Cult News 101 - CultNEWS101 Library

Vernon Katz and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, writing outdoors surrounded by books and papers

2026-04-14T19:52:32.470-04:00

Anthony Hardy

Guardian

April 14, 2026

My friend Vernon Katz, who has died aged 98, was a childhood Kindertransport refugee from Germany; he escaped the Holocaust and went on to become an Oxford scholar.

His postgraduate studies there in Indian philosophy aroused a strong desire to experience for himself what was described in the literature. That wish was fulfilled when, in 1960 in London, he met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who taught him transcendental meditation.

The Maharishi invited Vernon to help with his translation and commentary on the Bhagavad-Gītā, published in 1967, which at the time sold more than a million copies and helped to revive Vedic knowledge. Vernon recalled: “The Gītā was translated and discussed on land, sea, and in the air, in townhouses and country houses, by the Thames and by the Ganges, in the Alps, and on the canals of Venice. I had never known such happiness as this work with Maharishi.”

Later he assisted Maharishi in translating the Brahma Sutra, another key text of Indian philosophy. On reviewing the recordings made during their work together, Vernon created two volumes of Conversations with Maharishi, published in 2011 and 2018. In addition he wrote, with Thomas Egenes, The Upanishads: A New Translation (2015).

He also wrote a memoir of his childhood in Germany and early years in Britain, The Blue Salon and Other Follies: A Jewish Boyhood in 1930s Rural Germany (2008).

The son of Emmy (nee Silberbach) and Hermann Katz, Vernon was born in Herford, Germany, into an affluent Jewish family who owned a brushwork factory. He enjoyed a comfortable childhood until the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s. In March 1939 he boarded a Kindertransport train to Britain. He later said: “I thought the people there were angels, they were such good people. I love this country, because it saved my life.” Both his parents, who had been imprisoned, were able to join him in the UK before the outbreak of the second world war and established a knitwear business in London.

In 1947 Vernon began studies in philosophy, politics and economics at University College, Oxford, where his undergraduate tutor was Harold Wilson, the future prime minister. He went on to postgraduate studies in Indian philosophy, and his graduate adviser was Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who subsequently became president of India.

For an important part of his life Vernon lived in London, where he managed his thriving knitwear business – a business partner made it possible for him to travel and engage in his scholarly work. In 2014 he settled in Suffolk.

For many decades he served as a trustee and visiting professor at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, in the US, where he lectured on Sanskrit literature. He was fluent in English, German and Italian, and greatly enjoyed making English translations of ancient Sanskrit texts.

He is survived by seven cousins – Yvonne, Anita and Ralph in the UK, and Stephen, Ralph, Terry and Pam in the US.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/apr/14/vernon-katz-obituary

In The New this week (April 4–11, 2026)

2026-04-11T09:16:00.000-04:00

This week (April 4–11, 2026), cult-related media is dominated by the release of a major documentary series uncovering a "False Prophet," new investigative books exploring the psychology of recruitment, and updates on high-profile cult trials.

Top News & Features

Netflix's Trust Me: The False Prophet: This week’s biggest release, the four-part docuseries Trust Me: The False Prophet (April 8, 2026), exposes the rise of Samuel Bateman. Bateman declared himself the successor to imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and was eventually sentenced to 50 years in prison for child sex crimes and kidnapping.
Ongoing Control from Prison: New reports this week highlight that Bateman continues to exert "daily indoctrination" over his remaining adult followers through frequent phone calls from prison, raising concerns about the persistence of his influence.
Survivor Interviews: Survivors like Nomz Bistline, one of Bateman’s former adult wives, have come forward in interviews this week to warn that "it can happen to anyone," describing the psychological isolation and eventual freedom found only after his arrest.

New Books & Investigative Reports

"What Draws People Into Cults?": A widely discussed new book released this week tracks the journeys of two followers to answer why "smart, educated people" fall for high-control groups. It emphasizes that no one "joins" a cult; they join what they believe is an "alternative community" that gradually transforms.
Warren Jeffs Update: On April 11, 2026, People published a deep dive into the life of Warren Jeffs nearly 20 years after his initial arrest, examining how his crimes and the FLDS community continue to impact the public consciousness decades later.

Legal Developments

Hmong Prophet Sentencing: In Northern California, cult leader Vang is scheduled for sentencing on April 14, 2026, after being found guilty of molesting and raping followers in a community he built at the base of Table Mountain.
Kenya Doomsday Cult Trial: Ongoing testimony in Kenya continues for the manslaughter trial of an evangelical pastor whose doomsday sect led to the deaths of hundreds of followers through forced starvation.

In The News

2026-04-11T09:08:00.001-04:00

Last week (the first full week of April 2026), cult-related media focused on high-profile legal sentencing for an extremist leader, critical book reviews on religious control, and the intersection of viral fame with cult-like behavior.

Recent News & Sentencing
Mormon Fundamentalist Leader Jailed: Samuel Bateman, a leader of an FLDS offshoot sometimes called the "Samuelites," was sentenced to 50 years in prison following an undercover investigation. He was convicted for child sex crimes and child abuse involving more than 20 "wives," many of whom were children.

New Evidence in Child Sex Crimes Case: A pastor of an alleged cult in Augusta was recently charged with child sex crimes after the feds searched for more victims

New Books & Commentary
The Oracle’s Daughter: A New York Times book review discusses Harrison Hill's exploration of how "tyrannical utopias" and the desire for religious freedom can transform into oppressive environments that sacrifice collective safety for a leader's control.

Memoirs of "Aggressive Christianity": A recent Guardian interview with Sarah Green detailed her survival within her mother’s cult, describing a regime where members were forced into locked sheds as "divine punishment".

Cultural & Political Analysis
Social Media & Evangelism: Discussions have surfaced about how modern social media platforms act as catalysts for "cult followings" by amplifying aggressive evangelism and making it easier for high-control groups to isolate themselves from mainstream views.

Documentary Releases

How I Escaped My Cult: This Disney+ series has seen renewed interest, providing a lens into modern-day trauma and the investigative work required to take down oppressive leaders.

Imprisoned Leader of Egyptian-Themed UFO-Obsessed Cult Seeks Compassionate Release

2026-04-10T08:35:27.775-04:00

Chris Harris

AOL

April 10, 2026

The leader of a Black supremacist Egyptian-themed cult is seeking early release from federal prison, claiming in papers filed last month that he suffers from a recurring medical condition that causes parts of his body to swell.

Dwight "Malachi" York, a former writer and musician, founded the UFO-obsessed United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors in 1967. He was arrested on May 8, 2002, after authorities raided the cult’s Georgia “Tama-Re” compound, and was accused of molesting dozens of children.

York, now 80, was convicted of transporting minors across state lines for sexual purposes and financial crimes. He has been in prison since 2004, serving a 135-year sentence at the ADX Florence Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

York's petition, filed February 13, claims he suffers from complications caused by hereditary angioedema, a rare condition that causes severe swelling that can kill if it affects the throat and constricts one's airway.

The filing claimed that the medical treatment York receives at the prison is substandard, at best.

"This motion is not about revisiting Mr. York’s past," his attorney, Judith Delus Montgomery, wrote in her client’s petition. "It is about his present reality: an elderly man with a serious and potentially fatal medical condition who requires care the prison system cannot provide."

Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, who was part of the team that investigated the initial claims against the cult, objects to York's release.

“This man here is a serial rapist, a child molester that committed the most heinous of crimes in our society, short of torturous murder, and did it generationally,” Sills told WMAZ. “You don’t get, in my opinion, much worse than that.”

In addition to his convictions, York has also admitted to 40 counts of aggravated child molestation, 34 counts of child molestation, two counts of influencing witnesses and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.

Former U.S. Attorney Max Wood, who prosecuted York in federal court, told the station the petition mirrors a pattern he observed during the original case.

Wood said the York prosecution stands as “the most significant case in Middle Georgia for the last 50 years,” not only for its scale but for what it revealed about how major cases should be built.

“This was huge,” he said. “York was a master of having either a lawyer or a member of his cult just file something as a citizen. They filed all these things in the court system.”

https://www.aol.com/articles/imprisoned-leader-egyptian-themed-ufo-183829838.html

Prosecutors drop Chun Jae-soo Unification Church bribery case over time bar

2026-04-10T08:24:17.796-04:00

Inquiry ends with no charges as investigators cite expired limits and lack of proof; aides face evidence-tampering indictments

Shon Duk-ho, Kim Woo-young

CHOSUNBIZ

April 10, 2026

Prosecutors and police on the 10th closed the case against Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Chun Jae-soo (former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries), who faced allegations of receiving money and valuables from the Unification Church, citing expiration of the statute of limitations or insufficient evidence, and concluded it as no right of indictment and no suspicion. Chun was confirmed the previous day (the 9th) as the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Busan mayor.

The joint investigation headquarters of prosecutors and police probing alleged collusion between state and religion (the Joint Investigation Headquarters on State–Religion Collusion Corruption, hereinafter the "headquarters") announced the results of its investigation that day into the case concerning "alleged acceptance of money and valuables by former and incumbent lawmakers." The headquarters was launched on Jan. 6 and has investigated related cases for three months.

◇On the day the watch was received, Aug. 21, 2018… "Cannot specify the amount," 7-year statute of limitations applies

Chun has faced charges of taking bribes and violating the Political Funds Act on allegations that on Aug. 21, 2018, at the Unification Church's Cheonjeong Palace in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, Chun accepted requests concerning the "Korea–Japan undersea tunnel project" from President Han Hak-ja and others and received one luxury watch and cash worth between 20 million won and 30 million won. The headquarters closed the investigation as "no right of indictment."

According to the headquarters' findings, combining statements from those involved, including former Unification Church world headquarters head Yoon Young-ho, and the results of search and seizure, the time when Chun is suspected to have been provided luxury goods and money, including a Cartier watch worth 7.85 million won, from the Unification Church side is Aug. 21, 2018.

Following President Han, former Unification Church secretary's office chief Jung Won-ju, known as the "No. 2 of the Unification Church," purchased one Cartier watch on Feb. 9, 2018. It was confirmed that an acquaintance of Chun had the watch repaired in July 2019. The current price of this watch is in the 12 million won range.

The statute of limitations for violations of the Political Funds Act is seven years. Seven years after the date money or valuables were received, prosecution is barred even if the crime is recognized. However, if bribery charges are applied, the statute of limitations varies by the amount received: seven years for under 30 million won, 10 years for 30 million won or more and under 100 million won, and 15 years for 100 million won or more.

The headquarters determined that the total value of the watch and cash Chun received from the Unification Church side was under 30 million won and applied a seven-year statute of limitations. In that case, the deadline for prosecutors to indict Chun was last year.

An official at the headquarters said, "Former headquarters head Yoon did not directly witness the contents of the money and valuables delivered, and there is no other basis to specify the amount," adding, "It is difficult to view the money and valuables provided, including the watch, as 30 million won or more, so it is determined that the statute of limitations (seven years) has run." The official also noted that regarding Chun receiving cash, former headquarters head Yoon's statement is effectively the only evidence.

Previously, when the special counsel team of Min Joong-ki investigated various allegations involving first lady Kim Keon-hee, it investigated People Power Party lawmakers, including Kweon Seong-dong, based on former headquarters head Yoon's notes and other materials. However, for Democratic Party of Korea figures, although clues of collusion with the Unification Church emerged, there was no investigation. After the special counsel's activity period ended, the case was transferred to police, and the headquarters investigated after it was launched. The People Power Party criticized that the special counsel and the headquarters were conducting a "lenient investigation."

◇Allegations of requests related to the relocation of Sunhwa Arts Middle and High School found "insufficient evidence," no suspicion

On Oct. 28, 2019, the Unification Church purchased 500 copies of Chun's autobiography for 10 million won. It faced suspicion that this was payment for requests related to the transfer of Sunhwa Arts Middle and High School under the Unification Church, and in March the headquarters additionally booked Chun on charges of violating the Political Funds Act and receiving bribes.

