AS REQUESTED

The Moderator of this site gave two strong requests yesterday that if people wanted to talk about Be Scofield, then please devote a topic to her. Don't use the "James Swartz -- What Is The Truth?" topic for another purpose, was the message.

Okay. Here's the topic.

When I started the James Swartz topic I'd researched this criminal fraud for over two years. I already knew "my" answer to the question asked in that topic.

This is totally unlike Be Scofield. About her, I have made no decision. Certainly she has revealed truths about some very bad goings-on and "teachers." Her revelations have helped many. The question is, are the accusations passed along about her in the (quite controversial) website "Culture or Cult?" accurate?

Many people have strong feelings on this. I don't, in that I am still taking in all of the evidence.

So here is YOUR topic. "Go for it."
(To make it crystal clear, James Swartz is much more my concern than Be Scofield. I have become friends with his accuser, and believe her. For details, almost everything is in the Swartz-based book "Guru? The Story of Heather." There are new details and perspectives regarding Swartz in the "James Swartz--What Is The Truth?" topic on this website. Putting those together, and after over two and a half years of research, I very confidently conclude that James Swartz is a terrible human being and an absolutely horrific spiritual teacher.)

Be Scofield?

To make my position clear, I will reprint (with some amendments in parentheses and italics) one of my last posts in the "James Swartz--What Is The Truth?" topic here:

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Warnings Received and Heard -- Thank You

First, many thanks to Valma, Sahara71, and Corboy for the above posts.

Perhaps I should have been more clear.

As of this moment, I've made no decision regarding Be Scofield as related to the rape charges or the "Hostile Sociopath" diagnosis.

I've also called her "rant" sent to the Culture or Cult folks "alleged."

In fact, when I first read "Erin"'s account (of being raped by then male Be as a 14 year-old), I mentioned to a friend (the beautiful woman in the Himalayas) that this could be real, OR it could be a clever fake piece. (I mentioned to her that I could write up the same type of piece with her as the culprit, if she wished, just to show how easy it would be to do. She declined my offer).

I also wondered about the "professional diagnosis" of Be Scofield (as a Hostile Sociopath). It could be "right on" OR it could be as twisted a slam of Be Scofield as Be Scofield is accused of doing to others herself in that article.

Plus, was the "rant" even real? It almost seemed too much like James Swartz to me. I give Be Scofield credit for being much more intelligent than James Swartz, but that alleged message to the "Culture or Cult?" person(s) seemed to come more from ignorance and emotions than it did from perception and intelligence. (Again, I would have expected the former from James Swartz, and the latter from Be Scofield.)

With all that said, could Erin be for real? Sure. Could the diagnosis of Be Scofield as as a "Hostile Sociopath" also be accurate? Yes.

Yes, they could be. But ARE they? The jury is out. Be Scofield is innocent until she shows herself to be guilty. (James Swartz virtually confessed, in many ways and different times. Be Scofield has not.)

IF, big IF, the rant to "Cultore or Cult?" really was from her, this would be the strongest indication yet that she was guilty, but, was it?

In summary, the only things I am certain about in a negative way regarding Be Scofield at this time is that she is choosing some targets, like Byron Katie and Eckhart Tolle, who (to my personal knowledge and in my limited experience) really hurt nobody and do a lot of good for some. Why not instead go after truly horrible spiritual teachers and people, even if they're small-timers like James Swartz.

Thanks again for making sure I wasn't jumping on a possibly false "band-wagon."

Even with James Swartz, it took much research and (especially) his own "insane" messages for me to conclude that he was truly despicable as a human being and as a spiritual teacher. Be Scofield? She's not even close to that "place," and I hope she never is.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Okay. That's it from me.

Be Scofield? Heroic fighter against evil, or....???

I look forward to reading the Posts here. And, I hope Erin is a fraud, the analysis of Be to be incorrect, and the rant she "sent" proves to be a fake.

