Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 237
really. You‘re just living while everything else is going on around you.‖ (Larry King Live,
Internet, 3/13/03)
Brian Mitchell, according to relatives, was once a jewelry designer, and his wife, Wanda
Barzee, an accomplished classical pianist. But at some point their lives took a downward
turn. They moved from apartment to apartment and various low paying jobs, turning
eventually to fundamentalist Mormonism. He began hearing voices, and to think he was a
prophet. (Michael Janofsky, New York Times, Internet, 3/13/03)
Sung Chi-li
Claim of Supernatural Powers not Fraud
A Taiwan appeals court has overturned the 1997 fraud conviction of Sung Chi-li, saying
that there was not enough evidence to say that he deceived followers (the plaintiffs) when
he claimed supernatural powers—as demonstrated through ―divine‖ (apparently computer-
generated) photos‖—and then urged them to donate money. The court said that what he did
was simply a religious activity, protected by the Constitution.
The mayor of Kaohsiung City, and his wife, have been followers for years of Sung, who
allegedly once told police that he had supernatural powers and could get people to do
whatever he commanded. (Jimmy Chuand, Taipei Times, Internet, 1/29/03)
Suicide Bombers Not Misfits
Study after study shows that, contrary to views stated by President Bush and Senator John
Warner, for example, suicide attackers and their supporters are rarely ignorant or
impoverished people. If terrorist groups relied on maladjusted individuals, ―they couldn‘t
produce effective and reliable killers,‖ says retired Air Force general Todd Stewart, director
of the Ohio State University program in international and domestic security. A recent suicide
bomber in Israel, for example, grew up in Britain, in relatively prosperous circumstances,
and attended college. (Scott Atran, New York Times, Internet, 2/5/03)
Voodoo
Declared a Religion
The government of Haiti recognized Voodoo as a religion on the 200th anniversary of the
death of national hero Toussaint L‘Ouverture, the leader of the rebellion against France that
led to independence in 1804. Three-quarters of Haiti‘s population practices Voodoo [Vudun],
a mixture of Christianity and belief in the gods of nature [brought by West Africans
transported to Haiti during the era of the slave trade.] (News24, Internet, 4/8/03)
Western Massachusetts Labor Action
New Office Set up
The Pittsfield, MA-based Western Massachusetts Labor Action Alliance, which was in
the 1990s connected to the politically extreme and allegedly cult-like National Labor
Federation (NATLFED), has opened an office in a Seventh Day Adventist Church in North
Adams.
The group is canvassing the working poor and the unemployed door-to-door to ―fight for
living wage jobs,‖ according to its publication, the Western Massachusetts Alliance News.
The newspaper‘s editor denied cult associations.
Government agencies described NATLFED, also known as the Provisional Communist Party,
as politically extreme, and say that it closely controls members‘ lives. Newspaper exposés
have told how idealistic college students were recruited and indoctrinated at the
organization‘s New York City headquarters. The Labor Acton group appears to recruit the
really. You‘re just living while everything else is going on around you.‖ (Larry King Live,
Internet, 3/13/03)
Brian Mitchell, according to relatives, was once a jewelry designer, and his wife, Wanda
Barzee, an accomplished classical pianist. But at some point their lives took a downward
turn. They moved from apartment to apartment and various low paying jobs, turning
eventually to fundamentalist Mormonism. He began hearing voices, and to think he was a
prophet. (Michael Janofsky, New York Times, Internet, 3/13/03)
Sung Chi-li
Claim of Supernatural Powers not Fraud
A Taiwan appeals court has overturned the 1997 fraud conviction of Sung Chi-li, saying
that there was not enough evidence to say that he deceived followers (the plaintiffs) when
he claimed supernatural powers—as demonstrated through ―divine‖ (apparently computer-
generated) photos‖—and then urged them to donate money. The court said that what he did
was simply a religious activity, protected by the Constitution.
The mayor of Kaohsiung City, and his wife, have been followers for years of Sung, who
allegedly once told police that he had supernatural powers and could get people to do
whatever he commanded. (Jimmy Chuand, Taipei Times, Internet, 1/29/03)
Suicide Bombers Not Misfits
Study after study shows that, contrary to views stated by President Bush and Senator John
Warner, for example, suicide attackers and their supporters are rarely ignorant or
impoverished people. If terrorist groups relied on maladjusted individuals, ―they couldn‘t
produce effective and reliable killers,‖ says retired Air Force general Todd Stewart, director
of the Ohio State University program in international and domestic security. A recent suicide
bomber in Israel, for example, grew up in Britain, in relatively prosperous circumstances,
and attended college. (Scott Atran, New York Times, Internet, 2/5/03)
Voodoo
Declared a Religion
The government of Haiti recognized Voodoo as a religion on the 200th anniversary of the
death of national hero Toussaint L‘Ouverture, the leader of the rebellion against France that
led to independence in 1804. Three-quarters of Haiti‘s population practices Voodoo [Vudun],
a mixture of Christianity and belief in the gods of nature [brought by West Africans
transported to Haiti during the era of the slave trade.] (News24, Internet, 4/8/03)
Western Massachusetts Labor Action
New Office Set up
The Pittsfield, MA-based Western Massachusetts Labor Action Alliance, which was in
the 1990s connected to the politically extreme and allegedly cult-like National Labor
Federation (NATLFED), has opened an office in a Seventh Day Adventist Church in North
Adams.
The group is canvassing the working poor and the unemployed door-to-door to ―fight for
living wage jobs,‖ according to its publication, the Western Massachusetts Alliance News.
The newspaper‘s editor denied cult associations.
Government agencies described NATLFED, also known as the Provisional Communist Party,
as politically extreme, and say that it closely controls members‘ lives. Newspaper exposés
have told how idealistic college students were recruited and indoctrinated at the
organization‘s New York City headquarters. The Labor Acton group appears to recruit the
