CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/7/2025

Clergy Sexual Abuse, Unification Church, Opus Dei

OVS News: Study into sexual abuse of women religious sheds light on spiritual abuse

"The first research study into the sexual abuse of women religious in German-speaking countries has shown a typical pattern of spiritual abuse with global cases and highlighted that the majority of abuse is perpetrated by men, although some sisters were abused also by women superiors.

The study titled "Sexual Abuse of Catholic Women Religious Victims, Perpetrators and (Non)consensual Relationships" is the culmination of three years' work by Barbara Haslbeck, professor of pastoral theology and homiletics at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

Speaking to OSV News about the new study, published on Sept. 15, Haslbeck explained that 15 women who experienced sexual abuse as religious in German-speaking countries were interviewed for the study.

"Given the sensitive nature of the subject matter, this is a major study," Haslbeck told OSV News.

The aim of this pioneering research project is to gain an understanding of "the systemic conditions of abuse and determine the consequences of the abuse," the researcher said.

It also aimed to shed light on the characteristics of the perpetrators, the grooming, the extent of the abuse, the occasions of the abuse, and identify spiritual manipulation in the abuse process.

The assumption that priests are "harmless" was highlighted as an enabling factor in the communities in which the women lived, the research director said. Other issues included obedience as "a vulnerability factor." At the same time, chastity and the "bridal motif" were identified by the victims as "ambivalent ideals" in the face of abuse, used by perpetrators to lure their potential victims."

Hankyoreh: Following the money: Investigators seek to verify if Unification Church cash reached Yoon

"With the special counsel team investigating the Unification Church's alleged bribery scheme now having arrested its leader, Han Hak-ja, the probe is likely to set its sights on former President Yoon Suk-yeol next by tracing the flow of church funds.

Early on Tuesday, a judge from the Seoul Central District Court's warrant division issued an arrest warrant for Han, citing "concerns over destruction of evidence." Han currently faces suspicions of violating the Political Funds Act and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, embezzling church funds, and instructing the destruction of evidence.

The key allegation requiring further investigation is that Han delivered 100 million won (US$72,000) in illegal political funds to PPP lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong in January 2022 through Yun Young-ho, the former global operations director of the Unification Church. Yun has been indicted and is currently behind bars.

The special counsel team is considering the possibility that this sum reached the former president himself. During the investigation, it was revealed that Yun, who managed Unification Church finances, placed half of the 100 million won delivered to Kweon in a separate bundle that bore the Chinese character for "king" in embroidery. This suggests Yoon may have received or been aware of a portion of the Unification Church's bribe.

The team will likely turn up additional funds beyond the aforementioned 100 million won that the Unification Church handed Kweon."

NCR: Former Opus Dei numerary's memoir claims abuse, trafficking

"An ex-assistant numerary, Anne Marie Allen held the lowest rank of Opus Dei's hierarchical structure, where she spent almost seven years with the conservative Catholic group in Ireland, starting when she was 15.

"I think it is the voice of the weakest that will bring Opus Dei down," Allen says matter-of-factly.

In Serve: My Lost Years at the Heart of Opus Dei, the 62-year-old documents the domestic servitude that she and other Irish women say they were lured into with the promise of vocational training. Her criticism of Opus Dei, including that the promised training never materialized, echoes that of other ex-numerary assistants around the world, including in Argentina, where a criminal investigation involves 43 former members who say they were trafficked and exploited.

Opus Dei is a conservative and notoriously secretive Catholic group founded in 1928 in Spain by Fr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás (1902-1975). Dogged by controversy from the beginning, the group's stated aim is to help lay and clerical members sanctify their daily lives. While this mission has resonated with a post-Vatican II church, critics say Opus Dei seeks to influence the powerful and wealthy to increase its own access to the levers of power within both the church and society. This blending of faith and political lobbying has been powerful in the United States and Spain.

Assistant numeraries — Opus Dei's lowest rank — are women who primarily attend to the domestic needs of the organization's centers, including cooking and cleaning. The women live and work under the obedience of Opus Dei and commit to celibacy and to sanctifying their lives.

Opus Dei is believed to have 90,000 members in up to 70 countries, though exact figures are elusive due to the group's discretion — or secrecy, depending on your viewpoint."

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

CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/6/2025

Japan, Religion Research, Orthodox Church, Sexual Abuse, Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, India

Unseen Japan: How Religion and Politics Are Intertwined in Japan

"When people talk about religion and politics in Japan, they often call the country 'secular' or even 'atheist." Surveys back this up. Around 70 percent of Japanese people describe themselves as mushūkyō (non-religious).

