This is a disturbing example of how far these groups and their followers can go.
QUOTE: [
www.culteducation.com]
"York was convicted Jan. 23, 2004, in U.S. District Court in Brunswick on charges of racketeering, child molestation, transporting minors for unlawful sex and tax evasion.
A judge sentenced the 63-year-old sect leader to 135 years in prison."
Here you have a leader, convicted and jailed with an huge list of serious crimes, and that isn't even enough to dislodge the beliefs of some followers.
Its similar to Warren Jeffs, in that sense. [
www.culteducation.com]
This is why so many other groups and cults, where the leader has not yet been caught, refuse to face reality. Even when caught and convicted, its not enough. They just have to convince them that its some type of conspiracy or frame-up.
Unfortunately, for the core inner circle of these cults, even actual facts and reality don't seem to dislodge their belief systems.
You have a so-called Zen guru like Seung Sahn, who started the Kwan Um School of Zen (KUSZ). He was involved with sexual abuses of his power by having sex with many of his students, and they say, its ok as they were adults, and not children!
That is where the extreme rationalizations start...and where they can end up.