And other religion- and cult news items, Sunday, March 23, 2025

From time to time we highlight some of the news items we post to the Religion News Blog timeline at Bluesky. Join us there for more news about religions, cults, spiritual abuse, and related issues.

• Church of Scientology accused of intimidating UK critics [Also at Archive.Today],
  Campaigners face online attacks, claims of criminality and complaints to employers. The Church says it’s the victim
  Shanti Das, The Observer, March 23, 2025 (Note: The Observer is a British newspaper published on Sundays and sister paper to The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly.)
  #hategroups #scientology #cults
  
  This is nothing new: The destructive Scientology cult has a long, ongoing history of hate- and harassment activities.

• Exposing 764: On the trail of an extremist ‘cult’ of online predators
  "764" is a global cult of online predators — many are teenagers targeting vulnerable children. They coerce minors to self-harm and have even plotted acts of mass violence. Police are struggling to contain what’s being called a growing terror threat.
  The Fifth Estate (CBC) via YouTube. March 24, 2025
  #hategroups #cults

  See also:

  • 764 (Organization), Wikipedia - "a decentralized and transnational sextortion network that is reportedly adjacent to the Order of Nine Angles, a right-wing Satanist terror network."
  • Member Of Violent 764 Terror Network Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison For Sexually Exploiting a Child, Press Release, US Department of Justics, November 27, 2024
  • There Are Dark Corners of the Internet. Then There's 764
    A global network of violent predators is hiding in plain sight, targeting children on major platforms, grooming them, and extorting them to commit horrific acts of abuse.
    Ali Winston, WIRED, May 13, 2024
  • 764: The Intersection of Terrorism, Violent Extremism, and Child Sexual Exploitation, Marc-André Argentino, Barrett G and M.B. Tyler, Global Network on Extremism & Technology, January 19, 2024

• The Trump administration is descending into authoritarianism [Also at Archive.Today]
  From media to culture and the arts to the refusal to abide by court orders, we’re nearing ‘Defcon 1 for our democracy’, experts say
  David Smith, The Guardian, March 22, 2025
  #hategroups #cults #trumpcult

Full story: Scientology cult accused of intimidating UK critics

Religion and Science: A Clash Between Faith and Reason

Opinion, Victoria Britton

The United States has long championed freedom of religion for all people. This advocacy, central to the American experience today, has historical roots dating back to the country’s foundation.

It began in Virginia during the American Revolution. In 1777, Thomas Jefferson, then a state General Assembly member, penned the landmark "Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom." Enacted in 1786, it declares religious freedom a "natural right" and asserts the rights of Virginians to choose their faith without coercion. Firmly believing that "religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God," Jefferson feared that without religious freedom and a strict separation of church and state in the new republic, "kings, nobles, and priests" threatened to create a dangerous aristocracy. Jefferson’s statute became the forerunner to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which stipulates "that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise." (As to what exactly constitutes a religion, of course, the First Amendment is silent.)

Thanks to Jefferson’s authorship of the "Virginia Statute"—an accomplishment he considered one of his three greatest—he became known as the father of religious liberty in the United States. Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson was also one of the founding fathers of American science. Of his many interests, he called science his "passion." Over the course of his busy lifetime, despite devoting over thirty years to public service, Jefferson made serious contributions to botany, meteorology, entomology, ethnology, archaeology, paleontology, and comparative anatomy. His first book, Notes on the State of Virginia, is considered the most important American scientific work published in the eighteenth century.

As head of the American Philosophical Society—the country’s most prominent science organization—Jefferson popularized the pursuit of science as an American ideal. And he was the most scientifically minded president this nation has ever known, dispatching several expeditions out into the Louisiana Territory to map it and to list and categorize its flora and fauna.

Freedom of religion and the pursuit of scientific knowledge were both paramount to Thomas Jefferson. Fundamentally incompatible, religion and science disagree profoundly on how we obtain knowledge of the surrounding world. Science is rooted in observation and reasoning. "Religion," wrote physics professor Victor J. Stenger, "assumes that human beings can access a deeper level of information that is not available by either observation or reason." Based on constant analysis, questioning, and critiquing, science continually evolves and grows, whereas religion—with its supernatural entities—is not usually modified in the face of conflicting evidence.

We know Jefferson understood the conflict between faith and reason. Writing in 1820 regarding the strong opposition to his founding of the University of Virginia, a secular institution, he noted: "The most restive is that of the priests of the different religious sects, who dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of day-light; and scowl on it the fatal harbinger announcing the subversion of the duperies on which they live."

