Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 127
women other than his wife, now 32, who has chosen to live with him once again. (AP in
Casper Tribune, Internet, 8/27/04)
Green Admits Guilt
Tom Green, a polygamist convicted of first-degree felony rape for marrying his wife when
she was 13, has told the Utah parole board that he now realizes, after long reflection, that
what he did was wrong, and that he would certainly not let his young daughters enter into
such marriages. His wife, now 32, and the mother of seven children, previously maintained
that she had not been victimized by her early marriage. Now, she says Green‘s
imprisonment made him a better person and that she forgives him and wants to continue to
raise their family with him. (AP, Internet, 8/13/04)
State Supreme Court Upholds Green Conviction
The Utah Supreme Court has finally rejected Tom Green’s pre-prison claim that the state‘s
anti-polygamy law infringed on his First Amendment right to practice his religion. The law,
according to the court, ―does not attempt to target only religiously motivated bigamy. Any
individual who violates the statute, whether for religious or secular reasons, is subject to
prosecution.‖ The court acknowledged that the law has ―an adverse impact on those wishing
to practice polygamy as a tenet of their religion,‖ but that this was not enough to prove a
First Amendment violation.
The court also said that the bigamy law helped protect people, especially children, from
exploitation and abuse. Critics of the law maintain that polygamists should be charged with
various abuse crimes, if they have committed them, but not for having multiple wives.
(Angie Welling, Deseret Morning News, Internet, 9/4/04)
Rajneesh
New Book on Youngster’s Life in Rajneesh
Tim Guest‘s recently published My Life in Orange (Granta, 2004) recounts life as a
child with his psychologist mother in several of guru Bhagwan Rajneesh’s residential
ashrams in the 1980s. It is a story of a childhood ―standing on tiptoes looking for my
mother in an orange crowd,‖ and of surviving ―a life of sexual precociousness without
behavior boundaries.‖ The movement was really ‗for adults only,‘ and children
depended on one another to survive, he says. (Nesta Lloyd, FAIR NEWS, 1, 2004, PP.
18–19)
Rajneesh‘s ashram in Poona, India, now called the Osho Meditation Resort, caters to
trendy European professionals and holds workshops for executives of companies like
Airbus, Mercedes, and Nike. The organization is trying to shake off the ‗sex guru‘
image and change with the times. (The Times, London, in FAIR NEWS, 1, 2004, p. 19)
Remnant Fellowship Church/Weigh Down Workshop
Leader Says Critics and Police Want to End Her Ministry
Franklin, TN-based Remnant Fellowship Church leader Gwen Shamblin, founder of the
associated Weigh Down Workshop, says that she is the real target of an investigation
into the death of an 8-year-old child whose parents are being accused of child abuse after
following alleged church teachings on discipline. Shamblin says that police, critics, and cult
experts have made former church members believe they were members of a cult, and while
she accepts the ―prophet‖ label, she derides the notion that she uses mind control on her
followers. She also said she believes the parents in the case, who say their child ran into a
banister and died of a seizure.
women other than his wife, now 32, who has chosen to live with him once again. (AP in
Casper Tribune, Internet, 8/27/04)
Green Admits Guilt
Tom Green, a polygamist convicted of first-degree felony rape for marrying his wife when
she was 13, has told the Utah parole board that he now realizes, after long reflection, that
what he did was wrong, and that he would certainly not let his young daughters enter into
such marriages. His wife, now 32, and the mother of seven children, previously maintained
that she had not been victimized by her early marriage. Now, she says Green‘s
imprisonment made him a better person and that she forgives him and wants to continue to
raise their family with him. (AP, Internet, 8/13/04)
State Supreme Court Upholds Green Conviction
The Utah Supreme Court has finally rejected Tom Green’s pre-prison claim that the state‘s
anti-polygamy law infringed on his First Amendment right to practice his religion. The law,
according to the court, ―does not attempt to target only religiously motivated bigamy. Any
individual who violates the statute, whether for religious or secular reasons, is subject to
prosecution.‖ The court acknowledged that the law has ―an adverse impact on those wishing
to practice polygamy as a tenet of their religion,‖ but that this was not enough to prove a
First Amendment violation.
The court also said that the bigamy law helped protect people, especially children, from
exploitation and abuse. Critics of the law maintain that polygamists should be charged with
various abuse crimes, if they have committed them, but not for having multiple wives.
(Angie Welling, Deseret Morning News, Internet, 9/4/04)
Rajneesh
New Book on Youngster’s Life in Rajneesh
Tim Guest‘s recently published My Life in Orange (Granta, 2004) recounts life as a
child with his psychologist mother in several of guru Bhagwan Rajneesh’s residential
ashrams in the 1980s. It is a story of a childhood ―standing on tiptoes looking for my
mother in an orange crowd,‖ and of surviving ―a life of sexual precociousness without
behavior boundaries.‖ The movement was really ‗for adults only,‘ and children
depended on one another to survive, he says. (Nesta Lloyd, FAIR NEWS, 1, 2004, PP.
18–19)
Rajneesh‘s ashram in Poona, India, now called the Osho Meditation Resort, caters to
trendy European professionals and holds workshops for executives of companies like
Airbus, Mercedes, and Nike. The organization is trying to shake off the ‗sex guru‘
image and change with the times. (The Times, London, in FAIR NEWS, 1, 2004, p. 19)
Remnant Fellowship Church/Weigh Down Workshop
Leader Says Critics and Police Want to End Her Ministry
Franklin, TN-based Remnant Fellowship Church leader Gwen Shamblin, founder of the
associated Weigh Down Workshop, says that she is the real target of an investigation
into the death of an 8-year-old child whose parents are being accused of child abuse after
following alleged church teachings on discipline. Shamblin says that police, critics, and cult
experts have made former church members believe they were members of a cult, and while
she accepts the ―prophet‖ label, she derides the notion that she uses mind control on her
followers. She also said she believes the parents in the case, who say their child ran into a
banister and died of a seizure.
