CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/3/2016

Jewish communities discouraged survivors from reporting child abuse, commission finds

"Royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Report finds those who reported abuse at Yeshiva Bondi and Yeshivah Melbourne were often met with disapproval or treated as outcasts."

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/11/jewish-communities-discouraged.html

Polygamist church leader says underage marriages were God’s will

"The leader of a fundamentalist church that practises polygamy was aware that asking members in southeastern British Columbia to take their daughters across the U.S. border to be married could attract the attention of authorities, but he believed he was acting under instructions from God, according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision."

http://www.cultnews101.com/2016/11/polygamist-church-leader-says-underage.html

Record of B.C. teen's marriage to Warren Jeffs can be used in trial: judge

​​

"Brandon Blackmore and Ruth Gail Blackmore are accused in B.C. Supreme Court of transporting the girl into the United States for a sexual purpose.

James Oler faces the same charge in connection to a 15-year-old who the records say was married to James Leroy Johnson in 2004."

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/record-of-b-c-teen-s-marriage-to-warren-jeffs-can-be-used-in-trial-judge-1.3180599

More details come out in B.C. trial of parents accused of forcing daughters into polygamous marriages

"Some of the evidence – particularly the diaries of Warren Jeffs, the convicted pedophile prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – is stunning and chilling."

http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/more+details+come+trial+parents+accused+forcing+daughters+into/12447041/story.html

Today in Korean history

"11/29/1991 -- Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, and Park Bo-hi, head of the church-affiliated Segye Times, visit Pyongyang to meet then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. Kim died of heart failure three years later and his son Kim Jong-il inherited power."

http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20161129001000315&site=0300000000&mobile

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Religious thoughts trigger reward systems like love, drugs

"Most Americans, about 89%, say they believe in God, and some have felt God's presence while listening to a sermon or sensed time stand still while they were in deep prayer or meditation.

Now, a new study shows through functional MRI scans that such religious and spiritual experiences can be rewarding to your brain."

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/29/health/religious-brain-mormon-mri/index.html

Critical Thinking: The Antidote to Undue Influence — With Bill Goldberg, LCSW, Psy.A

"Critical thinking is a defense against the powerful forces that contribute to our propensity for self-delusion, our human propensity to think in emotional terms. We human beings are natural experts in emotional thinking. Children, for example, utilize magical thinking. Critical thinking, on the other hand, has to be learned. When we utilize critical thinking, it’s a form of self-defense — a skill that helps us recognize our human vulnerabilities and to guard against them. Critical thinkers recognize what poor data-collection devices human beings are and try to guard against the emotion-generated need for certainty."

http://njsafeandsound.org/interview-goldberg2.html

‘If you don’t marry who you’re told to, you’re considered an apostate,’ former member tells polygamy trial

"Rachel Jeffs was testifying in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday at the trial of three parents from Bountiful, B.C., accused of having taken their daughters, then aged 13 and 15, to the United States to become wives in plural marriages."

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/news/if-you-dont-marry-who-youre-told-to-youre-considered-an-apostate-ex-member-tells-polygamy-trial

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Yoga Guru Bikram Choudhury Settles Sexual Harassment Suit with Student

The student sued Choudhury and his Bikram Yoga College located near Culver City for sex-based discrimination and sexual harassment.

By PATCH SOCAL (Patch Staff) November 30, 2016

LOS ANGELES, CA - A yoga guru and one of his female former students settled the woman's lawsuit in which she alleged her teacher made unwanted sexual advances toward her.

Lawyers for Bikram Choudhury and the Bikram Yoga College of India filed papers Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court stating that the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Sarah Baughn was resolved. No terms were divulged.

Baughn sued Choudhury and his Yoga College of India, located near Culver City, in March 2013. Her allegations included sex-based discrimination and sexual harassment.

Choudhury's attorneys alleged in their court papers that Baughn's apparent motive for suing was her second-place finish in a 2008 international yoga competition after she rebuffed an alleged sexual advance from Choudhury.

The suit stated that Baughn began training at age 20 under Choudhury in 2005, hoping she would get help for years of back pain and depression. But she alleged that her mentor treated young women like her differently than other students, picking them to brush his hair or give him massages.

Baughn alleged Choudhury cornered her late one night and made it clear she had to sleep with him in order to advance her career.

Her complaint is one of many filed by yoga practitioners and teachers who accuse Choudhury of abusing his position as the head of a business focusing on "hot yoga" to sexually harass or abuse women. His yoga sessions typically involve sessions conducted in temperatures of 100 degrees or higher.

Baughn said her father helped her get a $7,000 loan so she could study under Choudhury.

http://patch.com/california/culvercity/yoga-guru-bikram-choudhury-settles-sexual-harassment-suit-student

Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar power India’s hottest consumer products

The biggest new competitor is yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s
Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, which offers some 500 products
 spanning food, nutrition, and beauty and personal care.
 Photo: Hindustan Times

Live Mint
December 1, 2016

Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Jaggi Vasudev are among spiritual leaders lending their names to everything from honey and herbal remedies to toothpaste and clothes

Mumbai/New Delhi: They have bushy beards, a preference for loose-fitting robes, hundreds of millions of devotees—and a line of consumer products. Meet the Indian gurus behind the brands challenging some of the planet’s biggest companies.

Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Jaggi Vasudev are among yoga and spiritual leaders lending their names to everything from honey and herbal remedies to toothpaste and clothes. With a ready-made clientele from their vast followers, they are helping to tap surging demand in India for natural and ayurveda-based products to challenge the likes of Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc.

The newcomers’ success is snatching market share from larger established suppliers, which have had to develop their own ayurveda lines. Ayurveda is based on a belief that health and wellness depend on a balance of mind, body, and spirit, and can include the use of herbal compounds and special diets.

The guru-connected upstarts have already shaken the market. Unilever’s hold on India’s $11.7 billion beauty and personal care market has slipped more than 5 percentage points in the past five years, according to researcher Euromonitor International. And local personal care rival Dabur India Ltd says its growth is slowing, even as the market is forecast to expand 14% in 2016.