In the over two hundred years since Jefferson’s "Virginia Statute"—and the subsequent First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—literally dozens of strange "religions" have sprung up in the United States. Would Jefferson have seen this as an abuse of his idea of religious liberty?

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. Although "science" is in its name, it is a belief system with no basis in any recognized science. Quite to the contrary, Scientologists—parroting a theme that runs throughout their literature and doctrine—firmly believe that they are warring against a well-respected social science—psychiatry. According to the Church, psychiatry has a long history of providing improper and abusive care (a point of view that has been disputed, criticized, and condemned by experts in the medical and scientific communities.)

In 2005, the Church of Scientology—and one of its front groups, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (the CCHR)—opened a controversial museum called "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death." Located in Los Angeles, the museum is free and open seven days a week. The museum’s presentations highlight the alleged destruction wrought by psychiatrists in every corner of our society. Psychiatry, according to the CCHR, is responsible for 9/11, school shootings, mass murders, and the deaths of countless celebrities. They claim that psychiatry-related deaths total around 1.1 million and that psychiatrists are the most criminal of all professions; and the least fit to treat mental health. "There is not one institutional psychiatrist alive," wrote Hubbard, "who … could not be arraigned and convicted of extortion, mayhem and murder." As the museum delves into the history of medicine and psychiatry, it becomes increasingly conspiratorial, attempting to do the very thing they criticize: psychologically manipulate individuals.

Naturally, the Church of Scientology’s beliefs on life and death are just as bizarre. Scientologists call the human soul a person’s immortal spiritual being, a "thetan." According to Hubbard (as wrote Joel Shappell for the Tampa Bay Times in 1990), "when a person dies, his or her thetan goes to a ‘landing station’ on Venus, where it is programmed with lies about both its past and its next life. The lies include a promise that it will be returned to Earth by being lovingly shunted into the body of a newborn baby." What really happens, said Hubbard, is "you’re simply capsuled and dumped in the Gulf of Lower California. Splash. The hell with ya. And you’re on your own, man. If you can get out of that, and through that, and wander around through the cities and find some girl who looks like she is going to get married or have a baby or something like that, you’re all set. And if you can find the maternity ward to a hospital or something, you’re OK." Eventually, he said you "just pick up a baby."

Unfortunately, I became all too familiar with the hypocrisy of the Church of Scientology and its unsound and dangerous belief system. In the days leading up to my son Kyle’s death, I was contacted by two devout Scientologists: my ex-husband Tom Brennan, Kyle’s father, and Denise Miscavige Gentile, the twin sister of the head of the organization, David Miscavige. (Gentile, at the time, was serving as Brennan’s Scientology "auditor.") They recommended sending Kyle to Narconon, a Scientology-connected drug rehabilitation facility because he was taking an antidepressant. Typical of their anti-science stance, Scientologists equate psychiatric medications with illegal street drugs. I scoffed at this suggestion. Gentile and Brennan lacked the medical background—and, of course, the sound judgment—to offer this kind of advice.

Brennan and Gentile subsequently lied and committed perjury to protect their Church. Brennan, under oath, admitted that he had lied to me about making certain Kyle had his psychiatrist-prescribed medication and was taking it. During the Clearwater, Florida, police investigation following Kyle’s suspicious death, the medication was found locked in the trunk of Brennan’s vehicle.

Scientologists "honestly believe," wrote Mike Rinder (the former head of the Church’s Office of Special Affairs), that Scientology is the ONLY route to save every man, woman, and child on planet Earth. It is their belief that if Scientology is flourishing, then every person, every family, every group, mankind and even animals and the environment will flourish as a result…" What’s good for the Church of Scientology, therefore, is good for everyone and everything. This is the flawed reasoning that justifies not only lying but also actively harming people.

But what about religious beliefs that encourage "passive" immorality—instances where adherents simply do nothing? Perhaps they fail to undo an event that helps them but harms others. Perhaps, in following their faith, they fail to prevent an injustice or even a death. Historically, the American legal and judicial systems have been reluctant to pursue cases involving a "religion" that has crossed over into abuse, medical neglect, and even criminality.

Extreme religious movements existed in America long before Jefferson penned the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom. Every November, for example, we celebrate the seventeenth-century Puritans who arrived on our shores seeking religious liberty. We tend to forget that the Puritans were not oppressed because of their faith; they were oppressed because they were fanatics.

Christian Science, founded in Boston in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy, holds that because the material world is an illusion, disease is just a mental error (not a physical disorder). Sick congregants, therefore, can be healed by prayer and the laying on of hands. Though Christian Scientists are allowed to frequent doctors, their faith tells them that Christian Science healing is best practiced when not combined with medical science. This anti-science stance, over the years, has led to the deaths of numerous children. In a few cases, Christian Scientists have been convicted of neglect and manslaughter.

