CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/22/2022 (SGA Event, Opus Dei, Cathars, Breatharianism, Video, Supreme Master Ching Hai, Clergy Abuse, Legal, Event, Coercive Control, Sexual Exploitation, Psychological Abuse)

SGA Event, Opus Dei, Cathars, Breatharianism, Video, Supreme Master Ching Hai, Clergy Abuse, Legal, Event,  Coercive Control, Sexual Exploitation, Psychological Abuse

ICSA Online Event: Second and Multi-Generational Adult Former Cult Member Series (FREE!)

Sunday, March 27th, 2022, 1:00 - 2:15 pm EST: Destigmatizing Medical Care Post-Cult, Presented by Eva Mackey and Ck Rardin

Opus Dei Awareness Network, Inc.

ODAN challenges many of Opus Dei's Questionable Practices because of the way they affect an individual's personal freedom, choices and family life.

InfoCatholic: The sect of the Cathars spreads throughout Spain and attracts young people

"With the title "Neither sex, nor meat, nor social life: this is how the Cathars of the 21st century are", a Spanish digital media published on June 20 a report on the so-called Association for the Study of Cathar Culture , present in Spain . A group that, according to its own website, "studies, recovers and promotes the universal values of Catharism'."

SFGATE: The strange, sad Bay Area 'diet cult' that fell apart over a chicken pot pie

" ... [Wiley Brooks] was the founder of the spiritual and pseudoscientific movement known as Breatharianism, famous for spreading the gospel that humans could live on air alone. He claimed he hadn't eaten in 19 years. To his followers, the binge was an unforgivable sin — as if God himself had taken a bite out of the forbidden apple."

" ... 'Breatharianism is a philosophy that believes that the human body, when it's in perfect harmony with itself and nature, is a perfect Breatharian — you know, all the constituents that we need is taken from the air we breathe,' Brooks told Snyder, in front of a studio audience that seemed both amused and entranced by his words."

San Francisco Examiner: More than just a vegan eatery—some call it a cult

"Many go vegan and skip the cult bit.

If you have ever ventured into the Bay Area vegan restaurant scene, you'd be familiar with the Asian fusion restaurant chain Loving Hut. Lien Hoang opened San Francisco's version Hut on Irving St. in December 2010 largely because of her concern about killing animals and the meat industry's harmful impact on climate change.

The storefront's bright yellow appearance and the aroma of food could capture the attention of any hungry pedestrian. Plant-based meat replacements are aplenty – chicken, pork, fish. Right now, the San Francisco restaurant is still taking COVID precautions by only offering take-out.

It seems innocuous; it's just vegan food. But underneath it all lies an international chain with over 200 locations across 42 countries run by a multi-millionairess named Supreme Master Ching Hai who claims god-like status, reputedly has 2 million followers and hawks expensive merchandise over the internet.``

Daily Beast: 'Cult-Like' Ohio Church is Secret Hotbed of Incestuous Abuse, Minister's Niece Says

"An Ohio woman who escaped her family's home after years of what she described as horrific, religiously-motivated abuse has filed a lawsuit accusing her mother, father, uncle, brothers, and a local cop of not only causing the abuse, but allowing it to continue, then covering it up once authorities became suspicious.

In the 22-page civil suit, filed Feb. 21 in Cincinnati federal court, Serah Bellar says her parents "mandated" that all of their 18 biological children and one adopted child attend their uncle's Dove Outreach Church in Waverly, Ohio."

ICSA Annual Conference: Coercive Control & Sexual Exploitation - Carrie McManus, Andrea Silverstone, Rod Dubrow-Marshall, Linda Dubrow-Marshall

"The language and understanding of coercive control has begun to shift how we view and understand experiences of domestic abuse, deepening our capacity to understand the long term impacts of this crime often perpetrated against women and girls. Little research however, has been done into the intersections of coercive control and sexual exploitation/trafficking. This presentation will provide an overview of a research project completed by Sagesse in partnership with the University of Salford exploring how coercive control and experiences of sexual exploitation link together to impact victims of crime. This project explored the impacts of sexual exploitation within practice, policy and legislation in multiple jurisdictions including Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands. This presentation will provide an overview of the linkages between practice, policy, legislation and personal lived experience of sexual exploitation and coercive control. Pulling from experiences of Sagesse participants, the presentation will review the push and pull factors related to individuals engagement in sex work/exploitation. We will discuss the themes from participants connecting their experiences to coercive control and the experience of the loss of personal agency and the implications of that loss on their emotional and physical liberty. Superordinate themes that were also identified and will be discussed in this presentation included the journey of sex work, wellbeing, coercive control, interventions and services, protection, and enforcement, and lastly, the intersections of COVID 19 and sex work. Recommendations for practice and policy with a lens for understanding coercive control and its impact on sex work and sexual exploitation. This presentation will include a discussion to understand how to implement suggested adjustments, practice necessities and create more space for survivor voices within prevention, prosecution and protection components of this complex issue."

