Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006, Page 81
tax fraud, and anti-Semitic statements, was insufficient. The Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights says that witnesses against him had been forced to lie. In addition, certain Romanian
legislators have called Bivolaru ―Satan‖, ―psychopath‖, and ―terrorist.‖
Mungiki
A crowd lynched five Mungiki followers and police then arrested over 50 suspected
adherents of the outlawed sect in late January. Mungiki, which employs ―oathing‖ rituals, is
carrying on a violent campaign to control much of the commuter transportation system in
the Nairobi region. Meanwhile, the government announced a campaign to wipe out Mungiki,
even though certain politicians are associated with the group. ―In some cases,‖ said a
government minister, ―they [Mungiki] have appointed themselves the prefects of public
morality by prescribing what women should or should not wear.‖
The alleged national chairman of the outlawed Mungiki sect, John Naima Njenga, has
been arrested in Nairobi and charged with drug trafficking.
The Kenya government has reported arresting more than 970 members of the illegal
Mungiki sect, but denied allegations that police were harassing innocent people in the
process.
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, the subject of Dan Brown‘s best-selling ―The Da Vinci Code,‖ is promoting an
Opus Dei priest‘s blog that counters the book‘s view of the group. Opus Dei calls the book ―a
gross distortion and a grave injustice.‖
Pentecostalism
Pentecostal and charismatic Christians from around the world will assemble in Los Angeles
to celebrate the centennial of the modern Pentecostal movement where it was born, in
1906. The global Pentecostal movement, growing fast in the developing world, now
numbers more than 500 million. Prominent speakers scheduled for the event include
televangelists Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn and Pastor T.D. Jakes of The Potter‘s
House, in Dallas.
Polygamy
An editorial in the Toronto Globe and Mail (1/18/06), weighing recent reports on either side
of the issue, concludes that ―polygamy deserves to stay in the criminal code.‖
Women activists involved in polygamous relationships in Arizona have founded the
Centennial Park Action Committee to lobby for decriminalization of the practice. ―Polygamy-
rights is the next civil-rights battle,‖ says Mark Henkel, founder of the Christian evangelical
polygamy association and a leader of the polygamy rights movement.
Raël
Disgraced Korean cloning expert Hwang Woo-suk has been offered a position with Clonaid,
an arm of the UFO cult Raël, which claims already to have cloned human beings and
believes that mankind was cloned from prehistoric aliens.
The Raëlian movement, which claims that humankind was cloned from extraterrestrials,
has recruited at least 300 members at nightclubs, library seminars, and public information
sessions in St. George‘s Square during a recruiting campaign in Brisbane, Australia. A
Catholic Church spokesman called the movement a cult.
tax fraud, and anti-Semitic statements, was insufficient. The Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights says that witnesses against him had been forced to lie. In addition, certain Romanian
legislators have called Bivolaru ―Satan‖, ―psychopath‖, and ―terrorist.‖
Mungiki
A crowd lynched five Mungiki followers and police then arrested over 50 suspected
adherents of the outlawed sect in late January. Mungiki, which employs ―oathing‖ rituals, is
carrying on a violent campaign to control much of the commuter transportation system in
the Nairobi region. Meanwhile, the government announced a campaign to wipe out Mungiki,
even though certain politicians are associated with the group. ―In some cases,‖ said a
government minister, ―they [Mungiki] have appointed themselves the prefects of public
morality by prescribing what women should or should not wear.‖
The alleged national chairman of the outlawed Mungiki sect, John Naima Njenga, has
been arrested in Nairobi and charged with drug trafficking.
The Kenya government has reported arresting more than 970 members of the illegal
Mungiki sect, but denied allegations that police were harassing innocent people in the
process.
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, the subject of Dan Brown‘s best-selling ―The Da Vinci Code,‖ is promoting an
Opus Dei priest‘s blog that counters the book‘s view of the group. Opus Dei calls the book ―a
gross distortion and a grave injustice.‖
Pentecostalism
Pentecostal and charismatic Christians from around the world will assemble in Los Angeles
to celebrate the centennial of the modern Pentecostal movement where it was born, in
1906. The global Pentecostal movement, growing fast in the developing world, now
numbers more than 500 million. Prominent speakers scheduled for the event include
televangelists Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn and Pastor T.D. Jakes of The Potter‘s
House, in Dallas.
Polygamy
An editorial in the Toronto Globe and Mail (1/18/06), weighing recent reports on either side
of the issue, concludes that ―polygamy deserves to stay in the criminal code.‖
Women activists involved in polygamous relationships in Arizona have founded the
Centennial Park Action Committee to lobby for decriminalization of the practice. ―Polygamy-
rights is the next civil-rights battle,‖ says Mark Henkel, founder of the Christian evangelical
polygamy association and a leader of the polygamy rights movement.
Raël
Disgraced Korean cloning expert Hwang Woo-suk has been offered a position with Clonaid,
an arm of the UFO cult Raël, which claims already to have cloned human beings and
believes that mankind was cloned from prehistoric aliens.
The Raëlian movement, which claims that humankind was cloned from extraterrestrials,
has recruited at least 300 members at nightclubs, library seminars, and public information
sessions in St. George‘s Square during a recruiting campaign in Brisbane, Australia. A
Catholic Church spokesman called the movement a cult.
