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| Witchvox Chapter: Wren's Nest News | Chapter Page Views: 56,547,918 |
 Investigating Cults Author: April Leiffer Source: Wheeling News Register (WV) Title: INVESTIGATING CULTS   Witches, violence and rituals were common topics Thursday, as about 30 local police officers learned about the history and activity of cults.West Liberty Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Johnette McCracken said the seminar focused on the historical development of cult activities in the United States, provided police officers with general information related to cult activity, aided officers in the techniques utilized in the investigation of cult activities and exposed officers to laws that outline legal and illegal cult activities. "There's actually been a new rise in cult activities," she noted. "We're calling them domestic terrorism. They're doing harmful things to people in the U.S. and in other countries. We're talking about historical accounts of cults, witchcraft, vampires and the gothic movement." Additional Article Link: [Click HERE] | |
| Community Thoughts: There are 25 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| INVESTIGATING CULTS | Nov 5th. at 6:33:09 pm EST |
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by Sara (virginia) - wc_xemail this article isn't there anymore Today's News: Investigating Cults Author: April Leiffer Source: Wheeling News Register (WV) Title: INVESTIGATING CULTS |
| Nothing New Here | Nov 5th. at 5:51:09 pm EST |
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by Jeanene Hammers (Las Vegas, NV) - wc_xemail I guess it depends on what police department you worked for. In the late 1980's, classes like this were held at Monmouth Police Acadamy in Oregon. At that time, the biggest cult that they referred to was the Bagwan Sri Rashneesh (or however you spell the name.) Notices on cult activities were sent to all departments when new developements occurred. On the few occassions that groups were referred to as Pagan groups, the notices have good grounds to get the word out. While they may not have been cults, per se, they definately were doing illegal activities. Mostly, though, they were kids calling themselves Satanic when, in all truth, they went against those teachings. |
| Write The Speaker!!!!!!! | Nov 5th. at 4:33:23 pm EST |
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by Rowan Snapdragon (Memphis, TN) - wc_xemail Write to the one that labelled us "Domestic Terrorists" at : MCCRACJL@WLSC.EDU Or better yet, write the department heads, as well over at the College... tsecrist@wlsc.edu; COYNESAL@WLSC.EDU; LIZZARP1@WLSC.EDU; MCCULLJP@WLSC.EDU; MCINTYRG@WLSC.EDU; WARMUTHB@WLSC.EDU; JDAVIS@WLSC.EDU |
| Don't Look Now, But, | Nov 5th. at 2:49:29 pm EST |
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by Magic Rat (Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree) - wc_xemail I told you so. |
| *Snaps Fingers* | Nov 5th. at 12:53:43 pm EST |
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by Earth Shadow (Pa) - wc_xemail Drats! I really wanted to look at this one! *Sigh* Guess I'll just have to guess what they said... |
| Article Taken Down | Nov 5th. at 12:47:29 pm EST |
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by BloodRose (IL, USA) - wc_xemail I just wanted to let everyone know that as of 11:30 on Nov. 5, the article was taken down. Now I wonder why that could be? |
| No, No, No... | Nov 5th. at 12:35:05 pm EST |
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by Archer Jadephoenix (NJ, USA) - wc_xemail You're not being a conspiracy theorist. This is HOW governments try to control people. It's how (I shudder to make this analogy) Hitler began his propaganda against the Jews. First you scare people. Then you start removing the idea that these people are human. ... suddenly, it's okay to lock these people up for prolonged periods of time, only to make the country safer. I hope I'm wrong. I hope we're just making more about this than is there. But (and I know it's a silly analogy) when fanfiction.net started pulling "real person" fiction off of their site concerning sports figures and the like, I started warning my friends that they'd head toward music and movies next. They didn't listen. No one made a big enough stink. And now... we're limited there. It's not the same. Fanfiction.net is a website, and they're allowed to do what they want to with their website. But the same principle is there. Learn from history. Pay attention. And don't let anyone try to dehumanize you in the eyes of the public. Show them that we're just like everyone else, just that we believe a different religion. The last thing we need is another Burning Times. I don't want to feed hysteria or something. But ... I can't just sit on my duff and say that this doesn't bother me, or that there's nothing to this. |
| The USA PATRIOT Act | Nov 5th. at 12:08:16 pm EST |
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by Agate (Yuba City, California) - wc_xemail I am beginning to sound like one of those conspiracy theorists you hear on Art Bell in the middle of the night, but here's another warning. I just got done doing an article on The USA PATRIOT Act for my college newspaper and according to what I found out, if they decide to start calling us terrorists, that's all they need to start coming after us. They don't need proof to get warrant for searches and wiretapping if they say they suspect anyone of being a terrorist. Even if the judge disagrees, the warrant still has to be issued. This almost sounds like the first volley towards that. I hate sounding like a conspiracy theorist. Maybe I'll call Art tonight. |
