09AR14-45

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Apologia Report 14:45 (1,003)

December 2, 2009

Subject:  "A Case Study of Young Witches"

In this issue:

ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM - Skeptical Inquirer's online referrals

CHURCH UNIVERSAL AND TRIUMPHANT - a significant update on a withering cult

ORIGINS - "the single Darwinian bicentenary publication most liable to reconcile religion and science"?

WITCHCRAFT - a survey of its media influence on young people

 + an event that promises "to secure Paganism's place in the religious mainstream"

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ANTI-SUPERNATURALISM

"Surfing for Skeptics" by Blake Smith -- Skeptical Inquirer magazine's "list of skeptically themed Web sites to help you tap into the online world of critical thinkers" (Nov/Dec '09, pp37-40). Topics include bad science, medical and business scams, quackery, urban legends, hoaxes, and flim-flam. It is interesting that medical skepticism (much of it regarding "alternative medicine") may be the most visible target, while religion-focused concerns, once a favorite whipping boy of skeptics, are not mentioned at all. [6]

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CHURCH UNIVERSAL AND TRIUMPHANT

"Future of Faith" by Amanda Ricker -- an impressively concise yet comprehensive update. Even without founder Elizabeth Clare Prophet, who died on October 15 and "who served as an earthly conduit for the teachings of higher beings known as 'Ascended Masters,' leaders say the church is growing.

  "'We have 250 groups around the world and a very growing international movement in Russia and in South America,' said CUT President Valerie McBride, who was a vice-principal at a charter school in Florida prior to taking the post as head of the church last year. ...

  "About 40 people - many middle-aged and older - live at [CUT's Montana] ranch. It's a much smaller crew than the roughly 700 people that called the ranch home during the 'shelter cycle' in 1989 and 1990, when followers built bomb shelters to prepare for the nuclear missile strike Prophet had predicted.

  "'I think that's the biggest thing. Back then, they were this force. Now it's just people doing their own thing.'

  "Church leaders declined to say how many people belong to the Church Universal and Triumphant, claiming it's hard to track. McBride would only say that there are 'several thousand' members globally and the church's international presence is growing, especially in Russia and South America. ...

  "In the past decade, the church has put a lot of its resources into expanding overseas. Neroli Duffy, a church minister, said she ordained 12 other ministers at a church center in Accra, Ghana, this year. The CUT has about 50 ministers worldwide. ...

  "And these days, it's possible to get church updates on social-networking sites. On Facebook, the CUT has 675 'fans' and 95 people are following the group on Twitter. ...

  "When Prophet paid Malcolm Forbes $7 million for the 12,000-acre spread in 1981, her goal was to move the organization to Montana and create a self-sustaining community. At one point, the Church Universal and Triumphant operated construction, engineering, food processing and engineering businesses. It raised cattle, grew food and ran a publishing company. It developed housing subdivisions near Emigrant and sold lots only to its members.

  "These days, the church is a pared-down entity. It sold off chunks of the ranch, which is now down to 7,500 acres - still a lot of land, even in Montana. It still runs a publishing company, Summit University Press, rents out two vacation homes on the ranch and owns church buildings in Livingston [MO], Minneapolis, Chicago and the Philippines, McBride said. ...

  "Several people have tried to take Prophet's place, but none have been deemed worthy.

  "'At one stage, we counted about 15 people who wanted to be the messenger,' Duffy said.

  And while the church isn't actively looking for or expecting a new messenger, she said it's open to the possibility.

  To be accepted as the messenger, a person would first need to be approved by the church's board of 24 elders.

  "'There has to be a clear sign of the Holy Spirit,' Duffy said. 'We felt the Holy Spirit when (Prophet) spoke and that's the clear sign that has to be there. Nobody has given that sign yet.' ...

  "Several people who have claimed to be messengers for the church have wound up splitting off and forming their own groups.

  "Former minister Monroe Shearer founded The Temple of The Presence, based in Tucson, Ariz., in 1995. Former church official David Lewis founded The Hearts Center in Livingston in 2002. And former church students Kim and Lorraine Michaels in 2002 founded Shangra-la Mission, which disseminates teachings via books and the Internet.

   "Without someone to take Prophet's place, church members continue to watch recorded 'dictations' that Prophet took from the Ascended Masters.