The headquarters concluded no suspicion, determining there were no circumstances to see that the Unification Church side met Chun or made specific requests around the time it bought the books, and that there was insufficient evidence to view that Chun recognized the Unification Church's purchase of the books.

The police investigation team within the headquarters decided not to refer the case, concluding no right of indictment and no suspicion regarding Chun's alleged violations of the Political Funds Act and receipt of bribes. Prosecutors, after reviewing the records, determined there were no illegal or improper aspects and returned the records that were forwarded as a non-referral that day.

◇Chun Jae-soo's aides on evidence destruction charges indicted without detention

The headquarters indicted without detention four of Chun's aides suspected of destroying evidence, saying the charges were substantiated. They are accused of initializing PCs in Chun's constituency office in Busan after media reported suspicions that Chun received money and valuables and when police searches were anticipated.

However, the headquarters said it did not confirm that Chun ordered the destruction of evidence. Chun's side explained, "It was done in the process of an employee organizing personal files."

Former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lim Jong-seong and former United Future Party (UFP) lawmaker Kim Gyu-hwan, who faced allegations along with Chun of receiving money and valuables from the Unification Church, also received no-suspicion dispositions.

The headquarters determined that former lawmaker Lim maintained relations with the Unification Church side from 2016 to 2023 and that it is recognized he attended various events. Former lawmaker Kim also maintained relations with the Unification Church side. From 2018 to 2021, he attended various events organized by the Unification Church and its affiliated groups and visited Cheonwon Complex in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, on Feb. 8, 2020.

The headquarters concluded that for former lawmakers Lim and Kim, aside from former headquarters head Yoon's statements, there was no other evidence to support suspicions of receiving money and valuables, and that the specific amounts received and the circumstances of provision were unclear, so the suspicions were not substantiated.

President Han and others accused of handing money and valuables to them also received dispositions of no right of indictment and no suspicion.

The headquarters said, "In addition to this case, we plan to conduct strict and swift investigations into allegations raised against specific religious organizations, such as illegal political donations using organizational funds by the Unification Church, forced membership in a specific political party and tax evasion by Shincheonji, and embezzlement in the course of duty."

※ This article has been translated by AI. https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-society/2026/04/10/ENXDSAJY3ZFY7DBHVKEUAKN6SM/

For God's Sake, Recovering from Religious Trauma

2026-04-08T15:34:00.002-04:00

For God's Sake, Recovering from Religious Trauma

Anna Clark Miller, LPC
Sheldon Press, 5th May 2026
Trade paperback $19.99 • 240 pp • ISBN: 9781399828413

“I feel guilty all the time, even when I'm not doing anything wrong...”

Are you navigating fear, shame, and isolation in the aftermath of harmful experiences in religion? Are you so used to suppressing your own needs and emotions that you don't know how to express them anymore?

For God's Sake: Recovering from Religious Trauma offers language to help you understand what you've experienced, process your hurt and anger, and start healing on your own terms. You'll learn how to turn your self-judgment into
curiosity, and your shame into self-compassion. Each chapter includes multiple inventories, checklists, and personal reflection prompts to help you connect more deeply with yourself and gain insight into how religious trauma has impacted you.

Grounded in research and counseling experience, Miller takes a religiously neutral approach to healing. She knows from experience that many religious trauma survivors are understandably anxious about perceived hidden agendas, particularly those tied to religion and spirituality. So whether you're looking to leave religion completely or seek a new, healthier relationship with your faith, For God's Sake can help you recover and explore who you are beyond religious trauma.

About the Author

Anna Clark Miller, LPC, is a licensed counselor, author, speaker, and trainer who
specializes in recovery from religious trauma, spiritual abuse, and cults. Her
passion for healing from high-control religion started with her own experiences in
a fundamentalist belief system. She was raised overseas by evangelical missionaries, educated in religious universities, and worked in religious organizations for 10 years before recognizing the signs of religious trauma. After getting a degree in mental counseling, she started her career in trauma recovery with a focus on adverse experiences in high-control religious groups. She facilitates clinical training for therapists and social workers treating religious trauma and speaks at retreats and conferences for survivors.

For publicity and press inquiries, contact: Cassandra Murphy at Cassandra.Murphy@johnmurrays.co.uk

Health warning issued after sect allegedly told to give up jobs, school, ARVs

2026-04-07T08:56:22.074-04:00

Inside Education

April 6, 2026

A religious settlement in KwaMaphumulo has been accused of urging followers to abandon antiretroviral treatment and other modern medicine, leave school and jobs, and rely instead on faith healing.

The allegations have garnered backlash from the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health, Nomagugu Simelane.

“If it is true that any person is encouraging followers to stop their ARVs, that behaviour is dangerous and cannot be tolerated. It is, in effect, a way of killing people slowly,” Simelane said.

Such actions amounted to “nothing less than genocide against people living with HIV,” she said.

The allegations were first reported on by the Sunday Tribune and SABC last week.

The Tribune reported that about 100 followers at iKhaya Labafundi in Dabangu had left careers, studies and, in some cases, medical treatment to pursue a faith-led life.

The SABC reported that more than 50 people had joined the group and that members said they did not use clinics or hospitals because it went against their beliefs.

Both media houses also carried accounts from members who said they had stopped taking HIV medication after joining the group.

The Tribune reported that one woman said she stopped ARV treatment in 2024, while SABC News quoted another member as saying she had stopped taking chronic HIV medication after “a spiritual conviction”.

The Tribune also reported concerns from nearby residents over school-age children seen at the settlement instead of in class. congregation.

The reports identified the founder as Vusumuzi Sibiya, who described the settlement as a place for people “separated unto God” and said it sustained itself through farming. He rejected descriptions of the movement as a cult and said people had joined voluntarily.

Responding during the department’s Easter Weekend Church Wellness Outreach Programme at the UCCSA in uMzinyathi, eThekwini, Simelane said the provincial government was not seeking to interfere in matters of faith, but could not ignore reports that people may be abandoning life-saving treatment.

“[W]e have a duty to act when faced with allegations that people are being misled in ways that could cost lives,” she said.

Simelane said the allegations remained unproven in a legal sense, but warned that the conduct described in the reports would be catastrophic if true.

She said the province could not afford to return to the worst years of the epidemic.

“We all remember what HIV did to our communities before the arrival of ARVs, the funerals, the orphans, the wasting away. We will not take our people back to that dark time,” Simelane said.

“Stopping ARV treatment has serious consequences. It leads to viral rebound, deterioration of health, potential death, and increased risk of transmission to others. Spreading misinformation on this matter cannot be taken lightly.”

Simelane also appealed to churches to work with the health department rather than undercut public health messaging on HIV and AIDS.

“Pastors play a big role in our communities. They preach weekly to people who believe in them. If their message on HIV and AIDS is dwindling, that is dangerous. We are willing to train and equip pastors so that they can become our ambassadors in combating HIV and AIDS. The Bible says my people perish because of a lack of knowledge,” she said.

She called for sanctions if the allegations are proved. “Anyone who misleads people by telling them to abandon ARVs must face the full might of the law. That is tantamount to causing harm,” Simelane said.

She told people living with HIV to remain on treatment. “Prayer, rest, and medical faithfulness save lives.”

https://insideeducation.co.za/warning-issued-after-sect-allegedly-told-to-give-up-jobs-school-arvs/

Religious Cult Responsible For Horrific Child Sex Abuse Is The Basis Of Netflix’s ‘Trust Me: The False Prophet’

2026-04-02T06:13:14.611-04:00

Danielle Jennings

Parade

April 1, 2026

When cult expert and researcher Christine Marie and her videographer husband, Tolga Katas, decided to secretly document the aftermath of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) following the imprisonment of former leader Warren Jeffs, they didn’t expect to uncover the horrific child sex abuse hidden beneath the surface.

That discovery is the basis of the upcoming Netflix four-part documentary, Trust Me: The False Prophet, streaming on the platform beginning April 8.

Per Netflix, the documentary, which includes the secret footage recorded by Marie and Katas, “chronicles the rise of Samuel Bateman, the self-proclaimed heir to Jeffs, as seen through the eyes of the couple who infiltrated his inner circle as they gain Bateman’s trust and uncover evidence…revealing the depths of his control and the women brave enough to speak up.”

The director of the documentary, Emmy-award winner Rachel Dretzin, also helmed another Mormon-based docuseries for the streamer with 2025’s Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey.

Dretzin told Netflix’s Tudum that her involvement in the project began after meeting with Marie and Katas, and seeing their disturbing footage documenting the ongoing child sexual abuse of young girls.

“Trust Me offers intimate access to a normally closed world — and in doing so, I hope it exposes both the violence that enforced secrecy enables and what it takes to tell the truth when everything is at stake,” she said.

“What these women did matters far beyond their community. It is a blueprint for how to dismantle even the most entrenched systems of abuse,” Dretzin added.

Polygamist Bateman, who had more than 20 wives, which reportedly included one of his own daughters in addition to several other minors, was indicted in 2022 due to engaging in "group sex" with some of the minor girls and watching them be sexually abused, according to the FBI affidavit obtained by The Washington Post. The minor girls ranged in age from 11 to 16.

He is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence after entering a guilty plea to conspiracy to transport a minor for sex and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, per PEOPLE.

https://www.aol.com/articles/religious-cult-responsible-horrific-child-183811043.html

Spiritual Bypassing

2026-04-01T06:20:38.557-04:00

Spiritual bypassing is a term first coined by psychologist John Welwood in the 1980s. It describes the tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or "bypass" unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and fundamental human needs.

It’s a "premature transcendence"—trying to rise above the messy, painful parts of being human before we’ve actually dealt with them.

Common Signs of Spiritual Bypassing

Exaggerated Detachment: Using "it’s all an illusion" or "non-attachment" to avoid feeling genuine grief, anger, or hurt.
Toxic Positivity: The belief that one should always be "high vibe" or that "everything happens for a reason," which silences healthy venting or necessary boundaries.
Over-Spiritualizing Responsibility: Claiming "I attracted this with my thoughts" or "it’s their karma," which can shift focus away from addressing actual harm or systemic issues.
The "Spiritual Ego": Feeling superior to others who are "unawakened" or "stuck in their ego."

In the Context of High-Demand Groups

Spiritual bypass is often a foundational tool for manipulation. In these environments, it takes on a more predatory edge:

Weaponized "Inner Jihad": Much like the concepts you've explored regarding the struggle against the ego, groups may use the idea of "killing the self" to force members to ignore their own intuition or survival instincts.
Dismissing Trauma: When a member raises a concern about abuse or financial exploitation, leadership may frame their complaint as "a lack of surrender" or "attachment to the material world."
Performative Spirituality: You’ve previously noted how spiritual practices can become social signaling. In high-demand groups, "looking" spiritual becomes a requirement for safety and status within the community, effectively masking deep psychological distress.

Why It’s Dangerous

The danger isn't the spirituality itself, but the dissociation it encourages. By labeling "negative" emotions as unspiritual, a person loses the ability to set boundaries. If you can’t feel anger, you can’t protect yourself; if you can't feel sadness, you can't heal.

Founder of ‘orgasmic meditation’ company gets 9 years in prison in forced labor conspiracy

2026-03-30T19:02:47.530-04:00

AP: Founder of ‘orgasmic meditation’ company gets 9 years in prison in forced labor conspiracy

"The leader of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” was sentenced Monday [3/30/26] to nine years in federal prison for a scheme that a judge said exploited vulnerable women and coerced them into performing sex acts with the company’s clients and investors.

Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc., was also ordered to forfeit $12 million, and seven victims were awarded roughly $890,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors said.

“Coercion disguised as wellness or empowerment is still exploitation and it is a crime that causes harm to vulnerable victims,” Joseph Nocella, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.

Daedone declined to speak in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, but one victim told the judge that she had believed in Daedone’s “so-called feminist mission” only to be “left with significant financial damages and emotional harm,” the Daily News reports."

https://apnews.com/article/onetaste-orgasmic-meditation-founder-daedone-sentenced-1fdbf1d4b23078128c7c4f030983d52f

From the Darkroom shows cult leader after deadly bus hijacking

2026-03-30T16:53:44.132-04:00

Springfield-Greene County Library District

Special to the News-Leader

March 30, 2026

In this July 1982 photograph, cult leader Emory Lamb Sr. posed for a portrait to accompany an article on a deadly bus hijacking by a couple of his followers.

