Is the movement a cult?

In suppressing the Falun Dafa, the Chinese government has adopted much of the terminology of the Western anti-cult movement. The official Xinhua News Agency issued a report on "cults" in the United States. ₄ It quoted Berkeley psychology professor Margaret Singer, who was one of the few psychologists who supported the claims of the anti-cult movement until her death in 2003. The report discusses "spiritual poisoning." Cults are said to:

"not obey the law, they upset social order, and they create a menace to freedom of religion and social stability. Under the pretense of religion, kindness, and being non-political, they participate in political activities. Some of them even practice criminal activities such as tax evasion, fraud, drug dealing, smuggling, assassination, and kidnapping."

The Chinese government has described the Falun Dafa as a dangerous "cult." Their claims sound quite improbable:

	The group brainwashes its members.
	Members, called practitioners, worship Mr. Li.
	They had turned Communist officials into cult members in order to learn state secrets.
	They suggest that their followers should not take any medication.
	Some members have become paranoid, suffered from hallucination, committed suicide, or killed relatives and friends. The government has only been able to find a handful of such cases from among the tens of millions of practitioners in the country. There is no indication that we have been able to find that the rate of such activity is higher among Falun Dafa members than the general population.

The government appears to regard the Falun Dafa as the most serious threat to the government since the 1989 student pro-democracy uprising. The government has historical reasons for their fear. China has had a history of religious and spiritual uprisings that had catastrophic effects on the country. "In the late 1770s, the White Lotus rebellion against the Qing Dynasty was led by Wang Lun, a master of martial arts and herbal medicine." ₅Perhaps the most serious was the Taiping rebellion of 1845-1864 which was led by a leader who viewed himself as the Son of God. Some 20 million died in that revolt. ₅

The Chinese Government probably would view any group with a membership greater than the Communist Party with extreme concern. The Falun Dafa is one such group.

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