Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 93
youth into a terrorist group] any different? It‘s a crime, too. A very dramatic one, maybe,
but just a crime.‖
Transcendental Meditation
The British singer Donovan, who went to India in the 1960s with the Beatles to study
Transcendental Meditation, is planning a world tour to reintroduce the public to TM
founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s style of meditation. He will stress the power of
meditation to deal with ―troubles of the psyche: anxiety, anger, stress and fear, which all
cause illness.‖ ...Ashley Deans, former leader of the now defunct Natural Law Party of
Canada [which is inspired by TM ideas] is traveling with a TM group across Canada aiming
to persuade schools to put TM meditation into classrooms in order, they say, to reduce
children‘s stress levels and improve learning. Montreal physician Guy-Paul Gagne, who will
travel with Ashley, says TM is proven to cut health care costs by half and reduce cancer and
coronary deaths, and has the potential to increase average life expectancy by 23%. ...
Nine pastors in Smith Center, KS, have written a letter to the editor saying that a proposed
TM facility will compete with them for residents‘ ―eternal souls.‖ A local bank president says,
―Sometimes people forget that this country is based on freedom of religion. If what they
[TM] want is peace and understanding, I‘m all for it. We need to wait and give these people
a chance. I don‘t see anything scary.‖ A public meeting heard from residents of Fairfield, IA,
the national TM center, saying that the town would die
Unification Church
Former British Home Secretary Michael Howard says he stands by his 1995 decision to
refuse Unification Church leader The Rev. Sun Myung Moon entry into the country. He
did so because he felt that the UC leader‘s presence would not be conducive to the public
good — he cited the church‘s recruiting practices and its effects on families. A judge
overruled him, saying that Howard should have given Moon a chance to argue in favor of
admission.
The Chicago Tribune of April 12, 2006, reviewing the current status of the Unification
Church in the U.S., notes that the church held a mass wedding ceremony for 4,600 couples
on August 1, 2005, in Cheonan, South Korea.
The New York State Education Department has approved the Unification Church’s
Unification Theological Seminary application to offer the doctorate degree at its Barrytown
campus, in Red Hook. The degree will, according to the church, provide students with ―the
opportunity to enhance and expand their ministerial skills.‖
Unification Church (UC) minister Kevin Thompson — recently indicted for selling $1.2
million worth of protected baby leopard sharks with a street value of over $1.2 million —
take young people onto the church‘s boat, deploy the fishing equipment, and start talking
about God and committing oneself to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. ―In the context of our
church, we try to use boats as a training place for young people,‖ Thompson explained. The
Unification Church is a major player in the U.S. domestic fishing industry, particularly in the
sushi trade, but it is not known whether Thompson‘s operation — which sold the sharks to
wholesale pet dealers, who shipped them around the world — was undertaken with the
church‘s knowledge.
One-time Zambian Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo recently left a convent
south of Rome, where he had been living in seclusion, and held a surprise news conference
in Washington in July announcing that his new mission is to persuade the Church to allow
priests to marry. A shocked Vatican says disciplinary measures could be announced soon. In
2001, Milingo married a woman chosen for him by UC leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon
and escaped excommunication only by renouncing the nuptials. He subsequently said the
UC might have brainwashed him.
youth into a terrorist group] any different? It‘s a crime, too. A very dramatic one, maybe,
but just a crime.‖
Transcendental Meditation
The British singer Donovan, who went to India in the 1960s with the Beatles to study
Transcendental Meditation, is planning a world tour to reintroduce the public to TM
founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s style of meditation. He will stress the power of
meditation to deal with ―troubles of the psyche: anxiety, anger, stress and fear, which all
cause illness.‖ ...Ashley Deans, former leader of the now defunct Natural Law Party of
Canada [which is inspired by TM ideas] is traveling with a TM group across Canada aiming
to persuade schools to put TM meditation into classrooms in order, they say, to reduce
children‘s stress levels and improve learning. Montreal physician Guy-Paul Gagne, who will
travel with Ashley, says TM is proven to cut health care costs by half and reduce cancer and
coronary deaths, and has the potential to increase average life expectancy by 23%. ...
Nine pastors in Smith Center, KS, have written a letter to the editor saying that a proposed
TM facility will compete with them for residents‘ ―eternal souls.‖ A local bank president says,
―Sometimes people forget that this country is based on freedom of religion. If what they
[TM] want is peace and understanding, I‘m all for it. We need to wait and give these people
a chance. I don‘t see anything scary.‖ A public meeting heard from residents of Fairfield, IA,
the national TM center, saying that the town would die
Unification Church
Former British Home Secretary Michael Howard says he stands by his 1995 decision to
refuse Unification Church leader The Rev. Sun Myung Moon entry into the country. He
did so because he felt that the UC leader‘s presence would not be conducive to the public
good — he cited the church‘s recruiting practices and its effects on families. A judge
overruled him, saying that Howard should have given Moon a chance to argue in favor of
admission.
The Chicago Tribune of April 12, 2006, reviewing the current status of the Unification
Church in the U.S., notes that the church held a mass wedding ceremony for 4,600 couples
on August 1, 2005, in Cheonan, South Korea.
The New York State Education Department has approved the Unification Church’s
Unification Theological Seminary application to offer the doctorate degree at its Barrytown
campus, in Red Hook. The degree will, according to the church, provide students with ―the
opportunity to enhance and expand their ministerial skills.‖
Unification Church (UC) minister Kevin Thompson — recently indicted for selling $1.2
million worth of protected baby leopard sharks with a street value of over $1.2 million —
take young people onto the church‘s boat, deploy the fishing equipment, and start talking
about God and committing oneself to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. ―In the context of our
church, we try to use boats as a training place for young people,‖ Thompson explained. The
Unification Church is a major player in the U.S. domestic fishing industry, particularly in the
sushi trade, but it is not known whether Thompson‘s operation — which sold the sharks to
wholesale pet dealers, who shipped them around the world — was undertaken with the
church‘s knowledge.
One-time Zambian Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo recently left a convent
south of Rome, where he had been living in seclusion, and held a surprise news conference
in Washington in July announcing that his new mission is to persuade the Church to allow
priests to marry. A shocked Vatican says disciplinary measures could be announced soon. In
2001, Milingo married a woman chosen for him by UC leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon
and escaped excommunication only by renouncing the nuptials. He subsequently said the
UC might have brainwashed him.
