This is really strange.
A cowboy cult?
Well, not real cowboys, people who dress up like cowboys. In Sweden.
Let me try to break it down. Apparently there is this theme park, Lone Star park and conference center in Höör. The guy that runs this place, pastor Christer Segerliv, is allegedly a tyrant and forces his employees? parishioners? to engage in ritual exorcisms. Oh yeah, pastor Christer, goes by the name “Sheriff of Lone Star”.
See what I mean, pretty strange, huh? I mean, a cowboy theme park in Sweden, that’s a little goofy right there.
This is from The Local: Sweden’s News In English.
A southern Swedish religious congregation based at a cowboy-themed conference centre has been accused of harbouring a violent and extreme religious sect.
A show aired on Tuesday by public service broadcaster SVT contained interviews with former Kingdom Center members who accuse the group of being a sect, guilty of performing violent exorcism ceremonies and using child labour, Expressen reports.
According to religious affairs programme Existens, members are often bullied into working long hours at the centre, and children are taken out of school and made to work at the cowboy-themed Lone Star park and conference centre in Höör, 50 km north of Malmö.
One woman who did not want her child to work there said they threatened to take her children away.
The cowboy-theme park may look like a line-dancing paradise, but according to defectors, life under parish pastor Christer Segerliv is far from heavenly.
Calling himself the Sheriff of Lone Star, Segerliv demands total subjugation from parish members, defectors claim.
One woman who did not want to reveal her identity on the programme told of how Segerliv forced her to participate in an exorcism ceremony.
“He was supposed to pray for me but instead he threw himself on top of me and knocked me to the ground”, she said on the programme.
“It was very violent”.
The Pastor/Sheriff denies the allegations.
I'm assuming that is Pastor/Sheriff Christer Segerliv but, it could be a ranch hand, I guess.
Really, I think we need more information here. I think we need to put together a team of invesgative reporters, have them pose as Belgian tourists and infiltrate the Lone Star Park.
Related posts
Tags: Christer Segerliv, cult, exorcisms, lone star park, Sweden
Pat Darnell and Friends wrote,
From your report I see there is no evidence of polygamy, yet; only dry humping, they say, in the name of exorcising; anyone know what that is? Sounds like Branch Swedenborgian Texans from the Panhandle. A real bunch of farmers’ daughters, if you ask me.
I can call Amersfort, Holland, and recruit Geert Runhaar, and his four sons, all assassins, and his one adopted son, the Puerto Rican whirling Dervish Clogger. I also have contacts in Gothenburg, Sweden, who can pose as Absolut distributors, or gonorrheal distributors, or Disturbed distributors… .
I’ll give them all a heads up fer ya’; …Hey, don’t thank me.. it’s all part of the round-up. We’ll call it even for that other t’ing.
Link | August 23rd, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Pribek wrote,
DEFECTORS from a theme park?
Sounds like you have some worthy local cats. Obviously, the best way to uncover this operation is through covert, cell phone videos shown on YouTube.
Link | August 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Pat Darnell and Friends wrote,
DEFECTORS from a theme park?
I missed that on first go through; yeah, that must be sour grapes from some of the cohorts in the entrepreneurial initiative at Existens, Swedish Lone Star Park and Ride. These must be the ones who failed the first year.
Apprentices begin a four-year journey where they start in the Dream/Inspire/Achieve/Exorcise initiatives. If they make it past that then they continue into courses spanning design, marketing, finance, venture creation and creative falling on one’s face… over a barrel, while taking it in the ar***.
“You know, Cults are getting much more organized, these days,” said Olive Parker. “Existens has recruited from El Paso to Qatar, trying to raise Swedish Neutrality awareness through chaste homophobics, or SNATCH for short.”
I guess that explains the Lone Star part; steers and …
Link | August 24th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Pat Darnell and eFriends wrote,
Affirmative;
Ok, so I hit a muck-mire looking at the follow up on cell phones: but proves aforementioned.
From New York Times:Questions for Umberto Eco
Media Studies
Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON
Published: November 25, 2007
Q: Although you’re known best as the author of the highbrow murder mystery “The Name of the Rose,” you’re also a prolific political commentator whose essays have now been collected in a book, “Turning Back the Clock,” in which you warn against the dangers of “media populism.” How would you define that term?
Media populism means appealing to people directly through media. A politician who can master the media can shape political affairs outside of parliament and even eliminate the mediation of parliament.
[his could be a case of humors gone wild: as with that wild and funny guy Rupert Murdoch.] *excerpts*
Q: Much of your book is an assault on Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister of Italy who used his media empire to assist his political ends.
From ’94 to ’95, and from 2001 to 2006, Berlusconi was the richest man in Italy, the prime minister, the owner of three TV channels and controller of the three state channels. He is a phenomenon that could happen and is maybe happening in other countries. And the mechanism will be the same.
Link | August 25th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Pribek wrote,
The muck/mire seems like it’s an inadvertent tangent leading to a greater truth. News doesn’t happen it’s created. I’ve never heard of Umberto Eco or Silvio Berlusconi but, on the surface, it appears that he’s late to dinner in saying; “He is a phenomenon that could happen and is maybe happening in other countries.” Product development and policy are determined by study group results and the elusive sway of public opinion. There’s still a wild card that can not be anticipated; true human reaction.
That being said, the decline of reportage and the simultaneous development of the 24-hour-news hole have provided an atmosphere where agenda driven “news” is rampant.
Here’s an interesting way to see this in action. Take a look at this link on a given morning.
http://www.prnewswire.com/
Note the time of a given press release and then watch to see how long it takes to become a verbatim AP or Reuters “story” then again, see how many hours pass before the wire story is disseminated amongst local outlets.
Link | August 25th, 2008 at 3:58 am
Pat Darnell and eFriends wrote,
Okay, about ten minutes ago… this one: Kraft press release… Williams Sisters Take on ‘Second Sport’ with a Twist, Lick and Dunk”
Related links:
# http://www.dsrl.com
# http://www.kraft.com
Source: Kraft Foods, Inc. ” A Timeless Tradition”
” With its ‘twisting, licking and dunking’ ritual, ‘Oreo and Milk’ is a
classic combination that has brought families and friends together for more
than 95 years. For more information on the Oreo Double Stuf Racing League
or to see the official sweepstakes rules, visit http://www.dsrl.com.”
Start the clock to see if it appears in AOL AP
Link | August 25th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Pribek wrote,
Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080825/SPORTS18/808250376/1217/SPORTS
Link | August 25th, 2008 at 6:48 am