Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 90
a primary mystical experience that may lead to positive changes in a person. It is an early
step in what we hope will be a large body of scientific work that will ultimately help people.‖
A third of the volunteers in the Hopkins study became frightened during the drug sessions,
and some reported paranoid feelings. The researchers said that while psilocybin is not
addictive, people who can assist them through the experience must be present.
Opus Dei
Opus Dei in Britain and the U.S. is responding to the negative picture of the organization
painted by ―The Da Vinci Code‖ with a public relations approach that calmly maintains it is a
benign organization of members dedicated to finding God in their daily work and not a
conspiracy to gain power in the world, as the book and film suggest. Film producer Sony
refused to put a disclaimer in the film that the Code‘s account of the life of Jesus was
fictional. Nonetheless, Opus Dei has not called for boycotts and continues calmly to present
what it considers to be the truth about Christ while openly detailing and demystifying the
nature and practices of the Roman Catholic organization. The strategy has worked at least
to the extent that a number of new American members say they first heard about Opus Dei
through The Da Vinci Code.
Potter’s House
Potter’s House leader Bishop T.D. Jakes, whose latest book is on the New York Times
best-seller list, has a national television ministry, counsels American presidents and star
athletes, presides over a 30,000- member mostly black home church in Dallas and an
expanding missionary presence in Africa, and holds revival-like conferences around the
globe that draw hundreds of thousands. Having grown up poor in West Virginia suffering
racism and discrimination, Jakes now lives in luxury, but despite criticism for this,
investigative journalists have found no personal or financial improprieties in his past. ―I
think it‘s critical that our [African-American] community see success in their color,‖ Jakes
told the Washington Post, ―success that is progressive and legal.‖
Raël
Female followers of Raël, according to a Raëlian press release, planned to visit Las Vegas
strip clubs in May to support women working in the sex industry, in opposition to the
conservative Christian JC‘s [sic], who want to bring strippers back to God. The Raëlians
believe that sexual repression is at the root of many social problems, and that sex workers
contribute much more to social health than, for example, priests of the Catholic Church,
which suppresses human sexual expression, leading to mental imbalances, aggression, and
violence. ...Raël says he recently launched CLITORAID, a non-profit that will sponsor
African women for clitoral ―rebuilding,‖ which will restore the possibility of increased sexual
pleasure that has been lost thanks to the widespread African practice of cliterodectomy.
The Raëlians have filed a complaint with the Québec Human Rights Commission claiming
that the exclusion of their books from the provincial book expo amounts to religious
discrimination. ..A Québec Superior Court judge has ruled that an Ottowa columnist did
not libel Raël (Claude Vorhilon) when he called the group‘s leader a ―scatterbrained
swindler‖ and a ―clown.‖ The judge said, ―It is strange, to say the least, that Raël should be
offended by terms used about him when they are similar to those he uses when he judges .
..followers of the Jewish and Christian religions.‖ The jurist called Vorhilon‘s testimony that
he, Raël, had spoken with extra-terrestrials on another planet, ―more like hallucinations and
fantasies, unless he was fully aware that he lied in court [when he spoke about such
things].‖
a primary mystical experience that may lead to positive changes in a person. It is an early
step in what we hope will be a large body of scientific work that will ultimately help people.‖
A third of the volunteers in the Hopkins study became frightened during the drug sessions,
and some reported paranoid feelings. The researchers said that while psilocybin is not
addictive, people who can assist them through the experience must be present.
Opus Dei
Opus Dei in Britain and the U.S. is responding to the negative picture of the organization
painted by ―The Da Vinci Code‖ with a public relations approach that calmly maintains it is a
benign organization of members dedicated to finding God in their daily work and not a
conspiracy to gain power in the world, as the book and film suggest. Film producer Sony
refused to put a disclaimer in the film that the Code‘s account of the life of Jesus was
fictional. Nonetheless, Opus Dei has not called for boycotts and continues calmly to present
what it considers to be the truth about Christ while openly detailing and demystifying the
nature and practices of the Roman Catholic organization. The strategy has worked at least
to the extent that a number of new American members say they first heard about Opus Dei
through The Da Vinci Code.
Potter’s House
Potter’s House leader Bishop T.D. Jakes, whose latest book is on the New York Times
best-seller list, has a national television ministry, counsels American presidents and star
athletes, presides over a 30,000- member mostly black home church in Dallas and an
expanding missionary presence in Africa, and holds revival-like conferences around the
globe that draw hundreds of thousands. Having grown up poor in West Virginia suffering
racism and discrimination, Jakes now lives in luxury, but despite criticism for this,
investigative journalists have found no personal or financial improprieties in his past. ―I
think it‘s critical that our [African-American] community see success in their color,‖ Jakes
told the Washington Post, ―success that is progressive and legal.‖
Raël
Female followers of Raël, according to a Raëlian press release, planned to visit Las Vegas
strip clubs in May to support women working in the sex industry, in opposition to the
conservative Christian JC‘s [sic], who want to bring strippers back to God. The Raëlians
believe that sexual repression is at the root of many social problems, and that sex workers
contribute much more to social health than, for example, priests of the Catholic Church,
which suppresses human sexual expression, leading to mental imbalances, aggression, and
violence. ...Raël says he recently launched CLITORAID, a non-profit that will sponsor
African women for clitoral ―rebuilding,‖ which will restore the possibility of increased sexual
pleasure that has been lost thanks to the widespread African practice of cliterodectomy.
The Raëlians have filed a complaint with the Québec Human Rights Commission claiming
that the exclusion of their books from the provincial book expo amounts to religious
discrimination. ..A Québec Superior Court judge has ruled that an Ottowa columnist did
not libel Raël (Claude Vorhilon) when he called the group‘s leader a ―scatterbrained
swindler‖ and a ―clown.‖ The judge said, ―It is strange, to say the least, that Raël should be
offended by terms used about him when they are similar to those he uses when he judges .
..followers of the Jewish and Christian religions.‖ The jurist called Vorhilon‘s testimony that
he, Raël, had spoken with extra-terrestrials on another planet, ―more like hallucinations and
fantasies, unless he was fully aware that he lied in court [when he spoke about such
things].‖
