Eckankar

Dodie Bellamy, a former “Eckankar” devotee, interviewed Dr. Lane for his article, “A Former Member Revisits the Movement.” Mr. Bellamy was genuinely surprised to find out that this legendary myth buster was an unassuming surfer dude who will go to any length to find the truth. Eckankar didn’t have a chance. Dr. Lane’s investigation of this religious movement revealed its leader had been plagiarizing copious quantities of old religious texts and pushing them off as new material.

Dr. Lane, in Bellamy’s article, points out that our society uses more brains to pick out a new car then we do to pick out a new religion or spiritual path. On “Eckankar’s” website (www.eckankar.org) they state “The purpose of Eckankar is to make God an everyday reality in your life. As Soul, you have the God-knowledge within you. The teachings of ECK will awaken the knowledge and love for the divine things that are already in your heart.” The road to God is the adventure of a lifetime.” Wow! Who wouldn’t want that? But the point is how many times are we going to be duped until we become critical thinkers? It is a question I have often asked myself.