See also: Cult Definition

The term aculta has a precise definition a or rather, several precise definitions. Which definition is the right one largely depends on the context in which the term aculta 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 a 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 a 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 Letas 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 a 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 whoave 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 thatas 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 agluea. In times of rapid social change, existing rules, habits and beliefs no longer hold. This produces an environment ripe for exploitation a 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 aanomiea, 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 oneas 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 a with often abusive and damaging outcomes.

Everyone loves freedom, for good reason. Itas the foundation of liberal democracy. But unrestrained freedom without a sense of structure, meaning, and order is psychologically unstable a 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, womenas 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 womenas rights) should win. But cults appear to slip through the cracks, as they can hide behind freedom of religion.

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

Cults and the appeal of afamilya

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 a for men and women a as to what a family might look like has also introduced uncertainty.

During this same period, thereas 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 a 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, aI canat get married, Iam a 30-year-old boya. Tyler responds, aWeare a generation of men raised by women, Iam wondering if another woman is really the answer we need?a

Steel notes cults are a feminist issue a which they undoubtedly are. But womenas 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 thereas a phenomenon of dad-deprived boys. So it shouldnat 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 ado not ask questionsa, with the catchphrase aIn [cult leader] Tyler we Trusta. 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 apropheciesa a 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.

See also: Cult Definition

The term aculta has a precise definition a or rather, several precise definitions. Which definition is the right one largely depends on the context in which the term aculta 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

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Full story: Religion and Cult News, Saturday

Full story: Religion & Cults News – Wednesday

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

The article describes official responses to cults during the 1980s and 1990s.

Under the heading 'General Comments and Observations,' Mayer writes:

If we summarize the current situation, beside a few centres receiving local or regional subsidies, three Western European countries a Austria, Belgium[75] and France a have established agencies or centres for monitoring NRMs; these institutions are the outcomes of state initiatives at the national level.[76] Despite the successive waves of concerns about "cults", most European countries do not have state agencies dealing with cult-related issues. In some cases, this has not prevented targeted measures against a specific movement, as evidenced by the years of surveillance of Scientology by German security agencies.

State-sponsored institutions dealing with cults are supposed to be neutral observers a which was one of the reasons for their founding. What happens in reality is nuanced and should certainly not be over-simplified. In practice, representatives of some official or state-supported agencies are seen more often at conferences of people with shared anti-cult assumptions than at academic conferences attracting sociologists of religion and other scholars conducting fieldwork. This has not prevented some members of these agencies' staff from gaining considerable knowledge through years of work. One should understand that from the start the very roots of such agencies made it difficult for them to be really "neutral" (whatever meaning is ascribed to this word), since they were supposed to help solve a social problem, to support people seen as victims and to deal with deviations. Social scientists studying NRMs usually work from a quite different starting point.
- Source: Jean-FranAASSois Mayer, Research: a brief overview of the attitudes of Western European states towards new religious movements, Religioscope, November 5, 2016

Mayer also notes that the situation has changed a bit over the past 15 years.

Firstly, except for the deaths of hundreds of members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in Uganda in 2000 (unfortunately, when news of this kind comes from Africa, it does not have the same impact as similar events in the West would), there have been no further major, dramatic "cult tragedies". With the exception of Scientology, which remains quite controversial, most NRMs that were at the top of the list from the 1970s to the 1990s have lost much visibility, and several well-known cult leaders have died: their movements now have a lower profile or have partly reformed themselves (with ISKCON being one of the most significant instances of such internal reforms). There are still tensions within families as a consequence of spiritual quests and reorientations, but they are less associated with clearly identifiable groups. The Western European environment has become more individualistic: the appeal of radical forms of communitarian life has declined, especially at a time when most young people are primarily concerned with getting a job and keeping it. Certainly, the repeated warnings about the dangers associated with recruitment into "cults" have made some people more cautious when encountering missionaries of various persuasions.

