March 20, 2000
By Rick Ross In the wake of the second largest cult suicide / murder in recorded history--- the so-called "new Cult Awareness Network" (CAN) posted a "Uganda Alert" and urged "media representatives, [to] please refer to the following sources:"

The list offered included three names. Two, are of course old Scientology favorites Gordon Melton and his traveling companion James Lewis (also listed on CAN's professional referral list). Both Mr.

Melton and Mr. Lewis have received money from groups (e.g. Aum of Japan) often-called "cults."

Benjamin Zablocki, Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University has said, "A major obstacle toward the sort of progress desired is the cloud of secrecy that surrounds the funding of research on NRMs. The sociology of religion can no longer avoid the unpleasant ethical question of how to deal with the large sums of money being pumped into the field by the religious groups being studied...in the form of subvention of research expenses, subvention of publications, opportunities to sponsor and attend conferences, or direct fees for services, this money is not insignificant, and its influence on research findings and positions taken on scholarly disputes is largely unknown. This is an issue that is slowly but surely building toward a public scandal. I do think there needs to be some more public accounting of where the money is coming from and what safeguards have been taken to assure that this money is not interfering with scientific objectivity."

But the third name is somewhat new--Catherine Wessinger, an academic at Loyola University in New Orleans. She is the author of a treatise titled "Religious Intolerance--not 'Cults'--Is the Problem."

Essentially, this paper posits the theory that somehow the word "cult"

itself has now become an expression of "religious intolerance." And perhaps most criticism of such controversial and often destructive groups is intolerant too.

It is important to note that Ms. Wessinger seems to place the principle blame for the largest recorded cult suicide/murder in history, the "People's Temple" at "Jonestown" (1978), upon its former members, government officials and investigators--instead of the obvious culprit Jim Jones. The Loyola academic claimed in a "draft article" to "appear as Chapter Three" within her book, "How the Millennium Comes Violently"---that there might have even been a CIA conspiracy concerning Jonestown. Ms. Wessinger states, "the confrontation that immediately provoked the murders and mass suicide was the visit of Representative Leo Ryan." In other words, if this United States Congressman had chosen instead to ignore serious complaints from his constituents about abuses at Jonestown--everything somehow might have been OK.

[continued at site]

Wessinger is not new to me... from the cult apologist FAQ:

r) Catherine Wessinger <wessing@loyno.edu>

Professor of Religious Studies at Loyola University in New Orleans Read her article about Jonestown.

http://www.und.nodak.edu/dept/philrel/jonestown/jt1978.html She blames the anti-cult movement for what happened, she blames Ryan and his staff. Very revealing is the portrayal of Don Harris, one of the people murdered.

"At the end of the visit while the camera filmed in Jim Jones' face, reporter Don Harris aggressively questioned Jim Jones for 45 minutes about weapons, physical punishment, and drugs."

Compare it with this accurate media article from the Washington Post of 21.11.1978:

"Later, NBC correspondent Harris "made a peripheral tour and people approached him about leaving Jonestown," Lane said. As Harris and then Ryan gathered their names, Lane and Garry said, Jones grew more distressed."

As the music started up again, NBC correspondent Don Harris was approached by one of the happy-looking Jonestown audience members.

"Don Harris called us to move aside," says Sung. "I said 'What's going on?' And then he showed us a little piece of paper. The paper said 'Help us to get out of this place.' And we ask him 'What's going on?

Who wrote this letter?'" It was written by a longtime People's Temple member. It was the first defection of the trip, and it was proof that there were people in Jim Jones' "utopia" who wanted to get out.

Correspondent Harris would wait until the next day to question Jim Jones about the note.

In other messages, she looks from the point of view of the people who "feel" persecuted. She says: "vociferous opposition and tactics of anti-cultists can become contributing factors to a tragic outcome". To be fair, she also says "The Jonestown residents bear responsibility for their choice in how they responded."

She also wrote an article saying "Religious Intolerance - not "Cults" - Is the Problem", can be read at http://fic.ic.org/cmag/88/3288.html She likes to use the word "millennial" for certain cults. It is amazing how much television influences people.

-- Tilman Hausherr [KoX, SP5] Entheta * Enturbulation * Entertainment tilman@berlin.snafu.de http://www.xenu.de Resistance is futile. You will be enturbulated. Xenu always prevails.

Find broken links on your web site: http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/xenulink.html The Xenu bookstore: http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/bookstore.html

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