Melbourne doctor formed cult before using god-like status to rape members’ children

Pradeep Dissanayake forced members to give him money and send hourly messages of praise before he sexually abused two girls, court of appeal says

Christopher Knaus

Guardian 

December 30, 2024

A Melbourne skin doctor established a Buddhist-Christian cult and used his “godlike status” to rape his followers’ children while forcing them to give him money and send hourly text messages of praise.

Pradeep Dissanayake, the founder of the Windsor-based Melbourne Medical Skin Clinic, returned from a trip to Sri Lanka in 2016 and began to preach, eventually establishing a sect that blended Buddhism and Christianity, according to a Victorian court of appeal decision published earlier this month.

As the leader of the sect, Dissanayake exerted significant control over his followers.

He told them where they should live, how they should raise their children, and demanded hourly text messages praising him, according to the court’s judgment.

His followers were forced to seek permission for everything they did, including showering and leaving the home, and were made to kneel when he entered their homes.

Men were instructed to stay together at one house and women at another. Parents had to “relinquish the parenting of their own biological children and parent their co-habitants’ children instead”.

The doctor assumed a “godlike status”, the court decision said, which gave him access to and control over two 12-year-old girls, who were daughters of his followers.

He was found to have sexually abused both repeatedly over a period of months, including during a December 2021 trip to Bunnings to purchase supplies to help members of the sect paint a Melton home. On other occasions, the abuse occurred in hotel rooms and at a car park.

He later told psychologists that he raped the girls to teach them how to “respect the lord” and said his desire was to “fix” his victims by showing them love, the court judgment said.

Dissanayake said he did not derive any sexual satisfaction from the abuse, a claim the court of appeal described as both “delusional and chilling”.

“The complainants were vulnerable young girls whose families were in the thrall of the respondent,” the court of appeal said. “He used his position and influence to facilitate access to the complainants and exert influence over them to commit the crimes. The offending was predatory offending of a disgusting and shameless kind.”

Dissanayake was initially sentenced in the Victorian county court to eight years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of five years.

Prosecutors appealed against the sentence, saying it was manifestly inadequate. They told the court of appeal that the offending was serious because of the 37-year age gap between the offender and his victims, the vulnerability of the girls, and the use of Dissanayake’s position as leader of the sect to facilitate access and exert influence over the girls.

The court of appeal agreed, increasing the sentence to 10 years and 10 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of eight years.

“In this case, the respondent’s conduct has harmed two complainants and was particularly egregious given his role, not as a doctor, but as the leader of the sect to which the complainants’ parents belonged and over whom he exercised significant authority and control,” the court found.

“Furthermore, the offending was planned and then concealed from other adults with lies. The respondent continued to be indifferent to the harm inflicted on the complainants until well after he was charged and, until at least April 2023, he was peddling the explanation that he had been doing the complainants some kind of favour.

“He left his substantial expression of remorse to the day of sentencing.”

The court rejected the notion that Dissanayake had been blinded by some kind of “religious ‘fog’” that clouded his ability to recognise the illegality of his actions.

Dissanayake, the court said, was a “medical practitioner and an obviously intelligent and well educated man” who “well knew” he was engaging in criminal conduct.

He initially migrated to Australia with his wife and two sons in 2006. He was an accredited doctor and only stopped working in April 2022 when he told the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency of the charges against him, prompting a suspension of his licence.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/31/melbourne-doctor-pradeep-dissanayake-formed-cult-members-children-ntwnfb

CultNEWS101 Articles: 7/23/2024 (The Saints, Medical Abuse, Australia, Legal, Lev Taho Conspiracy Theories)

The Saints, Medical Abuse, Australia, Legal, Lev Tahor Conspiracy Theories

News AU: 'Already on the other side of death': Flurry of texts from cult-like religious group as diabetic girl lay dying

Alleged texts sent by members of a cult-like religious group as a young girl lay dying from insulin withdrawal have been revealed.

"Texts sent by members of a cult-like religious circle on trial over the death of a young diabetic girl have been revealed in court, including one from her father to the group's leader.

Elizabeth Rose Struhs, 8, allegedly suffered for days after members of the circle – which included her parents and older brother – withheld her lifesaving insulin for days in January 2022.

She spent days vomiting, struggling to use the toilet, and eventually falling into unconsciousness before she died between January 6-7 that year.

Elizabeth's father Jason Richard Struhs, 57, and 62-year-old Brendan Luke Stevens – the leader of the religious group known as The Saints – are both charged with her murder."

JNS: Three leaders of Lev Tahor cult sentenced to more than a dozen years each

"The three brothers Yakov, 34, Shmiel, 28, and Yoil Weingarten, 36—all leaders of the Guatemala-based Lev Tahor cult—were sentenced to 14, 14 and a dozen years, respectively, on Tuesday for "child sexual exploitation and kidnapping offenses," the U.S. Justice Department stated. Each will also have five subsequent years of supervised release.

"The sentencing of the Weingarten brothers holds them accountable for kidnapping children from their mother in the middle of the night, including for the purpose of coercing a child into a sexual relationship with an adult," said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York."

ABC Australia: These former conspiracy theory believers were deep down the rabbit hole. Here's what pulled them out

" ... When Joel Hill's friend and sister were both seriously ill and needed medical intervention to stay alive, it threw his world of conspiracy theory beliefs into chaos.

Joel, who lives in Sydney, was born into conspiracy theories, in a family where alternative beliefs were shared. He grew up being congratulated by adults around him for his knowledge about conspiracies.

They included theories like the government is "trying to dumb us down with fluoride in the water … to make sure that you don't revolt and overthrow the government because they're inherently evil" — and that modern medicine is "the enemy".

He believed vaccines were poison designed to make people more sick so they had to buy more medicine.

It wasn't always a very positive existence."