Most of all, Westerners no longer experience the same fears: we live in the post-9/11 environment. Islamic radicalism looks like a much more serious threat than do small religious movements. Security agencies invest more time in monitoring Salafi mosques or jihadist websites than the followers of Hindu gurus or Japanese new religions. Some religious groups still require attention, but they are no longer the same ones.
- Source: Ibid

From 'Cult Wars' to Dialogue

Indeed, much has changed from about the turn of the century. The so-called 'cult wars' have largely abated in favor of a more constructive, communicative approach in which people with various, often polarized viewpoints share knowledge and perspectives -- agreeing to disagree when and where necessary, but all the while learning from each other.

The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) -- formerly American Family Foundation -- describes this development in its statement, Dialogue and Cultic Studies: Why Dialogue Benefits the Cultic Studies Field.

That said, to those people who help victims of cults regain their freedom and deal with the aftermath of their involvment in such movements, the attitude of many religion academics still comes across as rather sympathetic toward what is euphemistically referred to as 'New Religious Movements.'[ref]New Religious Movement (NRM) or sometimes Alternative Religious Movement (ARM) are terms often used as 'neutral' descriptions of what others would refer to as 'cults' or 'sects'[/ref]

It is not just anti-cult activists who have called out certain academics for their cozy and at times almost PR-like relationships with religious cults

On the other hand, such academics have also learned that the internet has made it a lot easier for interested observers to scrutinize -- and critique -- their work.

Jihadism and Deradicalization

Mayer continues his comments and obervations by saying that Jihadism is now seen by some anti-cult groups as another form of "cultic deviation."

More recently, as we see young Muslims leaving Western cities to join Islamist groups in Middle East war zones, relatives or acquaintances of these young people have spontaneously explained that they had been brainwashed: this often seemed to them to be the only "rational" explanation for such radical departures. This has quite naturally been grafted onto a "cult brainwashing" narrative. The metaphor of mind control offers an attractive model to explain various situations. Despite initial reluctance by some cult critics to venture into that field, we are seeing what to some extent looks like a new incarnation of the cult controversies around jihadism, with deradicalization becoming a new keyword (as well as a new industry).
- Source: Ibid.

Clearly, many expressions of what is known in Islam as 'lesser Jihad' (holy warfare against the enemies of Allah and Islam) -- as opposed to 'greater Jihad' (the personal struggle against sin) are indeed cult-like in nature. The possibility that such recruits are victims of Brainwashing and/or Mind Control -- concepts certain religion academics crusade against with something very much akin to holy fervor -- should not be summarily dismissed.

That some cult experts see similarities between the recruitment tactics of apocalyptic Islamist terror groups and those of other destructive cults is logical. The process of undue influence is the familiar and follows a predictable tract.

Not surprisingly Mayer's comments include a nod toward the semantics problems that have plagued the 'New Religious Movements' debates: How does one define terms like 'cult' or 'sect'? According to him, shift from "cults" or "sectes" to "cultic deviations" does not really solve the problem because the term is "not as neutral as it claims to be."

As James Lewis has observed, "the minority religions lose their chance for a fair hearing as soon as the label 'cult' is applied".[94] The shift from "cults" or "sectes" to "cultic deviations" has been an attempt to resolve the dilemma and deal with the tricky issues presented by such a vocabulary without a clear legal basis when it is being used by supposedly "neutral" states. It fits the model according to which only questionable behaviour is targeted, but it fails to really solve the problem. The talk is indeed not merely about deviations, but about sectaires, thus qualifying a very specific type of alleged deviations that most people associate with a specific type of group. It is therefore not as neutral as it claims to be. Moreover, this shift has contributed to wider applications of the label "cultic deviations" to a variety of groups and individuals.[95] The cult controversies of the past decades have thus even led to the modification and possibly the extension of the meaning of words such as "secte" or "cult".

In the end, the overview is of interest to those who are familiar with the issues discussed.

