Sep 30, 2021

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/30/2021

Church of Scientology, Russia, Religious Freedom, Legal, MOVE, Obituary, Guru Gwen Shamblin, Documentary

Reuters: Russia moves to ban 'undesirable' Church of Scientology groups
"Russia declared two organisations linked to the Church of Scientology "undesirable" on Friday, paving the way for the group to be formally banned.

The Prosecutor General's Office said the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises International and the Church of Spiritual Technology, which are both based in California, were "a threat to the security of the Russian Federation".

Russia has banned more than a dozen foreign groups under legislation against undesirable organisations, adopted in 2015. Under the law, groups are typically first labelled undesirable and then formally banned by the Justice Ministry.

Russian authorities have moved against the Church of Scientology in the past. In 2016, the Supreme Court ordered the closure of the group's Moscow branch. The Justice Ministry has also declared some of the group's literature extremist."

Inquirer: Charles Sims Africa dies; was last member of MOVE freed on parole in 1978 death of officer
"Charles Sims Africa, the last member of MOVE freed on parole after serving 41 years in prison for the 1978 shootout that killed Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp, died on Sept. 20, family members said.

Africa, who was 61, had been battling cancer when he died early Monday morning, said Mike Africa Jr. on his podcast discussing the life of "Chuck" Africa with Mike's parents, Debbie Africa, Chuck's sister, and Mike Sr., a friend of Chuck's since childhood.

"I've never ever seen or met anybody that was just so strong-willed and so determined to just be a fighter. And he fought every step of the way … since he came home last February," Debbie Africa said on the podcast.

Chuck Africa was released from the State Correctional Institution Fayette, south of Pittsburgh, on Feb. 7, 2020.

Several weeks earlier, Delbert Africa was the second to last of the nine to be freed on parole. Two died while serving their sentences. Delbert Africa died in June 2020.

Brad Thomson, Chuck Africa's lawyer at the time he was released, said on Twitter: "Chuck had a heart and a fighting spirit that was unparalleled. He loved animals, boxing, and literature -- which we'd talk about often. RIP Chuck. You will be deeply missed."

Chuck Africa was one of nine MOVE members convicted of third-degree murder for the death of Ramp and seven counts of attempted murder following an Aug. 8, 1978, shootout with police at the radical group's compound — a three-story Victorian twin at 33rd and Pearl Streets in Powelton Village."


Chrissy Teigen helped executive produce the upcoming docuseries, which premieres on HBO Max Sept. 30.

" ... HBO Max is digging into the life of the late Gwen Shamblin Lara, who founded a wildly popular Christian diet program and later, the Remnant Fellowship Church in Tennessee.

The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, a new five-part series debuting on the streamer this month, follows Shamblin Lara's rise to fame as an influential religious leader who convinced her followers that God had given her "the key to permanent weight control," which she reveals in the trailer is "a matter of the heart."

"After rising to fame with her Weigh Down Workshop, a Christian-based diet program that preached slenderness as next to godliness, Gwen Shamblin Lara founded the Tennessee-based church," the series' official synopsis reads, per HBO. 'Despite a carefully curated image, Lara and the church soon fielded accusations of emotional, psychological, and physical abuse, and exploitation for their alleged cult-like practices.'"

"HBO Max has released the trailer for The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, an original docuseries which premieres its first part on the platform next week. The five-part series will unveil the story of the late Gwen Shamblin Lara, a woman who made a whole bunch of people believe God gave her a secret formula to help people lose weight – and then made a highly successful career out of it."

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Sep 29, 2021

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/29/2021 (Covert Emotional Abuse (CEA), Vatican, Opus Dei, Sarah Lawrence College, Larry Ray)

Covert Emotional Abuse (CEA), Vatican, Opus Dei, Sarah Lawrence College, Larry Ray

"No athlete, no child, no human being should have to endure abuse in pursuit of their dreams. Yet, as the courageous Senate testimony of world class gymnasts Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Maggie Nichols, and McKayla Maroney demonstrated, abuse is all too common. Ms. Biles gave voice to the visceral agony of the victims "The scars of this horrific abuse continue to live with all of us."