Keith and Kate Haigler of Jasper, Arkansas, held 17 passengers hostage on July 3, 1982. The two brandished handguns and a bag of "dynamite" that was later found to be red painted sticks. The Haiglers believed the hijacking would bring attention to their religion and end their lives so they could be resurrected three and a half days later. The couple were shot in the shoulders by snipers, but ultimately, Mrs. Haigler ended both of their lives. None of the hostages were harmed.

A portrait of Emory Lamb Sr. who was the leader of a Jasper, Arkansas based religious cult known as the FOU (Foundation of Ubiquity). Lamb led his followers to believe that he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Two of his followers hijacked a bus with 17 people and killed themselves onboard, no hostages were injured.

The Haiglers were followers of FOU, or the Foundation of Ubiquity, or Father of Us. FOU came to Emory Lamb Sr. in a vision. Lamb owned a store at the time, which he covered in spray paint and signs declaring, “FOU Was Here.”

Keith Hagler, a nomad, was drawn to the store out of curiosity and was given a pamphlet on FOU. Keith and Kate Haigler were Lamb’s only followers outside of his wife and daughter. The bus hijacking drew heavy media attention, though it was often critical of FOU rather than promotional, as the Haiglers had hoped.

https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2026/03/30/from-the-darkroom-ozarks-cult-leader/89323496007/

The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide

2026-03-30T13:20:06.808-04:00

In his seminal 1986 work, The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton explored how educated professionals—specifically physicians—could participate in systemic mass murder.

Lifton’s research, based on interviews with former Nazi doctors and survivors, centers on the psychological mechanisms that allowed individuals sworn to "do no harm" to become "genocidal killers."

Core Psychological Concepts

1. Doubling

This is perhaps Lifton’s most famous contribution from the book. Doubling is the division of the self into two functioning wholes: a "prior self" (the traditional, ethical doctor/husband/father) and an "Auschwitz self" (the killer).

Unlike "splitting," where the self is fragmented, doubling allows both selves to function autonomously.
The Auschwitz self performed the "dirty work," while the prior self remained "clean," allowing the doctor to return home to his family without feeling like a monster.

2. The Healing-Killing Paradox

Lifton identified a distorted "biomedical vision" at the heart of Nazi ideology. The Nazis viewed the German nation (the Volk) as a biological organism.

The Physician as "Racial Hygenist": Doctors saw themselves as "surgeons" for the nation.
Killing as "Healing": To "heal" the Nordic race, they believed they had to "excise" the "cancers" (Jews, Romani, the disabled). In this twisted logic, killing became a necessary medical act to preserve the life of the state.

3. Psychic Numbing

Lifton describes a diminished capacity to feel or react to the surrounding horror. For doctors at the death camps, this was a functional necessity. By "numbing" their empathy, they could process "selections" at the train platforms as a routine administrative task rather than the mass execution of human beings.

4. Derealization and Denial

The doctors employed various cognitive shields to distance themselves from reality:

Euphemistic Language: Using terms like "special treatment" (Sonderbehandlung) or "evacuation" instead of murder.
Bureaucratization: Focusing on the technical efficiency of the gas chambers or the statistics of the "selections" rather than the human reality of the victims.

The Evolutionary Chain of Killing

Lifton traced a clear progression of how the medical profession was co-opted, moving from "merciful" rhetoric to industrial slaughter:

Coercive Sterilization: Preventing "unworthy" genes from passing on.
"Euthanasia" Program (Aktion T4): The killing of the mentally and physically disabled within Germany.
The "Final Solution": Applying the techniques learned in the T4 program (gas chambers and medical supervision) to the entire Jewish population of Europe.

Significance of the Work

Lifton’s disclosure was a warning that genocide is not committed by "madmen" alone. He demonstrated that high-level professionals can be socialized into atrocity through psychological adaptation and a sense of "higher" ideological purpose.

EARLY-BIRD TICKETS NOW ON SALEICSA International Conference 2026

2026-03-27T15:26:54.055-04:00

EARLY-BIRD TICKETS NOW ON SALE

ICSA International Conference 2026

The annual ICSA International Conference, brings together researchers, health professionals, service providers and survivors and their families from around the world to engage in open dialogue on the most pressing themes around cultic studies.

Date: 1-4 July 2026

Location: San Diego Hilton Bayfront, San Diego, USA

Tickets: US$375

EARLY-BIRD: US$275

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/2026-annual-conference-general-admission-ticket

Hundreds to rally at Japanese Embassy in Washington in support of Family Federation Japan

2026-03-17T10:36:39.153-04:00

Family Federation for World Peace and Unification USA

RNS Press Release Distribution Service

March 17, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Members of the Family Federation and supporters will gather outside the Japanese Embassy in Washington, DC on Thursday, March 19 at 12:00 PM to call attention to what organizers describe as a serious and historic moment for religious freedom in Japan.

Participants say the Japanese government has dissolved the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, resulting in the closure of 400 churches and offices across the country. Congregations that had existed for decades were forced to shut their doors, and thousands of members were asked to leave sanctuaries where they had prayed, gathered, and raised their families in faith.

“For our brothers and sisters in Japan, this moment has brought deep sorrow and uncertainty,” organizers said. “Communities that have served quietly and sacrificially for decades are now facing the sudden loss of their churches and places of worship.”

The demonstration in Washington will serve as a peaceful appeal for the protection of religious liberty and the dignity of people of the members of the Family Federation. Organizers say members of the global faith community are standing in solidarity with those in Japan who cannot publicly gather in the same way.

“For decades, Japanese members have supported missions around the world, traveling to distant nations, raising families in faith, and investing their lives for the sake of humanity,” organizers said. “Now they are facing hardship, and the global family stands with them.”

The rally comes at a significant moment as Japanese leadership visits Washington this week. Participants say they hope their peaceful demonstration will raise awareness and encourage dialogue about the protection of religious freedom.

Organizers expect approximately 500 participants, including members of the Family Federation and supporters of religious liberty.

“This gathering is not about anger or confrontation,” organizers said. “It is about standing with our family and reminding the world that religious freedom matters.”

Members in Japan are currently unable to gather publicly in the same way due to the closure of their churches. Supporters in the United States say they are using their freedom to speak out respectfully on behalf of those affected.

The event will include speakers and participants holding signs calling for help for their family of faith in Japan.

Event Details

WHAT: Help! Protest for Family Federation Japan

WHEN: Thursday, March 19, 2026, 12:00 PM

WHERE: Japanese Embassy, 2520 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008

International Trading Group (ITG)

2026-03-13T13:54:19.166-04:00

The International Trading Group (ITG) office in Fairfield, Iowa, is a significant case study in the history of financial fraud and its intersection with high-control groups.

1. Connection to the Maharishi Community

During the 1980s, ITG operated as a major employer in Fairfield, a city known as the headquarters for the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement.

The Workforce: A large portion of the staff were "meditators" or followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Top Producer: Despite being a branch of a national firm based in San Mateo, California (and later Chicago), the Fairfield office was reportedly the top money-maker for the entire company during its final years.

2. The 1989 Bankruptcy and Fraud Charges

ITG specialized in commodity options trading and became the subject of one of the largest regulatory crackdowns of its time.

The Collapse: In 1989, ITG filed for bankruptcy after federal regulators, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), accused the firm of defrauding thousands of investors.

The Allegations: The firm was accused of "bilking" investors out of more than $450 million. Regulators alleged that the company used high-pressure sales tactics and misleading claims about the risks and profits associated with commodity options.

Impact on Fairfield: When the office abruptly closed following the bankruptcy, many members of the local meditator community were left unemployed and financially devastated, which created a significant ripple effect within the TM movement at the time.

3. Professional Context

Coercive Environment: The Fairfield ITG office is often cited as an example of how a high-control spiritual environment can overlap with professional life, where communal loyalty and shared beliefs can sometimes be leveraged in high-pressure or unethical sales environments.

Recovery: The fallout from the ITG collapse led to a period of "scrambling" for many residents, which is a common theme in the transition and recovery phases you study.

The collapse of the International Trading Group (ITG) in 1989 left a distinct mark on Fairfield, Iowa, particularly because it exposed the vulnerabilities of a community where spiritual and professional boundaries were heavily blurred.

Based on the 1989 case and the subsequent community response, here are the deeper details regarding the legal proceedings and the impact on the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement:

1. Legal Testimony & Allegations

The case against ITG was built on the testimony of former employees and investors who described a "boiler room" environment.

The "Scripted" Sales Tactics: Court documents from the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) investigation highlighted that ITG used highly aggressive, deceptive sales scripts. Salespeople were trained to downplay the extreme risks of commodity options while promising "guaranteed" high returns.

Targeting the Faithful: In Fairfield, there was testimony suggesting that the shared spiritual bond of TM was used to build trust. Salespeople (many of whom were "meditators") were able to leverage their shared language and community values to recruit investors and other employees.

The Regulatory Hammer: The CFTC eventually obtained a permanent injunction against the firm. The legal findings noted that ITG had misappropriated customer funds to cover operating expenses and personal luxuries for the firm's principals, leading to the $450 million loss.

2. The Community Response in Fairfield

The reaction within the TM community was complex, ranging from financial desperation to a defensive "closing of the ranks."

Economic Devastation: Because ITG was one of the town's largest employers of "Sidhas" (advanced TM practitioners), the bankruptcy caused an immediate local recession. Many residents lost their life savings, and the university (then MIU, now MUM) saw a dip in support as many followers could no longer afford tuition or donations.

The "Image of Perfection": Critics within the movement noted a culture of silence. Much like the 2004 campus incidents mentioned in local histories, there was internal pressure in 1989 to avoid "negative publicity" that might reflect poorly on the Maharishi’s teachings. This led to a sense of betrayal among those who felt the movement leadership did not do enough to warn them about the risks of the local "investment boom."

Skepticism & Disillusionment: The ITG scandal is often cited by former members as a turning point. It shifted the town's dynamic from a "Utopian" experiment toward a more cynical reality where the spiritual elite were not immune to white-collar crime.

ITG serves as a prime example of "affinity fraud" within a high-control group. The shared meditation practice created a "shield of trust" that bypassed the normal critical thinking of investors.

Leader of cult-like group charged with murder claimed God spoke through her, former member says

2026-02-06T14:00:21.251-05:00

Clara Harter

Los Angeles Times

February 6, 2026

Shelley Bailey “Kat” Martin taught members of her secretive religious group that she was like the character Neo from the Matrix — awoken from this realm by God and transformed into a perfect being, according to testimony from a former member.

The self-proclaimed “Prophetess” appeared in San Bernardino Superior Court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing alongside four other defendants to face murder charges in the death of a 4-year-old boy and a former group member. The other defendants are her husband, Darryl Muzic Martin, 58, current member Rudy Moreno, former member Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr. and former member Andre Thomas, prosecutors say.

The Martins are leaders of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies, a religious group that imposed excessive control over members’ lives and finances and operated for years across the Inland Empire, prosecutors say.

Shelley Martin, 62, Rudy Moreno, 43, and Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., 44, are charged with murdering former member Emilio Ghanem, who disappeared in 2023 shortly after parting ways with the group. Shelley Martin, Darryl Martin and Andre Thomas are charged with murder in the death of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas while he was in the temporary custody of the Martins in 2010, according to the Colton Police Department. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Attorneys representing the defendants declined to comment to The Times or did not respond to requests for comment.

Former group member Kelli Byrd testified for two hours on Thursday, providing a rare glimpse inside the religious group that had operated in secret for decades.

Byrd told the court that Shelley Martin referred to herself as Prophetess Kathryn, claimed she was a physical embodiment of the Holy Spirit and that God spoke directly through her.

When the group gathered for worship a “gift of prophecy” would occur through Shelley Martin. Her body would start thrashing and her voice would become deep and low as she shared “a word from the throne of God,” Byrd said.

