VOLUME 9 |ISSUE 2 |2018 3733
they cannot find out much about them online.’ Sarah Harvey,
a senior research officer at Inform, said: ‘The majority of our
inquiries at the moment concern Buddhist groups. I think that
this is due to a number of inter-related factors. Obviously there
is a current popular interest in the practice of mindfulness which
has Buddhist roots which we receive some inquiries about.” (The
Guardian, 03/05/18)
Brazil police arrest sect members for enslavement
“Sect leaders are accused of seizing the possessions of followers
and making them work unpaid. Police raided several businesses
as part of an investigation into the sect, known as The
Evangelical Community of Jesus, the Truth that Marks. The
church is estimated to have 6,000 followers. Police are looking
for nine more people including the leader of the sect, known as
‘Father Cicero’. Investigators said vulnerable and fragile people
who attended a church in Sao Paulo were persuaded to leave
their families behind to start a new life in the countryside. They
were told the sect was totally egalitarian and that they had to
hand over all their possessions to the community. On the farms
and in the sect’s rural businesses they would work unpaid and
were supervised by sect members if they went into local towns.
‘The reality is this, it’s the manipulation of the mind. The guys can
totally undo your life, make you leave your family,’ one follower
told Brazilian news channel Globo G1. ‘When I opened my eyes, it
was too late. And there were lots like me. And they had handed
over everything.’ Police say the church’s hierarchy converted the
huge profits from donations and unpaid labour into land, houses
and luxury cars.” (BBC News, 02/07/18)
Ex-polygamous sect leader gets nearly five years in fraud case
“A former polygamous sect leader was sentenced Wednesday to
nearly five years in prison for his role in carrying out an elaborate
food stamp fraud scheme and for escaping home confinement
while awaiting trial. … U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart said during
a hearing in Salt Lake City that Lyle Jeffs deserved the 57-month
prison sentence because his behavior showed he doesn’t respect
U.S. laws and puts his allegiance to his brother and the sect’s
imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs [FLDS], above everything
else.” Prosecutors accused Lyle Jeffs of running a scheme to
divert “some $11 million in food-stamp benefits to a communal
storehouse and front companies…” Lyle Jeffs was first charged
in the fraud scheme in February 2016, along with 10 other
members of the sect. The cases against the others “ended in plea
deals without prison time or with dismissed charges.” Lyle Jeffs
compounded his legal problems when “he became a fugitive in
June 2016 after he slipped off an ankle monitoring device while
out on supervised release. … He was caught in South Dakota a
year later after pawn shop workers spotted him and called police.”
(U.S. News &World Report, 12/13/17)
After polygamist leaders used underage girls for sex, lawsuit
says, one teen was forced to be a scribe for the rituals
“Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
[FLDS] President Warren Jeffs, along with other officials in
the church and its former land trust, is accused of carrying out
a ‘calculated plan’ to sexually abuse underage girls as part of
a religious ritual, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The
lawsuit also cites for alleged wrongdoing the United Effort Plan
Trust, Warren Jeffs’ brothers Lyle and Seth Jeffs, former FLDS
President and convicted bigamist Wendell Nielsen, and the
church. … The 21-year-old [“identified as R.H.”] said Warren Jeffs
warned her that if she told anyone about the abuse, according to
the lawsuit, ‘God would destroy her and her family immediately.’
He also reportedly said that if she cried during the ritual, ‘God
would punish her.’ The rituals reportedly occurred five to six
times a week until the woman turned 12. When she was 14 years
old, the lawsuit alleges, she was forced to watch and document
other girls’ ritualistic abuse with church leaders. The woman’s
attorneys cite evidence recovered from the FLDS Church’s temple
in Eldorado, Texas—on the compound where Warren Jeffs lived
before his arrest and conviction for sexually assaulting two girls—
as proof of the abuse. … The woman is requesting physical and
emotional damages and has asked for jury trial, according to
the lawsuit. Her attorneys—Michael Worel, Alan Mortensen and
Lance Milne—also represented Elissa Wall, who filed a lawsuit
against Warren Jeffs and many of the same defendants in 2005
over being forced to marry when she was 14 years old. Wall’s case
was resolved in September, when a judge ordered that Warren
Jeffs pay Wall $16 million in damages. The woman came to Worel,
Mortensen and Milne because they represented Walls, Worel said.
The 21-year-old wanted to file the lawsuit, he said, because she
believes the alleged abuse is still happening in the church.” (The
Salt Lake Tribune, 12/28/17)
Russia court authorizes seizure of outlawed sect children
“Russia’s Supreme Court has confirmed that children can be
removed from their parents if they involve them in banned social
or religious groups, in a move said by local media to be aimed
against the outlawed Jehovah’s Witnesses. ...Police began
seizing places of worship belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses
after their 395 branches were outlawed by the Supreme Court last
April. The move was condemned by human rights groups and the
US, British and German governments, as well as by Russia’s small
Catholic Church, whose spokesman, Mgr Igor Kovalevsky, said
there were ‘strong misgivings’ Catholics could now also face ‘new
acts of discrimination and limits to freedom of belief.’ However, it
was welcomed by Russia’s predominant Orthodox church, whose
foreign relations director, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, described
the Witnesses, who have around 175,000 Russian members, as a
‘totalitarian, harmful sect’ propagating ‘false teachings,’ which did
not ‘believe in Jesus Christ as God and Saviour, or recognise the
doctrine of the Trinity.’” (The Tablet, 11/23/17)
Russian court turns properties of banned Jehovah’s Witnesses
over to government
“A district court in St. Petersburg passed a resolution on Thursday
to confiscate 16 items of real estate in St. Petersburg worth more
than 880 million rubles [$14.9 mln], which belong to the Watch
Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania registered in the
U.S., and to turn them over to the government, the united press
they cannot find out much about them online.’ Sarah Harvey,
a senior research officer at Inform, said: ‘The majority of our
inquiries at the moment concern Buddhist groups. I think that
this is due to a number of inter-related factors. Obviously there
is a current popular interest in the practice of mindfulness which
has Buddhist roots which we receive some inquiries about.” (The
Guardian, 03/05/18)
Brazil police arrest sect members for enslavement
“Sect leaders are accused of seizing the possessions of followers
and making them work unpaid. Police raided several businesses
as part of an investigation into the sect, known as The
Evangelical Community of Jesus, the Truth that Marks. The
church is estimated to have 6,000 followers. Police are looking
for nine more people including the leader of the sect, known as
‘Father Cicero’. Investigators said vulnerable and fragile people
who attended a church in Sao Paulo were persuaded to leave
their families behind to start a new life in the countryside. They
were told the sect was totally egalitarian and that they had to
hand over all their possessions to the community. On the farms
and in the sect’s rural businesses they would work unpaid and
were supervised by sect members if they went into local towns.
