Maharishi Group (wikigrain.org)

The Maharishi Group also called  Maharishi group, Maharishi Group Venture, Maharishi Group of Companies and TM organization was established by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s.[1] The Maharishi group was reported in 2009 to be worth $700 million[2] and to have operations in over 120 countries.[1]

The Maharishi Group calls itself "India’s leading International group with diversified interests".[3] According to one of the group's entities, it is active in "Education, Housing Finance, Solar Energy, Ayurvedic Products, Printing and Publishing, Granite, Software Development and Systems Integration, Aviation, Gems, Gold and Diamond Jewellery, IT turn key projects, Digital Animation, Clothing and many more areas."[4]Another entity says that the group "covers most aspects of modern human needs" and is based on the Maharishi's vision of "ridding the Society from sufferings ... by re-enlivening the body's intelligence through connecting it to the bountiful and perpetual reservoir of Nature's Intelligence".[5]

Health products

Anand Shrivastava is president of Maharishi Ayurveda Corporation. It was founded in 1987 and is ISO 9000 compliant. It markets over 900 products to 37 countries; exports which account for 60% of its output.[6]

Maharishi Ayurveda Products Pvt Ltd. (MAPPL), also run by Anand Srivastava, announced in a 2010 press release that it had been in business for three decades, that it operated 13 clinic in India, and that it was seeking the advice of a franchise company regarding further expansion[7] A 2011 press release, announcing franchise opportunities, says it markets over 1500 products.[8] MAPPL was sued in 2008 by a resident of Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa when she discovered that she had received lead poisoning after using their products. One herbal supplement was tested and reported to contain 3% lead by weight.[9]

Solar energy

The group includes Maharishi Solar Technology (MST), an ISO 9001:2000 accredited company which produces solar water heaters for home and industrial use as well as solar pumps and lanterns for areas that don't have electricity.[10][11] MST is run by Ajay Prakash Shrivastava brother of Anand Shrivastava. Prakash Shrivastava is also the 2009–2010 president of the Solar Energy Society of India and the Vice-President of International Solar Society.[12] MST has a vertically integrated facility for producing photovoltaic panels at Kalahasti in Andhra Pradesh,[3] and is a core producer of the multicrystalline siliconwafers used to make them.[13] In 2009 it announced an agreement withAbengoa Solar Inc for the production of solar thermal collectors that useparabolic trough mirrors to produce steam. MST said that it would investRs 300 crore to acquire the technology and to build a factory in Noida to make the collectors.[11] Maharishi Renewable Energy Ltd (MREL) announced a plan to invest Rs 70 crore in a solar thermal electric generating plant in Rajasthan to be completed in 2011.[2]

Education

Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools is an educational system with 148 branches in 118 cities. The chairman is Ajay Prakash Shrivastava.[14][15]

Picasso Digital Media, headquartered in Delhi, provides education in digital animation in conjunction with Toronto's Centennial College.[16][17][18] Picasso Animation College held its first convocation at its Hyderabadcampus in 2010, hosted by its director general, O. P. Sharma.[19]

Other educational franchises include the Cosmic Institution of Neo Entertainment, Media and Arts (C.I.N.E.M.A.) and the Cosmic Business School (CBS).[20] Many CBS graduates are hired directly into Maharishi Groups businesses or are recruited by other business partners.[21][22]Started in 2004,[22] its president is Ajay Prakash Shrivastava and the director general is O.P Sharma.[23] Cosmic Academy, affiliated withManipal University, offered the first-ever MBA in Business Process Outsourcing in 2004.[24]

Software

Maharishi Information Technology Pvt. Ltd. (MITPL) was founded in 1999.[25] Cosmic Softech Limited is a software development company in New Delhi, one division of which is Cosmic Integrated Technology Services (CITeS).[5][26] Founded in 2000, it seeks to provide "comprehensive e-commerce solutions, web based technologies, enterprise business solutions designed around multi-tier architecture and telecommunications software development."[27]

Finance

The Maharishi Housing Development Finance Corporation (MHDFC) was established in 1993 in New Delhi. By 2000 it offered seven and 15-year loans and proposed a plan for 40-year mortgages.[28] By 2003 it had 15 branches across India, a loan portfolio of Rs104 crore, and the Maharishi University of Management of UK was listed as a promoter.[29]The sale of the controlling interest to ICICI Bank was initiated in 1999,[30][31] and the negotiations continued through 2003.[29] In 2009 it was announced that Religare Enterprises was planning to acquire a majority stake in MHDFC.[32]