Byrd’s description of the powerful prophetess differed dramatically from the sullen appearance of Shelley Martin in court Thursday, where she sat glumly in a forest green jumpsuit, her long blond curls grown out to reveal dark black roots. Her husband and the other defendants in the case watched Byrd‘s testimony in silence from their respective seats.

His Way Spirit Led Assemblies was founded in Nashville in 1998, relocated to California in 2000 and has been located in various homes in the Inland Empire since around 2004, Byrd said.

Former members and law enforcement have described the group as cult-like.

“You had no choices in anything,” Anthony Duran, who told The Times in an interview that he escaped the cult in 2020 at age 20. “You can’t go here. You can’t go there. You can only go to work and come home.” Anthony Duran is the nephew of Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., who is charged with murder.

The group has a decades-long history in the Inland Empire, where it has been connected to two alleged murders and the disappearance of a third person.

In 2010, 4-year-old Timothy Thomas died of a ruptured appendix while in the custody of the Martins at one of the group’s homes in Colton, authorities said. Anthony Duran said the Martins didn’t believe in hospitals and said God would cure illness.

Colton police suspected that neglect played a role in Timothy’s death and sought charges against the Martins in 2010, but the district attorney’s office declined to file any. At the time, group members were uncooperative and gave conflicting testimony, according to Colton Police Sgt. Shawn McFarland.

Since then, former group members have revised their statements, saying that their initial testimony was made under duress from the Martins, he said.

In 2019, member Ruben Moreno was reported missing from the group’s Claremont home. Then, in 2023, longtime member Emilio Ghanem vanished shortly after severing ties with the group, authorities said.

The investigation into Ruben Moreno’s disappearance remains ongoing, and no charges have been filed in that case, according to Claremont Police Capt. Robert Ewing.

Ghanem joined the group in 1998 in Nashville and followed the Martins to California, where he later worked for the group’s pest control business Fullshield, Byrd testified.

Anthony Duran, the member who said he escaped in 2020, said male members of the group were expected to work long hours at Fullshield for minimal pay. Byrd said in court that the Martins never did any work for Fullshield.

Anthony Duran said he was paid $12 an hour and required to work shifts of up to 17 hours. He said he was paid in checks but was then told he wasn’t allowed to cash them, leaving him without enough money to purchase Gatorade or deodorant. Duran did not testify on Thursday, but shared details of his time with the group in an interview with The Times.

After years of labor, Duran said he was able to persuade the Martins to allow him to finance a work truck in his own name. With a mode of transportation secured, he left under the cover of night in early 2020, eager to live a life free of their control, he said.

Ghanem left His Way Spirit Led Assemblies in April 2023, moved home to Nashville and founded his own pest control company, his sister Jennifer Ghanem told The Times. In May 2023, he vanished in Redlands while visiting the area in an effort to reconnect with former clients.

The truck he had rented during the trip was found burned in the Mojave Desert in 2025, according to the Redlands Police Department.

The group had largely escaped public scrutiny until last year when three police departments — Redlands, Colton and Claremont — realized they each had open cases connected to the organization and doubled down on efforts to solve them, ultimately resulting in five arrests.

The Martins were arrested in December as was longtime member Rudy Moreno, who is the brother of missing person Ruben Moreno, and former member Andre Thomas, who is the father of the boy who died, authorities said. Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr. was arrested in Nashville and extradited to San Bernardino in January, according to the Redlands Police Department.

Anthony Duran said he waited until the Martins were behind bars to say anything about the group because he feared for his own safety.

“I’m so grateful they’re getting what they deserve,” he said, “because they really thought that they could go in and destroy people’s lives, take all their money and take them away from their families and think that they can get away with that.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-06/leader-of-cult-like-group-charged-with-murder-claimed-god-spoke-through-her-former-member-says

What is coercive control?

2026-02-05T17:57:23.116-05:00

What is coercive control?
Coercive control involves deliberate, repeated patterns of physical or non-physical abuse used to hurt, scare, intimidate, threaten or control someone.
Behaviour can include:
• Limiting freedom or controlling choices
• Harassing, monitoring and stalking
• Shaming, degrading or humiliating
• Social isolation
• Threats, violence and intimidation
• Emotional, financial or sexual abuse
• Systems abuse, such as making false reports to authorities
It carries a maximum sentence of seven years. The law currently only applies to behaviour after July 2024 towards current or former intimate partners.

Yamagami Sentencing Reveals Japan’s Troubled Response to Religious Cults

2026-02-05T09:19:47.195-05:00

Kitō Masaki

Nippon

February 4, 2026

In January 2026, Yamagami Tetsuya was sentenced to life for the July 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō, which shone light on the Unification Church’s ties to leading politicians and the plight of second-generation followers. A lawyer with experience in cases involving religious cults examines the ruling.

Life Sentence for Yamagami

On January 21, Yamagami Tetsuya was sentenced to life imprisonment for the July 2022 murder of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō. Courts typically exercise judicial discretion in sentencing, departing from what prosecutors demand, but in an unusual move, the Nara District Court followed the prosecution’s recommendation in full in passing down punishment.

One factor that made this case different was the array of charges Yamagami faced. Along with the main charge of murder, Yamagami was also tried for violating Japanese laws prohibiting the possession, manufacture, and discharge of firearms, as well as property damage. The defense attempted to win acquittal on the firearms and weapons manufacturing counts, arguing that Yamagami’s homemade weapon did not fall under applicable statutes. Acquittal on these counts would have bolstered their case for limiting sentencing to no more than 20 years, but the court rebuffed this line of argument, clearing the way for a harsher punishment.

Another factor was Yamagami’s perceived unrepentance. In cases where a court grants the prosecution its sentencing request, the judge will typically consider the defendant as not having shown adequate remorse or not apologizing for the crime. In passing judgement on Yamagami, the bench noted that he had demonstrated neither an understanding of the danger of his actions nor the gravity of taking another human’s life, and so could not be said to have reached a sufficient level of remorse.

While Yamagami did express regret, the court in coming to its decision seems to have put greater weight on both his failure to apologize directly to Abe’s widow Akie and to make any attempt to atone for the killing, such as through financial restitution.

Defendant’s Background Dismissed

Another critical point in Yamagami’s sentence was the court brushing aside his troubled background as a second-generation follower of the Unification Church, which was central to the defense’s case. The ruling acknowledged that Yamagami, who stated that his motive stemmed from the financial duress his family suffered at the hands of the UC, may have “harbored intense anger” toward the organization and its affiliates (including politicians like Abe, whom he viewed as having supported the church) and a desire to make them suffer, but it stressed that there was “a significant leap” between those feelings and planning and carrying out murder with a homemade weapon. Judging the leap too great, the court dismissed the defendant’s upbringing as not having a substantial influence on his crime.

This was a surprising development given the growing understanding of how childhood trauma can profoundly influence the trajectory of a person’s life. This connection is particularly relevant in lawsuits by second-generation followers against religious groups like the UC, as demonstrating the long-lasting effects of adverse childhood experiences enables claimants to win greater compensation for their suffering.

At the heart of Yamagami’s case was his decision to assassinate the former prime minister rather than directing his deep-seated resentment at the UC itself, or its leaders. Abe had connections to the Unification Church, and the court weighed whether the killing was a leap too far or an inevitable outcome of childhood trauma, with the judge ultimately choosing the former. A likely factor in this outcome was the failure of the defense to present expert testimony from psychiatrists or other mental health experts in order to clearly link the suffering inflicted on Yamagami by the church during his formative years with his later crime.

South Korea and the Dissolution Order

Looking at Yamagami’s case, one must also consider the potential impact of the investigation of the Unification Church in South Korea, where the organization is based. Of particular interest are a raft of documents known as “TM Reports” seized by investigators while probing the UC’s attempts to influence former Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration. The reports, linked to the church’s leader Han Hak-ja, who goes by the title “True Mother,” shed light on the UC’s connections to leaders in Korea, but are also purported to contain extensive information about the church’s relationships with Japanese politicians. Han has already been arrested and indicted, and depending on how the South Korean investigation unfolds, more of the nature and extent of Abe’s ties to the UC may come to light.

An incident that has drawn much scrutiny involves a video message Abe made for an event organized by a church-affiliated group in September 2021 in which he expresses his respect for Han. Many aspects of Abe’s relationship with the Unification Church remain unclear, which leads to the question of what impact a full understanding of the UC’s political connections would have had on the course of the Yamagami trial. The lack of such insight is deeply regrettable for criminal proceedings, which should be unwavering in the pursuit of the truth.

Political connections are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the problems surrounding the Unification Church that Abe’s killing brought to the fore, most of which remain unresolved three and a half years after the incident. Yamagami’s sentencing is unlikely to have an immediate effect on litigation over the dissolution of the UC, which the Tokyo District Court ordered in March 2025. Following a church appeal, the case went to the Tokyo High Court, which is expected to issue a new ruling in March 2026; for now, liquidation of the UC’s considerable assets, through which victims would receive compensation, cannot proceed. It is worth contemplating the potential impact on Yamagami’s trial had the dissolution order been finalized and the full extent of the church’s harmful activities been exposed.

Failing Second-Generation Victims

In the wake of Abe’s shooting, the Japanese government quickly passed legislation prohibiting the unjust solicitation of funds by religious organizations, dealing a blow to the coercive fund-raising tactics of the UC. The law, however, is short-sighted. It focuses primarily on the harm inflicted on followers like Yamagami’s mother, whose massive donations to the church ruined her family financially. What is more, it only vaguely addresses the deceptive tactics that drew her and others in in the first place in its demand that organizations give “sufficient consideration” to followers when soliciting donations. Subsequently, it provides almost no protections for second-generation victims.

The law was subject to review after two years, but in September 2025 the Consumer Affairs Agency announced that while it would continue implementing the legislation, it saw no need for revision at present, effectively shelving its obligations to victims. Consumer protection efforts must extend to those families still struggling, yet the agency has shown little willingness to carry out this role, leaving second-generation victims like Yamagami to fend for themselves. Moreover, compensation standards for abuse victims under the Child Abuse Prevention Act, which has yet to be updated to reflect current situations, remain woefully inadequate.

“Foreign Agents”

Legislators have also been lax in taking up the issue of political infiltration. The recent introduction of anti-espionage legislation has sparked a modicum of debate over lobbyist regulation, but in light of the Unification Church’s success at currying favor with leading politicians, a brazen case of foreign influence in Japanese politics, there needs to be a more concerted effort to address such risks. Japan must draw up legislation in the vein of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act and similar laws adopted by European governments that impose disclosure obligations on individuals representing foreign interests. In the United States, for instance, FARA was key to the 1984 imprisonment of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, on tax evasion charges.

Hindsight is 20/20, but it strikes me that so much suffering could have been avoided had those in power in both Japan and South Korea not waited to act against the UC. Had the South Korean government launched its investigation into the church earlier, Abe might never have sent his 2021 video message, and the shooting itself might never have occurred. If victim relief for former members and others had not been neglected in Japan, the Unification Church would likely not have been able to funnel donations attained through coercive means toward political influence operations in Japan and South Korea. The last point is a strong argument for the need to strengthen legislation against money laundering in both countries.

More importantly, though, there needs to be better appreciation of the need for victim relief and understanding of political infiltration by cults if effective countermeasures are to be put in place. Cults like the Unification Church are a universal threat, and France provides an example in having drawn up 10 criteria that focus on deviant behavior of sectarian movements that threaten public safety or human rights.

Aum’s Long Shadow

Finally, it is difficult not to see the Yamagami case in terms of the legacy of Aum Shinrikyō. Since the shocking sarin attack on the Tokyo subway by the religious cult in 1995, Japan has spent the ensuing three decades in a daze in terms of dealing with cults, with no effective countermeasures being put in place. This failure has enabled cultlike religious organizations to continue to prey on the innocent. In fact, Japan has yet to work out why the sarin attack happened in the first place or how to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring in the future.

