Personal development sect Avatar ‘infiltrates’ Dutch schools: media

Dutch News
March 27, 2018   

A sect similar to Scientology is infiltrating the Dutch school system and may run as many as six private schools in the Netherlands, according to research by the NRC and current affairs show De Monitor.

They claim several so-called ‘democratic schools’, including the Guus Kieft School in Amstelveen, are run om Avatar principles. The schools are privately funded and often take in pupils who, for one reason or another, fail to thrive in the regular school system.

Avatar is similar to Scientology, which has been accused of brainwashing and manipulation. Invented in the USA by former Scientology member Harry Palmer, the members of the sect adhere to a mixture of Scientology, Hinduism and New Age, and believe the earth was colonised by aliens.

However, the NRC writes, Avatar also advocates such controversial techniques as exorcism to cure cancer and ADHD.

De Monitor said the management board of the oldest and largest Dutch democratic school, De Ruimte in Soest, includes six Avatars and parents are encouraged to do Avatar training courses.

‘Our experience is that Avatar brainwashing is very evident there,’ one mother who took her children out of the school is quoted as saying. The school has denied the accusation.

Wizards

Earlier this month the NRC revealed that three local councillors, who have the status of Wizard in the organisation have been promoting Avatar by sending civil servants on Avatar courses.

According to the paper there are some 1,600 Avatar trainers in the Netherlands. The local council footed the bill which may be as high as €15,000, the paper said.

Sektesignaal, an organisation set up by the justice ministry to monitor sectarian activity, has asked the education minister to look into the matter. The De Monitor report will be broadcast on Tuesday evening.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2018/03/personal-development-sect-avatar-infiltrates-dutch-schools-media/

Feds raid home of NXIVM co-founder Nancy SalzmanSearch comes day after FBI arrest NXIVM leader Keith Raniere

Brendan J. Lyons
Times Union
March 27, 2018

FBI Agents on Tuesday raided the Halfmoon home of NXIVM Corporation co-founder and President Nancy Salzman as part of an ongoing federal investigation of the organization. The raid came the day after NXIVM leader and co-founder Keith Raniere was arrested in Mexico on sex trafficking charges.

HALFMOON — The FBI raided the Saratoga County residence of NXIVM Corp. co-founder Nancy Salzman on Tuesday.

The hours-long search of Salzman's single-family residence on Oregon Trail in Halfmoon was taking place a day after Keith Raniere, the leader and a co-founder of the secretive Colonie-based organization, was arrested in Mexico on charges of sex trafficking and forced labor. He was sought by the FBI based on a federal criminal complaint filed the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, which opened an investigation of Raniere's organization last fall.

Salzman has been a powerful figure in the organization since it was set up more than two decades ago.

The complaint, filed recently in connection with an ongoing federal grand jury investigation the Eastern District of New York, alleges that Raniere, known as "The Vanguard," took part in forming a secretive group within NXIVM that coerced women into joining a slave-master club. The women were also branded on their lower abdomens with a design that included the initials of Raniere and Allison Mack, an actress and NXIVM associate who is referred to in the complaint as an unnamed co-conspirator.

A warrant for Raniere's arrest was issued more than a month ago and he was taken into custody after Mexican immigration officials helped U.S. authorities track him to a luxury, $10,000-a-week villa near Puerto Vallarta, where he was staying with several women, federal officials said.

An expert has called NXIVM an "extreme cult."

On Sunday, the Times Union reported that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office is investigating a nonprofit foundation associated with NXIVM that allegedly sponsored brain-activity and other human behavioral studies without any apparent oversight, according to court records.

The nonprofit Ethical Science Foundation was formed in 2007 by Clare E. Bronfman, who owns a horse farm in Delanson and is listed in public records as the trustee and donor of the foundation.

At the request of the attorney general's office, a state Supreme Court justice recently signed an order directing Bronfman and Dr. Brandon B. Porter, who is involved with NXIVM and conducted the human studies, to turn over all documentation associated with the research, including any written communications, videos, conclusions, consent forms and the names and addresses of "individuals associated with Ethical Science Foundation who participated in any manner with the studies."

A Vancouver woman, Jennifer Kobelt, said in a complaint filed with the state that the experiment she was subjected to took place in a small commercial building in Halfmoon that has been used for years by NXIVM for training and seminars.

Kobelt said she was recruited for the study by an assistant of Salzman, who is NXIVM's president, and that she knew of at least four other women who took part.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Feds-raid-home-of-NXIVM-co-founder-Nancy-Salzman-12784322.php

NXIVM Founder Keith Raniere Arrested on Sex-Slave Charges

AMANDA OTTAWAY
Courthouse News Service
March 26, 2018

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CN) – The founder of international professional-development group NXIVM was arrested Monday on federal charges of running a cult-like organization in which female members were branded and considered sex slaves.

Deported from Mexico on Sunday, Keith Raniere, 57, is scheduled for arraignment in the Northern District of Texas at 2 p.m. Tuesday. He is expected to be transferred then to the Eastern District of New York where the complaint against him was unsealed Monday afternoon.

Headquartered in Albany, NXIVM conducts training, coaching and ethics programs in more than 32 countries. As noted in the complaint, the group, whose name is pronounced as Nexium, has features of a pyramid scheme, but Raniere’s alleged conduct involved his position at the top of a cult-like secret society within the group called DOS.

“DOS operates as a pyramid with levels of ‘slaves’ headed by ‘masters,’” FBI special agent Michael Lever wrote in an affidavit supporting Raniere’s indictment. “Slaves are expected to recruit slaves of their own (thus becoming masters themselves), who in turn owe service not only to their own masters but also to masters above them in the DOS pyramid.” (Parentheses in original.)

NXIVM did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday afternoon, though an undated note purportedly from Raniere called “Letter from Keith Raniere on Current Situation” was posted on the group’s website.

“The picture being painted in the media is not how I know our community and friends to be, nor how I experience it myself,” the statement says. “Over the past months, there have been extensive independent investigations performed, by highly qualified individuals, and they have firmly concluded that there is no merit to the allegations that we are abusing, coercing or harming individuals. These allegations are most disturbing to me as non-violence is one of my most important values.”

In the statement, Raniere also claims that the “sorority” is not part of NXIVM and that he is not associated with the group.

The complaint says some of the women recruited by DOS were dissatisfied “with the pace of their advancement at NXIVM.” In exchange for “an opportunity to join an organization that would change her life,” each new slave was forced to provide collateral, like sexually explicit photographs or other personal information, according to the complaint.

It also says at least one woman described the society as a “women’s mentorship group.” This collection of collateral turned into a monthly pattern of extortion, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors say Raniere forced the women to have sex with him and no one else while being lectured under “NXIVM curriculum” that men should have many sexual partners while women should be monogamous.

Many slaves were allegedly branded in their pubic regions with Raniere’s initials, using a cauterizing pen. Some were deprived of sleep or kept on low-calorie diets, because Raniere preferred women to be “exceptionally thin,” according to the complaint.

Prosecutors say they also were made to edit Raniere’s articles, refer to him as “The Vanguard, take ice-cold showers and perform difficult physical exercises. If they did not, they believed their collateral would be released.

Raniere, of Waterford, N.Y., was arrested in Mexico after he was found Sunday outside Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in a luxury villa.

This is not the first time NXIVM has faced accusations of cult-like activity. Raneiere filed a defamation claim in 2009 against parents who, citing a 2003 Forbes article, said their son had been involved in a “cult-like program” led by Raniere. Heiresses to the Seagram’s liquor fortune, Clare and Sara Bronfman, were both reported in 2010 to follow Raniere; Clare Bronfman is alleged to be his current financial backer.

In May 2017, a woman who claimed to be a former DOS slave defected publicly and The New York Times published a story about the alleged cult. In January 2018, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak signed an order for a search warrant of an email account believed to be Raniere’s.

U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue requested in a detention memo Monday that Raniere be permanently detained pending trial.

“This Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to the prosecution of those who break the law by preying upon and violating members of our community,” said Donoghue in a statement Monday.

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. used stronger language.

“These serious crimes against humanity are not only shocking, but disconcerting to say the least, and we are putting an end to this torture today,” he said.

