2008
2007
- On TV May 17, 2007 Highway Through 'Hallowed' Ground, By Dan Morris and Terry Moran, Nightline, ABC News (Video Included. Time 10:45)
...Mount Carmel is the infamous land outside Waco, Texas, where David Koresh and his Branch Davidian followers went down in flames in 1993 after a 51-day standoff with the federal government. Charles Pace brought his family there in the hopes of revitalizing the Branch Davidian faith and preserving the memories of those who died there...
- April 2007 Temple Members' Stories - PBS
In these video interviews, eight former Temple members -- including one who survived the deaths at Jonestown -- describe their motivations for joining...
- On TV March 26, 2007 Heaven's Gate 10 Years Later, NBC 7/39 - KNSD, San Diego, California
2006
- Movie 2006 Trailer: Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple - 2:17
- November 1, 2006 The hard legacy of Jonestown - Video - The View from the Bay, abc7news.com, KGO-TV San Francisco, California
What's it like to bear the name, "Jim Jones Jr.?" What happened at Jonestown was a national tragedy. Now the son shares how he endures the legacy of his father...
- On TV October 28, 2006 Scientology - A Question of Faith, 48 Hours, CBS News
- Video via Dailymotion
- October 2, 2006 Minister Claims To Be Second Coming Of Christ, CBS 4 (Video included.)
(CBS4) BOSTON Is he a religious savior or a cult leader? A self-proclaimed messiah from Florida says it's his job to save humanity. His church is called "Creciendo en Gracia" -- or Growing in Grace Ministry -- and there are four congregations here in Massachusetts.
The church's leader is Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda and when asked who he is, he replies "I am Jesus Christ Man. . . the second coming of Christ."
There are now 300 congregations across the world...
- February 7, 2006 Missing daughter believed to be with cult, Deanna Richards reporting, 6News Lawrence, Kansas (Video Included)
...Lahla Hunsaker, 20, was last seen on Saturday afternoon. Her parents say she abandoned her 10-month-old son, quit her job and sold all her worldly possessions to be part of a group who she calls The Brethren.
2005
- November 16, 2005 Free Stress Test Or Religious Recruiting Station?, Dave Wagner's Exclusive Report, Target 5 Investigates, WLWT-TV, Cincinnati, Ohio (Video Included)
CINCINNATI -- It is a church that critics believe is dangerous, but members say it's completely misunderstood. You may not realize it, but during this holiday season, a visit to the mall may come with an invitation to a religion that sparks passion and controversy.
Sylvia Stanard/Scientology Spokeswoman: "It's really the religion of religions."...
- Watch Video News of
- October 25, 2005 Spotting Teens Who Are Into Cults, The Early Show, CBS News
...How can a parent tell if their child is simply going through a phase or if they're mixed up in something more serious? Therapist Steven Hassan, a former cult leader, offered advice...
2004
- May 27, 2004 Warning about high pressure religious groups on campus, Maggie O'Mara, Idaho's NewsChannel 7
To view video, click "Watch Maggie O'Mara’s report" after going to link above.
BOISE -- Before you send your child off to college, you warn them about drinking and drugs. But have you ever considered warning them about high pressure religious groups? A local family says their kids were targeted on the BSU campus and they want you to know what to look out for...
2003
Video News available online concerning the International Church of Christ.
This page includes video that were available online and offline in the past.
2002
- November 12, 2002 Cults On Campus, KGTV 10News Special Report via TheSanDiegoChannel.com (SAN DIEGO -- The problem of cults is plaguing college campuses across the country, and in San Diego it's no different, 10News reported...
...A number of cult experts, like the Rev. Dr. Brian Hooper, told 10News that college campuses are ripe for finding young people vulnerable to high-pressure religious movements.
"They tend to prey on kids. They may be seen as not being really connected on campus. When they bring them in, they welcome them warmly. But once they do, they reward them and separate them from contact outside," Hooper said.
Dozens of colleges across the country have actually banned certain high-pressure groups from campus, 10News reported. And some colleges have put out a student pamphlet that warns students about cult activity...
...Former San Diego State University student Ali Ghashgaee, along with Lucy, is also a former member of the International Church of Christ.
He told 10News that he believes he was tangled up in a cult...
Steve Smith is a spokesman for the church in San Diego. He said ICOC is not a cult and that Lucy's and Ghashgaee's experiences are an exception...
