, an attorney for the Youdkevitches, called the lawsuit "groundless."

"The word kabbalah is not trademarked; the observance of the rabbi's yahrzeit is certainly not some proprietary right, the observance of Jewish holidays is not some proprietary right," Tuchman said. "The sole purpose of their lawsuit is to harm Shaul and Osnat -- it is to intimidate them and deter them from freely practicing Judaism and kabbalah."

Youdkevitch and his wife are not the first people to start an alternative to the Kabbalah Centre; they just might be the highest-profile former employees to do so. Because of that, their activities have drawn the attention of many active members and employees of the center.

Across the United States and, particularly, in Israel, countless individuals and organizations teach various forms of kabbalah, said Jody Myers, chair of Jewish studies at Cal State Northridge and author of "Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest: The Kabbalah Centre in America" (Praeger, 2007). The most significant of these, she said, is Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute, which started in Israel in 1991.

That someone who left the Kabbalah Centre would start their own kabbalah community should be no surprise, Myers said. But that the center would file suit is.

"I find it problematic," Myers said. "We have First Amendment rights here. People are going to keep teaching kabbalah."

Calls to the Kabbalah Centre's media office were not returned. Janet Grumer, an attorney for the center, declined to comment.

The lawsuit is presented not as a religious matter but a business dispute. Repeatedly referenced is how the Universal Kabbalah Communities are cutting into the profits and economic advantage of the center. (Although the Kabbalah Centre is a nonprofit religious organization, its revenues fluctuate like those of a for-profit business.)

Youdkevitch's attorneys claim the suit is a vain attempt to skirt constitutional protections of freedom of expression and religious exercise.

"Couching its allegations under the guise of a business dispute cannot dodge the First Amendment dagger and review the corpse that is plaintiff's complaint," they wrote in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

A hearing will be held Oct. 27 in U.S. District Court to decide how the case will move forward. Legal experts said the Kabbalah Centre's claim would hinge on its ability to demonstrate that Universal Kabbalah Communities infringed on trademarked material.

"The touchstone is you can't be so similar that a significant portion of the population is likely to be confused. There is no hard and fast rule," said Daniel Klerman, a trademark expert at USC Gould School of Law. "The question is: Are people likely to be confused by what this new group is doing?"

"If they called themselves the Kabbalah Centres, just adding an 's,' that would be confusing. If they called themselves the Kabbalah Spirituality Centre, that would be confusing," Klerman continued. "But what are they calling themselves? The Universal Kabbalah Communities -- yeah, that sounds sufficiently different to me that people would think it was another kabbalah group different from the other one."

Sara Flatow, who for 11 years has been a member of the Kabbalah Centre, hopes the suit is settled without any harm to Universal Kabbalah Communities. She's recently gotten involved there, attending their Shabbat services and becoming a part of the growing fabric of about 100 regulars. What captured her imagination most, she said, was Shaul Youdkevitch's desire to share the teachings of kabbalah with anyone who would listen.

"He has so much to teach, not just from his wisdom and his understanding and his learning but also from his experience," Flatow said. "He and Osnat were the heads of the center in Tel Aviv and reached out to the Arab communities and made great strides in relations in that department. Really reaching out, showing the unification, that we are all people, that we are all mothers and fathers and children, we are one unified soul -- that is sort of the message of kabbalah."

http://jewishjournal.com/uncategorized/66334/

Need 450 acres near Disney? Get ready to fork over $150M

Orlando Sentinel
September 8, 2008
Mark Pino

One of Osceola County's grandest tourism visions remains an illusion.

A 450-acre tract planned for a theme park mixing magic and Transcendental Meditation remains vacant in the tourism corridor. Almost two decades later, the two men behind the project are dead, and the land has a $150 million price tag.

"It's a great piece of property," said Hector Lizasuain, who oversees a tax district created to beautify West U.S. Highway 192. "It's funny -- over the years, they'll put [for sale] signs up and take them down again. People call it one of the prettiest sections, maybe because there are no buildings. But it is prime real estate."

The former plant farm has remained a swatch of green foliage and wetlands that runs for nearly three-quarters of a mile among U.S. 192's glitz and kitsch, flanked by Old Town and a Cracker Barrel.

Vedaland, which means land of knowledge, was announced with much fanfare in 1989 by magician Doug Henning and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to The Beatles who introduced the West to Transcendental Meditation. Henning died of cancer in 2000, and the Maharishi died at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop this year.

A Maharishi subsidiary closed on the property in 1990 for $20 million in cash. In 1996, it was on the market for $60 million after the group shifted efforts to a site in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The park plan originally included a building seemingly suspended above water without supports, a "magic flying chariot" that took riders inside the molecular structure of a rose, and robots that would fly through the air, performing magic tricks.