References

1. ^ a b Das, Sandip (12 October 2009). "Harnessing solar power for industrial use.". The Financial Express.
2. ^ a b Mahalakshmi, BV (12 November 2009). "Maharishi to acquire tech from German co". The Financial Express (New Delhi).http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Maharishi-to-acquire-tech-from-German-co/540299/.
3. ^ a b "Maharishi Solar Technology announces tie-up with Abengoa Solar" (Press release). Global Solar Technology. 15 September 2009. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbikWwqJ. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
4. ^ "Maharishi Group". Picasso Digital Media. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbinCRGJ. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
5. ^ a b "THE MAHARISHI GROUP". Maharishi Ayurveda Products Pvt. Ltd.. 2007. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbipx5z9. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
6. ^ "Chennai". The Hindu (India): p. 1. 13 September 2000.
7. ^ "Maharishi Ayurveda consult Francorp to advice for its expansion Pan-India" (Press release). Free-Press-Release Inc.. 8 March 2010. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbitElKf.
8. ^ "Maharishi Ayurveda Products Pvt Ltd announces the launch of its franchise model" (Press release). 4 January 2011. Archived from the original on 20 January 2011.http://www.webcitation.org/5vtN5CUJl.
9. ^ Binegar, Erika (8 March 2008). "Title:Vedic City woman charges herbs caused lead poisoning.".Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa).
10. ^ Doe, Paula, (April 24 2008)Chindia Rushes Into Solar Solid State Technology, retrieved April 21 2012
11. ^ a b Das, Sandip (12 October 2009). "Harnessing solar power for industrial use". The Financial Express (New Delhi).http://www.financialexpress.com/news/harnessing-solar-power-for-industrial-use/527767/.
12. ^ "Governing Council of SESI 2009–10". Solar Energy Society of India.http://www.sesi.in/governingcouncil.asp. Retrieved 6 April 2010.[dead link]
13. ^ "Get a Deep Insight into the Global & China Solar Polysilicon Industry Chain Report". Business Wire (New York). 3 December 2007.
14. ^ "About Chairman". Maharishi Vidya Mandir public school. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbj4jfrK. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
15. ^ Pradhan, Sharat (10 February 2008). "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to be cremated in grand ceremony". Rediff.com.http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/10look.htm. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
16. ^ Mackinnon, Donna Jean (28 September 2006). "India has a huge demand for digital expertise Animation, India- style". Toronto Star: p. J.1.
17. ^ Chandrasekaran, Anupama (2 July 2007). "Maharishi Group’s Picasso To Invest $9 Mln In Animation Education, Production".contentSutra.http://contentsutra.com/article/419-maharishi-groups-picasso-to-invest-9-mln-in-animation-education-product/.
18. ^ "Ontario colleges animate India".National Post (Don Mills, Ont.): p. FP.3. 2 October 2006.
19. ^ "Picasso Animation College Organises Its First Convocation In The City" (Press release). India PRwire. 29 March 2010.http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/education/2010032946814.htm.
20. ^ "About Cinema". Cosmic Institution of Neo Entertainment, Media and Arts.http://www.cinemasite.in/aboutcinema.php. Retrieved 4 April 2010.[dead link]
21. ^ "Cosmic Business School: A recession proof career: MBA with SAP education". IndianMBA.com. 11 July 2009. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbjWFi4D. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
22. ^ a b "ABOUT COSMIC BUSINESS SCHOOL". minglebox. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbjbhvNY. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
23. ^ "Faculty". Cosmic Business School. Archived from the originalon 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbjfWCOI. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
24. ^ Gohain, Manash Pratim (16 November 2004). "Now, MBA in BPO". Asia Africa Intelligence Wire.
25. ^ "Maharishi's Programmes in India: Maharishi Information Technology". Maharishi Vedic University. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbjn0c2K. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
26. ^ "Home page". Cosmic Softech Limited. Archived from the originalon 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbjrV1vH. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
27. ^ "Maharishi group". The Tribune(India). 20 June 2000. Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.http://www.webcitation.org/5sbjzj29k.
28. ^ "India: Maharishi Housing to offer 40-yr loan scheme". Business Line. 8 March 2000.
29. ^ a b "ICICI BANK IN DUE DILIGENCE FOR MAHARISHI HSG FIN BUY (to complete due diligence process by Jun 2003)".Asia Africa Intelligence Wire. 29 May 2003.http://www.financialexpress.com/news/icici-bank-in-due-diligence-for-maharishi-hsg-fin-buy/71683/.
30. ^ "Maharishi's Programmes in India: Maharishi Housing Development Finance Corporation". Maharishi Vedic University. Archived from the original on 7 February 2004.http://web.archive.org/web/20040207202601/http://maharishi-india.org/companies/c2/index.html. Retrieved 5 April 2010.[1]
31. ^ "Religare forays into home fin biz; buys 87.5% stake in MHDFC".The Press Trust of India Ltd.. 28 May 2009.
32. ^ Patel, Rupal (6 April 2009)."Religare To Acquire Controlling Stake In MHDFC".http://business.highbeam.com/436238/article-1G1-197743688/religare-enterprises-acquire-majority-stake-maharishi.

http://www.wikigrain.org/?req=Maharishi+Group

reFocus

reFocus.org

How a corporate cult captures and destroys our best graduates

George Monbiot
The Guardian
June 3, 2015

To seek enlightenment, intellectual or spiritual; to do good; to love and be loved; to create and to teach: these are the highest purposes of humankind. If there is meaning in life, it lies here.

Those who graduate from the leading universities have more opportunity than most to find such purpose. So why do so many end up in pointless and destructive jobs? Finance, management consultancy, advertising, public relations, lobbying: these and other useless occupations consume thousands of the brightest students. To take such jobs at graduation, as many will in the next few weeks, is to amputate life close to its base.

I watched it happen to my peers. People who had spent the preceding years laying out exultant visions of a better world, of the grand creative projects they planned, of adventure and discovery, were suddenly sucked into the mouths of corporations dangling money like angler fish.

At first they said they would do it for a year or two, “until I pay off my debts”. Soon afterwards they added: “and my mortgage”. Then it became, “I just want to make enough not to worry any more”. A few years later, “I’m doing it for my family”. Now, in middle age, they reply, “What, that? That was just a student fantasy.”

Why should 'bright, critical thinkers' be dispatched on this kamikaze mission?
Why did they not escape, when they perceived that they were being dragged away from their dreams? I have come to see the obscene hours some new recruits must work – sometimes 15 or 16 a day – as a form of reorientation, of brainwashing. You are deprived of the time, sleep and energy you need to see past the place into which you have been plunged. You lose your bearings, your attachments to the world you inhabited before, and become immersed in the culture that surrounds you. Two years of this and many are lost for life.

Employment by the City has declined since the financial crash. Among the universities I surveyed with the excellent researcher John Sheil, the proportion of graduates taking jobs in finance and management consultancy ranges from 5% at Edinburgh to 13% at Oxford, 16% at Cambridge, 28% at the London School of Economics and 60% at the London Business School. But to judge by the number of applications and the rigour of the selection process, these businesses still harvest many of the smartest graduates.

Recruitment begins with lovebombing of the kind that cults use. They sponsor sports teams and debating societies, throw parties, offer meals and drinks, send handwritten letters, use student ambassadors to offer friendship and support. They persuade undergraduates that even if they don’t see themselves as consultants or bankers (few do), these jobs are stepping stones to the careers they really want. They make the initial application easy, and respond immediately and enthusiastically to signs of interest. They offer security and recognition when people are most uncertain and fearful about their future. And there’s the flash of the king’s shilling: the paid internships, the golden hellos, the promise of stupendous salaries within a couple of years. Entrapment is a refined science.

We have but one life. However much money we make, we cannot buy it back. As far as self-direction, autonomy and social utility are concerned, many of those who enter these industries and never re-emerge might as well have locked themselves in a cell at graduation. They lost it all with one false step, taken at a unique moment of freedom.

Graduates throw their mortarboards in the air Facebook Twitter Pinterest
 We have but one life. However much money we make, we cannot buy it back.
John Sheil and I sent questions to eight of the universities with the highest average graduate salaries: Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, the LSE, the London Business School, Warwick, Sheffield and Edinburgh. We asked whether they seek to counter these lavish recruitment drives and defend students from the love blitz. With one remarkable exception, their responses ranged from feeble to dismal. Most offered no evidence of any prior interest in these questions. Where we expected deep deliberation to have taken place, we found instead an intellectual vacuum.

They cited their duty of impartiality, which, they believe, prevents them from seeking to influence students’ choices, and explained that there were plenty of other careers on offer. But they appear to have confused impartiality with passivity. Passivity in the face of unequal forces is anything but impartial. Impartiality demands an active attempt to create balance, to resist power, to tell the dark side of the celestial tale being pummelled into the minds of undergraduates by the richest City cults.