Founded during the same period by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, Jehovah’s Witnesses reject what they call the "unscriptural doctrines" of Christianity—Trinitarianism, hellfire, and the inherent immortality of the soul. They say theirs is the one true religion, and Christ’s Second Coming is near. They do not observe birthdays or, more significantly, Christian customs or holidays because of their pagan origins. They also refuse blood transfusions, which they see as a violation of God’s law. Much needless suffering has resulted.

Another Bostonian gift to the world is the Church of Euthanasia (or CoE), founded in 1992 by Chris Korda and Robert Kimberk. Calling itself "a non-profit educational foundation devoted to restoring the balance between Humans and the remaining species on Earth," it promotes massive voluntary population reduction. "Save the Planet, Kill Yourself" is the slogan of the CoE, and here are the four pillars of its anti-human stance: suicide, abortion, sodomy, and cannibalism (only if the victim is already deceased).

What has been the cost? How much suffering and how many tragedies have occurred due to narcissistic, self-appointed, American-made Messiahs? I have no doubt the number would be staggering. How many misguided parents have prioritized their flawed and dangerous religion over the safety and well-being of their children? And what about the long-term emotional trauma created when those supposed to protect children—their parents—treat them instead with neglect and abuse? Why are there limited repercussions when devout individuals adhere to a destructive belief system that promotes poor parental care, emotional deprivation, and medical neglect? How can we urge American politicians and government agencies, who are reluctant to intervene, to take a firm stance against organizations that use religion as a cover for criminal activities?

Religious disputes shaped the world in which Thomas Jefferson grew up. He knew humans had been arguing about religion for a long time and would continue to do so far into the future. There is no short and straightforward solution to the problem. But we can agree there is a critical need to remove religious exemptions regarding health care and child neglect in religious organizations that view children and family members in need as an inconvenience.

Kyle’s final resting place is in a quiet cemetery off a winding country road leading to Monticello, the home and gravesite of Thomas Jefferson. Ironically, my son’s remains lie close to those of the founding father whose faith in religious liberty gave Scientology—as well as numerous other dangerous and ill-considered "religions"—a safe home in the United States.

Copyright © 2024 by Victoria Britton. Posted at Religion News Blog by permission.

About the Author

Victoria Britton is the mother of Kyle Brennan.

Full story: United States of Religion

Video: Scientology's Suspicious Deaths: Murder in the Church?

One reason why we consider Scientology to be a destructive cult is that this so-called "Church" breaks of families and friendships.

Full story: Judge: Church of Scientology Not Liable for Suicide of Young Man (Kyle Brennan)

The Massachusetts Parole Board has granted so-called “satanic cult” murderer Robin Murphy release from prison just nine weeks after the 61-year-old Fall River woman made her case to be free once again related to the triple murders that occurred in 1979 and 1980. ...

The board indicated they based their decision on several factors; addressing her trauma history, victim empathy and addiction issues, and earning her bachelor's degree from Boston University. ...

Murphy’s appearance in March before the parole board was her eighth appearance since being eligible for parole over the years.

Murphy was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after she confessed to the killing of her girlfriend, Karen Marsden, 20, a single parent to a little boy. At the time when Charles Manson and his followers were making headlines for their own gruesome alleged cult murders, Fall River police were investigating the local murders of Marsden, 17-year-old New Bedford runaway Doreen Levesque and 19-year-old single mother Barbara Raposa. All three women were sex workers at the time of their murders. ...

The parole board in the past has expressed concern about Murphy’s changing stories over the years. 

And in March, Murphy changed her story again, this time stunningly telling the parole board that she believed that Fall River pimp Carl Drew, the man she implicated in the murder of Marsden in 1980, was not to blame based on new information which she did not share publicly with the parole board.  

Drew is currently serving a life sentence for first-degree murder without the possibility of parole. Drew has been incarcerated since 1981 and has exhausted all his appeals. ...

Jo C. Goode, May 14, 2024, Robin Murphy confessed to role in Fall River's cult murders. Here's why she got parole.

See also: 'Fall River' true crime documentary is a compelling study of 'Satanic cult' murders

Full story: Fall River ‘satanic cult’ murderer Robin Murphy granted parole

WA families are being ripped apart by a self-styled cult leader whose followers believe they have repressed memories of rape.

About 20 people have become devotees of a New Age "healer'', Matthew Meinck, who owns a retreat property in Chittering Valley.

