With regard to the nature of Falun Gong, experts who have been engaged in cult research for long time have their own perspectives.
Margaret Thaler Singer, former president of American Psychological Association (APS), psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Cults in Our Midst, who has devoted her lifetime to researching cult issues and has been publicly accepted as "the most important author on cult research in the world." She holds that Falun Gong meets the criteria of being a cult, and Falun Gong is not an issue of religious freedom.
She said, "I think that Falun Gong surely meet the criteria of being a cult by American or world standards. The leader has people instead of, you know, worshiping God or abstract principles, they worship him. They believe he is the all powerful person. And they've drop centuries of religion in China to follow this man. So that he is a self-appointed person who says, as cult leaders do all around the world, 'Follow me, I know the one way. Follow me, give up everything. Come with me.' Then he gives such control over them. They stop thinking for themselves.
"I just have not seen that Falun Gong is a religious freedom issue. I think it was the guy who was very clever, very bright, very manipulative. He set himself up to sell enough tapes, books and writings, and he got himself overheard in the US, where he is away from the Chinese government and from people that is manipulating over there. He is living up here in New York somewhere. That looks very suspicious. But you see, I think the average reader here in the United States of the news papers or the watchers of TV think that it is religious persecution. I've read and I'm being on the programs in Europe with two Chinese scholars who live here in the US, who read in Chinese and English both, what the Falun Gong people putting on. They read the Chinese press and the translations. I don't see it as a religious freedom issue at all. But you see, as long as the American public doesn't understand the real details of Falun Gong, they will think that it is if here in the United States someone was picking on, a regular baddish church in downtown Auckland, a regular catholic church in San Francisco...that it makes Falun Gong visible as these years, one more of them, thousands of cults."
According to Daniel Marchiaz, director of US multi-media company Rocky Canyon, he used to be a member of a US cult organization and therefore knows cult very well. He compares Falun Gong with US cult and concludes that the two share many things in common and the only difference is that "Falun Gong might go even farther than US cult organizations." Marchiaz is also a priest and he believes that cult and religion is not the same thing. That Chinese government banned Falun Gong does not mean there's no religious freedom in this country.[2]
When interviewing Li Zhaoxing, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United States, Paul Crouch, a famous figure in US religious community and the president of US Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), told Li that he approved the opinion of categorizing Falun Gong as a cult. Crouch said he made tentative studies on Falun Gong, and it seemed that what Li Hongzhi advocates have nothing in common with the teachings of the Bible in respecting the government and in observing the laws. Then he also read the relevant text from the Bible to Ambassador Li, making it clear his disapproval of any cult.[3]
On May 24, 2006, American's The Pitt News published an article Falun Gong Not So Innocent written by Konrad Klinkner. It said that Falun Gong is a loopy cult. Beneath that surface, the Falun Gong is really more like the Chinese counterpart to Scientology, and the quotes and writings of the Falun Gong's leader, Li Hongzhi, are very cockamamie. After such glances at its leadership's own ramblings, the Falun Gong comes off more as a dingbat cult rather than a simple system of Tai-Chi-esque breathing exercises.[4]
Samual Luo from San Francisco, US, is an expert studying Falun Gong issues (both his parents are Falun Gong members; he made in-depth research on Falun Gong and launched a website focusing on revealing the truth and criticizing Falun Gong, www.exposingthefalungong.org). On November 1, 2006, KPFA Radio in Berkeley, California USA interviewed Samuel Luo, who held that, politically, obviously it's a pretty reactionary politically. It is well funded and has a lot of media outlets. Falun Gong has many of the characteristics of a cult: having a strong leader, a charismatic leader and it's hard to leave. Li Hongzhi is like a dictator in that group. On February 15, 2003, Mr. Li said to his followers: "Remember these words from the master. However I handle something is righteous, and those who doubt this are always wrong. The reason is that is the choice of the cosmos, the choice of the future." He is worshiped by his followers as the God. People think that Falun Gong is small, but the Falun Gong is not small. It's powerful, because they have a lot of money, it seems. And they have lawyers that are working for free for them. And they have been using that advantage to suppress their critics' free speech.[5]
Professor Bergin, head of the Russian National Research Institute of Religious Relation and Law, said that Falun Gong's attitude toward the Chinese government and other religious groups, its imputation and impact on traditional religious values, as well as what Falun Gong had done against himself, made him firmly believe that Falun Gong was an extreme cult organization.
Professor Alexander Dvorkin, president of the Russian Association of Religious and Cultic Studies Centers, says: "Falun Gong now is a worldwide cult group under the leadership of Li Hongzhi, headquartered in New York. It is not important where the Falun Gong practitioners live, for instance in China, France, the United States or other countries. As far as the Falun Gong practitioners are concerned, they do not belong to any country, they all belong to Falun Gong group. First of all, they have attached themselves psychologically to Falun Gong group, they regard Li Hongzhi as their president or emperor and act entirely in accordance with Li's will. For them, all Li Hongzhi's instructions are compulsive and obligatory, which must be executed in time, and without any hesitation."[7]
Professor Hobson, who engaged in physics teaching and research in University of Arkansas, U.S.A, points out in his book Teaching Critical Thinking on Science, that the word "superstition" is normally defined as an ideality professed by a group of followers irrationally and excessively being faithful to their leader. Professor Hobson says, obviously Falun Gong is such a superstition under Li Hongzhi's supreme and exclusive leadership. Li portrays himself as a god, and he puts his followers under control by his "Fashen (Body of Law)" or by getting his follower into "Falun (Wheel of Law)." This tight personal control may be dangerous to Falun Gong followers. In a word, we can accurately conclude that "Falun Gong is a cult of pseudoscience and superstition, posing potential threats to society." It is very strange that so many people believe in Li's nonsense in our scientific times. This contradiction, if it continues, will cause serious consequence in the new century. [8]
In China, Falun Gong was originally registered as a Qigong group.