| Just Did It... | Nov 5th. at 11:18:49 am EST |
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by Silver Faery (USA) - wc_xemail Well I jsut wrote them, now to wait and see on the reply. BB Silver Faery |
| Well It Didn't Take Them Long... | Nov 5th. at 11:15:04 am EST |
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by Guido Paganos (Pennsylvania, USA) - wc_xemail ...to start the immediate conversion of everyone else to the idea that we are some kind of monsters meant to be watched, guarded, and perhaps caged for our "domestic terrorism" allegedly. I almost jumped through my LCD screen at that one, what kind of frickin' nutball is this woman. Apparently, she's the right wing fundie-ful kind of nutball, suitable for framing, and pandering. "There's actually been a new rise in cult activities, " she noted. "We're calling them domestic terrorism. They're doing harmful things to people in the U.S. and in other countries. We're talking about historical accounts of cults, witchcraft, vampires and the gothic movement." I'm sorry but this whole set of quoted passage is absolutely the core of what they are aiming for and folks that means we need to "fight" back and hard and fast and decisively. We need to unite for the common interest of our survival, because we all know we are NOT cults and yet the general populace either thinks we are somehow evil, or don't take us seriously at all. Case in point, a professor yesterday remarked amidst another and myself when I brought up the idea of moving to Denmark because they recognize the Norse faith now as being good for a pagan like me. He laughed it off and acted like I was talking about something out of "disneyland" as he put it. Yes, it hurt and I was a bit taken aback by that remark, from someone who should know better and be more sensitive but that's just it, people aren't. Another professor, a democrat no less, but arguably orthodox christian seemed to think it not a problem at all that all those 11 gay marriage bans passed and that gay people hadn't been extended many rights in the past and therefore it was not an issue per se. Hello!! Not an issue. I'm straight and it's an issue for me. People haven't just lost their moral compass they've stuck a frickin' magnet under one pole of it to make it stay to the right all the damn time!!! Regardless of course of whether that is the "right" course or not. Sense of fairness, and objectivity are right out the window as moral absolution has replaced it and we are forced to be widely extreme to counter-balance things. This sort of putting the police on alert thing is nonsense. If this lady thinks we are "domestic terrorism" then heaven forbid if some real terrorist comes along and shoves a real weapon of terror in her face or someone else, then what will they say. It is the evil deciding what is "good and evil" and we must defeat them! This is beyond the ballot box now, they've seen to that. |
| They Are Right | Nov 5th. at 11:10:25 am EST |
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by Stark Raven (Nashville, TN) - wc_xemail "Not all cults are bad or illegal, McCracken also pointed out. Many of them, however, involve illegal activity, such as animal sacrifices and pedophilia." They are right. There is a huge cult that engages in all kinds of immoral and illegal rituals and shadowy practices. It glorifies human sacrifice, engages in ritual cannibalism, threatens non-adherents with extreme violence if they don't convert, demands excessive amounts of money from it's followers and many of it's leaders use their positions to molest children who are in their care. It's horrifying that such a group is allowed to operate here in the US at all. But not only is it allowed, it's encouraged and it has managed to get a strangle hold on our culture and government. Yes, I'm talking about Christianity, in case you didn't already figure that out. If they really want to put a stop to destructive cults, they need to start with their own. |
| Hair Of The Dog | Nov 5th. at 10:59:06 am EST |
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by Finn (New Braunfels, Texas) - wc_xemail Perhaps we should be more politically active. I don't discount that course of action entirely. The problem is we will lose. Our country just kept Bush on the strength of the Christian Church. His base turned out for him in record numbers. They kept him in the White House. Make no mistake, the Democrats will take this lesson to heart. They too will reach out (and pander) to the group that defeated them. Everyone is going to scramble to make themselves a favored Christian son. The courts are being stacked slowly but surely. Even one case lost before a conservative judge sets us back years. We are better off not even getting a hearing for now. You have to choose your battles. There is an optimistic belief that we are a nations of laws. All of us were brought up under the impression that the Constitution will protect us. That isn't the case. The United States has a checkered history. The Constitution, more often than not, failed many people. The