Contents

Articles

• Perry, Bruce, & Szalavitz, Maia.  Stairway to Heaven: Treating Children in the Crosshairs of Trauma
• Gelberg, Steven. Some Things I Learned During My Seventeen Years in the Hare Krishna Movement
• Langone, Michael. Zealotry and the American Identity

Education and Research Events

Books, Articles, and Web Sites Brought to Our Attention

Excerpts from This Issue's Articles

Group News Briefs

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Education & Research Events

2007 ICSA Rosedale and Singer Awards Given to Mike Kropveld and Janja Lalich, Ph.D.

The 2007 ICSA Herbert L. Rosedale and Margaret T. Singer Awards were given to Michael Kropveld and Janja Lalich, Ph.D., Ph.D., respectively.

The Herbert L. Rosedale Award is given "in recognition of leadership in the effort to preserve and protect individual freedom."

The  Margaret L. Singer Award is given "for advancing the understanding of coercive persuasion and undue influence."

List of past award recipients.

Books, Articles & Web Sites

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 6, No. 2

A Response to James D. Chancellor’s Life in The Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (with comments and replies)

The Psychology of Religious Genius: Joseph Smith and the Origins of New Religious Movements

The Internet as a New Place for Sects

Another Trans-Atlantic Divide? Church-State Relations in Europe and the United States

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (http://pewforum.org/events/?EventID=142), Event Transcript, Tuesday, May 22, 2007, Washington, D.C.
 

Martyrdom Mythology in Iraq: How Jihadists Frame Suicide Terrorism in Videos and Biographies

by Mohammed M. Hafez, Department of Political Science, University of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
 

Not Without My Sister: The True Story of Three Girls Violated and Betrayed by Those They Trusted

Kristina Jones, Celeste Jones, Julianna Buhring

New York: Harper Collins Entertainment,

Available on Amazon.com

The devastating account of three sisters, torn apart and forced to suffer abuse and exploitation at the hands of a community that robbed them of their childhood. They reveal three lives, separate but entwined, that have experienced unspeakable horror, unrelenting loyalty and unforgettable courage. From as early as 3 years old, Juliana, Celeste and Kristina were treated by their 'guardians' as sexual beings. They received love letters and sexual advances from men old enough to be their grandfather, and were forced into abusive relationships that barely went unhidden. They were denied access to formal schooling, forced to wander the streets begging for money, and were mercilessly beaten for 'crimes' as unpredictable as reading an encyclopaedia. Finally, realizing that the cult's leader, David Berg, was a false prophet, their mother escaped with Kristina, leaving Celeste behind with their father. Juliana, his daughter by another woman, also remained behind. Celeste finally broke free after falling pregnant and realising that the child she was carrying would be subjected to the same fate if she could not find the courage to escape. Juliana was the last to leave, staying behind long enough to look after her younger siblings and feed Celeste information from the inside. Now the three sisters have finally come together to reveal in full and horrific detail their existence within a group that has destroyed the lives of so many. Their stories intertwine throughout the years, revealing a community spread throughout the world whose legacy of anorexia, depression, drug abuse, suicide and even murder are impossible to erase. Lives that follow parallel paths are ripped apart and painstakingly mended with a shared strength that finally enabled the sisters to free themselves from the shadows of their past.

About the Authors

Kristina, Celeste and Juliana were all born into the cult The Children of God to the same father, David Jones, who remains a member of the organisation. Kristina and Celeste share the same mother. The three girls were separated from each other and their mothers at an early age and lived in various missions throughout the world under the `care' of various foster parents.

Both Kristina and Celeste were eventually able to escape the cult and study psychology at university. Celeste remained in the cult until well into her twenties, when falling pregnant provided the catalyst to make her escape. Juliana is now studying psychology and philosophy and is still in contact with her remaining siblings in the cult.
 

Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions
by David C. Rapoport, Department of Political Science, UCLA

As the first comparative study of religious terror groups, the article provides detailed analyses of the different doctrines and methods of the three best known groups: the Thugs, Assassins, and the Zealots-Sicarii. Despite a primitive technology, each developed much more durable and destructive organizations than has any modern secular group. The differences among the groups reflect the distinguishing characteristics of their respective originating religious communities: Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. The distinctive characteristics of religious terror are discussed, and relationships between religious and secular forms of terror are suggested.  Burkle Center for International Relations
 

Martyrdom Mythology in Iraq: How Jihadists Frame Suicide Terrorism in Videos and Biographies

Mohammed M. Hafez, Department of Political Science, University of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.  The jihadists in Iraq strategically deploy emotional narratives to construct the myth of heroic martyrdom, demonize their intended targets, and appeal to potential recruits from around the Muslim world. These culturally astute jihadists know well the themes that resonate with the wider Muslim public, and have done an extraordinary job in harnessing three narratives to mobilize for martyrdom: humiliation of Muslims at the hands of foreigners, impotence of official Muslim governments in the face of hegemonic powers, and redemption through faithful sacrifice. This study explores how jihadists weave together these three narratives to suggest a deleterious condition that requires an immediate action, offer an explanation of the causes of this persistent condition, and present the necessary solution to overcome the problem.

From the journal Terrorism and Political Violence is edited by UCLA Professor Emeritus of Political Science David C. Rapoport.

New Journal: Contemporary Islam

Publisher Springer Netherlands
ISSN 1872-0218 (Print) 1872-0226

New Report on Meditation

The Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research has issued a report,  Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research. This report was requested and funded by NCCAM.

URL: www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/meditation/medit.pdf
Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, Number 155

Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research

Prepared for:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
www.ahrq.gov
Contract No. 290-02-0023

Prepared by:
University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice Center Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Investigators:
Maria B. Ospina, B.Sc., M.Sc. Kenneth Bond, B.Ed., M.A. Mohammad Karkhaneh, M.D. Lisa Tjosvold, B.A., M.L.I.S. Ben Vandermeer, M.Sc., Yuanyuan Liang, Ph.D., Liza Bialy, B.Sc., Nicola Hooton, B.Sc., M.P.H. Nina Buscemi, Ph.D., Donna M. Dryden, Ph.D., Terry P. Klassen, M.D., M.Sc., F.R.C.P.C.

This report is based on research conducted by the University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) under contract to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Rockville, MD (Contract No. 290-02-0023). The findings and conclusions in this document are those of the author(s), who are responsible for its contents, and do not necessarily represent the views of AHRQ. No statement in this report should be construed as an official position of AHRQ or of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The information in this report is intended to help clinicians, employers, policymakers, and others make informed decisions about the provision of health care services. This report is intended as a reference and not as a substitute for clinical judgment.

This report may be used, in whole or in part, as the basis for development of clinical practice guidelines and other quality enhancement tools, or as a basis for reimbursement and coverage policies. AHRQ or U.S. Department of Health and Human Services endorsement of such derivative products may not be stated or implied.
This document is in the public domain and may used and reprinted without permission except those copyrighted materials noted for which further reproduction is prohibited without the specific permission of copyright holders.

Suggested Citation:  Ospina MB, Bond TK, Karkhaneh M, Tjosvold L, Vandermeer B, Liang Y, Bialy L, Hooton N, Buscemi N, Dryden DM, Klassen TP. Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 155. (Prepared by the University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-02-0023.) AHRQ Publication No. 07-E010. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. June 2007.

Structured Abstract

Objective: To review and synthesize the state of research on a variety of meditation practices, including: the specific meditation practices examined; the research designs employed and the conditions and outcomes examined; the efficacy and effectiveness of different meditation practices for the three most studied conditions; the role of effect modifiers on outcomes; and the effects of meditation on physiological and neuropsychological outcomes.

Data Sources: Comprehensive searches were conducted in 17 electronic databases of medical and psychological literature up to September 2005. Other sources of potentially relevant studies included hand searches, reference tracking, contact with experts, and gray literature searches.

