This rant will be part of my special look at cults. As my particular area of interest is China, I'm going to focus this addition on the Falun Gong cult (or Falun Dafa as they sometimes call themselves). I never intended for this blog to become quite as politically focused as it seems to be, but the issue of Falun Gong and its importance to international perceptions of China has led to far too many arguments with friends back home (and a few over here, too). I want to put my thoughts about the cult on record so that I can just direct people here instead of having the same arguments over and over again.
First off, Falun Gong is a cult which came out of the QiGong health craze in the 80s and has evolved over time to mostly become a political group with dangerous and bigoted views on many issues. Falun Gong is not a religious group, no more so than your local yoga class anyway. The cult's founder himself, Li Hongzhi, even denies that the group is a religion, despite the US State Department's insistence on categorising the group as such for asylum purposes. The group does take bits and pieces from several religions and mash them all together to create their own confusing doctrines and Li Hongzhi claims to be a god, but there are no churches or prayers or clergymen. The cult only gathers together for protests and for public meditation sessions.
The main activity carried out by the cult since it was banned in China, in 1999, is protesting and decrying the Chinese government. One such protest involved a group of seven Falun Gong members setting themselves on fire in Tienanmen Square, during which a woman and a young girl (her daughter) died. Several of the other members survived but have been left mutilated and scarred for life. How did Falun Gong respond to such a tragedy? They claimed it was all a conspiracy carried out by the Chinese government and denied that the victims had anything to do with Falun Gong. The cult would like people to believe that the victims of the tragedy were spies and prisoners who were put up to it in exchange for money. A claim about as plausible as the second gunman on the grassy knoll and aliens at Roswell.
The main mediums through which Falun Gong denounces the Chinese government are "news" websites and TV stations set up by the cult (Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty TV), cultural performances and politicians who they have lobbied. Through all of these channels, the Falun Gong cult has spread the accusation that the Chinese government has been extracting organs from living Falun Gong members to sell on for organ transplants. This accusation is horrific and paints the Chinese government as being just as evil as the likes of Hitler. Obviously, such disgusting accusations must have mountains of evidence to support them... except there isn't any. Not one single reputable human rights group or government agency has supported the accusations, because they can't find any evidence. Yes, you can go out and find books or reports that claim to have proof, but the research contained within them is of such a low quality that even a 1st year student at university wouldn't dare hand it in. The main "evidence" surrounds a supposed concentration camp in Shenyang City with doesn't actually exist. Falun Gong sponsored investigations leave no doubt that the Chinese are butchering their members, but all other investigations (including several carried out by the US Department of State) have found no evidence to support the claims. According to Falun Gong, anyone who disagrees with their allegations has either been duped or is on the Chinese government's payroll. That's a typical response one would expect from a cult.
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Throughout this post, I've described Falun Gong as a cult. Why have I done that? Falun Gong members are instructed to cut family ties; they should give up everything in their life that doesn't help the cult or increase their level of cultivation (they cultivate positive karma through meditation); they should never read texts on Falun Gong written by anyone other than Li Hongzhi and should never produce texts of their own; they should never seek medical treatment because illness is a test and Li Hongzhi can heal them with his magic powers; Falun Gong practitioners will go to heaven when they reach the highest level of cultivation whereas the rest of humanity is doomed; no criticism or questioning of the cult is permitted; they believe that homosexuals and mixed-race relationships are the sign of the impending apocalypse. Basically, if you had a check-list for all of the craziness associated with cults, Falun Gong would hit every box.
Cults are widespread and incredibly difficult to root out in China. They target rural communities where healthcare and education is weakest and they prey on the weak. These cults, no matter how harmless they appear on the surface, are ruining people's lives and have killed thousands through their insane teachings and callous practices. China doesn't have a spotless human rights record (even today) but sometimes the groups who denounce the convenient Bogeyman aren't as innocent as they'd like you to think. Just check the facts before you jump on the bandwagon of the latest sensationalist rumours and stories that appear on the internet.
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