Volume 2, Number 3, 2003

Table of Contents
 

1. Update on AFF 2003 Conferences

2. Cultic Studies Review - New Postings

3. New Bookstore Items and Specials

4. Education and Research News
   Death of Joseph Wilting

   Government Reports Available on Info-Cult/Info-Secte Web site

   Resolution to Controversy Surrounding Walter Martin's Classic Book

   Polygamy Presentations

   Prime Time Live Program

   RETIRN Activities

   Rachel Bernstein

   Joseph Szimhart

   Janja Lalich Media Interviews on Elizabeth Smart

   Steve Hassan Media Interviews on Elizabeth Smart

   David Clark Media Interviews on Elizabeth Smart

   Doni Whitsett Talk

   David Halperin Gangs and Cults Program

   Donna Adams Course

   Sandy Andron Lectures

   Anne Edelstam

   Massimo Introvigne on New Age

   Tvind Alert Update

   Frank and Sondra Chesky

   Argentine Film on Cults

5. Books and Articles Brought to Our Attention
   New Patsy Rahn Article on Falun Gong

   Three Books by Jorge Erdely

   Book Review of Lewis's Odd Gods by Janja Lalich

   Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements

   Articles in New Therapist

   New Book in Spanish by Dr. Jose Maria Baamonde

   Article on Soka Gakai in Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

   Business Week Story on Saddam Hussein and Shoko Asahara

6. Group News
   Krishna movement tries to locate possible abuse victims

   White cult on the move as doomsday approaches

   Cult Moves into Ithaca

7. Remember to Refresh Your Browser

8. Please Donate

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Education and Research News

Death of Joseph Wilting

Joseph Wilting, a FECRIS correspondent from Norway who spoke at AFF's 2001 conference, died of cancer on March 21, 2003.  Mr. Wilting was 70 years old.

Government Reports Available on Info-Cult/Info-Secte Web site

Info-Cult/Info-Secte has posted more than two dozen reports from nine countries and the Council of Europe.  The reports deal with cults, extremist movements, terrorism, and human rights issues.  Info-Cult/Info-Secte new acquisitions of books, journals, and reports are listed here.

Resolution to Controversy Surrounding Walter Martin's Classic Book

Walter Martin's evangelical classic, The Kingdom of the Cults, came out in a revised edition several years ago. With a new and controversial chapter that lambasted notions of brainwashing.  Dr. Martin's daughter, David Clark, and others argued that this chapter was antithetical to Dr. Martin's views on the cult phenomenon and pushed for changes in the book.  The Christian Sentinel E-Update of March 1, 2003 indicates that the organization will sell the new edition of the book:  "Now that this book has been modified with Hank Hanegraaff's name removed from the cover as general editor in this paperback edition, and with a disclaimer inserted in the introduction of an unfortunate, discredited chapter on mind control, The Christian Sentinel is adding this book as a resource."  The book can be purchased from The Christian Sentinel.

Polygamy Presentations

Andrea Moore-Emmett and Michael Kropveld spoke together about women in polygamous groups and intervention difficulties with such groups, respectively, at the 2002 National Organization for Women Conference held in St. Paul, Minnesota and at the 2002 International Family Violence and Sexual Assault Conference in San Diego, California.  Andrea Moore-Emmett gave three "Inside Polygamy" presentations to students and one to the general public at McNeese University, Lake Charles, Louisiana during September 2002. Moore-Emmett gave the same presentation at the Evangelical Christian Conference, La Mirada, California in January 2003.

Prime Time Live Program

On April 15, 2003 ABC's Prime Time Live did a program "Child Victims of Waco Speak Out."  "'He never was very specific, but at some point we were gonna have to die for him,' Jewell, now a student at Michigan State University, tells Gibson. 'I didn't expect to live past 12.' Gibson also talks with 14-year-old Sky Okimoto, Koresh's own son, who was revered as a son of God inside the compound. Borst describes how he left the compound. 'I got on the bus in Waco and I never looked back,' he says. 'I knew that when I got on that bus that I was probably saving my life.' His mother Jean stayed behind and perished in the fire." (From the transcript)

RETIRN Activities

RETIRN associates Linda Jayne Dubrow, Ph.D., Steve K.D. Eichel, Ph.D. ABPP, and Roberta Eisenberg, M.S.W., LCSW presented at the Eighth Annual Conference on Psychoanalysis and Social Change on October 26, 2002 at the University of Pennsylvania.  Their topic was:  "Emotions upon leaving a destructive cult/high demand/extremist group."  Linda Jayne Dubrow, Ph.D. published an article, "Emotions upon leaving a destructive cult/high demand/extremist group" in the Philadelphia Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology Currents, March, 2003, p. 13.  In addition, Dr. Steve K. D. Eichel presented on "The Psychology of Cults and Terrorism" to the Mental Health Network of the Philadelphia chapter of the American Red Cross on 9/26/02.

