SPECIAL REPORT FROM WRNS--Pt. 1-Chile-Parlimentary commision-20 cults under investigation/French anti-religious legislative model under consideration
The following series of news articles from Chile highlight the steps being taken by Chilean government/legislatures since March of this year to regulate and/or ban the activities of what some consider to be "dangerous sects and/or cults." The Commision set up by the government had apparently already turned in it's official report sometime in April. The Chilean government has already canceled the legal status of the Center for Tibetan Studies and is now conducting investigations of the following religious movements: Unification Church, Children of God/The Family, Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and the Church of Scientology, amongst others.
The connection to the recent French legislation is mentioned in the articles. As the French legislation has now been considered both in Hong Kong and now in Chile, it is clear that the French legislation is having an impact on a global scale.
The original Spanish articles are also available upon request.
"Members of Parliament seek to cancel the legal status of these organizations 20 cults under investigation"
The Chamber of Deputies commission investigating cults gave the Minister of Justice the background to 20 cults qualified as “destructive” to Chilean society, by which it requested the Government to investigate and cancel their legal status.
Deputy Alberto Espina explained that the commission received some 30 testimonies of persons that had belonged to cults, which led the commission to conclude that 100 organizations of this type operate in this country, concentrated in the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Ninth regions.
Member of Parliament, Fanny Pollarolo, explained that “a psychological and sexual dependency on the guru is created, presented with some ideological content, called sexuality or holy prostitution that transports to a superior spiritual state”.
The Focus
Amongst the cults investigated are: Moon; Children of God; Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and Scientology, amongst others.
Sergio Castillo, ex president of the Unification Church of Chile (the Moon cult), said that “two or three years ago, the Justice Department inspected us and didn't discover any anomaly. We are a church with legal standing since 1976 and any person can belong to it without forsaking their faith. We believe that Christ is the son of God and the Reverend Moon is our spiritual leader.”
Last January, Deputy Nelson Avila denounced physical aggression and dishonest abuse against a minor, supposedly perpetrated by members of the group “Save Me Virgin of Fatima”.
This organization splintered from the Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP), better known as “Fiducia”. The society, ultraconservative and of mediaeval inspiration, holds the right to private property as “divine” and are attributed with holding contacts with extreme right and neonazi European parties.
In 1985, TPF was banned in Venezuela once it was proven that the organization offended family values by instilling discriminatory values, turning youths into fanatics.
Tibetans
The Department of Justice resolved to cancel the legal status of the Center of Tibetan Studies, with head office in Valparaiso, for recruiting women and convincing them to accede to maintaining sexual relations with the leader of the group, Luis Moreno Aros, known as the “Manasa Putra”. In the accounts of the young women who were in the cult, given to the Chamber of Deputies investigative commission, they stated that the “guru” claimed that Jesus had been in Tibet “and that all the damned priests were thieves.” According to the testimonies, Luis Moreno said, “It would be best to get a machine gun and kill all the Catholics, particularly the priests.”
BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE:
They request the Investigation of 20 Cults
("El Mercurio de Valparaiso", Santiago, Chile, April 15, 2001)
The Research of the Special Commission of the Lower House of Parliament established characteristics of these groups
The investigation of 20 cults of a "destructive profile", according to the deliberations of the special commission for the Chamber of Deputies to investigate these groups, was solicited by the Ministry of Justice after the cancellation of the legal registration of the "Tibetan Center of Studies", which motivated the creation of the parliamentary commission.
After the disappearance of two youths in Vina del Mar, who traveled to Spain, pressured by a member of the "Tibetan Center of Studies", the Chamber of Deputies agreed on the formation of a commission integrated by 13 members of parliament, amongst them Fanny Pollarolo, Felipe Letelier and Alberto Espina, who presides over the commission.
This commission received testimonies of experts and people recruited by 20 groups, determining that these groups were of a "destructive profile", and their legal registration should be canceled.
Member of Parliament Espina remarked that besides Chile, the only other places where serious studies had been carried out on cults was in France, Germany and Spain, where one of the young people still resides after being captured by the Tibetan Center of Studies.
He added that next Monday, the conclusions of the study will be submitted, detailing how cults operate in Chile, what factors influence in their acquiring followers and how to control them.
Member of Parliament Pollarolo explained that due to the psychological and sexual dependency of the group with the "being" that runs it, this person acquires the status of "divinity" in the cult.
Letelier, also, warned that one of the young girls recruited affirmed to have been the victim of serious pressures to leave the country. As such this situation merits a deep analysis.
"Destructive Profile"
According to what was established in the draft agreement by the Chamber of Deputies, resolving to create a special commission to investigate cults, these are characterized, amongst other aspects, by the following:
a) Fanaticism, inflexibility, exclusive group, revealed leader
b) The faithful break ties with the world, specifically with their families, their friends and their educational surroundings
c) The faithful are conditioned by means that violate human dignity and generally, unacceptable behavior is required, such as perverse sexuality, slavery, sleep deprivation and rejection of the biological family.
d) The leaders are illegally made wealthy by exploiting their followers, requiring them to work without pay, quotas of daily income, without submitting to labor laws.
e) Manipulated sexuality as a way of behavioral control, especially of women, which is known as "holy prostitution" and which is added to other forms of sex for commercial ends.
f) The children of the group are educated to reproduce the ideology and the practices of this organization and in many cases they are the victims of sexual abuse.
g) Grave injuries to the physical and mental health of the followers.
h) Aggressiveness against traditional churches, such as defiling temples and places that are of significance to Christian entities
i) Practices of defiling cemeteries and tombs; practices of necrophilia and mass and individual suicides.