Students! Follow your dreams, however hard it may be, however uncertain success might seem
Oxford University asked us, “isn’t it preferable that [the City] recruits bright, critical thinkers and socially engaged graduates who are smart enough to hold their employers to account when possible?”. Oh blimey. This is a version of the most desperate excuse my college friends attempted: “I’ll reform them from within.” This magical thinking betrays a profound misconception about the nature and purpose of such employers.

They respond to profit, the regulatory environment, the demands of shareholders, not to the consciences of their staff. We all know how they treat whistleblowers. Why should “bright, critical thinkers and socially engaged graduates” be dispatched on this kamikaze mission? I believe these universities are failing in their duty of care.

The hero of this story is Gordon Chesterman, head of the careers service at Cambridge, and the only person we spoke to who appears to have given some thought to these questions. He told me his service tries to counter the influence of the richest employers.

It sends out regular emails telling students “if you don’t want to become a banker, you’re not a failure”, and runs an event called “But I don’t want to work in the City”. It imposes a fee on rich recruiters and uses the money to pay the train fares of nonprofits. He expressed anger about being forced by the government to provide data on graduate starting salaries.

Brain drain to the corporates comes as no surprise
Letters: If the graduate loan system is here to stay, maybe it should be reconfigured so the interest payable is based on the earnings of the graduate and the social utility of their job

“I think it’s a very blunt and inappropriate means [of comparison], that rings alarm bells in my mind.”

Elsewhere, at this vulnerable, mutable, pivotal moment, undergraduates must rely on their own wavering resolve to resist peer pressure, the herd instinct, the allure of money, flattery, prestige and security.

Students, rebel against these soul-suckers! Follow your dreams, however hard it may be, however uncertain success might seem.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/city-corporates-destroy-best-minds

Breaching the secretive sects of Shin-Buddhism

Stephen Mansfield
Special to The Japan Times
May 30, 2015

The tendency to perceive covert groups as reticent conspirators rather than curators of hidden knowledge is universal.

In Japan, secret oral transmissions, chants, rituals and services have long been identified with esoteric schools of Buddhist faith such as Shingon and Tendai. Defenders of secrecy have drawn attention to several examples of the discretionary sharing of teachings among other well-established religious groups to prove that they are hardly unique in their commitment to confidentiality.

Among others who prefer to keep their most profound learnings under wraps are the Nichiren Buddhist sect with their many secret teachings, Zen Buddhists with their practice of direct transmission.

Are the Shin-Buddhist groups that researcher Clark Chilson writes about truly “covert” — with all the dark and grainy implications that come with that word — or are they simply esoteric?

Covert groups, as the writer soon discovers, are not primarily interested in disseminating doctrine and, thereby, expanding their congregations, although they may seek to maintain a regular number of adherents. The creation of a mystique through the sharing of secret practices among a select group, is in itself empowering.

Yet secrecy has its limits. By the Edo Period (1603-1868), the much-coveted “secret teachings” associated with gardening manuals were being openly published, prompted by the growing popularity of gardening — no longer the exclusive preserve of stone-setting priests and professionals. On a recent trip to Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, a monk at Jodoji Temple began speaking to me in hushed tones of ahibutsu (a hidden Buddha image or sculpture), concealed in a dank chamber — only to break the spell by finally showing me a photograph he had taken of the figure. There are cases with certain religious objects where excessive conjecture has almost refined them out of existence. There are those who believe that the tiny statue of the deity Kannon — found by two sibling fishermen in Tokyo’s Sumida River in 628 AD and now purportedly housed in the recesses of nearby Sensoji Temple — is a figment maintained by a religious establishment content to enjoy prestige by association.

Historically, covert groups and sects have gone into hiding to avoid persecution — their very secrecy defining them as heretical or injurious organizations outside the legitimizing realm of Buddhist scholasticism, threatening the existing social order. Confucianism, with its innate distrust of secrecy, helped to cast further aspersions on covert groups during the Edo Period. Heeding this climate of suspicion and fear, Chilson’s text is enlivened with anecdotes about religious espionage and undercover infiltrations, arrests and the grisly extraction of confessions.

Religion in Japan is often presented as a harmonious entity, despite historical records to the contrary. Those who know of the murderous rampages of monks on Mount Hiei, or the support lent by Zen Buddhists to the military in World War II, will not be surprised to learn of internal schisms and shifts of ideology and allegiance among the groups Chilson highlights. The author uses the existence of such groups as a vehicle for exploring ideas of concealment associated with Tantric traditions and hidden Christians in Japan, and also the practices of Crypto-Jews and those who practice Gnosticism or follow the Kabbalah.

Confraternities of covert Shin-Buddhists have been grouped into three categories by Chilson, which is a standard division: those found in the northeast of the country (referred to as kakushi nenbutsu), groups deemed heretical, and secret practitioners in parts of Kyushu. Though never privy to the ultimate teachings of these groups, Chilson, gaining the trust of various Shin-Buddhist fraternities, including one known as Urahomon, was admitted to their discussions, prayer sessions and sermons, and was even allowed to witness the rarely performed rites of one group who follow, and claim to protect, the teachings of the 12th-century holy man Shinran.
Chilson was able to explore a number of practices preserved by certain arcane congregations and affiliations, such as the liturgical texts used in services by Kirishimako members from southern Kyushu, who, at least traditionally, enforce a dietary ban on the consumption of chicken. The author was even asked if he would like to undergo the first of a number of initiation rites, an honor he declined in order to keep his integrity as a researcher intact. The acquisition of profound knowledge would have placed the writer in the predicament of having to decide whether to respect oaths of secrecy, or betray them.

Ultimately, the carefully managed balance between revealed and concealed practices helps to maintain the very special identity of these groups. “Secrecy,” as Chilson puts it, “in effect becomes an organizing principle,” for fraternities that are marginal, but essentially self-engrossed rather than socially seditious.
A work of staggering scholarship, ‘Secrecy’s Power’ — an undertaking requiring a mind-bending grasp of Japanese religious terminology and nomenclature — represents a milestone in the study of covert Buddhist groups, not so much for what it tells us, but for what it pointedly omits.
It will be interesting to see how such groups cope in Japan’s new government-driven surveillance society, whose doctrine is full disclosure in the service of the state.

