ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: doi.org/10.54208/1000/0006 89
demonstrates that CERI and Belanger have never been
an attractive anti-authority alternative, except where
their targets are already predisposed to and infected by
unorthodox belief. The possibility of any greater public
role by CERI is simply implausible. Belanger and CERI
were unsuccessful competitors in the marketplace of
ideas back when pseudolaw was a simpler domain,
sequestered in small, isolated communities, and spread
by word of mouth (Netolitzky, 2021).
Now, many hucksters inside and outside Canada
compete for gullible and vulnerable pseudolaw hosts,
components of a complex ecosystem of fringe and
conspiratorial belief, embedded within the cultic
milieu. Looking through that menagerie of strangeness
emphasizes just what a failure Belanger has been. Even
now, Belanger can barely scrape up only a few dozen
followers and idle lookers-on. Yet, at this very time, a
middle-aged Filipino woman, who claims to be a shape-
shifting alien, and the Queen of Canada, has tens of
thousands of followers, and travels nationwide in a
motor vehicle caravan with a uniformed entourage of
a dozen or more (Netolitzky, 2023d, III(B) Sarteschi,
2023). This comparison illustrates just how marginal
Belanger and what he teaches actually is.
That fact does not minimize the harm done by this
man, his beliefs, and the fraud he calls a church. When
we ask, “Why did CERI fail?”, the answer is not just
absurd beliefs, but how those beliefs were employed.
CERI and Belanger, but more often Belanger’s proxies,
picked fights they could never win, in a forum where
CERI had no authority at all. Whether that pattern,
alone, explains CERI’s marginal status, or the defect is
as much in Belanger and his conduct, is a question that
cannot be answered. Both probably are contributing
factors. Whatever else, CERI and Belanger illustrate
that pseudolaw can operate in the very long term--
for decades--but never in an effective and successful
manner.
References
Alberta minister who runs church out of home refuses
to pay mortgage. (2017, November 27).
Canadian Press NewsWire.
Alberta v Hutterian Brethren of Wilson Colony, 2009
SCC 37. https://canlii.ca/t/24rr4
Ashley, M. (1992). The English Civil War. Sutton
Publishing Limited.
Baldasaro v Ontario (12 March 1982), Ottawa 17400
(SCC).
Banisadr, M. (2009). Terrorist Organizations are Cults.
Cultic Studies Review, 8:2, 154-184.
Barrows, S. (2021). Sovereigns, Freemen, and
Desperate Souls: Towards a Rigorous
Understanding of Pseudolitigation Tactics in
United States Courts. Boston College Law
Review, 62:3, 905-940.
Belanger, E. (n.d.). “Robin’s Notice of Motion”. Scribd.
http://web.archive.org/web/20170729153631/
www.scribd.com/document/97602634/Robin-
s-Notice-of-Motion
Belanger, E. (2002, September 29). All Creator’s Gifts.
http://www.allcreatorsgifts.org/forumarc/24.
html
Belanger, E. (2012, January 7). To the private woman
standing in honor Renee Bates acting as a
member and corporal of the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. Scribd.
http://www.scribd.com/document/77435118/
To-the-Private-Woman-Standing-in-Honor-
Renee-Bates-Acting-as-a-Member-and-
Corporal-of-the-Royal-Canadian-Mounted-
Police
Berger, J. (2016). Without Prejudice: What Sovereign
Citizens Believe. George Washington University
Program on Extremism. https://www.govinfo.
gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca4-16-04185/
pdf/USCOURTS-ca4-16-04185-1.pdf
demonstrates that CERI and Belanger have never been
an attractive anti-authority alternative, except where
their targets are already predisposed to and infected by
unorthodox belief. The possibility of any greater public
role by CERI is simply implausible. Belanger and CERI
were unsuccessful competitors in the marketplace of
ideas back when pseudolaw was a simpler domain,
sequestered in small, isolated communities, and spread
by word of mouth (Netolitzky, 2021).
Now, many hucksters inside and outside Canada
compete for gullible and vulnerable pseudolaw hosts,
components of a complex ecosystem of fringe and
conspiratorial belief, embedded within the cultic
milieu. Looking through that menagerie of strangeness
emphasizes just what a failure Belanger has been. Even
now, Belanger can barely scrape up only a few dozen
followers and idle lookers-on. Yet, at this very time, a
middle-aged Filipino woman, who claims to be a shape-
shifting alien, and the Queen of Canada, has tens of
thousands of followers, and travels nationwide in a
motor vehicle caravan with a uniformed entourage of
a dozen or more (Netolitzky, 2023d, III(B) Sarteschi,
2023). This comparison illustrates just how marginal
Belanger and what he teaches actually is.
That fact does not minimize the harm done by this
man, his beliefs, and the fraud he calls a church. When
we ask, “Why did CERI fail?”, the answer is not just
absurd beliefs, but how those beliefs were employed.
CERI and Belanger, but more often Belanger’s proxies,
picked fights they could never win, in a forum where
CERI had no authority at all. Whether that pattern,
alone, explains CERI’s marginal status, or the defect is
as much in Belanger and his conduct, is a question that
cannot be answered. Both probably are contributing
factors. Whatever else, CERI and Belanger illustrate
that pseudolaw can operate in the very long term--
for decades--but never in an effective and successful
manner.
References
Alberta minister who runs church out of home refuses
to pay mortgage. (2017, November 27).
Canadian Press NewsWire.
Alberta v Hutterian Brethren of Wilson Colony, 2009
SCC 37. https://canlii.ca/t/24rr4
Ashley, M. (1992). The English Civil War. Sutton
Publishing Limited.
Baldasaro v Ontario (12 March 1982), Ottawa 17400
(SCC).
Banisadr, M. (2009). Terrorist Organizations are Cults.
Cultic Studies Review, 8:2, 154-184.
Barrows, S. (2021). Sovereigns, Freemen, and
Desperate Souls: Towards a Rigorous
Understanding of Pseudolitigation Tactics in
United States Courts. Boston College Law
Review, 62:3, 905-940.
Belanger, E. (n.d.). “Robin’s Notice of Motion”. Scribd.
http://web.archive.org/web/20170729153631/
www.scribd.com/document/97602634/Robin-
s-Notice-of-Motion
Belanger, E. (2002, September 29). All Creator’s Gifts.
http://www.allcreatorsgifts.org/forumarc/24.
html
Belanger, E. (2012, January 7). To the private woman
standing in honor Renee Bates acting as a
member and corporal of the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. Scribd.
http://www.scribd.com/document/77435118/
To-the-Private-Woman-Standing-in-Honor-
Renee-Bates-Acting-as-a-Member-and-
Corporal-of-the-Royal-Canadian-Mounted-
Police
Berger, J. (2016). Without Prejudice: What Sovereign
Citizens Believe. George Washington University
Program on Extremism. https://www.govinfo.
gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca4-16-04185/
pdf/USCOURTS-ca4-16-04185-1.pdf