Yet this reflects a gap in definitions, not an absence of practice.

The concept behind the word shūkyō was imported from the West in the 19th century, tied to churches and doctrine. In Japan, religion is lived more through practice than formal affiliation. New Year shrine visits, Buddhist funerals, and local festivals remain widespread. What looks secular is often ritual by another name.

Politics offers another counter to the "Japan is atheist" claim. Even after WWII, religious groups continued to play a role in democracy. They mobilized votes, backed political allies, and shaped constitutional debates. [This article] takes  a closer look at their sometimes stabilizing, sometimes even controversial influence on Japanese politics."

RNS: New website alerts Orthodox Church to 'clergy sex abuse problem it must reckon with'

"Two Orthodox Christian women have created a new website about sexual misconduct and abuse in their denomination that not only names names, but offers victims help in coming to terms with their trauma.

More than two years after Katherine Archer and Hermina Nedelescu decided more needed to be done to advocate for clergy abuse survivors, the two recently debuted Prosopon Healing as a way to call attention to the problem. "Katherine and I were determined not to be silenced," said Nedelescu. "The Orthodox Church has a clergy sex abuse problem it must reckon with."

But the two founders — one a therapist-in-training, the other a neuroscientist — also present evidence-based research and supportive resources rooted in behavioral neuroscience to explain the actions of the predator and the victim. Its database collates third-party information across the internet on documented and alleged Orthodox clergy abuse.

The Prosopon site draws heavily on work by Melanie Sakoda and Cappy Larson, who for decades collected information for their now-retired Orthodox abuse website, Pokrov.org. "The reason Katherine and I did this in a year and a half and completed it in two years is because of Melanie and Cappy," Nedelescu said. "Melanie gave us the list. We ourselves also did a thorough search, but many of the names are coming from Melanie's work."

The new database adds an extra layer to account for multiple levels of authority. For each alleged or charged abuser, the list adds the overseeing bishop whom the abuser ultimately reports to."

Statesman News Service: 'Abuse in the name of 'spiritual growth': Swami Chaitanyananda's misdeeds

"A severe case of sexual harassment has surfaced in Delhi involving self-styled godman Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, formerly known as Swami (Dr.) Parthasarathy, police said on Thursday, with several women, especially those belonging to underprivileged families, accusing him of repeated sexual harassment, intimidation, and abuse of power.

The Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamsthanam Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri, filed a complaint against the godman. Soon after the allegations, the Peetham announced that it had cut all ties with him and cancelled the powers of attorney that had given him authority over the Sringeri Peetham.

According to the FIR registered at Vasant Kunj North police station, the survivors have alleged that Chaitanyananda often messaged them at odd hours and pressured them to visit his quarters late at night during foreign trips, calling such encounters 'necessary for spiritual growth and education.'

A complaint initially surfaced through a letter written by an Indian Air Force officer and former student of the institute, which alerted the management."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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‘Abuse in the name of ‘spiritual growth’: Swami Chaitanyananda’s misdeeds

Statesman News Service

September 25, 2025

A serious case of sexual harassment has surfaced in Delhi involving self-styled godman Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, formerly known as Swami (Dr.) Parthasarathy, police said on Thursday, with several women, especially those belonging to underprivileged families, accusing him of repeated sexual harassment, intimidation, and abuse of power.

The Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamsthanam Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri, filed a complaint against the godman. Soon after the allegations, the Peetham announced that it had cut all ties with him and cancelled the powers of attorney that had given him authority over the Sringeri Peetham.

According to the FIR registered at Vasant Kunj North police station, the survivors have alleged that Chaitanyananda often messaged them at odd hours and pressured them to visit his quarters late at night during foreign trips, calling such encounters ‘necessary for spiritual growth and education.’

A complaint initially surfaced in a letter from an Indian Air Force officer and former student of the institute, which alerted the management.

In a separate complaint filed against Chaitanyananda, 17 female students claimed that the accused summoned them via WhatsApp and was aided by three hostel wardens who allegedly pressured them to delete incriminating chats after meeting him.

“The wardens have since been dismissed from the institute,” said a senior officer.

“Meanwhile, on 01.08.2025, an email was received by the Peetham from an officer of the rank of Group Captain, serving as Director, University Outreach Program, Directorate of Education, Air Headquarters, informed the Peetham that the Directorate had received several complaints and representations from students at SRISIIM, alleging arbitrary decisions and vindictive behaviour by Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, including sending WhatsApp messages to girl students at odd hours,” stated a press note issued by the institute.