Vice: Where Conspiracy Theorists Steal Their Ideas From

Hollywood and pulp fiction have unwittingly—and sometimes intentionally—spawned real-world conspiracy theories, from lizard people to the #Illuminati.

"In The Truth Hurts, a series of VICE documentaries, Bupé Bhima explored the roots and spread of modern conspiracy theories: why they're dangerous and how they become violent. After conducting extensive research into where conspiracy theories come from, the results were surprisingly out in the open. In fact, they're right in front of our very eyes.

"Here's an unfortunate red pill for the conspiracy community: Whole sections of your worldview have been ripped off from random bits of pop culture trash. Hollywood blockbusters, daytime TV, pulp novels, and kids' comic books," Bhima said.

One of the most well-known conspiracy theorists is David Icke, a former professional soccer player who declared he was the son of God on a British talk show around 30 years ago. Since then, he's developed countless theories, claiming a race of shapeshifting, pan-dimensional lizard men were set to take over the world. He publicly claimed the coronavirus was a hoax—a narrative that got Icke banned from traveling to much of Europe."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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Why a supplement that tints skin blue is all the rage among alternative health circles

Why a supplement that tints skin blue is all the rage among alternative health circles

The far left and far right share a colloidal silver fandom in common. Here's the reason behind the obsession

By NICOLE KARLIS

Senior Writer, Salon 

January 7, 2024

The HBO docuseries "Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God" begins with a jarring image. The corpse of the cult leader, Amy Carlson, laying in a bed, wrapped in blankets and string lights. She is noticeably gaunt and her face is a very blue color. When Carlson died in 2021 at the age of 45, a coroner’s report deemed her cause of death to be “alcohol abuse, anorexia and chronic colloidal silver ingestion.”

While discoloration of the face is a natural part of the death process, Carlson’s face started to turn blue long before. That’s because she was ingesting large amounts of colloidal silver, which are small particles of the metal silver in a liquid solution. The particles are small enough that they don’t sink and can be delivered in a tincture-like form.

The docuseries makes it clear that colloidal silver was a big part of not only Carlson’s health regimen, partly guided by the so-called Galactics, which included the late Robin Williams, but it was also an alternative health remedy that the cult widely promoted to its followers. They even sold bottles of their own colloidal silver online, which they touted as a “cure-all” substance and one of the “most healing” medicines on the planet that can boost the body’s immune system.

Thanks to the docuseries, colloidal silver has materialized in popular culture once again, but it’s not the first time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex Jones promoted colloidal silver as a treatment for the coronavirus. Gwyneth Paltrow once told Dr. Oz that colloidal silver “really keeps viruses away.” Before Paltrow, libertarians gravitated toward colloidal silver in the early aughts in part thanks to a man named Stan Jones, who also turned blue from ingesting too much colloidal silver. Jones latched onto it at the turn of the millenium after attending a so-called “preparedness expo" for the impending Y2K crisis, which thankfully never materialized, for fear that antibiotics would be in short supply. 

Most medical experts advise against ingesting silver — especially in large amounts. That’s because too much of it can build up in a person’s body and lead to argyria, which is the condition that Carlson and Stan Jones both had that turned them a blue. While argyria alone isn’t a serious health condition, it doesn’t go away when a person stops ingesting silver. Plus, too much silver can be fatal. 

"There’s really no evidence at all that taking colloidal silver has any health benefits."

“If you take a very large amount or injected IV, those types of things, then that can cause organ failure and you can get very, very sick,” Rob Hendrickson, the medical director of the Oregon Poison Center at Oregon Health & Science University, told Salon. When people experience argyria, Hendrickson said, is the result of silver building up in the skin. This is why it can look more blue when exposed to sunlight. “It all really comes down to silver being impregnated in the layers of your skin, and then eventually it gets sort of activated by sunlight to turn into a blue color.”

Historically, silver has been known to help the healing process for venous leg ulcers and heal wounds. Hendrickson said there are some catheters used today that are coated with silver to decrease the risk of infection. Notably, these are topical uses — not internal. “While putting silver on a specific bacteria or on a wound can decrease infections, there’s really no evidence at all that taking colloidal silver has any health benefits,” Hendrickson said. “Certainly not decreasing infection rates.”

Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter Lab Notes.

Yet tinctures continue to be sold (sometimes for more than $100 per vial) and promoted on social media platforms like TikTok. What is it about ingesting silver that keeps hooking both alternative-health seekers? Hendrickson said he thinks there is a certain fascination with metals, or the idea that an element like silver could be a cure-all.

Derek Beres, co-host of the Conspirituality Podcast, told Salon he agreed that there is a preoccupation with precious metals, and it goes a bit deeper than that. Specifically, the jump in logic from how silver can be a topical treatment to an internal one speaks to “the idea that the inner world and the external world are one-to-one matched.” It’s the same logic behind “manifesting” or “becoming your thoughts.”

“If I put silver on a wound and it heals it well, then it must do the same thing to my organs,” Beres explained. “This is a real lack of scientific literacy, of course, but this is why I think this is so popular.”

"The countercultural left and the far right both converge on their distrust of corporations and institutional expertise."

Some might be surprised that colloidal silver has been embraced by both the far left and far right. The Love Has Won cult attracted more New Age types, while on the far-right so-called “preppers” and “survivalists” have colloidal silver in their survival kits. Beres said it shouldn’t come as a surprise because there are many supplements these two groups have in common.

“That crossover has existed for a long time,” he said. “And I do think it's that anti-establishment sentiment that exists between those groups.” 

Dr. Stephanie Alice Baker at City, University of London, who wrote the book Wellness Culture, agreed that the anti-establishment sentiment is what brings the two groups together in the health world. 

“The countercultural left and the far right both converge on their distrust of corporations and institutional expertise,” she said. “Whereas qualified experts are often seen as commercially and politically compromised, these groups privilege renegades, figures such as Andrew Wakefield, and ‘native expertise’ intuited and experienced through the body."

