The Way International and it's secret deal with the new Cult Awareness Network
In early 1998, Rico Magnelli, Public Relations officer of The Way International made a proud announcement to the Way staff at one of the weekday noon time lunch meetings.
The announcement concerned a recent telephone conversation that he had with a representative of the Cult Awareness Network.
In Magnelli's review of the telephone conversation, he excitedly and proudly stated that since a new management team had taken over the C.A.N. organization, they were now reviewing and revamping some of the information that the previous management of C.A.N. had been disseminating regarding The Way International to its callers.
Magnelli went on to say that C.A.N. was now informing callers that The Way International was not in their opinion a cult but merely an organization with differing opinions than mainstream religions. C.A.N. (according to Magnelli) did not consider The Way to be dangerous.
This news was excitedly received by the attentively listening Way staff.
Magnelli in closing his announcement said that as a result of the conversations with C.A.N., The Way had decided to make a financial contribution to the organization.
John Reynolds, the new secretary treasurer of The Way, privately admitted (with a chuckle) months later, that the Way Trustees had been aware that C.A.N. had been taken over and was effectively in the full control of adherents of the Church of Scientology.
The financial contribution made by The Way was "substantial."
My dad read the original Dianetics book in the 40s or 50s and found it interesting. He later cooled on it when he found out that 4 of the first 15 people who read the book went insane.
Both Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan were into it.
My brother was interested in them for awhile. I don't know what degree of commitment he had to them, but in 1975/76, about a year before I got in TWI, he sent me a 17 page application form which asked me in several different ways if I had ever been part of a group that wanted to destroy Scientology. The form also wanted to know not only the color but the tint of my eyes.
Too weird for me. I never filled it out.
They've always sounded dangerous to me. Nothing Christian about them.
No connection, just a foolish waste of Abundant sharing to make that contribution to CAN. As if COS needed TWI's little contribution.
I am near Clearwater, FL home of COS Headquarters. Needless to say there has been a lot in print around here about them. Lots can be found on the Internet about them.
Basically, you do not mess with them. You will lose. They are powerful and agressive and wealthy. They make TWI look like the Girls Scouts. They appear to be striving for mainstream acceptance but they have a long way to go.
They seem like nice people here in the community and have improved lots of buildings they bought which were a mess. Just a little strange to me. Not for me, thanks.
Any group that's into acquiring money and controlling people is going to have similiarities, imo.
I've come to believe that TWI is a lot more like the Catholic church than any other religion, especially after a documentary I saw this past week-end. Especially in the way they control information, store secrets and utilize their power and influence to manipulate people. There's also a lot of "behind the scenes" things that the general membership is totally unaware of and would balk at if they were to find out.
Or are you just talking about the way that they're "set up and run"?
Yes, this is most to the point of what I was getting at.
Over time, I am able to give less and less credit to TWI for any original thinking. Therefore, when I consider the current model of TWI (notably the latest model for the way class) I have to ask myself where they got their idea from. There is almost certainly some other group that they are using as a model for the continuance of a group, sect, NRM, cult, whatever, after the death of its charismatic founder. Scientology seems to be a model for this, although there are definitely other candidates.
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Tom Strange
TWI would have to believe in aliens wouldn't they?
Or are you just talking about the way that they're "set up and run"?
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washingtonweather
GreaseSpot Cafe > WayDale Documents > Editorial Section
The Way International and it's secret deal with the new Cult Awareness Network
In early 1998, Rico Magnelli, Public Relations officer of The Way International made a proud announcement to the Way staff at one of the weekday noon time lunch meetings.
The announcement concerned a recent telephone conversation that he had with a representative of the Cult Awareness Network.
In Magnelli's review of the telephone conversation, he excitedly and proudly stated that since a new management team had taken over the C.A.N. organization, they were now reviewing and revamping some of the information that the previous management of C.A.N. had been disseminating regarding The Way International to its callers.
Magnelli went on to say that C.A.N. was now informing callers that The Way International was not in their opinion a cult but merely an organization with differing opinions than mainstream religions. C.A.N. (according to Magnelli) did not consider The Way to be dangerous.
This news was excitedly received by the attentively listening Way staff.
Magnelli in closing his announcement said that as a result of the conversations with C.A.N., The Way had decided to make a financial contribution to the organization.
John Reynolds, the new secretary treasurer of The Way, privately admitted (with a chuckle) months later, that the Way Trustees had been aware that C.A.N. had been taken over and was effectively in the full control of adherents of the Church of Scientology.
The financial contribution made by The Way was "substantial."
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johniam
My dad read the original Dianetics book in the 40s or 50s and found it interesting. He later cooled on it when he found out that 4 of the first 15 people who read the book went insane.
Both Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan were into it.
My brother was interested in them for awhile. I don't know what degree of commitment he had to them, but in 1975/76, about a year before I got in TWI, he sent me a 17 page application form which asked me in several different ways if I had ever been part of a group that wanted to destroy Scientology. The form also wanted to know not only the color but the tint of my eyes.
Too weird for me. I never filled it out.
They've always sounded dangerous to me. Nothing Christian about them.
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igotout
No connection, just a foolish waste of Abundant sharing to make that contribution to CAN. As if COS needed TWI's little contribution.
I am near Clearwater, FL home of COS Headquarters. Needless to say there has been a lot in print around here about them. Lots can be found on the Internet about them.
Basically, you do not mess with them. You will lose. They are powerful and agressive and wealthy. They make TWI look like the Girls Scouts. They appear to be striving for mainstream acceptance but they have a long way to go.
They seem like nice people here in the community and have improved lots of buildings they bought which were a mess. Just a little strange to me. Not for me, thanks.
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WordWolf
I don't want to put in the legwork to get into this right now.
Here's my opinion, which is based on what I've read on the COS,
which is not inconsiderable.
(I'm no expert, but I've read more than a little.)
AFAIK,
there is no connection, past nor present,
between any decision-maker in twi and any decision-maker in COS.
AFAIK,
there is no connection, past nor present,
between the corporate entities of twi and COS.
That having been said,
whenever you have one man designing an organization to centralize
money and power, and putting the label of "religion" on it,
you will get similarities.
In this case, there's even more extreme versions of the way corps
and just about every progam instituted by twi, really.
L Ron Hubbard had similar motivations to vpw,
but used slightly different methods,
and thus had greater success.
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Belle
Any group that's into acquiring money and controlling people is going to have similiarities, imo.
I've come to believe that TWI is a lot more like the Catholic church than any other religion, especially after a documentary I saw this past week-end. Especially in the way they control information, store secrets and utilize their power and influence to manipulate people. There's also a lot of "behind the scenes" things that the general membership is totally unaware of and would balk at if they were to find out.
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shortfuse
Yes, this is most to the point of what I was getting at.
Over time, I am able to give less and less credit to TWI for any original thinking. Therefore, when I consider the current model of TWI (notably the latest model for the way class) I have to ask myself where they got their idea from. There is almost certainly some other group that they are using as a model for the continuance of a group, sect, NRM, cult, whatever, after the death of its charismatic founder. Scientology seems to be a model for this, although there are definitely other candidates.
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