Rachel Bernstein

Rachel Bernstein of Los Angeles tells us: "I conducted a workshop at a local synagogue for parents and grandparents in February of 2003. I discussed ways they could teach their children and grandchildren about cults.  I taught a four-part class on cults in February of 2003 for High School students, where the emphasis was on ways to respond to cult recruiters and to those trying to convert them, and how to distinguish between healthy organizations and those which are destructive. In March of 2003, I spoke to Social Work students at a local college, and offered them guidance on how to counsel clients who have been in cults, and ways to work with the families of those currently in cults."

Joseph Szimhart

Joe Szimhart tells us: "I posted a brief article I wrote about the Melchizedek Synthesis Academy founded by a Dr. Joshua David Stone in 1995. I wrote it primarily for former members in Singapore who asked me to comment. They have been struggling to expose the group and recently met with some success."  He also gave a lecture entitled, "Harmful Cults," on March 15, 2003 to the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking at the Community College of Philadelphia.

Janja Lalich Media Interviews on Elizabeth Smart

Dr. Janja Lalich of the Sociology Department at California State University Chico was busy with the press when the Elizabeth Smart case was in the news.  Her media interviews included: Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, Salt Lake Tribune (reprinted in many other papers, including Enterprise Record), Washington Post, The O’Reilly Factor – FOX, NPR – The Morning Edition, The Jim Bohannon Show – nationally syndicated, The O’Reilly Radio Factor – nationally syndicated, KGO-AM News – San Francisco (ABC affiliate), KURR-FM – Salt Lake City, KTFA newstalk – San Antonio, Texas, KFBK – The Tom Sullivan Show – Sacramento (ABC/CNN affiliate), WLS-AM – The Teri O’Brien Show – Chicago, WTVN-AM – The Steve Cannon Show – Columbus, Ohio.

The Salt Lake Tribune of March 13, 2003 quotes Dr. Lalich extensively:

"We have no idea what psychological or pressure manipulations he used with her," said Janja Lalich, a sociology professor at California State University, Chico, and author of Captive Hearts, Captive Minds and co-author with Margaret Singer of Cults in Our Midst.  Still, she said, past experiences show that "when you are removed from your normal environment and kept confined in some way, which we know [Elizabeth] must have been at the beginning, you can enter a very distorted reality," said Lalich. "If they are good at what they do, they use a punishment/reward system. It doesn't take much for your reality to shift."

That reality, Lalich said, is governed by fear and works to keep a captive in check, even in public settings. "You can't figure out how to [leave] rather than you don't want to," Lalich said, adding that Elizabeth's youth could also have been a factor.

Stockholm syndrome, coined in 1973 after a bank holdup in Sweden, has been identified in hostages, cult members, battered women and abused children. Researchers say, in what may be an instinctive survival strategy, it causes victims to sympathize with, care for and be compliant with their captors, according to the Australian-based Center Against Sexual Assault's Web site.

A similar scenario, experts said, involves a psychologically controlling relationship orchestrated by a charismatic person who professes a belief system or mystical power that is used to control and influence a small number of people.

Lalich says recovering from such an experience depends largely on having a strong support network, and "Elizabeth Smart clearly has a fabulous support network."

Steve Hassan Media Interviews on Elizabeth Smart

Steve Hassan told us that he appeared on NBC's John Walsh Show had a program on April 1, 2003, "Abducted & Brainwashed: What Happens Next?" He also had media appearances on: Early Show (national), 7:35 am, ET; Friday night WBZ radio- David Brudnoy, 8 pm ET (national); CBS 48 hours  (10 PM ET)- Friday night   (national). Saturday night- Fox News Channel - The Big Story, 9 pm ET  (national).  In addition he appeared on a March 13, 2003 CBS News program in which he and trauma psychologist Elizabeth Carll discussed the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping from the standpoint of brainwashing and Stockholm syndrome, respectively.