Meinck, an Australian-born former monk, believes that people retain in their bodies memories of abuse that can be retrieved during intense deep-tissue massage, regressive therapy and gruelling meditation sessions lasting up to two weeks.

The Sunday Times has interviewed eight people who were under the influence of Meinck from about 2003.

During long retreats at the property, they became convinced they had been sexually abused by parents, extended families, workmates and - eventually - each other.

Several laid complaints to police and one man even confessed to "raping'' his children and a babysitter before being admitted to Graylands Hospital and realising the memories were not real.

Another man was so convinced he was a dangerous rapist that he almost committed suicide.

An investigation by The Sunday Times has revealed allegations of assault, threats and intimidation at the Chittering property.

It is believed that a core group of a dozen people, including a child aged 10, are still involved in the cult.

The estranged husband of one woman believes she has spent all her money on Meinck's "therapy''.

The former members, most of whom left the group in the past year, did not want to be publicly identified because they were concerned about the impact on their employers and children.

They signed legal documents swearing their statements to The Sunday Times were true.

Most work in responsible professions and have paid Meinck tens of thousands of dollars.

Some have spoken to police and made formal complaints to the Department of Commerce. They hope the department will shut down Meinck's retreats and counselling business, Real Intelligence.

"Matthew made me start to doubt what was real in my life,'' said a woman in her early 30s, who is living overseas.

"I didn't see my parents for two years. Matthew talked me into needing space from them, that they were doing damage to me.

"I trusted Matthew so much, I believed that anything he said was true.''

The woman, who initially found Meinck's therapy helpful for controlling anxiety attacks, said she now saw his group as a cult and believed she had been "brainwashed in a subtle way''.

"It's a belief system in what Matthew believes,'' she said. "It's like he's playing God, telling people who they can talk to, what they can do.

"There's the isolation (and) being scared to leave. If people leave, they're `doing a runner on themselves', `not facing up to themselves'.''

In 1994, Meinck wrote and published the book Discovering the Nature of Mind: A Healer's Guide to Enlightenment. In it, he recalls incarnations and gives detailed descriptions of his birth.
[...]

The head of the School of Psychology at Edith Cowan University, Craig Speelman, evaluated recordings of Meinck's "counselling'' sessions and transcripts of interviews for The Sunday Times.

Prof Speelman, who specialises in the field of memory, said the "repressed memories'' elicited by Meinck were highly implausible.

He said it was understandable that people involved in a tight group with a charismatic leader over several years could believe in false memories, particularly if they were looking for reasons why they had been unhappy.

"They seem intelligent and articulate, but it is quite bizarre,'' he said.

"The fact that it was happening in a group situation, upping the ante each time (with more traumatic and recent "memories''), helped everyone believe it.

"I suspect that this Matthew doesn't allow any critical questioning so it all seems to keep reinforcing itself. It becomes the only way to think.

"The long meditation sessions break down resistance. It's a very intense environment.

He pushes them through the pain barrier and they are trying to please Matthew by doing this.''

Prof Speelman said there were "certainly sinister elements'' to Meinck's group, similar to other cults around the world.
[...]

Bizarre secret cult ripping families apart, Colleen Egan, Perth Now/The Sunday Times (Australia), Jan. 17, 2009 -- Summarized by Religion News Blog

See also

• More lives ruined by cult, Colleen Egan, in The Sunday Times, January 23, 2009

  • The response to our story last week on New Age cult leader Matthew Meinck has been overwhelming. I have been inundated with phone calls and emails from people who have had dealings with the Chittering Valley retreat owner, who has convinced a core group of about 20 followers that they have repressed memories of being raped and raping others. Eight of Mr Meinck's former devotees, who left his group in the past year or so, gave a fascinating insight last week into the charismatic former monk's bizarre world.

• Cult leader dupes Perth families, Colleen Egan, The West Australian Mon, 5 April 2010

  • A self-styled New Age cult leader who has been blamed for fracturing Perth families with false claims of sexual abuse is continuing to operate in the Chittering Valley. "Counsellor" and massage therapist Matthew Meinck, who charges about $1000 for meditation retreats, is believed to have a handful of devoted followers.

• False memories of abuse shatter families, ABC Local, April 6, 2010

  • A self-styled New Age cult leader who has been blamed for fracturing Perth families with false claims of sexual abuse is continuing to operate in the Chittering Valley. "Counsellor" and massage therapist Matthew Meinck, who charges about $1000 for meditation retreats, is believed to have a handful of devoted followers. For about a year, Perth schoolteacher Britelle Humfrey believed she was the victim of horrific abuse by her father and brothers. She thought that growing numbers of friends had raped her and eventually that she had become an abuser - and that her memories had been repressed. The person who unlocked those memories and provided emotional and spiritual guidance was Mr Meinck, whose teachings include that people "split" into conscious and unconscious beings. Ms Humfrey knows now she was not sexually abused. She was one of a group of professionals leading otherwise unremarkable lives who were caught up in what they recognise, in hindsight, as a cult.

