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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Police Raid Ex-Unification Church Official's Home in Bribery Probe

Statute of Limitations Nears for Democratic Party Lawmaker's 2018 Bribery Case Involving 20M Won and Watch

Lee Gi-woo

Chosun Daily 

December 31, 2025

Police investigating allegations of bribery involving the Unification Church raided the home of Jeong Won-ju, former secretary-general to the Unification Church’s former president, on the 31st. The National Police Agency’s National Office of Investigation, leading the dedicated Unification Church probe, confirmed the raid at Jeong’s residence in Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi Province.

한학자 통일교 총재의 전 비서실장 정원주씨가 28일 오전 서울 서대문구 경찰청 중대범죄수사과로 조사를 받기 위해 출석하고 있다. 2025.12.28/뉴스1 ⓒ News1 김진환 기자

The raid aimed to secure evidence related to allegations that Chun Jae-soo, Democratic Party lawmaker, received 20 million Korean won in cash and one luxury watch from the Unification Church around 2018.

Police had charged Jeong in early 2019 for allegedly providing illegal political funds to lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties and referred the case to prosecutors. However, they had not charged the lawmaker involved. On the day of the raid, Jeong was treated as a reference person, not a suspect.

In the afternoon, police conducted a second raid on the office of Min Joong-ki’s special prosecutor team. This marked the third raid on the office, following previous searches on the 15th and 16th, to secure additional evidence related to the lawmaker’s alleged offenses.

Concerns have been raised that the statute of limitations for the lawmaker’s alleged bribery could soon expire. If the luxury watch’s value is under 10 million Korean won, the total amount (30 million Korean won) would fall below the threshold for a seven-year statute of limitations. Since the cash was reportedly received around 2018, the statute of limitations could expire next year. Police are currently verifying the timing and amount of the alleged cash transfer.

https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2025/12/31/TXKAJLDST5HPLBHLWKWNFKGQJI/

Security guard shot dead by colleague over firewood dispute in Kanpur

The Press Trust of India 

December 25, 2025

KANPUR (UP): (Dec 27) A 45-year-old security guard was shot dead allegedly by his colleague following a minor dispute over firewood at a construction site here on Saturday, police said.

The incident took place at an under-construction Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Agricultural University in Gadanpur Ahar village under the Bilhaur area.

The deceased, identified as Nirmal Singh Chandel alias Neeraj, a resident of Aurangpur Sambhi village, was on night duty along with other guards when the altercation began, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Dinesh Tripathi told reporters.

https://www.ptinews.com/story/national/security-guard-shot-dead-by-colleague-over-firewood-dispute-in-kanpur/3227070

Cult tricked members with expensive animal sacrifices and illegal drugs- coupled with threats and manipulation in Spain

Alex Trelinski
The Olive Press
December 25, 2025

Cult tricked members with expensive animal sacrifices and illegal drugs- coupled with threats and manipulation in Spain

FIVE people have been arrested in the Canary Islands for their involvement in a cult that ripped off members with charges for animal sacrifice rituals and the supply of illegal drugs.

The Policia Nacional said the gang used Santeria rituals to exert psychological control over followers.

Santeria is an Afro-Caribbean religion that combines West African Yoruba beliefs with Roman Catholic elements.

CULT ARREST

The religion is a legitimate spiritual practice with millions of followers but the gang exploited beliefs to make large amounts of money.

Four people in Tenerife and one in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria were detained on charges animal abuse, fraud, injuries, crimes against public health, false documentation, and belonging to a criminal gang.

The nationalities involved have not been disclosed.

Vulnerable people were targets for the gang who manipulated them through deception and instilling fears, including supposed spiritual threats,

Cult members shelled out large amounts of money for rituals that claimed personal benefits, spiritual protection, or sickness cures.

Participants sacrificed animals during ceremonies and took substances dangerous to health, including jimsonweed, poppers, cocaine and other hallucinogens.

Psychological control exercised by the cult leader was so intense that several ex-followers required psychiatric treatment after leaving the group.

The Policia Nacional said such groups posed significant danger by offering spirituality to commit crimes and earn large incomes.