If he is convicted, Raniere would face 15 years to life in prison.

https://www.courthousenews.com/nxivm-founder-keith-raniere-arrested-on-sex-slave-charges/

Sociologist advises vigilance against evangelical “spiritual warriors” set on converting Indigenous peoples

American movement using social science research, language of reconciliation to target Indigenous populations, says expert.

Cindy Jacobs, an influential member of the New Apostolic Reformation movement, claimed to have a vision that God wanted to release the “spirit of reconciliation” among churches in Manitoba, which has led Canadian followers to focus recruitment drives in the province, particularly in Winnipeg's north end.

GEOFF McMASTER
Folio
March 23, 2018

A new evangelical sect targeting Indigenous people in Canada is an ominous trend that should be closely watched, says a University of Alberta sociologist.

In an exposé published last fall, The Walrus reported that an American evangelical movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, has been moving north, using sociological research and “spiritual mapping” to locate vulnerable populations it deems possessed by demons.

“It is important that there's enough knowledge about the group in the communities they target, so people have the ability to understand what's coming in and how to deal with it,” said Robin Willey, a post-doctoral fellow who has studied evangelical movements in Canada.

“There is certainly something suspect about using research from the social sciences to shape strategy appearing to specifically target vulnerable populations,” he said. “It is troubling to say the least, and basically amounts to a form of neoliberal recolonization, where Indigenous populations are encouraged to ‘colonize’ themselves.”

According to The Walrus, NAR has already established a foothold among Canada’s Inuit people in the North, but most recently the movement has been recruiting new followers among the impoverished Indigenous population of Winnipeg’s north end, using the language of reconciliation to promise social transformation and healing.

But there are strings attached. NAR believes in the acquisition of wealth to bring about its vision, and that means collecting tithes. The top “apostles” have been known to pocket millions every year, following the prosperity gospel, which promises material wealth and physical healing to those who give generously, reports The Walrus.

The sect’s theology derives from the late Peter C. Wagner, who foretold of apostles infiltrating what he called the seven “mountains of culture”—education, government, media, arts and entertainment, religion, family and business in the name of God.

“That’s pretty much everything,” said Willey, “but NAR also lists business as the most important of the seven mountains, and it’s only through the accumulation of wealth that you can start fuelling influence into the other mountains."

Instead of focusing on personal salvation, as does mainstream evangelicalism, “NAR extends it to people groups, nations, communities and geographic areas. So instead of exorcising demons from a single individual, you can talk about exorcising demons from an entire people, group or community,” said Willey. Convinced they are soldiers in God’s army, NAR apostles aim to eventually take over governments and save the world from corruption and idolatry, establishing God’s new kingdom on Earth.

“They talk about saving some of the most impoverished populations on the planet,” said Willey, including those in Africa and South America.

"The interesting thing about them (in the Canadian context) is they have this language of reconciliation, which plays so well in vulnerable Indigenous communities” suffering from the cultural devastation of residential schools and their legacy of physical, sexual and substance abuse.

According to The Walrus, the movement arrived in Manitoba after one of NAR’s apostles, Cindy Jacobs, had a vision that God wanted to release the “spirit of reconciliation” among Indigenous and non-Indigenous churches in the province. The result was a recruitment drive called “Awakening Manitoba,” in which followers are inducted in emotional prayer services or faith-healing rituals.

"They believe that humans have dominion over the land—taking the biblical directive literally—and can sell that sort of thing to Indigenous people,” reminding them of their preordained rights as original stewards of the land, said Willey.

“But what comes along with that, somewhat ironically, is that there is only one religion and one religious practice that is OK.”

Under NAR’s prophecy, the only way to rid a population of demons is to destroy former religious practices and burn ungodly possessions—such as drugs, pornography, heavy metal music, even sweat lodges—in the name of purification. It is a clear violation of calls in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report for faith groups to “respect Indigenous spirituality in its own right.”

According to some estimates, there are chapters of NAR in all 50 American states. Membership numbers are hard to arrive at because followers don’t officially sign on to any church, seminary or ministry. American lawmakers such as Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann and former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin have all been drawn to the movement.

In assessing the threat in Canada, however, Willey said numbers matter.

“If this group is really quite small, say, sitting around five per cent of the evangelical community, how much do we really need to worry? My understanding of the evangelical movement right now is that it is becoming more segmented and more diverse.”

Though acknowledging NAR has clearly arrived in Canada, Willey said he hasn’t yet seen signs of it in Alberta. But that doesn’t mean it won’t show up here soon.

“This is a colonial discourse, and as settlers we have a responsibility to ensure people know about it," he said, to avoid substituting one form of colonialism for another.

https://www.folio.ca/sociologist-advises-vigilance-against-evangelical-spiritual-warriors-set-on-converting-indigenous-peoples/

Jehovah's Witnesses accused of silencing victims of child abuse

Scores of alleged victims come forward and describe culture of cover-up in religious group in UK

Sarah Marsh
The Guardian
March 25, 2018

More than 100 people have contacted the Guardian with allegations of child sexual abuse and other mistreatment in Jehovah’s Witness communities across the UK.

Former and current members, including 41 alleged victims of child sexual abuse, described a culture of cover-ups and lies, with senior members of the organisation, known as elders, discouraging victims from coming forward for fear of bringing “reproach on Jehovah” and being exiled from the congregation and their families.

A Guardian investigation also heard from 48 people who experienced other forms of abuse, including physical violence when they were children, and 35 who witnessed or heard about others who were victims of child grooming and abuse.

The stories told to the Guardian ranged from events decades ago to more recent, and many of those who came forward have now contacted the police.

They told the Guardian about:

An organisation that polices itself and teaches members to avoid interaction with outside authorities.A rule set by the main governing body of the religion that means for child sexual abuse to be taken seriously there must be two witnesses to it.Alleged child sex abuse victims claiming they were forced to recount allegations in front of their abuser.Young girls who engage in sexual activity before marriage being forced to describe it in detail in front of male elders.

A solicitor representing some of the alleged victims said she believed there were thousands of complainants in the UK and that the people who have contacted the Guardian were “just the tip of the iceberg”.

One alleged victim, Rachel Evans, who has waived her right to anonymity, claimed there was a paedophile ring active in the 1970s, although details of the case cannot be divulged due to a current investigation.

“Within the Jehovah’s Witnesses there is an actual silencing and also a network where if someone went to the elders and said ‘there is a problem with this’ and they believe you, the whole thing will be dealt with in-house. But often these people are not dealt with, they are either moved to another congregation or told to keep their head down for a few years,” she said.

Another victim, who did not want to be named, said she was abused by a ministerial servant (someone with congregational responsibilities) in the organisation in the 1970s.

ProfileWho are the Jehovah's Witnesses and how do they operate?Show“I was sexually abused many times a week from the age of three until I was 12. Congregation elders knew that when I told them, at 12, what had been happening. No steps were taken to tell the police. I had to tell three male senior figures what had happened. Imagine that? A young girl telling a bunch of men what this man did to me. I wasn’t even allowed to have my mother there with me.”

After she went to the police about what had happened, the person who abused her pleaded guilty and was eventually convicted. “The Jehovah’s Witnesses should lose their charity status as they are not protecting children,” she added. She said she had mental health issues as a result of what happened and how it was dealt with.

Jason Munro, another alleged victim of sexual abuse who waived his right to anonymity, could not give details of his case due to a current investigation but said: “I am completely horrified by the Jehovah’s Witnesses ... I didn’t get support and I experienced 10 years of abuse. Elders knew in my teens about the abuse but it was never a case of ‘let’s get this person the professional help he needs’.”

When a Jehovah’s Witness experiences sexual abuse they are supposed to report it to elders, who are always men, who will take further action if there is a second witness to the offence. The perpetrator will then be called before a judicial committee if they admit abuse or if there is a second witness.

“This causes further trauma to the victim and coupled with the two-witness rule, is undoubtedly the reason that so many victims have never reported it,” said Kathleen Hallisey, senior solicitor in the abuse team at Bolt Burdon Kemp, who is currently acting on behalf of 15 alleged victims.

She also noted that the problem with the two-witness rule in the context of sexual abuse was that there were rarely witnesses to it, “meaning that [these] reports ... are usually dismissed”.

It has been reported that the headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the UK, the Watch Tower, holds a database of abuse allegations made within the organisation but has yet to hand it over to authorities.

The Charity Commission launched an investigation in 2013 looking into the Manchester New Moston congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, concluding that it did not deal adequately with allegations of child abuse made against one of the trustees.

