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1. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 8 > Issue: 2
ZengYi Zhang, BiaoWen Huang, XiaoDan Li A Frame Analysis of Newspaper Reports about Cults in English: A Case Study of The New York Times
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“Cults” (aka “sects”; new religious movements) constitute a regular topic for contemporary journalists to write about. After briefly surveying relevant publications in academic periodicals, the present article examines the content of a variety of different newspapers, both in terms of the length and the frequency of their articles on cults. We then turn our focus on the New York Times, and its contrasting treatments of the Branch Davidians and Falun Gong. NYT articles on the Branch Davidians suggest that the group’s teachings are mere personal declarations or examples of religious fanaticism, and that the Davidian leadership is manipulative and abusive to its members. Despite the obvious similarities between the two groups, Falun Gong, in sharp contrast, is portrayed as being a mixture of traditional Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese qigong practices, which is currently being persecuted in the People’s Republic of China.
2. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 8 > Issue: 2
Heather Kavan Victims, Martyrs, Crusaders: Archetypal Figures in News Stories about Falun Gong
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This research explores the characterisation of individuals and groups in Falun Gong news stories through a lens of archetype analysis. Longitudinal data was used to reveal changes to people’s identities. Practitioners are depicted primarily as victims and martyrs and secondarily as crusaders, warriors, and avengers. However, the 2006 allegations of organ harvesting mark a turning point in the narrative where members’ identities are infantalised. While the depictions benefit Western advocates and a minority of zealous practitioners, everyday practitioners do not benefit. They are cast in the role of helpless, wounded, constantly embattled, crusading and avenging victims who have to be rescued by the superior Western world. To transform the narrative, protagonists could bring forward another archetype—one that does not depend on dualisms of good and evil or superiority and inferiority.
3. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 8 > Issue: 2
James R. Lewis, Orcid-ID Nicole S. Ruskell Falun Gong and the Canada Media Fund: Why is the Canadian Government Bankrolling an Anti-China Propaganda Campaign?
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What do Shen Yun, New Tang Dynasty TV, Human Harvest (originally entitled Davids and Goliath), The Art of Courage (a film about Falun Gong artists in ‘Exile’), Avenues of Escape (a film about people ‘escaping’ China), In the Name of Confucius (a film attacking the PRC’s Confucius Institutes), and The Bleeding Edge (a fictional film about forced organ harvesting) have in common, beyond their anti-China focus?—All, it turns out, are bankrolled by the Canadian government’s Canada Media Fund. In the present paper, we will provide a preliminary outline of these activities, and, in the words of our subtitle, ask: Why is the Canadian Government bankrolling an anti-China propaganda campaign?
4. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 8 > Issue: 2
Heather Kavan Friendly Fire: How Falun Gong Mistook Me For an Enemy
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This paper tells the story of my research on Falun Gong and its aftermath. I describe a series of events including online slurs, implied threats and warnings, phone and email harassment, and messages to my colleagues, seemingly designed to isolate, demoralize and silence me. Next, I narrate discovering references to an intelligence report stating that former United States Army Colonel Robert Helvey was believed to be acting as an adviser to Falun Gong. I discuss Helvey’s book “On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict” as a check-list of Falun Gong tactics. I query the appropriateness of targeting academics with psychological violence designed to topple dictators and suggest the spiritual movement would be better suited to the principled nonviolence of Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
5. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 8 > Issue: 2
Helen Farley The Fluid Nature of Academic Freedom for Falun Gong Practitioners
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In a Western democracy such as Australia, academic freedom is something that is taken for granted. It forms the cornerstone of the academic endeavour and university lecturers and researchers feel unimpeded as they sift through documents both public and private, collect data and construct knowledge from that information. The generation of that knowledge is always seen to be in the public interest. It forms the basis of the research that follows it by academics or students known or unknown. That construction of knowledge is guided by a set of inviolable rules of citation, ethics, style and method. As a studies in religion academic, I wrote about new religious movements, esotericism and the place of religion on the internet. In the course of writing about Falun Gong, I attracted the attentions of a Falun Gong practitioner who disagreed with what I wrote. This article forms my account of the attack on my academic freedom by that individual.
6. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 8 > Issue: 2
James R. Lewis, Orcid-ID Nicole S. Ruskell Innocent Victims of Chinese Oppression, or Media Bullies? Analyzing Falun Gong’s Media Strategies
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It is a well-established fact that most new, non-traditional religious groups are treated negatively in the mass media. However, Falun Gong, the qi gong group that was banned in China in 1999, is a marked exception to this general tendency. Why should this be the case? In the present paper, we examine the various factors that combine to make Falun Gong the exception to the rule. We also call attention to this organization’s pattern of attacking critics, as well as their pattern of attacking anyone who offers an interpretation of events that is at odds with Falun Gong’s interpretation. However, this heavy-handed tactic has the potential to backfire, and to prompt the media to reperceive them as a bully rather than as an innocent victim.
7. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 8 > Issue: 2
Wang Songmao, Liu Weizhen Falun Gong and Cross-cultural Image Building in the New York Times
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In this paper, 222 news reports about Falun Gong found in the New York Times from 2008 to 2016 are scrutinized via the theory of image building. An analysis is offered of images of the movement presented in the New York Times, in which location, disorder, and superstition are presented as key themes. The newspaper’s level of objectivity is considered, as are its reflections on the anti-cult movement. The context of cross-cultural communication is examined, with a focus on the lack of cultural understanding that is evident as well as the writers’ uncertainty about the definition of Falun Gong.
8. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 9 > Issue: 1
Chongsuh Kim Contemporary Korean Religious Change in the East-West Religious Context
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The most prominent characteristics of the religious situation in contemporary Korea can be said to be the following: first, the religious population is large and is increasing rapidly at present. Second, in a situation of multi-religious coexistence, no particular religion takes precedence over another; Western religions, however, are challenging and gradually overwhelming Eastern religions. In this paper, I argue that these two features are closely related to each other. When compared with other countries, religions are growing more rapidly in Korea and with an unusual level of enthusiasm, a situation which has emerged as a result of the unprecedented inter-religious clash that has developed between Eastern and Western religions.
9. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 9 > Issue: 1
Don Baker, Seok Heo Kaebyŏk: The Concept of a “Great Transformation” in Korea’s New Religions
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One of the distinguishing characteristics of Korea’s new religions is an expectation of kaebyŏk, a “Great Transformation” which will eliminate the many conflicts human beings are facing today and produce a world in human beings will find themselves instead in cooperative and mutually beneficial relationships with both their fellow human beings and the natural world. Kaebyŏk once referred to the creation of the world. The use of kaebyŏk in Korea to mean “re-creation” first appeared in the teachings of Ch’oe Cheu, the founder of Tonghak. It was reiterated by Kim Hang, the author of Correct Changes. Kang Ilsun, revered by the Chŭngsan family of religions, further elaborated on the reasons kaebyŏk is imminent and how we can hasten its arrival. Park Chungbin, the founder of Won Buddhism, then suggested that kaebyŏk of the material world was already happening and proposed steps we should take to ensure that we keep pace spiritually. These four Korean religious leaders stimulated an important shift in the Korean world-view which has influenced not only followers of Korea’s new religions but the spirituality of Koreans in general.
10. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 9 > Issue: 1
Hairan Woo The New Age Movement in South Korea: Development and Scope
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The New Age movement—i.e., non-mainstream and non-institutionalized religious/spiritual culture—is widespread across Asian countries, especially in advanced industrial societies and urban areas. Even though it has often been said that New Age is a global phenomenon, in non-western societies, only a small circle of scholars engages in research in this field. As a result, the New Age movement in South Korea is an area that is barely known about among foreign scholars. This paper presents an overview, delineating the historical development of New Age in South Korea and examining its sociocultural background. At the same time, the key components of Korean New Age will be identified. This dualistic approach—both diachronic and synchronic—will enable a more complex picture of Korean New Age to emerge.
11. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 9 > Issue: 1
Suksan Yoon The Meaning of Donghak Thinking in the Post-Modern Period
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The purpose of this paper is to study Donghak thought in relation to the idea of the current, post-modern era coming to an end. The concepts of “serving God within me” (sicheonju, 侍天主), “treating and respecting human beings as you would treat God” (sainyeocheon, 事人如天), “honoring the three” (samkyung, 三敬), and “Heaven eating Heaven” (icheonsigcheon, 以天食天), which are key to Donghak doctrine, will be examined. The meanings of “serving,” “treating and respecting,” and “harmony and balance” within the context of the aforementioned Donghak concepts will also be explored. In the present, post-modern period, humankind’s future is seen in a very negative way, with previous Utopian energies being considered exhausted. There are a multitude of “isms” and arguments in which reification and alienation within modern society are defined as omens of the end of this industrial era, which has corrupted and devastated human life. Today, religious movements are obliged to provide a spiritual drive that will lead their followers forward into a new era, establishing internal solidarity while associating with external elements. In this sense, the Donghak movement must put into practice the notions of “service, respect, and resuscitation” that are prominent in the ideologies behind the “serve God within me,” “treat and respect human beings as you would treat God,” “honor the three,” and “Heaven eats Heaven” concepts. In other words, in order to compete in the modern world, Donghak must concentrate on the belief that spiritual power can change society for the better.
12. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 9 > Issue: 1
Taesoo Kim The "Resolution of Grievances for Mutual Beneficence” and its Relation to the “Reordering of the Universe” in Daesoon Thought
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This study is an attempt to show the religious implications of the central tenet of the “resolution of grievances for mutual beneficence” in Daesoon thought in relation to its other tenet of the “harmonious union between divine beings and human beings.” This new school of religious thought developed as the main idea of Daesoon Jinrihoe (“The Fellowship of Daesoon Truth”), established at the end of nineteenth century in Korea by Kang Jeungsan, who is known as a “Holy Master” or “Sangje.” Upon receiving a calling to perpetuate religious orthodoxy from Sangje Kang, Doju Jo Jeongsan launched the Mugeuk Do religious body and constructed a Yeongdae—a sacred building at which the 15 Great Deities were enshrined. He then laid down the “four tenets” of Daesoon thought and issued the Declaration of the Propagation of Dao, which was said to show followers the way to seek the soul in the mind.
13. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 9 > Issue: 1
Kwangsoo Park Irwon Philosophy and Social Engagement: Won Buddhism as a New Korean Religion
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Won Buddhism, founded by Master Sot’aesan in 1916, is regarded as one of the four major religions in Korea. The active participation of its followers in social and educational movements has led to the spread of this religion both in Korea and in other countries. One of the most significant aspects of new religions in Korea is that they champion the universal value of “publicness,” seeking to overcome the historical suffering associated with colonialism and imperialism by constructing a peaceful and egalitarian modern society. The founding motive behind Won Buddhism was Master Sot’aesan’s search for a way in which to realize world peace in a truly civilized world, where material civilization and spiritual civilization are harmonized. To this end, a new interpretation of the Mahayana Buddhist teachings was fused with Irwon philosophy in a bid to heal social ills through “mutual life-giving” (the Korean term for ensuring the wellbeing of all society).
14. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 9 > Issue: 1
Eileen Barker The Unification Church
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The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC), founded in Seoul in 1954 by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012), has been more popularly known as the Unification Church (UC) or ‘the Moonies.’ Following revelations that he reports having received as a young man, Moon devoted his life to preaching and eventually publically proclaiming himself to be the Messiah, or Lord of the Second Advent, come to fulfil the mission of restoring God’s Kingdom of Heaven on earth. His early struggles in Korea clearly had a considerable influence on the trajectory of his life and the development of the UC into a world-wide movement that reached into a wide variety of areas, such as anti-communist politics, the media, the arts, the sciences and vast businesses. Following Moon’s death, the movement has split into three separate factions, the largest of which is run by his widow, and the other two by, respectively, his oldest living and youngest sons.
15. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 10 > Issue: 1
Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro Historians as Storytellers: A Critical Examination of New Age Religion’s Scholarly Historiography
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This study makes a bold statement on the problematic nature of historic academic research, and its implications on our understanding of religion and culture. The case study is New Age religion’s scholarly historiography. It appears that New Age religion plays a part within narrative imagination, which often contains moral allusions as to the heroes or antiheroes, as well as literary allusions to the causal sources of events or to expected developments. We review the conflicts that arise between utterly differing opinions in some of the field’s fundamental issues, and thus evoke several of the challenges historical research on NA faces: when did it debut on the historical stage? Which ideological movements did it draw upon? Who are its unmistakable heralds? Did it already reach the height of its strength, and if so, when? The survey of scholarly studies indicates that the history of New Age is ever-changing. Thus, we argue that though historic discussion may deepen the analysis of a religious phenomenon and its understanding and give it context and meaning—it cannot decipher it. We cannot rely on history in defining a phenomenon, in attempting to comprehend its essence, its power, its importance, and most certainly not its future.
16. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 10 > Issue: 1
Xinzhang Zhang, George A. Dunn Spiritual Movements, Secret Societies, and Destructive Cults: Panel Discussion, Hangzhou, October 2017
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During September 22–24, 2017, Zhejiang University hosted an International Symposium on the Theoretical and Practical Issues of Faiths in the Construction of the Community of Common Destiny for All Mankind in Hangzhou, China. In the course of this conference, six scholars from Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and China participated in an interdisciplinary panel discussion about “Spiritual Movements, Secret Societies, and Destructive Cults.” Covering such topics as the general spiritual situation of the contemporary world, the religious marketplace, the dangerous tendencies within some religious movements, and the role of the state in relation to religious communities, the discussion concludes with an examination of the conflict of Falun Gong with the Chinese government and the faults of the group’s leadership that brought the conflict to a head. The discussion offers a fruitful combination of theoretical insights and concrete case studies that provides a wide and deep purview of our present spiritual situation, setting forth both its dangers and its positive potential. This paper is a transcript of the panel discussion, with a brief introduction identifying its highlights.
17. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 10 > Issue: 1
Margrethe Løøv Between Religion and Science: Shifting Views on Knowledge in Acem and the Transcendental Meditation Movement
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This article offers a comparative analysis of the relationship between science and religion in Acem and the Transcendental Meditation organisation. Both these meditation movements have their historical origin in the teachings of the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Hindu Advaita Vedānta tradition. Their further development in the West has been characterised by varying degrees of cultural adaptation. The TM movement has retained a worldview which is inherently religious, but has developed its teachings through its encounters with modern science, and developed a panoply of alternative “scientific” disciplines. The TM movement has also systematically employed scientific terms and tropes to communicate effectively with a Western audience. Acem has discarded religious explanations altogether, and sees modern science as the sole source of reliable knowledge. The shifts in what is conceived to be plausible forms of knowledge have been paired with changes in terminology and self-descriptions. It is argued that the increased emphasis on and normative elevation of science can be seen as strategies to gain legitimacy and appeal in a cultural environment that tends to favour science over religion. The article thus sheds light upon some of the challenges that may arise when a body of knowledge moves between different cultural contexts, and strategies used to encounter these.
18. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 10 > Issue: 1
Stephanie Griswold The Raid is On: Elaborations on the Short Creek Women’s Recollections of the 1953 Raid
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Through decades of anti-bigamy legislation, the practice of plural marriage was officially outlawed. In the first half of the twentieth century, contemporary polygamists faced raids in the 1930s, 1940s, and the largest of the time, in 1953. The 1953 raid in Short Creek, Arizona, executed by Arizona Governor Howard Pyle, was meant to put down the “insurrection” of “white slavery” in the border town now known as Colorado City. Though there was significant media coverage of the raid and subsequent trials, and there have been academic works on the subject, the experiences of the women while in state custody require further conversation. In this article, transcriptions of those recollections are examined in order to continue the discussion started in Martha Bradley’s seminal work, Kidnapped from that Land, with a focus on the female experience in their own words.
19. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 10 > Issue: 1
Mathilde Vanasse-Pelletier Normal but Peculiar: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Normalization and Differentiation Strategies
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The aim of this paper is to analyse the recent “I’m a Mormon” publicity campaign put forward by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church, or the LDS Church) and its significance in the larger scheme of Latter-day Saints’ public relations history. Since the nineteenth century, Mormons have had to negotiate with mainstream society in order to obtain a comfortable position while maintaining their identity as “peculiar people.” Through a detailed analysis of selected “I’m a Mormon” capsules, broadcasted on the Mormon.org website, this paper presents the recent normalization and differentiation strategies put forward by the Church of Jesus Christ, and exposes the relationship between these tactics and the strategies used by the Church throughout history. We note that while members of the Church of Jesus Christ aim to be accepted by mainstream Americans and viewed as somewhat “normal,” they also seek to maintain an aura of uniqueness associated with their specific religious beliefs and values. This falls under what we refer to as differentiation.
20. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 10 > Issue: 2
George D. Chryssides Jehovah’s Witnesses in Britain—A Historical Survey
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Drawing on primary and secondary source material from internal and external sources, the author traces the history of the International Bible Students Association, popularly known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, in Britain, from 1881 to the present. The work of colporteurs led to the establishment of early congregations (“ecclesias”) and a branch office in London. The release of the audio-visual production entitled The Photo-Drama of Creation had an important role in bringing the Bible Student movement into prominence. Controversies shortly arose within the London congregation, which were exacerbated by intervention by Paul S. L. Johnson from the Brooklyn headquarters. The transition of leadership to Joseph Franklin Rutherford, following Charles Taze Russell’s death in 1916, caused the organization to change from the federation of independent congregations to a unified Society. Discussion is given to the effects of the two World Wars, the attempts of Bible Students to gain exemption from conscription through legal channels, and the penalties incurred by the conscientious objectors. Jehovah’s Witnesses have continued to expand their activities, through house-to-house visiting which became expected of all members, through expansion of premises, and through increased public visibility. It is concluded that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not allow their principles to be shaped by popular attitudes and values, believing that the world is currently governed by Satan rather than Jehovah.