Review Methods: A Delphi method was used to develop a set of parameters to describe meditation practices. Included studies were comparative, on any meditation practice, had more than 10 adult participants, provided quantitative data on health-related outcomes, and published in English. Two independent reviewers assessed study relevance, extracted the data and assessed the methodological quality of the studies.

Results: Five broad categories of meditation practices were identified (Mantra meditation, Mindfulness meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong). Characterization of the universal or supplemental components of meditation practices was precluded by the theoretical and terminological heterogeneity among practices. Evidence on the state of research in meditation practices was provided in 813 predominantly poor-quality studies. The three most studied conditions were hypertension, other cardiovascular diseases, and substance abuse. Sixty-five intervention studies examined the therapeutic effect of meditation practices for these conditions. Meta-analyses based on low-quality studies and small numbers of hypertensive participants showed that TM®, Qi Gong and Zen Buddhist meditation significantly reduced blood pressure. Yoga helped reduce stress. Yoga was no better than Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction at reducing anxiety in patients with cardiovascular diseases. No results from substance abuse studies could be combined. The role of effect modifiers in meditation practices has been neglected in the scientific literature. The physiological and neuropsychological effects of meditation practices have been evaluated in 312 poor-quality studies. Meta-analyses of results from 55 studies indicated that some meditation practices produced significant changes in healthy participants.

Conclusion: Many uncertainties surround the practice of meditation. Scientific research on meditation practices does not appear to have a common theoretical perspective and is characterized by poor methodological quality. Firm conclusions on the effects of meditation practices in healthcare cannot be drawn based on the available evidence. Future research on meditation practices must be more rigorous in the design and execution of studies and in the analysis and reporting of results.

Preface

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), through its Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs), sponsors the development of evidence reports and technology assessments to assist public- and private- sector organizations in their efforts to improve the quality of healthcare in the United States. This report was requested and funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The reports and assessments provide organizations with comprehensive, science-based information on common, costly medical conditions and new healthcare technologies. The EPCs systematically review the relevant scientific literature on topics assigned to them by AHRQ and conduct additional analyses when appropriate prior to developing their reports and assessments.

To bring the broadest range of experts into the development of evidence reports and health technology assessments, AHRQ encourages the EPCs to form partnerships and enter into collaborations with other medical and research organizations. The EPCs work with these partner organizations to ensure that the evidence reports and technology assessment they produce will become building blocks for healthcare quality improvement projects throughout the Nation. The reports undergo peer review prior to their release.

AHRQ expects that the EPC evidence reports and technology assessments will inform individual health plans, providers, and purchasers as well as the healthcare system as a whole by providing important information to help improve healthcare quality.
We welcome comments on this evidence report. They may be sent by mail to the Task Order Officer named below at: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, or by email to epc@ahrq.gov.

Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Ruth L. Kirschstein, M.D., Acting Director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health
Jean Slutsky, P.A., M.S.P.H., Director, Center for Outcomes and Evidence, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Beth A. Collins Sharp, Ph.D.,R.N., Director, EPC Program, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Margaret Coopey, R.N., M.G.A., M.P.S. EPC Program Task Order Officer
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to members of the technical expert panel for their consultation with and advice to the Evidence-based Practice Center during the preparation of this report. The members of the panel include John Astin, Ph.D., Ruth Baer, Ph.D., Vernon Barnes, Ph.D., Linda E. Carlson, Ph.D., C.Psych., Jeffery Dusek, Ph.D., Thierry Lacaze-Masmonteil, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.C., Badri Rickhi, M.D., Ph.D., and David Shannahoff-Khalsa, B.A.

We would like to thank the peer reviewers, who provided valuable input into the draft report: Dr. Kirk Warren Brown (Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA), Dr. Bei-Hung Chang (Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA), Dr. Thawatchai Krisanaprakornkit (Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand), Dr. T. M. Srinivasan (The International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, Chennai (Madras), India), Dr. Harald Walach (The University of Northampton, Northampton, United Kingdom), Dr. Ken Walton (Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA), and Dr. Gloria Yeh (Osher Institute at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA).