ICSA Annual Conference: Assessment of perceptions and experiences of family members or individuals concerned about a loved one who is or was in a controlling or abusive group or relationship

Carmen Almendros, Michael Langone
Friday, June 24th

"Psychological abuse within cultic groups is a worldwide social problem that has negative impacts on the health of victims-survivors, families and communities. A growing body of research has evidenced the manipulative and abusive practices endured by many followers of these groups and their deleterious effects on members and former members' well being. Despite progress here, little is known about how the involvement and/or ongoing membership of a loved person to such groups affects their family members or friends. In fact, the lack of study of the experiences and problems faced by families and relatives of victims-survivors seems to be a common research gap within other areas in which coercive controlling relationships occur (e.g., intimate partner violence). To address these gaps we conducted a study to examine the concerns, responses and experiences of family members, relatives and friends of members and former members of controlling and/or abusive groups or relationships. The initial sample of the study consisted of 230 participants who were/had been concerned over a current or past involvement of a loved one in one of such groups/relationships. Some of the participants were themselves survivors of the same groups/relationships (around 30% had been born and/or raised in such). Results showed that responses seemed very comparable with those obtained when studying family members of people with other problems (generally a diagnosis of a mental health problem) in terms of family distress and emotional experiences of caring. Understanding the difficulties and problems faced by family members and their coping responses may not only give visibility to the suffering of these close relatives of victims/survivors of abusive relationships, as well as evidence the scarcity of useful helping resources, but may contribute to inform prevention and intervention efforts on this crucial societal problem."

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The strange, sad Bay Area 'diet cult' that fell apart over a chicken pot pie

Joshua Bote

SFGATE
March 9, 2022

The 7-Eleven trip should have done Wiley Brooks in.

For most dieters, his shopping list on that fateful day in 1983 (chicken pot pie, chili and biscuits) would be, at worst, an embarrassment. But Brooks was no average weight-watcher. He was the founder of the spiritual and pseudoscientific movement known as Breatharianism, famous for spreading the gospel that humans could live on air alone. He claimed he hadn’t eaten in 19 years. To his followers, the binge was an unforgivable sin — as if God himself had taken a bite out of the forbidden apple.

The allegation of convenience store consumption came from Lavelle Lefler, co-founder of the Breatharian Institute, then based in Larkspur. “The truth is he sneaks into 7-Elevens and fast food places and eats just like the rest of us — except worse because he has to rely on places that are open late into the night,” she told United Press International in 1983. Brooks shot back that Lefler was a scorned ex-lover, but more allegations emerged, including an assistant who said he’d spotted Brooks drinking a can of Coca-Cola. A mass mutiny soon followed.

Yet that very public scandal didn’t stop Breatharianism. Instead of dying out, the movement spread around the globe, fracturing over the decades into stranger, more dangerous forms. It’s even helped shape health and wellness culture as we know it today.

All you need is air

How Brooks became a Breatharian is as nebulous as the science behind his claims. He certainly wanted to make a name for himself; the hopeful holy man first gained national attention in 1980 by deadlifting 1,100 pounds on an ABC variety show called “That’s Incredible!” while bragging that he hadn’t eaten in nearly two decades. While the Daily Mail reported he’d been a New York-based sound engineer for the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, this reporter has been unable to find any evidence that he mixed for these titans of rock. A year after his bodybuilding stunt, with the spotlight dimming, he appeared on Tom Snyder’s “The Tomorrow Show” to argue once again that anyone could subsist exclusively on air and sunlight.

The idea of extended fasting is centuries old. An ancient Hindu text, the Ramayana, referred to saints who could sustain themselves on air and sunshine; some modern Jains have claimed to fast for months at a time. Brooks himself said he’d learned the secret from an Indian fakir, or religious ascetic.