Secrecy’s Power, by Clark Chilson
235 pages.
University of Hawaii Press, Nonfiction.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/05/30/books/book-reviews/breaching-secretive-sects-shin-buddhism/#.VWsO59JVhHx

Maryland: Vote Is a Setback for Scientology-Linked Rehab Center

New York Times

ANDREW SIDDONS

June 2, 2015

The Frederick County Council on Tuesday voted 6 to 1 against placing a fishing retreat on a local register of historic places, making it very unlikely that a drug rehabilitation program with ties to the Church of Scientology will be opened. The retreat, near Camp David, has been visited by several presidents. The vote against adding the property, known as Trout Run, to the historic list will deny the retreat the zoning it would need for a Narconon facility. The Council was urged by its lawyer to consider only Trout Run’s historic character and not the practices of Narconon. Narconon is likely to appeal.

A version of this brief appears in print on June 3, 2015, on page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Maryland: Vote Is a Setback for Scientology-Linked Rehab Center

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/us/maryland-vote-is-a-setback-for-scientology-linked-rehab-center.html?_r=0

Are We Mormons a Cult?

Mette Ivie Harrison 

Huffington Post

June 2, 2015 

When I was at graduate school in Princeton from 1990-1995, I worked summers as a temporary secretary at various big local businesses. In one of those situations, I talked to a coworker about my religion. She was a Baptist, and had some pretty strong opinions about Mormons. To be specific, she called Mormonism a cult and when I tried to talk her out of it, she dug in and insisted. I asked her for the reasons she thought Mormonism was a cult and tried to suggest that lots of religions she thought of as real religions rather than cults had similar traits. For instance, her argument that Mormons didn't believe in grace over works seemed similar to me to Catholicism.

I was pretty prickly about Mormons being called a cult at the time, but 25 later, I have begun to wonder if it might not be useful for Mormons to understand more clearly why so many people think of Mormonism as a cult. Are these reasons that are true and are things we embrace? Are they true and things we might want to change? Are they simply not true and things we need to correct people about?

Signs of a Cult:

1. A Charismatic Leader support
2. Denial of Essential Christian Teachings (Trinity, Christ's Reality, the Second Coming)
3. Brainwashing/Systematic Programs of Indoctrinization
4. Psychological Abuse/Intimidation
5. Mass Suicide/Doomsday Expectations
6. Authoritarian Mind Control
7. Communal and Totalistic Organization
8. Aggressive Proselytizing
9. Social Humiliation and Punishment
10. Limitation of Information to Membership or Outright Deception

Joseph Smith was indeed a charismatic leader. The fact that Mormonism as a religion survived Smith's assassination in 1844 and has since continued to grow seems to indicate that it was not merely his personality that is Mormonism. However, when I was a child, we talked a lot more about Joseph Smith than we did about Jesus Christ. I think this is something that has changed dramatically in the church since then, and for good reason. It might be useful for us to think about the way in which we talk about current leaders, as well. Do we see them as men with flaws? Do we tend to elevate them to a status above mortal? Do we refuse to see Joseph Smith as a mortal with flaws? Would changing just a few words make it more clear that we worship Christ as the son of God and not our own prophets?

When Mitt Romney was a candidate for president, Mike Huckabee made a big fuss over a few Mormon beliefs that went outside the lines as far as most fundamental Christians were concerned, including the idea that Christ and Satan were brothers and that Mormons don't believe in the trinity. There are a number of Mormon beliefs that are variations on typical Christian beliefs, including universal resurrection, an emphasis on work rather than grace alone, and the belief that men can become gods. On the one hand, Mormonism is clearly a Christian religion, since we believe Christ was the literal son of God and we use the Bible as a scripture (though we believe the Book of Mormon is a more pure translation of Christ's word). Mormons do have some rather different views on Christianity than the mainstream. Some eras emphasize these views more than others in the history of our church. Do these different beliefs make us a cult? Does the Book of Mormon make us a cult? I don't think so, but I can see why other Christians do see us that way. I'm not interested in giving up the Book of Mormon, but I think we can work at making it clear how much we value the Bible and that we still believe in the trinity and almost every other Christian belief, but that we see it slightly differently. As for Christ and Satan being brothers, we believe everyone is a child of God, even Satan and his followers. Don't other Christians believe the same?

OK, onto brainwashing and indoctrination. I personally cringe when I hear about certain kinds of "youth camps" that some stakes in the Mormon church promote or even sponsor. Our Mormon "trek" re-enactments can sometimes have some of this flavor. So can EFY experiences. Anytime that food is denied someone in order to promote a spiritual experience, I personally twinge a bit. Fasting is something that Mormons believe is an important way to understand poverty and to come closer to God. However, combining that with a multi-day experience that includes hard labor and the pressure to bear testimony at the end to me begins to become akin to brainwashing. People telling me that "it works" when I object don't help, either. I know that Mormons who are parents want to keep their children in the church and they see the influence of the world as being bad. They feel these camp experiences are the way to counteract the time teens spend at school and with friends. But think carefully about the methods we use. We want authentic experiences in spirituality, not ones that are being manufactured or manipulated. And ones that seem forced are definitely out.

Is psychological abuse or intimidation ever used in Mormonism? It's easy to say that this simply never happens, at least not on an institutional level. The church doesn't send people around to the homes of others to get them to "fall in line." We don't threaten other members to get them to pay their tithing. We certainly don't demand that they vote in a certain way. We don't shout or yell at them in church meetings in order to get them to give up their cigarettes or alcohol. But . . .

I've heard people talk about using positive peer pressure to get the youth to make the "right" choices in terms of following the Word of Wisdom and remaining chaste before marriage. Is this intimidation? When the youth go behind closed doors to have interviews with the bishop on a regular basis, is this a loving moment to discuss spirituality or could it be seen as something else? I'm sure everyone intends to be loving, but we should be aware of how certain practices could be perceived and how much pressure we are putting on others. We want people to choose good freely, not because it was easier to do what they were told than to give thought to what they actually wanted. Our belief in Satan's plan as being the alternative to Christ's gift of free will to us, so that we can make mistakes and repent rather than being forced to do what was right so we all ended up in heaven, is clear. Let us make sure that we follow Christ's plan in everything we do.

Mass suicide or doomsday expectations may seem like something that we can dismiss out of hand as not part of Mormonism. I certainly did, until a non-Mormon friend of mine mentioned how uncomfortable he was with my gung-ho attitude toward food storage accumulation. He felt that the only reason to accumulate that much food was because I was expecting some kind of doomsday event in the future. Now, the Mormon church has gone to great lengths to assure people this isn't the only or even the most common use for food storage. Food storage is used for stocking up when things are cheap and for planning food, both of which can help stretch budgets. Food storage can also be a kind of savings plan for when unexpected life events happen, like a lost job. And emergency preparedness goes beyond food storage to 72 hour kits in case of flood, fire, or any kind of emergency, including terrorist attacks. It also means being aware of who to call and what to do, having a plan of where to meet, and so on. These are good things, things the government knows that Mormons do well. But take them too far, as some of us do, and we start to sound like we're planning for the apocalypse. Armageddon is part of our scripture, but I think we shouldn't be gleeful or casual in talking about how we're going to beat it.