We thank Dr. Richard L. Nahin and Dr. Catherine Stoney from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine for their insight, recommendations, and support of this work. We are grateful to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for granting the contract for this work and the Task Order Officer, Margaret Coopey, for facilitating the collaboration of the three organizations.

We are grateful to Lisa Hartling for her guidance when preparing the Work Plan for this report; Amy Couperthwaite, Lisa Malinowsky, and Kenneth Moreau for their assistance with article retrieval; Denise Adams, Mauricio Castillo, Carol Spooner, and Kate O’Gorman for their assistance with data extraction and quality assessment; and Christine Tyrell and Kelley Bessette for their administrative support.

The investigators have no relevant financial interests in the report. The investigators have no employment, consultancies, honoraria, or stock ownership or options, or royalties from any organization or entity with a financial interest or financial conflict with the subject matter discussed in the report.

A Rising Tide Lifts Mood in the Developing World: Sharp Decline in Support for Suicide Bombing in Muslim Countries

Pew Global Attitudes Project survey:

http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=257
 

Excerpts From This Issue’s Online Articles

Inside the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, children lived in a world of fear. Even babies were not immune: cult leader David Koresh believed that the wills of infants—some just eight months old—needed to be broken with strict physical discipline if they were to stay "in the light." . . .

And he was a god who ruled by fear. Children (and sometimes even adults) were in constant fear of the physical attacks and public humiliation that could result from the tiniest error, like spilling milk. Punishment often involved being beaten bloody with a wooden paddle called "the helper." Davidian children also feared hunger: those who "misbehaved" could be deprived of food for days or put on a bland diet of only potatoes or bread. Sometimes, they would be isolated overnight. And, for the girls, there was knowledge that they would ultimately become a "Bride of David." In a unique form of sanctioned sexual abuse, girls as young as ten were groomed to become Koresh's sexual partners. A former member said Koresh once excitedly compared the heartbeats of the prepubescent girls he violated to those of hunted animals.

But perhaps the most pervasive fear that Koresh instilled was the fear of the "Babylonians": outsiders, government agents, nonbelievers. Koresh preached about and constantly prepared his community for the "final battle." The Branch Davidians, including children, were being readied for the imminent end of the world (hence Koresh's nickname for the compound, Ranch Apocalypse). This preparation involved military drills, interrupted sleep and one-on-one fighting. If the children did not want to participate or were not vicious enough in battle training, they were humiliated and sometimes beaten. Even the youngest members were taught how to handle guns. They were instructed in the most lethal suicide techniques with firearms, being told to aim for the "soft spot" in the back of the mouth if they faced capture by the "Babylonians." The rationale was that "unbelievers" would ultimately come to kill everyone. After this apocalyptic battle, however, members were promised that they would be reunited with their families in heaven and Koresh—God—would return to earth to smite his enemies. . . .

Fear is our most primal emotion, and with good evolutionary reason. Without it few of our ancestors would have survived. . .

The brain evolved from the inside out, and it develops in much the same order. The lowest, most primitive region—the brainstem—completes much of its development in utero and in early infancy. The midbrain and limbic systems develop next, elaborating themselves exuberantly over the first three years of life. Parents of teenagers will not be surprised to learn that the frontal lobes of the cortex, which regulate planning, self-control and abstract thought, do not complete their development until late in adolescence, showing significant reorganization well into the early twenties. . . .

One of my next interviews was with a little girl, almost six years old. I asked her to draw a picture of her home. She drew a picture of the compound. Then I asked her what she thought was going to happen at home. She redrew the same compound building with flames everywhere. Atop it was a stairway to heaven. I knew then—just days after the first raid—that the siege was headed for a potentially cataclysmic conclusion. . . .

It was one of the most difficult moments of my clinical life. How do you tell a dozen children that their fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters and friends are dead? And yes, they died just as Koresh foretold. And yes, we assured you that this would not happen. At first, some simply refused to believe me. "It's not true," they said over and over, as many people do when faced with the death of loved ones, "It can't be." Others said, "I knew this would happen," or, "I told you so." . . .

