Arguably Nazism was the most pervasive and vicious cult to have infected any human society. With its 'charismatic' leader deferred to as a god, a credo of absolutism and a homicidal desperation for its members to have a special identity, the Hitlerian Sect exemplifies the synthesis of introverted politics and oppressive religion that comprises a 'cult'.

The Left has largely distanced itself from anti cult activism; a pathological concern for pluralism as a reaction to an historic failure to challenge the totalitarianism engendered by Stalin and Mao has seen the Left unwilling to enter territory that involves challenging religion or culture. The Right has no such reservations about the cult question, indeed it frequently sees 'closed' movements as natural allies and the power of cultic organisations within the US has grown exponentially as they ave been courted by the Republicans. Both Scientology and Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church enjoy support on Capitol Hill and in the White House.

The dangers of cults to individuals, to communities and societies has been frequently demonstrated, from Jim Jones' People's Temple, The Solar Temple, The Branch Davidians (Waco) and The Aum cult, the tendency to mass suicide, violent and irrational resistance to social norms and simple murderous intent, the capacity for these 'closed' groups to embrace harm is unequivocal. Yet there is a growing apologetics movement, one which uses an appeal to religious freedom, claims for cultural equality and Sociological justification to gain the support and protection of the State by identifying critics as 'oppressors' and cults as some special entity - the favoured term being 'New Religious Movement'.

Leading the way in cult apologism is an organisation called CESNUR and its director Massimo Introvigne, if anyone on the Left has doubts about the importance of the cult question to the Right, those doubts will be seriously challenged by a reading of CESNUR diatribes and the political beliefs of Massimo Introvigne.

 http://www.kelebekler.com/cesnur/eng.htm

 http://www.kelebekler.com/cesnur/storia/gb05.htm

 http://home.snafu.de/tilman/prolinks/cesnur.and.massimo.introvigne.html

 http://www.cesnur.org

 http://www.cesnur.org/testi/se_scientology.htm


A cult becomes an increasing danger when it is threatened by external criticism ( criticism hardly ever takes place within a cult), it is then that the dissonance between cult belief and the real world engenders either a violent reaction toward the outside world as in the Sarin attacks of the Aum cult or a Gottendamerung suicide as happened with the Peoples Temple, The Solar Temple and at Waco.
In Australia there is an increasingly worrying example of how cults behave when opened up to public scrutiny, and interestingly this cult has turned to Massimo Introvigne for its self protection strategy.

Elan Vital, which has invested in a major property development at Peak Crossing, Ipswich, Queensland, undertook a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation)
style persecution of journalist John Macgregor. In the face of Macgregor refusing to be bowed by Elan Vital and the media attention that inevitably followed on the heels of Macgregor being legally gagged, Elan Vital has become increasing desperate in its communications with the outside world.

Using tactics reminiscent of the Scientologists when seeking to destroy their critics, Elan Vital has also moved directly to employ the CESNUR strategy of identifying critics as a 'hate group' and now even links to the CESNUR web site and the writings of Introvigne

 http://www.elanvital.com.au/faq/idx/0/086/article/

How far the Elan Vital cult is on the road to violent response is anyone's guess, although thirty years ago US journalist Pat Halley was beaten half to death and left permanently disabled in an attack by two individuals, one of whom was then very close to the cult's leader Prem Rawat. For all its claims to peace Elan Vital has a vicious undercurrent, another of its former leading lights is a serial child abuser. The coming months are likely to see greatly increased interest in Elan Vital; the behaviour of its leader and his followers should be of concern to all, and the role of the extreme right in justifying a harmful and exploitative group demands especial vigilance.

Elan Vital  http://www.elanvital.com.au/faq/

Supporters of Prem Rawat  http://www.one-reality.net/

Supporters Message Board  http://www.hotboards.com/plus/plus.mirage?who=neverleave

Related Article  http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2004/03/64387.php

AC 08/04/04