Mormons have a semi-annual General conference in which the twelve apostles and the first presidency speak to the worldwide membership, as well as other authoritarian figures in the church heirarchy. Many Mormons enjoy conference weekend. All other church meetings are canceled and most of us now get to stay at home (in our pajamas) to listen to church leaders give us advice and counsel and sometimes simply offer comfort. But to those outside the church, it can seem as if we are being "programmed" and told what to do, instead of being encouraged to use our own minds to think things through. I fear that when we perpetuate the idea that the prophet would never tell us to do the wrong thing or say that even if he does, God will bless us for being obedient, we lean too far to the side of obedience and looking like Mormons are robots rather than free-thinkers. Just consider this when you talk about the church.

One of the things I love most about Mormonism is the community that we create. I love home teachers and visiting teachers. I love that the Elders Quorum and High Priests Group help people move in and out of the ward. I love that the Relief Society brings meals in to women who've had a baby and to families in need for any reason. But these services we provide to other members of our ward can seem cult-like to those not in the ward, and perhaps not for reasons we understand. Creating a community that thrives independent of the civic community can seem strange to those who are not part of it. It can feel like they are being excluded and that we do not pay attention to neighbors who are not Mormons. It can make us seem very isolated from the rest of the world. I think it is one thing to separate ourselves from behavior we do not approve of, and another thing to live so much in our communities that non-Mormons feel like we are aliens.

Aggressive Proselytizing? I am pretty sure we don't threaten people with physical violence if they don't join our church, but the way we talk about missionary work can sometimes be a little over the top. Young Mormon men are expected to serve a two year mission and while we don't ostracize those who don't, there are stigmas attached to not serving or coming home early. I think sometimes we imagine that these stigmas are a good thing because they encourage young men to serve who might not have otherwise, but I don't think it's true. And "every member a missionary" means that our proselytizing efforts aren't confined to missionaries alone. It is one thing to offer to explain Mormon things to the curious, but it's another to make every contact with a non-member about joining the church. And counting baptisms to prove anything? In my book, that's always wrong.

When I was a teenager, I heard of the way the Amish "shun" those who leave the flock and thought it was horrible. We Mormons never do anything like that, of course. Except that we do. It's not formal, but it happens. When people try to leave the Mormon church, we often make it difficult. In what we think is an expression of love, we continue to send visiting and home teachers. But this can feel like a way of keeping tabs on people who do not want to associate with us anymore. It can feel like we are refusing to let people go. Like a cult.

And when members are denied temple recommends for not toeing the line on Word of Wisdom issues or because of dissent against church leaders, it can feel to them like we are using temple recommends as a way to force people to do what leaders say. We don't hold people's homes or other financial means hostage, but we do tell them they can't go to their childrens' wedding if they don't comply. And the rash of excommunications that have happened in the last two years is another way of making people who might be inclined to disagree shut up instead. Is this what we want or mean to do? Of course, a church has a right to decide who is among its members, but I think we can be more careful in the way we make it clear that excommunication isn't meant to be publicly humiliating. We can work harder to show love to those who leave the church, without stalking them into returning.

As for controlling information that members receive, I think there is more to be done on this front, as well. The church has done a good job in recent years of publishing essays on Joseph Smith and polygamy, on blacks and the priesthood, on the church's stance on homosexuality, and on other troubling topics. But I think the organization of the church needs to do a better job of making it clear that these essays are official and disseminating the information to the local leadership, where it still seems a bit hit or miss. We should be open about the facts of our history. That doesn't mean we have to agree with the worst interpretation of those facts, but hiding facts because we think members aren't "ready" for them smacks of manipulation and frankly, cultism.

I don't think Mormonism is a cult. Even in my firmly atheist days, I continued to send my kids to church because I believed that Mormonism taught a lot of good ethics and was a great community to be involved in. But as someone who is moving back to full faith in God and in Mormonism, I would like to be able to talk about my church to my many non-member friends in a way that is devoid of cultist vocabulary. I want to able to deny absolutely that Mormonism has any hint of cultism in its practices or beliefs. And I think we as a group can do better in that effort. Here's my pledge that I will do my part.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-harrison/are-we-mormons-a-cult_b_7485784.html

LaRouche Movement: The far right cult alleged to be behind UK student Jeremiah Duggan's death

International Business Times UK
Tom Porter
June 2, 2015

The last time Erica Duggan spoke to her son Jeremiah was after midnight on 27 March 2003.

"He rang me in the early hours of the morning and he laid it straight out who the people were and that he was frightened, that he was in danger, and that he wanted to escape from them."

Later that day, Duggan was found dead by a motorway near Wiesbaden, Germany. Following a police investigation, German authorities ruled the 23-year-old had committed suicide "by automobile". In 2010, The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany rejected the Duggan family's request for a judicial review of the case.

For more than a decade, Erica has fought for the verdict to be overruled and for a proper investigation to be launched into the circumstances of her son's death. In May, partial vindication came when a UK coroner ruled Duggan did not kill himself.

Erica has all along had "no doubt" the shadowy LaRouche Movement, whose German affiliate the Schiller Institute organised the conference he attended before his death, had played a role in Jeremiah's death.

"He was at a meeting of the group the morning of his death attended by several senior members and was considered to be a spy and a traitor," she said.

Coroner Andrew Walker said Duggan's identity as a British Jew may have led the group described as a far-right cult by the Metropolitan Police to target him.

"The fact that he attended a conference run by this far right-wing organisation… together with Mr Duggan expressing that he was a Jew, British and questioning the material put before him, may have had a bearing on Mr Duggan's death in the sense that it may have put him at risk from members of the organisation and caused him to become distressed and seek to leave," Walker said.

Though he accepted Duggan had died after being hit by cars, he said "unexplained injuries" suggested there may have been an altercation at some stage before his death.

What is the LaRouche Movement?

Formed in the US by renegade economist and perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche in the 1970s, the movement that bears his name has branches in countries including Germany, France, Brazil, Australia and the Philippines, and thousands of estimated followers.

The movement claims to promote a revival of classical art and culture, reform of the financial system and the development of global economic infrastructure projects.

