Editing Chen Tao (UFO religion)

{{Short description|Religious group that originated in 20th-century Taiwan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox religion
| name               = Chen Tao
| native_name        = 真道
| native_name_lang   = zh
| type               = [[New religious movement]]
| main_classification = [[UFO religion]]
| founder            = Hon-Ming Chen (陳恆明)
| founded_date       = 1996
| founded_place      = [[Taiwan]]
| separated_from     = Soul Light Resurgence Association
| other_names        = God's Salvation Church
| website            = {{url|https://web.archive.org/web/20000818060235/http://trueway-chentao.homepage.com/|trueway-chentao.homepage.com}} (defunct)
}}

'''Chen Tao''' ({{Langx|zh|真道}}, or "True Way"), also known as the '''God's Salvation Church''', was a [[UFO religion]] that originated in [[Taiwan]] in 1996. It was founded by Hon-Ming Chen, who split it from the Soul Light Resurgence Association that he and several others had previously founded. Members later moved to [[Texas]] in 1997, where they became notorious for a highly publicized failed [[Millennialism|millennial]] prophecy.

== Beliefs and practices ==
They were a [[UFO religion]]. They mainly called themselves God's Salvation Church, but also called themselves God Saves the Earth Flying Saucer Foundation, True Way Church, or Chen Tao.{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=45}} Members wore white clothes and cowboy hats, and wore cowboy boots.{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=45}} Members of the group called Chen "Teacher Chen".{{sfn|Prather|1999|p=2}} 

== History ==
Hon-Ming Chen ({{Langx|zh|陳恆明}}) was born 22 April 1955 in [[Chiayi]], Taiwan. His mother died when he was young; Chen described his upbringing as not religiously devoted, with Buddhist parents and some observation of Chinese folk religion. He acquired a bachelors degree in political science and became an associate professor of sociology at Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, where he taught until 1993.{{sfn|Prather|1999|p=1}}{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=46}} He had two daughters.{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=46}}  

Throughout most of his life, Chen described himself as an atheist, but in 1992 he believed he received a revelation from God to live a devoted, religious life; he read a variety of religious texts, including the Christian [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament|New Testaments]], [[Buddhist sutras]], and [[Tao Te Ching]].{{sfn|Prather|1999|p=2}} He ultimately joined another UFO religion; he paid immense amounts of money to the leader of this group, before he declared that someone making money in God's name was sinful, and those that do so are actually devils in disguise. He then left the group and criticized its leader as demonic; many other members defected with him, and together they founded the Soul Light Resurgence Association (SLRA). Chen founded a church for the group, and encouraged a friend, Mao Tao Hung, to found his own. They grew from there throughout Taiwan, Chen being one of four teachers of the SLRA at four practice sites.{{sfn|Prather|1999|p=2}} 

Chen began to conceive of North America as a "Pureland of God",{{sfn|Prather|1999|p=2}} and in 1996 self-published a book declaring his worldview, advising people who agreed with him to move to the United States to surviving an impending apocalypse. He attempted to convince members at all locations of the SLRA to move with him to America. Most did not follow him, but a few did, forming Chen Tao in 1996.{{sfn|Prather|1999|p=2}} When the group moved to the United States from Asia, it was registered in the US as God's Salvation Church and first relocated to [[San Dimas, California]].<ref name="Verhovek1998" /> Adherents moved to [[Garland, Texas]], in 1997.<ref name="Britannica">{{Britannica|1547699|Chen Tao}}</ref> The group moved to Garland because the name sounded like "God Land",<ref name="Verhovek1998">{{Cite news |last=Verhovek |first=Sam Howe |date=1998-03-04 |title=Taiwanese Group Prepares to Meet God -- in Texas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/04/us/taiwanese-group-prepares-to-meet-god-in-texas.html |access-date=2023-06-26 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=12 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=46}} with Chen claiming they had moved because the East was full of "devils and devil religions".{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=45}} Despite moving to the United States, he did not speak English and spoke to the public through an interpreter, Richard Liu.{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=46}} In 1997 they had 140–160 members.<ref name="Wright2011">{{Cite book |last1=Wright |first1=Stuart A. |author-link=Stuart A. Wright |title=How Prophecy Fails |last2=Greil |first2=Arthur L. |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-90-04-21560-3 |editor-last=Tumminia |editor-first=Diana |location=Boston |pages=153–171 |language=en |chapter=Failed Prophecy and Group Demise: The Case of Chen Tao |editor-last2=Swatos |editor-first2=William H.}}</ref> Members purchased more than 20 homes in an upper-middle-class south Garland neighborhood. Like their neighbors, these followers were white-collar professionals, some of whom were reportedly wealthy. "They dressed in white, wore cowboy hats and drove luxury cars," according to ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]''.<ref name="Abshire2006">{{Cite news |last=Abshire |first=Richard |last2=Smith |first2=Andrew D. |date=2006-06-18 |title=Ministry says Armageddon is near |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/061906dnmetendtime.159937b.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112225803/https://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/061906dnmetendtime.159937b.html |archive-date=2007-11-12 |access-date=2024-06-30 |work=[[The Dallas Morning News]] |language=en-US |issn=1553-846X}}</ref>

