Talk:Mary Manin Morrissey

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[edit] Cult Leader category

Is it accurate to have Mary Manin Morrissey listed in the category "Cult Leaders", alongside the likes of Jim Jones and Charles Manson? If not, she should be removed from that category (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Cult_leaders). If it is accurate, some justification of that inclusion should exist within the article itself. (209.33.234.20 22:02, 22 January 2006 (UTC))

• There seems to be no cut and dry criteria for listing leaders within the "cult leaders" category. Certainly some Scientologists would object to the inclusion of L. Ron Hubbard in that category as well. The entire category itself could be seen as dubious, as the definition of cult seems to vary from person to person. But if you look at the makeup of Living Enrichment Center, a huge but isolated facility in the wilderness (which basically amounts to a commune), a mult-million-dollar ministry built on the personality of one person, a Harley collection in the tradition of Rajneesh's Rolls Royce collection, and finally (perhaps one of the hallmarks of a cult) a financial scandal that closes the whole thing, I think many would agree that LEC was a cult. Further, there is evidence of Mary Manin Morrissey interfering in and attempting to control the personal lives of some of her followers and congregation members. 172.195.22.221 08:16, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

• The article does make reference to Mary Morrissey as something akin to a cult figure:

"Some followers even claimed that Morrissey's talks were divinely inspired and channelled directly from God. Others, however, feared that Morrissey was becoming a cult figure akin the Rajneesh (whose organization was headquartered in Oregon in the 1980s), noting how attendance dropped off when Morrissey herself was not the key speaker for a given service."

Further, the article contains a link to a blog called Intersection of Spirituality and Fleecing that contains the following commentary: "So maybe the whole thing is fair…then again, weird, cultish undertones pervade the whole deal." 207.200.116.68 12:20, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

• Also, there was constant talk in the local community that LEC was a cult. So, this is not an uncommon perception of LEC and Mary Morrissey. (172.197.234.109 14:20, 23 January 2006 (UTC))
• The article "Spirituality and Fleecing" also contains this passage:

"But those details come back to suggest other possibilities: 1) that we're dealing with a true cult, one that was devoted to the enrichment and aggrandizement of Mary Morrissey until it collapsed (sub-clause on #1 includes the possibility that Ed's under her spell);" -- Andrew Parodi 11:12, 24 January 2006 (UTC)