Replies to '09/21 Cult Confrontations'

The book, "Take Back Your Life....Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships" by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias, will answer most of the questions you mentioned in your post.

My daughter started out studying and practicing New Age Religion....to me, that's a cult, as least for her it was.  These people paint a religious "picture" but it's just a front. Once involved, the mind control starts.  There's nothing wrong with meditation (God meditated in the Garden), nothing wrong with Yoga or chanting but when it's done in a way that alters a persons identity, that's dangerous!  Read the book..you'll understand a little better on where I'm coming from.

By the way, do you have any association or loved ones involved in a cult?  I would be interested in understanding your interpretation of New Age Religion.  I might add at the time my daughter was into it, she was going to meditation group at the top of a mountain in a so called temple (which was nothing more than a decorated Moose lodge)  under the leadership of Mafu.  How do I know...I went with her because I felt I needed to get better "acquainted" with her so-called friends.  I don't know if I was lucky or not to have experienced it....strangest event I have ever seen and it lasted all night into the early morning.  There was no religious teaching going on or meditation.