Richard Abanes

rdf:langString Richard Abanes

rdf:langString Richard Abanes (/əˈbɑːnɪs/; born October 13, 1961) is an American writer and actor. As an author/journalist, Abanes specializes in the area of socio-religious issues, cults, the occult, world religions, the entertainment industry, and pop culture. Since 1994 he has written/co-written twenty books (as of 2009) covering a broad range of topics. In 1997, for his work on intolerance in North America (see American Militias: Rebellion, Racism, and Religion, InterVarsity Press, 1996), he received an award from The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. Also in 1997, Abanes won the Evangelical Press Association's Higher Goals In Journalism Award for his article on the various religions in America. This volume is currently being used as cited source material in teaching/training literature distributed by: the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point; the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security; the U.S. Dept. of Defense; and the Center for Complex Operations, U.S. National Defense University. As a lecturer on diverse social, religious, and historical topics, he has been a guest speaker at various institutions, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Caltech, Mensa, California Baptist University, and Biola University. Abanes also has been interviewed on various radio and TV programs and networks including the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, Extra, and Hard Copy as an authority on cults, religion, pop culture, and the entertainment industry.