landmark UNITY the moonies what do they have in common?

They are anti science and anti skeptical thinking.
I am a former jehovahs witness turned cult Buster and i know what i believe as I have seen the results of mind control at work and the harm and horrible damage

unity is not about medicine or proven FACTS it is a fairy tale wishful thinking and blind fantasy...

fillmore was a crook and CONNED innocent gulible people with his scam and christainity . Jesus might never have even existed but may have been a myth and fairy tale as the god idea.
Humanism teachs that science and logic are important UNITY teaches the opposite and they are very new age and yes they do believe in bs like the course in miracles which was made up by another conartist and false prophet.

Science is the only true way to see the world

myths lead to imprisonment and zombie like cult obedience to lies

science helps us to appreciate the beauty of life with out having to give up our intelligent thinking to a nonexistant god force or man with a white beard telling us how to think

cults are all bad there are no good ones

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rrmoderator
Timmer:

You have offered no scientific evidence to support any healing claim or even cited research or tests to prove anything.

Sai Baba is someone with a deeply troubled history of scandal.

His "ideas," reportedly have been to prey upon boys and young men for sex using his "guru" status to gain undue influence and advantage. If this is evidence of enlightened thinking many would probably prefer to be left in the dark.

Again and again you use terms such as "cultic thinking" or "true believers" to categorize those who disagree with you. But these terms have very specific meanings that do not match your analogies.

Dear Moderator:

A bit of a late reply, but I just wanted to thank whoever moderator for maintaining the intellectual honesty of this site.

I know nothing of Unity Church, for example. But unlike Rickross.com, some Christian Evagelical and atheists occasionally indulge in calling *anything* that they or their organization doesn't approve of as a "cult" and/or mindless--Hinduism, Buddhism; Yoga, Tai Chi; American Indian Shamanism, Wicca; alternative medicine; and et cetera.

Rickross.com by refraining from such labeling maintains its secular and nonsectarian reputation for being an accurate, reliable and *UNBIASED* research and analysis resource for *EVERYONE.*
Regards,

CNFT

I logged in, wrote a lengthy post, and the forum deleted it (when I tried to post).

Suffice it to say, both [b:3d36229afc]bozman[/b:3d36229afc] and [b:3d36229afc]Cosmophilosopher[/b:3d36229afc] are right on.

Sorry about that.

Must have been a server glitch somewhere.

No one intentionally did that.

Thanks, I know it wasn't anyone's fault. :)

The point of my lengthy post was that from my many years of experience and observation, I see that Unity and even Religious Science churches have now fully embraced channeled books like A Course in Miracles, Conversations with God, and the Abraham-Hicks books, and given free time and space to book study groups, precisely because these books allow them to do what their own teachings won't, and that is to control people.

Channeling (such as in these books) claims a "higher" or more "perfect" voice or "wisdom" source, thus taking away choices and responsibility from people and handing it to the book, group, or group leader. These books also shame and attack any who don't agree with their theology. This kind of authoritarian manipulation allows the churches who use these books to meet their financial needs, thanks to the weak, gullible people who willingly hand over the reins of their will to the churches and leaders.

While Religious Science and more "generic" New Thought churches used to reject channeling and channeled books, they and their ministers now wholeheartedly allow, accept and even teach directly from this kind of authoritarian material. Both of the Religious Science monthly magazines started offering quotes and passages from rigid, "metaphysical fundamentalist" texts like A Course in Miracles over a year ago.

Unity / New Thought / Religious Science (which teach the same thing, essentially) used to be a refuge for the spiritual free thinker. Instead, they have become yet another cult church movement for the easily-controlled seekers e out there grasping at spiritual straws.

I was raised Catholic, but as soon as I reached young adulthood, stopped going to church. I became a "seeker," trying out new age philosophies and ideas and was a member of a religious science church for a couple of years, and then attended a Unity Church although I never became an official member.

I did go through Unity's introductory seminar on membership. They showed a video about the founding of Unity and and the life of Myrtle and Charles Fillmore which really turned me off to Unity. In particular, Charles Fillmore believed he would be able to become physically immortal and never die. So I never did become a member, although I still continued to attend the services for a while.

IMO, groups like Unity trade reality for an illusion - and there is a price to pay for doing that. I have been working with a wonderful therapist and as I have dealt with issues, reality has become a much better place to be and I would not trade it again for illusions/delusions, even if reality is hard or difficult at times.

I thought a group like Unity would hold the key to happiness, but the more I have gotten away from thinking I need to be part of a spiritual group, the happier I am. I think perhaps I am a skeptic at heart and did not want to acknowledge that - I was always trying to give others the benefit of the doubt and did not want to create a conflict or hurt others by saying "the emperor is wearing no clothes." So I tried to believe what I didn't believe.

Anyway, at this stage of my growth, I do feel rather biased and angry at new age/Unity type stuff. And I feel like a sucker for having wasted so much time trying to "get water from a rock." It harmed me by reinforcing a lot of the dysfunctional aspects of my childhood family. It also harmed me by encouraging magical/delusional thinking.

Not really sure where I'm going with this, but it feels good to be able to share on this board.

QE

Good for you for getting out of Unity!

Yes, "magical/delusional thinking" is a big part of Unity. Like "manifesting" the right job, friends, business deals, even parking places. And the idea that no matter how terrible an event may be (the murder of a family member, for example) it is your own "lesson" to acept it as "good" and to forgive the murderer, for in Unity you must agree that "there are no victims" no matter how horrible the crime. This is Unity's mush-for-brains excuse for common sense and reasoning.