“These ayurvedic product sellers are posing a threat to Indian and global players as the product has gained mass appeal,” said Sanjiv Bhasin, an executive vice president at brokerage India Infoline Ltd. Profit margins are shrinking in response, he said. “It has made the existing players enlarge their marketing budgets greatly to try and protect their turf.”

The biggest new competitor is yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, which offers some 500 products spanning food, nutrition, and beauty and personal care. Formed a decade ago, its revenue will at least double to more than Rs10,000 crore ($1.5 billion) in the year ending March 2017, Ramdev said in November, adding that all Patanjali profits go to charity.

Loincloth power

Ramdev said he’s an “unpaid ambassador” at Patanjali and that childhood friend Acharya Balkrishna holds 97% of the company’s shares. That helped make 44-year-old Balkrishna India’s 48th richest person in 2016, worth $2.5 billion, according to Forbes.

“World-class quality, low price and giving away our entire profit to charity are the three main reasons for the boom seen in Patanjali products,” said Ramdev, clad in his trademark saffron-coloured robe, in an interview in New Delhi. Executives at multinational companies believe babas, or holy men, like him “don’t know anything,” he said. “Now all tie-wearing people are sweating. They realize loincloth-wearing people can do many things.”

Patanjali had a 1.2% share of Indian’s beauty and personal care market last year from 0.2% in 2011, according to Euromonitor. The company is planning to release refined oil, milk and textiles, mostly to counter the dominance of foreign-owned businesses, Ramdev said.

“Why shouldn’t our country’s money stay here and be used for this country’s service?” he said.

Unilever, which began selling “Sunlight” soap in India in 1888, has said domestic brands, such as Patanjali, have been better than multinationals at picking up on local trends. Patanjali is a company “which everybody has been following with a lot of interest -- incredible branding created there,’’ Unilever chief financial officer Graeme Pitkethly said on a 13 October conference call to discuss third-quarter sales.

‘Sunlight’ to ‘Hamam’

The Anglo-Dutch giant has countered this with Hamam soap, which incorporates ayurvedic herbs, and its local unit Hindustan Unilever Ltd bought hair-care brand Indulekha December last year to add a “naturals” line in hair oil.

Patanjali aims to have Rs50,000 crore in revenue in the next three years, Ramdev said. Infoline said the company could grab 35% of both the Indian honey and ayurvedic medicine markets and a third of the market for ghee, a type of clarified butter. Colgate-Palmolive and Dabur would be hurt the most by Patanjali’s expansion, Infoline said.

Ancient roots

Ayurveda, as practiced in India, is one of the oldest systems of medicine in the world.

“In India, the consumer believes strongly in natural ingredients,” Bina Thompson, Colgate-Palmolive’s chief investor relations officer, told analysts on a 28 July conference call. New York-based Colgate has introduced toothpastes with neem and clove essence, and recently began selling a charcoal-infused toothbrush and Colgate Cibaca Vedshakti, which contains natural ingredients including eucalyptus, basil and camphor.

“The positioning is a toothpaste packed with the goodness of natural ingredients to help keep dental problems away,” Thompson said.

‘Formidable player’

In October, Dabur India chief executive officer Sunil Duggal described Patanjali’s Dant Kanti toothpaste, which vies with Dabur’s Red brand, as a “fairly formidable player.”

A 200 gram pack of Dant Kanti goes for Rs75 in India on online shopping portal Bigbasket.com. That compares with Rs74.80 for the same quantity of Dabur Red and Rs97 for Colgate’s Active Salt with neem.

“Patanjali has made an impact, and we need to counter that,” Duggal said on an 26 October conference call with analysts. “We are not growing as fast as we could.”

Sales at Patanjali have climbed as it expanded the number of retail stores selling its own products to almost 10,000 nationwide, building on a franchise system created from its existing yoga outlets.

Ramdev’s yoga followers gave him an easy-to-reach customer base, Infoline’s Bhasin said.

“This has seen him save on ad expenses and marketing costs compared to larger players,” he said. And land around the yoga ashrams Ramdev has established will “give him enough room to expand for the next three years.”

More babas

Following Patanjali’s “spectacular” success, Edelweiss Securities Ltd expects other spiritual gurus, including Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Guru Ram Rahim Singh, and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, “to go the Patanjali way,” analyst Abneesh Roy and colleagues said in a report in March.

Sant Shri Asaramjibapu Ashram, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha are other organizations that not only cater to the spiritual needs of millions of followers, but are also emerging as suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods, the Edelweiss report said. Shankar’s Sri Sri Ayurveda, in particular, is showing “renewed aggression” as it rides on the brand equity of its founder, whose “Art of Living” movement has 370 million followers worldwide, it said.

Sri Sri Ayurveda is beginning to use mass media, point-of-sale advertising and online retailing, Edelweiss said. In October, the group began selling a range of ayurvedic health drinks under the Ojasvita brand and signed Olympic silver medallist P. V. Sindhu to help promote it in a market dominated by GlaxoSmithKline’s Horlicks brand.

National plan

“I foresee requirements for pan-India exclusive stores,” said Tej Katpitia, the company’s chief marketing officer.

Ramdev and Shankar’s products are benefiting from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” platform aimed at supporting local brands as well as trust in their products, said Shreyansh Kocheri, a research analyst in India with Euromonitor.

“Consumers have immense trust in both these personalities and hence perceive their products to be of good quality,” Kocheri said. “Consumers are increasingly becoming cautious of the products they consume or apply on their skin. They are on the lookout for natural, herbal and ayurvedic products which they perceive to be healthy and not have any side effects.”

Pranay Naithani, a television producer in Mumbai, said she switched to Patanjali and other ayurveda-based products after finding them superior to the organic lines from multinational companies she was buying. “It’s not because Patanjali products are reasonable -- it’s more because of the quality of the products,” the 27-year-old said.