Mayer's comments provide some insight into current thinking about the topic from a perspective that seems more worried about the impact of activists on 'New Religious Movements' than about the damage cults, sects, or other groups that engage in cultic deviations have on victims.

Full story: The attitudes of Western European states towards new religious movements

Additional items may be posted throughout the day.

Does the UK's covert propaganda bid to stop people joining Isis alienate Muslims?

The UK government has embarked on a series of clandestine propaganda campaigns intended to bring about "attitudinal and behavioural change" among young British Muslims as part of a counter-radicalisation programme, the Guardian reports.

However, the methods of the Research, Information and Communications Unit (Ricu), which often conceal the government's role, will dismay some Muslims and may undermine confidence in the Prevent counter-radicalisation programme, which already faces widespread criticism.

The paper sees it as a "sign of mounting anxiety across Whitehall over the persuasiveness of Islamic State's online propaganda," but notes that critics say it risks alienating UK Muslims.

The article says that "[m]uch of Ricu's work is outsourced to a London communications company, Breakthrough Media Network."

[Breakthrough Media Network's] relationship with Ricu helps them get their own messages to a wider audience, and that they retain editorial control over counter-radicalisation communications.

However, a series of Ricu and Breakthrough documents seen by the Guardian show that Ricu privately says it is the one retaining editorial control, including over the products produced as part of these partnerships.

Inside Ricu, the shadowy propaganda unit inspired by the cold war: The Guardian unravels the secretive workings behind a campaign to stop UK Muslims from falling prey to Islamic State -- The Guardian, May 2, 2016

Prevent strategy 'sowing mistrust and fear in Muslim communities': UK's terror watchdog urges review of government's anti-radicalisation scheme, saying it is significant source of grievance -- The Guardian, Feb. 3, 2016

'You worry they could take your kids': is the Prevent strategy demonising Muslim schoolchildren?: Teachers now have a statutory duty to spot signs of 'non-violent extremism', with children as young as three being referred for anti-radicalisation. Does the policy safeguard vulnerable pupils — or discriminate against Muslims? -- The Guardian, Sept. 23, 2015

Abuse Groups to Protest at Whole Foods 365 Launch in LA over links to Marc Gafni

National advocacy organizations for raising awareness of childhood sexual abuse issues are backing a protest at the inaugural opening of Whole Foods 365 store, May 25 in Los Angeles. Planning is underway for a coordinated protest at a Whole Foods store in New York City.

The protests are in response to Whole Foods co-founder and co-CEO John Mackey's link to spiritual leader and former rabbi Marc Gafni, as reported by The New York Times in December.

More than 100 rabbis have authored a petition demanding that Whole Foods sever ties with Gafni.

Understanding the Marc Gafni Story, Part II, Mark Oppenheimer -- Tablet, Dec. 29, 2015. A follow-up to the New York Times story mentioned above.

Marc Gafni: Wikipedia

Why You Should Boycott Marc Gafni's Movie, "RiseUp", Huffington Post, May 3, 2016

Cult expert Steven Hassan keeps track of the Marc Gafni story on Twitter.

Philippines: Powerful cult of Christianity endorses presidential candidates

Iglesia ni Cristo, one of the largest and most powerful religious movements in the Third World, has officially endorsed Rodrigo Duterte for President and Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for Vice President in Monday's national elections.

Members of the cultic movement vote en-bloc, falsely laiming that the Bible teaches the practice.

The Inquirer writes:

INC announced its endorsement through a circular read during worship service by executive minister Eduardo Manalo, who called on the sect's members to vote as one on Monday.

"This is based on the teachings in the Bible that were taught to us even before we were accepted as members of the Church of Christ. We have faith that it is God's teaching that there shouldn't be division among us, but that we should be one in thinking and one in judgment," Manalo said in Filipino.

The INC head cited I Corinthians 1:10 and Romans 15:6 in claiming that the sect's unity came "in the name of Jesus Christ, for the glory of God and for the sake of the church."

