"In 1996 both Italy and France were shocked by criminal cases related to Satanist groups. In Italy Marco Dimitri, the young leader of the larger Italian Satanist group, the Luciferian Children of Satan (Bambini di Satana Luciferiani), was arrested twice in the same year on charges of rape. In France graves were desecrated in Toulon (and subsequently in other towns in Southern France): four members of a small Satanist band were arrested. Similar incidents took place in Romania, Russia and other countries. The media w..."

" Religious organisations and movements are free to practice their religion as they choose, subject to the laws of the land. In practice, this means that cults, in promoting their religious beliefs and gaining adherents, are free to use deception, misrepresentation, psychological coercion or any other techniques which do not leave physical traces and are difficult to prove in a court of law. Initially using conventional marketing techniques, cults promote their particular belief systems. The trick is that through..."

"For much of the American public, the history of Peoples Temple began and ended on one day: November 18, 1978. While there are notable exceptions to that statement – the San Francisco Bay Area being the most obvious, as well as Indianapolis, Indiana, and Redwood Valley and Los Angeles, California, other places where the Temple had churches and congregations along the way – the fact is that Peoples Temple did not exist for most Americans until the news wires crackled with the stories of the assassination of a U.S. Co..."

"On March 20, 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult entered the Tokyo subway system and released sarin, a deadly nerve agent. The subway attack was the most deadly assault in an ongoing campaign of terror waged by this mysterious cult. Four years later, with Aum Shinrikyo attempting to rebuild itself, many in Japan and around the world are asking whether the "Supreme Truth Sect" poses a current or future threat. Answering this question may further our understanding, not only of the Aum but also of other extremist ..."

"Self-styled guru and leader of the 1960s religious cult the Manson Family, Charles Manson is a convicted serial killer who never actually killed any of his victims himself. The bearded figure of Manson was a charismatic and persuasive leader, whose apparent goal was to persuade his followers to embark on a murder spree in order to spark a racial war, after which only he and his Family would be left, along with black slaves. ..."

" In an article that appeared in the Journal of Popular Culture, one of the editors of the jonestown report considers the role that conspiracy theories have played in the unfolding narrative of “Jonestown.” It is a worthwhile endeavor to which few scholars could bring better credentials. Rebecca Moore is a professor of religious studies at San Diego State University. Her two sisters and nephew died at Jonestown and, together with her husband, Fielding McGehee, Dr. Moore has probably done more than anyone to expli..."

" In 1979 I presented a plenary address at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion entitled, “Peoples Temple and Jonestown: A Corrective Comparison and Critique.” In that presentation, which was later published in the Society’s journal (Richardson, 1980), my major point was that Peoples Temple was unlike other groups referred to as New Religious Movements. I cited eight major points of dissimilarity between Peoples Temple and NRMS, including: (1) time and context of inception; (2) char..."