The Spiritual Counterfeits Project (SCP) is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

parachurch organization Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that work outside and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism. Parachurch organizations seek to come alongside the church and specialize in things that indivi ...

located in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. Since its inception in the early 1970s, it has been involved in the fields of

Christian apologetics Christian apologetics ( grc, ἀπολογία, "verbal defense, speech in defense") is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity. Christian apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle in ...

and the

Christian counter-cult movement The Christian countercult movement or the Christian anti-cult movement is a social movement among certain Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist and other Christian ministries ("discernment ministries") and individual activists who oppose re ...

. Its current president is Dr. Mark J. Harris. In its role as a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

, SCP has sought to publish evangelically based analyses of

new religious movements A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

movements, and alternative spiritualities in light of broad cultural trends. SCP has also been at the center of two controversial U.S. lawsuits, one involving church-state issues (''Malnak v. Yogi'') and the other being a religious

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

case (''Lee et al. v. Duddy et al.''). It published the ''SCP Journal'' and ''Newsletter''.

Background

The SCP began as a ministry within the

Christian World Liberation Front The Christian World Liberation Front (CWLF) was a campus outreach at the University of California, Berkeley. It sought to appeal to disenfranchised young people by adopting the mode of dress, methods, and language of the radical counterculture. It ...

, an outreach to students at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. It was founded by Brooks Alexander, David Fetcho (who named the ministry), and Bill Squires. Both Alexander and Fetcho were converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

from the

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

. Alexander had participated in the

psychedelic drug Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...

usage of the counterculture, was an initiate of

Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a ...

, and lived in the famous

Haight-Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...

community in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Fetcho had been involved with the

Ananda Marga Ānanda Mārga ("The Path of Bliss", also spelled Anand Marg and Ananda Marg) or officially Ānanda Mārga Pracāraka Saṃgha (organization for the propagation of the path of bliss), is a world-wide socio-spiritual organisation founded in J ...

Yoga Society before converting to Christianity.

History of SCP

In 1973 Brooks Alexander and others distributed Christian leaflets at

Millennium '73 Millennium '73 was a three-day festival held on November 8–10, 1973 at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, United States, by the Divine Light Mission (DLM). It featured Prem Rawat, then known as Guru Maharaj Ji, a 15-year-old guru and the leader of ...

, a festival held at the

Houston Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...

by Guru Maharaj Ji's

Divine Light Mission The Divine Light Mission (''Divya Sandesh Parishad''; DLM) was an organization founded in 1960 by guru Hans Ji Maharaj for his following in northern India. During the 1970s, the DLM gained prominence in the West under the leadership of his fourth a ...

. That same year, Alexander, Fetcho and David Haddon launched a grass-roots campaign to oppose the practice of

in American public high schools. In 1975 the SCP was formally incorporated as an "independent Christian nonprofit organization." The four primary purposes of SCP included: "1. To research today's spiritual movements and critique them biblically. 2. To equip Christians with the knowledge, analysis, and discernment that will enable them to understand the significance of today's spiritual explosion. 3. To suggest a Christian response which engages the church with all levels of situation. 4. To bring the good news of Jesus Christ and extend a hand of rescue to those in psycho-spiritual bondage."

Transcendental Meditation

The campaign against Transcendental Meditation (TM) was premised on the grounds that transcendental meditation represented itself as a non-religious activity and was promoted as the

Science of Creative Intelligence Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a ...

(SCI). The SCP maintained that transcendental meditation was not religiously neutral, and that its SCI was based on

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 1918

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

faith. The SCP's ''Right On'' newsletter was the first to publish portions of the TM teacher's manual, including details of the Puja ceremony. The focal point for an anti-Transcendental Meditation campaign was a civil action lawsuit No. 76-431 in the US District Court of New Jersey. The lawsuit ''Malnak v. Yogi'' contested whether TM was religious or not, and if the former then it could not be taught in U.S. public high schools. The

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

s, which included the SCP, presented evidence to show that puja was religious in nature and the practice of meditation presented as SCI involved chanting Hindu

mantra A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...

s. SCP's Brooks Alexander and Bill Squires, along with SCP's attorney Michael Woodruff, moved into the Malnak's home and provided research, fundraising, and legal support, respectively. Justice Curtis Meanor who presided over the case concluded that Transcendental Meditation and SCI are "religious in nature within the context of the

Establishment Clause of the First Amendment In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

, and the teaching thereof in the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

public schools is therefore unconstitutional." On February 2, 1979, the Third Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling. The success of this campaign catapulted the SCP into prominence among

evangelical Christians Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...

in North America and internationally.

Local church controversy

In 1977, SCP published an 80-page booklet called ''The God-Men:

Witness Lee Witness Lee (; September 5, 1905 – June 9, 1997) was a Chinese Christian preacher and hymnist belonging to the Christian group known as the local churches (or Local Church) in Taiwan and the United States. He was also the founder of Livin ...

and the

Local Church Local church may refer to: * Church, a congregation meeting in a particular location * Local churches (affiliation), a Christian group founded by Watchman Nee * Parish church, a local church united with other parishes under a bishop or presbyter * C ...

''. An expanded edition was published first in 1979 in German as ''Die Sonderlehre'' by Schwengeler-Verlag and then in 1981 in English as ''The God-Men: An Inquiry into Witness Lee and the Local Church'' by

InterVarsity Press Founded in 1947, InterVarsity Press (IVP) is an American publisher of Christian books located in Westmont, Illinois. IVP focuses on publishing Christian books that speak to important cultural moments, provide tools for spiritual growth, and e ...

. In the book, SCP alleged that the Local Church was both theologically and sociologically deviant. The dispute between the Local Church and SCP escalated into a lawsuit for

that was filed in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in December 1980 and known as ''Lee et al. v. Duddy et al''. According to Bill Squires, the four and a half years of pre-trial preparations and depositions involved expenditure that brought SCP into legal debt with their defense lawyers. The parties were to appear in court on March 4, 1985, to schedule the start of the defamation trial. Squires said, "The law firm representing us withdrew from the case" and SCP decided to file for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

. Squires stated, "That move imposed an immediate stay on the plaintiffs' action against us, thus ending the financial drain of litigation. On that day, SCP, while continuing its larger ministry, officially dropped out of the lawsuit." However, SCP’s version of these events has been disputed. While SCP's Chapter 11 filing was proceeding through California

bankruptcy court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...

, action against the German publisher and the second edition's primary author proceeded, resulting in a finding that the book was "in all major respects false,

defamatory Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

and unprivileged, and, therefore,

libelous Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

." The judge’s award of US$11.9 million in

damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...

was to that date the largest awarded in a

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

case.

Post-litigation history

In the aftermath of the litigation, SCP sharply reduced staff and services. In 1989, the entire editorial staff and many other staff members left, some over what they perceived as a radical shift in SCP’s ideology. In 2013, SCP left its office in Berkeley because of severe financial problems and established a virtual office in

. Tal Brooke moved to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

but continued as SCP's president and editor of its newsletter. On July 15, 2021, Tal Brooke died of a stroke while in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and SCP Vice-President Mark Harris took over as president and editor of SCP.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Evangelical parachurch organizations Christian countercult organizations Christian organizations established in 1968 Religion in the San Francisco Bay Area Organizations based in Berkeley, California