The commission is still running an inquiry into the main government body of the group, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain. This is examining the child safeguarding policy and procedures further.

Following the investigation into the Manchester New Moston congregation last year, the Watch Tower changed its policy so that victims are no longer required to confront their abuser face to face.

A former elder, who was asked to investigate a child abuse case in 2007, claimed he was urged not to contact the police, although it was decided that the perpetrator should not be assigned to work with children.

However, the then elder – who left in 2012 over how the case was handled – said that this rule was not followed by everyone and when he raised this as a concern he was told to back off.

“I hugely regret the fact that I wasn’t able to do anything at the time and I didn’t have the strength. And that lives with me,” he said.

Other former Jehovah’s Witnesses told how they were forced to share personal sexual experiences at a young age, after breaking rules set by the religion.

One woman, who wished to be anonymous, was called to a meeting with elders after she had sex at 15, which goes against the rule of no sex before marriage. “This meeting was three older men and me, a scared 15-year-old, who had just had sex for the first time. They had to know all the details before they chose my punishment,” she said.

“I had to answer questions like, did it hurt? Where were you? Did you enjoy it? I don’t think any child that age should ever be in that situation.”

A former elder described how a congregation responded when a 13-year-old girl had sex. A judicial committee was called, and she was disfellowshipped and eventually asked to leave her parents’ house.

The Guardian also heard from those who described strict upbringings and a culture of hierarchy which meant physical and other psychological abuse were rife and often ignored.

Stephanie, a former Jehovah’s Witness, said that when she reported her own experience of domestic violence she was told by elders to do nothing.

The accused “remained in the congregation with privileges and authority. Later, when I came out to the congregation elders as gay, they sent two men to my house ... and asked me in detail about sex and masturbation,” she alleged.

Operation Hydrant, a British police investigation into allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse, said that it was dealing with 45 potential victims of child abuse within a Jehovah’s Witness setting. It said allegations could be made by a third party which either identifies – or does not identify – a potential victim.

Based on the Guardian’s findings, the commission said its inquiry into the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain, the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ governing body in the UK, was continuing and it encouraged anyone affected by safeguarding in congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in England and Wales to come forward.

Hallisey said: “Given the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the UK, and what we know about the pervasiveness of abuse in the organisation, there are likely to be hundreds and probably thousands more victims. This is truly just the tip of the iceberg.”

She said the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse should investigate. “It is absolutely critical that IICSA investigates the Jehovah’s Witnesses ... This is actually a public safety issue. The person knocking on your door or handing you literature in the street could be an accused or even admitted paedophile,” she said.

An IICSA spokesperson said that while it was currently delivering its existing programme, the panel would “consider calls for a Jehovah’s Witnesses-specific investigation carefully” as work progressed.

In a statement, the Jehovah’s Witnesses said that safeguarding children was of the utmost importance. They said that a victim and their family had the right to report allegations of child abuse to the police, and that the principle of sufficient evidence was a scriptural rule not related to reporting an allegation of crime to the authorities. “Elders treat victims of child abuse with compassion, understanding, and kindness. Elders will conduct a scriptural investigation of every allegation of child sexual abuse,” they said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/25/jehovahs-witnesses-accused-of-silencing-victims-of-child-abuse-uk

Sex abuse survivors allege coverup by Jehovah's Witnesses for failing to report assaults

Christian and Katja Gutier

Sex abuse survivors allege cover-up by Jehovah's Witnesses for failing to report assaults

Avery Haines, W5 investigative reporter 
CTV News
March 24, 2018

Christian and Katja Gutierrez’s apartment is decked out for Christmas: the tree, the lights, the figurines on the mantle, all set up in full-blown holiday mode.

Christmas ended months ago, but the young Calgary couple can’t bring themselves to take the decorations down just yet. And it’s because they’ve only celebrated four Christmases in their entire lives.

The same goes for birthdays, Valentine’s Day and Thanksgiving. In fact, pretty much every holiday is a new experience.

Until four years ago, Christian and Katja were Jehovah’s Witnesses — a Christian sect with a very strict set of rules to live by — including not celebrating holidays.


Leaving the religious organization has had devastating consequences on Christian and Katja. They are being shunned by almost every family member and friend they ever had.

The Christmas tree is an act of defiance against an organization that they say stole so much of their lives. So, too, is the fact that they have invited a W5 team into their home to share publicly what happened to them in their childhood.

One of the biggest sins in the eyes of the Jehovah’s Witness organization is to speak out against the religion. And yet Katja and Christian are doing that and more.

Both sat in front of our cameras and shared haunting details of their sexual abuse, including allegations that the elders in their religion protected the men who harmed them.

Christian is the representative plaintiff in a $66-million class action lawsuit that has been filed against the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada. It’s on behalf of him and other child sex abuse survivors, who accuse the sect of shielding sexual predators from justice.

The lawsuit, which has yet to be certified by the court, is just the latest in what has become increasing international pressure on the religious sect to change doctrine that critics say protects pedophiles.

It’s called the Two Witness Rule. Citing scripture, the Jehovah’s Witnesses require that there be at least two witnesses to acts of child sex abuse before any discipline can be taken against alleged molesters, unless there is a confession.

Through an investigation that spans from Canada, the U.S., England and Australia, W5 exposes how the organization discouraged sexual assault allegations from being reported to police.

We also reveal that the Jehovah’s Witnesses keep a secret database, documenting every single allegation of sexual abuse against members that has ever been made.

The $66-million class action lawsuit filed in Canada will seek to make that database public, setting the stage for what could be the first detailed look at just how the organization deals with accused predators in Canada.

Kathleen Hallisey, a London based lawyer, who was the first in the UK to take on the Jehovah’s Witnesses and win an historic sexual abuse case told W5, “If you have a policy that requires a second witness to child abuse, it means that virtually every allegation is going to go no further. And that puts the child at risk. And it protects the abuser.”

Hallisey goes on to say, “I would describe it as a scandal. And a global cover-up. And a protection of abusers.”

With his wife by his side, Christian Gutierrez speaks in a soft voice. “I want justice. I want this to stop. I want this to end now. I would like the [Jehovah’s Witnesses] to change their policy. It’s just a simple policy.”

Watch W5's 'No Witnesses' Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV. The documentary will become available in our video player above after 8 p.m., and later on as well on W5's official YouTube channel.


https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/sex-abuse-survivors-allege-coverup-by-jehovah-s-witnesses-for-failing-to-report-assaults-1.3854274

Cult leader's daughters call for him not to be executed

Shoko Asahara

Tokyo attacker Shoko Asahara and followers set to hang amid mental competence doubts


David McNeill in Tokyo
Irish Times
March 24, 2018

Some people joke they have parents from hell. In Rika Matsumoto’s case it seems to be true.

Matsumoto’s family broke up two decades ago after her father was arrested for masterminding the worst terrorist attack in Japan’s modern history. Her mother was convicted of murder. Rika (34) says she has lived much of her life since “hovering between life and death”.

She, her sister Umi (36) and four siblings were partly raised in a countryside compound run by Aum Shinrikyo, the apocalyptic cult founded by their father, Shoko Asahara. This week marks 23 years since his followers gassed the Tokyo underground with sarin, a chemical weapon developed in Nazi Germany.

The 1995 attack killed 13 people, sickened more than 6,000 and inflicted wounds on Japan’s psyche from which it has yet to recover.

Not surprisingly, Asahara (born Chizuo Matsumoto) is one of Japan’s most reviled men. The blind, charismatic guru attracted zealots who committed a series of increasingly brazen crimes, including the murder of a lawyer and his family and the 1994 gassing of an entire neighbourhood that killed seven and injured 600. Defectors and recalcitrant devotees were tortured and murdered.

I have never, not now or in the past, thought of my father as a father,' she said, after successfully petitioning to cut ties with both parents

The authorities feared the cult might use helicopters to drop poison gas over Tokyo, one of the world’s most crowded cities.
Monster vs human

Despite their father’s fearsome reputation, however, the sisters express love for him. When she was seven and nursing a fever, says Umi, Asahara lingered by her bedside for days, mopping her brow. Rika recalls him clowning around to make them laugh. “People think of him as a monster but he was human,” she says.