==Failed prophecy==
The group is best known for a highly publicized, and failed, [[Millennialism|millennial]] prophecy. Shortly after moving to [[Garland, Texas|Garland]] in August 1997, Chen declared in a press conference on 22 December 1997, that on March 31, 1998, God would manifest in physical form on his front lawn.{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=45}}<ref name="Britannica" /> He then made increasingly elaborate and extreme predictions, later declaring that a week prior to this appearance, God would manifest nationwide on [[Channel 18 digital TV stations in the United States|Channel 18]], in a form identical to Chen. He would then, Chen declared, set up an office and prepare people to survive the Seventh Great Tribulation; a worldwide nuclear apocalypse which would arrive in early 1999.{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=45}}

Most onlookers and reporters found it simply amusing, but some worried for the potential of an event like the [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate]] mass suicide that had happened earlier that year. They were seen as more worrying than Heaven's Gate, due to Chen's often ominous claims and highly specific predictions. Chen denied this, saying they valued life too much to do such a thing.{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=46}} The Garland Police Department, understanding the potential gravity of the situation, coordinated resources, including religious studies professor [[Lonnie D. Kliever|Lonnie Kliever]], and were on stand-by when the international media began arriving in what had previously been an upper-middle-class section of the Dallas suburb. "Its presence unsettled many Garland residents," wrote [[Adam Szubin]] in a law enforcement case study.<ref name="Szubin2000">{{Cite magazine |last=Szubin |first=Adam |last2=Jensen |first2=Carl J. |last3=Gregg |first3=Rod |date=2000 |title=Interacting with "Cults': A Policing Model |magazine=[[FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin]] |language=en-US |volume=69 |issue=9 |issn=0014-5688}}</ref><ref name="Davis2003">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Derek H. |title=New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America |last2=Hankins |first2=Barry |publisher=[[Baylor University Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-918954-92-3 |edition=2nd |location=Waco, Texas |page=95 |language=en-US}}</ref>

When the predicted appearance did not occur, the group became confused. "The Chen Tao leader announced that he obviously had misunderstood God's plans, and members quietly returned to their homes," wrote Szubin.<ref name="Szubin2000" /><ref name="Davis2003" /> Chen offered to be [[Stoning|stoned]] or [[Crucifixion|crucified]] for the prophecy's failure, but no one took him up on his offer.{{sfn|Kliever|1999|p=46}}

== Aftermath ==
Unlike other millennial religious groups, such as [[Millerites]], Chen Tao seems to have effectively fallen apart after its leader's prophecies went unfulfilled.<ref name="Wright2011" /> Immediately after the failed prediction, some of the members had to return to Taiwan owing to [[Visa (document)|visa]] problems; in total, roughly two-thirds abandoned the group. Later the remaining members moved to [[Lockport (city), New York|Lockport, New York]]. They continued to wear cowboy hats but began stating that a war between China and Taiwan would lead to a [[nuclear holocaust]] that would result in much death, but also God's arrival in a "God plane" to save the members.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Heard |first1=Alex |last2=Klebnikov |first2=Peter |date=1998-12-27 |title=Apocalypse Now. No, Really. Now! |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/27/magazine/apocalypse-now-no-really-now.html |access-date=2010-05-03 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=41 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> They originally stated that this would occur in 1999 but later revised the date.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ostling |first=Richard N. |author-link=Richard Ostling |date=1999-12-26 |title=Some religious believers waiting for end of the world |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=47AKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=O00DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6977,4207520 |access-date=2010-05-03 |work=[[The Daily Courier (Arizona)|The Daily Courier]] |pages=8A |language=en-US |via=[[Google News Archive]] |volume=112 |issue=309 |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

Religious studies scholars [[Stuart A. Wright]] and Arthur L. Greil traveled to Lockport to interview Master Chen and observe the group post-prophecy.<ref name="Wright2011" />

==See also==
*[[Doomsday cult]]
*[[List of UFO religions]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

=== Works cited ===

* {{Cite journal |last=Kliever |first=Lonnie D. |author-link=Lonnie D. Kliever |date=1999 |title=Meeting God in Garland: A Model of Religious Tolerance |journal=[[Nova Religio]] |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=45–53 |doi=10.1525/nr.1999.3.1.45 |issn=1092-6690 |jstor=10.1525/nr.1999.3.1.45}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Prather |first=Charles Houston |date=July 1999 |title=God's Salvation Church: Past, Present and Future |journal=[[Marburg Journal of Religion]] |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.17192/mjr.1999.4.3761 |issn=1612-2941 |doi-access=free}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KaJ35xn1YU USA: GARLAND: TAIWANESE CULT GROUP PRESS CONFERENCE: AP Archive – YouTube]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPyWo4Ei5vU USA: TAIWANESE CULT DISAPPOINTED AT GOD'S FAILURE TO APPEAR ON TV: AP Archive – YouTube]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrMoOHZ0JY The Garland Cult - By Sandra Gin - An Emmy Award Winning Broadcast News Anchor: KHOU – YouTube]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen Tao (True Way)}}
[[Category:Apocalyptic groups]]
[[Category:East Asian religions]]
[[Category:Religious syncretism in Asia]]
[[Category:UFO religions]]
[[Category:Taoist schools]]
[[Category:Religious organizations based in Taiwan]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1955]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1990s]]