Title: Re: OSA ALERT:
"Handling the situation in Maryland"
Author: Nuke <nukewaster@aol.com
Date: 16 Oct 1999 18:09:06 -0700
Glad to see the efforts of Marylanders acknowledged by the Cult of Greed and Power. Means the Task Force was on the right track. Funny, Dan Fefferman failed to mention any $cientology connections or support on Maryland Public TV recently. The AFF's Ron Loomis kicked some cult apologist butt. (Transcript soon, thank you, XenuBatChild). Perhaps Plantiffs NICHOLAS MILLER, PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM; ALEX COLVIN; HANALYN COLVIN; DAN FEFFERMAN; SUSAN FEFFERMAN; MICHAEL ROSCHUNI; and LLOYD EBY should have their houses picketed for exercising their Constitutional Freedoms? No, of course not, we'll leave that tactic to the Scientologists bedazzled by the smoke and mirrors of LRH and David the Dwarf. Wanna give Dan Fefferman an earful about his choice of counsel at ICRF@aol.com,you see Scientologist Kenrick Moxon as well as Eric Lieberman both work for Scientology (as if he doesn't already know?!?) On 16 Oct 1999 17:27:30 -0500 in <slrn80hre1.j8o.elkube@min.net , elkube@min.net wrote: Andreas Heldal-Lund - www.xenu.net sez: | I just got this by e-mail. This is an alert OSA now sends | out to Maryland members: | | [START OSA MAIL] | | Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, | | I have been sent a copy of your comm on how well you are | doing as a Scientologist, which is well done. | | We are working on handling a situation in Maryland | regarding potential religious discrimination against new | religious movements in Maryland, being fostered by known | anti religous movement members. A resolution was passed | which mandates the creation of a "fact finding" Task | Force who are to determine whether or not there should be | legislation enacted to prevent "cult" activities on | college campuses. The hearings have been very biased and | I am concerned about this situation. | | I would appreciate it if you would please call Sue Taylor, | our Director of Special Affairs Public Relations Officer | in Washington D.C. who is working with me to handle this | threat to religious freedom. | | ARC | | Lee Kemp, Secretary | for Heber Jentzsch | President CSI | | [END OSA LETTER]
this was in response to maryland's 'task force to
study the effects of cult activities on public
senior higher education institutions'.
a coalition of religious groups, supported by the
unification church ('moonies'), sued to prevent the
task force from delivering its final report:
http://www.lermanet2.com/cos/suitmaryland.html
guess who leads the legal team? kendrick moxon!
the suit was dismissed on the grounds that the
plaintiffs did not have adequate standing, ie,
they couldn't demonstrate they'd be harmed if
the report was released. apparently, their
complaint on the constitutionality of the task
force is still pending.
the final report was delivered to the governor
of maryland a couple wks ago. it is avaliable at
http://www.lermanet2.com/cos/maryland.htm
the 1st part of the report is boring administrative
details: we met on this date, at this location,
these members were in attendance, we heard testimony
from these people, proceedings are publicly available,
etc. contrary to what the legal complaint says about
the lack of representatives from 'cults', there seem
to have been a fair number of such folks, as well as
a couple of our favorite cult apologists.
note that inspite of the plaintiffs denial of
religious freedom claims, the task force did not
actually address the issue of *religious* cults,
choosing instead to define a 'cult' very generally
as a harmful group. their mission statement:
"To determine the extent to which there are groups
whose activities on the campuses of USM institutions,
St. Mary's college, or Morgan State University are,
intentionally or innocently, inappropriately:
--causing demonstrable physical, psychological or
emotional harm to students
--interfering substantially with the educational
mission of the institutional policies and /or
--violating institutional policies and/or federal,
state or local laws.
and to make recommendations concerning courses of
action that might be pursued by individuals or
institutions to assist in the prevention and/or
resolution of those problems."
a list of 'cult' characteristics from the report:
1) absolute obedience to leaders
2) charismatic, inspired and dogmatic leaders
3) deceit
4) threats
5) coercive persuasions
6) retention techniques
7) alienation from family, friends and society
8) physical and/or emotion abuse
9) mind control
10) exploitation
11) world view denouncing current values and beliefs
12) blackmail
gee, how many fit co$?
the conclusion of the report was disappointingly
bland: cults are a complex issue, the incidence
of harm is very small but significant, we need to
educate our students in recognizing danger, we
need to provide a source of information for
students and their parents, and so on.
generally i am rather sensitive to freedom-of-
religion issues, but i have trouble understanding
what all the arm-flailing was about over this
task force, especially after reading its final
report that said pretty much nothing. it seems
to me that co$ (and the other 'cults') acted
exceedingly guilty for having not been accused
of anything.
as one contributor to the _chronicle of higher
education_'s online forum wrote about this task
force: 'truth invites investigation; it has
nothing to hide'.
-elle
------------=[ l.l.lipshitz * elkube@min.net ]=------------
people are not only innately stupid,
they are ambitiously so. -kk