David Clark Media Interviews on Elizabeth Smart

David Clark tell us: "KOMO/ABC TV Seattle, Washington contacted me and recorded me for a cult related Elizabeth Smart news segment for thier broadcast. ABC National news contacted me for extensive background research and their requested interview about the Elizabeth Smart and Brian Mitchell story. NBC News/MSNBC Abrams Report (Legal news show) featured me as their cult expert having met and confronted Brian Mitchell and addressed Elizabeth Smart concerning the issue of brainwashing. (Thursday - 3/13/03 6pm EST live and repeated Friday 5 am 3/14/03)"

Doni Whitsett Talk

Dr. Doni Whitsett of the USC School of Social Work gave a 1 1/2 hour colloquium on Tuesday, April 8th at USC School of Social Work to faculty and graduate students.  The colloquium was entitled, "Sects in the City: Understanding Cult Dynamics."

David Halperin Gangs and Cults Program

Dr. David Halperin of Mt. Sinai Medical School presented a program on Gangs and Cults at the Children's Village on April 25, 2003.

Donna Adams Course

Donna Adams, R.N., P.C./Clinical resident teaches a class for graduate counseling students at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH entitled "Dynamics of Cults."  This class addresses the processes involved in recruitment, retainment, processes involved in leaving a cult, and rehabilitation issues of former members.

Sandy Andron Lectures

Dr. Sandy Andron tells us: "In the past 3 months I have taught two teen courses (9 sessions each) using mostly my own curriculum and an adult elder hostel week-long series on the same topic. I have an additional series coming up next month [April]. I have also done several TV interviews on Rael when his topic was hot."

Anne Edelstam

Anne Edelstam in Sweden tells us: " I've written a sociological book about mind control by using as an example to explain my theories a small psychological/New Age group that I was involved in in France. It is called "Mon Voyage Avec la Vierge de l'Apocalypse". You can see it on our site where I've written several articles in English as well about cults, mind control, dictatorships, etc. I've also just finished a book on Egypt (in Swedish but that I plan to translate into English) where I also write about the women's position and fundamentalism and compare that to any cult…I'm currently planning to do a Ph.D. thesis in sociology on children."

Massimo Introvigne on New Age

Zenit, Weekly Roundup 22 March 2003 interviewed Massimo Introvigne, Director of CESNUR in Italy, in an article entitle, "New Age Is Mistaken Answer to Search for Meaning."

Tvind Alert Update

Dr. Vamik Volkan gave the 22^nd Edith Weigert Lecture at the Intercultural Center of Georgetown University on October 18, 2002 on the subject of “Islamic Revivalism and Violence.” Dr. Volkan approached the subject from a psychoanalytic perspective on group psychology. He explained factors that allow cults to grow into large groups displaying violent and regressive social functions. The Winter 2002 edition of the Washington School of Psychiatry News states:

Frank and Sondra Chesky

Dr. Frank and Sondra Chesky of Missouri City, Texas will soon be retiring to Kansas.  Since the close of the CAN office, they have conducted educational programs and provided information to individuals and families.  One of Sondra's last cult educational activities in Texas will be a two-session program for junior and senior high school students at a local church in early May. We hope to hear from them again after they settle in Kansas.

Argentine Film on Cults

Comenzó el rodaje del film LOS ESCLAVOS FELICES (La Secta), producido y dirigido por Gabriel Arbós. El proyecto, ganador en noviembre del 2001 del concurso destinado a los jóvenes organizado por el INCAA y el Gobierno de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, fue escrito en coautoría por Alfredo Silletta y Gabriel Arbós y  narra una historia ambientada en la Argentina actual, en la cual una estudiante de 21 años llamada Laura es captada por la secta "Los Hijos del Cielo".

A lo largo del film la protagonista cambiará su vida presente, estudios, familia y amigos para transformarse en una activa militante de esta mesiánica secta religiosa. Sus familiares y allegados, imposibilitados de rescatarla de esa situación a través de un marco legal debido a que nuestro Código Penal no tiene tipificado el delito de "lavado de cerebro", optarán finalmente por recuperarla de una manera ilícita y éticamente cuestionable: deciden secuestrarla y reprogramarla, aplicándole una suerte de "lavado de cerebro al revés". Es así como durante el transcurso de la historia se verá cómo varios representantes de distintos sectores de la sociedad juegan una trama secreta de actos ilegales, mientras que la protagonista (única víctima real de la historia) se debate entre una realidad que no la contiene, y un delirio místico que tampoco resiste los embates de la misma. LOS ESCLAVOS FELICES (La Secta) pretende ser la primera película que aborde un tema tan alarmante como es el de las sectas, problemática cada vez más creciente entre los jóvenes tanto de la Argentina como del resto del mundo.