Being in Unity for several years nearly destroyed my life and the most important relationships in my life. Thankfully, I'm four years free of Unity, and would not return at gunpoint. Unity is indeed a destructive church.

I should add that, after seeing a number of fascinating and somewhat frightening posts on this BBS about the Landmark Forum, it reminded me that there were several people taking the Forum seminars from Unity, a lot of cross-pollination so to speak, between the two. Unity members took the Forum training and invited their Unity friends to the "graduation" (which I avoided, knowing it would be nothing but a sales pitch to get me into the Forum), and so a lot of people in Unity ended up using Forum-speak on other people in Unity. I mean, Unity was bad enough already, then the Forumites were using their mindf*ck techniques on others in Unity. It was a real mess. And the ministers bought into it as well. That's when I left one Unity church. Tried a few other Unity churches, same thing going on to a greater or lesser degree. If it wasn't Forum-speak, it was ACIM-speak. Which use pretty similar lingo, methods, and shaming high-pressure tactics, BTW.

I knew a member of the Unity Church I attended who had taken the Forum. At the time, I really didn't know much about the Forum/Landmark. This man never tried to recruit me (or anyone else to my knowledge - at least at the time I was there), but it was very difficult communicating with him. It was almost as if he was from a different planet.

The other thing that bothered me about Unity was that every few weeks, another new age author/process would be the focus of the minister's sermon. They were open to everything except critical thinking. There were weekly meetings of ACIM groups, Reiki, the Enneagram, etc. I have a particular problem with Reiki, as the idea that some "master" can attune a person and "presto," that person now has the ability to heal themselves and others, seems highly improbable, and there is no evidence to indicate that Reiki works. And of course it doesn't matter whether you feel the healing energy or not - it is still working (according to Reiki proponents).

These types of groups seem relatively harmless (at least as compared to some of the more obviously destructive and harmful groups they are) because the harm they do is subtle and psychological. You become so open to every new age idea/delusion that your mind does become, to quote the previous poster "mush." Unity is not overtly controlling, but to someone who is trying to fit in, the peer pressure is there.

I had been told on many occasions by various members of the group that they "loved" me and yet none of these people made any contact with me after I left the group (which was just as well to my thinking). I did call one person after I left, and they never returned my call. So much for their brand of "love."

QE

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The other thing that bothered me about Unity was that every few weeks, another new age author/process would be the focus of the minister's sermon. They were open to everything except critical thinking. There were weekly meetings of ACIM groups, Reiki, the Enneagram, etc.

Yes, and if you question or challenge any of this in any way, you are branded as "negative" or lacking in "consciousness" or whatever. In Unity, there's a lot of "groupthink" going on, and if you don't blindly follow it, then there's something wrong and you must have "issues" etc. And true, Unity seems to have a tremendous herd mentality. Whatever the hot new age book of the month is, or the big guru of the day, everyone jumps on the bandwagon. So much for free thinking!

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I have a particular problem with Reiki, as the idea that some "master" can attune a person and "presto," that person now has the ability to heal themselves and others, seems highly improbable, and there is no evidence to indicate that Reiki works. And of course it doesn't matter whether you feel the healing energy or not - it is still working (according to Reiki proponents).

Reiki is a hoax, of course. If it "works" at all for someone, then it is due to the Plecebo effect and nothing else. Incredibly, people on the internet even sell long-distance Reiki treatments. And people pay 'em for it! :roll:

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Unity is not overtly controlling, but to someone who is trying to fit in, the peer pressure is there.

Not always overtly, but I'd say definitely covertly. Unity often uses what I would have to label "stealth" mind control. It is very subtle at times, but once you're aware of it and understand the methods they use, it is obvious and pervasive. Definitely the peer pressure is there, often encouraged by the ministers themselves. But some Unity churches are more controlling than others. Depends on who is running the show. A lot of it depends on how connected a particular church is with ACIM and kindred teachings, and similar persuasive methods from the new age groups and the LGATs.

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I had been told on many occasions by various members of the group that they "loved" me and yet none of these people made any contact with me after I left the group (which was just as well to my thinking). I did call one person after I left, and they never returned my call. So much for their brand of "love."

Well sure. You left them, so in their eyes you "walked away from the Truth" (with a capital T of course, meaning it is not "a" truth but "THE" Truth), and to them that means you turned your back on God and your own self. Of course they won't ever talk to you again. You're in error thought. You denied Unity, negative person! You have cooties now! ;)

Seriously though, one of the biggest pressure tactics in Unity is that everyone from the ministers to the chaplains to the teachers and church members tend to use a carrot and stick approach. They will tell people that they are sinless perfect Holy Children of God, Divine in every way, expressing God at all times, etc., etc. THEN they follow that up with "But you are broken and need healing" and of course, can only "heal" with the help of their Unity minister, prayer partners, support groups, classes, Sunday services, and of course TITHING, the big one. (They even exploit people at times of vulnerability, telling them to pray and "listen to the voice of God within" but also that the "voice" will always tell them to do what the church and/or minister teaches.) Problem is, everytime people feel really great about themselves, the minister, chaplain, et al will either imply or tell them flat out that they are still "broken" and in need of "healing" and they need to keep working at it! So they repeatedly lift 'em up, push 'em down, lift 'em up again, then push 'em down again. An endless treadmill. This is how people get hooked into the Unity cult.