Millions of Canadians are turning to the zodiac to understand the world and their place in it
" ... A 2017 study commissioned by the Ontario Science Centre found that anti-scientific beliefs are more prevalent among 20- and 30-somethings than older adults. Like astrology, this group cuts a wide swath: the predictable melange of anti-vaxxers and Fuck Trudeau–ers and tinfoil hatters, but also those who approach facts from a more pluralistic perspective. "I think my generation is more willing to embrace ambiguity," Nat Foote told me. I take her point, but my brain can't get away from the first time I heard the phrase "alternative facts" from Kellyanne Conway as hundreds of thousands of women in pink pussyhats marched in the streets."
Elizabeth Roundy left a polygamous church rife with abuse in 2020, taking her children with her. Four out of five of them have since disappeared
"In the middle of Idaho's vast wheatfields, miles from the nearest town, is the crossroads where Elizabeth Roundy lives. For the past five years she monitored the cars pulling up there day and night, convinced that her tormentors were coming for her children.
On June 22, she dropped her 13-year-old son, Allen Larand Fischer, and 16-year-old daughter, Rachelle Leray Fischer, at a nearby internet café while she went to a Bible study class. An hour later, they were gone. "I felt my stomach fall and my heart break," she said. "They've been trying to get them from me and they did it. Please, please come back, I am just devastated."
Roundy, 51, is one of thousands of women who have fled the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). The sect split from the mainstream Mormon church in the early 20th century over the practice of polygamy and its members still believe that plural marriage ensures everlasting celestial afterlife.
In the past 50 years the FLDS, now widely considered to be a cult, has been exposed as a cradle of sexual violence and abuse. It is an insular community, now scattered across the American southwest and led by a single man, Warren Jeffs, 69, who is serving a life prison sentence for the sexual assault of two children. At the time of his arrest, 24 of his 78 wives (in addition to his legal spouse) were under the age of 17. Many other followers have faced similar convictions.
Roundy left her marriage and the church in 2020, taking her children with her. Four out of five of them have since disappeared. She believes they have been coerced into rejecting her and returning to the sect."
Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army charts the rise and fall of the controversial Jesus Fellowship/People/Army of Northamptonshire over its 50-60 year history, lead by the self-appointed Pastor and so-called prophet, Noel Stanton. It Is being aired on 27th July & 3rd August, 9 pm on BBC2 and both episodes will be available on the Iplayer on 27th.
Shadow of Hope examines the People of Hope, a fringe religious group that thrived in North Jersey from the late 1970s to the early '90s.
"It's Sunday, October 27, 1985, in Berkeley Heights. The usual suburban sounds of birds chirping and neighbors chatting are drowned out by a chorus of some 200 protestors at Little Flower Church. The demonstrators' grievance: Their township and parish are being infiltrated by what they view as a cult.
The organization in question, People of Hope, thrived in North Jersey from the late 1970s to the early '90s. What started as a charismatic prayer group became the subject of abuse allegations and national news headlines.
Karen Ann Coburn was a Cranford teenager whose mother was briefly involved with the organization in its early days. In her recent podcast, Shadow of Hope, the writer attempts to bring this cryptic piece of Jersey history to light. "I had been a journalist, and in the back of my head all those years, I thought, There's a story there," Coburn says.
People of Hope was founded as a prayer group by a Newark priest and eventually opened chapters across New Jersey with members as far away as Long Island. At its height, the community had unofficial estimates of 3,000 members, who were encouraged to sell their homes and relocate to Berkeley Heights, and later Warren Township, to be closer to community leaders.
But as People of Hope grew, so did evidence of a disturbing culture of control, Coburn alleges in her podcast. Accounts by former members and church archives reveal that People of Hope instructed parents to use physical discipline on infants and suggested withholding food as punishment. Strict gender roles were upheld, requiring girls to wear skirts and discouraging fathers from attending the births of their children. Sexual abuse allegations were levied against leaders. Author Margaret Atwood has cited the group, whose community coordinators' wives were called handmaids, as part of her inspiration for the 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale and the Hulu series based on the book."
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