The institute asserted that it had promptly taken action against the accused. “The Peetham was also informed via the same letter about the filing of a criminal complaint and the registration of FIR No. 320 of 2025 against Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati. The Peetham assured that the required legal action is being taken and clarified that Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati is not a monk of the order of Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri, nor of the lineage of the revered Saint Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankaracharya.”

Police have launched a probe into the allegations, which point to a disturbing pattern of exploitation cloaked under spiritual authority.

 https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/abuse-in-the-name-of-spiritual-growth-swami-chaitanyanandas-misdeeds-1503491428.html/amp

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/26/2025

Jim Jones, Clergy, Sexual Abuse, Meditation

The Mercury News: New book uncovers the story behind infamous Bay Area cult

"Decades before Charles Manson's followers spread terror in Los Angeles and Jim Jones orchestrated mass suicide in Guyana, a bearded mystic named Thomas Lake Harris preached salvation in the hills above Santa Rosa.

He claimed to speak with spirits, rewrite the Bible, and battle demons in trances. His followers gave him their money — sometimes a great deal more. What began as a utopian experiment called Fountaingrove ended in scandal and headlines about "spiritual harems" and mind control.

In a new book, "Unholy Sensations: A Story of Sex, Scandal and California's First Cult Scare" (Oxford University Press, 2025), historian Joshua Paddison revisits Harris' rise and fall. It is a sensational tale of faith, fraud, and forbidden desire that captivated 19th-century America and whose themes still resonate today.

Sonoma County

Paddison, a history instructor at Texas State University, situates Harris within the context of a 19th-century spiritual awakening, an era marked by a search for meaning beyond the industrial age, during which utopian communities emerged across the country.

Born in 1823 in the village of Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire, England, Harris came to the United States when he was five years old. His solidly middle-class family settled in Utica, New York, where his father was a grocer and devout Calvinistic Baptist. His mother died when he was nine.

Harris said he experienced an "overflowing" love for Christ at 15, during a revival meeting. He began his public life as a Unitarian minister in New York around 1845. But his path soon veered into the realm of spiritualism. Claiming the ability to serve as a medium, he drew inspiration from the teachings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, whose writings sparked a lifelong fascination with the spirit world."

BBC: Sex abuse cult leader's move to open prison blocked

"A sex-cult leader who brainwashed and abused children will not be transferred to an open prison despite a parole board's recommendation.

Colin Batley was jailed in 2011 after being found guilty of 35 offences relating to being a molester and rapist of children and young people for more than 30 years.

In March, a parole board decided it would recommend Batley be moved to an open prison after a hearing found he had shown an "improved level of insight into his offending behaviour".

However, the final decision had to be made by the justice secretary, with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirming it had "blocked" Batley's transfer to an open prison.

Batley moved from London to Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, where the cult operated in a cul-de-sac, Clos yr Onnen.

Cult members who all lived there took part in a catalogue of abuse against children and young adults, with victims saying the group used occult writings and practices to "brainwash" them and justify their abuse."

Science Alert: Meditation And Mindfulness Have a Dark Side We Don't Often Talk About

" ... The Dharmatrāta Meditation Scripture, written by a community of Buddhists, describes various practices and includes reports of symptoms of depression and anxiety that can occur after meditation.

It also details cognitive anomalies associated with episodes of psychosis, dissociation, and depersonalisation (when people feel the world is "unreal").

In the past eight years, there has been a surge of scientific research in this area. These studies show that adverse effects are not rare.

A 2022 study, using a sample of 953 people in the US who meditated regularly, showed that over 10 percent of participants experienced adverse effects that had a significant negative impact on their everyday life and lasted for at least one month.

According to a review of over 40 years of research that was published in 2020, the most common adverse effects are anxiety and depression. These are followed by psychotic or delusional symptoms, dissociation or depersonalisation, and fear or terror.

Research also found that adverse effects can happen to people without previous mental health problems, to those who have only had a moderate exposure to meditation, and they can lead to long-lasting symptoms.

The Western world has long had evidence of these adverse effects.

In 1976, Arnold Lazarus, a key figure in the cognitive-behavioural science movement, said that meditation, when used indiscriminately, could induce 'serious psychiatric problems such as depression, agitation, and even schizophrenic decompensation'."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

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

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

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

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

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

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/16/2025

Research, Somali, Sexual Abuse, Anti-Patriarchy Movement

APA PsycNet: The power of presence: Well-being and biopsychosocial effects of virtual versus in-person religious services.