Thus, it is imperative that children and adults learn to recognize and prevent all forms of abuse in sports and society. Focusing on egregious sexual abuse and the flagrant failures of USA Gymnastics, the United Sates Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and the FBI, is way too little and way too late.

As with other epidemics, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse can be stopped. Together, we can create comprehensive systems of prevention, so that no one has to suffer the injuries and live with the scars of abuse, much less reopen those wounds in front of the U.S. Senate.

Covert emotional abuse (CEA) is almost always the initial form of abuse, and it all too often leads to physical and sexual abuse. CEA is a tightly woven, almost invisible spider's web meant to ensnare and control the victim. My intention is to make the web, patterns, and shimmering threads of CEA visible so we can see it, stop it, and heal it, individually and collectively.

My analysis and recommendations are informed by diagnostic criteria of both emotional abuse in sport and spiritual abuse is well-documented examples of CEA in sports, and my experience with a covert emotionally abusive coach. As a physician, mindfulness coach, and former Stanford gymnast, my life's purpose is preventing and relieving suffering, and supporting people (particularly athletes),enhancing their well-being and finding joy and flow."

Out: Priest Arrested After Using Parish Money to Fund Gay Sex Parties
"A Catholic priest in Italy has been arrested and accused of stealing over $100,000 from his parish which he then used to fund drug-fueled gay sex parties with his roommate.

Father Francesco Spagnesi, 40, was put on house arrest after authorities received a tip that his roommate was buying and importing the date-rape drug GHB, which they then sold to guests at his sex parties. According to Corriere, Spagnesi allegedly confessed to his lawyers and has promised to make full restitution to the parishioners he victimized.

"So much pain," Bishop Giovanni Nerbini said in a videotaped message to parishioners at the Annunciation at Castellina after news of Spagnesi's arrest broke earlier this month.

Nerbini said church leaders became suspicious last spring about financial transfers from the parish coffers to Spagnesi. When he confronted the popular priest, Nerbini explained, "I was told that it was aid for needy people in the parish."

As the internal investigation unfolded, however, he was forced to relieve Spagnesi of both his ministerial and fiduciary responsibilities at the parish. He then gave the priest a year-long sabbatical.

"In my heart, I wanted to save the person," Nerbini said.

According to La Nazione, Spagnesi experienced a difficult past and had become addicted to drugs about two years ago. They also reported the Spagnesi had been sexually and romantically involved with a childhood friend for the past seven years.

Police became involved in the investigation following the tip of Spagnesi's roommate being in possession of various amounts of drugs. Prosecutors alleged he purchased the drugs both online from The Netherlands and local dealers, and the drugs were then sold to gay men attending their private group sex parties, which were also arranged online. According to TV Prato, investigators believe up to 200 men may have been involved in these parties."

Grunge: THE MESSED UP TRUTH ABOUT OPUS DEI
" ... Let's take a look at exactly what Opus Dei says they are, and what their critics and former members claim they are. Opus Dei says that they're essentially an organization that provides guidelines on how Christian laypeople can live "a life fully consistent with their faith, in the middle of ordinary circumstances of their lives." That involves things like "divine filiation," embracing Christian values like "charity, patience, humility, diligence, integrity, [and] cheerfulness," prayer, the offering of sacrifices, and "sanctifying work," which means work that's done "ethically."

That sounds not-so-bad, but like anything involving people, it gets very complicated very quickly. Opus Dei has claimed to be different things over the years: NPR says it's currently defined as a "personal prelature," but it's also been called things like a "secular institute" and a "priestly society of common life without vows." Both laypeople and clergy are members, new members are usually recruited by existing members, and when joining Opus Dei, a contract is signed promising (in part): "with firm resolve I dedicate myself to pursue sanctity and to practice apostolate with all my energy."

Critics, however, accuse Opus Dei of being everything up to and including a right-wing cult. Take, for example, a joke published in the magazine Tablet: 'How many members of Opus Dei does it take to screw in a lightbulb? The answer is, 100... one to screw in the lightbulb, and 99 to chant, 'We are not a movement, we are not a movement.''"