Their younger sister, Satoka, has different views. In November, Asahara’s fourth daughter said he had violently abused her. “I have never, not now or in the past, thought of my father as a father,” she said, after successfully petitioning to cut ties with both parents. She said she supports the death penalty for her father. Her sisters call those claims “lies”.

Satoka may soon get her wish. The last of the marathon Aum trials wound up in January and Asahara and 12 other cultists are on death row. Many believe the government wants the executions carried out quickly, consigning a painful national watershed to history.

The sisters say they have been ostracised because of their infamous name. Rika, who left the cult compound in 1996, was blocked from entering school and had to fight in the courts to be allowed to study at university. She says she has repeatedly attempted suicide. “We were just children at the time but we have been treated like criminals.”

If the government follows the law, they cannot kill my father,' says Rika. 'It’s as simple as that'

They long ago cut ties with their mother, Tomoko, who was released from prison in 2002 after serving time for helping to lynch a cultist. They last saw their father in prison a decade ago but he has since refused to emerge from his cell. It is, in any case, difficult to recognise the babbling, shambolic figure they saw; he wears a nappy and makes no sense, says Umi.
Corners cut

Asahara mumbled incoherently through 256 court sessions without ever offering an apology, let alone an explanation. Prosecutors struggled to tie him directly to the cult’s crimes but convicted him on the basis of testimony from other cultists. The sisters believe their father is no longer mentally competent and that legal corners were cut to send him to the gallows.

“If the government follows the law, they cannot kill my father,” says Rika. “It’s as simple as that.” She and Umi are demanding proper medical treatment for Asahara and a stay of execution: Japanese law states that hangings must be suspended in cases of mental disability. The government has rejected claims that Asahara is seriously ill.

The cult has split into splinter groups. Aleph, as Aum now calls itself, offered condolences to the victims of the subway attack this week, but said executing Asahara would be “a grave, irreversible mistake”. Doubts remain about whether it has officially severed its connections to a leader who once declared himself Christ and led nearly 40,000 people around the world.

The call announcing his death could come to Rika’s mobile phone at any time, she says. Japan’s justice ministry gives no prior notice before hangings, which are shrouded in secrecy. “I just want to hear him speak in his own voice, to explain what happened,” she says.


https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/cult-leader-s-daughters-call-for-him-not-to-be-executed-1.3438026

Poconos gunmaker's vision: An AR-15 for every American

Jason Nark
Philly.com
MARCH 15, 2018

GREELEY, Pa. — An AR-15 semiautomatic rifle sits perched on a rack, higher than all the other things that decorate Justin Moon’s office in the Poconos.

He built the rifle himself, and it rests above his diplomas from Harvard and the University of Miami and shelves jammed with thick economics textbooks and business guides. Last week he sat at a desk beneath it, discussing a dead-serious plan to make that black gun even more ubiquitous in America.

“I mean, every American should really have an AR,” Moon said. “It’s America’s rifle.”

Moon, 47, is a son of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the controversial Unification Church in South Korea, but makes a living as a firearms manufacturer. Kahr Arms, which he founded in 1995, makes tens of thousands of pistols and rifles each year from facilities in Minnesota and Massachusetts, including a semiautomatic version of the Thompson submachine gun, the “Tommy Gun” that mowed down Chicago gangsters in the 1920s.

Moon canceled plans to build a plant in New York state, where his headquarters were located, after more restrictive gun-control measures were passed there in 2013 that expanded bans on military-style weapons and limited magazine sizes. He looked to Pennsylvania, which he described as “very gun-friendly.” In 2015, local and state elected officials helped him cut the ribbon on his new headquarters and retail store in a 620-acre industrial park he purchased off a winding road in Pike County.

“I think I share the values of many Pennsylvanians,” Moon said. “I fish, hunt, camp, you name it. Pennsylvania has a strong rural population with strong values. They love America. They love freedom.”

Last month, Moon’s brother, Pastor Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon, brought worldwide attention to rural Pennsylvania when he encouraged couples to bring their AR-15s to a marriage blessing at his World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church in Newfoundland, about 20 miles from Kahr Arms. The Bible references Jesus ruling with a “rod of iron,” and Sean Moon believes that rod is the AR-15, which is not made from iron.

“His reading of [the Book of] Revelation and the rod of iron makes sense to me,” said Justin Moon, a church member.

Next to his office is the Tommy Gun Warehouse, his retail store, where many of his brother’s followers came shopping before the marriage blessing. Moon stood in front of a wall of AR-15s, only a few of which bore the “Greeley” stamp. But soon, when the adjoining manufacturing plant is fully fired up, Moon said, he’ll roll out a “Thompson AR-15,” priced just under $700, in larger numbers. He currently employs 25 people in the office, store, and web shop.

“I’m going to make a standard AR-15 with my brand on it,” he said. “The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America. It’s the most common rifle in America.”

The NRA estimates that eight million Americans own an AR-15. It has also been used in five of the six deadliest mass shootings in the nation in the last six years, most recently in the Parkland, Fla., massacre.

Moon said he follows state and federal firearms laws but does not support age restrictions, limitations on specific guns, or even bans on the bump stock, an attachment that uses a semiautomatic rifle’s recoil to fire even faster — the reason why Stephen Paddock was able to kill so many people in Las Vegas last year. In fact, Moon believes the Founding Fathers intended the Second Amendment to evolve with the times, that citizens should be allowed to own any firearms they can literally carry in order to match the government’s firepower.

“We should have the right to have the same arms the military has as soldiers,” he said.

Moon donates to candidates, organizations, and causes countrywide that support the Second Amendment, and his politics have no middle ground.

“It’s not a secret. I support the Republican Party. I’m conservative. I’m not a liberal. Never pretended to be,” he said. “I would be one of the deplorables, clinging to gods and guns. That fits me pretty well.”

A Hillary Clinton bobblehead, dressed in prison garb, sits on a shelf in a Kahr meeting room, next to a bobblehead of the man to whom she lost.

Moon, a married father of seven, came to the United States from South Korea when he was 3, and although he embraces his heritage, the American dream is dearer to him.

“America is the greatest and the freest nation on earth, and I hope it stays that way because I want my kids to grow up in a free nation with opportunity,” he said. “Koreans do well in America because they work hard and take advantage of opportunities. They don’t go on welfare.”

Moon’s hatred of communism and socialism has direct roots in North Korea, where his father was imprisoned in a labor camp for five years, accused of being a spy for the South Korean government.

“Socialism is basically making the whole country a prison,” he said. “In a prison, everyone is equal. They get the same cell, same food; they get the same health care, and only the government employees have guns.”

Sun Myung Moon later became a self-professed messiah and started the Unification Church in 1954. Though it has been called a cult by its detractors, it considers Sean Moon’s church a “breakaway group,” and Unification Church officials said last month that firearms play no part in its doctrine.

While in Miami’s MBA program, Justin Moon drew up plans for a small, powerful pistol that became the Kahr K9. The prototype was an instant hit, Moon said, and he started producing the guns in 1995. According to a 2011 New York Daily News article, Kahr sold 5,000 K9s to the New York Police Department for off-duty use, though it later ordered its officers to stop carrying the gun because the trigger was too light.

Pennsylvania is home to dozens of gun manufacturers, some of which make just a handful of guns, according to statistics from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. One Northumberland County manufacturer specializing in smaller rifles made for younger shooters sold just over 49,000 firearms in 2016. Moon has purchased several other manufacturers over the years, combining many of them into the parent company Saeilo Inc. ATF statistics show Saeilo produced 40,274 pistols and 9,086 rifles in 2016. Those guns were made in Minnesota and Massachusetts, but production of AR-15s will soon ramp up in Greeley.

“They sell a lot, and they manufacture a lot,” said Edwin Gragert, a member of the Delaware Valley Democratic Club, which protested the Sanctuary Church’s weeklong festival last month.

Gragert lives in Milford, 14 miles from the Tommy Gun Warehouse, and he happens to have a master’s degree and doctorate in Korean and Japanese history. He knows the Moons well. He said he believes Sean Moon’s doctrine is dangerous and frets that his brother will be manufacturing AR-15s here in the Poconos.

“This glorification of assault rifles has no place here,” Gragert said. “These weapons are designed to shoot people.”