Theologically Iglesia ni Cristo is a cult of Christianity, since the movement's teachings and practices fall outside the boundaries of the Christian faith.

Sociologically INC has some cult-like elements as well.

Recent scandals involving the Iglesia ni Cristo cast doubt on the practice of bloc voting. Will INC members still obey their ministers on election day? -- Rappler, May 1, 2016.

Revolt in the Iglesia ni Cristo: Over 100 years old, no one ever imagined the INC was in the throes of dissension in 2015, with no less than members of the family entangled in a bitter quarrel -- Rappler, Dec. 23, 2015.

Former INC pastor flees Philippines to seek refuge in Canada -- Asian Pacific Post, May 5, 2016

Religion and Cult News Quick Takes

• Junkie jihadis and the narcotic ways of war
  'Reports of ISIS fighters, jihadist terrorists and insurgents fuelled by drugs on their murderous rampages have generated outrage and astonishment. Drugs and warfare have always gone hand in hand...'
• Amish beard-cutting convictions upheld by federal appeals court
  Read more about this beard-cutting cult
• Scientology's Attempts To Protect Tom Cruise & David Miscavige Against Tell-All Book Backfire
  Wonder what has the destructive cult so worried? Read the book.
• ISIS banners at the gates of Europe
  "[T]he Islamic State — in sovereign form, not merely as an idea — is now separated by only a relatively narrow stretch of water from the southern tip of Europe. [...] From a European point of view, the nightmare scenario is not only the flow of migrants itself, nor the chance of IS attacks from the sea. Rather, the combination of the two — the prospect whereby IS will seek to infiltrate fighters and organizers into the continent by way of the flow of migrants is what keeps European security officials awake at night."
• Are polygamous Mormons part of Western narrative? The High Country News thinks so
  GetReligion, a blog that examines and critiques the way the media covers religion news, takes a look at how and why an environmental journal based in western Colorado covers a polygamous sect. The journal rarely reports on anything to do with religion, but it does address the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). The FLDS, one of many offshoots of the Mormon Church, has been in the news due to the crimes committed by its leader, Warren Jeffs, and others in the cult.[ref]Theologically the Mormon Church and its offshoots are considered cults of Christianity[/ref]

Full story: Does the UK’s anti-radicalisation program alienate Muslims?

Religious cult took our sister from us, says family

The Palmarian Catholic Church, a secretive Spanish cult is in the news.

The family of a Wexford pensioner, whose body lay undiscovered in her home for two months, believe the public should be vigilant to "the dangers of alternative faith-based groups, sects and cults".[...]

A member of a group known as the 'Palmarian Catholic Church' - a highly secretive Spanish sect that broke away from the Catholic Church and has declared a series of its own 'Popes' - Bridget effectively was forced to cut herself off from her family when she became involved with the sect in the late 1970s, around the same time she returned to Ireland to look aft er her parents.[...]

Michael Garde, Director of Dialogue Ireland, an independent trust that works to promote awareness and understanding of new 'religious' movements and cultism in Ireland, told the Irish Independent: "We are regularly contacted by families who have seen a loved one lost to the Palmarian church. We are deeply concerned by the group and how it destroys families and isolates people, especially the elderly. There are also reports that the Palmarians are targeting younger people and students."

Mr Garde said there have been many examples of Irish people adjoined to the Palmarians selling their homes, or leaving their property to the group in their wills, with proceeds going to the 'church' which has its headquarters in the remote Spanish town of Palmar de Troya, where it has a lavish basilica behind high walls.
"Groups like the Palmarians have undue influence on people, they remove the rational capacity for people to deal with things. In Ireland, these groups have left behind a trail of hundreds of people no longer connected to society."

This website provides information and support to those affected by Palmar de Troya / Palmarian Church cult.

Earlier this month the New Zealand Herald published an article about Maria Hall, who was a nun in the Palmarian Catholic Church.