In finding answers to these questions, Japan should draw on foreign legal frameworks like France’s anticult laws. The harm and suffering inflicted on second-generation members of cults is an ongoing human rights crisis that can no longer be ignored.

Some have suggested that Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae timed her dissolution of the lower house of the Diet on January 23 to head off renewed scrutiny of ties between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Unification Church in the wake of the Yamagami verdict. I believe, however, that it may instead thrust the UC issue back into the spotlight. The long absence of cult countermeasures is a responsibility shared by society as a whole, including the media. The election may well finally force Japan to contemplate the lack of action in the 30 years since Aum.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō and former US President Donald Trump delivering video messages to a September 2021 event hosted by the Universal Peace Foundation, an organization affiliated with the Korean Unification Church. From the UPF website.)

Kitō Masaki

Head attorney and managing partner at Link Law Office. Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1960. Earned his PhD in law from Osaka University. Member of the Consumer Affairs Committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, where he has served on panels related to consumer protection and cult-related fraud. Has been involved in cases involving the Unification Church and other religious cults.

https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/d01205/yamagami-sentencing-reveals-japan%E2%80%99s-troubled-response-to-religious-cults.html

Korean hosts condemn online cults after 13-year-old transgender girl livestream suicide

2026-01-30T19:41:00.000-05:00

OSEN

January 27, 2026

Jang Seongkyu·Lee Sangyeop's ranking battle chart show 'From one to ten' shocked viewers by selecting the modern-era anti-terror organization '764', the doomsday-believing couple 'Doomsday', and the father's 'vaccine refusal' case that killed his son as the top three 'dangerous beliefs that lead to the ruin of a life'.

On the 26th broadcast of T-cast E Channel's 'From one to ten', 'Gwiyokgyu' Jang Seongkyu and Lee Sangyeop, along with special guest Kwon Hyuk-soo, engaged in a no-holds-barred three-way debate battle on the theme 'dangerous beliefs that lead to the ruin of a life.' As shocking stories that shook the world were revealed one after another, the three, with their smiles gone, alternated between anger, astonishment and sighs.

Ranked first was the international criminal organization of teenagers that transcends borders·language·race, '764.' They were a modern cyber-terror group that targeted emotionally vulnerable minors and carried out manipulation·threats·coercion. In particular, they approached a 13-year-old transgender girl named 'Jay' living in the United States by pretending to be her friend, then gradually issued more violent and extreme orders. Eventually, one dawn in 2022, Jay, who had left home without her parents' knowledge, turned on a live broadcast in the parking lot of a nearby grocery store and took her own life. It was revealed that this entire process was due to the perpetrators' orders and that people had watched it in real time, shocking everyone. Lee Sangyeop said,

The story of a couple who, believing that the world would end on a specific day, so-called 'Doomsday,' killed their 16- and 7-year-old children also aroused public outrage. The two, who met in the Mormon church, gradually became immersed in extreme end-times beliefs and went around claiming to be prophets·messengers of God. Believing that the approaching end would increase the number of people possessed by evil spirits, they committed the brutal crime in the delusional belief that their two children had 'become zombies.' In addition, the U.S. version of the 'An.A.Ki. (raising children without medicine)' case was also highlighted. The father, an extreme vaccine conspiracy theorist, could not accept the court's ruling that

Also, the studio filled with sighs as a case was revealed in which a family who blindly believed a black magic sorcerer's claim that.

※ This article has been translated by AI. https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-entertainment/2026/01/27/OCLNHXML5VH5PGH5SXNDZ4AS4A/

The Prophet and the Pathologist: Stephen Kent, Massimo Introvigne, and the Battle for an Honest Study of Religion

2026-01-29T10:38:04.840-05:00

Jonathan Simmons

Free Inquiry Magazine, Volume 46

Religious apologists have a playbook for scholars who get too close to the truth. That playbook is a dog-eared, reliable little volume passed down through generations of believers who find the disinfectant of sunlight a bit too harsh for their tastes. My first thought after reading Massimo Introvigne’s scathing review1 of a new book by Stephen Kent,2 whom I should note was my doctoral supervisor many years ago, was that this was just another case of an apologist attacking a skeptic. The pattern is predictable: dismiss challenging scholarship as reductive, invoke the specter of persecution, and wrap methodological objections in the language of intellectual sophistication. Recall how scholarly critics of Scientology are routinely dismissed. When researchers document the organization’s aggressive litigation tactics or financial practices, apologists don’t engage with the evidence. They instead argue that such reductive approaches miss the authentic spiritual experiences of believers. Academic methodology gets reframed as antireligious bias, and suddenly you’re not debating facts but defending your right to ask uncomfortable questions in the first place.

But this skirmish represents something far more troubling than simply a negative book review. A deeper look reveals the extent to which religious apologetics has gained a foothold in ostensibly secular academic disciplines, creating an intellectual environment where critical inquiry is often treated as a form of bigotry. This cynical inversion turns the tools of social justice into a shield for potential abuse.

Consider a contemporary banker in a bespoke suit standing before his board of directors to announce that a divine being has revealed a new set of infallible investment principles. His claims, delivered with fervent conviction, would likely be met not with reverence but with calls to security and a discreet consultation with the firm’s occupational health department.

Now imagine a young man in 1830s New York making functionally identical proclamations about golden plates and a restored gospel. Joseph Smith’s functionally identical assertions became the foundation of a major global religion. This divergence highlights society’s powerful tendency to evaluate claims of divine revelation not by their content or evidence but by their historical distance and eventual social acceptance. The passage of time seems to launder the bizarre into the venerable. What is madness in a pinstripe suit in the City of London becomes prophecy in homespun cloth two centuries prior in upstate New York. The logic is, to put it mildly, elusive.

This temporal double standard is not a mere historical curiosity. Rather, it shapes how we evaluate contemporary religious claims and the scholars who study them. When University of Alberta professor Stephen Kent published Psychobiographies and Godly Visions last year, applying psychological frameworks to understand how extraordinary religious claims emerge from very human minds, Italian scholar Massimo Introvigne responded by dismissing him as an “anti-religion crusader” lacking any “flicker of intellectual generosity.”3 Rather than engaging Kent’s methodology or evidence, Introvigne exemplified the apologetic playbook: attack the scholar’s credibility rather than address their findings.

But this academic skirmish reveals how religious apologetics has colonized parts of academia, creating an environment where the same analytical tools we apply everywhere else (psychological evaluation, financial transparency, historical documentation) suddenly become suspect when directed at religious claims.

The real-world implications of this academic deference may sound like inside baseball, but bear with me; the stakes extend far beyond academic turf wars into matters of public policy and safety. When claims of divine authority lead to medical neglect, financial exploitation, or the psychological abuse of children, the debate ceases to be abstract. The academic reluctance to apply psychological analysis doesn’t protect religious freedom; it protects abusers by making their methods invisible to scrutiny.

Historically, the primary conflict in the scientific study of religion centered on methodology and disciplinary authority. As Kile Jones noted, early scholars such as Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim, and James Frazer each championed their own discipline as holding the key to explaining religion’s essence.4 Psychology focused on wish-fulfillment and unconscious drives and sociology emphasized social cohesion and collective representations, while anthropology examined ritual behavior and cultural symbols. The question was not if religion could be explained but how and by which analytical framework.

Today, the central conflict has shifted fundamentally. In many parts of the academy, a struggle now exists over whether scientific methods should be applied at all when they challenge the self-perception of religious groups.5 The old debates assumed that rigorous analysis was not only appropriate but necessary. Scholars simply disagreed about which analytical tools would prove most illuminating. The current controversy questions the legitimacy of such analysis entirely, particularly when it produces conclusions that religious communities find uncomfortable or threatening to their preferred self-understanding.

This reluctance to apply critical tools often stems from well-intentioned impulses to respect religious claims generally, particularly those from marginalized traditions, which can morph into a defense of religious claims regardless of the evidence against them.6 The pattern is predictable: when researchers document financial irregularities in a religious organization, accommodationist scholars (those who prioritize protecting religious groups from critical analysis) might argue that focusing on money misses the authentic spiritual meaning that members derive from their donations. When psychologists examine a leader’s grandiose claims, the response is that Western clinical categories cannot capture non-Western spiritual experiences. The admirable goal of cultural sensitivity becomes an intellectual straitjacket that renders entire domains of inquiry off limits. This approach also fosters an environment where inconvenient data, particularly the testimony of those who have left a religious group, is dismissed out of hand. Indeed, a norm has developed among some researchers that holds that former members, or “apostates” (often used pejoratively by believers), are inherently untrustworthy sources.

Renowned sociologist of sectarianism Bryan R. Wilson went so far as to pronounce in a 1994 piece (written for the Church of Scientology, no less) that “neither the objective sociological researcher nor the court of law can readily regard the apostate as a credible or reliable source of evidence.”7 This creates an impossible research environment. Imagine if criminologists were told that testimony from robbery victims was inherently unreliable, or if historians dismissed all refugee accounts as biased. The effect is to make the group immune to criticism from the very people with the most direct experience of its practices. Here was a scholar simultaneously claiming objectivity while accepting payment from the very organization whose critics he was systematically discrediting. The message was clear: former members were to be dismissed as inherently unreliable sources. This creates a scholarly world in which the only permissible voice is that of the group itself, a methodological approach that would be considered laughably compromised in any other field of study.

Kent’s psychobiographical approach is what makes his work so threatening to the academic establishment. Critics immediately label such work as reductive pathologizing, but this is a deliberate misreading. Psychobiography avoids just retrofitting modern diagnoses onto historical figures. Instead, the scholarly goal is to build a richer comprehension of a complex life by identifying the deep-seated personality patterns that shaped how a person made sense of the world, reacted emotionally, and behaved. This method is about using psychological science as one analytical tool among many to understand how extraordinary claims emerge from very human minds.

This approach has clear ethical backing. The APA Ethics Committee explicitly stated that “the psychobiographical and academically rigorous ‘profiling of historical figures’ … does not violate the American Psychiatric Association’s ethical guidelines for research.”8 This distinction allows for the scholarly analysis of historical figures while forbidding unethical public diagnoses of living individuals. The irony is striking: a field that readily accepts autoethnographies analyzing the sociopolitical implications of personal experiences suddenly discovers methodological scruples when psychological analysis is applied to religious founders.

Far from being reductive, Kent’s work employs a multi-layered biopsychosocial model examining four distinct domains. This is not a simplistic, one-size-fits-all explanation but a framework for exploring the intricate dance of biology, psychology, and social forces. The intrapsychic domain focuses on a leader’s mental health, early life experiences, and potential substance abuse, exploring how these factors shape their sense of self. One might examine, for instance, how childhood trauma manifests in later life as an insatiable need for absolute validation, a psychological void that a devoted religious following is uniquely positioned to fill.

Kent’s analysis then moves outward to the interpersonal domain, examining how a leader’s psychological needs interact with those of their inner circle, creating a feedback loop of devotion and demand. A narcissistic leader will inevitably attract enablers who mirror his grandiose self-image back to him, while a paranoid leader draws followers who validate his sense of persecution, each relationship reinforcing the other’s distorted worldview in a closed, mutually affirming system.

The intragroup domain analyzes how a leader’s psychological profile translates into specific control mechanisms that affect ordinary members: shunning (complete social isolation of critics), love-bombing (overwhelming new recruits with attention and affection), and information control (restricting access to outside news or dissenting views). Here the focus shifts to the lived experience of rank-and-file members, exploring how techniques of social influence can bind individuals to a group and make dissent seem not only wrong but unthinkable. Finally, the intergroup domain explores how a group’s internal dynamics, shaped by its leader’s psychology, affect its interactions with broader society, from media relations to legal strategies to recruitment methods. This comprehensive framework demonstrates a commitment to understanding complexity rather than applying simplistic labels. It represents the very antithesis of reductionism.