Hindu nationalism

The popularity of ayurvedic and traditional herbal ingredients in modern consumer products in India coincides with a resurgence of Hindu nationalism, said Meera Ashar, deputy director of the South Asia Research Institute at the Australian National University in Canberra.

“One of the ways in which Hindu nationalism maintains itself is by highlighting its own uniqueness and antiquity,” Ashar said. The search for objects and practices of national antiquity, which isn’t peculiar to India, has been “seamlessly merged with contemporary consumerism” there, she said.

“People like Baba Ramdev and Shri Shri Ravi Shankar have capitalized on these dual desires by claiming to package ‘tradition’ as a product of modern convenience,” she said. “Their own status within Indian society offers legitimacy to what they claim is ‘tradition,’ giving us phenomena such as ‘authentic’ Indian pasta.”

That may help all suppliers of ayurvedic products.

“Patanjali also opened up a lot of doors,” Dabur India’s Duggal said in October. Ramdev “has been very instrumental in expanding the whole franchise within ayurveda. So, I think we should see him not as a threat to be fought on a one-to-one basis, but as a facilitator.” Bloomberg

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/WWTMprYrlgnKS3vOFMBp9K/Baba-Ramdev-Sri-Sri-Ravi-Shankar-power-Indias-hottest-cons.html

A rare glimpse into the insular world of Israeli Jehovah's Witnesses

The state refuses to recognize them and they have been victims of harassment. But Jehovah's Witnesses insist that they lead normal lives and are not a dangerous cult.




Haaretz
By Netta Ahituv
December 1, 2016

Yarden Zalimansky is only 25, but comports himself like a staid older citizen. He’s been married for a few years, and wears a white shirt, tie and dark slacks for our meeting; he has a tablet opened to a Bible app and speaks in a deeply serious tone of voice. Until age 19, he styled himself an atheist, now he’s a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He grew up in Tel Aviv in a secular family (“One Holocaust and three cases of cancer was enough for the loss of God”), and majored in film at an arts high school.

“I was always interested in history and in religions, and I used to talk to a friend about it. One day, while I was in the army, she told me she was studying Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was bent on stopping her, but as we went on talking, I saw that what I believed in was incorrect and that she had tools to prove that her belief was right,” he relates.

What did you find in Jehovah’s Witnesses that you didn’t find elsewhere?

“One thing that bothered me in most religions is that at a certain stage, you are requested to stop asking questions – and I had plenty of concrete questions. For example, I couldn’t understand the Holy Trinity in Catholicism, and I felt that my questions about it were not welcome. In Jehovah’s Witnesses, I can always ask questions and get answers from the Bible. They don’t call for blind faith, but base themselves on evidence and on asking questions.”

Most of the adherents I met while researching this article told a similar story. They discovered the creed via a friend, a pamphlet they came across or another Witness who “opened my eyes.” Initially skeptical, they were gradually won over, and decided to devote themselves to this mix of Judaism and Christianity.

The approximately 1,600 members of the community in Israel obey the laws of the country, pay their taxes and believe that they are upstanding citizens, but refuse to fulfill one national obligation: to perform military service (as they explain below). As with Witnesses abroad, they believe in the Hebrew Bible (Torah, Prophets, Writings), which they call the “Hebrew Scriptures,” and also in the New Testament, or the “Christian Greek Scriptures,” in their terminology. Both together constitute the “Bible.” According to them, at the end of the first century C.E., after the New Testament was written, God ceased to reveal himself to mankind. Accordingly, all the answers about faith, way of life, prohibitions and commandments can be found in the Bible. Every other interpretation, such as that relating to Holy Trinity or full delineation of the laws of kashrut, are later additions and therefore not part of the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Given the community’s belief in the sanctity of the Hebrew Bible, it’s surprising to discover that there are many precepts that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not follow, such as observance of the three festivals (Sukkot, Pesach, Shavuot), or circumcision, which is permitted, but not mandatory. Their explanation is that according to the prophecies of Daniel, when the Messiah – namely Yeshua, or Jesus – comes, the offering of sacrifices will be stopped and the Temple destroyed, and from that moment the followers (i.e., the Jehovah's Witnesses) are no longer subjected to the Torah’s precepts.

The community takes its name from Isaiah 43:10: “‘You are my witnesses,’ declares Jehovah, / ‘Yes, my servant whom I have chosen’…” (from the 2013 edition of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “New World Translation” of the Bible).

One word that irks them in particular when used in their context is “cult.” Contrary to the prevailing view in Israel, Jehovah’s Witnesses have no guru, they are not asked to transfer all their assets to the community, and no attempt is made to cut them off from family and friends. Still, it’s difficult for them to maintain full ties with their families, as they are forbidden by their faith to celebrate holidays, whether Jewish or Christian, as well as birthdays. Families who want to meet with their converted relatives do so on non-celebratory occasions. From the culinary aspect, hosting them is easy: Other than raw and very rare meat, and an injunction to go easy on drinking wine – they are free to eat everything.

Smiling from ear to ear

Several things strike one upon meeting Jehovah’s Witnesses. The first is their cordiality: They greet you warmly, and always seem to be smiling from ear to ear. They are also immaculately attired. The men wear a tie with a well-ironed shirt that’s tucked into suit pants; the women generally wear a skirt and an elegant blouse. The children, too, are well dressed, including their footwear. Order and cleanliness are also clearly important for the community’s members. In all the homes and meeting places of Jehovah’s Witnesses that I visited, I didn’t see a single item that seemed to be out of place, covered with dust or improperly maintained.

Each of these elements is backed by at least one verse from the Bible. “The moment a person allows the spirit of God to influence his life and implements the principles of the Bible, he is imbued with a certain feeling that is perhaps expressed in what you call cordiality,” says Ran Kaplan (not his real name; he spoke under condition of anonymity), one of the community elders in Israel. “If you fill a person with pleasant things and with faith, his approach to life changes and becomes more positive.”