The worst part of all was knowing that things did not have to end this way. The response of the Davidians to the final assault was predictable, and the loss of life could have certainly been mitigated if not entirely prevented. Nonetheless, the federal government had taken the action most likely to result in a disaster, and eighty people, virtually everyone these children knew, had died.

On my first day in the ashram, I learned that by reciting the Hare Krishna mantra while looking intently at a picture of Krishna I could take the edge off my generalized, existential anxiety.

I learned that if you and your cohorts chant Sanskrit prayers on the streets of any city, you attract such a degree of disbelieving stares, hostility and ridicule, that you’re forced to construct a fire-wall of conscious separation from the outside world, one that becomes nearly impenetrable.

I learned that however one wishes to explain it, or explain it away, there is a felt and uncanny power in the repetition of the Hare Krishna mantra, or any other mantra-like construction of names of the Divine (a form of prayer found in virtually every religious tradition).  The use of such spiritual techniques may certainly be co-opted for cultic purposes, but that does not diminish the fact of their transformative efficacy.

Gelberg, Steven. Some Things I Learned During My Seventeen Years in the Hare Krishna Movement

Anyone engaged in this process of controlling and exploiting person-things will, of course, run into resistance and opposition. Persons don’t like to be treated as things, nor do they like to see other persons treated as things. What, then, is the leader to do?

Obviously, he must lie. And, because truth threatens lies, he must control all aspects of his followers’ lives—behavior, emotion, and thinking—to manage the flow of information into and out of his group . .

To facilitate this deception, he must develop a new language that masks authentic meaning, thereby smoothing the transition from person to person-thing.

Group News

Additional information on news reports may be available in the ICSA E-Library.

The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand lower court denials of the Local Church’s six-year, $136 million suit against Harvest House Publishers. The Local Church alleged it was defamed in the Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions when it was lumped together with other groups accused of various crimes. A Texas appellate court had ruled, “nothing in the book singles out The [Local] Church as having committed [those actions]. A Harvest House attorney said that the Texas court “correctly applied well-established law to the facts of this case in reaching its decision. The position taken by The Local Church would have created a totally subjective standard for interpreting written or spoken language —a standard that would have threatened all media communications.”

The Supreme Court has finalized the death sentence for former AUM Shinrikyo member Masato Yokoyama for his involvement in the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack, rejecting an objection raised by his defense about the court’s earlier ruling, judicial sources said Friday. Among the five AUM members indicted for perpetrating the deadly gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, Yokoyama, 43, was the first given a death sentence which has been confirmed. Twelve people were killed and more than 5,000 were injured in the attack. Two other members of AUM blamed for a spate of murders and other serious crimes are also on death row. They are AUM founder Shoko Asahara, 52, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, and Kazuaki Okazaki, 52, a former senior member of the group who perpetrated the murder of the family of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto in 1989. According to lower court rulings, Yokoyama conspired with Asahara and other AUM members and released sarin gas in Tokyo subway trains on March 20, 1995. Yokoyama also led AUM’s arms-producing team and was involved in illicitly producing an automatic gun. His lawyers attempted to avoid death for Yokoyama on the grounds that no one died in the train car in which he had the poisonous gas sprayed. The Supreme Court on July 20 upheld the death sentence for Yokoyama, to which his defense team filed an objection.

Self-proclaimed prophet William Kamm will spend the next six years behind bars after a second offence involving the seduction of a teenage girl.  The 56-year-old cult leader, known to his followers as the Little Pebble, showed the girl letters "from the Virgin Mary" telling her it was God's will she sleep with him to help him repopulate the earth with his mystical seed. Kamm, who claims he can communicate directly with God and receives messages from the Virgin on the 13th day of every month, is already serving a minimum three-and-a-half-year term for sex offences.