In August 1993, Falun Gong was formally registered as a subsidiary committee attached to the China Qigong Scientific Research Association (CQSRA). On December 12, 1996, CQSRA declared to refuse Falun Gong's registration. In November 1997, the Association reiterated that its decision of refusing Falun Gong's registration remained valid.
On July 22, 1999, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs declared the Falun Dafa Society and other Falun Gong organizations under its control are illegal, and place them under ban.
The Falun Gong organizations, such as the Falun Dafa Association, the Falun Dafa Society and the Falun Gong Association etc., were registered as non-profit social groups in many countries and regions. Falun Gong has not been accepted as a religion by any country, nor has it been registered as a religious group.
In Malaysia, the "Falun Dafa Research Centre Berhad (FDRCB)" registered as a foundation of a charity nature (a guarantee limited company).
The "Friends of Falun Gong USA" was registered as a non-profit organization in New York.
On August 27, 2004, the "Japan Falun Dafa Association" was registered in Tokyo as "a specified non-profit organization (NPO)." Its foundation purpose reads: "It aims to enhance physical and mental health, and cultivate noble virtue by extensively spreading Qigong. It will never get involved in any political gatherings or religious activities."
In Ukraine, the "Falun Dafa Association" was registered as a cultural group.
Information from all sources indicates that Falun Gong is more like a political group, and it has abused lawsuit means to protect its interest.
On December 16, 2004, the Tanzanian Guardian reported, the Tanzanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation issued a joint declaration denouncing the misleading news spread by Falun Gong organization who claimed that a lawsuit had been filed against a Chinese government official. The declaration said the Tanzanian government would not allow small groups of people, like the Falun Gong cult to spoil the long standing friendship and brotherhood between the Chinese people and the Tanzania people.[11]
On December 7, 2005, the Supreme Court of Quebec of Canada judged against the Falun Gong group in the case of Falun Gong Versus theChinese Press Eastern Inc. The verdict read: "Falun Gong is a controversial movement, which does not accept any criticism." And "Li Hongzhi rejects science as dangerous and misguiding. He promises the practitioners supernatural power, or gives each of them a wheel in their abdomen to purify them, keep them healthy for good, restore their youth, and even obtain the capability of viewing other spaces."[12]
On November 1, 2006, when attending a program "Guns and Butter" on KPFA in Berkeley of California, U.S., China commentator David Ewing said, "Falun Gong seems to be emerging as the largest anti-communism group in the world now."
On December 18, 2006, in Ukraine, the intermediate court of Dnepropetrovsk made a verdict that Falun Gong failed in accusation against the Association for Cultic Studies. The Dnepropetrovsk court said in the ruling that "the Falun Gong League," which was registered in 2002 as a cultural group, had been engaged in political activities against Ukraine's friend – China. Falun Gong had exerted negative impact on Ukraine's relationship with China.[14]
On February 7, 2007, the Supreme Court of San Francisco, California, ruled that excluding Falun Gong practitioners from the Chinese New Year Parade sponsored by the state government was not a discrimination against them. It was the second time since 2006 that the Falun Gong practitioners were rejected of marching in the parade. The court's verdict was made on the ground that the practitioners violated the principle of no political activities at such an event, and they had circulated anti-China leaflets in the parade at earlier times.[15]
In July, 2007, the Falun Gong group filed a suit against the Department of Justice of Moldova, to the Appeal Court of Moldova, accusing the Department of violating Modovan Law on Social Organization for rejecting Falun Gong's registration application. The court turned down the suit.
In the second half of Year 2007, the Falun Gong group tried several times to obstruct the Beijing 2008 Olympics float from taking part in the 119th Pasadena Rose Parade, California, but failed. Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, who supported the Olympics float, had read to the city council a letter from C.L. Keedy, president of the Rose Parade organizing committee, which declared political neutrality of the parade. According to a report in Whittier Daily News on November 11, 2007, a "Human Rights Torch Relay" organized by the Falun Gong group touring in some places of the world, was exactly an activity against Beijing Olympics. [17]
On November 22, 2007, the Christmas Parade Organizing Committee of Auckland, New Zealand officially announced that the Falun Gong group would not be allowed to participate in the event held in this city on November 25, because it could not offer to the committee a guarantee of not engaging in political propaganda in the Christmas Parade. The Falun Gong group had been banned from the parade for seven consecutive years. Because in a previous parade Falun Gong distributed images of torture clearly inappropriate and unsuitable for a family occasion.[18]
On February 10, 2008, Falun Gong was prevented from taking part in the festivities for the Year of the Rat held in Willington, New Zealand for the second year runnings because they are deemed to be a political organisation. On November 2, 2007, the Willington municipality banned the group from the Christmas street parade, on ground that the Falun Gong group was a political organization, and could not participate in the event. [19]
Xinhua, Margaret Thaler Singer, Former President of APS Views on Falun Gong (July 5, 2006)
U.S. KPFA Radio, http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=16929
Official website of Embassy of PRC in Japan, Tanzania Government Refutes the Rumors Spread by Falun Gong (January 14, 2005)
China News, New Zealand Refuses Falun Gong to Join in Christmas Parade for 7 Years Fear of Being Used (November 23, 2007)