As for the attire, he explains, “The idea is to dress in a way that honors God, internally and externally. Each community around the world dresses differently, according to local custom, but with dignity and relative modesty. Also, one of the principles that God demands is physical, mental and moral cleanliness.”

Opponents of Jehovah’s Witnesses are legion. In Israel, what upsets people is their missionary activity. “We are not permitted to offer benefits for conversion, or to solicit minors. Beyond that, the law does not prohibit persuasion,” explains Oved Yitzhak, 42.

Every Friday, members of the community set up stands at various spots around the country. This is done in shifts and according to the believers’ desire and availability. The stands, which are neat and tidy, of course, offer pamphlets explaining the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses and a few principles from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament in Hebrew, English, Russian and Arabic. The meticulously dressed members of the community do not solicit people at their initiative, conversing only with those who approach them and show an interest.

What they usually get from passersby are dirty looks, sometimes supplemented with curses.

In addition to the goal of winning people over to their faith, another principle of Jehovah’s Witnesses that sparks an adverse reaction is their refusal to accept blood transfusions. As explained in the FAQ section on their website: “This is a religious issue rather than a medical one. Both the Old and New Testaments clearly command us to abstain from blood (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:10; Deuteronomy 12:23; Acts 15:28, 29). Also, God views blood as representing life (Leviticus 17:14). So we avoid taking blood not only in obedience to God but also out of respect for him as the Giver of life.”

Kaplan elaborates: “In the past, we were more stringent with regard to blood transfusions. Today we understand that in some cases, this is a life-or-death matter, so we will not take formal action [such as expulsion from the community] against someone who has chosen to accept a transfusion. Medicine is progressing and is now capable of offering treatment without transfusions. It is important for us to point out that, contrary to all kinds of myths that are spread about us we, do not object to medical procedures, only to receiving blood.”

I ask Kaplan about another issue: the belief in the existence of Satan that seems to be present in the community’s faith and way of life.

“According to the Bible, Satan exists – the Book of Job documents a conversation between Satan and God,” he says. “But Satan is not a central figure in our faith or a source of irrational fears. The Bible says, ‘oppose the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you’ [James 4:7-8]. According to the Scriptures, Satan cannot make us do anything against our will and there is no hell populated by the devil and demons. Nor is all evil attributed to Satan: People themselves bear responsibility for their wicked deeds.”

What is your attitude toward the authorities? In Israel, for example, you pay taxes but don’t do army service. Why?

Kaplan: “We believe that when the kingdom of God is established, all the transitory kingdoms will disintegrate. God allows governments and international organizations, and as subjects we need to submit to them. We refuse to submit only when the government asks us to do something against our will, such as to use physical violence. That is why we do not join the army.”

Young Jehovah’s Witnesses are permitted to submit a formal letter to the army declaring that they are members of the community who have been baptized, whereupon they receive an exemption from service – a process that is repeated every year until they reach the age 30, when they are officially discharged from military service. They thus undergo a process similar to those of Orthodox youths studying in yeshivas, though in the case of the Witnesses it is regulated by the military draft law, the last version of which was approved in 2015.

"Jehovah's Witnesses are exempt from service since they belong to a special community, and must be presented with a proper alternative due to their way of life," the Israel Defense Forces Spokesman's Office says in response. "The exemption is not part of an agreement [with the IDF per se], but is anchored in laws regarding the security services."

Kaplan, for his part, says: "We are not afraid to be different, but we are not out to provoke. Those who know us, including serious institutions in democracies, know that we are not a group of crazies with apocalyptic visions. Apparently, a religious minority is a convenient target for slanders and distorted facts, as the Jews themselves know from their bitter experience.”

Another allegation vehemently denied by Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they forcefully separate believers from their families. Yarden Zalimansky says that he has excellent relations with his family. "We work together in the family business. It was hard for them when I was exempted from army service, because I come from a family of fighters and officers. But they got over it. And by the way,” he adds, “the friend who introduced me to Jehovah’s Witnesses is now my wife.”

Are you and your wife thinking of expanding the family?

Zalimansky: “Not at the moment. We devote most of our spare time to Jehovah’s Witnesses activity and we want to continue that. The biblical prophecies describe the present period as critical, and the activity of spreading the word as urgent and important. The idea is to inform as many people as possible, not necessarily to convert them. Many in the community therefore prefer to do intensive work of spreading the word for a few years before devoting themselves to children.”

“Of course, the decision about having children is completely personal,” says Kaplan, explaining Zalimansky’s logic. “The vast majority of couples in the community have children. There are also couples who decide to defer parenthood for a time in order to be more active in the community, and there are a few who forgo having children altogether. Encouragement not to have children is overt and appears in the articles we distribute. At the same time, this is one of the issues on which the Bible does not contain detailed laws, so we do not treat it in the way that Jews, for example, treat a rabbinical ruling that obliges the believer.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that 1914 marked the end of a 2,520-year period called "the Gentile Times," after which human society would be replaced by the establishment of God's kingdom on Earth. They explain today that they do not know when the end-of-days period in which we are living is due to end, but say it will be soon. Which why it is so important to them to spread their message now.

Kaplan is only 50, but he’s the elder of one of the Israeli communities. There is no position of teacher or religious leader; instead, the “elders” instruct the believers in assemblies without payment. The criteria for becoming an elder appear in the New Testament: “The overseer should therefore be irreprehensible, a husband of one wife, moderate in habits, sound in mind, orderly, hospitable, qualified to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but reasonable, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money” (1 Timothy 3:2-3).

A gathering of three or more elders has the authority to expel an errant believer from the community, a custom that recalls the Hasidic movement. This is rarely done, however, according to Kaplan. “My rough estimate is that we’re talking about 0.5 percent to 0.8 percent of the believers a year,” he says.