Moon returned to his office after discussing the AR-15s, and two women shuffled past rows of handguns in glass cases in the Tommy Gun Warehouse, stopping to grip models an employee recommended for personal protection. The women were surprised at how light some were and described one as “sexy.” They lived together in the Poconos, and in the wake of a recent nor’easter and subsequent power outages, they were troubled by reports of break-ins. One of the large TVs on a store wall was set to Infowars, a right-wing media outlet that peddles conspiracy theories.

“We live alone in the woods,” said Evie Ascencio, 62. “There’s no one around, and it would take police 30 minutes to respond to something.”

Outside, Justin Moon’s modified Jeep sat in the snow flurries, complete with a rooftop tent, propane tank, and a spine board, capable of barreling through whatever he thinks is coming.

Sean Moon has a Jeep just like it.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/ar15-moon-poconos-kahr-firearms-mass-shootings-20180315.html

Bizarre rules of Italian macrobiotic 'cult' revealed by victims

 Vanda Secondino 

Members of group under police investigation not allowed to laugh excessively or use internet
Angela Giuffrida Rome

The Guardian
March 23, 2018


People who broke free from what police say was a macrobiotic sect in Italy have described gradually losing control over their lives through a web of archaic rules and subtle manipulation.

Some said they spent more than 20 years within a system that police say was carefully cultivated by Mario Pianesi, an influential businessman celebrated around the world as a guru of macrobiotic food.

Pianesi, 73, is among four people accused by the authorities of reducing people to slavery by strictly controlling their diets, denying them contact with the outside world and leaving them impoverished by forcing them to work for free or a pitiful salary.

The group was exposed by police last week, following an investigation which began in 2013 when a young woman, whose weight had plummeted to 35kg (77lb), told police Pianesi had promised her that his "Ma-Pi" diet would cure her illness.

Pianesi has not commented on the allegations. Manuel Formica, a lawyer representing all four accused, said: "This thing is far-fetched and the suspects will do everything to defend their integrity."

Six people have made formal complaints while two more have come forward over the last week. Carlo Pinto, the investigator leading the case, suspects there could be "hundreds more" who are "still under the cult's influence".

Complainants described a sinister network which allegedly wielded power through a diet claimed to provide miracle cures for viruses and illnesses such as HIV, cancer and diabetes. Rules allegedly included banning women from wearing short skirts, make-up and from washing during their period. More bizarre customs were said to include having to get out of bed on the right side and cutting hair and nails on any day of the week other than Tuesday or Thursday.

People were also allegedly banned from laughing too much, using the internet and going to the gym, while men were told that wives who left them were akin to prostitutes.

"The rules came about over time," said Vanda Secondino, who became involved with the group in 1989 after attending one of its first holiday camps.

"Pianesi was charismatic. People who were sick would ask for his help with food. Then we started to seek advice for every aspect of our lives and, over time, we lost power and he gained more. We believed we were incapable of managing our own lives."

Originally from Albania, Pianesi is said to have discovered the macrobiotic diet, modelled on the teachings of Japanese philosopher George Ohsawa, after becoming ill during his military service. Seeing a positive impact on his own body, he set up his first "clinic" in Sforzacosta, a hamlet close to the Marche town of Macerata, in the 1980s.

Locals, who jokingly referred to Pianesi as a "witch doctor", would go to him for consultations. He allegedly told followers that traditional medicine did not work and that real doctors were killers.

Pianesi's UPM empire, which comprises a network of 85 macrobiotic product hubs and restaurants across Italy, began making bold claims in the early 1990s, a period when many people, particularly those diagnosed with HIV, would attend his seminars in the hope of finding a cure.

Pianesi earned prestige by wooing those around him, allegedly giving gifts to local officials and free meals to police officers.

"He would say that for a town to be safe the police needed to eat well and have a clear mind," said Gilbert Casaburi, who was a chef within the association before leaving it in 2011.

Police believe this was a tactic for Pianesi, who is also facing tax evasion charges, to avoid financial checks.

The Ma-Pi diet was endorsed by scientific journals. Pianesi is an honorary citizen of 12 towns in Italy and across the world. He met Pope Francis in 2016 along with his second wife, Loredana Volpi, who is also under investigation. The meeting infuriated the group's followers, who claimed Pianesi had always harshly criticised the church and the pontiff.

But such was his popularity, people in Macerata are struggling to believe the revelations. The local macrobiotic restaurant, offering cheap and healthy meals, is well-visited.

"I know many who work at the restaurants and are not exploited," said Marco Ribechi, a journalist who reflected on Pianesi as a potential Jekyll and Hydecharacter in an article for the local online newspaper, Cronache Maceratesi. "Some of it may be exaggerated, but this is just my opinion."

He said there may have been "layers" within the movement, whereby some people were exploited and others were not.

A macrobiotic diet aims to avoid foods containing toxins and is based on whole grains, vegetables and beans.

"At the beginning the diet was the same one taught by George Ohsawa, then it became completely different," said Secondino.

Originally from Campania, Secondino moved to Macerata to get closer to the movement. Within months she had abandoned her studies and reduced contact with her family.

Suffering from anaemia and anxiety, she said the group initially gave her "lots of love and attention". "I was only 26, had a fractured relationship with my family and little faith in myself, " she said.

She met her husband Mauro Garbuglia, who has a benign brain tumour, within the group. Pinto said followers were so devoted to their "teacher" that they gave donations to the association and worked for free within its centres and restaurants, believing they were contributing to society.

Secondino and Garbuglia ran one of the restaurants, into which they ploughed about €160,000. Police said the operation worked like a franchise but in reality, followers invested while the accused took most of the profit. Followers were also obliged to buy produce only from UPM and pay to attend the association's workshops and holiday camps.

Secondino, her husband and two sons left in 2012 following a series of events that made them finally realise that "things weren't right".

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/23/bizarre-rules-of-italian-macrobiotic-cult-revealed-by-victims

Religion, Libertarian Cults And The American West In 'Wild Wild Country'

Heard on All Things Considered

SARAH MCCAMMON
ALEXI HOROWITZ-GHAZI
EMILY SULLIVAN
NPR
March 24, 2018

What began as a hopeful experiment spiraled into a historic battle between a new-age spiritual group, their rural neighbors — and eventually the federal government.

Chapman and Maclain Way explore that battle in their new Netflix six-part series, Wild Wild Country. The directors tell the story of Rajneeshpuram, a utopian community established by the followers of an Indian spiritual guru named Baghwan Sri Rajneesh, in rural Oregon in the early 1980s.

The Rajneeshpuram moved into a 60,000-acre ranch near the conservative town of Antelope, and the free-loving followers quickly began to butt heads with local residents. The conflict escalated to federal charges of immigration fraud, attempted murder and the largest bioterrorism attack in United States history.

The Way brothers spoke to Weekend All Things Consideredabout Wild Wild Country, the American dream and how the Rajneeshees tried to take over local politics by busing more than 5,000 homeless people to Wasco County, Ore.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Interview Highlights

On Baghwan Sri Rajneesh and what his followers believed

CHAPMAN WAY: He was kind of one of the first Indian spiritual gurus to really marry Western capitalism with Eastern mysticism. This was really appealing to very successful, highly intellectual Westerns from America and Europe who were attracted to this message of capitalism and wealth, but still being spiritual.

Baghwan was also know as the free love guru, because his followers practiced open sex ... He created this ashram in Poona, India, and soon enough Westerners around the world began flocking to listen to his teachings.

On the spread of Baghwan's ideas

MACLAINE WAY: Baghwan was kind of at an interesting time in history where we had 1960s counterculture coming to an end, and we were at the end of the 70s and getting into the early 80s, and you had a lot of Americans doing this kind of Eastern migration toward India [they were] interested in seeking. Baghwan was able to tap into Westerners who wanted to have wealth and free sex while also walking a path of enlightenment.

America didn't have a lot of big gurus, and I think America was seen as maybe this major league where [Baghwan] could go and transform the consciousness of the world. Their ambitions were sky high. That's where our series starts to pick up.

On Baghwan's secretary and second in command, Ma Anand Sheela, who arranged the purchase of a 60,000-acre ranch in rural Oregon, as a new home for the commune

CHAPMAN: Ma Anand Sheela is a really complex, fascinating character. She was really "the right-hand man" of this organization, and was really in charge of building this entire religious empire.

