Early this year, in the ballroom of a London hotel, a thousand disciples of India's most notorious guru-Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh-gathered to proclaim what they believe is a revolutionary discovery: to achieve enlightenment, you don't have to suffer first. Religion can and should be fun. Rajneesh claims that Christianity is obsessed with suffering; by contrast he offers a religion of ' total life affirmation '.
The tabloid papers hailed the London event as a ' Love-Cult Romp ' and a ' Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses Sex Orgy'. But is there more to the movement than the headlines and exposes suggest? Rajneesh has now left India to set up ' the largest spiritual community in the world'. '. Everyman examines the movement in England and asks: Does its growing popularity have something to tell us about the decline of conventional religion?