Children in all independent schools in B.C. may soon get a more balanced education. People leaving the polygamous community of Bountiful may find it easier to get the help they need. And Attorney-General Wally Oppal may come under even more pressure to ask the courts to rule on the constitutionality of the anti-polygamy law.  It's all because of a small group of seemingly indefatigable women who complained two years ago to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal that the provincial government has discriminated against all women, but specifically against the female members of the fundamentalist Mormon community in Bountiful.  The government will provide funds for basic crisis intervention training for interested members of the Bountiful community as well as an information package that includes listings for all government services (from counseling to safe houses) available to people exiting the community.

Politicians from Germany's two ruling parties have rejected calls for Scientology to be banned in Germany. A bid to outlaw Scientology may fail because Germany's domestic intelligence service is unlikely to have gathered enough evidence against it to back court action against the sect, said Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy parliamentary group leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives. "You can't shoot from the hip with a bid to ban it. If an attempt is made it has to be successful," Bosbach told Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. "It's decisive that the organization be closely monitored, which unfortunately isn't the case today." The chairman of the domestic affairs committee in Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, Social Democrat Sebastian Edathy said: "I don't see any realistic chance at the moment to get the organization banned." The interior minister in the city-state of Hamburg, Udo Nagel, had called for a ban on Scientology, echoing demands by the head of the city's Scientology monitoring group, Ursula Caberta, and church experts on sects. In Germany, the government views Scientology as a money-making cult rather than a legitimate church.

U.S. stocks had a tough week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffering its worst one-week point drop in five years, but a group of meditators promise their good vibrations will send the index past 17,000 within a year. A group called the Invincible America Assembly made that claim and more on Friday, insisting they have America's prosperity under control and their positive vibes will bring fewer hurricanes and better U.S.-North Korean relations. Through group transcendental meditation the assembly—which has 1,800 people meditating daily in Iowa since it was formed in July 2006—releases harmonious waves which benefit all aspects of U.S. life, spokesman Bob Roth told Reuters. And the group's leader, John Hagelin, said when that number reaches 2,500 within the next 12 months, America will see a major drop in crime and the virtual elimination of all major social and political woes. Asked what it would take to achieve world peace, Hagelin said such a utopia would need 8,000 meditators.

CULT leader and alleged child sex offender Kenneth Emmanual Dyers has been found shot dead. Police were called to a house in Crammond Ave, Bundenna, yesterday after reports of gun shots. Officers discovered the 85-year-old's body, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Police last night said they were not treating the death as suspicious and were preparing a report for the coroner. The WW2 veteran - and founder of controversial cult movement Kenja - was facing trial on 22 charges of child sexual assault and indecent assault. Kenja - set up by Dyers and his partner Jan Hamilton - is a non-religious organization that preaches the power of one-to-one mediation called "energy conversions".

Another trap the media fall into is taking Scientology’s claim of ten million members worldwide at face value. Membership figures are notoriously problematic. Are Church of England members everyone who has been baptized into it? Or all those who say they are C of E, meaning they’re not anything else? Or Christmas or Easter communicants? So what about the 120,000 members Scientology are claiming in Britain?   In 2001, for the first time, the UK Census asked about religious affiliation. In England and Wales, 1781 people said they were Scientologists — less than 1.5 per cent of the number the Church claims. The 2001 Census figures for other English-speaking countries are similarly low: in Australia, 2032 people said they were Scientologists; in Canada, only 1525; and in New Zealand, 282.  Where are the other nine million or so? They must be in the United States, Scientology’s home country. Well, no. In fact, the American Religious Identification Survey estimated in 2001 that there were just 55,000 Scientologists in the US. As the majority of Scientologists live in the US, the actual worldwide membership may be under 100,000 — rather less than the claimed ten million.  How can we account for this 100:1 disparity? The Church’s president, Heber Jentzsch, let slip on a radio program in 1992 that the Church of Scientology claims as a member every single person who has ever taken even an introductory Scientology course since the Church was founded in 1954. Even leaving aside all those “members” who must now be dead, is this really membership? But ten million makes the Church of Scientology sound a great deal more significant than 100,000.

