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].‖

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 91
Satmar Hasidim
A New York appeals court has upheld the claim of Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum to remain
head of the 25,000-member Brooklyn congregation of the Satmar branch of the Hasidic
movement. The decision to deny the succession to Zalman‘s brother, Aron, who heads the
14,000-member Kiryas Joel congregation, in Orange County, NY, was based on
constitutional grounds — Grand Rebbe Moses Teitelbaum, who died in April, said he wanted
Zalman to succeed him.
Scientology
Scientology has produced a set of six DVDs, three CDs, and several books presenting six
lectures delivered by founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1958 at the Shoreham Hotel, in
Washington, DC. The publication, said to have taken a million man hours to complete, has
been translated into 15 languages, using subtitles, and includes an English interpretation for
the deaf. ...Scientologist Priscilla Presley will speak at the inauguration of the 120-bed
Narconon Stone Hawk East residential drug treatment center in Albion, MI. ...
Scientology‘s basic text, Dianetics, will sponsor a NASCAR racing team named ―Ignite Your
Potential.‖ Driver Kenton Gray says, ―Through Dianetics I‘ve handled stress and increased
my performance and ability to compete — both on the track and in life.‖
Quebec advocates for the learning disabled are worried that Scientology — which
condemns both psychiatry and the use of psychotropic drugs — may take over the current
debate concerning a proposed class action suit challenging the use of Ritalin to treat
attention deficit disorder among school children. Scientologist George Mentis is the head of
an organization that is spearheading a separate $11 million lawsuit of a parent who says her
son was harmed by Ritalin and Risperdal and alleges that his school virtually required him to
take the drugs in order to be allowed to attend class.
A Nebraska Scientology couple has filed a suit aimed to overturn the state law requiring
the screening of a newborn‘s blood for possible disease. They say the mandatory test would
violate their freedom of religion. Scientologists believe that infants should have seven days
of silence after birth, without pain or trauma that might affect the child‘s mental and
physical health later in life. All states have screening statutes, but only four, including
Nebraska, do not allow an exemption based on religious beliefs. Officials say that later
treatment of diseases not detected at birth strain families as well as taxpayers who must
often pay for long-term care of the disabled.
Scientology in Ireland, financially pressed to maintain defense of a suit against it brought by
a former member, is being kept afloat by a 400,000 Euro interest-free loan from overseas
members of the international organization. The debt of the Irish branch, which has drawn
only a few hundred members in 18 years of operation, is now one million Euros.
Milton James, executive director of the Florida chapter of Ebony Awakenings, a group of
African-American Scientologists, has opened up a Church of Scientology Mission in Tampa,
saying, ―people need help,‖ and ―the old stuff is not working.‖ He believes people become
criminals because they ―feel stupid or ignorant,‖ and Scientology can help them ―see they
have in their own grasp the ability to understand.‖ He wants to communicate his ideas
especially to African-Americans. The President of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic
Association says, ―I‘m hearing a lot of grumbling. They [neighboring businesses] don‘t want
them [Scientologists] there.‖
Scientology plans to buy a historic building containing upscale shops and relocate its
Pasadena establishment there to accommodate a bookstore, information center,
classrooms, and a 250-seat chapel and meeting room.