 

“Breatharianism is a philosophy that believes that the human body, when it’s in perfect harmony with itself and nature, is a perfect Breatharian — you know, all the constituents that we need is taken from the air we breathe,” Brooks told Snyder, in front of a studio audience that seemed both amused and entranced by his words.

“There is only one thing that keeps the human body alive, and that is breathing. The food that we take is the same as any other thing we take into the body as it becomes a habit. In other words, eating is an acquired habit, just like alcohol or smoking cigarettes.”

He went on to make other strange, spurious claims, including that Breatharian mothers don’t need to feed their babies, who are born able to survive on air and sun. He also said that hunger strikers who die are killed by their death wish, not from starvation.

Basic scientific knowledge of the human body notwithstanding, Brooks’ message was beguiling, taking the nascent popularity of New Age culture at the time and translating it into the language of what we now call “wellness.” With his heavy focus on spirituality, he made the leap from diet peddler to guru.
Cult diet or 'diet cult'?

The Breatharian sales pitch began with Brooks himself. This was a fit and dapper man, who, at the age of 45, lifted nearly 10 times his body weight on national television. While he did admit to an occasional glass of water or juice, he claimed to need nothing else but an hour of sleep a night. He seemed to suggest that if he could muster this miraculous, otherworldly state, then anyone could.

“All the things we've heard about, ‘we must get old, we must get weak,’ ... that is not the case,” he told Snyder. “When a person gets older and wiser, he should get younger. He should not die in an unhealthy body.”

Despite his many public detractors — including the Pacific News Service, which called Breatharianism a “diet cult” — Brooks soon had a healthy cohort of followers. He opened the Larkspur-based Breatharian Institute at the end of 1982 and began teaching classes. Dozens of adherents paid $500 for lessons from the master himself.

In the first session, Brooks advised against starting with fasting. Rather, he wanted his followers to first “clean their blood” by eating foods with a yellow “vibrational quality.” This encompassed everything from grapefruit, papaya and chicken to Haagen-Dazs rum raisin ice cream.

Over the years, his story — and his rules about what Breatharians could and could not eat — kept changing. It’s even possible the foods with “yellow auras” were based on whatever he felt like eating that day. In 1983, institute co-founder Lefler told the San Bernardino County Sun that “the man loves Colonel Sanders” — and could eat a dozen donuts in a single sitting. Brooks responded to allegations of inconsistency by saying “the true message of Breatharianism did not depend on whether he ate or not anyway,” according to a Pacific News Service story about the mass exodus from the Breatharian Institute that followed Lefler’s public statements.

Most of what happened to Brooks for the rest of the ’80s has been lost to history. One hint, though, came in 2013, when the actress Michelle Pfeiffer said she’d been introduced to the cult by a “very controlling” couple as a young up-and-comer in Hollywood.

The Breatharian Institute moved around several times over the next few years, using similar grifts in new locations: first Arlington, Texas, then Bellevue, Washington. His logic shifted again in 1993, when he told the Seattle Times that he no longer believed food was an addiction. Though he still believed food was a poison, he also believed it could serve as “medicine,” a salve for low-quality city air. He himself occasionally balanced his aura with orange juice, honey and Twinkies, he said.

It got even more odd, and arguably, less healthy at the turn of the century. In 1999, he opened a new Breatharian Institute in Santa Cruz, and began teaching seminars in the Sierra Nevada focused on "the fountain of youth" and "how to obtain everlasting life and live from now on, forever.”

“I guarantee it!” Wiley wrote on the Breatharian website.

In 2009, the official gospel of Breatharianism was updated again, this time with a convoluted explanation of how a McDonald’s cheeseburger meal and a Diet Coke can help keep a Breatharian healthy. In a fifth-dimensional universe, apparently, the “base frequency” of the meal aligns with the needs of man.

Around the time he began to endorse McDonald’s meals, Brooks began to peddle an “elixir of the gods,” a 32-ounce bottle of water that supposedly “flows from the legendary ‘fountain of youth and immortality’ in the ‘Garden of Eden,’” and costs up to $10,000. By the 2010s, of course, Brooks followed the trends of conspiracy and began decrying the Illuminati and chemtrails for making it harder to become a Breatharian.