Established in the 1970s, after four young girls claimed to have seen a holy apparition on farmland near the village of Palmar de Troya, the Palmarian church has distanced itself from Rome; it's created its own rites, liturgies and its own bible.

Ms Hall's life within it was dominated by religious rituals, sleepless nights, punitive regimes and temperamental superiors. The daily routine was controlled by tolling bells, endlessly gruelling domestic tasks all done in the compulsory silence enforced outside of prayer or song. She slept in a tiny room, with a threadbare blanket on a wooden bed, wore ill-fitting hand-me down clothes and shoes and was cut off from friends, family and the rest of the outside world, with no television, radio, newspaper or telephone.

When her father and sister did one day make the trip across the world to visit her, she was only allowed to see them only twice in her ten minute breaks. "Many years later she [my sister] told me that she felt like I had died." Eventually this thankless commitment eroded what was left of her once unfaltering faith. She left and was cast out of the convent with nothing but a plane ticket home, some money and a shoulder bag containing her bible, writing pad and passport.

At home, in New Zealand, Ms Hall had to "relearn" what it meant to be human.

Maria Hall has recently written REPARATION: A Spiritual Journey, described as the true story of one woman's journey from the sweeping coastlines of New Zealand to the barren plains of Southern Spain, from youthful hope to deep despair, and from sin to reparation.

Dialogue Ireland has additional information as well.

The story of a radicalisation: 'I was not thinking my thoughts. I was not myself'

Nobody joins a cult.

You join a self-help group, a religious movement, a political organization.

They change so gradually, by the time you realize you're entrapped — and almost everybody does — you can't figure a safe way back out.
- Deborah Layton, survivor of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple cult

This story in The Guardian in a case in point. Maysa, a teenager from Brussels, was a music fan and a 'ray of sunshine' at school. But an encounter on social media had changed her within a year.

"I was so nearly there, just hours from leaving. I was there in my head: in Syria, with Islamic State," the 18-year-old says. [...]

Her parents are Muslims, but not rigorous. Maysa first donned a jilbab -- a long and loose-fit coat or garment worn by some Muslim women who observe the Islamic dress code -- after she had put on some weight.

After she posted a selfie wearing her new clothes on social media, she was contacted by another woman also in her late teens. They went shopping together, and some time later Maysa was introduced to a group of young women from a similar background to her own.

First the conversation was about Islam, and the failures of many so-called Muslims. Then about politics, and the worldwide persecution of Muslims. Then finally about Isis, and life in the new "caliphate", and how good life was there. [...]

"They told me how there was no crime and no discrimination in the Islamic State. They spoke about relations between men and women, and said that I would find a good husband, even if I would be one of several of his wives. They spoke about fighting the unbelievers and the heretics, but never mentioned any violence or executions or anything like that," Maysa says.

Within weeks, her new friends provided Maysa with a cheap mobile phone with a pre-paid sim card and told her to keep it secret. It was on this phone that she was contacted, usually by text message, and told where and when the next meeting of the group would take place.

When the group told Maysa it was time to travel to Syria (they would help her, regardless of whether or not she had a passport), something held her back. "And then came the threats: if she did not travel with them, Maysa would be tracked down, her family and friends too, and the consequences would be terrible."

Read the article, which also addresses the reason why parents and other family members usually don't notice anything is wrong until much later.

Learn more about brainwashing

What the Paris Attacks Tell Us about IS Strategy

The new jihadists have our cities in their sights, German news weekly Der Spiegel says.

The attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris and Copenhagen at the beginning of 2015 weren't isolated cases, Peter Neumann, a professor of security studies at King's College London, warned in his new book "The New Jihadists," published in September in German. He believes what we have just witnessed are the "first, very dramatic warnings of what will play out on the streets of Europe in the next decades." Europe, he cautions, is standing "at the precipice of a new wave of terror that will still occupy us for a generation to come."

How much do you know about Jihad?

How do Operating Thetans contact each other?

