[Ad] Book skip-the-line tickets to the worlds major religious sites — or to any other place in the world.

Religion & Cults News – Wednesday

Handbooks published by the so-called ‘Islamic State’ call for exactly the type of attacks we just saw happen in Berlin. Such attacks may be hard to prevent.

Also inside: In March 1997, 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate UFO cult committed mass suicide. But the cult’s website is still online — maintained by two ex-members.

Plus: Not surprisingly, the dwindling Scientology cult reacts with its usual venom against Leah Remini and others who expose the cult for what it is.

The attitudes of Western European states towards new religious movements

The ‘cult wars’ of the 1980s and 1990’s have largely abated, but those who fight for the right of “New Religious Movements” seemingly continue to worry more about such groups than about the impact “cultic deviations” have on victims of cults ands sects.

A brief look at an overview and comments by religious historian Jean-François Mayer, the founder and chief editor of Religioscope.

Are you old enough to remember Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh?

In 1981 Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh spent $5.75 million on a remote piece of property in Oregon and invested millions more to build Rajneeshpuram as a spiritual retreat for thousands of his red-frocked followers.

A few years later some of his followers were convicted of infecting salad bars with Salmonella, as well as other crimes: arson, wiretapping, immigration fraud, election fraud and attempted murder.