Beres said that there is also the sentiment of declinism that both groups have in common, which is the belief that a society or institution is on the decline. It sparks a certain kind of romanticized nostalgia that the past was better, especially in terms of healing. 

“The idea that we need to take cues from the past and get back to that place,” he said. “Nevermind that supplements are all made in laboratories and that sometimes they're using pharmaceutical-grade ingredients.”

While it’s true that there are many life-saving medical treatments and vaccines available, and people aren’t faced with as many life-threatening diseases and illnesses as they were in the past, the structure of America’s healthcare system enables such pseudoscience to persist. As my Salon colleague Mary Elizabeth Williams once wrote: "It's not hard to see why opening up your chakras sounds more appealing than some once a day pill that's constantly being peddled on Hulu." For this reason, Beres said he has empathy for those who seek out remedies like colloidal silver. 

“It’s so frustrating to live within a system where profits trump actual medical care unless you're at a certain threshold financially with which most of us are not,” he said. “People are just frustrated with healthcare and with politics in general, so they're going to look to other sources to try to take care of themselves.” 

https://www.salon.com/2024/01/07/why-a-supplement-that-tints-skin-blue-is-all-the-rage-among-alternative-health-circles/

Naturopath who claimed 'quasi-divine' powers on trial for sex assaults

The Montreal restaurant owner is accused of assaulting women during treatment sessions and telling them they needed to cooperate if they wanted to heal.

JESSE FEITH

MONTREAL GAZETTE
January 18, 2020

Warning: The testimony quoted in this story contains explicit details.

A Montreal naturopath who made claims of having what a judge described as “quasi-divine” powers is on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two women during treatment sessions.

Nicolas Agapiadis, 56, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault. Both assaults are alleged to have taken place in his office above the Old Montreal restaurant he owned.

The complainants in the case were 19 and 31 years old at the time. One was an employee at his restaurant while the other was an acquaintance.

According to evidence presented during his trial, Agapiadis is alleged to have used his position as a naturopath to commit the assaults.

In both instances, the Crown contends he assaulted the women on the massage table during treatment sessions and that when they urged him to stop, he told them they needed to cooperate if they wanted to heal.

Agapiadis’s trial began last month at the Montreal courthouse and will resume in February. He has not yet presented a defence.

After closing its evidence, the Crown applied to have the two cases accepted as “similar fact evidence.” The legal principle allows the similarities between the cases to be considered by the judge and can bolster each complainant’s credibility.

Quebec Court Judge Dennis Galiatsatos granted the application in late December, listing 17 parallels between the two women’s accounts.

Among them were Agapiadis’s claim to be able to “read” people’s energy by observing them and that he told both women their ailments were the result of “bad sperm” while he had “good sperm.”

“It seems highly improbable that these collusion-free allegations against this same accused could be attributed to coincidence,” Galiatsatos wrote in his decision. “The parallels in the accounts of both women are striking.”

Both of the complainants’ names and any details that could identify them are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

In one case, the 19-year-old complainant met Agapiadis when she was hired at his restaurant in June 2014.

According to a summary of the Crown’s evidence detailed in Galiatsatos’s judgment, Agapiadis told the complainant he was a naturopath after her first shift at the restaurant. He offered his services for free.

She didn’t know what a naturopath was at the time, she told the court.

During her first session, the complainant says, Agapiadis repeatedly told her to relax and she was “doing great” while he did increasingly inappropriate massages on a table.

She said despite her telling him she was uncomfortable on several occasions, the touching escalated to putting his hands under her shirt and inside her bra, telling her he was looking for her “chakras” or energy centres. He also put his hand inside her underwear.

He explained his theory she had received “bad sperm” and women need “good sperm” to obtain good proteins for their brains.

At one point in the session, the decision says, he suddenly jumped on top of the woman.

“Very quickly, he sat on her thighs, pinning down her legs and pulling down her panties,” Galiatsatos writes in his decision. “He warned that he was going to give her treatment and that she had to cooperate in order to get better.”

Agapiadis stopped when his son knocked at the door, the decision says. The complainant felt frozen and unable to move. She called her roommate to tell him “something bad had happened” and left the building in tears.

The other complainant was 31 years old and planning to have a child with her boyfriend when she met Agapiadis in 2015.

She was stressed and worried about her menstrual cycle being irregular. Agapiadis told her he could help.

He told the woman her “magnet was broken” and that she had too much acid build-up before again explaining his “good sperm” theory, the judgment says.

Agapiadis had “read” her boyfriend by looking at him, he told the woman, and could tell her boyfriend would not be able to get her pregnant. If he did, there would be the heightened chances of a miscarriage or sick child.

The Crown contends during one meeting in his office, Agapiadis picked the complainant up and placed her on the massage table before sexually assaulting her.

The woman “anticipated that he would try to penetrate her,” the decision says. “She voiced, ‘don’t do that’. The accused responded by whispering if she wanted to heal, she needed to comply.”

Agapiadis’s lawyer, George Calaritis, refused to comment on this article since the trial is continuing. He would not confirm whether his client intends on presenting a defence.

Galiatsatos notes in his judgment it can be inferred that, based on questions in cross-examination, Agapiadis might argue the 19-year-old woman fabricated the allegations because she was dissatisfied with her work schedule.

The judgment says it appears he will also argue the other complainant forced him to have sex with her to get pregnant.

The trial resumes Feb. 10.

jfeith@postmedia.com

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/naturopath-who-claimed-quasi-divine-powers-on-trial-for-sex-assaults

FDA warns that Miracle Mineral Solution may have deadly side effects

16 News Now
August 13, 2019
       
(NBC) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is urging people not to drink a solution often promoted online as a remedy for autism, HIV, cancer and other conditions.