The development was projected to cost $1 billion.

The backers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars planning the project and getting government approvals, which expired years ago.

It is hard to analyze the current asking price by the Maharishi Global Development Fund, said Linda Goodwin-Nichols, a Realtor who is not involved with the listing but is a member of the West U.S. 192 Redevelopment Advisory Board.

"That property has been for sale for 25 years," she said. "In today's marketplace, you don't know if it is a good price because no commercial property has sold in a long time."

The listing averages about $330,000 an acre, which Goodwin-Nichols said is "not bad for usable property," but the tract includes wetlands that would not be worth as much.

While the property is listed on tax rolls as agricultural land because of a tree-farming operation, an Internet sales listing cites a study that "suggests potential development scenarios up to 800,000 square feet of commercial space and as many as 4,300 multifamily residential units."

While the tract is zoned for a planned development, the original approvals expired in 2005. A new owner would have to start the process from the beginning, county officials said.

Goodwin-Nichols said the property might appeal to a buyer with a plan for a resort with a hotel, condos and a golf course who could acquire it for the right price and time the process so the project was ready when the economy improves.

"Now would be the perfect time," she said. "But you don't see a lot of people doing that. The stuff that is coming out of the ground now has been on the drawing table and in the process for a long time."

3 more indicted in Texas FLDS probe

Ben Winslow
Deseret News
August 22, 2008

ELDORADO, Texas — One by one, the women of the Fundamentalist LDS Church were called before the grand jury to testify in secret about allegations of crimes within the Utah-based polygamous sect.

By the end of the day, three felony indictments were handed down.

"There's three different indictments, three different names," Schleicher County court clerk Peggy Williams confirmed late Thursday. She would not say who was indicted or what the charges were.

The Texas Attorney General's Office, which is prosecuting the cases, also declined comment on the indictments.

Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran told the Deseret News he had not yet received any arrest warrants.

"Whatever they hand to us, we will actively pursue if it is an arrest warrant," he said.

The indictments came at the end of a nerve-wracking day for members of the FLDS Church. The young women arrived at the Schleicher County Memorial Building in the morning. There, they waited for most of the day as the weather in this tiny west Texas town turned hot and humid and thunderstorms moved in.

To pass the time, a few of the women whipped out digital cameras and took pictures of everything around them. One smiled as she posed for a picture with a Texas Ranger. They joked with a Deseret News photographer about who would have the better pictures.

When it came time to testify, an officer would walk out to where they were waiting. Their attorneys would escort them to the doors, but the women went in alone. The grand jury was meeting in a building that often serves as a one-room courthouse, complete with folding chairs and a card table acting as a judge's bench.

Throughout the proceedings, the young women would often walk out of the building and huddle with their attorneys, a nervous look on their faces. They would then go back in to resume their testimony. This happened numerous times, leading to speculation that some young women were refusing to answer questions under their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

"This has been a very painful process for the people," said FLDS member and spokesman Willie Jessop. "It's certainly had a tremendous toll on everyone involved. My heart certainly goes out to every one of these girls involved."

Jessop also testified, but he could not say what he told the panel because of laws dictating grand jury secrecy.

"We certainly believe there's a God, and we believe he will judge," Jessop said Thursday. "All those who judge will be judged themselves."

The grand jury is scheduled to meet again on Sept. 23.

Six men were indicted by the grand jury last month. FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, 52; Raymond Merril Jessop, 36; Allan Eugene Keate, 56; Merril Leroy Jessop, 33; and Michael Emack, 57; were charged with sexual assault, accusing them of relationships with underage girls.

Merril Leroy Jessop also was charged with bigamy, and FLDS community physician Lloyd Hammond Barlow, 38, was charged with three misdemeanor counts of failure to report child abuse. The men are scheduled to be arraigned here on Sept. 8.

Jeffs will get notice of the arraignment, Williams said, but he may not be there. The FLDS leader is currently in an Arizona jail awaiting trial on sexual misconduct charges there, accused of performing underage marriages. He is scheduled for a hearing in Kingman, Ariz., today.

Jeffs was convicted in Utah and sentenced to a pair of five-years-to-life sentences for rape as an accomplice, having performed a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

Texas authorities have said they would seek to extradite him to the Lone Star state.

The criminal probe into the FLDS Church stems from the April raid on the group's YFZ Ranch near here based on a call from someone claiming to be an abused teenager. Child welfare authorities placed 440 children in state protective custody while investigating other abuse allegations. The original call is believed to be a hoax.

