Editing J. Z. Knight (section)

==Controversy and criticism==
{{see|Ramtha's School of Enlightenment#Controversy and criticism|Mediumship#Fraud}}
Skeptics point to Ramtha's story as proof that he does not exist. Ramtha claims to come from the continent of [[Lemuria (continent)|Lemuria]] and to have conquered [[Atlantis]]. The existence of the two locations is considered legendary, and neither has been found. Furthermore, the claim that Ramtha led an army of 2.5 million contradicts [[World population#Population figures|estimates of the world population]] in 33,000 BC, and her claims of [[clairvoyance|clairvoyant]], [[telepathy|telepathic]], [[telekinesis|telekinetic]], and other [[extrasensory perception]] abilities, for which there is no scientific support, have been heavily criticized by skeptics and scientific communities.<ref name="skeptic">For telepathy, see for example, Randi, James. ''Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions''. Prometheus Books (1982) {{ISBN|0-87975-198-3}} or<br />Charpak, Georges and Henri Broch. Translated by Bart K. Holland. ''Debunked!: ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience''. The Johns Hopkins University Press (2004), {{ISBN|0-8018-7867-5}}</ref><ref>"It would be foolish to accept [psychokinesis] (...) without solid scientific data": {{cite book |first=Carl|last=Sagan|year=1995|title=The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark |pages=208–212|isbn=978-0-7472-7745-3|publisher=Headline|title-link=The Demon-Haunted World}}.</ref ><ref>{{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.| title=The Meaning of It All|year=1999|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-027635-0|pages=68–71}}</ref><ref>Randi, James. [http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/parapsychology.html ''An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural'']</ref>

Magician and [[skeptic]] [[James Randi]] said that Ramtha's believers have "no way of evaluating [her teachings]",<ref name="randi">{{cite web|last=Randi|first=James|author-link=James Randi|title=Ramtha Raves|date=29 April 2005|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/042905some.html#13|access-date=19 November 2009}}</ref> while [[Carl Sagan]], in his book ''[[The Demon-Haunted World]]'', says that "the simplest hypothesis is that Ms. Knight makes 'Ramtha' speak all by herself, and that she has no contact with disembodied entities from the [[Pleistocene|Pleistocene Ice Age]]." He goes on to write a list of questions that Ramtha's answers to would help us determine whether he is actually a disembodied entity from the [[Upper Paleolithic|Paleolithic times]] (such as "What were the indigenous languages, and social structure?", "What was their writing like?" or "How do we know that he lived 35,000 years ago?"), and ends by saying that "[i]nstead, all we are offered are banal homilies."<ref name="sagan"/>

Knight's former husband, Jeff Knight, in a 1992 interview with Joe Szimhart, said that Ramtha's teachings are a "farce" and that they are "just a {{sic|money making}} business for [JZ Knight]". He also said that students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment are "involved in a very dangerous, very evil corrupt thing".<ref name="jeffknight">{{cite video|people=Knight, Jeff & Szimhart, Joe|title=The Jeff Knight interview 1992. JZ Knight. Ramtha. Cults.|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM450bLdDEI|location=YouTube|date=1992}}</ref>

Attacks and criticism against Ramtha's teachings and Ramtha's School of Enlightenment have also been made by former students of the school. David McCarthy, a Yelm resident and student of the school between 1989 and 1996, has accused the school of being a [[cult]]. He further claims that he was intimidated during his studies there and felt like Knight and the school were exerting mind control. He said, "At one point, I was running around scared I was going to get eaten by the [[Reptilian conspiracy theory|lizard people]]."<ref name="olympian2">{{cite news|last=Brenner|first=Keri|title=Disillusioned former students target Ramtha|url=http://www.theolympian.com/689/story/339950-p4.html|date=January 27, 2008|access-date=November 19, 2009}}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> McCarthy became disappointed, not only with his own experience of Ramtha's teachings but also as he had cut ties from his family to become a student as they lived in a different country.<ref name="McCarthy">{{cite video|people=McCarthy, McCarthy, David|title=LARSE Gathering|url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6221582947106872287&hl=en#|date=2006}}</ref> This prompted McCarthy to create a group called "Life After Ramtha's School of Enlightenment," which questions the authenticity of Ramtha and encourages individuals to share their experiences after realizing that Ramtha's School of Enlightenment is a cult. The school has also been characterized as a cult by skeptic [[Michael Shermer]] in his book ''[[Why People Believe Weird Things]]''.<ref name="shermer">{{Cite book|last=Shermer|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Shermer|title=Why People Believe Weird Things|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|location=New York|year=2002|page=295}}</ref>

During an interview with David McCarthy, Glenn Cunningham, a former bodyguard of JZ Knight, shared insights into the workings of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. He criticized several activities, such as trademarking ideas and phrases that originated from other authors long before. For instance, the concept of the "Blue Body" and the blending of [[quantum physics]] with New Age ideas can be traced back to [[Vera Stanley Alder]]'s ''From the Mundane to the Magnificent'' published in 1979. Cunningham pointed out that he observed similarities between Knight and Ramtha, including the mispronunciation of words and the quoting of the same books Knight had read.<ref name="cunningham">{{cite video|people=Cunningham, Glenn & McCarthy, David|title=Glenn Cunningham Interview|url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9124849147412897371#|date=2001}}</ref>

