|
|
 |
LAUNCHING SOON
CLICK HERE to receive subscription details when online magazine "Life and Soul" launches
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Time for change at ISF |
 |
The International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) has a make-or-break opportunity this week to put right some of the wrong decisions it has made in the past year or two, when its Executive Committee holds its Biennial General Meetings (10-11 June) during its week-long Congress in Eastbourne, UK.
If it is to regain the confidence of many of its members and reassure the rest of the Spiritualist movement that it has the collective wisdom to continue running an organisation that has flourished for over 60 years, the Executive Committee must:
Take away the life membership of its disgraced former president, Mervyn Johnson, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Sweden for child rape and other offences
and
Change the venue for its 2009 Convention Week from Sweden to another country
If it chooses not to do so, then it must:
Resign and allow new blood to take the helm and guide the federation away from the perilous waters for which it is currently heading
Since I first reported that Mervyn Johnson (real name Wright) was facing very serious charges – which subsequently led to his imprisonment – I have received many complaints from ISF members who cannot understand why the Council has not thrown Johnson out of the federation and why it has decided to hold next year’s Convention Week in Sweden “as a show of support for some of our members there”.
The problem is that this demonstration of support appears not to be for the victims of his actions but for those individuals who tried to defend Johnson during his trial.
Among those who have expressed their disbelief to me that the ISF Executive Committee could behave in such a cavalier way are Mia Ottosson, Mervyn Johnson’s ex-wife; a young woman who was one of Johnson’s victims; and the Board of Karlstads Spiritualistiska Förening Oceanen (KSF Oceanen), which expelled Johnson on 1st June 2006 and has since withdrawn its affiliation to the federation. It apparently notified the ISF of Johnson’s expulsion and the reasons for it, yet he was appointed the federation’s president a month later.
Garth Willey resigned as vice president of the ISF earlier this year, for similar reasons, and the Spiritualist body is even being described on some Internet forums as an organisation that supports paedophiles.
Now is the time for action. The ISF Executive Committee must correct its mistakes or resign and let others, with greater wisdom, take over at the top.
| | 6/7/2008 4:31:00 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| SNU ends historic association with ISF |  UPDATED
UNITED KINGDOM. If the International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) thought it could shrug off criticism of its handling of the Mervyn Johnson rape case affair and carry on regardless, it reckoned without the wrath of the Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU), the movement’s leading organisation in the UK. The union has severed its links with the ISF after an 85-year association. [full story] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Death of Lyall Watson, author of ‘Supernature’ |  OBITUARY. He was often described as a naturalist, adventurer and explorer but Lyall Watson, who has died at the age of 69, was best known for his interest in the paranormal. His 1973 book Supernature, which explored mysterious and inexplicable natural phenomena, was reprinted 10 times in as many weeks, sold three-quarters of a million copies in paperback and was translated into eight languages.
[full story] |
|
| Spirit paintings on show in Paris |  PARIS. Works by Augustin Lesage, a former miner who claimed his paintings were produced by spirits, have gone on show in La Maison Rouge gallery’s summer exhibition in Paris. Examples of his art are displayed alongside those of Austrian artist Elmar Trenkwalder who was born in 1959 – four years after the death of Lesage. Lesage’s work made a lasting impression on Trenkwalder. [full story] |
|
| Memorial service for Bill Harrison |  ENGLAND. A memorial service for healer and medium Bill Harrison, whose death we reported in April, will take place at 2pm on Sunday, 13 July, at his home in Wedmore, Somerset. The garden will be open from 11am to allow people to meet up with old friends and celebrate Bill’s life.
[full story] |
|
| Comedian George Carlin dies |  CALIFORNIA. One of America’s most popular comedians, George Carlin,
died yesterday (22 June) of heart failure in Santa Monica at the age of
71. He was famous for his monologue on “seven words you can never say
on television”, which – because he used them all in public – resulted
in a lawsuit and reached the Supreme Court. It was his wit and wisdom
when sharing his thoughts about sex, language and religion that made
him special. [full story] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Other news from around the world
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
COMING SOON ...
Out-of-print or secondhand paranormal books
Want a regular reminder of what's new on www.ParanormalReview.com"? CLICK HERE to register for our free eNewsletter.
|
|
|