Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2003, Page 99
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Canvassing Right Upheld
The Quebec Court of Appeal has ruled that the town of Blainville cannot use its canvassing
bylaw to regulate the door-to-door proselytizing of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The bylaw
barred such activity after 7:30 pm and on weekends and required a $100 permit to canvass
at other times. The Witnesses refused to buy a permit.
The decision held, however, that while the bylaw ―severely restricts‖ the Witnesses religious
freedom, Blainville might be able to show, as it had not yet done, that some restriction was
indeed consistent with democratic values. ―The measures enacted,‖ the decision continues,
―were negligently drafted and adopted in a hurry without prior consultation, and are
irrational and disproportionate in their effects.‖ (Harvey Shepherd, The Gazette, Internet,
8/28/03)
Agreement on Transfusions
Jehovah’s Witnesses Shawn and Alicia Castillo, of Waco, TX, have agreed with state Child
Protective Services to let the agency authorize blood transfusions for their seriously ill
three-week-old son in return for an agency agreement to let the couple transfer the child to
the care of physicians at a Fort Worth hospital trained in alternative treatments that might
reduce the need for transfusions, which are not permitted by the Witnesses‘ religious
beliefs. The state will act as the infant‘s custodian only when doctors feel a transfusion is
needed. (AP in Star Tribune, Internet, 12/5/03)
Jonestown/Peoples’ Temple
Murder, Suicide, and Surrender
Journalist Tim Reiterman, who accompanied Congressman Leo Ryan to Guyana, said on the
25th anniversary of the Jonestown disaster in November: ―I think most people cling to some
of the myths about Jonestown. One was that this was a mass suicide, when in fact it was as
much a mass murder because of the degree of control that [Jim] Jones exercised in a very
remote place, and because of the way he manipulated the events at the end he made it
seem as if there was no way out for anybody.‖
Reiterman, who wrote a 1982 book on Jim Jones and his congregation, says Jones drew to
himself mostly ―hard-working, religious, dedicated, idealistic people who wanted a better life
on earth as well as in the hereafter and valued interracial religious experience.‖ The remote
and isolated Guyana settlement, says Reiterman, was absolutely free of ―urban ill,‖ but
―tantamount to a prison for those who discovered they didn‘t want to be there.‖
The disaster, Reiterman concluded, ―shocked people into realizing just how terrible the
consequences can be of surrendering control of decisions in your life ...to someone else,
and it made people ...think: What is it that drives human beings? Why [do] they join?
Why [do] they follow? Why [do] they want to lead? [It made people think about] the
dangers of power in the hands of somebody who's deeply disturbed and also committed to
the philosophy that the ‗ends justify the means.‖ (Rachel E. Sheeley, Palladium-Item,
Internet, 11/16/03)
Conflict with Followers' Relatives Contributed to Disaster
University of California-Davis scholar John Hall, who studies religious violence, says that
although the dynamics of the relationship between Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
followers should not be discounted as causing the disaster, ―the murders and mass suicide
were the products of an ever-escalating struggle between the leadership of Peoples Temple
and their opponents, a group of concerned relatives.‖ Referring to contemporary conflicts
like the one between certain Muslim and Western groups, Hall says: ―It escalates — or

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2003, Page 100
becomes defused — on the basis of moves taken on two sides of the apocalyptic divide. To
vanquish evil can become a crusade that begets evil.‖ (UC Davis News Service, Internet,
10/23/03)
25th Anniversary
A 25th anniversary edition of the Jonestown Report has been published at
http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/JonestownReport/Volume5/vol5.htm. It is said
by the publisher to include ―a resource guide for primary source information and ongoing
research related to Peoples Temple and Jonestown. The main website,
http://jonestown.sdsu.edu, reportedly contains primary sources on the disaster such as a
list of the dead, transcribed tapes from Jonestown, an online photo gallery of life there, and
the writings of former members and relatives about their experiences. (E-mail
communication from Fielding M. McGehee, III [fielding mcgehee@yahoo.com], who is
associated with the web page)
LaRouche
Getting Campaign Money
The Wall Street Journal says a good reason to check ―no‖ on your tax return when it asks if
you want to contribute to the federal election campaigns is that ―perennial crackpot
candidate Lyndon Larouche will soon get a check for $840,000. That‘s more money than Al
Sharpton, Dennis Kucinich or Carol Mosley Braun — all of whom have at least the pretense
of being serious candidates — will get.‖ (Opinion, Wall Street Journal, Internet, 12/4/03)
Recruit's "Suicide" Questioned
German police are reviewing their investigation of the death in March of Jeremiah Duggan, a
British student, and Jew, who had traveled to Germany for what he thought was an anti-war
conference run by the publication Nouveau Solidarité, only to discover that he had actually
joined the Schiller Institute, led by the anti-Semitic Lyndon LaRouche. The LaRouche
political organization is alleged to pressure young people to believe in a Jewish-American
conspiracy to take over the world.
Duggan died after reportedly running into the path of two vehicles. The police assumed it
was suicide, but a report requested by British authorities indicates that no autopsy was
performed and police took no official signed statements from witnesses, which were in any
case contradictory.
Duggan‘s family says that the 22-year-old was studying at the Sorbonne, in Paris, and that
when he learned of LaRouche‘s anti-Semitic background he declared he was Jewish and fled
the place he was staying with the group. But first, they say, he called his girlfriend in Paris
saying he was ―under too much pressure.‖ Then he called his mother, again expressing his
acute anxiety and wish to go home. As he was giving his location, the phone line was cut
off.
When Duggan‘s mother finally reached the facility where her son had been staying, and
before she learned of his death, she was told first that Nouveau Solidarité was a ―news
agency‖ and did not take responsibility for individual‘s actions. She was told in a call several
minutes later that ―Jeremiah had psychological problems.‖
The Duggan family lawyer says that the German authorities‘ investigation ―is totally
inadequate. Jeremiah Duggan died in very suspicious circumstances. These call for a full
and proper investigation,‖ the lawyer said. (Daniel Foggo, The Telegraph, 11/9/03)