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consultant to the Austrian government on cult matters, spoke to his own question:
―Does psychopathology lead to cult membership or do cults lead to psychopathology?‖
Professor Edzard Ernst, Director of Complimentary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School,
Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, in Britain, in turn asked: ―To what extent is
complimentary [alternative] medicine sectarian?‖ (Daphne Vane, FAIR NEWS, 1, 2004,
Internet)
Scientology
Fear Drug Lecture May Lead to Recruiting
Some residents of Markbeech, Kent, England, are concerned that an anti-drug lecture by a
person linked to Scientology may have been part of an attempt to recruit new members
for the group and its drug rehab program. Graeme Raeburn, a local man who is a vice-
president of the Royal College of Art Students‘ Union, said: ―The rehab involves complete
surrender to the controlling people so effectively they [the recruits] are handing over their
money and putting their complete belief into the Church of Scientology.‖ (Ian Read, This is
Kent, Internet, 4/30/04)
Unification Church
Former Member Rehabilitating
Robert Pardon, head of a Lakeville, MA, rehabilitation facility for former cult members, said
recently: ―We have one guy who came out of the Unification Church [who was] working
15 hours a day, seven days a week, living in a van doing fundraising. When he came here,
all that came to a crashing halt and he didn‘t know what to do with himself. It took almost
two months to get him settled down to where we could work with him.‖
Pardon and his psychologist wife are devout Christians, but say they don‘t promote their
beliefs. ―We try to give them [former members] tools to make decisions on their own,‖
unlike the groups they have been in. (Paul E. Kandarian, Boston Globe, Internet, 4/4/04)
Reaction Called Witch Hunt
While many of the Congressional attendees responded to adverse publicity by saying they
were misled about the event, a number of the invited religious leaders defended the Rev.
Moon’s coronation, saying it was not a bizarre ritual and calling news reports a media
―witch hunt.‖ Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, founder of an African-centered Catholic
church, said the ceremony for Moon and his wife was ―not to crown them as lords of any
temporal power, but to celebrate the spiritual role they play as religious leaders.‖ (Robert
Gehrke, Salt Lake Tribune, Internet, 7/1/04)
United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors
Suing Sheriff for Inaction in Abuse Case
Seven members of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors have sued Putnam County
(GA) Sheriff Howard Sills for not taking action in 1998 to deal with reported child abuse in
the group‘s rural compound despite intelligence about the abuse from the state Division of
Family and Children Services. Nuwaubian leader Dwight York was convicted of child
molestation and other charges earlier this year and sentenced to 135 years in prison. Sills
says he is now facing some 14 lawsuits brought by Nuwaubians. (Gary Tanner, Macon
Telegraph, Internet, 7/2/04)
1,000 Celebrate York’s Birthday
Although only about 50 people remain at the Nuwaubian compound, about 1,000 gathered
there in late June for the group‘s Zed Festival, which focuses on jailed founder Dwight
York’s birthday. The festival had previously been called Founder‘s Day or Savior‘s Day.

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Follower Kermit Nowlin said the compound residents should be distinguished from the
people who have been protesting York‘s conviction in front of the courthouse. ―They are
actually trying to do him harm. It appears their purpose is to make us all look ridiculous.
They walked with him for years, but they didn‘t hear his message,‖ Nowlin said. (Gary
Turner, Macon Telegraph, Internet, 7/14/04)
Word of Faith Fellowship
Wife Agrees to Keep Kids Out of Group
Stella Hamrick has agreed to take her two children and leave the home of her brother, Rick
Cooper, a member of the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). Her husband, Rick, gained a
court order last week to remove the children from the Cooper home because he does not
want them indoctrinated and socialized in WOFF. Mrs. Hemrick, who retains custody of the
children — her husband has weekend visitation rights — will soon move into her own place
and be joined by her mother, who is a WOFF member.
The agreement stipulates that the children will not be allowed to attend WOFF, Mrs. Hamrick
will not use ―strong prayer‖ or ―blasting‖ in her child rearing, and she will not expose them
to WOFF literature. (Jerry Stensland, Daily Courier, Internet, 4/6/04)
Children File for Emancipation
Two of four children involved in a custody dispute between current and former members of
the Rutherford County, NC-based Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF), have filed for
emancipation. Sarah and Rachel Almanie, 17 and 16, had been left by their mother, Shana
Muse, with a WOFF couple, the Covingtons, when she left town in 2002 to seek counseling
at an Ohio facility for ex-cult members. When Muse returned to North Carolina, the WOFF
couple only reluctantly gave the children up to the Department of Social Services following a
judge‘s ruling that the church environment was abusive to children.
The two teenagers, who say they prefer to live with the Covingtons, whom they treat as
parents and who have begun to finance the girls‘ college educations, now want to be free of
their mother‘s claims on them, while she has requested that they be returned to her
custody. (Jerry Stensland, Daily Courier, Internet, 6/16/04)