A cult-hopping friend of mine is lately staying with a Hare Krishna group in east Dallas. He says he is not converting to Hinduism (he is a Christian), but he likes the spirit of the people there. He says that they have been sensitized to abuses in the past, and are genuinely trying to clean up their act. Personally, I fear that my friend has already been somewhat brainwashed just by his sojourn in their milieu.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is ISKCon becoming less of a cult?

It would depend on what your friend considers 'sensitised' to abuse - those who are responsible for the abuse are still there and still trusted to be in positions of authority including around children.

The Children of ISKCON case is one of horrific systemic and philosophical child abuse. It it highly dubious to claim to be sensitised when the doctrine itself dictates that if a child is abused it is because of their karma, not only condoned by God but sufferring they must endure in order to attain to liberation.

ISKCON is still a very secretly exclusive organisation. Although they have open temples and open access to teachings the culture of the organisation, and again the doctrine determines that there are revealed levels of involvement, and these are still typically discovered after quite lengthy involvement on account of the complex and often contradictory nature of the beliefs themselves.

The Scripture will always be against association with outsiders as neccessity for spiritual advancement and about serving a guru as a means to liberation.

ISKCON still does not answer questions which are put to them as an organisation, does not have publically available financial records and still has big issues with abuse of funds from fundraising. Members are still induced to work gratis while these 'gurus' on their elite level within the organisation are the ones that benefit from this and the hypocrisy of living better than everyone else.

Women are still treated like dirt in ISKCON - witches, wives and whores. Since this has been their belief since time immemorial it is not likely to change.

The only thing that has really changed is that they have had to lower some of their very rigid standards in order to maintain congregations following the public disclosure of their child abuse.

When you say East Dallas I wonder who is the leader of this group since this around the area where a lot of the abuse happened and also where Kirtananda who was implicated in murder and embezzlement was located. Point I am trying to make is when they are giving the impression that they are less cult-like than they were the character of the disciples that would be pushing this image is certainly not very good - and they have largely gotten away with their abuses so it is unlikely they would see any reason to have changed.

PADA Prabhupad Anti-Defamation Association keeps track of all the current concerns about ISKCON [www.harekrsna.org] the guy who runs the site also has a myspace that is more current [blog.myspace.com]

Thank you very much, cultreporter, for your informative response. It is exactly the kind of information I was hoping someone would come forward with.

On a somewhat positive note, my friend is no longer staying with the group in east Dallas. He says he never intended to stay there permanently, he just needed a place to retreat to for a couple of weeks. He was also offended that I referred to him as a "cult-hopper." I guess that was a tad harsh, and I could have expressed my deep concern about his involvement in this cult without actually using that term. Nevertheless, I still say that he is very short on discernment when it comes to this group. I hope he will ponder your post and check out the links you provide to give himself a clearer view of the group with which he is associating.

My friend continues to be an apologist for ISKCON. In the context of an email conversation wherein I referred to ISKCON as a dangerous and destructive cult, he replied:

"With respect, if you are going to call ISKCON "a dangerous and destructive cult", you'd also (by using the same logic) have to label the entire Roman Catholic Church the same.

Conservative, fundamentalistic, and (in the context of Vedic culture) legalistic, yes, certainly. ISKCON is all of these. But a dangerous, destructive, family-destroying "cult" in a pejorative sense of the word? No way. Not ISKCON today, not at all. The seventies and eighties are over."

Does anyone have some evidence of some [b:91f8e12287]recent[/b:91f8e12287] misdoings by ISKCON?

Upon further reflection, my friend has edged back slightly from his pro-ISKCON position. He now acknowledges that ISKCON has a very troubled history, though he continues to believe they have made more progress reforming themselves than most other observers seem to think.

He is chanting and praying with them, which I think is a bad idea, but he draws the line at bowing to the statue.

At least he has some boundary.

theres less preaching at the one near me...less "recruiting"....there have been anti iskon lawsuits,,,,they toned things down

I guess the question is whether toning things down for p.r. purposes is really the same thing as genuinely seeing the error of your ways and truly reforming.

I doubt that it is.

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counselor47
I guess the question is whether toning things down for p.r. purposes is really the same thing as genuinely seeing the error of your ways and truly reforming.

I doubt that it is.

I’m afraid that Iskcon will never see the error of their ways and truly reform. Iskcon is all about gurus, power and hierarchy. The whole purpose of Iskcon existence is Iskcon itself. Period.

Every ideology has questionable fundaments, so ideologists must use some oppressive method or system to induce the ideology into heads of ordinary people. In the case of Iskcon this method is thought reform process and this will hardly change. Public image is of most importance because it is supplying new recruits and new recruits are necessary for survival of [i:3d8b9f5579]Organisation.
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You don’t need Iskcon or guru to believe in God. Faith is intimate and personal so there is no need to associate your faith with some guru, group or organisation. It is true that there is strong feeling of belonging and community in cults but the price you pay is too high. Stray from the [i:3d8b9f5579]Path[/i:3d8b9f5579] just a bit and you’ll see how high it is.

Good points. ISKCON has such a sordid history of manipulation and abuse that it would be just about the last place I would go if I was seeking a healthy community.