Take Me for a Ride: Coming of Age in a Destructive CultLaxer, Mark E.
Religion
Take Me for a Ride: Coming of Age in a Destructive Cult
Laxer, Mark E.
Cults -- United States; Lenz, Frederick, 1950-
When a group of disciples' parents--known as the "Rama Mamas"--
found out about Rama's active quest for fresh material,
they alerted the press. Articles began to appear: The Santa Fe
New Mexican, "Controversial guru coming to Santa Fe", 3/24/92;
Santa Fe Reporter, "Computer Cult: Is the Leader Here?", 3/25/92;
Heart Dance: The Bay Area's Most Comprehensive Events
Calendar for Contemporary Human Awareness, Spirituality &
Well-Being, Editorial: "RAMA? UH-OH", 4/1/92; The Daily Californian
(UC Berkeley), "Zen master a fraud, followers say", 6/26/92;
San Francisco Chronicle, "Yuppie Guru Finds Cash in Computers:
Devotees pay $3,000 a month to sit at his feet", 7/30/92;
The Philadelphia Inquirer, "As guru's disciples hit town,
critics cry beware: Truth and light, the followers promise.
Fraud and suffering, the watch group warns", 8/31/92;
The Portland Oregonian, "Is Brenda Barratt reading this?
If so, phone home", 9/5/92; The Ramapo News, "College Authorities
Alerted of Cult Leader", 10/15/92; The Hartford Courant,
"Guru mixes money, mystique: Ex-followers say students exploited",
and "Traveling along the path toward enlightment", 10/18/92;
The Wesleyan Argus, "Cult Recruits Students Via Meditation Group", 10/30/92,
and "Arguses Stolen", 11/3/92, and "Cult Faces Obstacles Elsewhere;
None at Wes", 11/6/92, and "Self-Discovery Club Loses Group Status",
12/4/92, and "Wes Investigates Meditation Group's Activities", 12/4/92;
The Trinity Tripod, "Alleged Cult Sponsors Workshops On Campus", 11/3/92,
and "Meditation Workshops Exposed", 11/10/92; Peninsula Times Tribune,
"Manipulative...or merely meditative? Zen Master Rama faces serious
charges", 11/7/92; Baltimore City Paper, "Software Svengali:
Yuppie Guru Frederick Lenz Wants You For His Army Of Meditating
Computer Programmers. Step #1: Bring Your Purses And Wallets", 11/13/92;
Yale Herald, "Meditation group accused of cult recruiting", 11/13/92;
Westchester Gannett Reporter Dispatch, "ZEN and the ART of COMPUTER
MAINTENANCE", and "Flim Flam Artist or Hindu Deity?", 11/22/92;
The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Insidious Recruiting or
Innocent Seminar? Colleges Police Meetings of So-Called Cult:
Meditation group forces administrators to confront questions about
student safety", 12/2/92; New Age Journal, "The Return of Rama", 1/1/93;
Family Circle, "Do You Believe In Magic? New Light on the New
Age", 2/23/93; The Trenton Times, "Meditation or manipulation?
Guru called cult leader", and "Disciples carry Rama's word by
meditation class", 2/28/93; Santa Cruz Sentinel, "HIGH-TECH Rama:
Frederick Lenz offers a vision of affluence, for a price", 2/28/93
and "Guru's Disciples teach campus clubs: Is it a 'hustler's' scam,
or an invitation to enlightenment?", 3/1/93; The New York Times
(Westchester edition), "Mentor to Some, Cult Leader to Others",
6/20/93.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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