The cult goes global

When Brooks himself ascended to a higher plane in 2016, at the age of 80, his vision of Breatharianism was a sad fringe phenomenon with a few adherents devoted to its founder. But his philosophy had spread widely even after his ’80s downfall, with at least a dozen gurus taking up the mantle of Breatharianism around the globe in the ’90s and onward.

The most prominent Breatharian, following Brooks’ brief reign, was Jasmuheen, an Australian woman born as Ellen Greve. Throughout the ’90s, she claimed to subsist merely on air and a few cups of tea — until the Aussie news program “60 Minutes” debunked her entirely. When they locked her in a hotel room for 48 hours, she quickly developed high blood pressure and severe dehydration. (She claimed that she was not provided fresh air in this experiment, where “seventy percent of my nutrients come from.”)

Jasmuheen, like Brooks, was also regularly accused of eating. A journalist once found her with a fridge full of food, and she was once caught ordering a plate of airline food. (She claimed that both were for her partner.)

Tragically, the popularity of starvation-as-religion eventually led to the deaths of at least two people: a 49-year-old Scottish woman named Verity Linn and a 33-year-old Australian named Lani Morris. Both died from dehydration midway through extended fasts in remote areas. Both owned copies of Jasmuheen’s book, “Living On Light.”

Jasmuheen denied responsibility for their deaths.

Still alive, still breathing

Even though Brooks was widely ridiculed in the media, it’s easy to see why his ideas found a foothold in the ’80s and ’90s. Low-fat and low-calorie junk foods like Lean Cuisine and Diet Coke filled Americans’ fridges and minds, turning food into a deep source of shame. The idea of self-restriction as the essence of health and beauty was shamelessly promoted in books and daytime television.

The rise of “wellness” culture has given new oxygen to Breatharianism, as it wraps starvation diets in the costume of spirituality and health, trading sugar-free cookies for “juice cleanses,” intermittent fasting and “Keto” diets. In 2014, Ukrainian woman Valeria Lukyanova — also known as the human Barbie — claimed she was a Breatharian who only ate “cosmic micro-food.” In 2017, the California- and Ecaudor-based couple Akahi Ricardo and Camila Castillo claimed to have skipped food for at least three years — including during Castillo’s first birth.

And in 2017, a 22-year-old German man named Finn Bogumil was so strongly inspired by Breatharianism, he died of fasting.

Wellness culture, like Brooks, tells us to fear aging and detest weight gain, as if these things are moral failures rather than an inescapable part of the human condition. Whether through nutritional deprivation or immortality-through-technology, transcending the body and its flaws is all the rage right now. And what comes after humanity but holiness?

“People don’t know what God looks like and who He is,” Brooks told Vice toward the end of his life. “Why in the hell couldn’t it be me? Why couldn’t it be you?”

Joshua Bote is an assistant news editor for SFGATE. He grew up in the Los Angeles area, went to UC Berkeley and has previously worked as a reporter at USA Today and a music writer at NPR. Email: joshua.bote@sfgate.com


https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/breatharianism-diet-cult-has-bay-area-roots-16986511.php

Documentary - The Strange World of Breatharianism

2020, RELIGION - 51 MIN

Documentary Films

Breatharianism is a type of belief system started by Jasmuheen… that hypothesizes and claims to prove that humans can live without consuming solid foods. She called the process "Living on Light". She became very popular and a lot of her followers found her through her website.

Her beliefs came under massive scrutiny when several of her followers began to die from adapting the lifestyle she promoted. Even while people died, she emphasized her promotion of personal responsibility where she always encouraged her followers to keep in mind their own limitations and the need to make responsible decisions about how far they were willing to take the practice.

It prompted her to be featured on the 60 minutes television program, which essentially meant she gained even more attention and that her practice came under enough scrutiny for her to personally prove that the ideas she promoted in her book would actually work. She even received the Ig Nobel prize, a satirical parody of the true Nobel Prize, which means she joined the likes of L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology and the new age guru Deepak Chopra.

Another popular proponent of the practice, Naveena Shine supported Jasmuheen in the aftermath of the public scrutiny that came after the 60 minutes interview. Even though she also had a popular following, she also could not tangibly articulate where Jasmuheen's daily sustenance came from. She also tried to maintain a public live stream to prove that the process could work with self-management.