‘Urban monastery’

In addition to the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Israel, there are 300 more in the areas of the Palestinian Authority. Worldwide, they number about eight million, and in 180 countries – Israel is not one of them – they are recognized officially as a religion. The largest community, with some 1.2 million members, is in the United States, where the Witnesses had their beginnings in the 1870s. In Italy, Witnesses is the second largest religious community, after Roman Catholicism. According to estimates, they grow by 3 to 4 percent annually worldwide, that is, by 240,000 to 320,000 new adherents a year. Those figures do not include children born to adherents, who are not baptized until they so choose, at age 17 or above.

Each community holds twice-weekly meetings at one of three centers in Israel, with a different topic discussed at each. The meeting I attended in Rishon Letzion, on the subject of “love and marriage,” opened with communal singing, after which one of the elders delivered a sermon. Everyone took an active part in the lesson that followed. Many had Bible apps on their smartphone or tablet. The lesson has a question-and-answer structure, and each member may reply to the elder’s questions. He appends “brother” or “sister” to everyone’s first name.

The atmosphere was comfortable and relaxed, but the discussion seemed a bit childish, both in terms of the repetitive pedagogical instructions and the naïve content. For example, the discussion about the absolute ban on adultery made no mention of the desires and concrete difficulties involved.

“It’s a format of meetings that has to be suitable for 8.2 million people of every background, educational level and age,” Kaplan explains. “Obviously, then, the method has to be simple. The depth and richness of the subject dealt with at each meeting depends on the composition of the local community. As for the messages, there are very simple biblical truths, and even if they sometimes seem utopian, according to the Bible, one can live by them.”

A Jehovah’s Witnesses head office operates in every country or geographical region in the format of a “small kibbutz,” as Kaplan puts it. The office staff do their work on a voluntary basis, and the others look after their basic needs: housing, food, money for everyday needs. The main Israeli office has 43 permanent volunteers and 10 more who work in rotation as required. Globally, there are some 20,000 volunteers, who must be either single, or, if married, childless.

“Think of it as an urban monastery,” Kaplan suggests, adding that parents with children do not do volunteer work for both spiritual and economic reasons: The community does not have the resources to provide services for children, too.

The budgets come from donations. Each assembly room has a donation box, and people can give as much as they like. Communities also donate to one another. Thus, in Europe and the United States, where most such groups are self-supporting, money is also transferred to less solvent areas, such as Africa and Israel. Not surprisingly, this practice, too, is based on a biblical verse.

Domestic and regular

To show me how "normal" their life is, the Zeibert family invited me for Friday lunch in their central Tel Aviv home. The family consists of Sarit, 47, Ran, 48, and their two daughters, Or, 20, and her younger sister, who asked not to be mentioned by name and age in the article, because she is shy and also because she hasn’t yet told her new classmates about her religious affiliation. Their younger daughter is enrolled in the state-secular education system, as was Or for 12 years.

There is nothing unusual about the family’s home. There are no crucifixes or icons on the walls, a custom prohibited by the Bible. The hospitality is extensive, and only the benediction recited before the meal indicates that this is a Jehovah’s Witnesses home.

Sarit relates that one day, when Or was a baby, a woman from Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on the door. A conversation ensued and Sarit found the woman’s reasoning congenial, but found it difficult to stop smoking (which is also not permitted, since followers believe they have to take good care of their body and soul) and drinking heavily. She took Bible lessons and kicked her bad habits several times but relapsed, until finally she triumphed over them and decided to be baptized. It took her husband a few more years, in which he studied and investigated the subject himself, before he too underwent baptism.

Sarit is from a traditionalist Jewish Israeli family, Ran’s background is secular. Both of their families now accept their conversion, following a difficult initial period. The grandparents grew accustomed to not giving the children presents on their birthdays, but make it up to them with plenty of gifts on other days.

Or chose to be baptized at the age of 17 and did not do military service. The exemption process was simple, she says: She submitted an official form proving she is a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. She is a volunteer at the community’s center in Tel Aviv, and has clearly taken upon herself the tenets of the religion she chose.

An intriguing facet of an encounter with children from the community is how they cope with the prohibition on celebrating holidays or taking part in ceremonies, which means they are absent on days when the school marks religious or national events. The ban on birthday celebrations is another significant limitation. Don’t they feel deprived, especially given the fact that they attend regular schools?

Or admits that every transition to a new school framework obliged her to explain why she couldn’t take part in her friends’ birthday parties. “After a while, I wasn’t invited to birthdays anymore, because they understood that our faith made it impossible to celebrate,” Sarit says. “Wherever the girls went to school, they found open, polite and respectful people around them. We’ve hardly ever encountered religion-based tension. But I have to say that this refers specifically to the center of Tel Aviv and to the schools the girls attended. I’ve heard harsh stories from other Jehovah’s Witnesses about how their children were treated.”

Or, as a girl, wasn’t it hard for you not to celebrate birthdays?

Or: “I always had a social life and terrific and happy things that filled my life.”

Sarit: “Or liked parties, so we had parties that weren’t connected to birthdays. Until the fifth grade, she pressured me about the holidays. It was a challenge. One day I compromised and let her wear a ‘symbolic’ costume on Purim. Things haven’t always gone smoothly, which is only natural, especially because they were the only Jehovah’s Witnesses children in their schools. But no one, religious or secular, raises their children in total freedom and gives in to all their caprices. Everyone sets boundaries, whether for religious or other reasons.”

While I was at the Zeiberts’ home, Sarit mentioned in passing that that day was the younger daughter’s birthday. “They know their date of birth, of course, like everyone, it’s not that we hide it from them,” she noted.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that birthday celebrations have pagan roots – and the Bible condemns sorcery, fortune-telling, spiritism and the like. They believe it is not by chance that neither the Hebrew Bible nor the New Testament have a single mention of one servant of God who celebrated a birthday. After all, the birthdays of two people who did not serve God are mentioned negatively in the Bible.

