I posted this in the comments at the Huffingtonpost story about the verdict.
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There are reasons to cheer the guilty verdict but also reasons for concern.
This was the first time ever that a New Age exploiter was brought to justice for abusing people in an imitation of a Native religious ceremony. There are literally hundreds of such exploiters abusing people every day, all over America, Canada, Europe, and Australia, taking their money, hopes, dreams, and self respect. We have documented them over at NewAgeFraud.org.
Why weren't any of these exploiters brought to justive before? No one would have hesitated for an instant were a con man similar to Mr. Ray pose as a Catholic priest and charge people ten grand to take a eucharist as part of an alleged self help seminar. The reason is simple ignorance of Native traditions by the general public and a ludicrous claim that to do so would interfere with their First Amendment rights. Here's hoping the authorities are more willing to listen, and to prosecute, as they did in the James Ray case.
This was not even the first time an exploiter killed people with a phony and dangerous imitation of a sweatlodge. Again, we over at NewAgeFraud.org have documented such cases before. Here's hoping the authorities in California, Australia, and England look at the Ray verdict and consider prosecuting these older cases.
