David Christopher Lane (born April 29, 1956, Burbank, California) is a professor of philosophy and sociology at Mt. San Antonio College, in Walnut, California. He is most notable for exposing Eckankar as a cult and its founder, Paul Twitchell, as a plagiarist in his book The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar. He is also notable for spotting the most radical and controversial Sage of India, Baba Faqir Chand, a great exponent of Surat Shabd Yoga. He edited and published a book with the title 'The Unknowing Sage:Life and Work of Baba Faqir Chand'. The preface of this book explains the scientific aspects of inner experiences of Surat Shabd Yogis. The book also contains Faqir's interview taken by Mark Juergensmeyer which contains almost all important aspects of Faqir's philosophy.[1]
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Lane has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in the sociology of knowledge from the University of California at San Diego. Additionally, he has another M.A. in the history and phenomenology of religion from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and a B.A. from California State University, Northridge. Lane received his A.A. from Los Angeles Valley Community College. Attended Notre Dame High School
Lane is a lecturer in religious studies at California State University who specializes in the study of new religious movements including cults.
Lane was raised Roman Catholic, but went on to be initiated in 1978 by Sant Charan Singh of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. He later had a change of heart and renounced some but not all of the teachings.
He previously taught at the University of California, San Diego, The California School of Professional Psychology, the University of Humanistic Studies, Palomar College, Mira Costa College, and the University of London and other academic institutions. He has given invited lectures at the London School of Economics, California State University, Fullerton.
In an interview in the San Diego Reader published on June 22, 1995, Lane complained about receiving death threats from defenders of several new religious movements or cults. He has also been involved in a number of law suits due to his critical stance of these groups.[2]
Lane's booklet, Why I Don't Eat Faces: A Neuroethical Argument for Vegetarianism, was published in 1993.
Lane has also produced a number of short films, including Vertical Geometry, Moving Water, Liquid Air, and Digital Baba.
Lane frequently joins discussions and debates between current and former members of new religious movements, especially on Yahoo! group he set up for use with his classes. He puts some of his discussions on The Neural Surfer, the Mt. SAC philosophy department web site which also contains Lane's online diary and essays of a satirical nature on religious topics.
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