---

Kyodo News Service, Japan
Dec. 25, 2005
home.kyodo.co.jp

---

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 13102 • Posted: Monday December 26, 2005  

---

TOKYO, Dec. 26–(Kyodo) _ Two rival factions of the religious cult known formerly as AUM Shinrikyo plan to hold separate seminars for lay followers from Dec. 29 to Jan. 3, intelligence authority sources said Sunday.

AUM “representative” Fumihiro Joyu, 43, has been distancing himself from the cult’s operations since October 2003, but at the seminar he will hold plans to preach for the first time in two and a half years, they said.

Another group led by Tatsuko Muraoka, 55, who is ranked as the cult’s “chairwoman,” will hold its seminar as in previous years, the sources said.

The main venues for the seminars are Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, and Osaka for the Joyu group, and Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, and Kyoto for the Muraoka group, they said.

The Muraoka group is considered to be more loyal than the Joyu group to AUM founder Shoko Asahara, 50, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, they said.

Asahara’s defense is appealing against the death penalty that was handed down to him for a series of crimes including the 1995 fatal sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

AUM has renamed itself Aleph.

---

What You Can Do From Here

---

Read More Articles On These Topics Categories: Aum Shinrikyo Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article Subscribe Religion News Blog RSS feed [What is this?] RSS by topic: Aum Shinrikyo Read Another Article Previous entry: N.Y. judge lets man take name Jesus Christ Next entry: Japan doomsday cult member walks free but convicted over fundraising RNB Homepage with latest headlines Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults Find Related Books Aum Shinrikyo Most Popular Today Polygamist Sect Leader Convicted of Sexual Assault Jury takes 14 minutes to convict self-proclaimed pot pastor Supreme Court upholds cult AUM Shinrikyo members’ death sentences Prosecutor not malicious in Satanic sex abuse case, Canada’s Supreme Court says Fort Hood shooting: imam says Nalid Malik Husan ‘didn’t seem like an extremist’

---

Share This Article

---

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:

• Post a link on your blog or website:
  
• Send in an email or IM:
  
• Post on a forum:
  

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.