" ... In the apartment, Ray forced his charges to listen to his favorite music, like Neil Young and The Who, telling them the songs had "magic powers." He advised Isabella that her birth control pills were making her depressed and complained that the underage girls living with him weren't washing their genitals properly.

"You wouldn't believe how many women hate, hate their vaginas," Ray told Levin, before launching into a lecture about the best lubricants for masturbation and the importance of having sex in public.

People are so negative about the word 'brainwashing.' I don't see what's wrong with it. That is what I'm doing. I'm washing your brains.

"It'll be good for you," he told Levin. "It can be with anyone."

But Ray would explode at the smallest perceived betrayal, like the time one of his kitchen pans had a mysterious scratch.

"You scraped it on purpose, as hard as you could?" Ray screamed at Levin. "What were you thinking about? Mommy and Daddy?"

The threats became more ominous.

"I see you, Danny," Ray told him one time. "I know when you say something against me, when you doubt me, when you fear me. I see it. I see your fear."

Within just a year of moving in, Levin already wanted to leave, but he worried that Ray wasn't bluffing and really did have powerful friends.

Once, when he was chauffeuring Ray around Manhattan and their path was blocked by a parade route, the older man called over a police officer and whispered something — and suddenly they were waved through."


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Sep 28, 2021

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/28/2021

Covert Emotional Abuse (CEA), QAnon, Unification Church, Podcast, Butoh, Butoh, Collections

" ... No athlete, no child, no human being should have to endure abuse in pursuit of their dreams. Yet, as the courageous Senate testimony of world-class gymnasts Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Maggie Nichols, and McKayla Maroney recently demonstrated, abuse is all too common. Ms. Biles gave voice to the visceral agony of the victims: "The scars of this horrific abuse continue to live with all of us.

It is imperative that children and adults learn to recognize and prevent all forms of abuse in sports and society. Focusing on the egregious sexual abuse and the flagrant failures of USA Gymnastics, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and the FBI are way too little and way too late.

As with other epidemics, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse can be stopped. Together, we can create comprehensive systems of prevention, so that no child has to suffer the injuries and live with the scars of abuse, reopen their wounds in front of the U.S. Senate.

Covert emotional abuse (CEA) is almost always the initial form of abuse, and it all too often leads to physical and sexual abuse. CEA is a tightly woven, almost invisible spider's web meant to ensnare and control the victim. My intention is to make the web, patterns, and shimmering threads of CEA visible so we can see it, stop it, and heal it."
"A Korean cult leader with various sex crime allegations kicks off a relationship with Richard Nixon. Before you know it, a chain of Republican Presidents embrace the Unification Church (AKA "the moonies") and The Washington Times is born. Most recently, a splinter group of the cult — which has been manufacturing AR-15s — ends up participating in the January 6th storming of the capitol. Plus, we speak to Elgen Strait of the Falling Out Podcast about his life growing up in the Unification Church and ultimately deciding to leave it — and how the anti-communist, alt-Christianity promoted by "the moonies" is a blueprint for today's far-right media landscape."

Tricycle: The Dangerous Art of Depersonalization
What psychedelics, psychosis, and mindfulness can teach us about no-self, and why set and setting play such an important role in ego deconstruction.

"In  April 2012 a dancer named Sharon Stern committed suicide. Stern was deeply committed to the Buddhist-influenced Japanese dance form of Butoh, in which mastery involves surrendering parts of the self. Prior to her suicide Stern was exhibiting mental instability, including worrisome signs of depersonalization, a condition marked by a sense of detachment from one's body and thoughts. As Stern's devotion to Butoh grew, so did her inability to identify as an individual with a history, personality, or future. She began writing emails in the third person, and as Rachel Aviv detailed in The New Yorker, in one of Stern's last emails to her teacher, she asked, "So the question arises what happens AFTER the deconstruction of your body/mind/ego?"

It's a question that has both inspired and haunted seekers for millennia. The deconstruction of the ego can lead to the type of transcendent oneness that is a hallmark of a profound spiritual experience, or to the type of destabilizing freefall that is a hallmark of severe mental illness or a bad psychedelic trip. As the case of Sharon Stern and others have shown, mental illness or psychedelics aren't the only gateway to destabilization. Contemplative practice can lead there, too. Conversely, just as contemplative practice can lead to radical understanding, so too can mental illness or psychedelics.

