Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 6, 2006, Page 45
Fifteen Falun Gong followers — including four Swiss nationals — who were arrested in
Hong Kong after a protest against Chinese government policy toward the group are suing
the police for unlawful arrest and imprisonment. An appeals court vacated their convictions
in 2004. ..Canadian Falun Gong practitioners held a silent vigil in Vancouver, Canada,
hoping to persuade the mayor to allow their protest wall, where it has stood for five years,
to remain in front of the Chinese consulate.
A recently released report indicates Chinese leader Jiang Zemin was shocked to learn that
security agencies failed to understand the threat posed by Falun Gong until more than
10,000 practitioners surrounded the government leadership compound in Beijing during a
1999 demonstration. ..Amnesty International reports that a former staffer of the San
Francisco-based Asia Foundation, who is a Falun Gong practitioner, has been sentenced to
two-and-a-half years in a Re-education Through Labor Camp. Police found Falun Gong
literature in his home. He and his wife served time in labor camps in 2000 after they sent a
letter to Chinese leaders requesting a reevaluation of the ban against the sect. ...The
owner of a shop in Pakuranga, New Zealand, who displayed Falun Gong tenets in his store
window, says that recent vandalism is the work of students stimulated by postings on the
New Zealand-based Chinese portal website Skykiwi.com.
Taiwan has strongly protested China‘s harvesting of human organs from executed Falun
Gong practitioners and expressed concern about human and religious rights violations
across China.
Fraud
Investment fraud linked to church members and church leaders who exploit parishioners is
increasing, exemplified by the crime of Randall Harding, a member of the Crossroads
Christian Church, in Corona, CA, whose JTL investment firm stole $50 million from fellow
congregants. A legal expert says, ―The scammers are getting smarter and the investors
don‘t ask enough questions because of the feeling that they can be safe in church.‖ A
businessman who lost $50,000 in a church-related investment scam observed: ―It made me
angry at how people are abusing the trust that exists in church communities.‖
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
A police investigation of the 700-member Bountiful commune of the polygamist
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in British Columbia, has
been completed and is now in prosecutors‘ hands to determine if legal action should be
taken. Polygamy, which is illegal in Canada but has not been prosecuted in a century, ―is a
violation of international law,‖ says University of Toronto law professor Rebecca Cook,
author of a recently released study commissioned by the government. The study maintains
Canada is violating its human rights obligations to women and children by allowing
polygamy to persist. A report last year, commissioned by the government‘s Status for
Women, called for repealing the ban on polygamy in favor of other laws to help women and
children. Canadian Immigration authorities have consistently rejected Muslim and Chinese
polygamists‘ applications to enter with multiple spouses. ..A source close to the case
against FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who allegedly married off of a 14-year-old girl to her
first cousin, says the marriage was not polygamous, but, rather, ―child abuse, plain and
simple.‖ The prosecutor agrees, saying the case is not an attack against polygamy. Jeffs
maintains it is religious persecution. ..The goal of the United Effort Plan Trust, now
managed by a court-appointed fiduciary, and from which religion has been ―carved out,‖ is
to make it possible for people in the FLDS towns to own their own property. The reformation
plan would also create a number of ―spendthrift‖ trusts that place UEP assets under a
trustee‘s control until the recipients are judged able to control the money or property
themselves. ―We have a society of people who are historically co-dependent,‖ said an ex-
member. There is concern that efforts to reform will be resisted by FLDS members still loyal
Fifteen Falun Gong followers — including four Swiss nationals — who were arrested in
Hong Kong after a protest against Chinese government policy toward the group are suing
the police for unlawful arrest and imprisonment. An appeals court vacated their convictions
in 2004. ..Canadian Falun Gong practitioners held a silent vigil in Vancouver, Canada,
hoping to persuade the mayor to allow their protest wall, where it has stood for five years,
to remain in front of the Chinese consulate.
A recently released report indicates Chinese leader Jiang Zemin was shocked to learn that
security agencies failed to understand the threat posed by Falun Gong until more than
10,000 practitioners surrounded the government leadership compound in Beijing during a
1999 demonstration. ..Amnesty International reports that a former staffer of the San
Francisco-based Asia Foundation, who is a Falun Gong practitioner, has been sentenced to
two-and-a-half years in a Re-education Through Labor Camp. Police found Falun Gong
literature in his home. He and his wife served time in labor camps in 2000 after they sent a
letter to Chinese leaders requesting a reevaluation of the ban against the sect. ...The
owner of a shop in Pakuranga, New Zealand, who displayed Falun Gong tenets in his store
window, says that recent vandalism is the work of students stimulated by postings on the
New Zealand-based Chinese portal website Skykiwi.com.
Taiwan has strongly protested China‘s harvesting of human organs from executed Falun
Gong practitioners and expressed concern about human and religious rights violations
across China.
Fraud
Investment fraud linked to church members and church leaders who exploit parishioners is
increasing, exemplified by the crime of Randall Harding, a member of the Crossroads
Christian Church, in Corona, CA, whose JTL investment firm stole $50 million from fellow
congregants. A legal expert says, ―The scammers are getting smarter and the investors
don‘t ask enough questions because of the feeling that they can be safe in church.‖ A
businessman who lost $50,000 in a church-related investment scam observed: ―It made me
angry at how people are abusing the trust that exists in church communities.‖
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
A police investigation of the 700-member Bountiful commune of the polygamist
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in British Columbia, has
been completed and is now in prosecutors‘ hands to determine if legal action should be
taken. Polygamy, which is illegal in Canada but has not been prosecuted in a century, ―is a
violation of international law,‖ says University of Toronto law professor Rebecca Cook,
author of a recently released study commissioned by the government. The study maintains
Canada is violating its human rights obligations to women and children by allowing
polygamy to persist. A report last year, commissioned by the government‘s Status for
Women, called for repealing the ban on polygamy in favor of other laws to help women and
children. Canadian Immigration authorities have consistently rejected Muslim and Chinese
polygamists‘ applications to enter with multiple spouses. ..A source close to the case
against FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who allegedly married off of a 14-year-old girl to her
first cousin, says the marriage was not polygamous, but, rather, ―child abuse, plain and
simple.‖ The prosecutor agrees, saying the case is not an attack against polygamy. Jeffs
maintains it is religious persecution. ..The goal of the United Effort Plan Trust, now
managed by a court-appointed fiduciary, and from which religion has been ―carved out,‖ is
to make it possible for people in the FLDS towns to own their own property. The reformation
plan would also create a number of ―spendthrift‖ trusts that place UEP assets under a
trustee‘s control until the recipients are judged able to control the money or property
themselves. ―We have a society of people who are historically co-dependent,‖ said an ex-
member. There is concern that efforts to reform will be resisted by FLDS members still loyal
