the silent treatment - or how to make your own religion

U of A researcher looks at a religious leader:

Edmonton-based John de Ruiter has been known to sit on stage, gaze out at his flock and say nothing for hours. When he does speak, long gaps of silence often separate his sentences. Sometimes, when he takes questions, the self-proclaimed "living embodiment of the truth" will answer with nothing more than a silent, stone-faced stare.

For more than a decade, de Ruiter's taciturn ways have managed to attract thousands of people from around the world to join his religious movement; a University of Alberta researcher has been exploring why de Ruiter's silent approach has been so successful.

Paul Joosse, a PhD candidate in the U of A Department of Sociology, recently presented his findings at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion annual conference in Portland, Oregon, and his research was published recently in the Journal of Contemporary Religion.

Joosse concluded that interpersonal silence effectively asserts de Ruiter's charismatic authority over his followers in three ways.

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Comments

[Ian McKenzie]

It sure cuts down on sermon prep time. ;)

[joseph]

I'm thinking his theme verse could be Habakkuk 2:20 - ..."let all the earth keep silence before him"

[steve the z]

The problem sounds like he doesn't stay quiet long enough, I remember watching a documentry on this dude. It wasn't very flattering, especially when they interviewed his x-wife.

every age has it's wanna be's.