The children were returned to their parents when two Texas courts ruled the state acted improperly.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700252793,00.html

140,000 council chief goes on 5,000 course to protect herself against 'abrasions of the world'

Daily Mail (UK)

August 22, 2008

A town hall boss is spending 5,000 of taxpayers money to go on a self-awareness training course in Germany and Florida to teach her to 'like herself'.

Dr Allison Fraser, who has been in charge of Sandwell Council in the West Midlands over the last two years, will attend courses in the Avatar Professional Course to learn how to become 'more likeable'.

Chief Executive Dr Fraser - who has an annual salary package of 140,000 - has already spent a week in Willingen, Germany earlier this month to take part in the first section of her course and will resume it in Orlando, Florida in October.

In Florida, she will discover if she can 'like herself' at the Rosen Plaza Hotel at the resort's International Drive.

The 'Pro course literature' even suggests she could 'stroll down International Drive while doing your course exercises'.

Dr Francis will then be able to 'experience a recovery of enthusiasm and inspiration for your own personal vision and for the World'.

Yesterday the critics of the council leader claimed she had herself 'lost touch' by attending the course which has links to the controversial Church of Scientology.

The Avatar website claims their course teaches people how to become 'more real, authentic' and will even 'protect themselves against the abrasions of the world' and 'gain a connection with the undefined self'.

The course even claims to teach students how to 'obtain the keys to successfully operate in the world'.

The Avatar was established by Harry Palmer, a former missionary in the controversial Church of Scientology and it is further claimed he devised the Avatar theory during a prolonged session in a flotation tank.

The Avatar website yesterday contained some of Mr Palmer's words of wisdom including the statement: 'There seems to be some kind of evolution going on in consciousness. Some sort of collective adaptation that we're developing or awakening to wisdom.'

Yesterday Dr Fraser was unavailable for comment on the course as she looked forward to gaining further ' wisdom' by travelling to Orlando and International Drive described in the Avatar brochure as one of the ' most dynamic vacation destinations' in the world.

However, Tony Mallam, chairman of Sandwell's Sons of Rest clubs, which faces closure through budget cuts, stormed: 'It beggars belief. I think people have lost touch with the simple things.

'She should be concentrating on Sandwell, not flying round the world.'

In America, campaigners against Mr Palmer's radical outlook have set up an on-line petition to get the Avatar Course investigated, describing it as a 'quasi-religious cult with roots in Scientology.'

But Sandwell Council leader Bill Thomas claimed in a statement that the course was 'good value for money' and he added:

'It is certainly very important that she has access to these training courses. This is considered to be one of the best course around.

'The course was approved by the Labour group and the other main political parties.'

He added that Dr Fraser has 'ultimate responsibility' for a budget of 1billion a year and the course would help her 'gain even more experience'.

In June this year, Sandwell Council offered the jobless in the area free lessons in 'personal grooming and stress management' in a move designed to help them get off the dole queue.

Critics described the five week 'Look Good, Feel Good' course as 'ridiculous' after it was launched by the council's Adult and Family Learning Service.

Meanwhile, news of the council chief's self awareness course trip comes after it emerged that another Midlands council has spent almost 1million on spin doctors each year.

Dudley Council spent 945,000 on public relations in the last financial year by employing 18 full-time Press officers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1048330/140-000-council-chief-goes-5-000-course-protect-abrasions-world.html

34 more polygamist sect custody cases dropped

Dallas Morning News
August 16, 2008

SAN ANTONIO – Custody cases involving 34 children taken from a polygamist sect's West Texas ranch were dropped this week because child welfare authorities no longer believe court oversight is needed, an agency spokeswoman said Friday.

The action brings to 66 the number of cases dismissed of the approximately 440 children that the state had taken from the sect in a raid this year, then was forced by courts to return.

Child Protective Services investigators have continued to review the cases since the children's return. Last week, officials persuaded the district court in San Angelo to dismiss 32 cases and on Thursday asked, and got, the court to dismiss 34 more.

The remaining cases are under review. In addition, CPS is seeking the return to state custody of eight children whose mothers have refused to limit their children's contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.
Hearings in those cases are scheduled to begin in San Angelo on Monday.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-polygamists_16tex.ART.State.Edition1.4dcfc47.html

Abbotsford faith healer proves divisive for Christians

Douglas Todd
Vancouver Sun

August 15, 2008

Followers of controversial B.C. preacher line up and pray for a miracle

With his full-body Jesus tattoos and facial piercings, Todd Bentley looks more like a bike-gang member or World Wrestling Federation fighter than an evangelical preacher.

But in the past few months, the burly B.C. bad boy has turned into the hottest, most divisive Christian faith healer in North America.