However, critics allege LaRouche is in fact a dangerous far-right cult that brainwashes followers and is one of the world's chief disseminators of anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Duggan became involved with the LaRouche group while a student in the Sorbonne, France, during the build-up to the war in Iraq.

"He told me he had met a man older than him who was teaching him about politics, and he gave the name Solidarité et Progrès, which I learnt is a French front group for LaRouche," said Erica.

"What they do is they have a very apocalyptic approach so they said: 'If we don't stop this war in Iraq, we will have a nuclear Holocaust and a Third World War and it is the most important thing to stop it. We have a way of stopping it. Come to this conference and see what you can do.'"

Jeremiah travelled to Wiesbaden, Germany, to the conference organised by the Schiller Institute, the German branch of the movement, which is run by Lyndon's LaRouche's wife, Helga Zepp-LaRouche.

"Jeremiah said to me he was thinking of becoming more politically active. So he was only going to find out about it really, he didn't know about it," she said.

Coded anti-Semitism

Matthew Feldman is an expert on far-right ideology and professor in contemporary history at Teeside University.

He said the group's anti-Semitism is coded, allowing it to "hide in plain sight" under the radar of authorities.

"Few groups are willing to be public with their anti-Semitism, so what we find is a code, and the use of such terms as 'international financiers', 'Zionists' or even more vague terms, such as 'special interests,'" Feldman said.

He said LaRouche openly expressed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories earlier in his political career.

"You need to go back to LaRouche in the 1970s when he is much more overt about these things, much more overt about Holocaust revisionism, about various forms of anti-Semitism and his connections with the far right were at that point well-established," said Feldman.

Former members of the group have testified it used brainwashing "ego stripping" techniques and intimidated those who wanted to leave.

The group is also alleged to have waged intimidation campaigns against political opponents and journalists in the US.

Erica, who has been in contact with several former members of the group, described it as a "form of modern-day slavery in a way". She said: "They destroy your powers of critical thinking. Undermine your belief in your self, and make you believe that you are surrounded by people lying to you and that the world is the enemy."

She believes Duggan's open, questioning nature may have led him to challenge the group's teachings.

For Feldman, these are hallmarks of far-right cults. He said: "It is important that far-right politics are a subculture, they a totalising thing. You don't stop being a far-right activist when you go to sleep or go home. You embrace it."

He said the group uses classical culture, economics and pseudo-science to form "a whole conspiracy they have set up which explains their counter-vision of the world".

Calls for an independent investigation

For Erica, the long fight for justice continues, with German authorities in her view yet to launch a proper investigation into the organisation, or acknowledge the true nature of the LaRouche Movement and Schiller Institute.

She called for an independent investigation into her son's death. Erica said: "I want a proper political enquiry when they look into what really happened and for the first time conduct a proper investigation."

Feldman said although the German government had a strong record on tackling religious cults, and pointed to a recent law banning the Church of Scientology in the country, questions needed to be asked about why it did not take the danger posed by LaRouche more seriously.

"If Jeremiah's death wasn't suicide, then what the hell was it? It is still an open question," he said. "It is something fishy and something in need of serious investigation. It is time for the Germans to take this seriously as well."

The US Anti-Defamation League and the Australian Anti-Defamation Commission have both described the organisation as anti-Semitic, and he asked why authorities allowed it to disseminate its message of hate with impunity.

He said Germany had not shirked the duty of facing its Nazi past and "it should be small step from owning that to saying we are going to lead the fight against far right groups that preach hatred and violence everywhere".

He added: "I think many of us would like to see more of that from the German state and prosecutors."

In a statement, the Schiller Institute described allegations of involvement in Duggan's death as "utterly preposterous", and disputed the recent coroner's verdict.

"At no time has anyone connected with the Duggan family ever presented any evidence or facts that refute the findings of the German authorities concerning the suicide of her son," said spokesman Bruce Director.

"Instead, over the last 12 years she and her representatives and collaborators have propounded wild conspiracies theories promulgated by the political enemies of Mr LaRouche in and around the British Monarchy and the circles of the now discredited former prime minister Tony Blair."

The Hessen Public Prosecutor's Office has also been asked to comment.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/jeremiah-duggan-larouche-movement-far-right-cult-alleged-be-behind-death-uk-jewish-student-1503875

Integrative oncology is but a smokescreen for quacks

Published Monday 01 June 2015

The principal aim of this survey was to map centres across Europe that provide public health services and operating within the national health system in integrative oncology.

Information was received from 123 (52.1 %) of the 236 centres contacted. Forty-seven out of 99 responding centres meeting inclusion criteria (47.5 %) provided integrative oncology treatments, 24 from Italy and 23 from other European countries. The number of patients seen per year was on average 301.2 ± 337. Among the centres providing these kinds of therapies, 33 (70.2 %) use fixed protocols and 35 (74.5 %) use systems for the evaluation of results. Thirty-two centres (68.1 %) were research-active.

The alternative therapies most frequently provided were acupuncture 26 (55.3 %), homeopathy 19 (40.4 %), herbal medicine 18 (38.3 %) and traditional Chinese medicine 17 (36.2 %); anthroposophic medicine 10 (21.3 %); homotoxicology 6 (12.8 %); and other therapies 30 (63.8 %).

Treatments were mainly directed to reduce adverse reactions to chemo-radiotherapy (23.9 %), in particular nausea and vomiting (13.4 %) and leucopenia (5 %). The alternative treatments were also used to reduce pain and fatigue (10.9 %), to reduce side effects of iatrogenic menopause (8.8 %) and to improve anxiety and depression (5.9 %), gastrointestinal disorders (5 %), sleep disturbances and neuropathy (3.8 %).

The authors concluded that mapping of the centres across Europe is an essential step in the process of creating a European network of centres, experts and professionals constantly engaged in the field of integrative oncology, in order to increase, share and disseminate the knowledge in this field and provide evidence-based practice.

DISSEMINATE KNOWLEDGE?
EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE?
WHAT KNOWLEDGE?
WHAT EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE?

Where is the evidence that homeopathy or homotoxicology or Chinese medicine are effective for any of the conditions listed above? The answer, of course, is that it does not exist.

I fear the results of this survey show foremost one thing: ‘integrative oncology’ is little else but a smokescreen behind which quacks submit desperate patients to bogus treatments.

http://edzardernst.com/2015/06/integrative-oncology-is-but-a-smokescreen-for-quacks/

Scientology’s Number One Spy [Exclusive Interview]

Guardian Liberty Voice

Douglas Cobb

June 2, 2015

Former Church of Scientology member, Merrell Vannier, was with the Church for 30 years, serving as their number one spy for them during many of those years. Then, the Church of Scientology ultimately turned its back on him, and went to the steps of the other Church of Scientology member shuning him, calling him a "suppressive person,' despite his years of loyal service to the Church. He has not seen his adult daughter, who is a member of the Church of Scientology to this day, in over three years, nor has he had any contact with her.

