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Cult: Cancer to Human CivilizationWhen the first group of at least 530 victims who were alleged to have "committed mass suicide" under the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments were found on 17 March in a church near Kunungu in Uganda, the whole world shocked. But the tragedy is far from ending there for several mass tombs having been excavated to show a death toll of as many as 760 including more than 160 children in the days followed.Investigations by concerned departments of Uganda disclose that the tragedy is the result of murder for egoist gains by leaders of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, thereby revealing fully the ugly anti-human, anti-society and anti-science nature of the cult. Anti-science is a common feature to all cults, a virulent cancer to human civilization. The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments was set up in 1989 by Joseph Kibweteere, a fanatic cult founder who claimed that Jesus had ordered him to create the cult and that the world would end on 31 December last year. But when this "doomsday" prediction failed him, he and his cohorts further dished out the saying that "there won't be the year of 2001" to speak of and people should sell off their possessions and surrender their money to join them, otherwise they could not "ascend to Heaven". Deceived and deluded by the like heresies, 530 members of the "Ten Commandments of God" sect gathered in the church 200 miles southwest of the capital Kampala on March 17 and set themselves on fire after a whole night of reciting and chanting of scriptures. With windows and doors sealed off, all people in the church including 78 children were burned to death. "Salvage human beings" is the slogan commonly used by all cults, but investigations by Uganda's police show that when Joseph Kibweteere swindled his followers to "ascend to Heaven and see God", he also took into possession large amounts of money "donated" by his followers after selling off all their possessions. But, Joseph Kibweteere himself became rich overnight and purchased real estates and cars with the money. Authorities believe, sect members asked for the return of the money and possessions they surrendered in joining the sect when the prediction of the world would end on 31 December last year failed, then the "mass suicide" was fabricated by Joseph Kibweteere and his company. The head of the cult claimed that those died in the church are "unconstrained and willing to go to Heaven". However, Uganda's police said the fact is not so. From corpses found near the gate of the church people can see that many had wanted to escape the place. Witnesses also say that they had heard calls for help and victims with their heads bumping on the walls. What's more, the newly excavated mass tombs of the cult members also prove that they had been murdered or forced to die with some strangled or poisoned while some others had obviously been stabbed to death among the 230 corpses found. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni denounced the "mass suicide" as "a terrible and crazy tragedy", saying that such cults "truly exploit the miserable conditions of the population - unemployment, and things like that". The government has ordered a further investigation into the incident and a series of measures have been adopted to prevent new occurrences of like tragedy in Uganda. To crack down on cult is not only the urgent task for those countries with victims found, but also the common responsibility for the whole international community. To fight against cults and guarantee social stability, the countries related have seen to it that resolute measures have been adopted. Minister of the Office of Ugandan President Ruhakana Rugunda said March 27 that the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments is similar to China's "Falun Gong" cult, deceiving and doing harm to those who had been readily made an easy prey to cultist deceit. He stressed that Uganda gives high praise of China for its severe measures taken to impose a ban and crackdown on cults and that it will stand by the side of China in its battle to fight "Falun Gong". Meanwhile, Tanzania, Rwanda and other African countries have also made it clear lately that they will never allow heretic cults to destabilize social security and that will severely deal with any cult bringing harm to their people as the one that has brought disaster to the Ugandan people.
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