El rodaje se llevará a cabo en escenarios de la Capital Federal y de la ciudad de Tandil. En esta localidad se filmará gran parte del film e importantes escenas del guión, entre ellas, el imprevisto desenlace de la historia.

El film cuanta con las actuaciones de Jorge Marrale, José Luis Alfonzo, María Fiorentino, Alejo García Pintos, Nicolás Pauls, Horacio Peña, Roly Serrano, Alicia Zanca y el debut cinematográfico de Laura Agorreca.

Para mayor información

Send news updates on your education and research activities to Dr. Langone at aff@affcultinfoserve.com.

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Books and Articles Brought to Our Attention

New Patsy Rahn Article on Falun Gong

Patsy Rahn, who wrote "The Falun Gong: Beyond the Headlines" in Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 17 (2000), has a new article focusing on the Chinese government and Falun Gong.  Entitled "The Chemistry of a Conflict: The Chinese Government and the Falun Gong," the article appeared in Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter 2002), pp. 41-65 (Frank Cass Publishers).  The article, which will be reprinted in a forthcoming issue of Cultic Studies Review, "examines elements shaping the conflict between the Chinese government and the Falun Gong movement.  It explores the historical relationship between China's rulers and sects, the qigong boom in contemporary China, the Chinese government's style of conflict management, and the development of the Falun Gong teachings since the group was banned.  It discusses the extreme language both sides use to define themselves and their opponent as part of a media-campaign to legitimate their respective causes.  It also examines the intensification of the millennial message in the Falun Gong teachings and the potential justification for violence even though the teachings continue to condemn the use of violence.  It concludes with reflections on the future of the Falun Gong and the Chinese government."

Three Books by Jorge Erdely

Jorge Erdely, Ph.D., Editor of the Latin American Journal for the Academic Study of Religions and speaker at AFF's 2002 and upcoming 2003 conferences, published three books in 2002.  Suicidios Colectivos: Rituales del Nuevo Milenio (Collective Suicides: Rituals of the New Millennium) was first released in January 2000, by Publicaciones Para el Estudio Científico de las Religiones.  Cómo Identificar una Secta (How to Identify a Cult), also published by Publicaciones Para el Estudio Científico de las Religiones, is a brief book written for a wide audience. Pastores que Abusan (Pastors who Abuse), originally published by Editorial Unlit in 1994 and released in a revised, second edition in 2002, deals with the abuse of human rights by pastors.

Book Review of Lewis's Odd Gods by Janja Lalich

In the April 2003 issue of Sociology of Religion Dr. Janja Lalich, noted cult scholar in the sociology department of California State University Chico, reviews James Lewis's Odd Gods: New Religions and the Cult Controversy.  Lalich concludes: "Certainly it is a challenge to pull together information on dozens of groups and try to represent them accurately. I commend Lewis for his perseverance in that regard. About two dozen entries are authored by other scholars with specialties in a particular area. Perhaps my biggest reservation about this book is that it contains practically no new information. In the Preface we learn that all 19 chapters are taken from two of Lewis's other works…But it is disconcerting to read, for example, in relation to The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA) that Ariana Huffington is the wife of Michael Huffington (256), when they have been divorced since 1997. Or to read nothing about the fact that Yahweh ben Yahweh, leader of the Nation of Yahweh, was convicted in 1993 of telling his followers to commit 14 murders in south Florida. Or to have no mention of the 1997 death of Synanon leader, Charles Dederich. With major developments in recent years in such groups as the Unification Church, Ananda Village, AUM Shinrikyo, the Church Universal and Triumphant, the Hare Krishna, and others, the reader is left feeling as though she has fallen into a time warp."

Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements

Dr. Irving Hexham of the University of Calgary is the author of Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements (Downers Grove, IL and Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press, 2002).  " Among its approxiamtely 450 definitions are: specific groups, from the Aetherius Society to the Zion Christian Church; practices, from the Alexander technique to Yoga; UFO religion, from alien abductions to Uarius Academy of Science; symbols, from the ankh to yin-yang; religious texts, from the apocryphal New Tesatment to the Vinaya-Pitaka; and religious leaders, from George Adamski to Rabbi Zalman." (Retrieved 4/29/03 from http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?event=AFF&p=1008677&item_no=ww14664)

Articles in New Therapist

The March/April issue of New Therapist contains three articles relevant to cults:  "In Three Minds" by John Soderlund, "Mind Warrior" (an interview with Steve Hassan), and "I, Deborah Layton," a 1978 affidavit from the sister of the man who murdered Congressman Leo J. Ryan at Jonestown.

New Book in Spanish by Dr. Jose Maria Baamonde

Ediciones Paulinas de España acaba de publicar un nuevo libro sobre elfenómeno de las sectas y los nuevos movimientos religiososdel Lic. José MaríaBaamonde, titulado"La Manipulación Psicológica de lasSectas", con prólogo de monseñor Julián García Hernando, Director del"Centro Ecuménico Misioneras de la Unidad" de Madrid

El trabajo de 207 páginas y que integralaColección Clavesdedicha editorial., se divide en cuatro partes, donde además de tratar el espinosoaspecto de las definiciones, se refiere a la controversia "anti cultos - contracultos" y a las similitudes y diferencias de la manipulación que efectúanalgunos grupos religiosos de características sectarias, con otras formas deinfluencia que se registran en nuestra sociedad.

En la segunda parte se analizan las posibles motivaciones que puedenexplicar el ingreso a una secta y los cambios en la personalidad que se suelenpercibir en las personas que adhieren a este tipo de movimientos y como éstos,repercuten en sus relaciones sociales y familiares.

La tercera parte realiza una pormenorizada descripción de las diversastécnicas psicológicas de persuasión coercitiva que se ponen en funcionamientodentro de las sectas y que popularmente, se conoce como "lavado de Cerebro".

Finalmente la cuarta parte brindanorientaciones destinadas apadres,sacerdotes y formadores en general, para ayudar en el discernimiento apersonasque se encuentran inmersas dentro de movimientos de característicassectarias.

Article on Soka Gakai in Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, funded by the Lily Endowment, has a story on Soka University.  The newsletter "looks at a fledgling university in Southern California whose academic values are inspired by ancient Buddhist principles but whose campus has recently been roiled by charges of secrecy and sectarianism. R & E correspondent Saul Gonzalez reports on Soka University, founded in 2001 by Soka Gakkai International, a controversial Japanese Buddhist sect."

Business Week Story on Saddam Hussein and Shoko Asahara

Business Week Online has a story by Brian Bremner on how Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons on Iraqis recalls the gas attack the leader of cult Aum Shinrikyo allegedly unleashed in Tokyo's subway.  Mr. Bremner says: "During the three-week campaign to dislodge Saddam, I kept thinking about Aum Shinrikyo and its once-beloved leader, Shoko Asahara. You remember Aum. It's a millennial cult that perverted elements of Hinduism and Buddhism to justify and carry out a lethal chemical-weapons attack on subway trains against ordinary Japanese on a gloriously sunny Monday morning back in March, 1995.  Perhaps that attack didn't seep into the global consciousness as much as it should have. But it was the real deal -- a terrorist assault using weapons of mass destruction in an urban center with the intent to kill as many civilians as possible. It was the embodiment of the post-September 11 nightmare scenario -- except it happened eight years ago, when few people had heard of Osama bin Laden."

Send information on noteworthy new books and articles to Dr. Langone at aff@affcultinfoserve.com.

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Group News

Krishna movement tries to locate possible abuse victims

The April 30, 2003 Associated Press reports:

Six Hare Krishna temples in California, along with several other Krishna organizations here and in West Virginia, will place legal notices in major newspapers and magazines in hopes of identifying children who may have been sexually abused or mistreated at boarding schools during the 1970s and 1980s.

The alleged abuse is detailed in a lawsuit that prompted the Krishna movement, which is known officially as the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, to file for bankruptcy last year. The more than 90 alleged victims claim they were raped or physically abused while living in Krishna boarding schools, known as ashram-based gurukulas. In the United States, schools were in Los Angeles and Three Rivers, Calif., Moundsville, W. Va., and Dallas. Other boarding schools were in India.

On Wednesday, the Krishna temples will place legal notices in various publications and even on Web sites as part of the bankruptcy process. Krishna leaders urge victims to make claims if they want to be compensated under a proposed bankruptcy reorganization plan.