Furthermore, Ramtha's teachings as they are portrayed in the movie ''[[What the Bleep Do We Know!?]]'', not only in the general gist of the film (which was directed and funded by students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment) but also in instances where Ramtha is interviewed on screen, have been [[What the Bleep Do We Know!?#Academic reaction|heavily criticized]] by the scientific community,<ref name="Physics-Today">{{cite journal |last=Kuttner |first=Fred |author2=Rosenblum, Bruce |title=Teaching physics mysteries versus pseudoscience |journal=[[Physics Today]] |volume=59 |issue=11 |page=14 |date=November 2006 |url=http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_59/iss_11/14_1.shtml |doi=10.1063/1.2435631|bibcode=2006PhT....59k..14K |doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="boggle">[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/may/16/g2.science "The minds boggle".] ''[[Guardian Unlimited|The Guardian Unlimited]]''</ref><ref name="ABC">[http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/bleep/ What the Bleep are they On About?!] ''Australian Broadcasting Corporation''</ref><ref name="ACS">{{cite news |last=Wilson |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Wilson |title=What the Bleep Do We Know?! |publisher=[[American Chemical Society]] |date=2005-01-13 |url=http://pubs.acs.org/cen/reelscience/reviews/whatthe_bleep/ |access-date=2007-12-19}}</ref> and skeptics,<ref name="csicop">[http://www.csicop.org/si/show/what_the_do_they_know Review] by Eric Scerri of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry</ref> such as [[James Randi]].<ref name="Pigasus">[http://www.randi.org/jr/040105capitalizing.html#11 2004 Pigasus awards] ''[[James Randi Educational Foundation]]''</ref>

===Court cases===
Knight has been involved in several personal and business-related court disputes. She brought a suit against a woman from [[Berlin]] named Julie Ravell for disturbing Knight's psychic state and leaving her "hanging in spiritual limbo" during the five years Ravell claimed she was also channeling Ramtha. The case was brought to the supreme court in Vienna and lasted over five years, at the end of which Austria's supreme court awarded copyright to Knight as the sole channeler of Ramtha, and Ravell was made to pay $800 in psychic damages to Knight.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news|last=Connolly|first=Kate|title=Medium wins channeling right|date=June 9, 1997}}</ref> Another case involving copyright and trademark ownership was ''JZK, Inc v Glandon'', in which Joseph Glandon was accused of distributing copyrighted teachings of Ramtha.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

In ''Knight v Knight'' (1992–1995), Jeff Knight claimed he lost years of life by delaying HIV treatment based on his wife's advice that Ramtha could heal him. The court ruled against him, and he died before appealing.<ref name="szimhart">{{Cite document|last=Szimhart|first=Joe|title=Essay on Gordon Melton's Study on Ramtha|publisher=Self|date=July 1998}}</ref>

Through JZK Inc., Knight accused WhiteWind Weaver, a [[Thurston County, Washington]], citizen, of stealing her ideas and using her and Ramtha's teachings in her workshops. A trial began on March 10, 2008, in Thurston County Superior Court; at the end of it Knight, was awarded about $10,000 after the court decided against WhiteWind Weaver.<ref name="oregon">{{cite news|last=Rollins|first=Michael|title=Ramtha 1, Whitewind Weaver 0|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/ramtha_1_whitewind_weaver_0.html|date=September 16, 2008|access-date=November 20, 2009|work=The Oregonian}}</ref>

Knight also refused to attend court as a witness in a case involving a 15-year-old who claimed rape against two students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. The 15-year-old girl had written a letter to Knight, which mentioned that Wayne Allen Geis, her dancing and acting teacher, had engaged in sexual intercourse with her from 1995 to 1997. The illicit activities had also involved Ruth Beverly Martin. They had apparently told the girl that sexual intercourse would help her relax and improve her acting ability. Knight invited the girl to a retreat at the school in November 1999. In the retreat, Ramtha questioned the girl, her father, Geis, and Martin. This inquiry took place on stage in front of an audience of over 800 people for about an hour. Geis and Martin confessed to having molested the girl, and the school contacted authorities. Charged with 10 counts of first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, Geis and Martin pleaded not guilty, and the case went to trial.<ref>Wilson, Kimberly A.C., ( October 4, 2010) [http://www.seattlepi.com/local/ram04.shtml "'Ramtha' may take stand in rape case"]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved October 15, 2010.</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=December 2022}} Prosecutors were reluctant to have Knight appear in court due to the "circus atmosphere" that would have been created. Knight herself claimed that she had been in a trance and did not remember anything of what was said in the retreat inquiry.<ref>Associated Press, (October 10, 2010) [http://www.seattlepi.com/local/ram10.shtml "'Ramtha's channeler' can't testify"]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Retrieved October 15, 2010.</ref>