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2025/12/24/cult-tricked-members-with-expensive-animal-sacrifices-and-illegal-drugs-coupled-with-threats-and-manipulation-in-spain/

‘764’ Extremist Group Leader Pleads Guilty to RICO, Child Exploitation Charges

Friday, December 19, 2025

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

A San Antonio-based member of the Nihilistic Violent Extremist (NVE) group 764 pleaded guilty today to racketeering activity and multiple acts relating to the sexual exploitation of children.

“The FBI will not rest when it comes to identifying and holding accountable those who prey on children and other vulnerable individuals,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The court documents show the defendant coerced minors to commit heinous and cruel acts of self-harm. Today’s guilty plea is a major step in seeing justice served in this case and demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to protecting the nation’s youth.”

"Chavez led a group of online predators whose ultimate purpose is to destroy our society.  They tried to achieve that heinous goal by desensitizing innocent children to violence—coercing them to perform gruesome and harmful acts against themselves and animals—with the hope of encouraging further violence and spreading chaos," said Sue J. Bai, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security. "The National Security Division will continue to relentlessly investigate and prosecute predators who seek to terrorize our society by targeting our most vulnerable."

“764 members, like the defendant, use the Internet to prey on vulnerable minors, coercing them to mutilate themselves, produce child exploitation images of themselves, and attempt suicide," said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. "My office will do everything legally possible to prosecute and imprison members of this group for as long as the law allows."

According to court documents, Alexis Aldair Chavez, also known as Zack and Zack8884, 19, was an administrator and online leader of the ‘8884’ network, which is a network related to 764. Both 8884 and 764 are NVEs who engage in criminal conduct within the United States and engage with other extremists abroad. These NVEs share accelerationist goals that include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the U.S. Government. Members of 8884 work in concert with one another towards a common purpose of destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, including minors. NVEs engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad, in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability. NVEs demand, coerce, and extort victims to engage in variety of violent conduct, including self-mutilation, online and in-person sexual acts, harm to animals, sexual exploitation of siblings and others, acts of violence, threats of violence, suicide, and murder.

In or about October 2023, Chavez and a co-conspirator attempted to have a minor female kill herself in a video chat by overdosing on pills. The two conspirators recorded the attempted suicide to obtain “content” that would allow them to maintain and increase their status in the 8884 enterprise. Approximately two months later, Chavez and the minor female victim worked together to coerce a female located overseas to get naked on camera, cut herself, and engage in sexual acts. They also extorted another female by forcing the victim to cut the name “Zack” into herself.

On or about Dec. 29, 2023, Chavez and a co-conspirator coerced another minor female to cut her tongue as well as torture and kill a cat on a live video call. That same month, Chavez and another co-conspirator worked together to groom and extort several other minor females. In one instance, the two conspirators coerced a female victim to light her arm on fire and have the fire burn through her skin and deeper into her body, while on a recorded video chat within the ‘8884’ channel. They groomed another minor female victim, forcing her to drink her own urine and attempt to overdose on unknown pills.

On or about Jan. 23, 2024, Chavez and a co-conspirator threatened and coerced a minor female victim to engage in sexually obscene activities and other egregious acts.

Chavez pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering, one count of distribution of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each count, with a minimum of five years in prison for the distribution charge. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI San Antonio Field Office is investigating the case with assistance from FBI Washington Field Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and the San Antonio Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Roomberg and Bill Harris for the Western District of Texas, and Trial Attorneys Justin Sher and James Donnelly of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.

The Justice Department remains vigilant against the threat of Nihilistic Violent Extremist (NVE) networks, like 764, that operate within the United States and around the globe. NVEs often target vulnerable individuals, including minors, using social media platforms to share CSAM and gore material, and groom victims toward committing acts of violence. Victims are often extorted, coerced, compelled, and blackmailed into complying with NVE demands, including self-mutilation, online and in-person sexual acts, harm to animals, sexual exploitation of siblings and others, acts of violence, threats of violence, suicide, and murder. For more information on how to protect children and others, read about the online risks here: Parents, Caregivers, Teachers — FBI and the FBI’s March 2025 public service announcement.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