‘The reality is this, it’s the manipulation of the mind. The guys can
totally undo your life, make you leave your family,’ one follower
told Brazilian news channel Globo G1. ‘When I opened my eyes, it
was too late. And there were lots like me. And they had handed
over everything.’ Police say the church’s hierarchy converted the
huge profits from donations and unpaid labour into land, houses
and luxury cars.” (BBC News, 02/07/18)
Ex-polygamous sect leader gets nearly five years in fraud case
“A former polygamous sect leader was sentenced Wednesday to
nearly five years in prison for his role in carrying out an elaborate
food stamp fraud scheme and for escaping home confinement
while awaiting trial. … U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart said during
a hearing in Salt Lake City that Lyle Jeffs deserved the 57-month
prison sentence because his behavior showed he doesn’t respect
U.S. laws and puts his allegiance to his brother and the sect’s
imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs [FLDS], above everything
else.” Prosecutors accused Lyle Jeffs of running a scheme to
divert “some $11 million in food-stamp benefits to a communal
storehouse and front companies…” Lyle Jeffs was first charged
in the fraud scheme in February 2016, along with 10 other
members of the sect. The cases against the others “ended in plea
deals without prison time or with dismissed charges.” Lyle Jeffs
compounded his legal problems when “he became a fugitive in
June 2016 after he slipped off an ankle monitoring device while
out on supervised release. … He was caught in South Dakota a
year later after pawn shop workers spotted him and called police.”
(U.S. News &World Report, 12/13/17)
After polygamist leaders used underage girls for sex, lawsuit
says, one teen was forced to be a scribe for the rituals
“Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
[FLDS] President Warren Jeffs, along with other officials in
the church and its former land trust, is accused of carrying out
a ‘calculated plan’ to sexually abuse underage girls as part of
a religious ritual, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The
lawsuit also cites for alleged wrongdoing the United Effort Plan
Trust, Warren Jeffs’ brothers Lyle and Seth Jeffs, former FLDS
President and convicted bigamist Wendell Nielsen, and the
church. … The 21-year-old [“identified as R.H.”] said Warren Jeffs
warned her that if she told anyone about the abuse, according to
the lawsuit, ‘God would destroy her and her family immediately.’
He also reportedly said that if she cried during the ritual, ‘God
would punish her.’ The rituals reportedly occurred five to six
times a week until the woman turned 12. When she was 14 years
old, the lawsuit alleges, she was forced to watch and document
other girls’ ritualistic abuse with church leaders. The woman’s
attorneys cite evidence recovered from the FLDS Church’s temple
in Eldorado, Texas—on the compound where Warren Jeffs lived
before his arrest and conviction for sexually assaulting two girls—
as proof of the abuse. … The woman is requesting physical and
emotional damages and has asked for jury trial, according to
the lawsuit. Her attorneys—Michael Worel, Alan Mortensen and
Lance Milne—also represented Elissa Wall, who filed a lawsuit
against Warren Jeffs and many of the same defendants in 2005
over being forced to marry when she was 14 years old. Wall’s case
was resolved in September, when a judge ordered that Warren
Jeffs pay Wall $16 million in damages. The woman came to Worel,
Mortensen and Milne because they represented Walls, Worel said.
The 21-year-old wanted to file the lawsuit, he said, because she
believes the alleged abuse is still happening in the church.” (The
Salt Lake Tribune, 12/28/17)
Russia court authorizes seizure of outlawed sect children
“Russia’s Supreme Court has confirmed that children can be
removed from their parents if they involve them in banned social
or religious groups, in a move said by local media to be aimed
against the outlawed Jehovah’s Witnesses. ...Police began
seizing places of worship belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses
after their 395 branches were outlawed by the Supreme Court last
April. The move was condemned by human rights groups and the
US, British and German governments, as well as by Russia’s small
Catholic Church, whose spokesman, Mgr Igor Kovalevsky, said
there were ‘strong misgivings’ Catholics could now also face ‘new
acts of discrimination and limits to freedom of belief.’ However, it
was welcomed by Russia’s predominant Orthodox church, whose
foreign relations director, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, described
the Witnesses, who have around 175,000 Russian members, as a
‘totalitarian, harmful sect’ propagating ‘false teachings,’ which did
not ‘believe in Jesus Christ as God and Saviour, or recognise the
doctrine of the Trinity.’” (The Tablet, 11/23/17)
Russian court turns properties of banned Jehovah’s Witnesses
over to government
“A district court in St. Petersburg passed a resolution on Thursday
to confiscate 16 items of real estate in St. Petersburg worth more
than 880 million rubles [$14.9 mln], which belong to the Watch
Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania registered in the
U.S., and to turn them over to the government, the united press