Merrell Vannier wrote about his experiences in the highly thoughtful and informative book, Arrows in the Dark. He kindly consented to do the following fascinating exclusive interview with Guardian Liberty Voice.

Guardian Liberty Voice: Hi, Merrell. Thanks for agreeing to do this interview and telling the readers of Guardian Liberty Voice about what led to your joining the Church of Scientology, and also working for them as a spy.

What was it about Scientology that you initially found appealing enough to want to join the Church of Scientology?

Merrell Vannier: First, I want to thank you for your interest in my book and inviting me to the interview.

My interest in Scientology began with my reading the book, Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health, a copy of which I saw at a friend's house and borrowed after reading a few pages after my first year of law school. I was fascinated by it. In the book, author L. Ron Hubbard presented his findings that the so-called "unconscious" mind was responsible for any and all non-optimum problems and psychosomatic ills.

As background, I took a course in psychology in college at the suggestion of a buddy of mine in the Navy. He said it was about the mind. I perked up, thinking, "Yeah, I'd like to learn about the mind." But I was greatly disappointed with the course. It talked about the brain being the mind. As a student in electrical engineering, I didn't buy it. There weren't enough brain cells to store the vast amount of information in a mind. Plus, mental conditions were assigned labels for which there were no standard techniques to resolve the conditions, just drugs and talking it out with a therapist. The idea of chemical imbalances in the brain as an underlying explanation for abnormal behavior didn't resonant with me. I saw the entire subject as junk science, and discarded it.

Dianetics, on the other hand, rang true to me. The mind was not the brain. Plus, there was a standard technique that could resolve unwanted conditions and psychosomatic illnesses. Not only that, but an ordinary person could learn the techniques and apply them to others.

I was really stoked, and purchased other books by Hubbard. One of my favorites, Fundamentals of Thought, really had an impact on me. It talked about the spiritual nature of man and its relationship to the universe, a philosophy that clarified many questions I had about life and contained principles that I could – and did – apply to improve my relations with others and improve conditions in life.

I also took a philosophy course in college, hoping to find answers to these kind of questions, and found the subject highly significant (i.e., lacking practical application) and confusing. The teacher gave extra credit for having an in-person interview with him at the end of the semester. I remember asking him, "But what can you do with this knowledge?" I didn't have to ask that question about Scientology. I saw the potential, and saw the results when I applied the principles.

After reading these books I wanted to see if the techniques worked. I took a break in law school and went to St. Louis to study how to audit (counsel). I loved it, both receiving auditing and performing it. I had one experience very early on after I received an auditing session. I walked home that evening out of my body, exterior as it is referred to in Scientology. Just like Hubbard said in Fundamentals of Thought I was a spirit, not my body, and as proof I oversaw about 10-city wide blocks of St. Louis, practically a hundred feet over my body. That's when I knew: Scientology is for real!

Guardian Liberty Voice: What is the Guardian's Office branch of the Church of Scientology, Merrell, and why did you decide to also join it?

Merrell Vannier: The Guardian's Office was an autonomous network established by Hubbard in 1966 to handle internal security and external affairs. By then spies and plants posing as students in the church were a continual problem and the church was not equipped to deal with it.

But it was not until 1974 that I was recruited and volunteered for the Guardian's Office as an undercover agent, or spy. I did this after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a series of articles critical of the church. The series was filled with falsehoods. Yet many of the general public I ran into took them as fact and even treated me rudely for no other reason than my being a Scientologist. It was unsettling and offensive. I knew history well enough to know how the flames of prejudice against minorities can be fanned – and what can happen as a result.

Truth is, prior to the series running, the Guardian's Office had publicized documents given to it by a whistleblower employee from the Missouri Institute of Psychiatry ("MIP"). The documents proved an illegal program of drug experimentation on unwitting patients. This and other evidence made it very obvious that the Post-Dispatch series was nothing more than a hit piece in retaliation for the Guadian's Office exposé of MIP. I wanted to do something about that injustice.

Later, in 1980, after my volunteer "spy" days ended, and after executives of the Guardian's Office had been indicted for infiltration of government offices in Washington, D.C., I gave up my lucrative law practice in St. Louis and agreed to join the United States Guardian's Office in Los Angeles in an effort to help them with their legal problems.

Guardian Liberty Voice: Why did the U.S. government want to infiltrate the Church of Scientology?

Merrell Vannier: Why would the FBI tap the phone of, and plant false rumors in the media about, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.? Why did they have John Lennon under surveillance? Historically, governments are terrified of grass roots movements over which they have no control and could upset the status quo or power structure.

In Scientology's case, it goes back to the 1950 book, Dianetics, which took the nation by storm. Dianetics auditing groups sprang up overnight. The AMA-FDA-Big Pharma industrial complex was shaken. Dianetics promised to alleviate all psychosomatic ills without the need for drugs, doctors or psychiatrists/psychologists. Also Hubbard ripped into the often barbaric psychiatric practices of electric shock and prefrontal lobotomies. Who was this Hubbard guy, anyway? A science fiction writer. He didn't have one of their degrees or licenses. How dare he not get their permission and work within their system?

Add to this the ability of Dianetics to uncover the dirty mind control experiments of the CIA, who worked in conjunction with top psychiatrists and psychiatric hospitals. These guys thought their secret deeds were buried deep within the unconscious minds of their subjects. The fact that Hubbard uncovered these diabolical incidents freaked them out.

In a perfect world, the CIA would have pinned a medal on Hubbard. In a nefarious one, the intelligence community decided to assassinate his character – and send in spies to learn all it could about his research, and to destroy the movement.

It's a great story, an untold story. My book covers a small, but important part of that story.

Guardian Liberty Voice: Would you please give a couple of examples to our readers, Merrell, of the acts of espionage you committed and wrote about in Arrows in the Dark?

Merrell Vannier: Back in 1974, I took on the job as a night-time janitor of the law office representing the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the newspaper that did the hatchet job on Scientology after the Guardian's Office exposed the Missouri Institute of Psychiatry's illegal drug experimentation on their patients. I gained access to the law office for my handler who took files off premises, copied them and returned them.