"Although the benefits of in-person religious service attendance are well-documented, the well-being and biopsychosocial effects of virtual worship—more frequent since the COVID-19 pandemic—remain largely unexplored. This study examines the impact of attending virtual versus in-person worship. In a pre-registered experiment, 43 adult Christians attended both virtual and in-person church services in a randomized order. Participants wore Fitbits to measure heart rate and calories burned and completed post service surveys assessing social, affective, and well-being outcomes. Virtual services resulted in lower transcendent experiences and emotions, shared identity with the congregation, and closeness with God compared with in-person attendance. Physiologically, virtual worship led to lower heart rates and fewer calories burned, indicating reduced embodied engagement. However, well-being scores remained similar. Virtual worship may not fully replicate in-person experiences. Further research is needed to assess long-term well-being effects and implications for religious engagement."

Sahan Journal: More Somali women are speaking out about sexual abuse by men they trusted

"Defying a tradition of silence around sexual abuse and trauma, Somali women are beginning to speak out about long-hidden ordeals perpetrated by men they trusted — boyfriends, teachers and sometimes religious leaders."

GB News: Retired Church of England vicar jailed for part in 'eunuch maker' body modification ring

"A retired vicar who was part of an extreme body modification ring run by a man who called himself the "eunuch maker" has been jailed for three years.

Reverend Geoffrey Baulcomb pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to causing grievous bodily harm. The former vicar, wearing a black suit and tie, showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.

Baulcomb was found with a phone containing a nine-second video of him using nail scissors to perform a procedure on a man's penis in January 2020.

He also admitted to seven other charges, including possessing extreme pornography and making and distributing images of children on or before December 14, 2022."

RNS: After challenging Doug Wilson, podcaster's confession shakes anti-patriarchy movement

"Days after challenging Pastor Doug Wilson to a public debate, Peter Bell, producer and host of the podcast "Sons of Patriarchy," made a social media confession that has forced a reckoning within the community he helped build around exposing abuse in patriarchal churches.

Bell, whose podcast investigates Wilson's Moscow, Idaho-based church movement, said in a since-deleted Aug. 23 Facebook post that he struggled with pornography addiction for nearly two decades, was fired from multiple jobs for lying and experienced marital separation during his podcast's first season last year.

The confession came shortly after Bell appeared at a Moscow community event Aug. 8 at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center, where he and others spoke about the impact of Wilson's teachings. The podcast producers scheduled their first Moscow visit to coincide with Grace Agenda, a weekend conference hosted by Wilson's Christ Church that serves as a major recruiting event for the church. After the Kenworthy event, Bell and "Sons of Patriarchy" staff approached Wilson at the conference, and Wilson agreed to a one-on-one conversation with the podcast host, who has spent months documenting abuse allegations within Wilson's Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.

Bell acknowledged ... that the timing of his Facebook post was deliberate.

"With the recent airing of the CNN interview with Doug Wilson" — a profile that examined Wilson's Christian nationalist movement and connections to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — "our team began receiving far more media inquiries, survivor stories and 'interest' after Doug agreed to a one-on-one with me," Bell said in an interview.

"This compounded with the kinds of messages we were receiving, mostly coming from women, who were praising me. They wanted to let me know that they wished their husbands could be like me, their sons would grow up to be like me, and their pastors cared like me," Bell said. "I couldn't handle the praise, knowing that if those who were messaging us knew the truth about me, maybe they'd be less inclined. I had told parts of it before, but I needed everything out there."

The confession sparked tension within the "Sons of Patriarchy" team. Bell's co-host and majority owner of the podcast, Sarah Bader, responded with a social media statement distancing the team from Bell's post."

" ... The confession particularly stung trauma survivors who trusted Bell with their stories of abuse within patriarchal church systems, several alleged survivors wrote on social media. As Bell interviews women who have left these environments, his admission raises questions about his fitness for the role.

'I totally and completely understand if survivors no longer desire to be interviewed by me," Bell said. "My goal isn't to get someone behind a microphone — my goal is for them to be heard.'"

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Longtime head of Mexican megachurch is indicted in New York on federal sex trafficking charges

LARRY NEUMEISTER

September 10, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — The longtime head of a Mexican megachurch who is serving more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing young followers has been charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking for allegedly victimizing members of the church for decades, federal authorities said Wednesday.

A New York grand jury returned the indictment alleging that Naasón Joaquín García, 56, and five others, including his 79-year-old mother, exploited the church for decades, enabling the systemic sexual abuse of children and women for the sexual gratification of García and his father, who died in 2014.