The products, known as Miracle Mineral Supplement, Miracle Mineral Solution, Master Mineral Solution, MMS, or chlorine dioxide protocol, are not approved by the FDA.

The agency says ingesting the solution, when mixed, is the same as drinking bleach, and it can have potentially life-threatening side effects.

The products were first promoted 20 years ago as a remedy for just about every ailment by a former scientologist.

This is not the first time that the FDA has issued such warnings about these products.

https://www.wndu.com/content/news/FDA-warns-that-Miracle-Mineral-Solution-may-have-deadly-side-effects-540407311.html

Jehovah's Witness parents: 'Why our kids don't need blood transfusions'

KWAZULU-NATAL
FEBRUARY 28, 2019
ANELISA KUBHEKA

Durban - The parents of three children who are Jehovah’s Witnesses have suggested to the Durban High Court that erythropoietin can be used to treat their children instead of blood transfusions.
Erythropoietin is a drug-based treatment which stimulates the production of red blood cells.

The parents’ submissions were filed against an interim order granted in the high court which permitted doctors to administer blood transfusions for their children should they be required.

The application for the orders was brought separately before court because each child was admitted to hospital and their parents refused to allow them to have blood transfusions because it went against their religious beliefs.

First was a five-year-old boy, admitted to hospital in September last year, followed by two girls, aged three and 10, in October and November respectively.

The Health Department approached the court for the orders and in December the department was granted an interim order to treat one of the children with a blood transfusion.

Two units of blood were administered to one of the children.

Currently the 10-year-old girl is a patient at a Pietermaritzburg hospital while the other two are back home with their respective parents.

The boy’s parents included in their papers a statement from Dr Marcus Aniekan Inyama Asuquo, a specialist haematologist based at the University of Calabar in Nigeria.
Asuquo, also a Jehovah’s Witness, said he had extensive experience in treating patients with sickle cell anaemia, which was prevalent in Nigeria.

“I have perused the child’s medical records... There is no evidence that the quality of care given to the child at home will change for worse to warrant blood transfusion,” he said.
The other two sets of parents asked the court for a two-month adjournment to get expert witnesses.

It emerged in these papers that the law firm representing the parents of the five-year-old boy, Farnsworth-Hughes, received private backing from a donor that facilitated access to experts with a view to the matter being dealt with as a test.

“Farnsworth-Hughes attorneys have agreed to instruct the experts that have been employed on their behalf to provide expert advice and opinion evidence for this matter, too,” said the father of the three-year-old girl.

On November 22 last year a routine blood test revealed that she had sickle cell anaemia, and the hospital sought her parents’ consent to administer a blood transfusion, if necessary, to prevent an acute crisis, including a stroke.

“We firmly believe that there are well-documented, medically-accepted alternatives to a blood transfusion that are compatible with our religious beliefs and that constitute appropriate treatment in the circumstances,” said the father.

He explained that when the state doctor, Swaran Singh, made the application he indicated that while he wished to apply for a court order to authorise the administering of a blood transfusion in an emergency, he had used alternative treatment before and had seen it work.

“As it happened, the hospital did not, in fact, need to administer a blood transfusion. We wish to express our appreciation to the hospital. At the same time, however, this begs the question of whether there was need for the application of the order,” he said.

The matter goes back to court in May for the parents to file further expert witness affidavits.

https://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/kwazulu-natal/jehovahs-witness-parents-why-our-kids-dont-need-blood-transfusions-19531966

Faith-healing follower sentenced for not reporting sex abuse

National Post
The Associated Press
February 14, 2019

NAMPA, Idaho — An Idaho woman who refused to report her husband’s yearslong sexual abuse of young relatives and instead prayed for “the demon” to leave him was ordered Thursday to spend a year in a prison treatment program.

Judge Christopher Nye said that if Sarah Kester, 51, fails to successfully complete the program, she will serve at least four and up to 10 years in prison, the Idaho Press reported.

Prosecutors say her husband, Lester Kester Jr., molested five children over two decades. He pleaded guilty in October to five felony charges of lewd conduct with a minor in exchange for prosecutors not pursuing charges of possession of child pornography.

The couple is affiliated with the Followers of Christ Church, whose members eschew medical care for themselves and their children in favour of “faith healing” because they believe that prayer and rituals can sufficiently treat even catastrophic illnesses.

The church has a prominent following in parts of southwestern Idaho and Oregon, and the congregation has been accused of allowing dozens of children to die from a lack of basic medical care. Idaho’s child injury law, however, includes a religious exemption that has long allowed church members to act without state intervention.

After Sarah Kester’s July 11 arrest, she said she had known of the abuse for the past 17 years, according to the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office.

“Sarah Kester told detectives that she didn’t report the abuse because it was against her belief system to involve agencies such as law enforcement, child protection services, or counselling services into personal matters,” the agency said in a press release. “Instead, she said she attempted to protect … children through praying for ‘the demon’ to leave Lester and attempting to keep him busy with other tasks.”

Sarah Kester’s defence attorney said at sentencing that her client grew up in an isolated community and experienced her own trauma.

“She did everything that she knew to do to take care of them,” attorney Bethany Harder Haase said.

Sarah Kester cried as she addressed the court.

“I should’ve paid attention to all the rumours going around,” she said. “I feel so devastated. I should’ve got out of marriage right there and then.”

Three of the victims, now in their teens and 20s, also gave statements, saying Sarah Kester called them offensive names and blamed them for her husband’s actions.

The Associated Press isn’t identifying the victims or their relationship to the Kesters.

Sarah Kester entered in October a modified guilty plea, in which she maintained her innocence but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her. Lester Kester is set to be sentenced Feb. 26.