The suit was filed in 2000 in Texas against the Los Angeles, Moundsville and Dallas schools.

Victims were subjected to "the most unthinkable abuse and maltreatment of little children which we have seen. It includes rape, sexual abuse, physical torture and emotional terror of children as young as 3 years of age," Wendell Turley, the Texas plaintiffs' lawyer who is handling the suit, said when it was filed.

The Krishna society said it put anti-abuse safeguards beginning in 1990, including mandatory training in abuse prevention and the reporting of allegations of abuse to government authorities.

A Los Angeles attorney for the Krishna movement, David Liberman, said the Krishna society hopes to settle as many cases as possible under the proposed bankruptcy proceedings, including cases of those who have not yet filed suit. He said the reorganization plan will be submitted to federal bankruptcy courts in California and West Virginia in June.

The Krishna movement reports about 75,000 members in the United States and claims 10,000 temple devotees, who live at Krishna temples, and 250,000 congregational devotees worldwide.

White cult on the move as doomsday approaches

The May 2, 2003 Mainichi Shambun reports:

The expected arrival of the Panawave Laboratory doomsday cult in the normally tranquil Yamanashi Prefecture village of Oizumi has unsettled residents, as the motorcade of cultists continued to snake around central Japan on Friday.

The white-clad cult members, who were forced by police Thursday to leave Hachiman, Gifu Prefecture, where they had occupied a section of road for a week since April 25, made a short journey in their fleet of white vehicles and arrived at a neighboring village of Kiyomi in the predawn hours of Friday.

The dozens of cultists immediately covered crash barriers and trees alongside the road where they have parked their vehicles with white cloths, which they believe will protect them and their ailing guru from "harmful electromagnetic waves."

Local authorities have promptly demanded cult representative Keiichi Hasegawa to move out. The cult members are expected to move on from their latest stopover, which has put the residents of Oizumi, their likeliest final destination, on full alert.

In Oizumi, Panawave Laboratory members are constructing dome-shaped structures, which they claim to be resistant to any kind of natural disasters.

The cult's publications indicated that its members are convinced that the human race will be destroyed on May 15 this year because of a dramatic change in the angles of the Earth's axis.

In response, the Oizumi Municipal Government set up a task force Friday to deal with the cult.

Cult Moves into Ithaca

The Friday, May 2, 2003 Cornell Daily Sun reports:

Cornell students won't be the only ones shepherded into acting uniformly on the Slope today. The Twelve Tribes religious organization recently purchased a building across from the Ithaca Commons, expanding their holdings in Ithaca significantly since their arrival several months ago.

The Twelve Tribes Commonwealth of Israel is a religious organization founded in 1970 and led by Elbert Sprigg, a strong advocate of both slavery and capital punishment for children. The organization's website describes how members live together in 28 communities where they "Show their love for Yeshua, (the Hebrew name for Jesus) through their love and care for each other."

No official of the Twelve Tribes returned inquiries from The Sun.

"We're already going to have 10,000 mindless people on the Slope tomorrow," said Sebastian Collela '05. "What difference will a few more make?"

The Twelve Tribes' website also speaks out against such controversial issues as multiculturalism.

"Let's face it. It is just not reasonable to expect people to live contentedly alongside of others who are culturally and racially different. This is unnatural, and sometimes forces people to go against what they instinctively know in their conscience. They are told, 'You can't discriminate.'"

Students expressed their distaste at the views of the organization.

"They hate black people?" asked Sasha Holley '05 when informed of the group's political views. "How can anyone hate black people in this day and age?"

Sprigg has received much publicity for his personal views, including his public distaste for homosexuals. Other activities advocated by the Twelve Tribes include the beating of children with rods, "just like grandpa and the woodshed."

The appearance of Twelve Tribes in the area has elicited concern from some members of the community, while others feel the group poses no threat.

They are probably just some hippies who want to sell on the Commons," said Alex Weisbrod '07.

Also according to the website, the Ithaca Community of the Twelve Tribes based at 413 S. Albany St., is currently attempting to turn a building across from the Commons into a strip of cafes and restaurants to be known as the Common Grounds Cafe. Currently the building serves as a meeting place where people can "join them on Thursday nights for a cup of tea an discussion on today's hot topics."

"I definitely plan on heading down to their building to hear their views. I agree that parents should be allowed to hit their kids if they get out of line," said Justin Krieger '03.

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