A recent revival of scientific research on psychedelics, which was barred from the halls of academia in the late seventies, has allowed researchers to study the brains of people undergoing experiences of ego deconstruction. In How to Change Your Mind, author Michael Pollan explains that while participants are undergoing drug-induced mystical experiences in a lab setting, "imaging tools can observe changes in the brain's activity and patterns of connection. Already this work is yielding surprising insights into the 'neural correlates' of the sense of self and spiritual experience." A similar mental mapping has occurred in research around both meditation and psychosis. By examining how depersonalization unfolds in the brains of meditators, during psychedelic experiences, and through psychosis, we can better understand why depersonalization can be a vector for both the profound and for profound loss, and perhaps learn how such an experience can be better integrated into one's life."

CultNEWS101: Conspiracy Theories Collection (55 articles)

CultNEWS101: QAnon Collection (60 articles)


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Sep 27, 2021

Moving beyond basic assumptions

Joseph Szimhart
September 26, 2021

Responding to my last video on Power of Prayer to revisit what is behind basic assumption states (referencing WR Bion).



The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin

​HBO Max
September 23, 2021

HBO Max has released the trailer for The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, an original docuseries which premieres its first part on the platform next week. The five-part series will unveil the story of the late Gwen Shamblin Lara, a woman who made a whole bunch of people believe God gave her a secret formula to help people lose weight – and then made a highly successful career out of it.





Ending Cycles of Abuse in Sports and Society: See it, stop it, heal it.

Amy Saltzman M.D.
Psychology Today
September 23, 2021

"No athlete, no child, no human being should have to endure abuse in pursuit of their dreams. Yet, as the courageous Senate testimony of world-class gymnasts Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Maggie Nichols, and McKayla Maroney recently demonstrated, abuse is all too common. Ms. Biles gave voice to the visceral agony of the victims: “The scars of this horrific abuse continue to live with all of us.

It is imperative that children and adults learn to recognize and prevent all forms of abuse in sports and society. Focusing on the egregious sexual abuse and the flagrant failures of USA Gymnastics, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and the FBI are way too little and way too late.

As with other epidemics, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse can be stopped. Together, we can create comprehensive systems of prevention, so that no child has to suffer the injuries and live with the scars of abuse, reopen their wounds in front of the U.S. Senate.

Covert emotional abuse (CEA) is almost always the initial form of abuse, and it all too often leads to physical and sexual abuse. CEA is a tightly woven, almost invisible spider’s web meant to ensnare and control the victim. My intention is to make the web, patterns, and shimmering threads of CEA visible so we can see it, stop it, and heal it." [ ... ]


Amy Saltzman, M.D., is a holistic physician, mindfulness coach, athlete, devoted student of transformation, wife, mother, and occasional poet. Her passion is supporting people of all ages in enhancing health, experiencing joy, and finding flow.

Online: Still Quiet Place

Sep 26, 2021

Missouri Orders Crackdown On Shadowy Religious Schools

Kurt Erickson & The Columbia Missourian
KBIA
September 23, 2021 

Beginning Oct. 1, unlicensed religious boarding schools in Missouri must notify the state they are operating as part of an attempt to address abuse and neglect at the often shadowy facilities.

Under a series of emergency rules filed this week by the Missouri Department of Social Services, the schools also will have to begin fingerprinting employees in order for the state to determine if workers are sex offenders or have other criminal records.

“The background checks are being conducted to help ensure that certain individuals who are associated with these facilities do not have a record of criminal conduct or substantiated incidents of child abuse or neglect which may pose a risk to the children served at these facilities,” the new rule says.

The filing of the rules is the latest step in a series of actions by state lawmakers and local law enforcement agencies to shed light on more than a dozen reform schools that operate in the state. The schools have not had state oversight for four decades under a law that exempts faith-based facilities from regulation.

The 1982 law also said DSS is prohibited from requiring the schools to prove they should be exempt.

Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, who co-sponsored the new law, said in an interview Wednesday she was encouraged by the speed with which the state is implementing the legislation.

She said the state hasn’t had a clear picture on how many unlicensed facilities are operating in Missouri.