As a young girl, she had traveled to America and went to college at Montclair State University, and was familiar with America, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and as [the group] was starting to get more pushback in India from government officials and conservative Hindus, they were looking for a "promise land," so to speak, where they could practice their religion in peace and harmony.

Followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh gather on Oct. 29, 1986 at the crematorium at the Rancho Rajneesh in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, for a book-burning.

How did the older, more conservative ranchers and retirees next to the ranch react to their new neighbors?

CHAPMAN: I think when the Rajneeshees first arrived in eastern Oregon, it was almost as if this bizarre zombie sex cult had invaded... You saw hundreds of people dressed head-to-toe in red walking down the streets of Antelope. I think the Rajneeshees couldn't have found a more diametrically opposed area in America to move in. It was full of ranchers, and cowboy culture, and they were all concerned with this cult that had moved in next door.

On the clashes that ensued

CHAPMAN: In 1984, the Rajneeshees were looking to take over political control of Wasco County in eastern Oregon. Part of that plan was to bus in over 5,000 homeless people from all around the world so that [the group] would have a big enough a voting block to swing Wasco County and put in their own Rajneeshees into positions of power.

Ultimately, the state of Oregon decided that some of these homeless people were not qualified to vote, and in act of what some might consider retribution or act to suppress the voting count on the other side of the issue, [the group] decided to spread a very strong strain of salmonella amongst over 10 restaurants. The belief was that if enough people got sick on election day, they would stay home and not vote.

MACLAINE: I don't think anyone knew how this story would end up unfolding, but I certainly don't think that they anticipated assassination attempts, trying to bus in 5,000 homeless people to take over the county, a poisoning of 751 people.

By and large, these were rational people, intelligent people, who just really were put in a situation where all three sides — government, Antelope and the Rajneeshees — just became entrenched in this sort of war.

On cults and the American Dream

CHAPMAN: One of the really fascinating components of the story is that when people think of commune, they think of communism. The interesting thing about this spiritual group was that it was actually much more of this almost extreme libertarian philosophy that you can build yourself up by your own bootstraps: They wanted to build their American dream, their own law enforcement, their own education.

On similarities between the clashing sides

CHAPMAN: One of the more absurd components of this was getting to know the Antelopians, and the Rajneeshees — it was bizarre how similar these cultures were in some ways. Antelopians pretty much did the same exact thing, they almost took the land from the Native Americans 150, 200 years ago, and built their own community with their own church in the middle of town and their own public school that taught Christianity.

NPR's Emily Sullivan produced this story for digital.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/24/596723300/religion-libertarian-cults-and-the-american-west-in-wild-wild-country

Tokyo residents protest against doomsday cult’s successor group

South China Morning Post
March 24, 2018

Renamed Aum Shinrikyo group target of angry demonstration to mark anniversary of subway sarin gas attack.

More than 200 people living near a Tokyo base of the main successor to the Aum Shinrikyo cult took to the streets on Saturday demanding the group disbands, with the execution of its guru and a number of former disciples seemingly imminent.

The residents marched around the Adachi Ward compound owned by Aleph, led by Adachi Mayor Yayoi Kondo who held a banner saying, “Absolutely against Aum.”

The demonstration was planned to coincide with the recent 23rd anniversary of the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 13 people and injured over 6,200, the worst of several attacks and crimes carried out by Aum followers.

Aum renamed itself Aleph in 2000 and two additional splinter groups formed. The Public Security Intelligence Agency continued to monitor the groups, believing they are still under the influence of Aum founder Shoko Asahara who is on death row along with 12 of his former disciples.

Residents of Kawaguchi, a Saitama Prefecture city adjoining Adachi Ward, and some from Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward where a facility of one of the splinter groups is located, joined Saturday’s demonstration.

According to the agency, the three groups have 1,650 followers in Japan, with 1,470 of them Aleph members.

The 13 death row inmates could be hanged anytime as the Aum-related trials over a series of crimes that left 29 people dead concluded in January.

“I’m worried what could happen after the executions,” said Hisashi Mizukami, who represents a group of Adachi residents protesting Aleph. “We will remain vigilant.”

Japan marks anniversary of Tokyo subway gas attack as 13 cult members brace for word they’ll be sent to the gallows.

Tuesday marks 23 years since members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult punctured plastic bags to release sarin nerve gas inside subway cars, sickening thousands and killing 13.

Japan on Tuesday marked the 23rd anniversary of a deadly sarin attack on the Tokyo metro, as speculation grows that members of the cult behind it could soon be executed.

At a solemn ceremony at Kasumigaseki station, one of the targets of the 1995 attacks which is surrounded by key government buildings, Tokyo subway staff gathered to observe a moment of silence and offer flowers.

Thirteen people were killed and thousands more injured when members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult dumped bags of sarin on packed rush hour trains, piercing the pouches with sharpened umbrella tips before fleeing.

The nerve agent caused horrendous deaths and injuries, and prompted mass panic, turning Japan’s busy capital city into something resembling a war zone.

Passengers streamed out of stations vomiting, coughing and struggling to breathe, with emergency services administering life-saving treatment by the side of the road.

Ambulances screamed through the streets, and helicopters landed on major roads to assist the evacuation of those affected.

On that day, Tokyo Metro worker Kazumasa Takahashi unwittingly picked up a punctured packet of the nerve gas from the floor of one of the trains at Kasumigaseki station.

He and another colleague died.

“I came here today, with the same feeling I have every year,” his widow Shizue told reporters at the station after paying tribute to her late husband.

“The health of some victims is deteriorating and some families are also going through a tremendously difficult time,” she said, adding that the passage of time had not healed the pain suffered by victims’ families.

After years of legal proceedings, the prosecution of 13 Aum Shinrikyo members on death row for the attacks and other crimes finally concluded in January, clearing the way for their execution.

Last week, authorities began separating and transferring them to different detention facilitiesequipped with the infrastructure to carry out executions by hanging.

The transfers have prompted speculation that cult leader Shoko Asahara and the 12 of his followers on death row could soon be executed, though there has been no official indication.

Japanese authorities usually announce executions after the fact, with no advance warning.

Even prisoners sent to the gallows are not notified until guards come to their cells in the morning. After a chat with a chaplain, a last bite or smoke, the prisoner is taken to the gallows.

If all subway attack convicts are hanged, it would be largest number executed on a single day in Japan’s modern history.

Japan on January 24, 1911, hanged 11 political prisoners who allegedly plotted to assassinate the emperor.

Shizue Takahashi said the fast speed of transfers initially startled her, but stressed that the executions must proceed in due course.

http://m.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2138760/tokyo-residents-protest-against-doomsday-cults-successor-group

Las Vegas man charged with raping teen member of his church

Blake Apgar
Las Vegas Review-Journal
March 24, 2018

A Las Vegas man was arrested last week after authorities accused him of raping a teenage member of his church, police and court records show.

Carlos Alfonso Perez, 55, was charged in January with three counts of sexual assault with a minor under 14 and two counts of sexual assault with a minor under 16, records show. He was arrested March 13 at his northeast Las Vegas home.

Perez is accused of assaulting a teenage girl multiple times between July 2012 and July 2014. He denied any wrongdoing in a December interview with police, according to records, but declined to take a polygraph examination.

The girl was 13 at the time the abuse began, according to a police report. She and Perez attended the same kingdom hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses for more than 10 years, according to the report, and the girl saw him multiple times a week at church functions.

She eventually reported the abuse to church officials, who had her confront Perez face to face, according to the police report.

“The church members decided that there was nothing they could do, since the stories were different,” the report states.

The document makes no mention of church officials attempting to contact police. A spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in New York did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday and Friday.

According to the document, the girl reported Perez to police in August.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/sex-crimes/las-vegas-man-charged-with-raping-teen-member-of-his-church/

European court upholds German move to take kids from sect

David Rising
AP
March 22, 2018

BERLIN — The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday upheld Germany’s decision to take away the children of families in a Christian sect to protect them from being disciplined by caning, agreeing the punishment constituted child abuse and authorities were left with no choice.

Bavarian authorities in 2013 raided the Twelve Tribes sect settlements near the towns of Deinigen and Woernitz and took 40 children, between ages 18 months and 17 years, into foster care after a hidden-camera media report showed the parents caning children as punishment.

The sect did not deny using the cane, saying on its website at the time that “when they are disobedient or intentionally hurtful to others we spank them with a small reed-like rod, which only inflicts pain and not damage.” It said they consider their children precious and wonderful and “because we love them we do spank them.”

