[walrus01]

Without stating a judgment one way or the other on the organization...

Epoch times is run by Falun Gong.

The Chinese official government line is that Falun Gong is an extremely dangerous cult that should be repressed. I've seen people on the English language internet intentionally comparing it to Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc.

In reality it seems to be more like a Chinese version of Scientology.

[kapilvt]

Hey, Scientology is about making money, aka apples and oranges. Lots of religious movements and suppression’s would be more apt, try puritans.

[opportune]

From what I've heard, Falun Gong is about making money too. It's basically "hey we'll help you and be real nice to you and help you get back on your feet. Now it's your turn to pay up with donations". Which seems better than scientology, I'd say it's most comparable to mormonism

[rqs]

Sounds like everybody on this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_lists_of_cults

As far as I know, among them, Falun Gong and The Church of Almighty God was making false promise about their ability of "getting people back on their feet".

I don't know why people here are suddenly on fire when saw me put Falun Gong and cult together. In China, we use word "神棍"[0] to describe someone who fake their supernatural ability and pretend to be the messenger of god. And the word was come out before CCP even a thing, that alone can tell you something does it?

[0] https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A3%8D%E9%A8%99#%E7%A5%9E%E...

[indigo945]

Honestly, though, Falun Gong is barely even religious. Rather, it is Qi Gong practice with some "spirituality" bullshit. It's better compared to suburban yoga studios that sell smelly candles and "mindfulness" than Scientology, and it was actually pretty popular among PRC urbanites before the crackdown.