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/faith-healing-follower-sentenced-for-not-reporting-sex-abuse

Universal Medicine follower's daughter hopes jury verdict stops 'dangerous cult' recruitment

Josh Robertson

ABC
November 4, 2018

VIDEO: Judith McIntyre being interviewed by Universal Medicine (ABC News)

A neuroscientist who tried in vain to claw back part of her mother's dying gift of $1.4 million to an unproven spiritual healer says she has been vindicated by a jury verdict that the breast cancer victim was exploited by a "socially dangerous cult".

Key points:

• Breast cancer victim Judith McIntyre gave $1.4 million to Universal Medicine leader before she died
• Her daughter Sarah unsuccessfully challenged the will in a Sydney court
• She hopes the jury's findings its leader "swindles cancer patients" will stop new members joining
• While Sarah McIntyre hopes the damning findings stop Universal Medicine (UM) founder Serge Benhayon from recruiting new followers, his group continues to charge breast cancer patients to attend "healing retreats" in a venue built with her mother's money.

A leading Australian medical school also retains links to UM despite a Supreme Court jury in Sydney last month finding its leader is a "charlatan who makes fraudulent medical claims" and "swindles cancer patients".

The University of Queensland medical faculty includes two associate lecturers and a health researcher who have endorsed UM, with the researcher — Christoph Schnelle — embroiled in an academic misconduct investigation that has run for more than six months.

Mr Schnelle was Judith McIntyre's financial planner and one of a number of UM followers involved with her before she died in 2014.

Others included her nurse, the witness to her will, the lawyer who drafted it and its executor.

There is no suggestion that Mr Schnelle persuaded Mrs McIntyre to give money to Mr Benhayon.

Sarah McIntyre and her brother Seth in 2015 unsuccessfully challenged the will, which left $600,000 — most of their mother's estate — to Mr Benhayon, in addition to $800,000 he received from Judith McIntyre a month before she died.

Mr Benhayon is a former bankrupt tennis coach who claims to be the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci and turned UM into a $2-million-a-year business.

His defamation lawsuit against a blogger backfired last month when a jury found 38 imputations to be true, including that he exercised "undue influence" on Judith McIntyre to inherit the bulk of her $1.1 million estate.

Sarah McIntyre told the ABC from Sweden, where she researches neuroscience, that the verdict was "vindicating because we felt we weren't able to make that argument ourselves".

"We sought advice from two different law firms and both of them said they would not be willing to take the case if we tried to argue it was undue influence," she said.

"Basically the reason that they gave us is that it is extremely hard to prove."

Instead their lawyers argued the $250,000 they each received did not adequately provide for them.

The judge, who viewed a video interview with Judith McIntyre made by another UM follower before her death, disagreed.

"I don't want to seem ungrateful, I realise a lot of people have a lot less," Sarah McIntyre said.

"[But] Serge Benhayon has a lot of money already and he's just used this to enrich his cult.

"Even if he actually used the money for what my mother wanted, I don't think that was a good way for the money to be spent in the world.

"I don't think Universal Medicine is a good organisation."

Mr Benhayon used $800,000 to build the "Hall of Ageless Wisdom" on one of his multimillion-dollar properties, where a $60-per-person "breast cancer care retreat" was held on Sunday.

 

An organiser did not respond for comment.

Distinguished medical professor John Dwyer, who gave expert testimony in the defamation case, said Judith McIntyre's donation was "in good faith" but had "enabled Universal Medicine to spread its dangerous nonsense even further".

"Here we have people whose view about cancer and breast cancer in particular is that it's caused by a lack of self-love, often compounded by sins in a previous life," he said.

"To think that that money's been used to promote such ideas and to call women together who may have had breast cancer, or who have a relative who's had breast cancer, and put forward these nonsense ideas is very unfortunate."

Professor Dwyer said the court findings about UM should have been a "catalyst in stirring [UQ] up and making them realise they were dealing with a serious situation" in its medical faculty.

"Six months on and they're still investigating it? I've been in academic medicine all my life. It should've taken no more than a few weeks," he said.

"All of those associates of Universal Medicine who are trying to gather academic credibility for the program should be stopped from publishing in peer reviewed papers and spreading the message of Universal Medicine, which has been so obviously revealed to be a sham.

"If a university is any way supporting the spread of this pseudo-science, that's reprehensible."

UQ pro-vice-chancellor of research Mark Blows said the investigation was "nearing completion".

Health researcher Christoph Schnelle declined to comment.

In September, the Supreme Court in Sydney heard Mr Benhayon taught followers their "kidney energy" could be harmed in their next life if their children misspent their inheritance, or if they set conditions on donations to Universal Medicine.

Mr Benhayon said "no comment" and hung up when contacted by the ABC.

Sarah McIntyre said she and her brother had "moved on with our lives and we're not going to get that money and we've made our peace with that".

But she said she hoped "more people know about it and that makes [Mr Benhayon's] life more difficult".

She sympathised with her mother's search for spirituality but found it "incredibly frustrating" as a scientist to see her fall under the sway of "teachings that are not just false but nonsensical".

Her mother, who had studied and loved literature, dumped her entire book collection because it clashed with Mr Benhayon's teachings, and filled her house with his books, she said.

She would switch off Sarah's music in the car and insisted her brother, a musician, spend her cash birthday gift on groceries instead of new drums because Mr Benhayon taught that non-UM music had negative energy, Ms McIntyre said.

"It's so easy to get drawn into these sorts of groups.

"They kind of hide the more weird and crazy aspects of the group when you're new to it and they present themselves as very reasonable," she said.

"But if you believe the teachings, you end up following a very strict set of rules, a very strict lifestyle, if you take that on. So my mother — the way she slept and what she ate and who she spent time with.

"It was really tough to see her changing so much as part of that group."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-05/universal-medicine-cult-preyed-on-cancer-victim-jury-finds/10381432

CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/27-28/2018

Scientology, Videos, Books, Child Medical Neglect, Legal, Exclusive Brethren, Transcendental Meditation

Video: Clearing the Planet

"Scientology is one of the newest religions in the world and the target of many jokes. But what makes this religion unique and how was it founded?"