Bentley, 32, who preaches about once being a young criminal in Gibsons and who now bases his ministry in the Bible Belt city of Abbotsford, has drawn roughly 300,000 people since April to his wild revival meetings in southern Florida.

Up to 10,000 people a day have been flocking to a Florida baseball stadium to lose themselves in ecstatic music and appeal to Bentley for divine healing, which the T-shirted, bling-wearing redhead sometimes offers by kneeing the sick in the stomach or kicking them with his biker boots and shouting "Bam!"

Despite drawing tremendous crowds to his mesmerizing, rock-music-filled services, Bentley has sharply polarized North American evangelicals.

A number of rival conservative Christian radio hosts, apocalypticists and charismatics have attacked the Canadian preacher for, among other things, claiming to have gone to heaven and met and talked with angels, Jesus and the apostle Paul.

Those critics have called his ministry "demonic," "occult," "deceitful" and "plain silly."

Bentley's growing legions of defenders, however, say God often uses "flawed people" to perform miracles and heal the sick.

Bentley's controversial revival meetings, which have been running every day in Florida for more than 18 weeks -- replete with people writhing on floors in religious ecstasy -- have also taken a toll on Bentley's family.

His large Abbotsford office, called Fresh Fire Ministries, acknowledged Monday on its website that Bentley and his wife, Shonnah, who have three children, have separated.

His wife and children have returned to Canada.

Bentley also announced he will end his Florida revival, called The Outpouring, on Aug. 23.

The revival has been mostly running in Lakeland, Fla., east of Tampa Bay, both at Ignited Church (where it started) and on the spring training ground of baseball's Detroit Tigers.

Bentley's imminent departure from The Outpouring, so he can instead travel throughout North America and to Britain, has come in the midst of rising media coverage questioning the authenticity of his healings.

London's Express on Sunday started a campaign last month to keep the Canadian revivalist out of Great Britain and, as of this week, Fresh Fire Ministries "postponed" a planned gathering in Birmingham, England.

Bentley was not available for an interview Thursday with The Vancouver Sun. An official at Fresh Fire Ministries, Bruce Merz, avoided answering questions, directing The Sun to the ministry's website for information.

The Fresh Fire website said the intense "worldwide awakening" started by Bentley in Florida has created "pressures and burdens ... which have helped to create an atmosphere of fatigue and stress that has exacerbated existing issues in [the Bentleys'] relationship. We want to affirm that there has been no sexual immorality on the part of either Todd or Shonnah."

How did this once-troubled young man from B.C. become the most dramatic Canadian faith-healer to hit the United States since Ontario's Aimee Semple MacPherson first stormed Los Angeles in the early 20th century with a mixture of Hollywood show biz and Christian revivalism?

Bentley preaches in public about his rough-and-tumble early days, including near-fatal drug overdoses, criminal burglaries and stints in prison.

Bentley has acknowledged in the conservative Christian publication, Charisma, that at age 14 he was arrested for sexually assaulting children in B.C.

In addition, Fresh Fire Ministries' website says: "In his late teens, Todd had a dramatic encounter with the saving and delivering power of God. This experience brought Todd out of a lifestyle of drug and alcohol addiction without cravings or withdrawal symptoms. He was also delivered from a lifestyle involving criminal activity, youth prisons, drugs, sex, satanic music and bondage."

Charisma magazine (which serves so-called charismatic Christians, including those who speak "in tongues" -- indecipherable utterances that are considered God-given) reported in an earlier article that Bentley was making a name for himself as a faith healer in B.C. almost 10 years ago, particularly in Kelowna and Abbotsford.

Internet videos of Bentley's faith healing in Florida reveal the intense emotion and theatricality of his revival meetings. The videos, available online through YouTube and other sources, show Bentley running toward a man with colon cancer and kneeing him in the stomach. The man buckles, wavers, smiles wanly and finally falls on the stage.

Bentley then tells the man, in front of the cheering congregation: "I had to be obedient to the Lord, sir. Why did the preacher just knee you in the gut? I tell you the Lord is working in you. You felt a quivering."

Several videos show people falling on the stage after Bentley heals them in a variety of ways, including by apparently punching one and kicking another.

Another video, which compares Bentley's events to a "rave," shows a thin woman dancing to pounding drum music while in an apparent trance. She repeatedly mimics shooting at the congregation with a gun.

In one of many Bentley books, CDs and DVDs that are available on the Fresh Fire website, the B.C. evangelist amusingly describes meeting the apostle Paul in heaven.

"As unbelievable as it may sound, I actually saw the apostle Paul come walking toward me onto the bridge," Bentley says.