 For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Obituary: Ashley Allen

Ashley Allen

March 1986 - November 2025

Ashley was a remarkably empathetic soul who enriched the lives of everyone she encountered with her profound love and understanding. Possessing a natural gift for healing from a very young age, she dedicated her life to this calling, serving as an EMT, a social worker in many fields including hospice and emergency services, a gifted and compassionate therapist, and a loving mother and aunt. Inspired by a deep passion for trauma recovery, she made extensive and lasting contributions across the fields of cultic studies, extremism, prison reform, veterans affairs, and domestic violence by providing therapy for survivors, developing programs, authoring articles, and coordinating on global initiatives. Her life was a testament to the profound impact one person can have: she changed countless lives through an extraordinary lifetime of service.

In keeping with her wishes there will be no funeral services.

"My love is not gone — it is changing form. Watch for me in the quiet, in the wild, in the still moments when your heart aches. I will be there.

When you miss me, speak to me. I’ll be listening.

When you cry, let the tears come. They are holy.

When you laugh, know that I am close."

INDEX - The International Network for Disengagement and Exit

INDEX - The International Network for Disengagement and Exit, is a professional association aimed at gathering practitioners in the field of tertiary prevention. 

Exit practitioners meet monthly in online sessions to exchange and discuss relevant questions relating to the field of disengagement. 

A monthly session on case supervision is offered. And an online platform including a forum for knowledge exchange  

Already, one hundred practitioners from five continents are members. Perhaps INDEX is of interest for members in this group as well.

Find out more about the network of practitioners designed for practitioners: https://interventionen.blog/2025/11/17/one-year-of-index-international-network-for-disengagement-and-exit/

Join INDEX at: https://www.in-dex.org/join-us

Falun Dafa’s charitable status in Canada revoked

Bethany Lindsay

Asian Pacific Post

November 30, 2025

The Canadian arm of the contentious Falun Dafa religious movement has lost its charitable status after failing to file tax returns.

The Falun Dafa Association of Canada’s registration was revoked on Nov. 1, according to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Grace Wollensak, a national co-ordinator for the association, told the IJF that the group has filed for reinstatement. She said the association filed its 2024 tax return, but it was somehow missed by the CRA, and the 2025 return was filed late because of an accounting oversight.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is described by its practitioners as an ancient Chinese spiritual tradition, although it was founded in the 1990s.

The movement is banned in China, where it’s been declared an “evil cult.” Members there have been sent to prison and labour camps, where deaths have been reported, and some have levelled allegations of torture and organ harvesting against the Chinese government, according to Amnesty International and other groups. China has denied those claims.

In Canada, Falun Dafa practitioners can often be seen in parks and other public spaces, performing the slow movements and meditation that are central to their practice, or protesting outside Chinese consulates or its embassy.

The movement has been the subject of controversy in recent years.

Falun Dafa members in the U.S. founded the Epoch Times newspaper, a publication that’s become widely known for spreading conspiracy theories about COVID-19, climate change and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Local Falun Dafa groups in Canada and the U.S. also organize shows by the Shen Yun Performing Arts, which has been the subject of a series of investigations by the New York Times.

The newspaper reported that the dance group exploited young performers, subjecting them to gruelling schedules and then discouraging them from seeking medical care, and built its worldwide presence on the free labour and financial contributions of Falun Dafa members.

The organization has denied those allegations, calling the newspaper's reporting biased and unethical.

This summer, CBC News reported that the National Arts Centre in Ottawa would not host a Shen Yun performance in 2026 after two decades of shows at the centre, following concerns about the treatment of disabled audience members and allegations of contract breaches. In response, Wollensak said she was mystified by the centre's decision, and that the centre's CEO later told them the issue was rental availability.

Wollensak said her organization “does not run any newspaper business nor performing arts company, and is entirely independent of the Epoch Times and the U.S.-based Shen Yun Performing Arts company in terms of ownership, funding, operations, governance and activities.”

The Falun Dafa Association of Canada has reported little in the way of charitable work in the last few years.

Records in the IJF’s charity tax returns database show just $48 in revenue and $4 in expenditures in 2023. The year before, the association reported no revenue and $22 in expenditures.

