Shower of Cults!
The headline of Wednesday’s Daily Mail reads "Cult Killed My Brother" and above in smaller print, "Suicide note full of references to damnation, family tell inquest". Written by Shane Phelan, he goes on to say, that a controversial religious cult named as the International Church of Christ has been blamed, presumably by the family, for a 40 year old member of the sect throwing himself in front of a speeding train.
Indeed, the International Church of Christ (ICOC) aka the "Boston Movement", has come under great criticism for their tactics, and former member Steve Rausch relates his experience with them and describes their methods. There are many branches of this group headed by different individuals so only by comparing their philosophies and modus operandi can it be confirmed that an identical group has been formed in Dublin.
Cult is a word usually used to describe a small, close-knit, group of people with a great veneration for a person, ideal, philosophy or thing. It was the horrible events of Charles Manson’s "family" murders and Jim Jones’ "Peoples Temple" mass suicides that gave the word it’s derogatory and inflammatory connotation. Today it’s meaning can be considered slanderous and offensive by some organisations.
Apparently there are enough of these groups within Ireland to command a symposium on the legalities of the term’s usage in the media, and ways in which they can combat that label from being attributed to them through the judicial system. A few years ago Tom McEnaney reported about this in the Sunday Times. Are there that many organisations out there worried about being labelled CULTS? It would appear so!
Not all of these dysfunctional groups need be of a religious persuasion but most of the attention grabbers are. JL Pagano wrote in one of his blogs entitled Scientology and Him that he was "absolutely amazed" at their carry on. The Irish Mirror printed an article (with photos) as far back as May 1998 about a Dublin Church of Christ, is this the same group named in Wednesday’s Irish Daily Mail ? Makes you wonder.
Another husband and wife team who started a new religion in the east Galway town of Tuam were exposed in 2004 in Ireland on Sunday by reporter Nicola Byrne which ultimately drove them underground. In the article Nicola writes, "Mary Sheridan, the woman behind the Tuam based cult, King of Kings, insisted this weekend that her sect will survive despite facing accusations of fraud, brainwashing, and destroying marriages." Ms. Byrne continues, "Mary and Ossie Sheridan have said on numerous occasions that God has given them Tuam and this sudden media attention is called persecution. She doesn’t accept any responsibility for the emotional, mental, or spiritual abuse that ex-members have endured and that her husband has permitted." 
Mary and Ossie Sheridan
What kind of people join these types of groups? Are you a candidate? Have a look at this information on cults to find out what characteristics the usual victims posses. There are over 5,000 different cults operating in the US today, most of which keep a low profile.
My colleague Robert Priddy, a retired teacher in philosophy and social science at the University of Oslo, and I have worked in recent years to expose one of history’s most powerful cults, the Sathya Sai Organization. Priddy had for a decade and a half been this organization’s head in Norway. I had earlier been a lecturer (1978-79) in one of Sai Baba’s highly prestigious colleges in India. This leader is Sathya Sai Baba, whom the BBC in its television documentary of the same name called him The Secret Swami. Billions pour from around the world into the Sathya Sai Central Trust. Huge amounts are spent on self-glorifying edifices, for all that some of them are used for good social works. He faces global allegations of serial sexual molestation of boys and young men, and implication in police killings in his bedroom on June 6, 1993, to name but a few of the ghastly scenarios.
Robert Priddy and I have been active along with Sai Baba critics in getting international attention brought to this extraordinarily powerful cult. It is hardly fitting that Sai Baba succeed in passing into history based on his own self-perception as God manifest on earth, or that the rest of us think that big megalomania that can command millions of followers from many countries will leave the world at large unscathed. In the UK (not to mention elsewhere) there are attempts to get youth involved in travel to Sai Baba and other related activities. A recent example was the Organization’s interface with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, in which Sai Baba was felicitated and the head of his Youth Wing in the UK won the Award. The Award couldn’t be retracted but we have private assurances from palace officialdom that they have cut off ties with the cult and required them to remove propagandist material appearing on a major, official Sathya Sai Baba ashram website.
Your own country Ireland is not without its Sai Baba cult, and I am informed that the former top leader there resigned, convinced of the truth of the allegations - as has been the case with a number of leaders and many followers in other countries, whose conscience and commonsense are not blinded by faith in Sai Baba.
For all Sai Baba’s exalted talk about truth, right conduct, love, peace and non-violence, his foremost defenders on the Internet, including those with strong ties to his central command, can do nothing but libel, distort, threaten and attack, and in some cases stalk both on and off the Internet. All very spiritual, indeed …
See:
http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com
http://barrypittard.wordpress.com
Barry Pittard, Australia
Comment by Barry Pittard — December 26, 2007 @ 12:10 am
Thanks Barry for the info, links, and heads-up on that group!
Comment by Administrator — December 26, 2007 @ 12:31 am
I must say that, while one may claim that the group surrounding Sai Baba in his ashram is a “cult”, it would be ludicrous to claim that the same is true around the world, where really, its more of a “Church” type thing with very little commitment, than conforming to the “sect” typology that Weber elucidated in his model. Its rather silly of Barry to give it that vaunted status!
Comment by Aroon — September 25, 2008 @ 9:30 pm