Criticism
The Roman Catholic Church has labeled Samael Aun Weor's Christian Gnostic Movement as a pseudo-church and some Roman Catholic authors have accused Samael Aun Weor of trying to seduce Roman Catholic priests and nuns to abandon their vows of celibacy and practice the sexual teachings promulgated by the Gnostic Movement; these authors also believe that the current wave to discredit the legitimacy of the Roman Catholic Church comes from the same source while others go so far as to label it heresy.
As of 11 Feb 1984 or thereabouts, the Ministry of Tenerife, Spain, denied incorporation to Samael Aun Weor's Universal Christian Gnostic Church of Spain operating from 38 San Francisco St., in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, on the grounds that said organization is not a legitimate church as it does not have any record of incorporation as such in any country whatsoever.
In 1990, after numerous consultations with high-ranking members of the Roman Catholic Church and other figures who prefer to remain anonymous such as lawyers, public prosecutors, psychiatrists and psychologists, Pilar Salarrullana who has been a political figure since 1974 and is considered an expert on sects, published Las Sectas (The Sects: a living testament to Messianic terror in Spain) which became a best-seller with six editions the first year alone and in spite of its popularly inquisitorial tone, it denounces the Gnostic Movements among others as some of the most dangerous anti-social plagues in Spain.
In 1991, F. W. Haack (1935–1991), who was chief delegate of the Evangelical Church with responsibility for sects and ideologies, attacked Weor's ideology in a German book published in Zurich — nevertheless the Gnostic branches of the movement in Germany and Switzerland are still active and expanding. The Gnostic associations are active in Switzerland with a moderate following of Italian, French and German speaking members.
Read more about this topic: Samael Aun Weor
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art—and, by analogy, our own experience—more, rather than less, real to us. The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“Parents sometimes feel that if they don’t criticize their child, their child will never learn. Criticism doesn’t make people want to change; it makes them defensive.”
—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)
“Homoeopathy is insignificant as an art of healing, but of great value as criticism on the hygeia or medical practice of the time.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)