Take, for example, the case of Rajneesh, the guru who built communes in India and Oregon before fleeing criminal charges in 1985. The intrapsychic analysis reveals a pattern of grandiose self-regard: he claimed divine selection as a teenager and later proclaimed himself humanity’s savior. The interpersonal domain shows how his psychological needs created cycles of devotion and cruelty. He would elevate followers as special therapists, then publicly humiliate them as incompetent exploiters when they gained independent status. The intragroup mechanisms included mandatory red clothing (heightening group identity), electronic surveillance of disciples’ private conversations, and traumatic abandonment. He told devoted followers “unless I am damaged, nothing is damaged” when their commune collapsed and they lost everything.9 Finally, the intergroup domain reveals how internal paranoia translated into external aggression: salmonella attacks on local restaurants that hospitalized 751 people, assassination plots against officials, and the largest illegal surveillance operation in American history.10

One might expect a response focused on evidence, methodology, and substantive critique. True to form, Introvigne’s review was swift and personally vitriolic, dismissing Kent’s methodology as lacking “nuance, subtlety, or even a flicker of intellectual generosity” while branding him an “anti-religion crusader.”11 This was a personal attack rather than substantive academic critique, a performance of outrage designed not to engage with evidence but to poison the well before any substantive discussion could begin. This same playbook (attack the messenger, ignore the evidence) emerges whenever serious scrutiny threatens to penetrate religious immunity.

Kent’s methodological rigor becomes essential when examining contemporary cases that should trigger immediate skepticism. The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL) serves as an ideal case study because the claims are so extreme that they should trigger universal skepticism, yet watch how apologetic rhetoric transforms even this into a religious freedom issue. The group is led by Abdullah Hashem, who claims to be “the Mahdi,” the “new pope,” and the successor to both Muhammad and Jesus.12 His pronouncements extend far beyond traditional spiritual matters: he has proclaimed that a “flood of blood” is “hours” away13 and taught that giant, clothes-wearing rabbits control a distant planet where they keep humans as pets. One struggles to imagine a more perfect, almost comically absurd, example of a belief system that ought to invite serious scrutiny. Yet the claims become far more troubling when examined alongside serious allegations of exploitation.

The group faces serious allegations of exploitation. Followers are urged to donate their entire salaries, rendering them completely dependent on the group for survival. Children are isolated in a compound in Crewe, England,14 a situation that should trigger immediate concern from any responsible observer. In a particularly disturbing twist, new members must provide blood for a loyalty oath that, according to investigative journalist Be Scofield, Hashem mixes in a jar stored in a replica of the Ark of the Covenant.15

How did Introvigne’s network respond to these detailed and credible allegations? Bitter Winter, Introvigne’s publication, immediately reframed the Guardian investigation as persecution driven by “New Age anti-cultism.”16 Rather than addressing the evidence of financial exploitation, child isolation, or bizarre rituals, the response was to discredit Scofield by claiming her sources included “revelations from angels, extraterrestrials, Tarot cards, and the Akashic records.”17 This represents a textbook smear tactic: ignore the substance entirely and make the serious investigative reporter appear to be an unreliable crank.

This response pattern illustrates “cult greenwashing.”18 Just as corporate greenwashing uses environmental language to mask harmful practices, cult greenwashing appropriates the language of human rights and religious freedom to deflect from credible allegations of abuse. This tactic functions like an ideological martial art, using the opponent’s own weight against them. A journalist raises a concern about child welfare, a principle of social justice, and the apologist immediately flips the argument, claiming the journalist’s scrutiny is an attack on the “religious freedom” of a minority group, another principle of social justice. The original concern is lost in the maneuver, and the defender is now positioned as the noble champion of the underdog.

Introvigne’s support for AROPL represents a sustained, international legitimation campaign. In June 2024, he participated in a session devoted to AROPL at a conference in North Macedonia. By April 2025, he was sharing a conference platform with an AROPL leader at the University of Exeter. Then, in May 2025, at the Turin International Book Fair, a committee represented by Introvigne awarded AROPL’s sacred scripture, The Goal of the Wise, a literary prize.19 This represents a coordinated international effort to reframe a group facing credible allegations of exploitation as a persecuted religious minority.

This legitimation process reached its apex in August 2025 when Introvigne took his advocacy directly to AROPL’s doorstep. He announced his attendance at a “Supremacy of God conference” held at the University of Buckingham’s campus in Crewe, the very town where Hashem’s compound is located. His social media post was revealingly titled: “The Usual Suspects Gather … .” The attendee list, including noted scholars Susan Palmer and Gordon Melton, read like a who’s who of accommodationist religious studies. According to AROPL’s own promotion, the event drew over 100 attendees, including international members, BBC and ITV reporters, and, most troublingly, the mayor of Crewe and local council members.20 Introvigne’s own social media documentation of the event reveals the extent of this legitimization effort, describing presentations on AROPL’s “doctrine” and “inclusivity” while celebrating the group’s ability to convert “professional rappers” and framing critics as representatives of “world anti-cultism.”21 Here was the apologetic playbook’s success: transforming a group facing serious allegations into legitimate participants in academic discourse, complete with political endorsement.

One must pause to consider how utterly bizarre this would be in any other academic discipline. Imagine criminologists hosting a conference on a university campus, attended by local officials, to legitimize an alleged mafia family facing credible extortion charges. Imagine political scientists awarding prizes to a dictator’s writings while celebrating him as a victim of persecution. Such actions would be career-ending scandals in any other field, rightly so. Yet in the academic study of religion, this behavior is not only tolerated but celebrated as defending “religious freedom.”

How did we arrive at a situation where such obvious manipulation passes for scholarship? The answer lies in the sophisticated rhetorical strategies that religious apologists have perfected. One key tactic is “poisoning the well,” an argument that seeks to delegitimize an opponent’s claims in advance by attacking their credibility or good faith.22 By framing Kent as an anti-religion crusader and journalists as unreliable mystics, critics ensure that everything they say can be ignored and deemed false or irrelevant by the public without ever having to engage the evidence. Kent himself has experienced this directly, recalling how operatives of one group followed him in at least two countries and another distributed a news magazine that falsely equated him with a Holocaust denier, all because he dared to write critically about the group’s founder.23

A related tactic is the strategic use of straw man arguments. Once critics have been discredited personally, apologists can then misrepresent their actual arguments. The standard move is to dismiss all research on psychological manipulation by invoking the grotesque imagery of The Manchurian Candidate, the 1959 book about a brainwashed assassin, which was later twice adapted into film in 1962 and 2004. This tactic attributes a ridiculous and easily refutable argument to opponents, one they never actually made, to sidestep their real points.24 Researchers are not talking about fictional mind control; they are referring to well-documented processes of social influence, such as control of information, manipulation of guilt, and isolation from outside contacts.25 By consistently invoking this ridiculous caricature, apologists can discredit legitimate research without engaging its actual content.

The conflict between Kent’s rigorous analysis and Introvigne’s apologetic rhetoric is more than just an academic feud. On one side stands a commitment to applying consistent analytical standards across all domains of human experience. On the other stands a powerful impulse to create a protected category for religion, shielding it from critical inquiry and defending its institutions even when credible concerns arise. This accommodationist impulse, however well-intentioned, has turned parts of the academy into a safe harbor for apologetics, where defending faith takes precedence over seeking truth.

Returning to the banker and the prophet, the core issue is one of intellectual consistency. If we are willing to consider psychological and neurological explanations for extraordinary claims made by a banker, we must be equally willing to consider them for claims made by a prophet. To do otherwise is to abandon the principles of scholarly inquiry and embrace a double standard that serves no one, least of all the vulnerable individuals who bear the consequences. Kent’s book is not an attack on religion. It is a plea for an honest day’s work.

Notes

1. Massimo Introvigne, “Stephen Kent Unmasks Himself: From Anti-Cult Scholar to Anti-Religion Crusader.” Bitter Winter, August 15, 2025.

2. Stephen A. Kent, Psychobiographies and Godly Visions: Disordered Minds and the Origins of Religiosity. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025.

3. Introvigne, “Stephen Kent Unmasks Himself: From Anti-Cult Scholar to Anti-Religion Crusader.”

4. Kile Jones, “Scientific Understanding in Theories of Religion: Which Science Ought We Emphasize?” Free Inquiry 45, no. 3 (April/May 2025).

5. Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000.

6. Russell T. McCutcheon, Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997.

7. Bryan R. Wilson, “Apostates and New Religious Movements.” Scientology Religion, December 3, 1994. Available online at https://www.scientologyreligion.org/religious-expertises/apostates-and-new-religious-movements/page1.html.

8. American Psychiatric Association Ethics Committee, The Principles of Medical Ethics with Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association, 2017.

9. Kent, Psychobiographies and Godly Visions: Disordered Minds and the Origins of Religiosity, p. 17.

10. Ibid., pp. 12–21.

11. Introvigne, “Stephen Kent Unmasks Himself: From Anti-Cult Scholar to Anti-Religion Crusader.”

12. Rachel Gessat, “‘Dad, Imam, God’: Children Living with Self-Declared Pope in Former UK Orphanage.” The Guardian, June 12, 2025.

13. Be Scofield, “Meet the Doomsday Cult Taking Over the World.” GuruMag, April 21, 2025.

14. Mattha Busby, “In England, Parents Are Moving Their Children Into a Doomsday Cult—With a Man Calling Himself ‘the New Pope’.” VICE News, July 2, 2025.

15. Ibid.

16. Rosita Šorytė, “AROPL and the Rise of New Age Anti-Cultism.” Bitter Winter, June 20, 2025.

17. Ibid.

18. Luigi Corvaglia, “Greenwashing Cults: How Cult Apologists Poison the Wells.” SSRN Electronic Journal, January 12, 2023. Available online at https://ssrn.com/abstract=4323801.

19. Massimo Introvigne, “Castellion v. Calvin: Freedom vs. Theocracy, from Geneva to Iran and the Case of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light.” Bitter Winter, May 21, 2025.

20. Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, “Today was the opening day of our two day event titled ‘The Supremacy of God conference.’” X, August 20, 2025. Available online at https://x.com/ahmadireligion/status/1958319257587994962.

21. Massimo Introvigne, “The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (a Shia-derivative new religion not to be confused with the Sunni-derivative Ahmadiyya Community persecuted in Pakistan) converted at least two professional rappers: here is one.” Facebook, August 20, 2025. Available online at https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GebnjJpFw/; Massimo Introvigne, “Second day of the conference on the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (a Shia-derivative NRM not to be confused with the Sunni-derivative Ahmadiyya community) with more details on its doctrine and opponents and on the present state of world anti-cultism.” Facebook, August 21, 2025. Available online at https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A5cUpDZXC/.

22. Corvaglia, “Greenwashing Cults: How Cult Apologists Poison the Wells.”

23. Kent, Psychobiographies and Godly Visions: Disordered Minds and the Origins of Religiosity, p. 251.

24. Corvaglia, “Greenwashing Cults: How Cult Apologists Poison the Wells.”

25. Steven Hassan, Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs. Newton, MA: Freedom of Mind Resource Center, 2013.

Jonathan Simmons

Jonathan Simmons, PhD, is an independent scholar and higher education professional whose research examines nonreligion and social movements in North America. His doctoral work analyzed moral identity and activism in Canadian atheist communities, and his current research focuses on Indigenous religious change and nonreligion. His scholarly articles have appeared in Secular Studies, Religion and Gender, and Social Movement Studies, examining topics ranging from feminist atheist activism to the intersections of nonreligion with social justice movements.

Free Inquiry Magazine

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https://secularhumanism.org/2026/01/the-prophet-and-the-pathologist-stephen-kent-massimo-introvigne-and-the-battle-for-an-honest-study-of-religion/

South Korea’s ex-first lady jailed for 20 months in bribery case

2026-01-29T09:06:08.399-05:00

AFP

DAWN.COM

January 29, 2026

SEOUL: A South Korean judge handed the country’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee 20 months in jail on Wednesday for accepting lavish gifts from a cult-like church, but acquitted her of alleged stock manipulation and other charges.

Controversy has long followed 53-year-old Kim, while accusations of graft, influence peddling and even academic fraud have dominated her husband Yoon Suk Yeol’s time in office. Both are now in custody — Yoon for actions taken during his disastrous declaration of martial law in December 2024 and Kim for corruption.