One James Swartz type-sociopath at a time is enough.

All this is my citizens opinion.

None of us is safe if the standard if admissible evidence is si low as to regard Culture or Cults as a trustworthy source of a information.

I agree w Sahara71 that that site looks dodgy.

Be Scofield has been a powerful anti cult journalist and could have enemies.

Unless new info becomes available from high quality journalistic sources discussing Culture vs Cults risks using CEI message board to bring viewer traffic to something so untrustworthy that it does not deserve attention.

Unless a trustworthy journalistic source reports something new and the reporter uses his or her real name, best for us to wait and find other fish to fry.

Things are looking up for Be Scofield.

More and more about the "Culture or Cult" website does seem dodgy.

Friends have tried to contact "Erin," the alleged victim, with no luck.

Nobody can find any record of Be Scofield being on the run from the police or having warrants out for her ANYWHERE.If Be is waiting out the Stature of Limitations, for what crime? Where? So far, no record of anything like this has been found.

Right now, the "Truth" about Be Scofield appears to be that she is being unjustly attacked by a skilled writer with some technical expertise, and one who is likely being paid to do so AND/ OR feels angry at Be because she exposed this person's teacher as a fake, a criminal, or otherwise bad.

More is to come, but all of that info has shown up (or not shown up, and some good persons have been looking) in the last 24 hours.

This new site does not seem truthworthy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2019 03:51PM by Ananas.

Is it really so strange that Culture or Cult, a website dedicated to exploring where culture becomes cult has quite a bit of content about Be Scofield, a writer who makes it her job to "bust cults"?

I don't find that focus unusual at all -- initially there was just one article about Scofield (among other items), then Erin arrived on the scene with his devastating allegations of being raped by Be Scofield when he was just 14 years old, followed shortly afterwards by an alarming threat from Be Scofield to Culture or Cult. I don't know if these things are true, but they are horrifying even to consider... Of course a site like this will feature Be Scofield "cult buster" heavily, especially if/when more info emerges about her like the above allegation from Erin.

Lets take those things aside though for a moment. It is not like Be Scofield had a clean slate before Culture or Cult came along...

Well before they appeared on the scene she was banned from Medium.com and there were already quite a few articles written about her unethical reporting. For the sake of having all the info in one place, you can find several articles that predated Culture or Cult: The Misdeeds of Be Scofield, Cult Mania: Inside the Attack on Bentinho Massaro, The Absurd Whiteness of Be Scofield, Integral Abuse, and The Truth About "Journalist" Be Scofield.

Hey friends, go to Search, choose All Dates.

Put Wombat in the Authors search slot. Lots of activity on the Moo thread.

Be Scofield wrote a feature story/expose about Moo.

Becoming God Inside Moojis Portugal Cult.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2019 01:14AM by corboy.

A CLEAN SLATE...???

Two posts or so ago Wombat, an apparent strong Mooji follower according to Corboy in his/ her following post, wrote, among other things:

"It is not like Be Scofield had a clean slate before Culture or Cult came along..."

Wombat then listed other articles to check out: The Misdeeds of Be Scofield, Cult Mania: Inside the Attack on Bentinho Massaro, The Absurd Whiteness of Be Scofield, Integral Abuse, and The Truth About "Journalist" Be Scofield.

Well, I just did exactly that. I checked them out.

--"The Misdeeds of Be Scofield" and "Cult Mania: Inside the Attack on Bentinho Massaro" claim different authors, but they seem to be from the same person. Both seem do do exactly what they decy Be Scofield for allegedly doing, not basing many statements on facts, wording things in inflammatory, conspiratorial, and pointed ways, and exaggerating many claims and points. Interestingly, "Alexander Vera," the first author, claims himself to be "Awakened," and thus writes from a higher viewpoint (such seems to be his point) than just any journalist. He ends his article with the assertion that Be Scofield would attack Jesus if he were around today. (That is a very strong assertion. I wouldn't even say that about James Swartz! Swartz would certainly be jealous of and resent Jesus, but even he would be smart enough not to voice those particular feelings.)