"You might be wondering how I knew immediately that it was Paul. I just perceived it by divine knowledge and revelation. People have asked me what he looked like, and so I will attempt to describe his appearance. He was short, not more than 5'1" or 5'2" (I'm 5'6").... Looking very Jewish with a short, trimmed, white beard, my first thought was of a monk in a monastery! He actually had jolly cheeks and I thought: Paul, you've got a little weight on you! I mean he wasn't fat but he looked a little pudgy!"

Bob Burkinshaw, of Trinity Western University in Langley, an evangelical independent school, says he is aware of people who are "quite excited" about Bentley, who has drawn thousands to his revival meetings at a Pentecostal church in Abbotsford.

"But I suppose I'm one of those who is moderately skeptical. These things are rarely black and white," said Burkinshaw, a specialist in Canadian church history at the private evangelical university.

Evangelical Christians believe God does heal the sick, but "the issue is one of method," Burkinshaw said. "Many say, 'God doesn't do command performances.'"

Bentley's on-the-edge faith-healing appeals to "people on the margins of respectable society," a U.S. subculture Burkinshaw says was drawn to revivalism during much of the early 20th century, before evangelicalism expanded into the middle- and upper-classes.

Rather than thinking of Bentley's followers as gullible, passive sheep, Burkinshaw suggested understanding them as people who come to the events planning to build on the mesmerizing music and passionate preaching so they can "experience God's presence."

Told about Bentley's marriage breakdown and plans to end the four-month long revival in Florida, Burkinshaw said, "I'm sure the demands of that kind of life can be extreme, putting pressures on families."

Bentley's most recent posting on the Fresh Fire website makes it clear that, although his plans are changing, he's nowhere near giving up his mission.

Bentley will be conducting faith healing events in Spokane, Wash., and then Abbotsford on Sept 17. He also expects to lead revivals at dozens of other North American, and possible British, venues in the coming months.

Sounding as enthusiastic as ever, Bentley reassures his followers and asks for their continued support. "Pray for us as we walk the land, carrying the precious ark of His healing presence for His glory into those fields white and ripe for harvest. More details will be forthcoming!"

He signs off his message:

"BAM!"

dtodd@vancouversun.com

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=d598a543-4156-4d31-907b-0f0b4d840ab9

A new-style evangelical pastor ascends the political stage

Jane Lampman
Christian Science Monitor

August 15, 2008

Pastor Rick Warren interviews Obama and McCain in a live broadcast Saturday.

Bestselling author. A Southern Baptist minister who breaks the conservative mold. Touted by some as the likely successor to Billy Graham.

On Saturday, pastor Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," will do what no one else has yet accomplished: bring the presumptive GOP and Democratic presidential nominees onto the same stage to discuss their views.

It's a sign of religion's importance in the 2008 presidential campaign. The event, back-to-back one-hour interviews at Mr. Warren's California megachurch, will be broadcast live on CNN and streamed on the Web. It also represents the emergence of a new style of evangelical leadership on the national stage, which is not tied to a single party and has broadened its social agenda beyond that of the religious right.

"This is absolutely a changing of the guard, and it suggests that the new guard of the evangelical movement is able to generate the attention and focus of both parties," says D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University and author of "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite."

Warren personally invited the two candidates – "friends of mine" – via their cellphones. His event at the Saddleback Valley Community Church in Orange County, Calif., – the nation's fourth-largest church – has among its aims "helping the Church regain credibility and encouraging our society to return to civility."

"This is a critical time for our nation, and the American people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart – without interruption – in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan 'gotcha' questions that typically produce heat instead of light," Warren said on announcing the event, called a Saddleback Civil Forum.

His questions will focus on how the candidates lead and make decisions and will cover five topics: leadership, stewardship, worldview, compassion issues, and their vision for America.

"This can be important as a model for a religious leader who is bipartisan in reaching out to find out about candidates," says C. WeltonGaddy, head of the Interfaith Alliance, in Washington, which has criticized some uses of religion in the campaign. "He's putting himself on center stage at a critical moment, with a tremendous amount of responsibility riding on his shoulders."

There's little doubt the forum will capture a large audience. Many Evangelicals have been in a quandary over the election, not ready to embrace Senator McCain yet suspicious of Senator Obama. Millions of Americans are eager to get a more intimate look at the men vying to lead them. And Warren's stature among a broad spectrum of Christians and others who have read his books or signed onto his global mentoring program for churches (some 400,000) is itself a draw.

Widely seen as the most influential pastor in America, with a large overseas following as well, Warren has gone through the transition that he is now encouraging other Evangelicals to make – from strictly soul-saving to a broader agenda that includes attacking poverty and HIV/AIDS globally.