That Sober Guy Podcast: The Aftermath of Scientology, Punk Rock and Addiction with Nathan Rich

" ... Nathan Rich was born in Hollywood to a Scientologist family. After being sent to the infamously abusive Mace-Kingsley Ranch twice, he escaped and was disowned by his family. He spent seven years a homeless drug addict before turning his life around. Nathan appeared on "Scientology and the Aftermath" produced by ex-scientoligist and actress Leah Remini, and has since written a memoir called Scythe Tleppo: My Survival of a Cult, Abandonment, Addiction and Homelessness."

New Book: Scythe Tleppo: My Survival of a #Cult, Abandonment, #Addiction and Homelessness

"Scythe Tleppo is an inspirational true story of a boy escaping the clutches of a cult, homelessness, emotional decimation, and rampant drug abuse.

It's a story of surviving on the streets, completely without family, friends or hope - of how to overcome against all odds; of will to carry on.

Born into Scientology, Nathan resisted indoctrination from the start. Eventually he was sent to the cult’s infamously abusive Mace-Kingsley Ranch, at age eight, and again at age fourteen. He was not allowed contact with his family for nearly three years. After finally getting away, his family disowned him.

He lived for seven long years homeless and without hope. Drugs, violence and despair plagued his mind until he was finally able to rise out of the gutter, face his past and live in the present.

From wild LSD experiences to gangs and past life recall, Nathan bears all in this brutally open memoir."

Patheos: Religious Fundamentalist Parents Found Guilty of Letting 14-Month-Old Son Die

"A couple of religious fundamentalists were found guilty of criminal negligence for letting their 14-month-old son die by failing to get him proper medical treatment."

"Jennifer and Jeromie Clark, who were arrested for failing to take their son John to the hospital until he was actually near death, were convicted by a jury in Calgary. They were found guilty of “found guilty of criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessaries of life,” according to the Toronto Star."

Cambridge Network: Award-winning novelist receives honorary degree

"... Rebecca Stott is a novelist, academic, broadcaster, historian, and currently Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia."

"Born in Cambridge, Rebecca spent her early childhood in 1960’s Brighton, growing up in a family that was part of a radical Christian #sect called the Exclusive Brethren. Although Rebecca’s father would ultimately liberate his family from the #Brethren in 1972, the experience would colour the rest of her life, and lead to her writing the Costa Award-winning memoir, In the Days of Rain."

Huffington Post: My Experience Living In A Cult For 20 Years - Here's How I Broke Free

"As the cult took hold, 1,000 of us moved across the world - squandering our fortunes - to meditate in a bid to prevent certain global annihilation."

" ... The first seeds of TM’s cult-like characteristics emerged in August 1979 in Amherst Massachusetts, where Maharishi gathered 2,600 meditators for a World Peace Assembly. There he made the fantastic claim that the Goddess “Mother Divine” had told him that crime, war, and environmental toxins had polluted the earth. Maharishi’s “World Plan” to create global peace wasn’t working fast enough, and therefore the Goddess was threatening to annihilate the entire earth’s population. After Maharishi pleaded with her, she purportedly agreed to give him one last chance."

"Maharishi then declared that time had run out and there was a world emergency. All of us must pack our bags, relocate our families to Iowa within one week, and meditate together in order to prevent certain global annihilation. So about 1,000 of us moved to Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield, Iowa, where the cult gradually took over our lives, as we squandered our fortunes on various increasingly expensive TM courses and products."

Religious faith or child abuse? A new documentary investigates

In Idaho, different belief structures collide, ‘with lives hanging in the balance’, says the film’s producer, Jess Lichtenstein

Jason Wilson

The Guardian
September 22, 2018

The Followers of Christ is a Pentecostal church that believes in faith healing. Its members refuse to avail themselves, or their children, of modern medical care.

In many states this exposes them to prosecution. But in Idaho, Nixon-era religious shield laws protect them from charges of child neglect.

Critics – including ex-members – say that the Followers are getting away with murder, or something close to it. They also allege that the reclusive group permits other forms of abuse.

The Guardian shone a light on the Followers in Idaho two years ago. Now the makers of a new documentary film have gained unprecedented access to the church.

No Greater Law, directed by Tom Dumican, will be shown on A&E on Monday night, following screenings at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival and a nomination for best international documentary in Britain’s Grierson Trust Awards.

No Greater Law depicts the debate over Idaho’s shield laws from a range of perspectives, including the Followers’ most vehement critics. But the film also allows the Followers of Christ to present their side of the debate, and invites them to explain how they balance the lives of their children against the demands of their church.

A central figure is Dan Sevy, whose own children have died in failed attempts at faith healing, and who now acts as an unofficial spokesman for the group. Others featured include Linda Martin and Brian Hoyt, two ex-adherents who report horrific abuse at the hands of church members, and Kieran Donohue, the sheriff of Canyon county, where most of Idaho’s Followers live.

The Guardian spoke with the film’s Portland-based producer, Jess Lichtenstein, about the process of making the film, and the tensions that run through the story.

How did you come to make a film about the Followers of Christ?

Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, the Portland journalist, had written about the trialof Followers of Christ parents in Albany, Oregon. He became fascinated and engrossed in the story and just driven to explore the issue of these faith-healing cases and something deeper beyond it.

When I read Shane’s work, I was drawn to the characters in the story. Their children’s lives hung in the balance and these outcomes were dictated by their faith. These are life and death consequences that I couldn’t imagine as an outsider.

The Followers of Christ are a somewhat reclusive group. How did you gain access?

Through the very patient, long-term, deep-access work of developing contacts in the Idaho legislature and in the [Followers] community in Idaho and Oregon.