See Also

Over the Edge Video (no longer available at this URL) broadcast by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) on April 5, 2010. Includes editorial, and a list of research resources (albeit without URLs).

You can rent or buy the broadcast, and read the transcript.

The harrowing story of the therapist whose work led some patients to believe they'd committed or been the victim of shocking sexual crimes. One patient shocked her family with the accusations, one told the police, while yet another was driven to madness.

Across Australia thousands of healers and therapists practice without any formal qualification or supervision. Now reporter Sarah Ferguson shows what happened when one of those therapists used unproven techniques to have his patients delve into so called "hidden memories". The result? Trauma, criminal investigations and families torn apart .

Over the Edge

• Matthew's Murky Medicine (has been set to "invitation only")
• Research resources on False Memory Syndrome

Full story: Bizarre secret cult led by New Age ‘healer’ Matthew Meinck ripping families apart

See also: Cult Definition

The term ‘cult’ has a precise definition — or rather, several precise definitions. Which definition is the right one largely depends on the context in which the term ‘cult’ is applied. Learn more about the definition of the term cult at CultDefinition.com.

Shane Satterley, Griffith University

Project Mayhem is an all-male cult – but unlike the real cults that Sarah Steel writes about in Do As I Say, Project Mayhem is fictitious. It comes from the mind of Chuck Palahniuk in his masterpiece novel Fight Club, a dark exploration of contemporary masculinity that describes how a group of men come together to form a fringe group with fringe ideas – and how this can go wrong.

Review: Do As I Say: How cults control, why we join them, and what they teach us about bullying, abuse and coercion, by Sarah Steel (PanMacmillan)

Project Mayhem exhibits many key elements of what we see in cults.

In Do As I Say, Steel (creator of the podcast Let’s Talk About Sects) explores how cults usually exhibit some of the following attributes: they have unique in-group language, they require intense work schedules of members, their leaders will often deliver endless sermons, and they will restrict access to media. Members are directed not to ask questions, and professional help or healthcare and outside information are restricted.

Perhaps most importantly, cults use a method that experts now refer to as coercive control – an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim into conforming.

This form of psychological manipulation is a key part of the fabric of domestic abuse relationships.

Triggering events

Steel reveals members of cults usually experience a triggering event prior to joining. This is backed up by various scholarly sources who’ve written about religious conversion and those who join extremist groups.

A triggering event may be something like a divorce, the death of a loved one, or another event that’s traumatic, or perceived as traumatic. These themes have been noted by sociologists such as Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, who wrote about how fringe religious groups come about during times of societal unrest.

For Durkheim, religion (and other social norms and values) act as a kind of social “glue”. In times of rapid social change, existing rules, habits and beliefs no longer hold. This produces an environment ripe for exploitation – usually by a charismatic man with all the answers to your problems.

Durkheim referred to this personal feeling of change (loss of existing rules, values, beliefs) as “anomie”, which basically means everything in your life has gone to shit, producing a desperate need to find meaning, belonging and control again (or perhaps for the first time).

Cults and control

This is where the study of cults gets interesting and even controversial. As Steel outlines with countless examples, cults often seek to control every aspect of one’s mental and physical existence.

Unless one is born into the group, as Steel also notes, people (overwhelmingly women) choose the group for themselves, albeit without information about its darker aspects. The question is: why on earth would anyone find groups like these appealing?

The need for order, structure and certainties are part of the answer. These have been shown to be common psychological traits for those who lean more to the political right. However, research is showing these factors are growing universally common.

This is the tragedy of cults and other extreme groups: as Steel notes, they exploit freedom of belief, freedom of association and freedom of religion – with often abusive and damaging outcomes.

Everyone loves freedom, for good reason. It’s the foundation of liberal democracy. But unrestrained freedom without a sense of structure, meaning, and order is psychologically unstable – for societies and individuals.

Take, for instance, the feminist issues Steel raises in relation to cults: curtailment of reproductive rights and rights for children, and issues with problematic male leadership. Within many cults, Steel notes, women’s rights are severely curtailed through controlling relationships, limited choices and subservience to the often-male leader, or men in general.

As Steel explains, Australia has been clear that when it comes to immigration, if imported misogynistic belief systems clash with Australian values, Australian values (including women’s rights) should win. But cults appear to slip through the cracks, as they can hide behind freedom of religion.