"He's representative of Evangelicals who now see that the gospel message is more than just about getting people into heaven; it's about how we use our spiritual resources to make this world a better place," says Kurt Fredrickson, director of the ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., where Warren got his doctorate.

After building his own church from one family in 1980 to 23,000 in weekly attendance, the affable preacher began teaching other clergy how to reach out and "grow" their congregations. The late management guru Peter Drucker praised his model and called him "a genius."

Warren wrote books that became bestsellers published in 50 languages. His "Purpose-Driven Life" is the bestselling nonfiction hardback book in history aside from the Bible. Praying to know what to do with this growing wealth and influence, the down-to-earth pastor, who regularly preaches in Hawaiian shirt and khakis, says God woke him up: "He told me to use my influence for those who have no influence."

With the encouragement of his wife, Kay, he took up the HIV/AIDS issue at a time when many Evangelicals still viewed it as punishment from God. And he's designed perhaps the most ambitious (some say naive) development plan ever conceived, the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, to mobilize a billion Christians to attack global evils. The energetic globe-trotter has begun implementing the plan in Rwanda, in alliance with that country's president.

"He's a visionary ... who sees the potential for the church to be a service organization and a transformative agent in the world," says Randall Balmer, a religion historian at Columbia University. "He thinks big, he dreams big, and he's pulled off some remarkable things."

Many leaders have spurred the broadening of the evangelical agenda, including Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals (on the environment), Jim Wallis of Sojourners (on poverty), and David Gushee of Mercer University (on torture). They have all sparked criticism from the religious right, which insists on hewing to a tight social agenda on abortion, homosexuality, and the courts.

Warren, too, is the frequent brunt of criticism. While theologically conservative and an opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage, he has been criticized for reaching out to leaders such as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama. But he likes to respond, "I'm not left wing and I'm not right wing. I'm for the whole bird. You have to have two wings to fly."

Young Evangelicals are also pushing the community more toward the center with their concerns for social justice and environmental issues.

The feeling has grown that it's time to pull back from too close a connection to one political party. This has created an opening for Democrats, which Obama has tried to take advantage of, meeting with prominent evangelical leaders and reaching out to youths.

According to a poll released this week by the Barna Group, among "self-reported Evangelicals" (40 percent of Americans) who say they are likely to vote, McCain holds a narrow 39 percent to 37 percent lead over Obama. Among those Barna defines as true Evangelicals (comprising the 8 percent of Americans who meet Barna's doctrinal criteria), McCain holds a 61 percent to 17 percent lead.

Other polls haven't found any Democratic inroads. "I think the polling done at this point is not fine-grained enough to see the effect of Obama's outreach," Dr. Lindsay says.

The nature of Evangelicals' political clout is changing, perhaps even diluting. Their vote may be up for grabs. But it's clear from this Saturday's forum that both parties see them as a key constituency.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0815/p01s01-uspo.html

4 more in 'cult' cited in death

Gus G. Sentementes and Annie Linskey
Baltimore Sun
August 12, 2008

5, including boy's mother, charged with starving him

Baltimore police have obtained warrants charging four more members of what authorities call a religious cult in the death of 2-year-old Javon Thompson, whose body was found in May in a suitcase in Philadelphia. The warrants bring the number of people charged in the boy's death to five.

Charged with murder in warrants were Queen Antoinette, 40, Trevia Williams, 20, Marcus Cobbs, 21, and Steven Bynum, 42. All but Bynum are in jail on other charges, and the Warrant Apprehension Task Force is looking for Bynum in the New York area, said Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the city's Police Department.

With the most recent charges, police have charged all but two known adults associated with the tiny religious group, 1 Mind Ministries, in the boy's death. The gruesome details of that crime were outlined in a 12-page statement of charges written over the weekend by homicide Detective Vernon Parker.

Police say the five suspects belonged to a small group of adults and children who operated for a time in East and West Baltimore. Police allege that the victim's mother, Ria Ramkissoon, 21, the first to be charged with murder, and others neglected Javon and allowed the boy to starve to death because they thought he was a demon for not saying amen after he was fed, according to police charging documents.

Javon is believed to have died in December 2006 in a West Baltimore house, according to police charging documents. The cause of death was ruled homicide by unspecified means, according to court papers.

In early February 2007, police say, the group fled to Philadelphia, taking the boy's body in a green suitcase with wheels. They stayed at various places, settling for about a week at the home of a man the group befriended, according to police. Police found Javon's body in a shed behind the house in May this year. He was wearing a diaper.

DNA evidence provided preliminary confirmation that the remains are those of Javon, according to a police source close to the investigation. Authorities are awaiting complete results.

