This is a danger to the stability of societies, mainly because of their odd belief that mandates them to dance some sort of yoga at a certain place. One time they said they had to do it front of the govrnment office. I was watching a documentary about this, and of course they were portrayed as innocent people (for other reasons though). Any religion like Falungong or heavens gate, or the people in waco, thes small religions seem to be more directly dangerous than established cults (religions) Does anyone here support this stupid and dangerous cult?

I've heard only a little bit about it. So far I've only heard the view of people who support the group. Can you tell my how it's 'stupid and dangerous'?

I do

Basicly, they are a cult from what I understand, but hardly a dangerous one from what I can tell. Don't even start with waco though. I've been lurking around this board, and I'm betting J.M. doesn't like them because of their explict anti-communism. I found this out about them after they took out an add in my local paper around maybe a year ago.

We have a Falun Dafa group here in Orlando. They occasionally meet downtown at the Lake, where they meditate and stand around in strange poses. Sometimes they hand out literature protesting the banning of Falun Gong in China.

They strike me as quite benign, compared to some of the other humans I see wandering around the park.

Of course they should not be oppressed but...

If I am not mistaken there have been a few suicides in protest similar to buddhists lighting themselves on fire during the vietnam war.

Read their book... One of the first Falun Gong books was translated to English recently and written by someone who I think was the founder or main proponent. Anyway, in the book the author goes on describe an American television show where some famous magician (presumably a Doug Henning type person) did an illusion to make the Great Wall dissappear. Of course the magician hung a giant curtain over the section of the wall and so on. Well, the author claimed that the illusion was not an illusion at all and that the only reason that he hung the giant curtain is because people would be unable to handle seeing the reality of the disappearing wall. So essentially you have a religion whose leaders are unable to distinguish reality from tricks and drama portrayed on American television. That's sounds pretty darn scary to me.

You be the judge.

DC

I used to think that the FLG was basically harmless, stupid, but harmless. However, lately, Li has been exhorting his followers to "cast off their last physical bond" -- die, in other words, doing something for the cult. So, I must regretfully move it into the category of harmful cults.

Michael

I have been curious about the number of cults that seem to be gaining in popularity in China in the past decade, and have wondered if their popularity could be a result of the banning of all religion in China?

Any thoughts?

JennaD

The falungong followers are as dangerous as any religion/cult. They actually believe that they are superior because they believe the "right" thing, and they believe that we are inferior because we do not believe in stupid things like them, yes they also believe in mass suicide if they see it necessary.

To whoever said that I don't like them because they are anti-democratic. I don't like any religion of any kind.

The falungong are also like some of the people in china(tibet) they raise money like televangelists, but this money is going to the Dali Lama, he has a mansion in california btw, he really cares about his followers doesn't he, plus they like to use money to bribe the U.S. govt, they are the biggest crooks of them all.

Almost certainly. If you look in the Shroud of Turin thread in the BC&A forum, page 3,

http://www.infidels.org/electronic/f.../000683-3.html

you'll find that the percentage of theists in Chinese society is more or less the same as in the US! You can reference the state department information on China at:

http://www.state.gov/www/global/huma...irf_china.html

However, an interesting comparison is with Taiwan's situation:

http://www.state.gov/www/global/huma...rf_taiwan.html

Note first that Taiwan is a syncretic religion paradise. The bare names here cannot do justice to the complexity of religion in Taiwan. For example, I Kuan Tao (or Yi Guan Dao), one of the fastest growing, is a mix of Christian, Buddhist and Confucianism.

Chinese society produces syncretic religions at a pretty regular rate (Taiwan is not only Chinese, but a pioneer society where nutty religions not accepted on the mainland found a home, so it gets it both ways). Many of these have a specific anti-government flavor or orientation -- the world's second worst war, the Taiping Rebellion (20-30M deaths), was a religious movement that the State transformed into a revolution through persecution. By persecuting religions, the State is giving them an anti-government cachet they otherwise wouldn't have.

Remember too that Chinese society is both factionalized and leader-oriented (the curse of Asian society). So lots of the "new religions" are breakaway factions of old religions taken out by leaders defeated in sectarian power struggles. However, under persecution, scope for breaking away is more limited (the State finds it easier to overwhelm sects if they are smaller) and there is thus pressure to remain unified. That is one reason the Christian Church in China is happy with persecution, and may go out of its way to provoke it if China relaxes its persecution. Otherwise, it might simply dissipate in a welter of individual churches and breakaway factions. The new cults are "larger" and thus easier to see on foreign radar screens. The reality is that they would exist even in a free Chinese society, but they would all be a lot smaller and a lot more splintered, including Christianity.

State persecution also prevents the absorption of syncretic elements that might threaten to splinter the cult, which tends to keep them distinct from one another (in Taiwan there are so many cults, all borrowing from one another, that no one can keep them straight).

Open persecution also provides free advertizing -- if the Chinese gov't had never persecuted the Falun Gong, nobody would have ever heard of it. Persecution validates the identity and power of a cult, giving it a certain status in the eyes of potential adherents. It also attracts attention from governments overseas, and brings in money from foreign donors.

Thus persecution has important positive effects on the growth, health, doctrinal purity and finances of the various religious cults, which is why groups like the Christian Churches and the Falun Gong go out of their way to provoke it.

Yet another reason is sheer numbers. There are 1.2 billion people in China, and a faith that attracts 1/10 of 1% of the population can have a million adherents, large enough to be a respectable cult elsewhere. Thus, there are more Christians in China than in all but a handful of large western countries, yet they are only a tithe of the whole population.

Hope this helps.

Michael