Where women’s rights should prevail, according to Steel, there appears to be less appetite to investigate and prosecute woman’s rights violations within religious organisations. Steel also provides some social commentary around the “problematic” way we raise young men as leaders. But there are some other factors worth considering.

Cults and the appeal of ‘family’

Why do ostensibly free individuals join these types of restrictive and often damaging groups, obsessed with female reproduction and sex?

From the 1960s, the contraceptive pill for women (making it easier to choose pregnancy or not), the legalisation of abortion (which has just become complicated in the United States, of course, with the repeal of Roe v Wade) and easier access to divorce have meant new levels of freedom for women. More choice – for men and women – as to what a family might look like has also introduced uncertainty.

During this same period, there’s been a massive increase in fatherlessness and single motherhood. And in the US, 2019 Justice Department figures show 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions are fatherless. Cults are religiously conservative expressions of a wish to return to the time when sex was a huge deal, because the cost to both men and women was so high – and to return the man to inside the family unit (at any abhorrent cost).

Chuck Palahniuk has lamented that his book is one of only two works of fiction that address contemporary masculine issues and what it means to be a modern-day man (the other being Dead Poets Society). The main characters in Fight Club discuss whether they should get married. Jack says to Tyler, “I can’t get married, I’m a 30-year-old boy”. Tyler responds, “We’re a generation of men raised by women, I’m wondering if another woman is really the answer we need?”

Steel notes cults are a feminist issue – which they undoubtedly are. But women’s issues do not exist in a vacuum. The factors that have led to single-mother houses, with fathers absent, have been pervasive since the 1960s. Generations have experienced fatherlessness. And there’s a phenomenon of dad-deprived boys. So it shouldn’t be surprising cults mimic a family with a male leader.

The characters in Fight Club go on to create Project Mayhem, a cult in which you “do not ask questions”, with the catchphrase “In [cult leader] Tyler we Trust”. Sound familiar? Where Fight Club diverts from reality is that a cult or a terrorist group is never purely nihilistic, like Project Mayhem, a group with the anarchic goal of tearing down society completely and starting again.

Cults and terrorist groups differ in that the former seeks to control themselves and the latter seeks to control themselves and society. There is some overlap, as religious cults often have apocalyptic and doomsday “prophecies” – but they require members to have their own houses in order before the apocalypse, to avoid hellfire.

Do As I Say is a heartbreaking and compelling read for anyone interested in the way in which cults and extreme groups come to be, control and ultimately exploit the very freedoms we enjoy in the West.

Sarah Steel shows how our desire for meaning, love and social connection can have tragic outcomes when misdirected. This book should give us pause to consider how we can put meaning, order, and structure into our own lives without giving into religious lies, conmen and the most restrictive conditional love.

Shane Satterley, PhD Candidate, Griffith University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

See also: Cult Definition

The term ‘cult’ has a precise definition — or rather, several precise definitions. Which definition is the right one largely depends on the context in which the term ‘cult’ is applied. Learn more about the definition of the term cult at CultDefinition.com.

Full story: Religious lies, conmen, and coercive control: How cults corrupt our desire for love and connection

Full story: Israeli cult leader, polygamist Daniel Ambash jailed for sex crimes, dies

• The sentences of three German men found guilty for their leadership roles at the infamous Colonia Dignidad cult in Chile have been increased.

  The cult's founder, former Nazi Paul Schaefer, was sentenced in July 2008 for torturing children.[wpipa id="36637"]

  Schaefer -- whose followers thought he was "God on earth" -- preached an unnamed religion that said harsh discipline would draw them closer to the supreme being.

  The cult leader also followed the teachings of American preacher William M. Branham, one of the founders of the "faith healing" movement, and considered a heretic.

  In April 2010 Schaefer died in prison.

• California state parole officials postponed a decision on setting free Patricia Krenwinkel, a follower of Charles Manson and convicted killer, after the woman's attorney made new claims that she had been abused by the cult leader or another person.
• Emma Donoghue's novel The Wonder delves into the cult of fasting girls
  

  Anorexia is not a new disorder. The compulsion to refuse food stretches as far back as Ancient Greece and into the Middle Ages, when Catholic saints such as Catherine of Siena would eschew meals as a symbol of their piety. Unlike contemporary sufferers of anorexia nervosa, those with anorexia mirabilis (the miraculous loss of appetite) were celebrated for their ability to exist without earthly pleasures.

• Top 5 'heresies' of 2016: 'One God,' biblical authority and more

  What is heresy?
  What are the essential doctrines of the Christian faith?
  What is a cult of Christianity?

