UK Prosecutors Say 'Cult' Acceptable

An anonymous reader notes that following our discussion this week about the 15-year-old who was under threat of prosecution for calling Scientology a cult in a recent demonstration, the UK Crown Prosecution Service has decided that there is no case to answer. They have issued new guidance to the City of London police clarifying when they can use their public order powers. Quoting: "A [CPS] spokesman said: 'In consultation with the City of London Police, we were asked whether the sign was abusive or insulting. Our advice is that it is not abusive or insulting and there is no offensiveness (as opposed to criticism), neither in the idea expressed nor in the mode of expression.' A spokeswoman for the City of London Police said: 'The CPS review of the case includes advice on what action or behavior at a demonstration might be considered to be "threatening, abusive or insulting." The force's policing of future demonstrations will reflect this advice.'"

Comments

Watch out, City of London cops...

[Swampash]

...the Cult of Scientology is about to ask for its money back.

Sudden outbreak of common sense...

[Corporate Troll]

Every religion is a cult, just a popular one. Scientology isn't popular in any definition of the world and as such "cult" is very appropriate.

Re:Sudden outbreak of common sense...

[phunctor]

A cult is a religion whose founder has not been dead long enough.
--
phunctor

Cult != Religion

[Joe the Lesser]

Now, I'm an athiest, but I can't stand the misuse of terminology, even if it feels clever to do so.

Cults engage in serious mind control. Religions are just a set of spiritual principles. For example, there are some Christians who worship in a cult-like society, and some that do not.

To those who want to cite bible passages, you're missing the point. It is the current behavior of the group that defines this, not what's in their books.

Anyone who studies scientology will know how intense their brainwashing is, and since I was once part of a Christian church that was not a cult, I know it is as different as night and day.

Cult behavior is along the lines of 'removing subject's ego, connections outside the church, ability to question doctrine', and these factors can sometimes be found in any religion, but are not attributed to the whole set of that religion.

Since the Church of Scientology is a hierarchal organization, it can be classified as a cult, but there are practitioners of Scientology beliefs in the 'Freezone' which do not answer to the CoS command and are not cultlike.

Re:Cult != Religion

[jedidiah]

> Cults engage in serious mind control. Religions are just a set of spiritual principles.

If you really believe this then I suspect that you have not been subjected to a "religion" firsthand.

When contemplating "religion as cult" you also have to consider those that are in a poor position
to fend of against "mere persuasion".

Also, the term cult itself is something that has become demonized and not used in it's original
context. It's meaning has already been twisted.

Re:Cult != Religion

[The MAZZTer]

Look at Jesus, he asks you to sell everything you have in order to gain entrance to heaven. You have to hate your family and only love God. (No really, you can even quote the bible on that)

You mean like this?

Re:Cult != Religion

[Tom]

Cults engage in serious mind control. Religions are just a set of spiritual principles. For example, there are some Christians who worship in a cult-like society, and some that do not. And in the real world, the boundaries are not always easy to define. There is no binary difference. All we can say is that on the extreme end, very strong cults have obvious and serious differences from very relaxed religions. But inbetween, they mingle and mix.

Remember, for example, that the catholic church only accepted freedom of religion in the early 60s. Before that, leaving christianity behind was as unthinkable according to the official church doctrine, as leaving Scientology is today.

Re:Cult != Religion

[mpe]

Cults engage in serious mind control. Religions are just a set of spiritual principles. For example, there are some Christians who worship in a cult-like society, and some that do not.

Also not all cults are religious. Psychotherapy and politics can also be the basis for a cult.

Re:Cult != Religion

[Angostura]

If you really believe this then I suspect that you have not been subjected to a "religion" firsthand.

And if you really believe that it is impossible to distinguish between the level of coercion leveled on a member of say the UK Church of England and say Scientology hen I suspect that you have not been subjected to a cult firsthand.

Re:Cult != Religion

[schon]

Not sure what point you're trying to make - your post is a perfect example of the difference between a cult an a religion.

"Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." This is an example of a religion. If it was a cult, it would read something like this:

"Give me everything you have, and you will have treasure in heaven."

Nice to see

[CapitalC]

that there is somewhere in the world where the system works rationally and figures itself out.

You know...

[Otter]

I saw that Ontario is passing (or passed, maybe) new hate crime legislation that's limited to offenses against a "vulnerable minority". If the law is going to be applied selectively to defend only groups the prosecutors care about, it seems preferable to just state it up front like they're doing.

Right for the wrong reason

[Stormwatch]

So using the word "cult" is not insulting or offensive, so he gets away... well, good for him, but that's the wrong principle. Freedom of speech is serious business, damnit! Everyone must have the right to insult and offend and wipe the butt clean on the holy books of every damn religion out there.

Scientology Tactic

[EnvyRAM]

Scientology doesn't really care about winning these cases. One of their tactics to cause fear and control people is by prosecuting and harassing them. This is nothing new!

So what was the Inquisition then?

[Viol8]

If thats not coercian of the worst kind I don't know what is. And it was a part of the roman catholic church - a supposed religion.

Re:So what was the Inquisition then?

[OeLeWaPpErKe]

Wow if that's the standard by which you judge religions, and presumably the actions that must be taken to stop them, you must be advocating for nuking mecca.

Because by the standard of amounts of violence and death used to keep the cult/religion together, islam certainly spans the crown by a margin of at least a few hundred million deaths :

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2342790/Hindu-Indian-History-Islamic-Invasion

About 100 million people died, and that's counting only 1/3rd of the eastward expansion of islam, in about 400 years, and that's the low death toll estimate.

The inquisition is less than a grain of sand with it's estimated death toll of about 2000 (lowest) to about 50000 (highest).

So in comparison : the largest ever problematic section of Christian history caused 1/2000 th the amount of deaths as ONE muslim religious expansion war. And that's using the highest death toll estimate on the christian side and a low one of the muslim side (otherwise it'd be 2000 versus 300 million).

At the westward side of expansion there were a lot of cultures in the way of the muslims. Hardly a trace remains : Egyptians, Tunisians, Carthage, the Berbers, tons of Jewish kingdoms, twice as many small Christian kingdoms (and we're hardly 1/6th of the distance westward, one can only imagine the amount of culture lost)

So tell me, what do you think ?

Re:So what was the Inquisition then?

[Chris Burke]

If thats not coercian of the worst kind I don't know what is. And it was a part of the roman catholic church - a supposed religion.

Uh-huh. And I suppose then it would be fair to judge a modern day practitioners of non-religion (i.e. atheism) by the actions of Soviet Russia, and the millions of Christians slain?

Surely there are no differences of time and place. Clearly I must fear to reveal that I am a Christian lest I be sent to a Siberian gulag to work or freeze myself to death, just as you today must feverishly espouse your faith in Jesus lest you be tortured to death. Strange that they could both be true at the same time, though...

Re:Allah akbar

[antek9]

While I fear that _anything_ being posted below this rather abusive first post will get modded Troll, I have to say that wasn't all that offtopic in the first place.

Maybe American readers of this site are not that much aware of the situation in Britain, but for the last years signs held up at demonstrations asking to 'behead those who insult Islam' or for 'death to Israel' have gone 'unnoticed' by the British authorities, meaning that no-one ever got arrested for displaying them (or relentlessly shouting similar slogans). Many Europeans are already taking this as proof that Britain has finally fallen to the Islamists.

In that light, it would have been outrageously laughable if voicing this rather common sense opinion on Scientology would have resulted in prosecution.