: Using religious movements in novels without getting sued? I am writing a book which takes a pretty negative view of the Hare Krishna movement (note that evidence of this within the ISKCON actually

I am writing a book which takes a pretty negative view of the Hare Krishna movement (note that evidence of this within the ISKCON actually exists). I don't have anything against HK, but portraying them as an shady organisation works as a central plot device. The book is going to be an absurdist/extremely exaggerated crime fiction set in India. ISKCON is a religious organisation based on the Hindu Scriptures. Surly I cannot be sued for portraying Hare Krishnas in a bad light, but perhaps I should steer clear of mentioning ISKCON? Any ideas?

Thanks.

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@Carla500

Surely I cannot be sued for portraying Hare Krishnas in a bad light, but perhaps I should steer clear of mentioning ISKCON?

I'll start by noting that, as far as I can tell, ISKCON and the Hare Krishna movement are the same thing. If you are portraying the Hare Krishna movement, you are portraying ISKCON, even if you're not calling them by that name.

As to whether they can sue you... yes, they absolutely can. If you portray them (or any other real-life organisation) in a manner that they disapprove of, they can sue you for libel. I'm not saying they will, but they could - I am not a lawyer, but as far as I know, there is nothing legally protecting you from being sued by a religious organisation or its members.

If your novel really requires a shady religious organisation to act as the villains, the best option is just to invent one. Not only does this eliminate the risk of being (successfully) sued, it also gives you much more creative freedom: every aspect of the organisation can be invented from scratch to perfectly fit the absurdist tone of your novel, rather than you having to twist or exaggerate things.

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: Using religious movements in novels without getting sued? I am writing a book which takes a pretty negative view of the Hare Krishna movement (note that evidence of this within the ISKCON actually

More posts by @Kristi637

: Citing a paper presented at conference I have found this source for a research project. From what I can see, it was presented at the Institute for New Economic Thinking: Plenary Conference.

: Bad to start story with VR/non-real scene? I'm coming up with an outline for a cyberpunk story. I want to establish (at some point) that the main character has marksmanship proficiency by starting

: When to write (see Section ...) or simply (Section ...)? I am writing a technical paper and would like to refer to a previous section in brackets. I have seen it done both ways: Things are

: Is it alright for a English YA novel to have anime illustration? In the beginning, I want write and self publish (or traditionally publish if possible) a original English light novel (OELN).

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