But that community was so skeptical of journalists and the liberal media. That was a big stumbling block. We had to approach everyone by differentiating ourselves from investigative journalists, [identifying instead] as film-makers and storytellers.

There are big tensions in this story. There are people who have survived severe abuse in the church, and who actively campaign for the repeal of Idaho’s shield laws. And there are people still involved in the church, and willing to sacrifice quite a lot to adhere to the church’s doctrines. How did you negotiate that tension?

Well, I think that any story has two sides. No one is the villain of their own story.

The perspective from people like [ex-Followers] Linda Martin and Brian Hoyt, and other people who lived through experiences in the church and then left … the abuse that they suffered was unimaginable.

But when you talk to the church members, to them, the [anti-shield law activists] are outsiders trying to change their faith, trying to take their freedom away. When you are committed that way – to walk by faith and to live your life for God – then there’s no compromise. There’s no other side to see.

The people who have left the church have led very difficult lives, and it’s been a challenge for them, I think, to succeed and re-enter society in a normal way, because [they were raised] to see the world as a frightening place of outsiders who don’t understand their faith.

In the film, Willy Hughes says, “It’s like being a newborn baby. You go out into the world and it’s like everything is new, and everything is different, and you have no preparation.”

You were able to get past some of the Followers’ antagonism towards you, as representatives of the media, but there is a hostility to the secular world that’s kind of built into their worldview, right?

Yeah, they definitely feel themselves to be under scrutiny and under attack. They also see themselves as the last frontiersmen, fighting for freedom. That’s their narrative – the fight for freedom.

How do you think they expect their views to be received by the outside world? They must know that children dying from lack of medical care is something that is hard for the secular world to process as a legitimate practice.

I think they expect their beliefs to be criticized and they’re ready to stand up for their faith when it is called extremist. It’s a point of pride. It’s what separates them from the outside world – that conviction.

If there was any fear or doubt in their faith, then they wouldn’t be the individuals that they are. They know that the outside world is going to judge them and they see that as a weakness of the outside world, that the outside world’s faith is weak.

They call people outside the church “the worldly”, and it’s almost derogatory in their vernacular.

The Idaho shield laws are an artifact of the 1970s, though in Idaho some people talk like the laws have been there since time immemorial. But other jurisdictions, like Oregon, have repealed shield laws, and parents who neglect their children because of their religious beliefs have been prosecuted. Do you think the Followers understand the recent origin of these laws?

I didn’t get the sense that many Followers in Idaho were really very informed or concerned with the origins of the laws. They conflate them with the religious freedoms in the constitution.

I think, for them, biblical law governs how they see right and wrong and the law of the land is secondary. God’s law is their law and there is no greater law.

In a lot of other states, where there’s a different political climate, there is a different balance between individual and communal good. In Idaho, there’s an incredibly individualistic sentiment, and there’s a committed group of politicians who are not interested in making changes to laws that affect religious freedom.

I got the sense, talking to certain Idaho politicians, that they also think theBible and religious doctrine overrule the law of the land.

In the film, you see, at one point, that even in a state senate committee hearing, people are quoting the Bible. People are quoting God’s law and talking about healing by faith.

I did [encounter] politicians who didn’t seem to believe in a separation of church and state. Mostly because they saw it as positive that the church was involved in the state.

This seems to be a film about the deep cultural and political divides that characterize the whole country at the moment. The difference in Oregon’s and Idaho’s treatment of shield laws seems to illustrate that.

Yeah, I think you’re absolutely right. We saw the film as illustrating a cultural fracture. And those divisions – those conflicts, that polarization – have never been greater.

So, that was a huge part of the film as well. It was never meant to be a film about a sinister religious group. It was a film about different belief structures colliding, with lives hanging in the balance.

From one side there was a story of villains and child abuse and a cult. From the other side, it was a story about families doing the best that they could to protect the eternal life of their children.

And to them, if their child died while they prayed, they were with God and they were saved. Even if their life wasn’t saved, their soul was saved, and that’s hard for most outsiders to accept.

It’s about a refusal to compromise, and an absolute commitment to faith regardless of the cost. There’s a support and admiration for that stance in the Idaho legislature.

Dan Sevy is a central character. He seems to have an informal position interfacing with the outside world, turning up to hearings, talking to journalists, taking the church’s message to the outside world. He is a compelling character. Were you persuaded that he is living as the dictates of his conscience require?

Dan Sevy was an incredible person to get to know. He really shattered a lot of my preconceived notions, and I think for everyone that worked on the film. [Sevy] is a very likable, charismatic, outgoing person. He’s a showman. He’s a musician. He’s charming. I think that through the film, you really identify with him, and he’s been through an incredible amount and had his faith tested at many turns. I didn’t always agree with things he would say, but it wasn’t my job to judge him.

His faith has been tested because he’s lost kids?

He’s lost numerous children to a genetic condition and has witnessed them suffer terribly over the years. He and his family cared for them in the way their faith dictated and in a way the outside world finds unbelievable.

The film shows [Canyon County] Sheriff Donahue and Dan Sevy in conflict. As the drama of the film unfolds, you see two men with their own moral codes. Both are men of faith. Sheriff Donahue’s a Catholic with a very strong faith. They’re both trying to protect children in these opposing ways.

Dan said to us early on [that] he wanted to warp our minds, and I think he did.

It was our job to bring his story out and to tell it, and I think that we did. That’s what we wanted to do, to bring people into the Followers’ world – to see the faith the way they see it, to see politics the way they see it, to see religious freedom the way they see it.

Speaking of going into their world, you attended Followers of Christ services, right? What was that like?

It wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t a Pentecostal, snake-handling, theatrical, speaking-in-tongues spectacle. It was very austere, very soft-spoken. Elders of the church read passages and people give testimony that’s very personal, and their services are very simple. They speak about their experiences and how God has touched them or healed them or tested them in that week or month and what that meant to them.