In early May, three members of the group - including its alleged leader, Toni Ellsberry, also known as Queen Antoinette - were arrested in Brooklyn, N.Y., on outstanding warrants connected to an unrelated Baltimore case in which they are accused of assaulting a city officer who had gone to their home to retrieve a child involved in a custody dispute. The suspects were returned to Baltimore and held on charges that they had failed to show up for a court date.

Ramkissoon, also known as Princess Marie, was to have had a bail hearing in district court in Baltimore yesterday, but the proceeding was postponed because she was under psychiatric observation at the Women's Detention Center, according to court and correctional officials.

Judge Charles A. Chiapparelli postponed Ramkissoon's hearing until this morning. Ramkissoon and the other four are charged with first- and second-degree murder, child abuse, assault, reckless endangerment and conspiracy charges, police said.

Ramkissoon's mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, said she was pleased to hear that others have been charged in her grandson's death. Referring to her daughter, Khadan-Newton said: "She had no control. They made the rules."

She still struggles with why her daughter joined the group. "I don't think my daughter knew what she was getting into," she said. "The baby's father was in jail. She was going through a long time."

Ramkissoon was with the other members in Brooklyn, but when they were arrested in May she returned to Baltimore and was staying at the Mattie B. Uzzle Outreach Center in the 1200 block of N. Chester St. in East Baltimore. A woman answering the door there yesterday declined to comment.

In court documents charging Ramkissoon, Parker, the homicide detective, recounts eyewitness accounts from a source within the religious group. The source said the group's leader, Queen Antoinette, "had a problem with baby Javon, who would not comply with mealtime ritual by saying 'Amen' after meals," Parker wrote. "The more the Queen pressed Javon, the more resistant he became."

The child stopped getting food and water, and he became thin with dark circles under his eyes, according to the document. Javonstopped breathing and was placed in a back room of a house in the 3200 block of Auchentoroly Terrace. At one point everyone was instructed to pray around the boy's body, the document said.

"The Queen told everyone that 'God was going to raise Javon from the dead,'" according to Parker's statement of charges. "That resurrection never took place."

After the child died, Bynum rented a silver Chevrolet Impala from Enterprise Rent-A-Car and drove to Philadelphia, according to court documents. Records obtained by the detective showed that the car was rented from Feb. 13-16, 2007.

The group stayed at the Red Roof Inn near the Philadelphia airport through March 9, when they were evicted, according to charging documents. Next they lived for a while on the streets, and Bynum left the group, according to charging documents.

On March 16, the group encountered the Philadelphia police who notified the city's social services department, which took two "school-aged children," according to the charging documents.

Queen Antionette then befriended Samuel Morgan, an elderly man living in South Philadelphia. "The Queen was able to gain the confidence of Morgan, who allowed the group to stay at his residence approximately one week," Parker wrote.

The group - it is unclear how many people were left - decided to go to Brooklyn. But they stored their belongings in Philadelphia - leaving behind the green suitcase, police allege.

After receiving a tip from a caseworker with the New York City Administration for Children's Services in early February, Baltimore homicide detectives went to Philadelphia and found the suitcase in early May.

annie.linskey@baltsun.com
gus.sentementes@baltsun.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.child12aug12,0,4021858.story

25 students got no-good degrees from New Birth campus

Christopher Quinn
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
August 11, 2008

Twenty-five students who attended a satellite program of North Carolina Central University at Bishop Eddie Long's Lithonia megachurch earned bachelor's degrees that are not recognized by the school's accrediting agency.

A school spokeswoman said 39 other students were in the program earlier this year when it was shut down.

Long and the school, in Durham, started the satellite campus four years ago. They closed it in June after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools learned of it, reviewed the program and refused to sanction it. All extension programs have to be approved by SACS for degrees to be recognized.

Tom Benberg, chief of staff at the Commission on Colleges at SACS, said any degrees earned in the program at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, "would not be a degree from an accredited operation."

Long released a statement saying the church has partnered with various education programs to hold classes at the church.

"Regrettably, the university did not seek appropriate approvals at that time prior to launching the program. Last month [SACS] denied approval for NCCU to continue the program offerings at the New Birth site."

Long said the church and the school are continuing to work toward getting the program recognized by SACS so it can continue.

Long is a graduate of NCCU, a school trustee and announced a $1 million gift to university last week.

The University of North Carolina system, of which NCCU is part, learned of the program last week, according to a spokeswoman. The program should have been vetted by the system's board of governors.