British film maker Louis Theroux -- whose latest film is a feature length documentary entitled My Scientology Movie -- used Twitter to contact John Sweeney, the BBC journalist and author know for, among other things, the Scientology and Me documentary.

Note Sweeney's tongue-in-cheek reply:

Not sure what an Operating Thetan is? Operation Clambake explains what Scientology is trying to sell. It should be clear that there are no Operating Thetans.

Consumer Alert: Scientology

Is Crossfit a religion?

A for-profit gym franchise founded in 2000 that now has 13,000 licensed operators serving at least two million exercisers, CrossFit a like television, sports fandom and health fads a has become the focus of study by researchers trying to pinpoint what constitutes religiosity in America. [...]

In an increasingly secular America, all sorts of activities and subcultures provide the meaning that in the past, at least as we imagine it, religious communities did.

"Skeptics might scoff that Crossfit is just a gym," Mark Oppenheimer writes, but "[i]t is a culture that can produce effects more often associated with church."

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Full story: Nobody joins a cult, but it is easy to get radicalized

Oregon Public Broadcasting, Nov. 21, 2012

In 1981 this spiritual leader from India spent $5.75 million on a remote piece of property in Oregon and invested millions more to build Rajneeshpuram as a spiritual retreat for thousands of his red-frocked followers.[ref]They used to be known as Rajneeshees or "Orange People," because of the orange and later red, maroon and pink clothes they used from 1970 until 1985[/ref]

The East Oregonian recalls

In news clips from the 1980s, Rajneeshees line the road for the Bhagwan's daily drive-by in a vehicle from his fleet of more than 90 Rolls Royce automobiles. Rancho Rajneesh, as some called it, had its own newspaper, fire department, night club and mall.

The Rajneeshees clashed with locals over land use. The utopian desert commune collapsed after Rajneeshees were convicted of infecting four salad bars with salmonella in The Dalles, the Wasco county seat, in order to hamper voter turnout and swing an election. Other crimes included attempted murder, arson, election fraud and wiretapping. About 10 followers were imprisoned. The Bhagwan was deported for immigration violations.

751 people were poisoned in the 1984 bioterror attack. According to Wikipedia, "The incident was the first and single largest bioterrorist attack in United States history. The attack is one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of biological weapons to harm humans since 1945."

The Rajneesh had hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the city so that their own candidates would win the local election.

The Rajneesh actually did gain political control of the nearby city of Antelope.

But by 1986 they were all gone.

Oregon Public Broadcasting, which produced the fascinating documentary shown above, says

Twenty-five sannyasins would be convicted of crimes: arson, wiretapping, immigration fraud, election fraud and attempted murder. Ten would serve time in prison.

At the end of it all, Wasco County Judge Bill Hulse predicted (correctly) that somebody would write a book about what had happened there: "The people who read that book," he said, "will think it's fiction."

The East Oregonian reports that

Montana billionaire Dennis Washington bought the seized property for a cool $3.65 million as a destination resort, but ran into zoning problems. The Washington family donated the property to Young Life in 1996 and has continued support with additional donations.

Given Bhagwan's open disdain for Christianity, it ironic that his former land now is home to the world's largest Young Life camp -- a Christian camp.

Speaking of irony, the paper also writes

When planners couldn't decide what to do with the Bhagwan's house, a 1997 range fire decided matters. A finger of the fire raced down the ridge and torched the residence, the only one of 300 Rajneeshpuram buildings to burn.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGH5q_QLwbY]

Born in 1931 as Chandra Mohan Jain, also known as Acharya Rajneesh, in the 1960s he changed his name to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and in 1989 to Osho. Though he died in 1990, he still has an international following.[ref]Wikipedia entry on Rajneesh[/ref]

Want to know more? Rajneeshes in Oregon: The Untold Story, a special report by The Oregonian, is a great place to start. Includes FBI and police reports.

See also:

• Seeing a cult through a child's eyes
• Rajneesh Foundation - The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power

Full story: Are you old enough to remember Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh?