Shun Yen: Beautiful Art or Dangerous Cult?
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It depends on who you talk to.
People who’ve seen a performance of the Shun Yen dance troupe will tell you that it is a beautiful story of resilience and 5, 000 years of rich Chinese history and culture told through dance.
But, according to others, it’s an offshoot of the Falun Gong new-religion cult and preaches anti-science, anti-vax messages in scores of U.S. cities every year.
Shen Yun will be bringing their performance to El Paso and the Plaza Theatre February 15 and February 16. The performance interprets different regions of China and different eras in Chinese history. Tickets to either night of the spectacle can be gotten here.
So, who says Shun Yen is a cult. First, foremost and loudest, the People’s Republic of China. The religious movement was founded in China in the early 1990s. The Falun Gong is now headquartered in Deerpark, New York. In 1999, the Chinese government declared the Falun Gong an “illegal organization”. Following that pronouncement, the PRC implemented a purge of the organization with mass arrests of adherents and practitioners. U.S. government reports have estimated that half of China’s forced labor camps are made up of Falun Gong followers.
For their part, Shen Yun has never denied its association with the Falun Gong.
So, China really doesn’t like Falun Gong. This could lead to a case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Coupled with the abuses of the PRC this is not a difficult position to take. It gets dicey when you take into account what some western observers say about the movement.
“It’s definitely a cult”, is a sentiment heard from former member of Falun Gong. One former practitioner called it “the Scientology of China”. Scientology has its own set of wacky beliefs, just like every religion does. Falun Gong’s position is that science and modern medicine are bad (check that box for Scientology if you count its beef with psychology and psychiatry). Also, they believe that homosexuality is “abhorrent” (ditto that for Scientology, too). If only Scientology had been banned by an entire country…no, wait, that actually DID happen, in Germany.
Considering how deep the FG’s pockets are, Scientology should come up with a glitzy, Vegas style show. Xenu knows, they’ve already got plenty of actors, dancers and show-biz insiders in their church.
Content retrieved from: https://klaq.com/shun-yen-beautiful-art-or-dangerous-cult/.