The newly unsealed indictment said the criminal activity included the creation of photos and videos of child sexual abuse and had begun after the church was founded a century ago by Garcia’s grandfather, who died in 1964. Garcia’s father, Samuel Joaquin Flores, led the church from then until his death.

Sexual abuse alleged to have occurred for over 50 years

The indictment said the sexual abuse went on for so many decades that many of the grandfather’s victims were mothers of girls and women abused by García’s father and many of the father’s victims were the mothers of girls and women abused by García.

The indictment listed 13 female victims anonymously and specifically, describing when they were allegedly attacked while they were under the age of consent. Some victims, it said, were as young as 13.

The church is based in Guadalajara, Mexico, and there are church locations throughout the United States, including in California, New York, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., according to the indictment.

In a court document seeking detention of all indicted without bail, prosecutors said sex trafficking of women and children occurred as a result of the case in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere.

García was taken into federal custody early Wednesday in Chino, California, where he is serving a sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 to two state counts.

His lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The church’s followers considered García to be the ‘

apostle’ of Jesus Christ

García is the head of La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World), which claims to have 5 million followers worldwide. Believers consider him to be the “apostle” of Jesus Christ.

Federal authorities said that he used his spiritual sway to have sex with girls and young women who were told it would lead to their salvation — or damnation if they refused. His efforts were enabled by others, including his mother, who helped groom the girls to be sexually abused, they said.

Prosecutors said García also directed girls, boys and women to engage in group sex with each other, often in his presence, for his sexual gratification.

Sometimes, they added, he required the children to wear masks so they would not realize they were having incestual sex.

García’s 79-year-old mother portrayed as key member of conspiracy

Besides García, his mother, Eva García De Joaquín, was taken into custody in Los Angeles. A third defendant, Joram Nunez Joaquín, was arrested in Chicago, authorities said. Three others were at large and were believed to be in Mexico, where authorities said extraditions would be sought.

The indictment said De Joaquín on at least one occasion held down a girl so that her husband — García’s father — could rape her.

Nunez Joaquín falsely held himself out as a lawyer working on behalf of the church as he tried to prevent sexual abuse victims from reporting the abuse to law enforcement, the indictment said.

A message seeking comment was sent to the law firm representing Nunez Joaquín. It was not immediately clear who would represent De Joaquín at a Los Angeles court appearance Wednesday.

According to the indictment, two of the defendants and others tried to destroy evidence and prevent victims of the sexual abuse from speaking to law enforcement after García was arrested.

It said they pressured victims to sign false declarations disclaiming that any abuse occurred, drafted and distributed sermons stating that all sexual abuse victims were lying and reinforced church doctrine that doubting the apostle was a sin punishable by eternal damnation.

García family alleged to have lived opulent lifestyle

The indictment said church followers were required to forward a portion of their income to the church, a portion of which would fund the García family’s extravagant lifestyle, which included luxury cars, watches, designer clothing and first-class travel worldwide.

In a release, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said García and the others “exploited the faith of their followers to prey upon them.”

He added: “When they were confronted, they leveraged their religious influence and financial power to intimidate and coerce victims into remaining silent about the abuse they had suffered.”

Ricky J. Patel, the head of the New York office of Homeland Security Investigations, said the charges resulted from a “yearslong investigation that spanned the country and involved the support of dozens of courageous victims.”

https://apnews.com/article/la-luz-del-mundo-leader-racketeering-84696209bf37560ccc7da9dbd3bfaf8d

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/27/2025

Nine O'Clock Service, Neuroscience of Religion, Peru, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, Legal, Sexual Abuse

BBC: Ex-priest found guilty of 17 indecent assaults

"A former priest accused of abusing members of a "cult-like" church group he led has been found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women.

Chris Brain, 68, was head of the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), an influential evangelical movement based in Sheffield in the 1980s and 90s.

Brain, of Wilmslow, in Cheshire, was convicted of the charges following a trial at Inner London Crown Court.

He was found not guilty of another 15 charges of indecent assault, while jurors are continuing to deliberate on a further four counts of indecent assault and one charge of rape."

" ... The NOS began in Sheffield in 1986 and was initially celebrated by Church of England leaders for its nightclub-style services, which attracted hundreds of young people.

The Church fast-tracked Brain's ordination as a priest in 1991 due to the success of the NOS, with jurors told the group spent "large sums of money" to obtain robes worn by the actor Robert De Niro in the film The Mission for Brain to wear in his ordination ceremony.