wind changes, and right now it isn't blowing in a direction favorable to Pagans. I'm not saying we should give up. I'm saying we need to give them less target area. Like it or not, they don't have anyone else to hunt right now. Politically, they stomped the homosexuals. The right to choose is likely on the ropes. They mean to go for the hat trick. Do you really think that even the Supreme Court can be counted on? Scalia has been quoted as saying (and he is likely the next Chief Justice) that the Supreme Court has no business making value judgement, that belongs to the majority. A few people have taken my arguments and called me a coward. That remains to be seen. I consider myself a pragmatist. My beliefs have nothing to do with other people. I followed my path and practiced my craft before it started to become "hip." I will continue to do so whether it remains trendy or gets persecuted. My beliefs aren't political. Trying to merge politics and faith demeans both. While I agree, and will fight for the right of all people to believe as they choose, that doesn't mean I would do so under the banner of Paganism, or any other. I think the cause of freedom is better fought when representing all faiths rather than just ours. I think it is better handled by the ACLU who are impartial enough to take on cases involving Christians, Nazis, and Pagans with equal panache. If we all need to agree to communicate and organize as "allies, " I have no problem with that. If it is something more along the lines of a universality of Pagan credo, and hence standards. I'm rather leary of that kind of statement. I already spend large amounts of my time fighting misconceptions and blanket statements made about my faith. I find it infuriating that there are so many people out there telling everyone how "I" believe because all Pagans/Wiccans follow this Rede or that Charge. |
| "Patriot" Act | Nov 5th. at 10:46:48 am EST |
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by Buck (Detroit) - wc_xemail Well, gang, get ready for a bumpy ride! I work in immigration law. Over the last three years, there has been a troubling increase in Gestapo-like tactics used against immigrants in this country, all under the Department of Homeland Security, using the Patriot Act as its tool. After all, people on the margins of society, like immigrants, both legal and illegal, are the easiest first targets. I have seen people hounded by immigration officers who call them and refuse to identify themselves. When the person says, "I want to call my lawyer, " they are scolded not to contact a lawyer. I have had clients call in a panic after a 4:30 am (Sunday) visit by five armed plain-clothes immigration officers looking for people who have overstayed visitor visas. More chilling, I've had clients call and then we notice that their phones are being tapped, from the telltale clicks and buzzes that stop within about 30 seconds of me saying, "Hey, this call is being bugged. Why don't you come in and talk about this." An immigration lawyer in Kentucky had a client get a call from "her office" asking him to come down and sign some papers. He got out of his car and was taken into custody by immigration officers in front of her door. She had never made the call - federal officers lied to this guy just to "flush him out." Keep in mind, each one of these events are related to Muslims. The several million illegal Mexicans are pretty much ignored. Canadians and western Europeans who are visa overstays are completely ignored. If the fundies get Pagans dumped into the "terrorist" category, they will use the same jackboot tactics. Remember, the Patriot Act breaks with 225 years of due process and allows for sealed warrants, where Department of Homeland Security officers can secretly search a home or business, remove items, and never give notice to the person who is being investigated. To try and prevent this, at every turn, we need to make rational, not hysterical, replies to articles like this (and please, please, please "spell check" the article first - you don't want to sound inarticulate like W) . If we don't demonstrate that we are "normal" Americans like everyone else, we face a bleak future of persecution. The first place to stop this is with education about who we are. |
| The Point Is... | Nov 5th. at 10:17:24 am EST |
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by StormRaven (Idaho) - wc_xemail Not that all pagans need to unite under one common banner, but to speak out and say that even if we are not as structured, we still deserve respect. I believe the previous poster meant that. I also think she meant that most of us believe in not harming someone unnecessarily. Not that you follow the rede, but those are the words they most associates with that belief. I do think that we should step up more on the political arena. There is too much of a trend for the bills going through Congress right now. I think if we don't step up, we'll find ourselves looking back in a few years and kicking ourselves in the rear. This is bigger than one pagan belief. This is for all the minority beliefs, whether they be pagan or anything else. |
| Quote: | Nov 5th. at 10:00:46 am EST |
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by Michael R. (AZ) - wc_xemail "A cult is a religion with no political power." --Tom Wolfe |
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