In its ruling, the Strasbourg court found the sect had employed “a form of institutionalized violence against minors” and that even if social workers had stepped in, they “could not have effectively protected the children, as corporally disciplining the children had been based on their unshakeable dogma.”

The case was brought by four families, from whom eight children were taken, who argued Germany’s actions were a violation of European rules meant to ensure authorities’ respect for private and family life.

The court disagreed, however, saying German authorities’ ”decisions had been based on a risk of inhuman or degrading treatment, which is prohibited under absolute terms under the European Convention.”

It noted that “the parents had remained convinced during the proceedings that corporal punishment was acceptable” and that German authorities concluded “they had had no other option available to them to protect the children.”

The sect was founded by a Tennessee high school teacher in the 1970s and today is thought to have some 2,000 to 3,000 members worldwide.

The sect’s practices have run afoul of the law in the U.S. as well, including in 2000 in Connecticut where a couple belonging to the group pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and cruelty for disciplining their children with a 30-inch (76-centimeter) fiberglass rod.

In 1984, authorities raided the group in Vermont and removed 112 children on abuse allegations. A judge later ruled the raid illegal and returned the children to their parents.

Before the raids in Bavaria it had already had other confrontations with German authorities for violating laws on homeschooling their children.

In 2015 an elder of the sect was convicted in Germany of causing serious bodily injury for hitting children in his care with a 1.2-meter (four-foot) switch and sentenced to probation.

Since the raids some of the children taken had been returned to their families after growing old enough to be no longer at risk. German media have reported that other children have been returned to parents who have left the sect.

The sect has posted periodic updates online with photos of children they say have been “set free from captivity.”

The court did not say how many children remain in the care of the state.

After the raids, the German group said it had decided to relocate to the Czech Republic in an area west of Prague, and it was not immediately clear whether any of the families still live in Germany.

The group did not immediately answer an email seeking comment or post an update online.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/european-court-upholds-german-move-to-take-kids-from-sect/2018/03/22/7f622fc6-2dc0-11e8-8dc9-3b51e028b845_story.html

SGA Study

If you identify as someone who was born or grew up in a high demand religious organization, a high intensity faith group, or a cult, and had counseling while either in or after you were in that group, we would like to invite you participate in the following short 20-25 minute survey. https://unt.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0wuUIwXSPshTnE1

If you have any questions, please let Dr. Cyndi Matthews know at cyndersm@verizon.net or Ashley Allen at AshleyAllenICSA@protonmail.com or Elisha Cox at ElishaCoxICSA@protonmail.com.

How to survive gaslighting: when manipulation erases your reality

Ariel Leve offers strategies to stay resilient in the face of psychological abuse that distorts the truth – much like what’s coming from Trump’s administration

Ariel Leve
The Guardian
March 16, 2017

Right now, many Americans listening to their president are experiencing what I experienced frequently a child. Nothing means anything, and reality is being canceled. There is confusion, there is chaos, everything is upside down and inside out. When facts and truth are being discredited, how is it possible to know what to believe, especially when it comes from someone we expect to embody both ethics and etiquette?

Ariel Leve: 'I was the parent and my mother was the child'

It’s obvious to those already initiated. To those new to the phenomena: the president and the current administration are gaslighting us. It’s a term we are hearing a lot of right now.

The term “gaslighting” refers to when someone manipulates you into questioning and second-guessing your reality. It derives from a 1944 movie – and the play and another film that preceded it – in which this happens to the heroine. What perhaps people don’t understand is how to manage and cope with it. For me, all it’s very familiar. I know this behavior well and I know how to navigate it.

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As a child, I was experiencing a world where there was no emotional safety while being consistently told that I had a beautiful and happy childhood and that I was ungrateful. What was I complaining about? Yet what I was exposed to caused me to feel unsafe. And those feelings had a verifiable origin. Whether it was witnessing violent arguments or being on the receiving end of inappropriate behavior, when I confronted my mother with the truth, it was denied; my reality was disavowed and asserting it would only instigate conflict. I was told that what I saw with my own eyes hadn’t happened.

When I would confront my mother with things that she had said, or things that she had done, she would say I was making it up, that it was a lie. When I confronted her with facts, they were batted away. So it wasn’t just that my reality was canceled, but that my perception of reality was overwritten.

As I wrote in my memoir, An Abbreviated Life, it wasn’t the loudest and scariest explosions that caused the most damage. It wasn’t the physical violence or the verbal abuse or the lack of boundaries and inappropriate behavior. What did the real damage was the denial that these incidents ever occurred.

The erasure of the abuse was worse than the abuse.

When I was in my mid-30s, I had an encounter with someone who recognized me from when I was a child. “Are you so-and-so’s daughter?” he asked. I nodded. He had been a guest at one of my mother’s parties. After I left, he said: “I had always wondered how that little girl would survive. I had thought her only choices were suicide or murder.”

When I was told he said this, I felt validation. And that line stayed with me for many reasons. This outsider observed what I was living through, and having him as a witness confirmed what I knew.

One of the most insidious things about gaslighting is the denial of reality. Being denied what you have seen. Being denied what you have experienced and know to be true. It can make you feel like you are crazy. But you are not crazy.

Dr Robin Stern, associate director at Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of The Gaslight Effect says that usually “when people are abused there are signs that you can point to that are much more obvious. Someone who has been hit or threatened for instance – it’s easy to see and understand how they have been hurt. But when someone is manipulating you, you end up second-guessing yourself and turning your attention to yourself as the person to blame”.

To illustrate this, she cites an example that is easy to understand. A close friend of hers was always running late. Initially, she pointed this out to him noting that it was not respectful. His response was to tell her she was “too sensitive”. But over time, when this dynamic would continue to happen, it would lead to arguing and when she persisted he would say, “You really have a problem with time, don’t you?” and she in turn, ended up thinking he might be right. She began to doubt herself. “I began to think – what’s the problem if someone is late, maybe I’m not being flexible enough.’”

This is what she calls the gaslight effect. “Gaslighting over time leads to somebody experiencing the gaslight effect. Someone can try to gaslight you, but it can’t happen unless you allow it.”

This is the tricky part. Because when there is someone in a position of power or authority, someone you idealize, or even as in many co-dependent relationships – when there is someone you are afraid to lose – their insistence that their reality is the reality can often cause you to doubt what you know to be true.

“We are living in a time where a lot of people are having a tough time deciding what’s real and feeling like they are being manipulated,” Stern says. “If they know something is true and somebody tells you it’s not true, holding on to your reality is essential. You can’t be gaslighted if you stay inside your own reality and recognize the manipulation when you see it.”

Smoke and mirrors: how Trump manipulates the media and opponents

What’s happening on a national level is activating and retraumatizing a lot of people who have been gaslighted in the past. The crazy-making, mind-bending, massive confusion-inducing effects of our current administration’s recklessness with the truth and disregard for verifiable facts is creating an emotional and psychological whiplash. It’s affecting people who have been subjected to abusive relationships; people who feel emotionally vulnerable and it seems to stoke a nearly unprecedented rage in those of us who can see it and feel powerless to do anything to combat it. When people in the mainstream media are being discredited, how exactly are you supposed to call this out?

There were some strategies – which I didn’t know at the time were strategies – that helped me survive. And in these uncertain times, it is a way to stay sane.

Remain defiant

When I was a little girl about five or six, I wrote a story about running away from home. When my mother saw that story, she demanded I change it. Why would you write this story? It isn’t about me, is it? She knew it was about her and the chaos at home. I refused to change the story and that defiance was key. Trusting my version of reality. Not allowing it to be altered on demand. Resistance. This anger protected me, because I knew what I knew. It couldn’t be erased. Being defiant does not make you difficult. It makes you resilient.

Recognize there will never be accountability

The person who is gaslighting you will never be able to see your point of view or take responsibility for their actions. They will never get it. They will never say, “Oh, you’re right – you have a point.”

Acknowledgement is not on the cards. And asserting yourself is not just useless but harmful. Because the person gaslighting will never be able to respond to logic and reason – and so you have to be the one to recognize that logic and reason can’t be applied.