In the early 1990s the NOS moved to the city's Ponds Forge leisure centre in order to accommodate the growing congregation.

But prosecutors told the jury NOS "became a cult" in which Brain abused his position to sexually assault "a staggering number" of women from his congregation.

The group was dissolved in 1995 when concerns about Brain's behaviour were first raised.

The jury heard Brain later admitted in a BBC documentary, aired the same year, to having "improper sexual conduct with a number of women".

He resigned his holy orders two days before the programme was broadcast."

Patheos: The Real Neuroscience of Religion – Doing Drugs in Church

" ... In the 1980s, Nancy Reagan encouraged us to say no to drugs, but some chemicals are produced inside our bodies, not ingested. When we get excited at concerts or we feel love and acceptance from our relationships, our bodies release pleasurable chemicals. Other chemicals occur naturally to protect us, like stress hormones. We often even experience these types of chemicals in church.[1]

Our cortisol levels tend to be lower when we pray, meditate, or even just breathe. Cortisol is the stress hormone often linked to belly fat. Elevated cortisol levels also contribute to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, anxiety, depression, and a weakened immune system. Chronic stress levels decline during certain church activities, though they can also be elevated during other parts of the experience. Prolonged high cortisol levels from chronic stress can harm the brain, raise the risk of heart problems, and weaken the immune system.

My main concern with religious practices and this chemical is that church services now seem designed to trigger this stress hormone intentionally.

We might call it conviction, accountability, or rebuke. Still, sometimes these practices increase our cortisol levels and then quickly lead us to use things like prayer to bring us back down, reducing the cortisol again. My issue is that these chemicals are meant to protect us from real danger and shouldn't be used as tools to dysregulate us, so we feel regulated shortly afterward. The damage is still done, even if we feel better after leaving the church.

It's almost like someone punches us in the arm, then rubs it to make it feel better, and afterward looks to us for approval.

What about serotonin and dopamine? Practices like group singing, prayer, and worship trigger the release of this "feel-good" hormone that creates feelings of happiness and well-being. The same neurotransmitters are also activated during other pleasurable experiences. They are released whenever we feel good, even from harmful activities like overeating, using drugs, and taking risks.

Chemicals motivate us to keep coming back because we want to feel that high. Even if it is just the high of righteousness from attending religious services, we experience these pleasurable hormones and crave them again, so we return, keep eating, or use more of what produces that feeling.

Someone once said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." We rely on these chemicals to motivate us to get our next meal, seek safety, and enjoy life. However, in my opinion, religion often creates a high and a co-dependency where we feel like we are forever "chasing the dragon" of our learned co-dependence and our addiction to the chemical high."

RNS: Pope Leo abuse case in Peru muddled by language, cultural barriers

"A Peruvian woman who says she was sexually abused by two priests as a girl traveled to Pope Leo XIV's hometown of Chicago in late July to personally tell the media her claims of how the newly elected pope mishandled her case when he served as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru.

Organized by The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the July 31 press conference was the first time Ana María Quispe Díaz, whose story has been amplified by advocates and rehashed in the media, spoke for herself since Leo's election.

Quispe Díaz told reporters she first met with Leo, then-Bishop Robert Prevost, in 2022 to report two priests that she and other Chiclayo women claimed abused them as girls. Initially, she said, Prevost encouraged her to report the abuse to civil authorities, but, according to Quispe Díaz, he later failed to properly investigate, remove the accused priests from ministry or provide adequate support for survivors.

Despite Prevost's initial posture of support, Quispe Díaz claimed he told her there was no way to carry out a church investigation and that they must rely on the civil system. She said Prevost and other diocesan leaders did not approach the situation with transparency and did not take sufficient actions against the accused priests, the Revs. Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzáles and Ricardo Yesquén Paiva.

SNAP, a survivor-run advocacy group based in the U.S., said they organized the conference to give Quispe Díaz a platform to tell her story to English-speaking media. However, a Spanish-to-English translator hired by SNAP for the press conference made several translation errors that altered the meaning of Quispe Díaz's words.

"We were listened to and encouraged to report what happened to us," said Quispe Díaz in Spanish at the press conference. "We reported exactly what happened to us," the translator incorrectly said in English.

"We were mistreated by those representatives of Christ who, by faith, we call fathers," she said in Spanish at the press conference. "We have been denied representation of Jesus Christ who through faith we call father," the interpreter mistranslated.