Regardless, a number of groups have set up Web sites that criticize ICOC as being a cult, among them:
The following steps are recommended by experts at New York University for people who just don't feel right about a group they've met on campus: ...)
- July 30, 2002 News report on the Boston Church of Christ on FOX 25, WFXT in BOSTON, MA.
To view the web sites listed by FOX 25 that provide more information on the Boston Church of Christ go to www.fox25.com and then click on FOX 25 Undercover.
2001
- November 2, 2001 Trapped by faith?, by Vic Salazar, NBC 7/39 SAN DIEGO via the Wayback Machine (Text only available online.) (...The San Diego International Church of Christ (no relation to the Churches of Christ)...Critics say this practice amounts to mind-control and manipulation. And when someone chooses to leave the church, some say, they are made to feel as if they are trapped by faith...)
- July 19, 2001 Controversial religious group hits MTSU , Channel 4 News - WSMV-TV - Nashville (Text only available online.) (The International Church of Christ is called a cult by some religious experts because of the control they say its leaders maintain over members...)
- April 27, 2001 Part 2 "Church or Cult?" by Pam Martin, WSB-TV Channel 2, Atlanta, Georgia (Text only available online.) (A dynamic and diverse church in metro Atlanta is spending a lot of time trying to recruit young people.
It's the International Church of Christ, and it's the subject of controversy on college campuses in Georgia and around the country...
...The church describes their recruitment practices as aggressive, and the church is banned on dozens of campuses across the country, including Georgia Tech...)
- April 26, 2001 Part 1 "Church or Cult?" by Pam Martin, WSB-TV Channel 2, Atlanta, Georgia (Text only available online.) (It's being called one of the fastest growing Christian movements in the nation.
The International Church of Christ claims to have members all around the country, even the world. And just about everywhere the church goes, controversy follows...
...Anchor/reporter Pam Martin notes that the church was called a cult ten years ago when she did a story on it and that charge continues to be made...)
- April 25, 2001 KTVI-TV via LEXIS-NEXIS (...of South St. Louis thinks her son is being controlled by The International Church of Christ.)
- February 23, 2001 College Bans Church For Alleged Cult Tactics, Associated Press via WCVB TheBostonChannel.com via the Wayback Machine (An international church has been banned from meeting and recruiting members on the College of the Holy Cross campus because a school official said that the group uses tactics commonly associated with cults.
"This is an international church," Katherine M. McElaney, director of college chaplains at Holy Cross, said Thursday of the church known variously as the International Churches of Christ, the Boston Church of Christ...
..."I know their international work and reputation quite well," McElaney said. "I'm not banning it on this campus because of the impact it has already had on students here. I'm banning it because of the very destructive results and steps it's taken in the lives of others across the country."...
...The top Worcester official of the International Churches of Christ, Guy Prince, denied that the group is a cult...
...The International Churches of Christ is entirely separate from the United Church of Christ...)
- January 16, 2001 WKRC-TV via LexisNexis (Cincinnati Church of Christ banned from organizing on campus of University of Cincinnati...) (Text only available online.)
1999
- November 12, 1999
KABC-TV Channel 7 Los Angeles Eyewitness News will show how you can tell the
difference between a nurturing religion and a high
pressure group. Eyewitness News said
they will give guide lines today during the 5pm
newscast. (Included information on the International Churches of Christ/Los Angeles Church of Christ.)
- November 11, 1999 KABC-TV Channel 7 Los Angeles Tonight at 11 some say it leaves them alienated from family and friends and they say it
is all done in the name of God. Is this controversial
group helping students adjust to college life or
hurting them. Anchor Laura Diaz hit southland schools
searching for answers. It is an Eyewitness extra
tonight on ABC 7 Eyewitness news at 11. (Most of the program was on the International Churches of Christ/Los Angeles Church of Christ)
- June 20, 1999 The 'Hope on Campus' religious group is still operating on the Arizona State University campus, Fox 10 News @ Nine, KSAZ-TV (About the International Church of Christ. Source: Video Monitoring Services of America.)
- May 3, 1999 Bad cause? Some politicians honoured Hope for Kids with a big grant., WNYW-TV, Television, 10 O'Clock News (Full text available on LEXIS/NEXIS.)
- March 9, 1999 WFAA-TV via LEXIS-NEXIS (Some former members of the International Church of Christ as well as college authorities feel the church is a cult...)
- February 23, 1999 KMOL-TV via LEXIS-NEXIS (Cult. Warning about International Church of Christ and...)