“Which is terrifying,” Ingle said. “This just brings everything out into the light.”

Ingle, who worked with Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Wardsville, on the legislation, said “the most important part of this is making sure that people who have access to kids have background checks, and that they’re doing those as quickly as possible.

“We want to make sure that people who are caring for the most vulnerable kids in the state of Missouri … don’t have a history of perpetrating crimes against those very children or other vulnerable populations,” she said.

The crackdown on the homes came after months of legislative hearings this spring, including emotional testimony from former students at the schools.

James Griffey, who was a student at Agape in the late 1990s, testified to a Senate committee that he was physically assaulted on his first night at the school when he couldn’t perform all the exercises he was ordered to do.

What emerged from the House and Senate was a law requiring the schools to notify the state they exist. It also sets some minimum health and safety requirements, including mandating background checks for employees.

The law requires adequate food, clothing and medical care for children and says parents must be allowed access to their children at any time without prior notice. It clarifies the process for investigating reported abuse and potentially shutting down bad actors.

The new rules order the schools to provide detailed information about their operations, including floor plans, budgets, staffing plans and “written identification of specific program models or designs which shall include the methods of care and treatment to be provided.”

The schools could be shut down or their students removed if they fail to comply with notification and health and safety inspections, or if a facility is suspected of abuse or neglect.

The new law bars government agencies from regulating the content of a school’s curriculum.

In publishing the new rules, regulators said “immediate action is necessary to protect children, and it was necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace and safety.”

Episode 160: The Moonies Conquer DC feat Elgen Strait

QAnon Anonymous
September 24, 2021
1 hr 36 min

"A Korean cult leader with various sex crime allegations kicks off a relationship with Richard Nixon. Before you know it, a chain of Republican Presidents embrace the Unification Church (AKA "the moonies") and The Washington Times is born. Most recently, a splinter group of the cult — which has been manufacturing AR-15s — ends up participating in the January 6th storming of the capitol. Plus, we speak to Elgen Strait of the Falling Out Podcast about his life growing up in the Unification Church and ultimately deciding to leave it — and how the anti-communist, alt-Christianity promoted by "the moonies" is a blueprint for today's far-right media landscape."

https://www.qanonanonymous.com/

Other resources:

Charles Sims Africa dies; was last member of MOVE freed on parole in 1978 death of officer

Africa was one of nine MOVE members convicted of third-degree murder in the 1978 death of Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp.

Robert Moran
Philadelphia Inquirer 
September 24, 2021

Charles Sims Africa, the last member of MOVE freed on parole after serving 41 years in prison for the 1978 shootout that killed Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp, died on Sept. 20, family members said.

Africa, who was 61, had been battling cancer when he died early Monday morning, said Mike Africa Jr. on his podcast discussing the life of “Chuck” Africa with Mike’s parents, Debbie Africa, Chuck’s sister, and Mike Sr., a friend of Chuck’s since childhood.

“I’ve never ever seen or met anybody that was just so strong-willed and so determined to just be a fighter. And he fought every step of the way … since he came home last February,” Debbie Africa said on the podcast.

Chuck Africa was released from the State Correctional Institution Fayette, south of Pittsburgh, on Feb. 7, 2020.

Several weeks earlier, Delbert Africa was the second to last of the nine to be freed on parole. Two died while serving their sentences. Delbert Africa died in June 2020.

Brad Thomson, Chuck Africa’s lawyer at the time he was released, said on Twitter: “Chuck had a heart and a fighting spirit that was unparalleled. He loved animals, boxing, and literature -- which we’d talk about often. RIP Chuck. You will be deeply missed.”

Chuck Africa was one of nine MOVE members convicted of third-degree murder for the death of Ramp and seven counts of attempted murder following an Aug. 8, 1978, shootout with police at the radical group’s compound — a three-story Victorian twin at 33rd and Pearl Streets in Powelton Village.

Ramp, 52, a husband and father of a teenage boy, was crouching forward to peer around a pole when he was struck in the chest by a bullet.

The 19-week trial in 1980 of the nine MOVE members was at the time the longest and most expensive in Pennsylvania history.

