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.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 92
Scientologist Meier Ezra and Dr. Haim Mell, head of the Israeli government‘s Anti-Drug
Authority, are in Oklahoma to tour Scientology‘s Narconon drug treatment center to
evaluate its programs for possible use in Israel. Ezra says Narconon is already working well
in Israeli prisons to end drug dependency.
Today, more than three decades after it arrived to make the city it‘s international
headquarters, Scientology has become an ―indelible, if still mysterious, part of
Clearwater.‖ Some say the organization has cleaned up the once-decrepit downtown but
others believe retail merchants who aren‘t Scientologists, and people going through
Clearwater, avoid downtown because of the church‘s dominance there, where ―masses of
uniformed people [Scientologists] walk the streets, wearing belted green, navy, or russet
pants and crisp white or pale blue shirts,‖ and move ―in purposeful strides, with the
quickened footsteps of people with a mission.‖
Seas of David/Moorish Science Temple of America
Narseal Batiste, 32, head of the Miami-based alleged terrorist cell Seas of David, which
is accused of planning to blow up Chicago‘s Sears Tower, has been described as a ―Moses-
like‖ figure who roamed his neighborhood wearing a robe and holding a cane while
recruiting young men to embrace the tenets of the Moorish Science Temple of America,
a group founded in 1913 by circus magician Noble Drew Ali. The Moorish Science Temple
believes that all black people are born Muslims and descended from the nomadic Moors of
North Africa. Clement Rodney Hampton-El, another Moorish Science adherent, was
convicted in 1995 of taking part in a failed plot to blow up New York City transit tunnels.
Lawyers for some of Batiste‘s associates — mostly poor, young, Haitian-Americans— argue
that the government had, through an informant who taped their oath of loyalty to Al Qaeda,
entrapped them, luring them into doing more than they would otherwise have done. Critics
say the case is typical of the Bush administration‘s exaggeration of terrorist threats,
especially since Batiste had no ability to carry out his proposed attacks. The government
calls the case an example of the ―pre-emptive‖ strategy needed to discover credible plots
among those that are not likely to come to anything.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations‘ (CAIR) has asked the media not refer to Seas
of David members, recently arrested for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks, as ―Muslims.‖
The request [according to this report] is consistent with CAIR‘s policy of apologizing for
radical Islam and insisting, through disinformation, that the linkage of terrorist activities to
Muslim militants is simply the product of prejudice.
Smiths Friends
A father of 13 children and former adherent of the Smiths Friends Christian Community, in
Norway, has been sentenced to four months in prison for flogging his children over a 14
year period. He says he was simply doing what the leaders of the community ordered him to
do— beat the children with coat hangers, lamp cables, yardsticks, and birch-rods as
―expressions of love.‖
Terrorism
Canadian Liberal Party MP Wajid Khan, a Muslim in whose constituency recently accused
terrorist plotters resided, says, ―The onus is on our community to address this problem.
We‘re talking about a cult, a small number of extremists. The majority of us are moderates.
But these are the voices that haven‘t been heard. This has to change. We can‘t let these
people get their roots down here.‖ He called for an end to certain local imams‘ preaching
hate of Canadian institutions and suggested setting standards for imam training. He also
asked parents to stop ignoring changes in their teenagers‘ behavior. ―If a child is abused or
falls victim to drugs or other crimes, we intercede and seek help. Why is this [recruiting