- Video January 21, 1999 Cults on Campus, Fox files, Fox News (The focus of the program was on the International Churches of Christ.)
1998
- November 13, 1998 Nashville Church Sparks Debate, by Jackie Ross, Vanderbilt Loop, Vanderbilt University via the Wayback Machine
(Religious group still affecting students, soliciting on campus
The Nashville Church is the only religious organization ever to be denied a place on Vanderbilt's campus...
..."Eventually, I had a nervous breakdown because of all of the stress and confusion," she said. "I felt like I was going to hell - no matter what you do, you're going to hell - and I contemplated suicide. They're very controlling."
In a 1993 episode of ABC's "20/20", one member of the International Church of Christ echoed the same sentiment...
...Al Baird, an ICC elder interviewed on "20/20", said that the church's suicide statistics are far lower than the national suicide statistics...
...The Cult Awareness Network found that for every three people that join the ICC in one year, two drop out.
The "20/20" episode also reported that the Cult Awareness Network documented more complaints about the ICC between 1988 and 1993 than any other religious group other than Satanism and the Church of Scientology.
"That's probably because we're very rapidly growing," Baird said on the "20/20" episode. "We're one of the most rapidly growing churches in the world."...)
(The news item above mentioned the Cult Awareness Network. Read the
following article for more information on the Cult Awareness Network.) December 19, 1996 Group that once criticized Scientologists now owned by one, CNN.com)
- August 1998?: Some call a local church cult-like by Rhonda Hughes, Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 (Source: www.msnbc.com/local/KFOR/8134.asp)
- April 24, 1998 WGNO-TV ABC 26 News (Special report: International Churches of Christ. A church critics call dangerous and controlling is looking for new members on local college campuses...Tulane (University) will blanket the campus with information on cults and mind control...)
1997
- March 30, 1997 WCCO-TV The Ten O'Clock News (...Teresa Kelly said the cult, the International Church of Christ in Minneapolis, mentally abused her, and she is thankful she has her life back.)
1995
- November 13, 1995 Ministry Or Mind Control, WBTV News (Text only available online.) (News on the International Church of Christ/ICC/Charlotte Church.) (The news item above mentioned the Cult Awareness Network. Read the
following article for more information on the Cult Awareness Network.) December 19, 1996 Group that once criticized Scientologists now owned by one, CNN.com)
To view the video below, you will need the free RealPlayer.
- June 27, 1995 New Religions: The Cult Question, an MTV News special report
To view the video online go to
http://lisatrust.bogie.nl/Media/us-MTV.htm
The report has been broken up into three parts. The part that includes video news on the International Church of Christ is Part Two. (Part Two 6 minutes)
(The news item above includes information on the Cult Awareness Network. Read the
following article for more information on the Cult Awareness Network.) December 19, 1996 Group that once criticized Scientologists now owned by one, CNN.com)
- May 8, 1995 Chicago Church of Christ is called a cult by some critics... - CLTV, Chicago
1994
- December 01, 1994 Father Ronald Stanley, And Sarah Lieu Discuss A Cult-Like Religion At Rutgers University, Mark McEwen, CBS This Morning (They go by the names International Churches of Christ, or Campus Advance. But a lot of colleges have accused them of behaving more like a cult than a church. Several schools have banned them on campus, including American and George Washington Universities. And last year New Jersey's Rutgers University warned them to stop their high-pressure recruiting tactics...)
1993
- December 15, 1993 Broken Faith, Fifth Estate, CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
(Report on the International Churches of Christ - the Boston Movement - Canada's fastest growing church)
Kip McKean dodged a CBC TV reporter who asked him about negative experiences of former ICC members:
Trish Wood: "Mr. McKean? I'm Trish Wood from 5th Estate. I believe you were talking to our researcher on the phone; could we ask you a couple of questions."
Kip McKean: "Well, you know we have no comment, I appreciate�."
Trish Wood: "Could you just maybe explain to us why so many of the ex-members of your church are suggesting that there was mind control involved in their time in the church � can you explain why people are saying that?"
Kip McKean: "We have no comment at this time."
Trish Wood: "But the questions really are about you and your role in the leadership of the church. And many of the ex-members would like to know why these things happened to them."
Kip McKean: "Well, I think you�ve talked to many of the ex-members, so you have the information."