On Wednesday, Judge Woo In-sung of the Seoul Central District Court found Kim guilty of corruption and sentenced her to 20 months in prison. She was found to have accepted lavish bribes from the cult-like Unification Church — including a Chanel bag and a Graff necklace.

Prosecutors requested 15 years, but Kim was acquitted of stock manipulation and violations of campaign financing laws on Wednesday, and received a far lighter sentence. Woo said that Kim’s close proximity to the president had given her “significant influence” that she had taken advantage of.

“One’s position must never become a means of pursuing private gain,” he added. The former first lady sat in court as the sentence was read out, wearing a black suit, a white face mask and glasses.

Kim later released a statement apologising for “the concern” she may have caused, saying that she “accepted the court’s stern criticism”. Her lawyers said Kim had not decided whether she would appeal against the decision.

Prosecutors at Kim’s final hearing in December said she had “stood above the law” and colluded with the Unification Church to undermine “the constitutionally mandated separation of religion and state”.

Min Joong-ki, a Prosecutor on the case, said at the time that South Korea’s institutions were “severely undermined by abuses of power” committed by Kim.

On Wednesday, prosecutors called the ruling “hard to accept” and said they would appeal. The former first lady previously denied all charges against her, claiming the allegations were “deeply unjust” in her final testimony last month.

She still faces two additional trials on bribery and Political Parties Act violations over allegations that she arranged the mass enrolment of more than 2,400 Unification Church followers into Yoon’s conservative People Power Party.

Dogged by scandal

A self-professed animal lover known internationally for her work campaigning for South Korea to ban dog meat, Kim’s scandals frequently overshadowed her husband’s domestic political agenda.

In 2023, hidden camera footage appeared to show Kim accepting a $2,200 luxury handbag in what was later dubbed the “Dior bag scandal”, further dragging down Yoon’s already dismal approval ratings.

The scandal contributed to a stinging defeat for Yoon’s party in the general elections in April 2024, as it failed to win back a parliamentary majority. Yoon vetoed three opposition-backed bills to investigate allegations against Kim, including the Dior bag case, with the last veto in November 2024. A week later, he declared martial law.

Kim’s sentencing came days after former prime minister Han Duck-soo was handed 23 years in prison for aiding and abetting Yoon’s suspension of civilian rule.

And this month Yoon was sentenced to five years for obstructing justice and other crimes in the first of a number of trials linked to that declaration.

The probe into Kim also led to the arrest of Han Hak-ja, leader of the Unification Church, which claims 10 million followers worldwide and runs a vast business empire.

Also on Wednesday, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yun Young-ho, a former Unification Church official, to 14 months in prison for offering luxury gifts to the former first lady and providing illegal political funds to a lawmaker.

Opposition lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, an ally of ex-president Yoon, was also jailed for two years for receiving 100 million won ($70,000) from the controversial sect.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2026

Taken No More: Protect Your Children Against Traffickers and Cults

2026-01-27T11:46:00.004-05:00

Robin Boyle Laisure: Taken No More: Protect Your Children Against Traffickers and Cults (Bloomsbury 2025)

In America, every 2.5 hours, a child is taken by human traffickers; 50% of trafficking victims are children (The Deliver Fund). Additionally, 2.5 million Americans have joined cultic groups in the past two decades (International Cultic Studies Association). Online predators pose a critical threat to today’s children. This new book, Taken No More: Protect Your Children Against Traffickers and Cults, provides tools to fight these critical problems. It serves as a guide for parents, teachers, mental health professionals, lawyers, and law enforcement.

Cults actively recruit on college campuses, online, and in so-called self-improvement and health space, such as yoga and meditation.

Taken No More devotes a full chapter to predators’ tactics in soliciting children online. The frequency in which this is happening is alarming and, often, with devasting consequences.

Robin Boyle Laisure is an author and law professor. Taken No More is a culmination of nearly thirty years of research into the labyrinth of pernicious enterprises and the law. As a guide for family and professionals, the book advises about the dangers of human trafficking and cults. It suggests dialogue when speaking with children, teens, and young adults. It is a must-read for anyone raising, teaching, or counseling children. The advice offered could help save lives.

Kishi-Moon tie still afflicts Japan as Abe assassin faces verdict

2026-01-20T19:22:03.643-05:00

The roots of Shinzo Abe’s assassination trace back to Cold War anti-communism and the Unification Church’s fateful entry into Japan

Eiichiro Tokumoto

Asia Times

January 17, 2026

“Coming events cast their shadows before.” This remark is attributed to the Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. Essentially it says that historical events, while occurring with no advance notice, are actually foreshadowed by auguries. With the passing of time, reflecting the wills of various players, the drama gains momentum and reaches its climax.

In other words, the past offers an understanding of the present. This likely holds true with the assassination three and a half years ago of Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister, by Tetsuya Yamagami. Nara District Court will hand down its verdict in the case this coming Wednesday, January 21.

On July 8, 2022, then-41-year-old Yamagami, armed with a homemade firearm, shot and killed Abe in front of Yamato-Saidaiji train station in Nara Prefecture, while Abe was campaigning on behalf of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s candidate in the upper house election.

According to media reports, Yamagami told interrogators that his mother had made sizeable donations to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – previously known as the Unification Church – and thereby forced his family into bankruptcy.

“I believed Abe was tied to the Unification Church,” Yamagami was alleged to have said, in justifying his actions. He explained further that Nobusuke Kishi, Japan’s prime minister from 1957 to 1960 and Abe’s grandfather, had “brought the Unification Church to Japan. That’s why I killed him.”

During some research research five years before Abe’s shock assassination, I stumbled upon a document that would cast its shadow on subsequent events.

I had found the document, a personal letter from Nobusuke Kishi to US President Ronald Reagan dated November 26, 1984, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. In the letter, Kishi requested Reagan’s assistance in obtaining the release from a US federal prison of Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, often colloquially known as the Moonies.

Kishi wrote: “Rev. Moon is now under unjust confinement. With your cooperation, I would like to ask that he be released by all means from his unfair imprisonment as soon as possible.” The letter went on to say: “My understanding of Rev. Moon is that he is a genuine man, staking his life on promoting the ideals of freedom and correcting communism.”

Two years before Kishi wrote that lettter, at the Southern District Court in Manhattan, New York, Moon had been convicted of tax fraud, sentenced to an 18-month prison term and fined $25,000. He’d been charged with failure to report interest income from bank accounts in New York and shares from a company with ties to his church. The defense had contended that Moon was holding the funds as a trustee of the church, but his conviction had been upheld on a split decision, Moon sent to a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, from July 1984.

It was four months after Moon had started serving his sentence that Kishi sent the letter to Reagan, requesting Moon’s release.

In a letter dated March 5, 1985, Reagan replied to Kishi that an executive clemency request “is being considered by the Pardon Attorney’s office at the Justice Department. I can assure you that your thoughts will be given very careful consideration during this process. Thank you again for your thoughtfulness in sharing your views with me.”

It clearly indicates a polite refusal to Kishi’s request. Before Reagan sent the reply, his deputy attorney general sent a memorandum to the counsel to the president, saying the US Department of Justice opposed clemency. Separately, records of Moon’s trials were sent to the White House, and one of the issues on which it focused was the suspicious financing network of the Unification Church.

According to court documents, the prosecutors alleged that bank accounts were used by Moon to purchase real estate in a New York suburb and furniture, as well as to cover his children’s school fees. The documents also alleged that the church had produced a set of false account books with spurious donations from Japanese members. The tax evasion trial of Moon exposed the shady financing network of the Unification Church.

As early as the 1980s, criticism had already been growing in Japan about the church’s high-pressure methods for soliciting donations, which led to financial ruin for members’ families. And as the documents indicate, a former prime minister of Japan asked the US president to pardon the church’s founder.

It appears that Kishi himself was aware that his action might backfire. The letter was delivered to the White House through a Japanese friend, Kagehisa Toyama, the then president of RF Radio Nippon. And Reagan’s reply was sent to Kishi’s private office. This indicates that the correspondence was exchanged through back-channel diplomacy, bypassing Japan’s foreign ministry. Had such correspondence been leaked to outsiders, it very likely would have plunged the minister into a scandal.

Japan’s foreign minister at the time of the Kishi-Reagan exchange was Shintaro Abe, husband of Kishi’s daughter Yoko. And Shintaro Abe’s secretary was their son, 30-year-old Shinzo.

As events transpired, the shadow cast by Abe’s assassination was considerably longer. Why did Kishi request Reagan to release Moon from the prison in the first place? A document from the 1940s may be considered its starting point. In the document, dated April 24, 1947, it was recommended that Nobusuke Kishi, a suspected class-A war criminal, be released from confinement.

It is a matter of historical record that Kishi served as minister of commerce and industry in Hideki Tojo’s cabinet. He was among the co-signers of the declaration of war against the United States immediately after the attack on the Pearl Harbor and was deeply involved in Japan’s war efforts.

In the 1930s, Kishi, then a senior bureaucrat of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, was dispatched to Manchukuo, Japan’s short-lived (1932-1945) puppet state, where he oversaw industrial development. The Chinese minister there was simply a figurehead, with Kishi effectively in charge. The power structure there was under the absolute control of Japan’s Kwantung Army. The GHQ’s investigation files described Kishi as a member of the “Manchuria gang.”

In the early stages of the allied occupation, GHQ prioritized the democratization and demilitarization of Japan. It arrested war criminals, banned former leaders from taking roles in the new government and promoted labor unions.

Just after Japan’s surrender in 1945, Kishi was arrested as a suspected class-A war criminal by the allied powers and was held at Tokyo’s Sugamo prison.

In 1947, however, an April 24 memorandum from the General Headquarters G2 Section, which was responsible for intelligence and maintaining security, to the Legal Section and International Prosecution Section, said:

It is significant that official records show no evidence whatsoever that Kishi was ever connected with any nationalistic or expansionist ideological societies.

Unless the new completed prosecution phase of the IMTFE [International Military Tribunal for the Far East] of major war crimes suspects has adduced evidence sufficient to form an indictment against Kishi in connection with his Manchurian activities and unless activity in Imperial Rule Assistance organizations is adjudged proper basis for indictment, G-2 recommends that Kishi is released from confinement in Sugamo Prison without preference of charges.

What was G2’s motive in calling for the release from prison of one of the Manchuria gang’s leaders? The action was intended to counter the perceived immediate threat of communism at the time. The Cold War had already begun with the US and the Soviet Union engaged in a worldwide confrontation. In 1947, America’s Central Intelligence Agency was newly launched, and the Japan Communist Party was expanding its influence.

In the United States, concerns were growing that excessive and hasty reforms might weaken Japan and enable communist influence to expand. The business community in New York, wielding its influence on the Congress and media, lobbied the government to alter GHQ’s occupation policies. Eventually, suspected war criminals were released and large numbers of former bureaucrats and politicians were allowed to return to the government.

Referred to as the “reverse course,” a GHQ document clearly outlined that change. The document, dated December 23, 1948 – coincidentally the same day that former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and six other class A-war criminals were executed by hanging – ordered the release of 15 alleged war criminals from Sugamo Prison the following day, Christmas Eve. The list of inmates included Nobusuke Kishi, Yoshio Kodama and Ryoichi Sasakawa.

The three men had been arrested as suspected class-A war criminals. Later, Kishi would enter politics and rise to the post of prime minister, while Kodama and Sasakawa became known as powerful right-wing fixers. And all three would become active supporters of the International Federation for Victory over Communism, the anti-communist political organization set up by Sun Myung Moon.

Viewed in this light, Kishi’s 1984 letter to Reagan requesting Moon’s release, and the GHQ’s advisory for releasing Kishi in 1947, could be said to share a common thread: the fight against communism, particularly the Soviet Union, against the backdrop of the Cold War.

According to this view, the West, to advance freedom and democracy, could justify using any means to defeat the communist bloc. In support of that goal, an accused class-A war criminal and leader of the Manchuria gang could be released from prison without hesitation. So why not dismiss tax fraud conviction of an anti-communisst Korean religious leader in a New York suburb? Compared with the imminent threat of communism, those were minor irritants. That is the logic behind the two documents related to Nobusuke Kishi.

