Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2005, Page 48
Helzer‘s attorney said her client used the training‘s ideas to ―justify his incredibly bizarre
ideas,‖ and the attorney for Helzer‘s brother Justin, also convicted of the crimes, said the
trainings made it difficult for his client to reject his brother‘s plans. (Demian Bulwa, San
Francisco Chronicle, Internet, 12/14/04)
Colonia Dignidad
Cult Breaks Up
Members of the 280-strong Colonia Dignidad, a religious cult established in rural Chile by
German immigrants in the 1960s, have begun to tell the story of the group, some seven
years after the flight of its founder-leader, Paul Schäfer, from charges of child sexual abuse
at the group‘s free health clinic and school.
Schäfer, a World War II German army nurse who ran from earlier child sexual abuse
charges in Germany, was a charismatic personality whom followers thought was God on
earth and who subjected them to a harsh discipline he said would bring them closer to the
Supreme Being.
They lived behind a perimeter fence fitted with cameras and motion detectors, treating him,
according to one follower, ―as a celestial being,‖ and waiting for an apocalypse. Telephones
and television were not allowed, references to love and sex in the Bible were removed —
some members were reportedly forced to take drugs to curb sexual urges — and corporal
punishment was common. They sang German folk songs and worked the fields in 1930s
Bavarian peasant clothing. Once they taunted police with Nazi salutes. Members worked
communally, seven days a week profits from farming, forestry, and construction businesses
went to collective living expenses.
So strong was Schäfer‘s control over residents — defectors years ago reported that he
separated children from parents at birth and banned normal contact among family members
— that they defended Colonia Dignidad and kept it going long after he was gone, in the
teeth of government inquiries. Older members, now in their 80s, at a loss as to what to do
now, are seeking to regain pensions cut off by the German government when it learned the
money went to Schaefer, while younger ones regret sacrificing their child-bearing years to
Schaefer‘s vision. (Fiona Ortiz, Reuters in the Washington Post, Internet, 11/8/04)
Following an eight-year investigation, a Chilean judge in November found Shäfer and 22
Chilean and German members of Colonia Dignidad guilty of sexually abusing 26 children and
sentenced them [Shäfer in absentia] to up to five years each in prison. (Reuters in the New
York Times, Internet, 11/17/04)
Destiny
Fundamentalist Group Called Cult
The Destiny church of Brian Tamaki, who says it will rule New Zealand within four years,
―certainly fits the classic definitions of a cult,‖ according to Dr. Phillip Culbertson, a lecturer
in theology at Auckland University. Destiny strongly emphasizes obligation, and a leader
―who tells people how to think ...who understands himself as a particular agent or voice of
God in some special chosen way.‖
Tamaki, who recently led a demonstration of 5,000 people against civil union legislation,
says that if Destiny is a cult then so are ninety percent of the churches in New Zealand.
―God does choose men. He puts authority on their lives whereby he uses them in a special
way. It‘s not a dictatorship, it‘s not a democracy, it‘s a theocracy.‖ As to taking power, he
says: ―That means you control the wealth, that means you control the riches, that means
you control the politics, that means you control the social order, that means you are in
charge.‖ (TVNZ, Internet, 10/3/04)
Helzer‘s attorney said her client used the training‘s ideas to ―justify his incredibly bizarre
ideas,‖ and the attorney for Helzer‘s brother Justin, also convicted of the crimes, said the
trainings made it difficult for his client to reject his brother‘s plans. (Demian Bulwa, San
Francisco Chronicle, Internet, 12/14/04)
Colonia Dignidad
Cult Breaks Up
Members of the 280-strong Colonia Dignidad, a religious cult established in rural Chile by
German immigrants in the 1960s, have begun to tell the story of the group, some seven
years after the flight of its founder-leader, Paul Schäfer, from charges of child sexual abuse
at the group‘s free health clinic and school.
Schäfer, a World War II German army nurse who ran from earlier child sexual abuse
charges in Germany, was a charismatic personality whom followers thought was God on
earth and who subjected them to a harsh discipline he said would bring them closer to the
Supreme Being.
They lived behind a perimeter fence fitted with cameras and motion detectors, treating him,
according to one follower, ―as a celestial being,‖ and waiting for an apocalypse. Telephones
and television were not allowed, references to love and sex in the Bible were removed —
some members were reportedly forced to take drugs to curb sexual urges — and corporal
punishment was common. They sang German folk songs and worked the fields in 1930s
Bavarian peasant clothing. Once they taunted police with Nazi salutes. Members worked
communally, seven days a week profits from farming, forestry, and construction businesses
went to collective living expenses.
So strong was Schäfer‘s control over residents — defectors years ago reported that he
separated children from parents at birth and banned normal contact among family members
— that they defended Colonia Dignidad and kept it going long after he was gone, in the
teeth of government inquiries. Older members, now in their 80s, at a loss as to what to do
now, are seeking to regain pensions cut off by the German government when it learned the
money went to Schaefer, while younger ones regret sacrificing their child-bearing years to
Schaefer‘s vision. (Fiona Ortiz, Reuters in the Washington Post, Internet, 11/8/04)
Following an eight-year investigation, a Chilean judge in November found Shäfer and 22
Chilean and German members of Colonia Dignidad guilty of sexually abusing 26 children and
sentenced them [Shäfer in absentia] to up to five years each in prison. (Reuters in the New
York Times, Internet, 11/17/04)
Destiny
Fundamentalist Group Called Cult
The Destiny church of Brian Tamaki, who says it will rule New Zealand within four years,
―certainly fits the classic definitions of a cult,‖ according to Dr. Phillip Culbertson, a lecturer
in theology at Auckland University. Destiny strongly emphasizes obligation, and a leader
―who tells people how to think ...who understands himself as a particular agent or voice of
God in some special chosen way.‖
Tamaki, who recently led a demonstration of 5,000 people against civil union legislation,
says that if Destiny is a cult then so are ninety percent of the churches in New Zealand.
―God does choose men. He puts authority on their lives whereby he uses them in a special
way. It‘s not a dictatorship, it‘s not a democracy, it‘s a theocracy.‖ As to taking power, he
says: ―That means you control the wealth, that means you control the riches, that means
you control the politics, that means you control the social order, that means you are in
charge.‖ (TVNZ, Internet, 10/3/04)