Sarah Pearson, spokesperson for SNAP, told RNS she had hired CBS translation for the first time based on Google reviews, something she would not do again. Pearson is now working with another translator to dub a correct translation over the video of the event to send to reporters.

The press conference, with its serious translation errors, indicated the difficulties Quispe Díaz has faced as her story is scrutinized on an international stage — and the challenge for the international Catholic community in understanding a Peruvian abuse case that now has global implications.

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian investigative journalist who exposed sexual abuses by the powerful Peruvian Catholic group Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, told RNS Prevost's handling of the case needs to be understood within a Latin American context.

Many Latin American bishops "persecute the messenger" with threats and wouldn't encourage women to go to civil authorities as Prevost did, according to Ugaz. Prevost also sent the case to the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Ugaz believes showed he took it seriously and wanted the women to be protected. Sending the case to the Vatican is "a measure that Latin American bishops don't do because either they don't know or they want to protect priests," said Ugaz in Spanish.

Leo is credited by Sodalitium survivors as having an instrumental role in moving Pope Francis and the Vatican to suppress the group, and he has praised Ugaz's "unwavering pursuit of justice and commitment to truth" as she and another journalist have faced lawsuits, death threats, false accusations and judicial harassment.

"Unfortunately, in my country, Peru, most people who report cases of abuse do not find justice at the end of their story. The system is designed to favor the perpetrator and neglect the victim. It's a mistake to apply North American standards," said Ugaz.

The church's actions against Sodalitium, suppressing the group, only came 15 years after she began to investigate, Ugaz said, and despite over a decade of investigation into Sodalitium abuses, no perpetrators have been convicted in Peru courts.

SNAP has not reached out to Sodalitium survivors and has not included those survivors' praise for Leo in its communications. For Pearson, different global norms shouldn't mean an abuse case is dealt with any less expediently, thoroughly or safely."

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In the name of God? The secretive Christian sect under FBI investigation

A shadowy Christian sect known as the Two by Twos (2x2s) — also called The Truth, The Way, or the No-Name Church — is at the center of a shocking global child sexual abuse scandal. A Daily Maverick investigation reveals that South African members have also come forward with disturbing allegations. The FBI and SAPS have confirmed an active investigation into historic sexual abuse within the church. Marianne Thamm explains. 

Reporting by: Marianne Thamm & Jeannette Wang

Edited by: Malibongwe Tyilo

Filmed by: Bernard Kotze & Joel Seboa

Produced by: Emilie Gambade

Sub-edited by: Ian Wolstenholme

Marianne Thamm is a South African journalist, author and stand-up comedian. She is the assistant editor of the Daily Maverick and has written several books. In 2016, she released the memoir, Hitler, Verwoerd, Mandela and me.

Read the full story on Daily Maverick: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-06-22-saps-and-fbi-investigate-child-sexual-abuse-by-secretive-two-by-twos-christian-cult/

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/18/2025

United Nation of Islam, Legal, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Book Review, QAnon, Research, Trauma 

Department of Justice: Six Former Cult Members Sentenced for Years-Long Forced Labor Conspiracy to Compel the Labor of Multiple Minor Victims

" ... As established at trial, all six defendants were former high-ranking members of the United Nation of Islam (UNOI) who assisted UNOI's late founder Royall Jenkins in managing UNOI operations. Defendant Peach was also one of Jenkins's wives. Jenkins represented himself as Allah, contrary to principles of the Islamic faith, and demanded compliance with strict UNOI rules. UNOI operated multiple businesses including restaurants, bakeries, gas stations, a laboratory, and a clothing factory.

For over 12 years from October 2000 through November 2012, the defendants conspired to enforce rules that required UNOI members to perform unpaid labor, using beatings, threats, punishments, isolation, and coercion to compel the unpaid labor of over a dozen victims, including multiple minors, some as young as eight years old. The defendants required the victims to work up to 16 hours a day performing unpaid labor in UNOI-owned and operated businesses in Kansas City, Kansas; New York, New York; Newark, New Jersey; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia, and elsewhere. The defendants also required the victims to perform unpaid childcare and domestic service in the defendants' homes. The evidence showed that the defendants lived comfortably while housing the victims in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions along with restricting their food and water.

As proven at trial, the defendants used false promises of education, life skills training, and job training to induce parents to send their children to Kansas. After isolating the victims from their families and making them wholly dependent on UNOI, the defendants required the victims to attend UNOI's unlicensed, unaccredited school and used strict rules, isolation, punishments, humiliation, threats, and coercion to compel the victims' unpaid labor. This included restricting and monitoring the victims' communications with others along with their whereabouts."