Let go of the wish for things to be different

The wish for things to be different is very powerful and inoculates you to the tumult. It allows you to continue to believe logic and reason will prevail. You want to believe the person will change. You want things to make sense. But they won’t. You want to feel you are on safe ground. You have to let go of this wish. Because things will never make sense. You will never be heard.

Develop healthy detachment

I had to develop certain coping mechanisms, but there was a price. Behavior that was adaptive as a child becomes maladaptive as an adult: I was not trusting and always needing verification.

I became hyper-vigilant about clarity. There was no room for misunderstanding; no margin for error. I needed certainty in an uncertain world. But we live in an uncertain world, so there has to be a way to find balance.

Detaching from the gaslighting does not mean total detachment. It means distinguishing between the world of the gaslighter and the real world.

“Someone can try to gaslight you and once you can identify what’s going on, you can begin to turn off the gaslighting and heal,” Stern says. She points out that often people are willing to give up their reality in favor of hanging on to a relationship rather than rupturing it.

There are, she says, many different signs to recognize when you’re being gaslighted. “You feel confused and crazy. You’re always apologizing, wondering if you are good enough, can’t understand why you feel so bad all the time, or know something is wrong but can’t put your finger on it. You thought one thing, they say another; you can’t figure out which is right.”

A tip she offers for handling things is to write down what actually happened in the conversation. “Once you are not flooded with emotion, you can reflect rationally. Look at the conversation and see where it took a turn.”

When someone is so certain about what they believe and they keep on insisting and trying to convince you – over a period of time – it erodes your own perception. And having to verify reality is in itself destabilizing.

Stern poses an interesting question. “Are people upset because current leaders are telling them something they know isn’t true, or is it because they are upset other people might be believing it?”

With gaslighting, it feels as though the ground is always shifting beneath you. There is no center of gravity. And while we’re being told up is down and black is white, the only way to make sense of it is to remain resolute. Let people have their alternative facts. You’ll stick to reality.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/16/gaslighting-manipulation-reality-coping-mechanisms-trump

Trial set for Berks couple in death of 2-year-old daughter

The girl died after they didn't seek medical attention for her pneumonia, prosecutors say.

STEPHANIE WEAVER
Reading Eagle
March 17, 2018

The trial for an Upper Tulpehocken Township couple who didn't seek medical attention for their 2-year-old daughter before she died of a treatable form of pneumonia in November 2016 is set to begin next week in Berks County Court.

Jonathan D. Foster, 35, and Grace Anne Foster, 33, are facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child in the death of Ella Grace Foster.

The couple did not seek any medical care for their ailing daughter because of their religious beliefs. The Fosters belong to Faith Tabernacle Church, a religious sect that does not believe in any type of medical intervention, only faith healing.

Jury selection is expected to begin Monday morning before Judge. M. Theresa Johnson.

During a hearing last week preparing for trial, Assistant District Attorney Katie Lehman asked the judge to not allow the defense to raise the couple's religious beliefs as a defense to the charges.

Lehman said the Fosters' beliefs will certainly come up in the trial and expects an argument that it influenced their decision, but noted that Pennsylvania law does not allow religious beliefs to be presented as a justification for the crime.

Defense attorney R. Davis Younts of Harrisburg agreed that it's not a defense and that a jury shouldn't find them not guilty simply because of their faith.

Johnson granted Lehman's request.

According to authorities:

The toddler died about 1 p.m. Nov. 8, 2016, in the family's home in the first block of Talbert Road.

State police went to the home that afternoon after being summoned by a funeral home that the couple contacted to remove their daughter's body.

Jonathan and Grace Anne gave troopers the same account when interviewed. Their daughter started showing signs of a cold a few days prior and wasn't as energetic as normal.

She had a sore, raspy throat and struggled to sleep the night before she died. That evening the couple asked their pastor, Rowland Foster, who is also the girl's grandfather, to come to the home to pray and anoint her with oils.

On Nov. 8, Grace Anne Foster called her husband home from work after Ella Grace's breathing became labored. When he got home, he held his daughter in his arms as her breathing became rapid. He held her for roughly an hour until she stopped breathing.

Dr. Neil A. Hoffman, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, testified at a previous hearing that Ella Grace would have been fighting to breathe and coughing uncontrollably due to pneumonia. He said it would have been obvious to any reasonable person that she needed medical intervention.

The defense has previously argued that the girl's illness had a rapid onset and her parents made a judgment call.

Lehman also requested last week that Johnson not allow any singing or humming in the presence of the jury. The prosecutor said she expects a large group of supporters for the Fosters and noted there had been humming during prior hearings.

Johnson said she would instruct everyone in the courtroom that there would be no talking or noise from the galley while the trial is in session.

The couple previously gave up custody of their other six children, ages 1 to 12 years. The decision was made when prosecutors attempted to add conditions to the couple's bail that would have ensured they were getting proper medical care for the other children.

Authorities said at the time that the children would be kept together and placed in the care of a family that will make sure they receive proper medical care.

Prosecutors had also sought charges against Rowland Foster, the pastor, for failing to report child abuse, but Johnson dismissed the case in December after finding there was insufficient evidence.

Contact Stephanie Weaver: 610-371-5042 or sweaver@readingeagle.com.

http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/trial-set-for-berks-couple-in-death-of-2-year-old-daughter

A MOTHER’S HEARTBREAK – How Scientology Destroyed My Family

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                              
Contact: Barbara Kindness
 206-473-9416

A MOTHER’S HEARTBREAK – How Scientology Destroyed My Family

Lakeport, CA.   In this gut-wrenching story of anxiety, loss and steadfast love, author Lori Hodgson shares her personal seven-year struggle to regain her relationship with son and daughter Jeremy and Jessica—a relationship severed by the Disconnection Policy of the church of Scientology. A former member of the church, Hodgson resigned from Scientology in 2010 after experiencing a relentless manipulation of both offspring while they were still minors.

As Hodgson discovered, she is not alone in her sad circumstance. Many other families have fallen victim to the manipulative powers of Scientology and its practices.

 In the few brief encounters she had with her kids several years ago, they expressed a mutual deep love for their mom but the organization’s stranglehold on its members has clouded their vision of freedom of choice and understanding.

 Lori Hodgson’s mission for this book is not only a happy reunion with her offspring, but to keep others from going through the same heartbreak.

 “When one loses a child through death, I know there is immense grieving and sorrow, but there is a time of fond memories too of the good times and eventually a time of closure. I too have those wonderful memories, but my heart will not release this heavy sorrow because I still have HOPE. The only thing that will bring me closure is to be able to hug my children once again and tell them, IN PERSON, how much I love them. That is my everlasting HOPE.”

Jehovah's Witness note-taking challenged at EU's top court

DW
March 17, 2018

Notes on door-to-door visits made by members of Jehovah's Witnesses breach EU data privacy law, according to the advocate general of the EU's top court. His finding backs the view of Finland's data protection commission.

The Luxembourg-based Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi on Thursday rejected a lawsuit filed by the Jehovah's Witness movement that asserts its members' notes are gathered only individually and do not breach the EU's privacy directive.

Instead, the report by the advocate general, whose findings often carry weight in the European Court of Justice, concluded that the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) are centrally organized and the people visited by the group must give permission for note-taking.

As evidence, Mengozzi said that prior to the legal dispute the movement had provided printed forms for note-taking to its members.

Lawsuit origin in Finland

JW brought the case after a Finnish data protection commission ruled that the religious group could only record and process information on people its members spoke to within the confines of EU and Finnish privacy laws.

Finnish authorities found that JW members took notes on family members and the religious orientations of those visited without the individuals' permission for use in later visits.

Based in the US state of New York, the movement formed in the 19th century and has more than 8 million members worldwide. It preaches door-to-door, seeking to convert "outsiders" to its literal view of the Bible and belief that the end of the world is near.

Followers object to military service. During World War Two, members were widely persecuted.

Privacy cases frequent

Advocate general reports typically provide the basis for rulings by the Luxembourg court. Its verdict on the Finnish case is likely in several months.

The court has made a string of rulings on privacy issues, including its dismissal last week of a bid by an Austrian activist to bring a class action against Facebook.

In a related 2015 ruling, the court forced the EU and the United States to replace their "Safe Harbor" data sharing arrangement with a new system supposed to better safeguard personal data that firms in the US hold about Europeans.

http://amp.dw.com/en/jehovahs-witness-note-taking-challenged-at-eus-top-court/a-42408206