David C. Lane
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David Christopher Lane (born April 29, 1956 in Burbank, California) is a professor of philosophy and sociology at Mt. San Antonio College, a community college in Walnut, California. He is also a lecturer in religious studies at California State University, Long Beach. He specializes in the study of new religious movements including cults and has been very critical on the internet and elsewhere about several groups such as Eckankar, the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, Radhasoami gurus, and the Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba.
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Raised Roman Catholic, Lane was initiated in 1978 by Sant Charan Singh of Radha Soami Satsang Beas but later had a change of heart and renounced some but not all of the teachings. Template:Ref.
In 1978 when Lane was in his early twenties he wrote a thesis about what he saw as plagiarism by Paul Twitchell of his former teachers. Twitchell is the founder of a new religious movement called Eckankar and Lane's writings about Twitchell and Eckankar resulted in a major enduring controversy about Eckankar. Lane's writings about Eckankar have been copiously cited by religious scholars and critics of new religious movements. Doug Marman, himself a member of Eckankar, wrote a book published online Dialogue in the Age of Criticism that addresses the criticisms of Lane and others against Eckankar. Template:Ref Template:Ref
Lane has published a number of books and contributed articles to the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, FATE, Laughing Man, the Movement Newspaper, and to number of encyclopedias. His review of Francis Crick's life and work was featured in the University of California's science and mathematics magazine.
His biography is featured in the Encyclopedia of Parapsychology. He has appeared in television broadcasts dealing with the subject of cults. His life and work was featured in a cover story in the San Diego Reader in 1995.
Lane was instrumental in helping Peter McWilliams write his book, LIFE 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You, which caused a world-wide uproar in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, lead by John-Roger, (Roger Delano Hinkins).
Lane has previously taught at the University of California, San Diego, The California School of Professional Psychology, the University of Humanistic Studies, Palomar College, Mira Costa College, and the University of London (semester abroad program) and other academic institutions. He has given invited lectures at the London School of Economics, California State University, Fullerton. He has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in the sociology of knowledge from the University of California at San Diego. Additionally, Lane has another M.A. in the history and phenomenology of religion from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and a B.A. from California State University, Northridge. Lane received his A.A. from Los Angeles Valley Community College.
Lane's M.A. thesis, Radhasoami Mat, was passed with highest honors at GTU. He has received numerous teaching awards during his twenty-five year teaching career. Lane has also presented talks to the American Academy of Religion, including paper presentations at Stanford University, Fuller Theological Seminary, and the University of California, Berkeley and served as a Research Assistant to Professor Mark Juergensmeyer, U.C. Berkeley, in late 1970s and 1980s. His genealogical work was featured in Radhasoami Reality (Princeton University Press, 1991).
In an interview in the San Diego Reader which was published on June 22, 1995, Lane complained about receiving death threats from defenders of several new religious movements. He has also been involved in a number of law suits due to his critical stance on several new religious movements. [1]
Lane's booklet, Why I Don't Eat Faces: A Neuroethical Argument for Vegetarianism, was published in 1993 and is featured worldwide on a number of vegan and vegetarian websites and is widely cited and referenced. Lane has been a lacto vegetarian for over 32 years.
Lane has also produced a number of short films, including Vertical Geometry, Moving Water, Liquid Air, and Digital Baba.
Lane received a Regents Fellowship to attend the University of California, San Diego, for his Ph.D. He has also received an OGSR Travel Grant in 1987 to collect rare books and manuscripts in India. Lane was a recipient of an NEH grant in 1993 at the University of Hawaii.
Lane frequently joins discussions and debates between current and former members of new religious movements, especially on Yahoo! group he set up for use with his classes. Some of these discussions end up on The Neural Surfer, the Mt. SAC philosophy department web site which also contains Lane's online diary and his essays of a satirical nature on religious topics and personalities. According to Alexandra Nagel in her 2001 article For and Against Sathya Sai Baba on the Internet, Lane was an early internet critic of Sathya Sai Baba (SSB), one of India's most famous contemprary gurus and she wrote further that the SSB yahoo club that he founded and moderated was important in disseminating critical information about him.'SSB on the Internet'.html
Personal information
David Lane has also had a successful athletic and bodysurfing career. He won the World Bodysurfing championships in Oceanside, California, in 1999. He has won the International Bodysurfing Contest held in Manhattan Beach, California four times: 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2004. Lane came in fourth at the Point Panic World Bodysurfing Contest held in 1998 in Oahu, Hawaii and came in second twice at the Carlsbad International Bodysurfing Contest held in California in 1997 and 1998. Most recently Lane came in fourth at the World Bodysurfing contest in Oceanside in 2003, fifth at the United States Cold Water Bodysurfing championships, and first at the International Bodysurfing Contest in Manhattan Beach in 2004.
David Lane has one child named Shaun-Michael who was born on August 22, 2000. His father, Warren James Lane, was an attorney before he died unexpectedly on December 6, 1973. His mother, Louise S. Lane, was born on June 7, 1921, and worked as a Talent Coordinator for the television show General Hospital for some fourteen years after her husband died.
Bibliography by Lane
- Making of a Spiritual Movement (1978)
- The Radhasoami Tradition (1992)
- The Unknowing Sage (1993)
- Exposing Cults (1994)
- DA: The Strange Case of Franklin Jones (1995)
- The Enchanted Land (1995)
Bibliography about Lane
- Who's Who in the West (1990)
- Marquis Who's Who in the World (1997)
- Who's Who in the United States (1998)
- French Encyclopedia on Bodysurfing.
References
- Template:Note Dialogue in the Age of Criticism (2000), Available online
- Template:Note Eckankar, The Religion of Light and Sound, The Religious Movements home page at the University of Virginia written by a student of Jeffrey Hadden (2000) [2]
- Template:Note Yahoo! Group davidchristopherlane message.