In Clearwater, Florida, by pretending to be an enemy of the church, I was given access to files on Scientology at the regional Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS). As background, the INS had ordered deportation of all non-U.S. citizens at the church's newly established headquarters in Clearwater. Because many of the staff members were from all over the world the church faced losing a large number of its administrative personnel. I spent the day memorizing key intelligence in the INS files and turned it over to my handler. Based on that information, Guardian's Office personnel were able to obtain a voluntary dismissal from INS officials.

Guardian Liberty Voice: Who chose your code name, "Ritz," and why?

Merrell Vannier: My handler, Don Alverzo. He didn't told me why he chose the name, nor did I ask. But interestingly, one of my editors pointed out to me that I had described an incident in Chapter Two in which Alverzo had a box of Ritz crackers beside him the first time I visited him in his "safe house." I thought, "Hmm… could be."

Guardian Liberty Voice: In Arrows in the Dark, you mentioned something called "black Scientology." What is that, and when and why was it used on you?

Merrell Vannier: The term "black Dianetics" or "black "Scientology" simply means the reverse use of Scientology technology – to harm or control someone rather than to help or make them more self-determined, the latter of which is the purpose of Scientology.

Hubbard warns of the practice, stating: "A person on whom Black Dianetics has been employed seldom retains the sanity or will to make a complaint, or does not know he has been victimized."

It was used on me in February 1982 as I describe in detail in the book. To put the incident in context, the Guardian's Office was taken over in July-August 1981. At the time I didn't know by whom but later discovered it was 21-year old David Miscavige. A Bob Dylan lyric comes to mind: "The executioner's face is always well-hidden." But the change in management style from a free and easy one to a dominating, controlling one was disconcerting to me – and very contrary to Scientology principles. I set about finding the source. I committed my thoughts and suspicions to paper and stowed them in my desk drawer, thinking my locked office was secure. I returned one day from lunch to discover the lock had been changed and a sign on my door ordered me to report to "Ethics."

I was removed from post and assigned to manual labor, renovating offices. I was then given a "plant check" to determine if I was a spy sent in on the church. This was pretty rich since I was the one who had accumulated evidence that pointed toward plants at the highest levels of church management, possibly even including Miscavige himself.

After I was excommunicated and had begun to write Arrows in the Dark, the person who performed the reverse plant check on me emailed me out of the blue. I replied and told him that his plant check really screwed me up for almost nine months. He wrote back and said that was intentional. He added that he was ordered to do it by Miscavige.

Guardian Liberty Voice: Why did you call your book about your experiences with the Church of Scientology Arrows in the Dark?

Merrell Vannier: While writing the book I ran across the anonymous quotation, "It is easy to dodge a spear in the daylight, but it is difficult to avoid an arrow in the dark," and thought it would work as a heading to one of my chapters in which I was getting orders and being shot at from inside the church, seemingly from every direction. As my story took shape, however, I realized that not only were arrows in the dark being shot at me from inside the church but they were also being fired at the church by the intelligence community and media and at me from various sources outside the church.

Guardian Liberty Voice: What caused you to eventually become disillusioned with the Church of Scientology?

Merrell Vannier: After the takeover by David Miscavige in 1981 the church became very controlling and status-oriented. People are told what to think, who they can associate with, and how they should behave, not only in the church but even in their personal lives. I didn't sign on for that. In fact, I am opposed with all my being to overly controlling organizations, particularly religious ones. The history on this planet is not too good in that regard. The Spanish Inquisition is a prime example.

Even when I discovered the source of all the madness, I tried to reform it internally. The technology of Dianetics and Scientology, when used correctly to benefit people, not to control them, works. In my estimation it is worth saving.

Guardian Liberty Voice: When the Church of Scientology labelled you a "suppressive person" and excommunicated you, how did that affect your relationship with your daughter, who is still in the Church? Have you heard from her since you published Arrows in the Dark?

Merrell Vannier: Miscavige implemented the policy of "disconnection" after he took control of the church way back in 1981. The policy requires members to cut all ties with anyone who is labeled a suppressive person. Those who do not are subject to being labeled suppressive persons themselves.

My daughter is a member of Scientology's elite Sea Organization, whose members devote their entire lives to Scientology. I knew she would comply with the policy. She was married to a Sea Org member, so not disconnecting from me would be the end of her marriage as well as her career in the church and loss of her Scientology friends. What I did not expect, however, is that she would not even call me or her mother (my wife) or her brother (my son) to let us know that she would be disconnecting from all of us from here on out.

No, I haven't heard from her in the three-plus years since. Nor have my wife and son. A check we sent her for Christmas went uncashed.

Guardian Liberty Voice: What are a few differences you have seen in the Church of Scientology since David Miscavige took it over?

Merrell Vannier: Today's church is all but almost unrecognizable by Scientologists who were involved with it in the late 60's through the early to mid-80s. When I first took Scientology courses in St. Louis in 1973, for example, the course room was packed, and electric, just a fun place to be. I was never told not to read newspapers or books critical of Scientology. I never felt pressured or controlled in any way. People on staff were friendly and respectful.

Miscavige has turned Scientology into a nonstop, heavy-handed demand for donations to build grand, ornate buildings with beautiful furnishings but virtually no people. Members have been declared suppressive persons and excommunicated for the "crime" of going on the Internet one time to read an article critical of Miscavige or Scientology. People are more serious, afraid to make mistakes or earn the disfavor of Miscavige. Not surprisingly, membership is plummeting.

Guardian Liberty Voice: Did you ever dig up any information about any of the famous celebs who are Church of Scientology members, like Tom Cruise and John Travolta?

Merrell Vannier: I only had dealings with Cruise's family, and they were all positive. My family, for example, vacationed with Tom's sister, Lee Ann. Our sons were best friends. Additionally, my daughter, Angie, was a highly trained auditor at Celebrity Centre, and audited members of Tom's family. I never met either Cruise or Travolta.

Guardian Liberty Voice: What other books have you written?

Merrell Vannier: I wrote the novel, Masters of War, under my screen name, Conrad John. It is a spy story involving intelligence secrets of WW II that have only come to light over the many years since the war. Information about it can be found at www.mastersofwarbook.com. I have also written eleven screenplays and made independent films out of three of them. One feature-length film was distributed in DVD. I also wrote the legal self-help book, Lemon Law: A Manual for Consumers. For more information, readers can check out my personal website at www.merrellvannier.com.

Guardian Liberty Voice: Thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by the Guardian Liberty Voice, Merrell! Arrows in the Dark is a fascinating look at Scientology and how you became a spy working for the Church of Scientology. Arrows in the Dark is available online at places like Amazon and Barnes & Noble and at brick and mortar bookstores.

http://guardianlv.com/2015/06/scientologys-number-one-spy-exclusive-interview/#mMKjeL77BuBo1HUy.01