--"The Absurd Whiteness of Be Scofield" seemed to be racist in its title, but as one read it sort of made sense. It was written from an Atheist's point of view, a gent who apparently is defending a group called "The New Atheists" about whom Be had written a critical piece. The author starts off by asserting that it would be correct to call Be Scofield a "smug, smarmy asshole." That is the tone of the whole article itself. The person writes down to the audience about the inferior and fallacious thinking of Be Scofield, trying to score points with his interpretations and refutations of some of hers. Did he succeed? Did Be "miss the boat" on her assessment of the "New Atheists"?
As goes her integrity, that is actually irrelevant. The author does not like Be, who (to be an asshole himself?) he pointedly continues to call "he," and disagrees with her. That, to repeat, is fine. There is nothing that points to Be being a rapist or a Hostile Sociopath here.

--In "Integral Abuse," this author can do nothing, from a 2019 perspective, that does not show Be Scofield to have been absolutely correct. He tries to criticize her for her negative assessments of such teachers as Marc Gafni, Andrew Cohen, and Adi Da. Guess what? All those persons are now generally and accurately perceived as having been terrible spiritual teachers who abused their power over their students in terrible ways--financially, sexually, psychologically, emotionally... (As to their teachings, which the author tries to defend, they became irrelevant. Who could believe or pay attention to such personages? As goes teachings, even James Swartz gets some stuff right.) On this one, Be Scofield seems to have "nailed it," despite the author's protests otherwise.

-"The Truth About 'Journalist' Be Scofield" might be similar to the Atheist article above. Did Be get this one wrong? More research would be needed to see. However, was there any evident intent of deliberately misleading or of malicious falsehoods being shared by Be? No

In Summary, thanks to Wombat, I now have a much more full impression of what Be Scofield has written and how, prior to "Culture or Cult?", people had responded to her.

My impression this far is that Be Scofield is "innocent."

It seems at this point that Be Scofield is no more of a "Hostile Sociopath" than some of those who have tried to attack her writings and her as a person. The story of "Erin"? Right now it seems to be malicious slander, totally unproved, and with not one person from that time in Be's life coming forward to say, "Oh, yes. That's how 'Robert' was." Not even the (supposed) Erin's "brother" has come into play, and Erin himself, despite many attempts to contact him by some of my friends, does not appear to exist. (This is very different than how things were with Heather, her allegations about James Swartz, and my beginning investigations into her claims. Just to mention it--the strange similarities between Erin's alleged story and Heather's mostly-verified --by the alleged perpetrator himself, James Swartz-- did raise a bit of a warning flag early in my assessment of the Erin tale. "Someone could have used Heather's experiences with Swartz as a guideline for this Erin piece," came the thought. Now, even more, I wonder if this actually took place.)

Does Be Scofield make mistakes sometimes? Yes. Everyone does. (And there are a few teachers out there I wish she had not gone or would not go after, but...)

Still, given what is known now, does she deserve what the "Culture or Cult?" site is claiming about her? At this point, the answer is a strong, from me, "No."

Traveler99 Wrote:

> It seems at this point that Be Scofield is no more
> of a "Hostile Sociopath" than some of those who
> have tried to attack her writings and her as a
> person. The story of "Erin"? Right now it seems to
> be malicious slander, totally unproved, and with
> not one person from that time in Be's life coming
> forward to say, "Oh, yes. That's how 'Robert'
> was." Not even the (supposed) Erin's "brother" has
> come into play, and Erin himself, despite many
> attempts to contact him by some of my friends,
> does not appear to exist.