MOVE members acted as their own lawyers for the first several weeks. The group members claimed they fired no shots that day. A defense attorney later suggested that police had shot Ramp by mistake and planted the rifle that turned out to be a ballistic match for the weapon that killed Ramp and wounded two other officers. Police said they recovered 11 rifles and handguns and 2,000 rounds of ammunition from the house.

The remaining free members of the group relocated to the 6200 block of Osage Avenue. MOVE continued to antagonize neighbors and clash with the city, setting the stage for the disastrous May 13, 1985, confrontation in which the city dropped a bomb on the group’s house. The ensuing conflagration destroyed more than 60 homes and killed 11 people, including MOVE founder John Africa and five children.

Published Sept. 24, 2021
Robert Moran

Sep 25, 2021

Russia moves to ban 'undesirable' Church of Scientology groups

Reuters
September 24, 2021

MOSCOW, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Russia declared two organisations linked to the Church of Scientology "undesirable" on Friday, paving the way for the group to be formally banned.

The Prosecutor General's Office said the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises International and the Church of Spiritual Technology, which are both based in California, were "a threat to the security of the Russian Federation".

Russia has banned more than a dozen foreign groups under legislation against undesirable organisations, adopted in 2015. Under the law, groups are typically first labelled undesirable and then formally banned by the Justice Ministry.

Russian authorities have moved against the Church of Scientology in the past. In 2016, the Supreme Court ordered the closure of the group's Moscow branch. The Justice Ministry has also declared some of the group's literature extremist.

Scientology was founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, and describes itself as a religion.

The group's critics say it is a cult and have accused Scientologists of harassing people who seek to quit. The church denies such allegations.

Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Gareth Jones

Sep 23, 2021

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/23/2021 (Maharishi, Transcendental Meditation, Book, NXIVM, Legal)

Maharishi, Transcendental Meditation, Book, NXIVM, Legal

Iowa Public Radio: Claire Hoffman On Belief, Meditation And Growing Up In 'Greetings From Utopia Park: Surviving A Transcendent Childhood'
"... Part of this book is sort of about separating the past and the history and the dogma of the religion you grew up with and trying to find value in it and the things that mean something to you and for me that is meditation. It was always this gift for me and an ability to separate off from the chaos of the world around me and find peace and tranquility and really connect to myself. Over time so much got layered on top of that experience that I rejected it. By the time I was a teenager, I was not really meditating.

It is a work in progress. For me, my connection to TM is the ability to hold contradictions and have these two opposing ideas. I feel a lot of disappointment and sadness about Maharishi and the people who still live there who struggle to make ends meet because of the cost of his programs and yet I meditate every day, just once a day. It is something that feels very much my own and not a part of that. It is a quiet, personal experience. It is holding those two opposites, letting go of the part of me that is critical, cynical and judges the past of the movement and sort of staying connected to some sense of spirituality."

"Allison Mack was sentenced before a federal judge in Brooklyn earlier this summer, more than two years after pleading guilty for her involvement in NXIVM.

"TV actor Allison Mack, who played a key role in a scandal-ridden, cult-like upstate New York group, reported to prison in California to start her sentence early, according to a spokesperson for the correctional facility.

"We can confirm Allison Mack entered the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on September 13, 2021, at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin in Dublin, California," a spokesperson for the prison said. "Ms. Mack's projected release date will be calculated in accordance with federal statutes and Bureau of Prisons policy."  

FCI Dublin, according to its website, is "low security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp." The correctional facility, which only houses female offenders, currently has 727 inmates.

Mack was sentenced to 3 years in prison on June 30 after pleading guilty to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group's spiritual leader.

Mack — best known for her role as a young Superman's close friend on the series "Smallville" — appeared in Brooklyn federal court for her sentencing earlier this summer. She's expected to seek credit for cooperating against NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and taking responsibility for helping him create a secret society of brainwashed women who were branded with his initials.

Devoting herself to the self-improvement guru "was the biggest mistake and greatest regret of my life," she wrote in a letter filed with the court last week."

"Allison Mack, the TV actor convicted of coercing women into becoming sex slaves in the cult-like group NXIVM, surrendered herself early to the Dublin Federal Correctional Institute Monday.

