Fellowship critic to continue picketing

A former Fellowship of Friends member, who says the group is a cult led by a man who presents himself as a goddess in a male body, plans to picket again today near the entrance to its Oregon House headquarters.

"It is a bubble where no one gets to know what is really happening," Clara Elena Haven said in court Friday.

She left the Fellowship in 2007 after 17 years.

Yuba County Superior Court Judge James Curry issued a temporary order that puts no restraints on the signs she can carry but requires Haven to stay 50 yards from the Fellowship entrance.

"The court felt that was the appropriate distance," said Marysville attorney Richard Thomas, who represented the Fellowship.

No such limit was in place before, although Haven said she was already about 25 yards away. Haven said she doesn't mind moving that same distance. Curry set an Aug. 8 hearing on a permanent injunction requested by the Fellowship.

The Fellowship sought the court hearing over issues that included Haven picketing this month with signs asking "How many more boys, Dear?" at its property.

Her sign referring to boys "implies harm or indecencies to minors," said the Fellowship. That "has not and does not occur on the Fellowship property," the group said in court papers.

Haven, 49, said in court that Fellowship founder Robert Burton uses the term "Dear" rather than people's names when addressing members.

Burton, 68, is always surrounded by about a half-dozen young men, Haven said.

Fellowship representatives did not return calls Friday seeking comment.

The Fellowship began in 1970, according to its Web site, which states that the group was founded in the Fourth Way tradition, also known as "esoteric Christianity."

Its Yuba County property is world headquarters for more than 1,700 members, according to Fellowship court documents.

Nevada County resident Ames Gilbert, 57, a Fellowship member from 1978 to 1994, was at the court to support Haven.

Gilbert said during a break in the court hearing that the group considered people outside the Fellowship "sleeping machines" and classified them with the numbers 1 through 3. Jesus Christ was considered an 8 by the group.

"The last claim I heard from Burton is that he is a 7.3," Gilbert said. "That was in 1994."

Haven said classifications continue.

"If you're not a member, you're one of the 6 billion dead people," she said of how the Fellowship sees nonmembers as "asleep."

Two major lawsuits, the first dating back to 1984, have been filed by former members, alleging sexual misconduct by the group. A 1984 lawsuit was settled four years later for more than $500,000, according to a court filing by former member Troy Buzbee, who filed his own lawsuit in Yuba County Superior Court in 1996.

Buzbee's suit, later settled for undisclosed terms, alleged Burton used Buzbee, "among hundreds of other young men, for the partial gratification of his satyriasis, an uncontrollable compulsion to engage in sexual conduct with scores, if not hundreds of men."

The suit quoted Burton as saying, "My sexuality is on the level of super-sex."

At the time, Fellowship representatives publicly denied the suit's allegations.

Haven said that she'll continue picketing to question current Fellowship members and said that her presence near the entrance shouldn't pose a problem.

"One person standing on the side presents no threat to anyone," Haven said.

She said that members "become very dependent on the people inside."

"When you leave, you have nothing," Haven said.

Picketing is "a wonderful tool to confront people," she said. "It helps people realize they are not in a closed bubble that cannot be touched."

The Fellowship in court documents said it's preparing for its biggest annual festival at its Oregon House headquarters.

The "Going Forth By Day" event began Friday and brings Fellowship members from around the world, including Europe, Asia, South America and Mexico, according to court documents filed by the group.

Contact Appeal reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appeal-democrat.com