Sarit and Ran say their lives have been tranquil since they became Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to Sarit, her decision was the first time in her life that she felt she was making an independent choice. “Until that moment I went along with what I was born into and what happened to me. So, that was a formative and important moment in my life,” she says.

Ran, who was a PR man for dance and music clubs, began working as a gardener – a profession he enjoys, he says, because it brings him close to nature and to people. He doesn’t miss his former life, which was “confused and lacked meaning.”

Sarit is currently engaged in historical research about the tragedy that befell Jehovah’s Witnesses under the Nazi regime. Her studies, conducted in cooperation with noted researchers of the Jewish Holocaust, mainly from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Authority in Jerusalem, indicate that 20,000 to 25,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses lived in Germany during the Hitler years. Of them, 12,000 were incarcerated in concentration camps for refusing to sign a form renouncing their faith, and 2,000 of them were murdered. She has found 19 Jehovah’s Witnesses who have been designated Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

The Yad L’Achim organization, an Orthodox counter-missionary group that sees its mission as “the saving of each and every Jewish soul from Christian cults,” has published a detailed pamphlet decrying Jehovah’s Witnesses and alleging that the community collaborated with the Nazi regime.

Sarit rejects that claim outright: “Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted in Germany and occupied Europe from Hitler’s accession to power until the regime’s collapse, because of their religious belief and because of their military neutrality and their love of their fellow man, which did not allow them to cooperate with the regime.”

Violent harassment

Although Yad L’Achim claims to abstain from any violence against Jehovah’s Witnesses (or any other group), local adherents report being subjected to numerous forms of attack. Motti Danziger, 43, a former Jew who became a member of the community as a teenager, says that recently an ultra-Orthodox man followed him into the apartment building where he lives with his wife, who is also a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The next morning, all the building’s occupants found in their mailboxes a letter warning that, despite Danziger’s affable exterior, he is a dangerous person who will try to convert them.

Danziger also encountered harassment during his missionary activity. In the town of Nes Tziona, south of Tel Aviv, he knocked on the door of an apartment and was invited in by the woman of the house. But when her husband arrived, he locked the door and threatened Danziger and his associate. After words were exchanged, and Danziger tried to call the police, the man agreed to let them go – on condition that they leave all their written material with him.

In several large assemblies of Jehovah’s Witnesses from different cities, participants were met with violent demonstrations. The latest such incident occurred this past June, when adherents who attended an assembly in Rishon Letzion endured attacks that included stone-throwing and physical assaults, apparently organized by the ultra-right Lehava organization (the name is an acronym, meaning “flame”) for Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land.

A similar event occurred a year earlier, in Ra’anana, which also involved a legal saga. On the morning of the assembly, the municipality announced that it was canceling the event, “for fear of offense to the public’s sensibilities,” after discovering that a public hall had been rented by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The issue reached the Supreme Court (after the municipality appealed a decision of the District Court that ordered that the gathering could take place), which ruled that the city cannot cancel a gathering on the grounds of religion, as this would infringe on freedom of religion and worship. When it became clear that the assembly would proceed as planned, the city’s rabbi, Yitzhak Peretz, organized a demonstration outside the venue. About 1,000 people showed up and tried to break in. Two demonstrators were detained by the police and released shortly afterward.

But the primary confrontation Jehovah’s Witnesses have in Israel is with the state. Since 2000, they have been attempting to gain official recognition as a religious community. Recognition would accord them various rights, such as being able to marry according to their faith, as well as social, legal and cultural legitimacy, and certain tax benefits. They are currently in the midst of legal proceedings, in the course of which they realized – in concurrence with their lawyers and with the U.S.-based international center of Jehovah’s Witnesses – that most of the difficulties they encounter in the country are due to ignorance about them and their beliefs.

“People don’t know what it means to be a Jehovah’s Witness, and so they are afraid of us,” Kaplan says.

They hope that this article – the first to enter into the community's usually closed doors since their activity got underway in 1913, in Palestine and Israel – will help reduce the fear people feel about them.

In other countries, too, Jehovah’s Witnesses anger people and institutions. They infuriated the regimes in China and Russia (both during the era of the USSR and today), angered the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s, and even irked the U.S. Department of Education, due to the refusal to allow their children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school (until a 1943 Supreme Court decision ruled that schoolchildren could elect not to utter the pledge). The Catholic Church doesn’t like their denial of the Holy Trinity, and some elements of Israel's religious establishment perceives them as a threat to Judaism.

The irony of the situation is not lost on Keren Kimchi, 51, from Jehovah’s Witnesses: “Everywhere in the world we are regarded as enemies of Christianity,” she says. “Only here in Israel are we seen as Christians.”

Unrecognized community

In August 2000, lawyers for Jehovah’s Witnesses sought recognition for them as a formal religious community in Israel via the cabinet secretary, the attorney general and the Prime Minister’s Office. Fully three years later, the attorney general’s office replied that the decision was up to the government, as the community itself had noted in its request. Following another letter, they were told that only a cabinet minister could place the subject on the agenda, and therefore the attorney general was referring the matter to the interior, justice and religious affairs ministers. Seven years after that, the cabinet secretary informed Jehovah’s Witnesses that no progress had been made.

In 2014, another request for recognition was conveyed to the cabinet secretary. A year went by without a reply. A month after the community sent a reminder, the legal adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office informed Jehovah’s Witnesses that she was rejecting their request. “There are many different groups in Israel that wish to be recognized as a religious community. Accordingly, in the past 40 years, given the broad implications entailed in recognizing new religious communities, the government has not seen fit to change the existing situation,” the legal adviser wrote.

The “existing situation” is that the state recognizes only the following religious communities (in addition to Jews): Muslims, Christians, Druze, Circassians, Bedouin, Samaritans, Ahmadis and Bahais. (By comparison, Britain recognizes about 30 religious communities.) Jehovah’s Witnesses now believe that, all other possibilities having been tried, the only remaining alternative is the High Court of Justice. A petition to the court to that effect is now being drawn up by attorney Yael Nagar from the law firm of Eliad Shraga & Co.