  "But church leaders say that's no problem.

  "'The dictations are extremely relevant, even from 10 and 20 years ago,' Duffy said. 'They're part of our sacred scriptures - just like Christians would read the Bible over and over again.'

  "And the CUT has a bank of Prophet's dictations and teachings;

McBride estimated that only 45 percent of Prophet's teachings have been transcribed and released so far." Bozeman (Montana) DailyChronicle, Nov 1 '09, n.p. <www.tinyurl.com/yfm4vsv>

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ORIGINS

The Genesis Enigma: Why the Bible Is Scientifically Accurate, by Andrew Parker [1] -- reviewer Ray Olson explains: "Raised without religion, biologist Parker had his curiosity piqued by responses to his book, In the Blink of an Eye [2], about his major scientific contribution, the light-switch theory, which contends that the evolution of vision spurred the explosion of life-forms in the Cambrian period, 520 million years ago. His correspondents suggested that his theory put the final link in place between the account contemporary science gives of the world's development and that related by the first chapter of Genesis. This book is considered his response to that suggestion. Chapter by chapter, he relates the stages of cosmological development and evolution to the seven stages of Creation in Genesis 1, from "Let there be light" - the concretion of the sun - to the debut of birds, which defied the rule (i.e., the reign) of vision over the cycle of predation on which all life depends (birds are uniquely able to flee predators). Read metaphorically, Genesis 1 is a scientifically sound outline. Each of Parker's chapters, though sprung from a biblical statement, proceeds to chronicle two processes, that of how science thinks the earth and life developed and that of the scientists who forged the theories and obtained the facts that enable and confirm science's account of creation and evolution.  Parker, a popular science writer second to none in clarity and congeniality, has given us the single Darwinian bicentenary publication most liable to reconcile religion and science." Booklist, Oct 15 '09, p7. [4]

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WITCHCRAFT

"Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches" by Helen A. Berger and Douglas Ezzy -- the abstract reads: "Drawing on interviews with 90 young people who have become Witches, we explore the visual media's influence on identity formation and maintenance. Witchcraft is a late modern religion that is highly individualistic and many young people report they have become a Witch without any interaction with other Witches. The rapid growth of interest in this religion among the young since The Craft [3] was first shown provides an important example of the mass media's role in formation of contemporary religious identity. We argue that representations of Witchcraft in the visual mass media (along with other cultural trends such as environmentalism, feminism, and individualism) and cultural resources such as books, Internet sites, and magazines provide a mediated form of social interaction that sustains the plausibility of Witchcraft as a religion. It also helps the young to develop and legitimate their beliefs and practices and develop their Witchcraft persona." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 48:3 - 2009, pp501-514. [5]

"Paganism, Just Another Religion for Military and Academia" by Samuel G. Freedman -- records a significant event and its influence. "Nothing did more to secure Paganism's place in the religious mainstream ... than a highly serious, indeed somber, court battle. Brought by Americans United for Separation of Church and State on behalf of Circle Sanctuary and several widows, the decade-long litigation sought permission from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs to have the gravestones of deceased Wiccan soldiers marked with the symbol of the pentacle.

  "Since winning that right as part of an out-of-court settlement two years ago, Wicca followers have marked more than a dozen military graves with the five-pointed star.

  "'This got us the most widespread support and had the most wide-ranging import,' [Rev. Selena Fox, the founder and spiritual leader of Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis.] said. 'Our symbol was literally being carved in stone and taking its place alongside the symbols of other religions. Our religion was at last getting equal treatment. It was one of those crossroads moments.'" New York Times, Oct 31 '09, n.p. <www.tinyurl.com/y8zebsk>

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Sources, Monographs:

1 - The Genesis Enigma: Why the Bible Is Scientifically Accurate, by Andrew Parker (Dutton, 2009, hardcover, 304 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/yck8wg7>

2 - In the Blink of an Eye: How Vision Sparked the Big Bang of

Evolution, by Andrew Parker (Basic, 2004, paperback, 336 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/yheeonv>

3 - The Craft; Starring: Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk; Director: Andrew Fleming; Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1; Rating: R; Studio: Sony Pictures DVD Special Edition Release Date: September 12, 2000; Run Time: 101 minutes (Columbia Pictures, 1996) <www.tinyurl.com/yl47nu6>

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