• The hunt for FLDS cult leader Warren Jeffs' lost child brides: Three girls married off to Warren Jeffs aged 12 and 13 are still missing 12 years later as polygamist father who has 145 children goes on trial for arranging ceremonies
• Seventh-day Adventist Church: 49 of every 100 new members eventually leave.

  Theologically this religious sect is considered a cult of Christianity.

• What if you could become God, with the ability to build a whole new universe?

  That question is skillfully addressed by Zeeya Merali in A Big Bang in a Little Room: The Quest to Create New Universes.

  "This mind-boggling book reveals that we can nurse other worlds in the tiny confines of a lab, raising a daunting prospect: Was our universe, too, brought into existence by a daring creator?"

  Marali is a journalist and author who has written for Scientific American, Nature, New Scientist, and Discover, as well as published two textbooks in collaboration with National Geographic.

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Full story: Religion and Cult News, Saturday

• The Berlin attack is right out of the terror handbooks

  The world's deadliest terrorist groups are increasingly open about their intentions, tactics, and targets. Last month, Rumiyah, the slickest terrorist magazine on the Internet market, was very precise. The "most appropriate" killing vehicle, the Islamic State publication advised, is a "load-bearing truck" that is "double-wheeled, giving victims less of a chance to escape being crushed by the vehicle's tires." It should be "heavy in weight, assuring the destruction of whatever it hits." It should also have a "slightly raised chassis and bumper, which allow for the mounting of sidewalks and breeching of barriers if needed." And it should have a "reasonably fast" rate of acceleration.

  In the same issue, Rumiyah urged Islamic State members, or sympathizers anywhere in the world, to hop in vehicles—steal them, if need be—and attack outdoor markets, public celebrations, political rallies, and pedestrian-congested streets. "All so-called 'civilian' (and low security) parades and gatherings are fair game and more devastating to Crusader nation," the magazine, which is published in several languages, said. [...more...]
  - Source: The New Yorker

  Islamic State calls Berlin attacker a 'soldier' as manhunt for killer resumes

  Berlin attack: Police hunt Tunisian suspect after finding ID papers in truck

  Analysis: intelligence has limits in preventing truck-borne terror

  See: Islam and Terrorism

• Interview with living members of Heaven's Gate UFO suicide cult

  In March 1997, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult committed mass suicide inside a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, near San Diego, California. Police discovered their bodies on March 26. It was the largest mass-suicide in U.S. history.

  But the group's website is still available -- and is maintained by two ex-members. Troy James Weaver contacted them:

  So why maintain the website? Obviously if you still believe it, you are a proponent/member of something, right? The reason I ask about suicide, is because if Do and Ti were the only Next Level Members, what does that say about the others who took their own lives? They were human, correct? Not inhabiting a human body, but human? I'm confused by this and what I've read. I'm just trying to understand more clearly. Also, what is a task partner?

  The website is to provide information for their future return. We are designated to maintain and care for it.

  Humans are not to commit suicide. Those 38, and those 38 only, we allowed to shed their human body, take on space-capable, Next Level bodies and depart this planet. No human can do that or would be allowed to do that. We know you are confused about this but those individuals did not commit suicide. They broke the bond of human connection and quickly switched to a Next Level one.

  [Ed. note: Reports showed that there were 39 bodies, suggesting that Heaven's Gate does not include Marshall Applewhite a human.]
  - Source: Fanzine

  More about Heaven's Gate

• Ex-Scientologists tell disturbing stories about David Miscavige, the 'pope of Scientology,' on A&E series

  

  The dwindling Scientology cult can't get a break nowadays. It is exposed to daylight on the internet, on television, on YouTube, on countless blogs and websites, in new book after new book, and by more and more ex-members -- including those who held high ranks and/or were inside for significant amount of time.

  And then there was actress Leah Remini.

  Remini left the 'Church of Scientology' in 2013 — after 35 years as a devout member — and ever since, she has been on a crusade to expose the controversial organization's secrets. Including those persistent stories about cult leader David Miscavige.

  This Washington Post article talks about her ongoing A&E television series, 'Scientology and the Aftermath.' It also highlights the way the 'church' can't help but shoot itself in the foot by -- time and again -- engaging in a hate campaign against those who left the destructive cult.

  As usual, A&E put up a disclaimer at the beginning of the episode and between each act break, given the religion's leaders harshly condemned the series and denied many of the claims. The church also has called Remini an "obnoxious, spiteful ex-Scientologist" who is angry that she was expelled from the church, and that she's doing the series for money; they also said the show is "doomed to be a cheap reality TV show by a has-been actress now a decade removed from the peak of her career."