Concurrently, Jehovah’s Witnesses are seeking recognition as a public institution from the Tax Authority as a nonprofit organization engaged in religious activity. This process, which is being spearheaded by attorney Amit Moshe Cohen from the law firm of Doron Tikotzky Kantor Gutman Cederboum, has been ongoing for three years. During that time, representatives of the Israel Tax Authority, after visiting the Jehovah’s Witnesses offices in Tel Aviv and being persuaded that the required criteria were met, transmitted the request to the Knesset’s Finance Committee. In a meeting held last March, the committee’s chairman, MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), announced that he was referring the request to the attorney general because the issue is a matter of “deep public controversy.”

No response was received from the Prime Minister’s Office, which is responsible for the attorney general's office, by press time.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.756487

Scientology created a website to bash Leah Remini and her new TV show of 'liars'

Business Insider
Jethro Nededog

November 30, 2016

The Church of Scientology created a website to slam Leah Remini and her new A&E television show, "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath."

The site is titled, "Leah Remini – Aftermath: After Money." It accuses the former "King of Queens" star of attacking the organization in the media, in a book, and on TV shows for profit. The church also claims that the ex-Scientologists featured on the A&E series (Remini among them) are lying about their experiences with Scientology.

It states:

"Leah Remini has repeatedly disparaged and exploited her former faith for profit and attention through a series of failed publicity stunts, culminating in her reality TV show featuring a cast of admitted liars who to make a buck have been telling differing versions of the same false tales of abuse for years."

In response to Remini's demand that Scientology pay her $1.5 million for allegedly trying to ruin her reputation and endangering her contract with A&E, the church called the request "extortion."

"She recently attempted to extort the Church by first demanding $500,000, followed by an additional $1 million, because the Church invoked its First Amendment right to respond to her false claims with the truth. This shows the extent Leah Remini is willing to go to in order to distort the truth about Scientology."

A&E didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

http://www.businessinsider.com/scientology-website-leah-remini-ae-show-2016-11

CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/2/2016

Jehovah's Witnesses did not protect children from abuse, inquiry finds

"Organisation relies on old policies, including a two-witness rule, and has weak internal sanctions that leave perpetrators at large, says royal commission."

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/28/jehovahs-witnesses-did-not-protect-children-from-abuse-inquiry-finds

Trial to begin for woman who used holistic medicine to treat fatally ill son

"Experts say the trial of a woman who turned to holistic medicine before the death of her seven-year-old son is likely to reignite a debate over the use of natural and alternative treatments."

"An autopsy revealed the boy died as a result of a Group A streptococcus infection."

http://calgaryherald.com/news/crime/trial-to-begin-for-woman-who-used-holistic-medicine-to-treat-fatally-ill-son

Leah Remini shines light on dark side of Scientology

The new docuseries — “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” — in which she meets with those whose families have been torn apart by the church’s more abusive practices.

http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/television/2016/11/leah_remini_shines_light_on_dark_side_of_scientology

Africa: The Men Who Claim to Be Africa's 'Miracle Workers'

"Pastor Lesego Daniel heads the Rabboni Ministries based in South Africa's capital, Pretoria.

He famously instructed members of his congregation to drink petrol, claiming that he had turned it into pineapple juice."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201611280022.html

​​

Ask Our Experts - Rachel Bernstein

Q: What is a collapsed narcissist?

​"

You bring up a subject that not a lot of people know about. Collapsed narcissists are an interesting breed. As many people already know, narcissists are sometimes called “high-functioning social predators”; they acquire power by taking it away from others. They feel predestined for greatness and lack self-reflection, insight, remorse or empathy, and they don't learn from the past. The finger is always pointed outward when blame is assigned. They behave with grandiosity and are egocentric.

​"​

​

http://openmindsfoundation.org/advice-and-guidance/ask-our-experts-rachel-bernstein3

Australian Jehovah’s Witnesses protected over a thousand members accused of child abuse, report says

"Over the course of about six decades, more than 1,000 members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses were accused of sexually abusing Australian children, according to a new report. Victims were ordered to keep quiet. Not one of the alleged perpetrators were reported to the police."

"A 107-page-long report released Monday detailed a number of ancient policies that exhibited what the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse referred to as a “serious lack of understanding of the nature of child sexual abuse.”"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/28/australian-jehovahs-witnesses-protected-over-a-thousand-members-accused-of-child-abuse-report-says/

Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath review

"Leah’s series is such a breath of fresh air. In her own unique and bold style, she is taking the fight to Scientology’s doorstep by calling it out for ruining lives and breaking up families through what it euphemistically calls disconnection."

http://mncriticalthinking.com/2016/11/28/leah-reminis-scientology-aftermath-review/

Pastor Shares the Danger of “Eastern Lightning” to Local Churches and Society

"Pastor He Zenghai of Qinghai Xining Dongchuan Church shared "Resist Heresy and Prevent Penetration by Cults." He demonstrated the influence caused by heretic cults to Qinghai Churches and the society by using actual cases. This article is part of his sharing about the danger to the locals caused by the cult "Eastern Lightning"."

http://chinachristiandaily.com/2016-11-29/church/pastor-shares-the-danger-of--eastern-lightning--to-local-churches-and-society_3363.html

Despite scrutiny on a polygamous sect, mystery grows in South Dakota

"Sheriff Rick Wheeler would like to serve a search warrant on the polygamous compound owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in his county.

He would like to know what's going on inside, but there's just one problem: He has no probable cause."

http://www.sltrib.com/home/4617334-155/despite-scrutiny-on-a-polygamous-sect

​News, Intervention, Recovery

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Nithyananda’s visit to Melkote leaves residents fuming

The Hindu
NOVEMBER 30, 2016

Swami Nithyananda, the controversial self-styled godman of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam in Bidadi, faced the fury of local residents at Melkote in the district on Wednesday after some of his devotees allegedly “spoilt the sanctity” of the historical Sri Cheluva Narayanaswamy Temple.

