Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 6, 2006, Page 51
Scott Grant, who recently gained custody of their two children from his wife, Nathalie
Getliffe, says she poisoned their minds against him, telling them he didn‘t want them and
that they‘d be in danger if they returned to Canada because he is a member of the
International Churches of Christ, which she calls a ―cult.‖ Grant says that his calm
explanation of the truth about him and the International Church dissipated the children‘s
high anxiety and now they are happy to be with him. In response to profound concerns
about their mother‘s imprisonment, he says he told them her case would be helped if they
returned from France to Canada, thus putting an end to the ―crime‖ she had committed in
abducting them. He has also taken them to visit her in a Vancouver prison, where she is
being held for trial she was arrested earlier this year while visiting Canada to defend a
doctoral dissertation.
Nathalie Getliffe, detained by Canadian authorities for allegedly kidnapping her two children
and taking them to France to keep them away from the influence of their father and his
International Churches of Christ congregation in Canada, has given birth to another
child, at Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, in Vancouver. The newborn‘s father is
Francis Guzelle [a well known personality in France who has been leading a media campaign
there in support of Getliffe.]
Jeffrey Lundgren
Jeffrey Lundgren, the dismissed minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ) who murdered a family of ―less than
enthusiastic‖ supporters in 1989, near Cleveland, OH, will be executed in October. Cult
members had testified that Lundgren considered the family not sufficiently avid, or loyal
enough to his eccentric views.
Jeffrey Lundgren, dismissed in 1987 as a minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ), was executed in late
October for murdering a family of supporters of his new 20-member cult in 1989, near
Cleveland, OH. Lundgren, who reportedly believed that the family, which included parents, a
7-year-old and two teenaged girls, was not enthusiastic enough about his teachings, said at
his trial that the killings were a ―pruning of the vineyard.‖ He argued that, as a prophet of
God, he did not deserve the death penalty. ―It‘s not a figment of my imagination that I can
in fact talk to God, that I can hear his voice.‖
Jehovah’s Witnesses
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled that the city of Coquitlam‘s decision to
require a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation to pay taxes on land it owns surrounding it‘s
church does not violate the group‘s religious freedom. The province in 2004 passed a law
saying that land around churches, although not the church itself, could be taxed. The
Witnesses then complained that they were the only congregation in the country taxed for
the surrounding land. But the judge said this wasn‘t discriminatory and that the municipality
could decide who gets an exemption, as long as the policy complies with the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. The property-tax exemptions for every other church in Coquitlam
―enhance the exercise of a fundamental freedom, but do not create a substantial
interference‖ with the religious rights of the Jehovah‘s Witnesses,‖ she said. ―Here, the
burden is indirect and, in my view, not substantial.‖ The judge also said, however, that the
town had not proceed fairly in dismissing the church‘s request for an exemption and ordered
a reconsideration, suggesting that Coquitlam provide a grant to the congregation as it had
done with the Royal Canadian Legion when the Legion‘s property-tax exemption appeal was
rejected.
Scott Grant, who recently gained custody of their two children from his wife, Nathalie
Getliffe, says she poisoned their minds against him, telling them he didn‘t want them and
that they‘d be in danger if they returned to Canada because he is a member of the
International Churches of Christ, which she calls a ―cult.‖ Grant says that his calm
explanation of the truth about him and the International Church dissipated the children‘s
high anxiety and now they are happy to be with him. In response to profound concerns
about their mother‘s imprisonment, he says he told them her case would be helped if they
returned from France to Canada, thus putting an end to the ―crime‖ she had committed in
abducting them. He has also taken them to visit her in a Vancouver prison, where she is
being held for trial she was arrested earlier this year while visiting Canada to defend a
doctoral dissertation.
Nathalie Getliffe, detained by Canadian authorities for allegedly kidnapping her two children
and taking them to France to keep them away from the influence of their father and his
International Churches of Christ congregation in Canada, has given birth to another
child, at Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, in Vancouver. The newborn‘s father is
Francis Guzelle [a well known personality in France who has been leading a media campaign
there in support of Getliffe.]
Jeffrey Lundgren
Jeffrey Lundgren, the dismissed minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ) who murdered a family of ―less than
enthusiastic‖ supporters in 1989, near Cleveland, OH, will be executed in October. Cult
members had testified that Lundgren considered the family not sufficiently avid, or loyal
enough to his eccentric views.
Jeffrey Lundgren, dismissed in 1987 as a minister of the Reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ), was executed in late
October for murdering a family of supporters of his new 20-member cult in 1989, near
Cleveland, OH. Lundgren, who reportedly believed that the family, which included parents, a
7-year-old and two teenaged girls, was not enthusiastic enough about his teachings, said at
his trial that the killings were a ―pruning of the vineyard.‖ He argued that, as a prophet of
God, he did not deserve the death penalty. ―It‘s not a figment of my imagination that I can
in fact talk to God, that I can hear his voice.‖
Jehovah’s Witnesses
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled that the city of Coquitlam‘s decision to
require a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation to pay taxes on land it owns surrounding it‘s
church does not violate the group‘s religious freedom. The province in 2004 passed a law
saying that land around churches, although not the church itself, could be taxed. The
Witnesses then complained that they were the only congregation in the country taxed for
the surrounding land. But the judge said this wasn‘t discriminatory and that the municipality
could decide who gets an exemption, as long as the policy complies with the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. The property-tax exemptions for every other church in Coquitlam
―enhance the exercise of a fundamental freedom, but do not create a substantial
interference‖ with the religious rights of the Jehovah‘s Witnesses,‖ she said. ―Here, the
burden is indirect and, in my view, not substantial.‖ The judge also said, however, that the
town had not proceed fairly in dismissing the church‘s request for an exemption and ordered
a reconsideration, suggesting that Coquitlam provide a grant to the congregation as it had
done with the Royal Canadian Legion when the Legion‘s property-tax exemption appeal was
rejected.
