Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 108
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Age of Consent Should be Changed
The legal age of sexual consent in Canada ―should be modified to make adult-teen sex illegal,
and if the stories about Bountiful [the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints commune in British Columbia] are true, it underlines the urgency of making the
necessary changes.
―If, on the other hand, these are consenting adults who are breaking no laws, they should
be left alone to get on with their lives. It‘s true polygamy is illegal in Canada, but in reality
that means only it‘s not recognized by the state. There is no law that forbids a man and
several women to live together — or a woman and several men, for that matter. Nor should
there be.‖
Government Policy
Report Calls for Protection and Prevention
Jean-Louis Langlais, the head of the French government‘s MIVILUDES, the inter-
departmental cult monitoring organization, will in his February report to the Prime Minister
call for measures to prevent cult involvements and for the protection of minors, children,
and adolescents from making bad life choices. (L‘AEF [L‘Agence Education Emploi
Formation], Internet, 1/13/05
Jeffrey Lundgren
TV Portrait of “Fanatacism”
A&E TV has produced a portrait of Jeffrey Lundgren, the cult leader who a number of
years ago persuaded followers to murder five members of an Ohio family in the name of
God. The program includes videotaped interrogations of his wife — a co-conspirator — and
other followers. (Info-Secte, Internet, 3/19/05).
Juan Pablo Delgado
“He Thinks He’s God”
Trevino [sic], a resident of San Antonio, TX, and former follower of Juan Pablo Delgado,
says Delgado claims to have visions of the Virgin Mary and ―thinks he‘s God.‖ Pictures taken
at Delgado‘s Costa Rican compound show that he dresses like a Catholic priest, apparently
with Christ-like wounds on his hands and feet. Trevino, who gave thousands of dollars to
Delgado, calls this a sham, and feels betrayed. (Holly Whisenhut, WOAI, San Antonio News,
Internet, 3/29/05)
Kingston Clan
Kingston Wife Regains Custody of Children
Heidi Mattingly Foster, a wife of the polygamous businessman John Daniel Kingston, has
regained custody of nine of her children. The state took them into custody last year
following a court ruling that both she and her husband had neglected and abused them.
Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Valdez will closely monitor the situation. Two older daughters,
who rejected their parents‘ control, will remain wards of court-approved relatives.
The judge also lifted an order that prevented Foster from contact with fellow church
members, family, and friends, but kept in place a ban against Kingston‘s contact with Foster
and her children, asking him to begin domestic violence counseling. Kingston shook the
judge‘s hand, and agreed.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 109
Utah assistant attorney general Carolyn Nichols, and the guardian ad litem, told the judge
that Foster‘s changed attitude was superficial, that she had not acknowledged maltreatment
by Kingston or her own past abuse and neglect of her children. Nichols said Foster was a
victim of ―Stockholm Syndrome.‖ But therapists say they see positive changes in Foster.
One of her older daughters agreed, saying: ―Because of the last year, I‘ve become a better
person. I have formed my own identity and I want to see the rest of my family do that.‖
(Brooke Adams, Salt Lake Tribune, Internet, 4/14/05)
Lyndon LaRouche
Psychological Insights
Frequent presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, forbidden by his Quaker pacifist father
from fighting with children who taunted him, says he endured years of torment and
―numerous beatings‖ from bullies. He reports he did not succeed in school because he
refused to believe the principles he was taught. ―I could not,‖ for example, ―accept the
axioms and postulates‖ in geometry class. LaRouche‘s approach to politics and economics
[detailed here] are equally eccentric.
LaRouche has written that organizers should strip recruits of their egos and reduce them to
a state called ―little me‖ and then rebuild their personalities. An ex-follower says a common
LaRouche method for controlling members was to have the group attack someone for
having ―mother issues‖ or for allegedly being a homosexual or sexually perverted. When
this former member gave a ride to a bus station to a colleague who wanted to visit her
mother after having had second thoughts about the organization, ―That whole week I just
got pounded [by] everyone ...It was comments like ...‗Mike, you‘ve been driving people
away from this movement! You are an agent, aren‘t you?‘ ― When he read William Sargent‘s
book on thought reform, Battle for the Mind, it became clear to him that he had been
crassly manipulated by LaRouche. (Washington Post Magazine, 10/24/04, pp. 11–17, 36–
42)
Opus Dei
Highly Controlling
Former long-time member Bernard Bergonzi says that Opus Dei is an extremely controlling
organization. ―Why such fear of personal freedom in making ordinary, commonsense
decisions,‖ he asks? ―Why treat adult members like children? Why the routinization of
spiritual direction by way of uniform commands, endlessly repeated? Why maintain the
Index of Forbidden Books after the Holy See itself had discarded it? Why such fear of
modern critical biblical studies and new understandings of hagiography and ecclesiastical
history? Why the stubborn resistance to liturgical change, from the use of the vernacular to
Communion in the hand, permanent deacons, and altar girls? Why the obsession with
prescribing human behavior? Saints can‘t be manufactured like plastic dolls.‖ (Silvio Alfaro,
Commonweal, Internet, 2/25/05)
Forging Campus Links
The experience of Tim Haine, Princeton class of 2008, exemplifies the growth of Opus Dei
membership on college campuses. While in high school, in Alton, IL, he received a flier
promoting an Opus Dei seminar on Plato at Princeton, and after attending, he decided to
apply to the Ivy League school.
An Opus Dei priest affiliated with the university was dismissed fifteen years ago by the
official Catholic organization on campus because of concerns about his recruiting style and
―overbearing‖ relationships with students. A number of students once involved with Opus
Dei on other campuses speak of cult-like experiences. But today, according to a Princeton