As inmate no. 90838-053, the "Smallville" star becomes the East Bay prison's latest high-profile inmate, following TV stars Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman who both served time there for their separate roles in the college admissions scandal. Mack is expected to serve three years in federal custody for her involvement in the NXIVM case.

Mack, who gained fame playing a young Superman's close friend, Chloe Sullivan,  in the superhero-inspired WB series, was sentenced in June. The actor, 39, was first arrested in 2018 and pleaded guilty in 2019 to allegations that she used her celebrity to manipulate women into joining a secret society of brainwashed women. The cult was created by multi-level marketer Keith Raniere."
"A Boise man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, for sexually abusing a child, according to Idaho's U.S. Attorney's Office.

Joseph Anthony Lee, 38, pleaded guilty in March to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor as part of a plea deal, according to a news release. He was sentenced on Monday.

The investigation started when a 13-year-old girl reported that Lee had abused her for years, the release said. Boise Police Department investigators searched Lee's residence in January 2020 and seized his cellphone, and they found "explicit images and videos that Lee had produced of himself sexually abusing the victim," according to the release. It noted that police "also located numerous files of child pornography depicting other children."


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Laura was raised in a fundamentalist sect. She left at 19, but she'll never be 'free'.

As a child, Laura McConnell Conti was raised not to trust outsiders.
BELINDA JEPSEN

Mamamia
SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

As a child, Laura McConnell Conti was raised not to trust outsiders.

Even at school, she knew to keep to herself, not to play with or dress like the other children in her western NSW farming town. She'd been convinced that, no matter how kind or good they seemed, they would only attempt to 'put the devil' into her heart.

Laura had little in common with her classmates, anyway. She didn't listen to music or watch television. She didn't read magazines or dance or play sport. All of that was forbidden.

"I didn't even really care at the time. I believed, like my community, that these things are put [in front of you] to be a temptation, and that you mustn't give into them," she told Mamamia. "That suffering is your way."

Laura's world was instead confined to her extended family and the fundamentalist Christian sect to which they belonged.

The Truth: "My family lived very complex double lives."


This sect doesn't have a sole leader, or headquarters. It doesn't even have a name. It's often referred to as 'The Truth' or 'Two By Twos' or 'Friends and Workers' by members, who are numbered in the hundreds of thousands, primarily across Australia, Europe and the United States.

Laura's family had been part of the sect for at least four generations.

"My particular branch of the group has quite a large following in regional Australia, because they can operate fairly autonomously. They can run their own businesses, their own farms, and not really come into contact too much with mainstream society," she said.

Laura and other former members have described the sect's teachings as being based on interpretation of particular sections of the Bible. There are reportedly clear expectations about dress and behaviour. There is, for example, said to be a preoccupation with female modesty that sees women made to wear floor-length dresses and banned from having short hair.

Leadership is provided by 'Workers', who are senior members of the community equivalent to, say, a pastor or priest. But otherwise, the structure is bare-boned. There is no text capturing the group's doctrine, nor are there churches or permanent places of worship (in the eyes of the sect, to erect and revere such a building would be to worship a false idol and to distract oneself from proving one's worth to God and Jesus, Laura explained).

Instead, members gather twice weekly in each other's homes: once on Wednesday night, and once on Sunday morning.

Laura, who will speak more about her experience on Tuesday night's episode of Insight on SBS, recalls those meetings as "not very joyous".

"There is a lot of focus on being very formal and being very devout," she told Mamamia. "My group, in particular, were very obsessed with how much suffering they were going through, in order to prove their worthiness and their godliness. It wasn't a happy experience."

Still, being raised away from the trappings of pop culture and surrounded by cousins and a tight-knit community wasn't all bad, Laura stresses. As a small child, she found it to be "a very nurturing, very loving environment".

It was only as she grew older, that she began to feel the weight of conformity.

Listen: A survivor shares how people get sucked into cults, why they stay and what happens when you want to get out. (Article continues below.)

"Children are seen as an extension of their family's piety and their family's godliness. So not only are you under pressure from your family, but you're also conscious that you're being looked up and down by other members who are judging you and your parents. Wearing the right shoes and the right length dress and having your hair the right way, not looking too worldly and not speaking too loudly, and being godly enough — it's a full-time preoccupation," she said.