This kind of comment is exactly why I am so hesitant to come forward with my own abuse story. I don't feel strong enough to bear the disbelief and criticism. I am an abused man and quite a bit older than Erin with many years of therapy behind me. I think, if you haven't experienced it yourself it's difficult to understand the amount of shame one feels. It's well known that female abuse survivors deal with this shame issue a lot. But I think it is even worse for abused men. As a man you don't seek the comfort of your friends if something like that happens. Instead, you go into hiding. The biggest fears I had to face were the judgements and disbelief of others, especially from other men. That Erin has not responded to your friends attempts to contact him is not proof that he's fake. For me, it is ample proof that he is real.

He wrote in his letter that he still needs a lot of healing:
"Do what you want with what I wrote here. You can believe me or curse me. I don’t really care. I can’t prove any of this. It’s way too late for that. I wrote it for me. For the past nine years I felt like I was drowning in shame. I am on my way to healing but it is still a long way to go."

This is something I might have written years ago. Stating that "he doesn't care what people think" is clearly the self-defense of a wounded and fearful abuse survivor. Of course he cares! He just wouldn't be able to bear the criticism and chose to avoid any negative discussions. He said he can't prove any of this. It's too long ago. I believe, his brother still doesn't know, and he doesn't want him to know. I think he's still feeling shame, even though he was the victim. I saw this kind of reaction repeatedly in other men in my abuse sessions. We all know exactly what would happen if he came fully forward. He'd be torn apart by those denial people who support Be Scofield.

I have been in a lot of men's groups over the years, and have come to know quite a few men who have been wrongly accused of lying about being abused. This isn’t that uncommon. Once that starts, everyone gets on board, friends, family and anyone who wants to air their opinion. Imagine if you were raped and then told the world about it, and in your pain, you suddenly found you were being called a liar, or a con artist, or any number of other things. Imagine if your family was threatened. Or, even worse. How do you think that would disturb your healing process? No, this was something Erin had to do. He knows he can’t get revenge, he said that. And if he’s like me, he doesn’t really want it. He wants to heal. He wants to unload the burden. And just get it said. I feel for him. This is so hard, in a world where men have no support for this kind of thing. I can only imagine how very difficult it would be for him to tell his family, his mom, or his brother. If you’ve never been there, you have no idea!

I fully believe Erin, he has my heart with him. Avoiding getting into a storm of discussions trying to talk about something he can't proof anymore, is the best he can do.

As for Culture-or-Cult.com, I don't only see stuff about Be Scofield. I can see one writer who really doesn't like her, but I also see other posts about other cult oriented subjects. I understand they're offering a platform that curates relevant content that posts submitted articles in addition to their gathered news from other sites. I'll wait and see how their ratio develops in that regard, in the future before I jump to any rash conclusions.They look pretty legit to me. But time will tell.

It is also logical to me that Erin would contact Culture or Cult because they already had another article on Be Scofield.

Hi Forum administrators, I have posted here a few days ago but my post has not yet been approved. Could you please check what is going on?

Thanks,
Val

Val891 Wrote:
> As for Culture-or-Cult.com, I don't only see stuff
> about Be Scofield. I can see one writer who really
> doesn't like her, but I also see other posts about
> other cult oriented subjects. I understand they're
> offering a platform that curates relevant content
> that posts submitted articles in addition to their
> gathered news from other sites. I'll wait and see
> how their ratio develops in that regard, in the
> future before I jump to any rash conclusions.They
> look pretty legit to me. But time will tell.

The content of culture-or-cult.com so far: six posts consisting of copy-pasted paragraphs from other websites, three long original articles portraying Be Scofield in a negative light, and two other original articles that are both only a few sentences long.

Obviously the copy-paste articles and the few-sentences-long articles have hardly cost the author(s) any time to produce. The website claims to be "operated by an ethical journalistic group of sincere academics." What has this group of sincere academics produced in the three months existence of the site? The only substantial effort has been put into portraying Be Scofield in a negative light. This looks pretty legit to you. Okay. It doesn't look anywhere near legit to me.