And then there was Shinzo Abe, who idolized his grandfather.

In the spring of 1960, tens of thousands of violent demonstrators gathered near the National Diet building and Kishi’s house. The Kishi cabinet was pushing ahead with revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty, which many feared would result in Japan being dragged into America’s wars. Demonstrating leftist students and labor unionists shouted “Down with Kishi!” and some threw stones and burning newspapers into the house.

Five-year-old Shinzo Abe, who was yet to enter elementary school, was deeply moved by the anti-Kishi demonstrations and would later write about the experience in his book, Toward a New Country. Abe wrote:

From my childhood, for me, my grandfather appeared as a sincere politician who consistently pondered the future of the nation. He maintained imperturbable calm despite the ferocious attacks against him and, as a family member, I started feeling proud of him. I thought those anti-security treaty demonstrators were on the wrong side.

It was against that backdrop that the Unification Church made its way into Japan, bearing the standard of anti-communism. It opened its Japan headquarters next door to Kishi’s house. As he grew older, Shinzo developed an affinity with conservative ideas and inherited his grandfather’s connection with the church in their joint battle against leftist activists.

Kishi died in 1987, aged 90. Two years later, the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War came to an end. But Abe’s relationship with the church continued. Decades later, Tetsuya Yamagami, Abe’s alleged assassin, was nurturing a growing hatred and desire for revenge, his anger boiling like magma beneath the surface of a volcano.

The eruption came in the form of two gunshots in front of a train station in Nara – the tragic end to a series of events cast on Christmas Eve 1948, when Nobusuke Kishi was released from Sugamo prison.

Eiichiro Tokumoto is an author, journalist and history detective living in Tokyo.

Originally published in English by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan’s Number One Shimbun, this article was excerpted from a longer Japanese article in the magazine Shukan Shincho’s January 5-12, 2023, issue. In advance of the sentencing in the assassination case.

https://asiatimes.com/2026/01/kishi-moon-tie-still-afflicts-japan-as-abe-assassin-faces-verdict/

Social media are helping cults to recruit and control members

2026-01-20T18:47:05.788-05:00

The internet has replaced door-to-door evangelists with online influencers

The Economist

January 8, 2026

It began as just another niche game inside Roblox, an American video-game platform. Players wandered through dark forests, exchanged clues and chatted as they explored. Within these spaces a group of adults steered some children into Discord, an online messaging service. They told them that the game’s geometric symbol had real-world power and could connect them to a “higher state”. Entry to the group’s inner circle required proof of loyalty. Children were asked to film themselves performing a series of tasks. At first the challenges seemed harmless. Over time they became more intrusive, with some children pushed into carving the symbol into their skin.

Incidents like this illustrate how the internet has changed the way cults operate by replacing the door-to-door evangelists and street-corner preachers of the past with online influencers, life coaches and self-styled healers. These new cult leaders target people where they are most vulnerable: alone online.

Chart: The Economist

The result has been a sharp increase in cult activity. MIVILUDES, the French government’s watchdog on “sectarian aberrations”, logged more than 4,500 reports of suspected cult activity in 2024. The number of such alerts (rather than a count of groups) was more than double the level recorded in 2015. A majority involved communities that had online activities. The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), a global network of researchers who study coercive groups, now tracks more than 4,000 of them worldwide, compared with roughly 2,000 in the 1980s.

Cults tend to have four characteristics that distinguish them from ordinary groups. The first is a charismatic leader who claims special access to truth or power and is often narcissistic or messianic. The second is a belief system that promises transformation or salvation, whether spiritual awakening, perfect health or material success. The third is a system of control such as rules that erode individuals’ autonomy, often through exhaustion, surveillance or humiliation—such as staged tests of loyalty. The fourth is a system of social pressure that punishes doubt and those who leave, through ostracism, intimidation or loss of family and community ties. All of these elements can be reproduced online, where they are harder to detect and where recruiters can more easily reach large numbers of people.

The internet has not simply increased the number of cults. It has also splintered them, says Carlos Bardavío, a Spanish lawyer who specialises in cases involving coercive groups. Whereas he once dealt with a small number of well-defined groups, he now receives requests linked to dozens of tiny ones. In 1978 a survey by ICSA found about 400 former members clustered in just 40 organisations. In its latest survey more than 900 former members were spread across 540 groups.

Young people are particularly exposed, says Etienne Apaire, the president of MIVILUDES. They spend more time online, are more impressionable and less able to spot manipulation than adults. Nearly one in five French cases in 2024 involved a minor. A report by Europol, the EU’s police agency, warns of a rise in online cults coercing teenagers into violence.

Many of these movements do not claim to be religious. Instead, they speak the language of wellness, purpose and self-mastery. Alternative therapies boomed during the pandemic, when fear and isolation made people more receptive to promises of healing and control. Some groups claim to cure anxiety or chronic pain; others offer “transformation”, prosperity or a “second life” to those who submit fully.

Once drawn in, followers are gradually made dependent. As with traditional cults, the first steps seem harmless—a ritual, a video call, a chat about progress—but the demands soon grow. Doubt is portrayed as weakness. Eventually the group becomes their main source of validation, says Laura Merino, a psychologist who treats victims of cultic manipulation. Social-media algorithms reinforce that dependence, feeding users a stream of content that presents the group’s views as the only reality.

Some groups, like the Roblox one, descend into violence. Others prey on followers financially. In 2021 Robert Shinn, a self-proclaimed pastor and talent manager, recruited young dancers through online Bible-study sessions and promises of “creative mentorship”. He then allegedly pressed them to move into properties he controlled, restricted contact with their families and monitored their messages. He allegedly took charge of their earnings—claiming that handing over their income was a test of devotion and a path to spiritual growth—according to documents filed in a California court in a lawsuit brought by former members of his group. Mr Shinn has denied wrongdoing and said he was the victim of a “smear campaign”.

Scholars have long debated where to draw the line between a tight-knit community, a fringe religion and an abusive cult. Most present themselves as harmless churches, coaching programmes or wellness groups. This task has been made even harder as public interest in cults has grown. Streaming giants including Netflix and HBO have aired documentaries, including one on Mr Shinn. Yet cavalier use of the term “cult” makes it harder than ever to differentiate between intense forms of following and real coercion, says Adam Scott Kunz of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In a YouGov poll conducted for The Economist, 42% of respondents said MAGA is a cult—the same share who said the same of QAnon, an incoherent conspiracy movement. Absurdly, many think political parties and even sororities are cults, too (see chart 2).

Governments have taken sharply different approaches to confronting the problem. France has gone furthest, creating new offences designed to capture psychological manipulation. A law introduced in 2001 criminalises the “fraudulent abuse of weakness” and allows prosecutors to target leaders who exploit vulnerable followers. A reform passed in 2024 expanded this by outlawing “psychological subjugation”, defined as any deliberate effort to deprive a person of free will. Belgium has adopted a similar framework. Spain also explicitly recognises “coercive sects” in its penal code. At the opposite end are countries with robust protections for freedom of belief, such as America.

Judge not?

How far the law should go is a delicate question. Moira Penza, a former prosecutor for the state of New York, warns that statutes targeting mental manipulation risk criminalising eccentric communities or unconventional faiths. A study of Belgium’s “sect” cases found that 93% of investigations were closed with no legal action due to the absence of any crime.

The way to deal with cult-like organisations without infringing freedom of belief is to prosecute them for demonstrable offences—such as forced labour, rape, fraud, extortion or blackmail, Ms Penza argues. Even then, prosecution is rarely straightforward. Victims often appear to have acted willingly: they joined voluntarily, followed orders and sometimes defended their leader publicly.

Ms Penza faced these challenges as lead prosecutor in a case against NXIVM, a company that claimed to provide classes in leadership and personal development in upstate New York. Yet it also coerced women into “master-slave” relationships. Its founder, Keith Raniere, was sentenced to 120 years in prison for sexually abusing a child, forced labour and racketeering.

The hardest task, Ms Penza says, was showing jurors how fear and control can make people comply against their will. Mr Bardavío says the same misunderstanding once surrounded violence against women: people asked, “Why didn’t she just leave?” until research showed how fear and dependency can erode autonomy. Cults use similar methods—isolating members, exhausting them and alternating affection with punishment to break resistance.

Trauma compounds the difficulty of prosecuting such cases. Many victims speak out only years after escaping, when memories are fragmented and legal time limits may already have expired. Many fear retaliation from the group. Meanwhile, the line between victim and perpetrator frequently blurs: those who suffered harm often helped inflict it too, says Ms Penza.

Prevention may be the most effective response. Teaching young people how manipulation works could make them less susceptible. Campaigns against domestic abuse offer a precedent: lessons on power and control are now routine in schools, helping victims recognise harm earlier.

Support for survivors also needs strengthening. Many remain silent, held back by stigma and a lack of dedicated counselling or legal aid. Former cult members often receive no protection from police or the justice system after leaving the group, says Alexandra Stein, chairman of the Family Survival Trust, a non-profit which provides information on cults. There is also a staggering shortage of psychologists trained to deal with cult-related trauma. Ms Merino—one of the few specialists in Spain—says she treats more than 150 patients a year and turns away dozens more for lack of capacity.

Governments are regulating social networks more strictly—an approach that could also limit the reach of coercive groups. Australia’s ban on social-media use by children, for example, reflects growing concern about what risks platforms may pose. Ms Merino has also noticed an increase in professionals seeking training in cultic manipulation, a field that until recently was ignored. As was once the case with domestic abuse, societies are learning that control need not involve physical chains. Mental ones bind, too.

https://www.economist.com/international/2026/01/08/social-media-are-helping-cults-to-recruit-and-control-members

Unification Church-backed project in Cambodia investigated for alleged corruption tied to previous gov't

2026-01-14T18:01:22.585-05:00

Korea JoongAng Daily

January 13, 2026

A development project in Cambodia promoted by the Unification Church faces a criminal investigation following evidence emerged suggesting it was used to favor the personal commercial interests of a former high-ranking church with close ties to figures of the previous administration from South Korea.

Researchers have identified indications that the project, promoted by the Federation for Universal Peace (commonly known as the Unification Church), was effectively privatized by Yun Young-ho, former head of the church's world headquarters. Yun was charged and arrested last year on charges including bribery, illegal lobbying, and embezzlement of church funds.

Prosecutors suspect Yun relied on his close ties to figures linked to ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol to continue with the project, even after the church leadership withdrew its support.

According to audio recordings and testimony, Yun began promoting several development initiatives in Cambodia in the second half of 2021. Among them stands out is the Mekong Peace Park project, which proposed to transform an island on the Mekong River into a park and build a regional headquarters of the church for Asia-Pacific.

Former first lady accused of bribery

Researchers allege that Yun sought to influence former first lady Kim Keon Hee by giving luxury gifts, including a high-end handbag and necklace, through a partner known as the shaman "Geon Jin." In a recording, Yun is heard saying: "I had huge expectations from the Korean administration and met with all of Yoon's close friends... "even with the first lady and the president."

In December 2022, Yun obtained Cambodian citizenship, a move allegedly aimed at securing land ownership rights. It is reported that the then Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen personally intervened before the king for this procedure.

Electoral funding and proposed casinos

The prosecution has also received testimony suggesting that Yun sought to recover funds allegedly used to support Cambodia’s July 2023 general election. A deal was offered in which a $1 million contribution to election funding would reward a casino license and 90 years of operating rights on a project near Sihanoukville, according to the deputies.

The investigation also points to Yun's wife, alias Lee (former financial director of global headquarters), for allegedly using church funds for personal expenses. Lee is accused of buying luxury items — including Chanel handbags intended for the former first lady — and other personal items such as golf clubs, kitchenware and clothing, adding to an estimated embezzlement of 2.100 million won (roughly $1.4 million).

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2026-01-13/national/socialAffairs/Unification-Churchbacked-project-in-Cambodia-investigated-for-alleged-corruption-tied-to-previous-govt/2498438