In its 2023 entry in the CRA’s charity registry, the organization wrote, “Due to the pandemic, there is no enormous charity event or program during the 2023 fiscal year.”

https://asianpacificpost.com/article/10479-falun-dafa%E2%80%99s-charitable-status-canada-revoked.html

How do the pros get someone to leave a cult?

Nic M Neves
The Guardian
November 19, 2025

When the phone rings at Patrick Ryan and Joseph Kelly’s home in Philadelphia, chances are the caller is desperate. One couple rang because their son was about to abandon his medical practice to follow a new-age guru in Spain. Another call came from a husband whose wife was emptying their life savings for a self-proclaimed prophet in Australia. Yet another family phoned about their niece, who was in a relationship with a man stealing from her, maybe drugging her, probably sexually assaulting her.

These families had tried everything else. When nothing worked, they heard there were two men in Philadelphia who might still be able to bring their loved one home.

What Ryan and Kelly do is unusual: they help people leave cults. Over the past 40 years, they have handled hundreds of cases – some simple and local, others stretching across borders and decades. They have been hired by families of both modest and considerable means. They say they have even been hired by government agencies, and that some cults they have investigated have left them genuinely afraid for their lives.

The goal is to untangle the family dynamics that might have made someone vulnerable to a cult in the first place

Although many people are involved in cultic studies and education, fewer than 10 people in the US do anything like what Ryan and Kelly do.

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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/nov/19/how-to-leave-a-cult-experts-intervention

CultNEWS101 Articles: 11/18/2025 (Cult Awareness Day)

International Cult Awareness Day: November 18th

On November 18th, 46 years ago, over 900 individuals tragically became victims of a mass murder-suicide as members of the Peoples Temple cult. This event is commonly known as the "Jonestown Massacre" and is described as "one of the largest mass deaths in American history."

As we observe this date, it's important to be sensitive and avoid exploiting those affected by this tragedy. International Cult Awareness Day serves to raise awareness of the harms that some have experienced in cultic systems. This year's observance focuses on reflecting upon the 46th anniversary of Jonestown with three key goals:

1. **Remember the Victims**: We honor the victims of tragedies that have occurred in cults, specifically highlighting the victims of Jonestown. Other tragic incidents have affected groups such as the Chinese Dragon Buddha, Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, MOVE, Synanon, The Children of God, Alusi Okija, Aum Shinrikyo, Beasts of Satan, Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith, Falun Gong, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Remnant Fellowship Church/Weigh Down Workshop, Heaven's Gate, Word of Faith Fellowship, Solar Temple, Béchard Lane Eckankar, WACO, and many more.

2. **Spread Awareness**: We aim to increase awareness of the harm caused by cults.

3. **Provide Resources**: We offer resources for those who have been affected by these harmful practices.

Let us use this occasion to reflect and educate ourselves on these important issues.

Join us this International Cult Awareness Day, November 18th, as we raise awareness about the dangers of coercive control and the impact of cults on individuals, families, and society.

Cults can take many forms, from seemingly harmless groups to high-demand organizations that exert undue influence over their members. They often isolate individuals from their support networks, exploit their resources, and undermine their critical thinking.

This year, we encourage everyone to:

• Educate yourselves: Learn about the warning signs of cults and how coercive control operates. Resources are available from organizations dedicated to cult awareness and recovery.

• Support survivors

• If you know someone who has been affected by a cult, offer your non-judgmental support and help them connect with professional resources.

• Share information: Help us spread the word by sharing information about International Cult Awareness Day on social media and with your networks.

• By raising awareness, we can empower individuals to recognize and resist manipulative tactics, protect vulnerable populations, and support those on their journey to recovery.

Resources:

• International Cultic Studies Association

• Timeline of Mass Suicides

• San Diego State University: Jonestown Collection

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources about: cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations, and related topics.

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The selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not imply that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly endorse the content. We provide information from multiple perspectives to foster dialogue.

Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

Thanks,

Ashlen Hilliard (ashlen.hilliard.wordpress@gmail.com)

Joe Kelly (joekelly411@gmail.com)

Patrick Ryan (pryan19147@gmail.com)

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