Trish Wood: "But they would like � and I think some questions are appropriate for you to answer. Why are all of these people suggesting that there was mind control being done to them, sir, while they were in your church. Mr. McKean?"
- Photo of Kip McKean and wife Elena McKean (Source: "Broken Faith" Fifth Estate, CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, December 15 1993 report on the International Church of Christ.)
- October 15, 1993 Believe It Or Else, 20/20, ABC News
- (The complete transcript is available at http://www.transcripts.tv)
- (The complete Video - Free - Available at http://www.icocinvestigation.com/2020.htm)
(ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, around the world and into your home, the stories that
touch your life, with Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters: this is 20/20. Tonight: is this a dynamic new church or religious quicksand?
NANCY CONE, former Church Member: I just wanted to escape so bad that I took a
knife and I was scratching my wrist back and forth.
ANNOUNCER: Thousands of people are drawn by its message of love, but some former members say it's brainwashing.
2nd FORMER CHURCH MEMBER: It's a mind control group that uses religion.
ANNOUNCER: They say the secrets of your past are used against you-
...
ANNOUNCER: -and sometimes your future is threatened.
Ms. CONE: He said, "You know, God's going to destroy your life."
ANNOUNCER: John Stossel investigates the tactics of one of the fastest growing churches in the country.
JOHN STOSSEL: ABC News: It's not church policy to break people?
ANNOUNCER: There's a forceful message in what they preach, "Believe It Or Else."
...
[Commercial break]
Believe It Or Else
HUGH DOWNS: When we say, "We're in touch, so you be in touch," we mean it, and our first story tonight came to us from one of you. A Philadelphia man wrote that his wife had joined what he called a cult that was controlling her mind. He was distraught and he felt that he couldn't take on such a large organization on
his own. As it turns out, this was not the first we'd heard of the International Churches of Christ. Other viewers had written similar letters, so we decided to investigate.
BARBARA WALTERS: And what we found in our search were former church members with dramatic stories of coercion and brainwashing and scare tactics. [voice- over]
Is the International Churches of Christ a cult? Well, that depends on whom you ask. There are thousands who say it has changed their lives for the better. See
for yourself what John Stossel found and you decide...)
- July 16, 1993 Complaint from the London Church of Christ, Newsnight, BBC2 (...On 16 July 1993, BBC2 broadcast an edition of Newsnight which included a detailed and critical look at the Church of Christ. The London Church of Christ, founded in 1982 by an American mission, complained to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission that the item had been unfair to
them...
...The BBC said that they had investigated the Church of Christ as a
worldwide organisation with an active subsidiary in London. It had been the programme-makers' intention to look at the global movement using the London Church as the most relevant illustration for a British audience. Several weeks had been spent researching the item and they had been careful to interview relevant and highly-qualified
experts...)
1992
- Excerpts from June 18, 1992 Cult Club? - New club is own by the L.A. Church of Christ, KCAL TV Prime 9 News (Text & Photo Excerpts available online only.) (...local cult experts are warning people to beware of a new night club opening in Hollywood tonight. It is what use to be the world famous China Club. The new club is own by the L.A. Church of Christ...)
- Excerpts from June 17, 1992 The Los Angeles Church of Christ is getting into the night club business, KCOP News 13 (Text & Photo Excerpts available online only.)
1990
- Excerpts from November 13 & 14, 1990, A special report-Is it a church or a cult?, Channel 2 Action News, KCBS-TV Los Angeles, California (Text & Photo Excerpts available online only.) (A new warning is going out to college students around Southern California tonight. University officials say a controversial church is aggressively recruiting students on several campuses here...
...They call themselves members of the Los Angeles Church of Christ...
...known nationally as the Boston Church of Christ, or the Discipling Movement. Its high-pressure recruiting practices are so controversial that in the last three years several major universities have taken the unprecedented step of banning members from holding meetings or recruiting on campus. The schools include: Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Boston University, Northeastern, Vanderbilt and Marquette...)
Date Unknown
- Date Unknown "Follow the Leader" Action 7 News KOAT-TV, Albuquerque, New Mexico (News on the Albuquerque Metro Church of Christ which is part of the International Church of Christ.) (Conclusion of the special report "Follow the Leader.")
There is more information that needs to be added to this page.
Page Updated 5/31/07 - Posted 08/04/01
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Jonestown - Jim Jones - Video
- Video - Steven Alan Hassan, M.Ed., LMHC
Strategic Interaction Approach - 2003
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