It was very eye-opening to see that, especially given what we knew as outsiders. All we knew was about the child mortality rate and about the way that medical care is denied in favour of prayer.

The film is visually very strong. It’s especially beautiful in its treatment of the landscape of that part of Idaho.

I think that was inevitable. We couldn’t help but showcase the Snake River Valley, because anywhere you point a camera is this incredible western landscape.

The landscape, the characters – [everything] made an almost natural western. I give a lot of credit to our cinematographer, Arthur Mulhern, for the visual scope that he brought to the film and to the screen.

It was a great privilege to bring that Idaho landscape to the screen. Idaho’s really a character in the film.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.



https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/sep/22/religious-faith-or-child-abuse-a-new-documentary-investigates

Pastor fails to resurrect 5 month-old baby, arrested for murder

Observer
October 5, 2018

Police in Luweero have arrested a 'pastor' and three other people for the alleged murder of a five month-old baby.

The 'pastor', Viola Nassanga and her aides Juliet Nakayenga, Edith Nabuule and landlord Lazaro Walakira were arrested and are currently detained at Luweero central police station. Luweero district police commander Benson Byaruhanga Mworozi says that the suspects were arrested in connection to the death of Anita Kwagala.

Byaruhanga explains that a week ago, Nassanga hoodwinked Asineyi Biira, the mother of the child to give her the child for prayers after complaining of sickness. He adds that the child never appeared again until reports emerged on Thursday that she died in the room they'd hired from Walakira while praying for her.

Byaruhanga says that police got the information of the death from area LC 1 chairperson. The toddler's body was found decomposing in the house. It is reported that after learning of the death, the pastor lied to the mother that she had powers to resurrect her and she should remain calm.

The body was taken to Luweero health centre IV were and will be transferred to Mulago referral hospital for post-mortem to establish what caused the death. 

However, pastors led by Morris Kigongo and Amos Nayepe of Luweero Pastors' Fellowship in Luweero have disassociated themselves from the suspect. They claim that Nassanga was practising witchcraft and not Christianity.

https://observer.ug/news/headlines/58849-pastor-fails-to-resurrect-5-month-old-baby-arrested-for-murder

Esther Rockett – Health Care Activist

Esther Rockett is a healthcare and anti-cult activist and blogger

"Based in Byron Bay, Australia, Esther has been a health practitioner for almost 20 years. She has a Bachelor degree in Religious Studies from the University of Queensland with special interests in Eastern religions, New Religious Movements and cults."

"Esther campaigns to improve protections for patients and clients of health services. She is passionate about helping patients protect themselves from exploitation, privacy invasion and treatment room abuses, including sexual abuse."

Activism against Universal Medicine

"Esther became concerned about the Universal Medicine organization after disturbing experiences in the treatment room of Universal Medicine leader, Serge Benhayon as well as at an Esoteric Healing workshop. At the time of those experiences in 2004-5, unregistered health practitioners in NSW were unregulated and there were no avenues for complaints."

Websites by Esther Rockett

• Universal Medicine Accountability
• Universal Medicine BUNKUM Exposed
• Esther Rockett – Health Care Activist
• Esther Rockett - Legal Defense

Other

• CultNEWS101 "Universal Medicine" collection
• Universal Medicine Home

Pregnant Jehovah’s Witness teen loses fight to refuse transfusion

A JEHOVAH’S Witness may be forced to receive a blood transfusion against her will this weekend when she gives birth in Melbourne.

Amber Wilson
NEWS.com.au
September 2, 2018

A JEHOVAH’S Witness girl may be forced to receive a blood transfusion against her will this weekend when she gives birth in Melbourne.

Mercy Hospital Victoria was granted Supreme Court authority on Friday to give the girl blood as a “last resort” if she suffers a post-partum haemorrhage when induced into labour on Sunday afternoon.

The 17-year-old first-time mother is considered to be at increased risk of haemorrhaging because she is of “small stature” and the baby is large, meaning she may have a long labour, an assisted birth or an emergency caesarean. Jehovah’s Witnesses forbid followers from receiving blood transfusions or blood products.

The risk to the baby from the mother refusing blood is considered low. The Human Tissue Act has a provision that minors may be given blood transfusions without parental consent, however it was edited in 1994 with the concept of a “mature minor” who could “make up their own mind”, the court was told on Friday. However child psychiatrist Campbell Paul told the hearing he didn’t believe the girl had the “decision-making capacity” to be considered as having “Gillick competence” — a term used to describe whether a child can consent to their own medical treatment.

Professor Paul said the girl had “been through considerable disruption and trauma through her life” and had “transgressed a major value of her family and her community” by having premarital sex.

He said therefore, “you could imagine that she feels very frightened” and worried about “further punishment”.

Obstetrician and gynaecologist Jacqueline van Dam told the court she was concerned about the girl’s “naivety” that if anything happened, “she would be protected by her faith”.

She said a number of strategies could be undertaken first in the case of haemorrhage, such as injecting a drug to limit bleeding or stitching the uterus.

The girl’s mother, who said she wouldn’t consent to the hospital administering blood to her daughter, told the court receiving a transfusion would have a significant impact on the girl’s wellbeing.

“Being forced to have that done against her will would be something like having violence done to her or being raped,” she said in a statement read to the court. “She wants to do the right thing by Jehovah, by God.” Justice Cameron Macaulay granted Mercy Hospital the authority to give the girl a transfusion if necessary as “a last resort” but only if they first used all other strategies to stop the bleeding and obtained authority from two doctors. “I’m not satisfied that (the girl) has the maturity to understand the consequences of her choice,” he said.

“I do not consider that allowing her, in effect, to choose to die … is in her best interests.”


https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/babies/pregnant-jehovahs-witness-teen-loses-fight-to-refuse-transfusion/news-story/103b1b59d33cce265a033c5aa88fc216