Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 58
The audience, mostly Scientologists, responded very favorably to Wilcox‘s espousal of
educational philosophies that seemed congruent with the teaching of Scientology founder L.
Ron Hubbard. (Thomas C. Tobin, St. Petersburg Times, 6/5/05)
Seishin Chuo Kyokai (Central Church of Holy God)
Abuse Ritualized
A former follower of Seishin Chuo Kyokai says leader Tamotsu Kin raped her repeatedly
over a ten-year period, and a group calling itself victims of the Christian cult says sexual
assault and rape have been common in Seishin Chuo Kyokai. Police allege that Kin,
currently charged with raping a 12-year-old, would tell women — ranging in age up to 25 —
that the sexual attacks were religious ceremonies, such as benediction. Police say Kin told
the woman who has just brought charges: ―I would like to test your faith. ..this is a
celebration. ..If you talk about this, you will go to hell.‖ Authorities said that Kin‘s
lieutenants forced girls to sign memoranda stating that he had never assaulted them.
A former member of the church, which at one time had 20 branches in Japan and some
3,000 followers, says the requirements of daily mass kept many from returning home every
day, so they became permanent residents. Contact with family and friends was cut off, and
daily exhausting work prevented them from being able to distinguish right from wrong.
―They just did what they were told to do.‖ (Mainichi Shimbun, Internet, 4/11/05 Japan
Today, Internet, 4/12/05)
Social Therapy
Social Therapy Leader Heading Influential Political Party
Psychologist Fred Newman, co-leader of the Independence Party, which has gained
significant influence in New York City and New York State in recent years, is being accused
by former party leaders, as well as by some who have been involved in his treatment
approach, of using his Social Therapy centers to recruit people for his political activities
and community programs while he funnels the political activists he attracts into his therapy
groups.
Newman has said that the political parties he set up in the past — the International Workers
Party and the New Alliance Party — have been transformed into a ―core collective‖ made up
of individuals working in his political, psychological, and theatrical ventures. Social therapy
aims to heal by changing patients‘ relationships to their environment, partly through
political activism. Some say Newman has used his ideas about revolution to seduce young
people into joining him. (Michael Slackman, New York Times, Internet, 5/28/05)
Alleged Marketing via “Sopranos”
Dennis King, longtime observer of Fred Newman, guru of Social Therapy, reports that
the appearance on an episode of the ―Sopranos‖ by Newman associate Debra Pearl, a
psychologist, was part of the organization‘s sophisticated marketing. ―The Newmanites use
TV celebrities and puff pieces to attract donors and volunteers to his All Stars [theatrical
group for children], and patients to social therapy,‖ King said. ―It‘s a cycle—raise money,
recruit more cult members, raise even more money.‖ (Tom Robbins, Village Voice, Internet,
7/7/05)
Ssali Kilimba Mwaka -“Prophet”
Fear of Mass Deaths in Uganda
Police in Central Uganda have arrested “Prophet” Ssali [sic] Kilimba Mwaka, suspecting
that he may be leading his following toward a disaster of the kind that occurred several
years ago when almost 1,000 devotees of a doomsday cult in Kanungu, Northern Uganda,
The audience, mostly Scientologists, responded very favorably to Wilcox‘s espousal of
educational philosophies that seemed congruent with the teaching of Scientology founder L.
Ron Hubbard. (Thomas C. Tobin, St. Petersburg Times, 6/5/05)
Seishin Chuo Kyokai (Central Church of Holy God)
Abuse Ritualized
A former follower of Seishin Chuo Kyokai says leader Tamotsu Kin raped her repeatedly
over a ten-year period, and a group calling itself victims of the Christian cult says sexual
assault and rape have been common in Seishin Chuo Kyokai. Police allege that Kin,
currently charged with raping a 12-year-old, would tell women — ranging in age up to 25 —
that the sexual attacks were religious ceremonies, such as benediction. Police say Kin told
the woman who has just brought charges: ―I would like to test your faith. ..this is a
celebration. ..If you talk about this, you will go to hell.‖ Authorities said that Kin‘s
lieutenants forced girls to sign memoranda stating that he had never assaulted them.
A former member of the church, which at one time had 20 branches in Japan and some
3,000 followers, says the requirements of daily mass kept many from returning home every
day, so they became permanent residents. Contact with family and friends was cut off, and
daily exhausting work prevented them from being able to distinguish right from wrong.
―They just did what they were told to do.‖ (Mainichi Shimbun, Internet, 4/11/05 Japan
Today, Internet, 4/12/05)
Social Therapy
Social Therapy Leader Heading Influential Political Party
Psychologist Fred Newman, co-leader of the Independence Party, which has gained
significant influence in New York City and New York State in recent years, is being accused
by former party leaders, as well as by some who have been involved in his treatment
approach, of using his Social Therapy centers to recruit people for his political activities
and community programs while he funnels the political activists he attracts into his therapy
groups.
Newman has said that the political parties he set up in the past — the International Workers
Party and the New Alliance Party — have been transformed into a ―core collective‖ made up
of individuals working in his political, psychological, and theatrical ventures. Social therapy
aims to heal by changing patients‘ relationships to their environment, partly through
political activism. Some say Newman has used his ideas about revolution to seduce young
people into joining him. (Michael Slackman, New York Times, Internet, 5/28/05)
Alleged Marketing via “Sopranos”
Dennis King, longtime observer of Fred Newman, guru of Social Therapy, reports that
the appearance on an episode of the ―Sopranos‖ by Newman associate Debra Pearl, a
psychologist, was part of the organization‘s sophisticated marketing. ―The Newmanites use
TV celebrities and puff pieces to attract donors and volunteers to his All Stars [theatrical
group for children], and patients to social therapy,‖ King said. ―It‘s a cycle—raise money,
recruit more cult members, raise even more money.‖ (Tom Robbins, Village Voice, Internet,
7/7/05)
Ssali Kilimba Mwaka -“Prophet”
Fear of Mass Deaths in Uganda
Police in Central Uganda have arrested “Prophet” Ssali [sic] Kilimba Mwaka, suspecting
that he may be leading his following toward a disaster of the kind that occurred several
years ago when almost 1,000 devotees of a doomsday cult in Kanungu, Northern Uganda,