Scientology has been accused of trying to “infiltrate” British politics through payments of between £3,500 and £13,500—from the Scientology-linked Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE)—for booths at both Labor and Tory annual conventions. MPs are concerned that the payments were part of an extensive lobbying operation to promote the Scientology drug and criminal rehab programs, Narconon and Criminon. Evidence provided under the Freedom of Information Act indicates that the chief British Scientology spokesman met with then Home Office minister, Baroness Scotland [sic] and then invited other ministers to the opening of the new Scientology headquarters in London. While a Liberal Democrat MP called Scientology “a dubious cult at best,” and said, “It only goes to show that some politicians are prepared to take money from anyone,” a Labor spokesman said that the decision to let Scientology show at its conference followed a policy of having exhibitions that represent a “range of views and opinions.” In 2001, London Mayor Ken Livingstone refused to let Scientology promote its treatment program, saying it is “a medically unproven policy which I am advised could be dangerous,” and “a spurious medical program which many drugs professionals are concerned about.”

High-living Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, the Miami-based head of Growing in Grace ministry, who calls himself the second coming of Jesus Christ, testified in court, during “nasty” divorce proceedings involving his second wife, that he used charitable donations to pay $144,000 in alimony to his first wife and buy property in his and his relatives’ names. The judge said he was “ethically compelled” to bring this to the attention of federal prosecutors. “I really don’t know where the personal property starts and where the church property ends,” he remarked. In addition, the IRS has told Miranda that it wants to audit his personal tax returns for the past three years. A Miranda spokesman said, “We have been growing so fast. If we made mistakes in the past . . . they were honest mistakes.” Three hundred churches worldwide make donations to Growing in Grace, mostly small sums from Latin American followers, but some quite large, such as $5.5 million from a Colombian benefactor. Miranda’s first wife, Josefina De Jesus Torres, told the court of her husband’s sexual relations with female church members. But a Miranda lieutenant said of this adultery, “The procedure, our obedience to the Apostle, our gratefulness toward him—she [Torres] never understood that.” She asks half his wealth in a divorce settlement, listing expenses of $400 a month for beauty treatments and $6,000 monthly for food for her and a lady companion, who dine at the “very luxurious restaurants” she frequented with Miranda.

The former leader of Kenya's outlawed Mungiki sect has been jailed for having an illegal gun and drugs.  John Kamunya, alias Maina Njenga, was sentenced to five years in jail by a Nairobi court for possessing a gun and nearly 5kg of marijuana. After the sentencing, his two wives turned hysterical, shouting insults at the police and pushing reporters. Kamunya, now a Christian convert, was last month freed on another charge of recruiting Mungiki members. The sect is blamed for beheading some 30 people in Nairobi and central Kenya last month.

Three young men were arrested in early July for allegedly attempting to bomb Victory Family Church, in Burleson, TX, near Fort Worth.  According to authorities, the men identified themselves as radical Christian activists who oppose government and organized religion. “They said the act at the church was a test of the [bomb] device and to get the attention of the community.” They believe our social system is declining because of a preoccupation with self-improvement and self-gratification, and that it no longer focuses on the glorification of God. The 10–15 member group also thinks there are too many denominations and that there ought only to be one. The unnamed group reportedly has three membership levels: the first involves participation in weekly Bible study in a town park; the second consists of “consensual fighting;” and the third focuses on perpetrating destructive acts. Two of the suspects, who admitted to previously setting a fire in a recycling bin near another church, said they think the older generation is forcing the younger generation clean up the mess made by its elders

Alberta Hutterites have won the right to be issued driver's licenses without pictures after the province's Court of Appeal agreed with their arguments that requiring them to be photographed violates their religious rights.  “The mandatory photo requirement forces the Hutterian Brethren to either breach a sincerely held religious belief against being photographed or cease driving,” said Judge Carole Conrad, writing for the majority of the three-member court.  The Hutterites are a Christian Anabaptist sect who live in farm commune