Nithyananda, who was arrested in a rape case a few years back, visited the temple along with about 3,000 devotees, several of whom were foreign nationals.

According to local residents, his devotees allegedly attempted to enter the temple wearing footwear. When objections were raised, they removed the footwear and kept them in their bags and entered the temple along with the bags. This irked the curious crowd that had gathered outside the temple.

The temple was supposed to be closed at 12.30 p.m. However, it remained open till 1.30 p.m. for his visit.

Nithyananda’s associates were also allowed to videograph inside the temple. But mediapersons were prevented from taking photographs. While the officials concerned refused to comment, the local residents said they have decided to file a complaint against the temple officials with the Deputy Commissioner.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/Nithyananda%E2%80%99s-visit-to-Melkote-leaves-residents-fuming/article16732148.ece

Jehovah's Witnesses: Internal judicial process 'catastrophic' for members alleging child sex abuse

Radio-Canada's Enquête investigates allegations that the closed religious movement fails to protect children

CBC News 

Dec 01, 2016

(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

Mélanie Poirier was 10 when she started taking piano lessons and it would prove to be an experience that changed her life forever. At that very first lesson, she said, her piano teacher sexually assaulted her. It went on for five years.

"Week after week, at every piano lesson, he would masturbate in front of me. And he would ask me to touch him," Poirier told Radio-Canada's investigative program, Enquête.  

Her father, Benoît Poirier, was in the next room waiting for her lesson to be over, completely unaware, she said.

Poirier said she couldn't tell her father, who was a Jehovah's Witness elder, or anyone else what was happening because her piano teacher was also an elder in the congregation that her family belonged to in a Montreal suburb.

"He was well-known, an elder, an example to follow," she said.

The biggest obstacle, however, was the fact she didn't have a second witness to the alleged abuse — a key requirement of the church's internal judicial system.

"If I told anyone, nothing would have happened. I wouldn't be believed. The elders wouldn't have even stopped to listen to me," Poirier said.

Internal policies — and no police

The Poiriers are among several former Jehovah's Witnesses in Quebec and the United States who spoke to Enquête about the church's policies for dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse and their failure to protect victims.

Among those policies: complainants are made to answer inappropriate questions if they report an assault, and their stories must be corroborated by a second witness for a case to even be heard by an internal judicial committee. Until this past summer, accusers were also forced to confront their alleged abuser before a panel of elders.

Radio-Canada also heard allegations that a five-year-old boy from a Quebec congregation was made to repeat his story in front of the man he said abused him. The boy's mother told Enquête the allegations were dismissed because the child did not have a second witness to the alleged assault.

In its investigation, Radio-Canada obtained a questionnaire designed to guide Jehovah's Witness elders interviewing children alleging sexual abuse. It includes the question: "How many elders believe the victim is to blame or willingly participated in the act?"

The questionnaire was drafted by the headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, in the state of New York. The Watchtower Society declined Enquête's request for an interview.

Rules rooted in scripture

The Watchtower Society's leadership bases its policies on a strict interpretation of biblical scripture.

Its policy on making an accuser justify her or his allegations in the accused's presence, for example, is based on a line from the Book of Matthew:

"If your brother commits a sin, go and reveal his fault between you and him alone." — Matthew 18:15

An elders' manual distributed to congregations cites the books of Deuteronomy and John as the basis for the two-witness policy.

"There must be two or three eyewitnesses, not just people repeating hearsay." — Deut. 19:15

"No action can be taken if there is only one witness." — John 8:17

While the Watchtower tells elders it is the "absolute right" of members to report allegations of child abuse to police, doing so is effectively discouraged by an organizational emphasis on dealing with such matters internally and avoiding "unnecessary entanglement with secular authorities," as stated in an internal document from 2014.

A recent royal commission in Australia found 1,006 cases of alleged child sexual abuse filed in the Jehovah's Witness church. Not one was reported to outside authorities.

Since 1997, the Watchtower leadership has required that every allegation of child sexual abuse brought to a congregation's attention be sent to the organization's national headquarters. 

Earlier this year, a California court ordered the Watchtower Society to submit a database of the alleged pedophiles among its ranks, but the society has yet to do so.

'Catastrophic' complaint process

Mélanie Poirier kept her story of alleged weekly assaults by her childhood piano teacher to herself for 20 years, until she met another alleged victim of the same man. Together, they decided to bring their case to the congregation's elders.

Both women were made to defend their allegations in a meeting at which their alleged abuser was present.

"I thought it would be difficult, but it wasn't difficult — it was catastrophic," Poirier said.

"He asked me questions. He said I was mistaken, my memories were wrong, why do I want to do this to him. I was revictimized that evening," Poirier said.

Based on his alleged victims' testimony, a judicial committee composed of elders expelled Poirier's former piano teacher from the Jehovah's Witnesses. He appealed, however, twice — meaning Poirier and the other alleged victim were made to confront the man a total of three times.

The story doesn't end there. Poirier's alleged abuser soon joined another Jehovah's Witness congregation, despite never having admitted to any wrongdoing or repented for the sin he was accused of committing — conditions set by the Watchtower Society for regaining membership.

Enquête contacted Poirier's old teacher, who is still a Jehovah's Witness and doing door-to-door work. He denied the allegations and refused an interview.

Poirier left the Jehovah's Witnesses soon after her ordeal, as did her father. Benoît Poirier said he's never recovered from seeing his daughter treated the way she was, and he's encouraging others to come forward with their stories.

"You're not sullying the organization by speaking out," he said. "These people are traitors, abusers, criminals.… They're sullying the organization with their actions."

Poirier has since taken her case to police in Laval, Que.

Translated and edited from a report by Radio-Canada's Pasquale Turbide

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/jehovah-s-witnesses-internal-judicial-process-catastrophic-for-members-alleging-child-sex-abuse-1.3874884