Official: Falun Gong cult endangers society

The banned cult organization Falun Gong poses a grave threat to society, and the Chinese government can't just sit back and do nothing, a senior official said here today.

Ye Xiaowen, director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, briefed the press on the cult at a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council.

"Like every other cult in the world, the cult of Falun Gong poses a great danger to society," the official said, noting that its founder, Li Hongzhi, has spread heretical ideas just as other cult leaders have done.

"Li has hoodwinked Falun Gong practitioners into believing that he has many versions of being to protect them and he has installed a wheel of law in the belly of his followers in an attempt to control their mind," Ye said.

The cult leader has devised many absurd fabrications that go against science and civilized society, claiming that scientific reasoning and common sense are foolish, and that his Falun Dafa alone offers the right law and super science.

Falun Gong cult practitioners would acquire supernatural abilities as long as they persevered in practising Falun Dafa, the cult leader has said.

Li has ordered that Falun Gong practitioners not to take medicine, and he preaches that the power achieved by practising Falun Gong cult can automatically kill disease and break away with the karmic chain -- the cosmic principle that acts from previous lives are rewarded or punished in this life.

Medicine would blocks karma, Li has said, making it impossible to cleanse the body and rid oneself of diseases. If one gets over this, he will become a superman, according to the cult leader.

To convince his followers of his supremacy, "Li has also concocted a survey report of 10,000 practitioners and fabricated cases of illnesses cured by practising Falun Gong," the official revealed.

After China publicized the truth that the practice of Falun Gong had led to more than 1,400 deaths, Li, who now lives overseas, repeatedly denied that he has instructed his followers not to take any medication.

"Truth is undeniable. Numerous facts have shown that many practitioners have lost their lives only because they believed in Li's fallacies," the official said.

The official revealed that Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong organization have been involved in countless illegal activities.

Should anyone overtly criticize or even make negative remarks about Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong organization would, under the pretext of "seeking a clarification" or "safeguarding Falun Dafa," mastermind large-scale illegal gatherings to besiege and harass government institutions, media and schools, for the sole purpose of taking revenge against society.

"These activities have seriously disrupted the public order, disturbed the normal life of the people and infringed upon their freedom of speech and personal safety," Ye stressed.

Moreover, "Li Hongzhi has made a fortune out of Falun Gong illegal activities. And he has evaded taxes for most of his ill-gotten wealth," Ye noted.

At today's press conference, Ye also showed some video clips of Li Hongzhi preaching his fallacies on various occasions.

The conference was chaired by Li Bing, deputy director of the Information Office of the State Council.

(China daily 1999/11/04)