c. 1996 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) _ Plagued by numerous lawsuits from religious groups, the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) filed under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Thursday (June 21) after the organization’s attempts to reorganize were denied by a federal bankruptcy judge, its executive director said.

Cynthia Kisser, who runs the network from its offices in the Chicago suburb of Barrington, Ill., said she was not sure if the network would shut down.”I won’t know until I get instruction from the Chapter 7 trustee’s office,”she said.”How we will operate or if we will continue to operate in the short term, I don’t know.” Since it was established in 1974, the Cult Awareness Network has become known for its campaigns against groups it considers to be harmful cults; has provided information to families concerned about loved ones who have joined such groups; and operated support networks for former cult members.

Critics have often questioned the network’s tactics, particularly its relationship to professional”deprogrammers,”who use forceful methods to persuade an individual to leave a cult.

The Cult Awareness Network has locked horns with such groups as the Unification Church, the Church of Scientology and followers of fringe political leader Lyndon LaRouche. According to the network, Scientologists have sued the network about 50 times since 1991.

Kisser said the Cult Awareness Network’s financial difficulties are the result of a September 1995 verdict, in which the organization was ordered to pay $1.1 million.

A jury awarded Jason Scott, of Bellevue, Wash., more than $4 million in damages after finding that there was a conspiracy to deprive him of his civil rights when his mother sought to have him deprogrammed of his religious beliefs. Defendants in the case included the Cult Awareness Network, Tucson, Ariz., deprogrammer Rick Ross and two assistants.

Scott was a member of conservative Pentecostal church that his mother believed was manipulative and abusive.”The Scott case virtually brought deprogramming to a halt in this country,”said religion scholar J. Gordon Melton, head of the Institute for the Study of American Religion at the University of California at Santa Barbara.”What this judgment does to CAN is cut the communication lines that allow deprogramming to go forward.” While steering clear of deprogramming itself, Melton said, the Cult Awareness Network linked deprogrammers with family members concerned about their loved ones.

The Cult Awareness Network’s appeal in that case is pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kendrick Moxon, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented Scott in the Washington state case, filed a motion in bankruptcy court seeking the dismissal of the group’s Chapter 11 reorganization plan, which would have freed it from the threat of creditors’ lawsuits while it reorganized its finances.

Moxon, who has represented the Church of Scientology in numerous cases, said in a statement released by the church that he considers the Cult Awareness Network”a hate group that promoted religious intolerance.” When the Cult Awareness Network’s reorganization plan under Chapter 11 was denied, Kisser said her organization filed for Chapter 7 to try to protect its assets.”We are privy to confidential information about thousands of people,”she said.”In order to make sure that we were properly representing the constitutional rights of our members, our donors and the families that have called us … we felt that we needed to go under the protection of Chapter 7.” Laurie Bartilson, an attorney who has worked with Moxon in the Scott case against the Cult Awareness Network, said she expects the group to be forced to close.

Bartilson said its reorganization plan was unacceptable.”They had a Chapter 11 plan that they were trying to push through that was going to basically result in Mr. Scott getting less than 1 percent of his judgment,”she said.

An organization that is in Chapter 7 proceedings often ends up liquidating. But it could continue to operate under the direction of a court trustee if it resolves its problems and settles with creditors.

Kisser said the decision about closing the organization may depend on the timing of the appeal in the Scott case. The network’s attorney is expected to file an appellate brief in the case by late August.

The Cult Awareness Network”is hopeful that it will not be forced to close down before its appeal on the Scott case is heard, but is realistic that the appeal may not be ruled upon in time to prevent its demise,”the organization said in a statement.

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