Erskine Bowles, president the University of North Carolina system, said in a written statement, "I can think of no justifiable reason why the former NCCU leadership would have completely ignored and failed to abide by the appropriate approval process in creating this program. Such action is contrary to all university policy."

Bowles continued, "This circumstance is one of many problems Chancellor [Charlie] Nelms inherited when he arrived last year, and he has managed each of them professionally and effectively."

The university system and the staff at NCCU are investigating the situation and trying to answer the legal and academic questions caused by it, said Joni Worthington, vice president of communications at UNC.

The school and Long's church tried to get the program approved ex post facto, but SACS denied their request in June.

A SACS report said the program did not prove that faculty was qualified or that it had adequate library and learning resources. The program was unable to measure whether students were adequately leaning the subject matters and it did not provide an adequate financial statement from the program.

NCCU provided The Atlanta Journal-Constitution a list of 11 NCCU faculty members who taught in the program, all of whom had graduate degrees. However, four were listed as non-compliant because they had no graduate course work in the classes they were teaching. The university paid the teachers and their travel expenses.

The program also had adjunct faculty members from the Atlanta area.

The college offered business, criminal justice and hospitality degrees at New Birth. The program began under then-Chancellor JamesAmmons of NCCU, who left to become president of Florida A&M University in 2007.

Calls and an e-mail Monday morning to Ammons were not returned. Ammons was engaged in board meetings there, an A&M spokeswoman said.

A statement from Chancellor Nelms at NCCU denied responsibility for the program. A university spokeswoman referred questions to Kimberly Phifer-McGhee, director of distance education at NCCU.

Phifer-McGhee said she did not know why or how the program started, did not know how much the university paid to run the program, or why SACS was not notified of it.

"I was not part of the leadership," she said.

She said that faculty members had degrees, but may not have had course work to teach what they were teaching at the school.

The university is trying to work out a program that would allow current students to remain in school in good standing, she said.

Benberg said that SACS would not likely recognize the degrees already awarded.

"I am not aware that we have ever done that," he said.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2008/08/11/long_college_degrees.html?cxntnid=amn081208e

5 Christian bikers accused of weapons and gang crimes

Tony Barboza
Los Angeles Times
August 9, 2008


Orange County prosecutors scale back charges against the Set Free Soldiers in a Newport Beach bar brawl with members of the Hells Angels, one of whom faces a weapons charge.

Five members of a Christian motorcycle gang were charged Friday with a variety of felony weapons and gang crimes after high-profile raids this week targeting the Anaheim-based group.

The charges marked a retreat from Wednesday, when authorities arrested seven members of the Set Free Soldiers, including founder and pastor Phillip Aguilar, on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. An eighth member was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The charges were in connection with a double stabbing during a bar brawl with the Hells Angels late last month.

On Friday, the Orange County district attorney's filed just one attempted murder charge, against Jose Quinones, 42, and charged Glenn Schoeman, 56, with being an accessory after the fact. They were being held on $1-million and $100,000 bail, respectively.

Aguilar, 60, the group's leader and pastor; his 29-year-old son, Matthew Aguilar; and Michael Timanus Jr., 29, face felony charges of illegal weapons possession.
They were expected to post bail, which was set at $50,000 each, according to their attorneys.

Phillip and Matthew Aguilar also were charged with possessing brass knuckles.

All five were accused of street terrorism for being part of a criminal street gang.

One Hells Angel member, John Lloyd, 41, also was charged with having a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

Additional charges may be filed, said Deputy District Atty. Erik Petersen, adding that the Set Free Soldiers are a violent street gang because "they carry on a pattern of criminal gang activity."

Set Free members say they are a Christian ministry that helps rehabilitate ex-convicts and recovering drug addicts. But authorities maintain that they are an outlaw motorcycle gang.

In Wednesday's raids in Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Rancho Santa Margarita and Norco, more than 150 police, SWAT teams and federal agents arrested eight Set Free Soldiers and three Hells Angels.

The raids included four homes that Aguilar owns in the 300 block of South Archer Street in Anaheim, where authorities found multiple firearms.

The arrests followed a July 27 fight between Set Free members and Hells Angels at a Newport Beach bar.

Police said Set Free members stabbed two Hells Angels and one Hells Angel struck a Set Free member in the head with a pool ball.

Attorneys on both sides said the case will hinge on a surveillance video taken of the brawl.

Sandra Aguilar, Phillip Aguilar's wife, said after the court hearing that the group had been unfairly targeted by police, who she said terrorized the group's children and grandchildren during the raids and "turned our homes upside down."

"They cannot believe that we're Christians because we have tattoos and ride motorcycles," she said. "It's sheep in wolf's clothing."

tony.barboza@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bikers9-2008aug09,0,4535714.story