A Taiwanese actress promoted a spiritual course offered by a south India-based organisation.

China has warned its citizens to stay alert about spiritual courses offered by Indian religious schools, warning that some of them are mired in “sexual assault” cases & urged its citizens to stay off “suspected religious cults”.

The alert was issued by the ministry of public security (MPS), China’s police, after a Taiwanese actress promoted a spiritual course offered by a south India-based organisation. It triggered a debate across the country’s social media whether the celebrity was actually promoting a “religious cult”.

“Yi Nengjing, or Annie Yi, an actress from the island of Taiwan, posted on Sina Weibo on Monday promoting lessons of Amma & Bhagavan, creators of the Oneness University based in Chittoor, India,” the tabloid, Global Times said in a report.

Following the “heated discussions” on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, the MPS & the China Anti-Cult Association (CACA) “forwarded the post & warned the public that some spiritual schools are mired in sexual assault cases”.

The actress subsequently deleted her post.

“The CACA referred to a case of a so-called Indian religious master named Singh who was reportedly arrested for imprisoning & raping nearly 200 female believers in December 2017,” the report added.

The report was possibly referring to the case of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for raping two of his woman followers.

Quoting anonymous experts, the report said the teachings & courses offered by the south Indian organisation fell within the definition of “cult”.

“The Beijing-based expert also noted that its courses are a mix of Buddhism & Christianity, which is similar to the doctrine of the South Korean Unification Church, which the State Council, China’s cabinet, considers a cult,” it said.

The Supreme People’s Court of China defines a cult as an illegal organisation that uses religion or ‘qigong’, a kind of healing practice that involves breathing exercises, as a means to deceive & ultimately control its members.

“Cult leaders whose activities result in especially serious consequences, such as the death of three or more people, can be fined & imprisoned for at least seven years,” the SixthTone website said in a report.

“Chinese authorities have long been wary of religious sects. The 19th-century Taiping Rebellion, a violent uprising led by a man claiming to be the younger brother of Jesus, lasted for 14 years & resulted in the deaths of over 20 million people,” the Foreign Policy magazine website said in an earlier report.

In 2017, according to the official news agency Xinhua, China opened a website named China Anti-Cult Network, aiming to promote the preventative measures & policies that China has for combatting cults, offer an interpretation of the anti-cult law & related information.

“The website also has a section where the public can report criminal offences related to cults. It provides psychological guidance for the victims of cults & their families, & assistance in the search for missing relatives. An online pledge called ‘Say No to Cults’ calls for the public to sign their names to show they oppose & resist cults,” the report added.

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