Received the email below today.
CULT CONFERENCE AUSTRALIA - 9&10 March 2012 - by CIFS.org.au
by Fernando 9 Replies latest watchtower medical
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Fernando
Greetings and a happy new year everyone,
It is our pleasure to invite you to join us for the forthcoming CIFS Qld National Conference on :
“The Trauma of Psychological Manipulation :
Recognition of and Responses to Victims and Survivors of Destructive Groups and Cults”
It will be held at Parliament House, Brisbane on 9 - 10 March 2012.
The attached Conference Brochure details the aims and the program content of the Conference and the keynote Speakers from Overseas and Australia joining us.
This Conference is a vital part of the work of CIFS in addressing the urgent need for professional understanding and support of Australians facing this specific trauma.
Your registration can be made by filling out the attached Conference Payment Form, or registering online at http://www.cifs.org.au/conference.php#DL
Register now to receive the “early bird” rate and not miss out on this important conference.
For those delegates who have already registered, take this email as a reminder of the dates and confirmation of your registration.
If you would like us to send you additional hard copies of the Brochure for your distribution use, please email the quantity desired and mailing address for us to send them to you.
Best regards,
John McAlpin President
CIFS Cult Information & Family Support Qld. Inc.
www.cifs.org.au M: 0434 547 267 E: [email protected]
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Fernando
Good morning Australia.
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jwfacts
There is some great work starting in Australia in an attempt to address the question of what to do with cults. Pity the conference is $461.
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Fernando
Attending 2010 conference was one of the best things I did to get clarity and aid healing and recovery. Very well organised with good speakers. Validated my experience when hearing exactly the same abuses from a wide variety of groups I'd never heard of before. As a recent cult escapee managed to negotiate student rate.
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ABibleStudent
jwfacts - There is some great work starting in Australia in an attempt to address the question of what to do with cults. Pity the conference is $461.
To me the solution about what to do with cults is simple, politicians review/revise tax codes to prevent organizations, which can be classified as a dangerous cult, from qualifying for tax exempt status. People can still donate to cults, but those people will not be able to write it off from their taxes and organizations which collect donations must pay taxes on that income. The acid test to determine if an organization is a dangerous cult is to determine whether an organization promotes that members are not allowed to disagree with the organization's doctrines and practices, and that members must shun, mark, and/or not communicate with members, who no longer wish to be members. As long as charitable organizations annually promote that members freely discuss diverse opinions and freely communicate with former members and never promote using behavior control techniques, an organization could then qualify for tax exempt status and other government charitable programs. If the tax agency discovers that an organization is not obeying the rules then the organization is banned from tax exempt status for at least 5 years.
I wish all governments would actively try to remove any financial rewards for organizations that can be classified as dangerous cults.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
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sizemik
Fernando thanks for posting this . . .
What I find interesting is that the 2011 conference was only held in November. The 2012 conference coming just a matter of months later may be coincidental, but may also be an indication of the level of interest and concern. With over 3000 cults in Australia and growing . . . it would be nice to think those who matter are looking seriously at the problem.
BTW . . . did you catch the thread with the 2011 highlights? If not it's here
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Fernando
Thanks Sizemik. Yes I did see the highlights thread and some videos.
Apparently it seems there is a bit of a back story where the originally planned full scale Aug 2011 conference had to be postponed (to Mar 2012) due to some of the international speakers being threatened by certain cult/s in Australia.
BTW jwfacts.com has just been added to http://www.cifs.org.au/links.php .
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sizemik
Wow, I didn't know about the threats but it doesn't suprise me . . . hopefully that kind of behaviour will only hasten their demise. Here in NZ there is strong public interest in a high-profile cult known as the Destiny Church, who are planning a "town" to be built in south Auckland for their adherents. While a little behind Australia in terms of it being a growing problem, public awareness is growing nevertheless, and the JW's are also getting the odd mention. Hopefully the trend will continue.
Good to see Paul's site up there . . . it's a fantastic site.
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Fernando
Just a quick reminder for those in Australia.