"I felt that there wasn't really a place for asking questions and getting answers or thinking differently. It was a very black and white view of the world."

By the time Laura was in her mid-teens, the whispering questions she'd long had in her mind about the group's methods grew louder and louder.

Laura says her female cousins were pushed into teenage marriages. That she witnessed domestic violence and coercive controlling behaviours behind closed doors.

"Like most people, I believe, inside this group, my family lived very complex double lives," she said. "There was a lot of abuse. There were a lot of things that were said and were done that didn't line up with my interpretation of the Bible, and my interpretation of what spirituality was, and what goodness was and what other people would call 'Christian behaviour'. It just gradually crumbled for me."
Not quite freedom: Laura's path out.

When Laura moved to Melbourne at the age of 18 to pursue a university education, she fully intended to remain in the sect.

But when she arrived, she found herself treated coldly by its Melbourne branch. They seemed to avoid speaking with her or including her. During a ritual in which members would shake hands with one another at a weekly meeting, they seemed to dodge her or back away.

Laura suspects class played some role. While her floor-length dresses were homemade, Laura quipped that the women of this urban branch bought theirs from Country Road.

But much like her group back home, they also seemed to disapprove of her lifestyle.

"They didn't know what to do with me. I mean, how do they explain to their children and their young women that this woman has decided she wants to go to university, and she wants to get an education, and she's not married, and she's living here on her own?"

One day after a Sunday meeting, she waited for her tram in pounding rain and watched as several members drove past her, pretending they couldn't see her standing there, soaked.

"Something in my head just went, 'This is not right. You don't want me. You just don't do that to somebody from your own community. That's not Christian behaviour. They're not good people.' And I made this sort of snap, rash decision. I just said [to myself], 'That's it. I'm not doing this religion anymore. I don't fit in.'"

Despite pleas from her family, Laura simply never went back to another meeting. The shame that brought upon them saw her shunned.

That was two decades ago now, and she still has very limited contact with her loved ones and her community; the only one she'd ever known.

The adaption to mainstream society has been difficult for Laura.

There was (and still is) the unique grief of being cut off from her family; the struggles of building a life with no money or support; the huge gaps in her knowledge about seemingly everyday things.

"I didn't even know how to buy jeans, I didn't know how to get a haircut," she said.

"You feel like an alien in your own country, in your own city. Because you know nothing and you know no one, but you look like everyone else."

The social struggles were immense, too.

Laura had rarely had to ingratiate herself with strangers before; she was private, guarded, even wary. She particularly didn't know how to talk about her family and her background, how to explain why she didn't know anything about Seinfeld or sport, or why she didn't have anywhere to go for Christmas lunch.

She'd often rely on half-truths about growing up isolated in the country. And when she did open up about the sect, she said she felt that people thought she was lying. There is, after all, little awareness that fundamentalist religious groups such as 'The Truth' exist in Australia.

"You learn very quickly that people don't know what to do with you when you're from one of these backgrounds. They just don't know how to speak to you about it. They don't know how to communicate with you about it. They're almost perplexed," she said. "There's a lot of shame. And so I just learned not to speak about it. I just learned, 'fob people off, and create your own life.'"

The life Laura created is a good one, a happy one.

She has close friends, a husband and a child. She has earned multiple degrees and qualifications. And after more than a decade working in finance, now runs her own social enterprise, #GoKindly — a bedding label that donates 50 per cent of profits to supporting women experiencing homelessness and housing stress. (It's a nod to her time relying on food banks and charities after leaving the sect as a 19-year-old.)

She's grateful for it all. But she doesn't describe her current life as 'freedom' from the sect, or from her past. In her view, there's no such thing.

"I think you're constantly aware that you don't have a family, that you've lost a lot, and that you will never quite fit... You feel like an outsider forever," she said.

"It's been 20 years now, and while I'm at peace with it, I don't think it will ever leave me."

You can hear more from Laura and others on Odd One Out tonight on SBS Insight at 8:30 p.m.





https://www.mamamia.com.au/the-truth-cult-australia/