ICSA Reviews: The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family. By Jesselyn Cook. Crown. 2019. 272 pages. Reviewed by Doug Duncan

" ... [T]hese stories were emotionally difficult [to read]. One of them involved a woman who had raised three children as a single mother after her husband, a physician, committed suicide. She was an admirable and courageous person, and after her husband killed himself, she went back to school and was able to get a law degree and become an attorney. She was a champion for people and tended toward liberal views to the extent that she was political, but after her children had embarked on adult lives of their own, she was drawn into QAnon. She ends up completely alienating her adult children and has no family to help her when she later encounters health issues.

Another story involves two Black sisters who are closely bonded to each other after growing up with a single mother in economically and socially challenging circumstances, struggling against poverty and racism, until one of them gets totally sucked into QAnon. After years of closeness, they drift apart, and the QAnon believer, Kendra, blames her sister, Tayshia, for the death of Tayshia's husband by heart attack due to them having obtained COVID-19 vaccinations.

Some of the recruits get out, and some of them do not, so each case does not have a happy ending. A couple of them manage to get out but are unable to repair the damage done to their relationships, so they are left with lasting consequences. All the stories are quite sad, but they are all interesting. Cook is an investigative reporter with a master's degree in journalism from New York University, and she was selected as a 2025 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. She is a talented writer, and the book is beneficial in helping to humanize the people and families who are affected by this terrible cult.

As somebody who ascribes to the thought reform view of cults that is expounded by Robert Jay Lifton, Margaret Thaler Singer, and others, I find the whole topic of conspiracy theories to be fascinating. In some ways, the process by which somebody is indoctrinated into a set of dubious beliefs, such as those of QAnon, is the quintessence of thought reform. This is made even more effective because the recruits manage to use the techniques of thought reform on themselves. They are given information and told to conduct their own research. They are exhorted to be free-thinking skeptics and not to simply accept the establishment narrative. In the name of avoiding propaganda, they walk themselves, step by step, into groupthink. They are even more convinced because they think they have arrived at their conclusions on their own. All the hours spent watching the videos, discussing the clues on the forums, and searching for confirmations in the news become a sunk cost.

Having worked so diligently to arrive at their beliefs, they are reluctant to let go of them. Furthermore, spending so much time watching videos and looking for clues from "Q"—the government insider who is supposedly privy to the on-going behind-the-scenes war between the true patriots and the Deep State—parallels what happens in more traditionally organized cults, where members may spend most of their waking hours attending Bible studies or lectures, practicing meditation, or participating in struggle sessions of some kind. At the very least, one becomes consumed with whatever the cult is doing and disconnected from other people and one's previous daily activities.

In the afterword, Cook discusses what can be done about QAnon. The problem is enormous. By some estimates, "[b]y late 2023, as many as one in four Americans were in agreement that 'Satan-worshipping pedophiles' controlled the government and the media" (p. 232). Even if these estimates are high, it is nevertheless undeniable that we are talking about millions of people who have adopted at least some portion of the QAnon belief system. To some degree or another, they all hold beliefs that are substantially out of the mainstream, such as the notion that the COVID-19 vaccines were a ruse so that Bill Gates could implant microchips in everyone. There were real societal harms that resulted from this. The United States fared significantly worse during the pandemic than did other advanced countries, and the vaccine reluctance that grew out of QAnon contributed to that. Some people in this country died because of these strange beliefs."

Emerging From a Cult – Rorschach Indications of Traumatic Damage to the Self

"This case concerns a 22-year-old White nonbinary British person who sought a consultation following an abusive childhood. The family belonged to a religious cult that required strict conformity to traditional gender stereotypes. The patient's attempts at rebellion were met by the family's determination to cast their child as mentally ill, thereby invalidating their identity. Diagnosis was used as a weapon of control and humiliation to discredit the patient's own independent thinking. The patient had left the cult in which they were brought up. They wanted recommendations for how to adapt to adult life outside of the cult. The Group Psychological Abuse Scale, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI–2), the Trauma Symptom Inventory-2 (TSI–2) and the Rorschach were administered. Judith Herman proposed the concept of complex posttraumatic stress disorder in 1992, which is applicable to this case. Some of the research literature with ex-cult members who grew up in a cult is reviewed to place the test data in context. Results from the three self-report measures are presented. The Rorschach results are then discussed in detail. The combination of morbid, reflection, and vista responses demonstrates the impact of the abusive system on the patient's sense of self and it provides some pointers for therapeutic intervention."

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