  Scientology likes to call itself a 'church' and a 'religion.' At Apologetics Index, we call Scientology a hate group.

  Here's how the cult destroys friendships, families and other relationships.

Full story: Religion & Cults News – Wednesday

UK: Churches warned of 'deceptive cult' linked to South Korea infiltrating congregations

Hundreds of British churches, including some of the UK's largest congregations, have been warned against possible infiltration by a group accused of being a "cult" promoting "control and deception".

The Church of England has issued a formal alert to almost 500 parishes in London about the activities of the group known as Parachristo.

The organisation, a registered charity, runs Bible study courses at an anonymous industrial unit under a Botox clinic and a personal training company in London Docklands.
But it is understood to be linked to a controversial South Korean group known as Shinchonji (SCJ) — or the "New Heaven and New Earth" church (NHNE) — whose founder Man-Hee Lee is referred to as God's "advocate".

It is claimed that some of those who become involved gradually withdraw from friends and family and actively lie about their real lives [...]

A companion article, titled The Korean religious leader on a collision course with the Church of England notes:

Organisers insist Parachristo exists solely to help "understand the Bible more deeply". [...]

Former attendees of Parachristo study groups have claimed that existing members effectively pose as new students.

Shinchonji teaching documents seen by The Telegraph instructs these "maintainers" to "arouse curiosity" of newcomers and "try to be close to each other until the student relies on you fully".

They are told to "take notes of the conversation with the student" and report back to the group leader.

Shincheonji -- Cult of Christianity

According to the SCJ, their leader - Manhee Lee - is the Messiah or the spokesperson of the Messiah ("Promised Pastor").

Lee Man-Hee claims that Jesus appeared before him as a "bright heavenly figure." Some see him as God's "promised pastor" who holds the key to avoid impending judgement. Followers believe that Lee Man-Hee is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Reportedly the church teaches that Lee Man-Hee is the angel referred to in Revelation 22:16:

"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you[a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."

The church also believes that Revelation 7:2 refers to South Korea (East) and to Lee Man-Hee (angel):

Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God.

According to the group's promotional literature Lee Man-Hee is the only person who can testify to the mysteries of the Book of Revelation -- which he claims already has been fulfilled. He is said to teach that the world has already ended, and that we are currently living in the afterlife.

Shincheonji denies the biblical teaching that people are saved by faith in Jesus Christ -- and not by works.

The church denies the doctrine of the Trinity.

Shincheonji's teachings contradict essential doctrines of the Christian faith, thus identifying the group as, theologically, a cult of Christianity.

Sociologically Shincheonji has many cult-like characteristics as well.

Front Groups; Alternative Spellings

Note the different spellings of the name of the group: Officially it is Shincheonji, Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (SCJ). Commonly referred to as Shincheonji, but the name is sometimes spelled without the 'e' -- Shinchonji.

Likewise, the name of the cult's leader is Lee Man-Hee, which is sometimes written as Man-Hee Lee or Manhee Lee.

Lee Man-Hee founded Shinchonji in 1984.

Other names related to this movement: Mannam Volunteer Association/Mannam International Youth Coalition (MIYC), International Peace Youth Group (IPYG)/Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (SCJ).

World Peace... and Deception

Like similar cults, Shincheonji claims it promotes world peace -- but its deceptive nature tends to backfire, like it did when the cult organized the World Alliance of Religions Peace Summit (WARP). Wikipedia:

From 17-19 September 2014 Shincheonji organised their SCJ 6th National Olympiad. It is the major event for SCJ which they hold every four years, and it coincides with Lee's birthday.[3] On this occasion, they also invited many international guests who all believed they were attending a secular "World Peace Summit". As the two events took place simultaneously and in the same venue, it led to significant confusion and embarrassment for international guests who had been misled.

Here's one blogger's experience at a similar event: "We thought we were going to a world peace festival...turned out to be a religious cult sort of thing."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTgmqqHoXuQ

See also:

• Court Rules [Korean TV Broadcaster] CBS May Call Shincheonji an Antisocial Group. This article, posted on a website dedicated to observing another cult, is part of a larger collection of news items about Shinchonji
• My Experience with Shincheonji, by Breanna Jennings -- and English teacher in South Korea. See also her video and the follow-up
• GotQuestions.org: "What is Shincheonji? Is it a cult?"
• Analysis of Shincheonji's Movement
• Freedom of Mind: Information posted on the website of cult expert Steven Hassan
• Thesis: The Shincheoji Religious Movement - A Critical Evaluation

Full story: Shincheonji “New Heaven and New Earth” cult infiltrating churches