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In November 1978, 914 American followers of Jim Jones (formerly a church in the mainstream Christian denomination Disciples of Christ) died in a mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. The dead included 274 children.

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On March 17, 2000, between 780 and 1000 members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died in a probable mass suicide in Uganda. The group had diverged from the Roman Catholic Church in order to emphasize apocalypticism and alleged Marian apparitions.

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From 1994 to 1997, the Order of the Solar Temple's members began a series of mass suicides, which led to roughly 74 deaths

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On March 26, 1997, 39 followers of the Heaven's Gate cult died in a mass suicide near San Diego, California. In the beliefs of the cult, this was not an act of self-extermination; they believed that they were merely "exiting their human vehicles" so that their souls could go on a journey aboard a spaceship they believed to be following comet Hale-Bopp.

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'Among these advanced teachings, one episode revealed to those who reach OT level III is the story of Xenu and his Galactic Confederacy. Xenu (sometimes Xemu) is introduced as an alien ruler of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth in spacecraft resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living. The alien souls continue to do this today, causing a variety of physical ill-effects in modern-day humans. Hubbard called these clustered spirits "Body Thetans," and the advanced levels place considerable emphasis on isolating them and neutralizing their ill effects.'

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'Hubbard stated that the delivery room should be as silent as possible during birth.[33] This stems from his belief that birth is a trauma that may induce engrams into the baby. Hubbard asserted that words in particular should be avoided because any words used during birth might be reassociated by an adult later on in life with their earlier traumatic birth experience. Hubbard also wrote that the mother should use "as little anesthetic as possible".'

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'A person is an immortal spiritual being (termed a thetan) who possesses a mind and a body.
The thetan has lived through many past lives and will continue to live beyond the death of the body.... Hubbard proposed that the cause of "aberrations" in a human mind was an accumulation of pain and unconscious memories of traumatic incidents, some of which predated the life of the human. He extended this view further in Scientology, declaring that thetans have existed for tens of trillions of years (several orders of magnitude greater than what mainstream science generally estimates the age of the universe to be).'

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'At a Scientology funeral service the minister speaks directly to the thetan (the individual as a spirit) and grants forgiveness for anything the deceased has done so he can begin life anew.
"We do not contest your right to go away. Your debts are paid. This chapter of thy life is shut. Go now, dear [deceased], and live once more in happier time and place."'

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'Publicity has been generated by Scientologists in the entertainment industry. Among the most well-known of these figures are the artists John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Beck, Jason Lee, Isaac Hayes, Tom Cruise, and Katie Holmes.

...Former Scientologists say that celebrity practitioners get more attention and care than noncelebrity practitioners[63], for example Maureen Bolstad, who said that a couple of dozen Scientologists including herself were put to work on a rainy night through dawn on the planting grass. "We were told that we needed to plant a field and that it was to help Tom impress Nicole ... but for some mysterious reason it wasn't considered acceptable by Mr. Miscavige. So the project was rejected and they redid it."'

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The ongoing controversies involving the Church and its critics include:

   * Repeated claims of brainwashing and mind control.
   * Scientology's disconnection policy, in which members are encouraged to cut off all contact with friends or family members critical of the Church.
   * The death of Scientologists, including Lisa McPherson used by Scientology critics as "examples".
   * Criminal activities by individual American Scientologists or committed for personal benefit (Reed Slatkin, Gabriel Williams, and others)
   * Criminal activities committed on behalf of the Church or directed by Church officials (Operation Snow White, Operation Freakout, Fair Game and others).
   * Sometimes conflicting claims about L. Ron Hubbard's life, in particular accounts of Hubbard discussing his intent to start a religion for profit, and of his service in the military.
   * Scientology's litigious actions against its critics and enemies.
   * Some critics charge Scientology with being a cult of personality, with much emphasis placed on the alleged accomplishments of its founder.

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The Church says that psychiatry was responsible for World War I, the rise of Hitler and Stalin, the decline in education standards in the United States, the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo,[126] and the September 11 attacks.

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Even more... I had a group in my country also: MISA, ruled by Gregorian Bivolaru, with its affilition in Sweden Esoteric Orient Yoga. It has been uncovered that this Bivolaru guy had sexual relations with 14-16 years old girls and its members had some brainwashing programs of somesort.

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Taking into account that Gandhi himself has practiced and taught his disciples to practice this noble form of yoga called Karma Yoga, we can only be happy that he escaped the vigilant eye and brilliant mind of some Romanian magistrates and he hasn't been accused of trafficking persons. Understanding that Karma Yoga is a completely voluntary practice is important to the understanding of the case.

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