Despite the opposition, they continued their practice and others with similar belief systems became popular as well. Personalities who became popular based on this system usually advocated some specific form of the practice. It meant people always found it fascinating as it is always with the controversy.

https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/strange-world-breatharianism/

'Breatharians' Believe You Can Survive on Air Alone

Layla Haidrani
Broadly Vice
May 23, 2017

For Ana-Maria Stefania, discovering breatharianism was "love at first sight. The less solid food I consume, the better and more present I feel." The Cyprus-based health coach and hypnotherapist found what she describes as her "calling" three years ago. Now, she's one of thousands of breatharians worldwide.

Breatharianism is the belief that it is possible to survive on energy from sunlight and air (otherwise known as prana)—and almost entirely without food or water. Devotees are told to gradual transition from vegetarian, vegan, and raw foods and fruit, before surviving on a purely liquid diet.

Although intermittent fasting features in many religions—including Islam, Christianity, and Jainism—breatharianism is one seemingly endless fast. Self-styled breatharian leader Jas Jasmuheen and author of Living on Light: The Source of Nourishment for the New Millennium claims that she has spent over four decades finding different ways to nourish her body without food and has said she can "go for months and months without having anything at all other than a cup of tea."

Medical experts, of course, say that this is not a long-term lifestyle. "Anyone advocating that we can live largely without food or fluids is giving dangerous advice," Professor David Oliver, the clinical vice president of the Royal College of Physicians, says. "Living on air and sunshine will provide no caloric or fluid intake. Anyone who claims to be maintaining a steady body weight on such a diet is unlikely to be telling the truth.'

Unsurprisingly, high-profile breatharians have a history of getting caught with food. In 1999, one was discovered leaving a 7-Eleven with a box of Twinkies, a hot dog, and a Slurpee after claiming he had lived on air for 30 years. Jasmuheen was once spotted by a journalist ordering a meal on a plane, and was unable to continue more than four days into a televised fast at a retreat. (Jasmuheen did not respond to our request for comment.)

This hasn't stopped wannabe breatharians avidly using online forums to share tips about the best breathing techniques and advice on the best way to navigate the transition from solid food. But in an age when food delivery is only a click away, why would anyone willingly choose to live on air?

"Food is not something I function best on—my fuel is best in the form of light," Stefania tells me. "It's pure bliss, like staying in a cocoon and not wanting to get out. One is accepting, loving, grateful, at peace and tranquil."

Despite having undertaken both 10 and 21-day fasts, Stefania claims that transitioning isn't about counting the number of days without food or water. Being a breatharian, she says, is a powerful tool that "puts my mind at silence. I feel lighter and find it easier to feel, sense and evolve at a spiritual level."

Thirty-three-year-old Nina Valentine explored veganism and vegetarianism, and says that breatharianism seemed the next logical step. "I've been very conscious of what I consume for most of my life and how it affects my health," she says.

According to the Vienna-based hypnotherapist, food is inextricably linked to our emotions. She believes that breatharianism allows people to heal. "In our society where anxiety, depression and obesity is common, we rarely eat purely out of hunger anymore, we eat to suppress our emotions. We eat comfort food that makes us feel good temporarily without dealing what is really going on underneath."

For the last two years, Valentine has embarked on monthly dry fasts. "After three or four days, my thinking is clear, I don't get tired and when I wake up in the morning, I am full of energy that lasts all day long. It's a state of self-love and acceptance."

While Stefania and Valentine are adamant that their lives have been enriched, Rick Miller, a clinical and sports dietitian and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, isn't so convinced.

While Miller says routine fasting is not problematic for healthy people, long-term abstaining from food can lead to a massive drop in blood pressure and internal temperature. This can make you feel nauseous and eventually result in being confined to bed. "Your body is able to drawn on stored fuels, such as body fat to conserve energy for some time but in the short term, internal monitoring systems (such as blood glucose levels) recognize the persistent lack of food and start to shut down any non-essential processes to conserve energy for vital organ function.

"This leads to the drop in heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature, as well as little movement from the person due to excess fatigue from no 'fuel,'" he explains. "If you could prolong that further despite the incredible hunger, you would likely start to feel confused and could hallucinate, slip into unconsciousness, and there's a real risk of eventually passing away."

The belief that it is possible to survive on air alone can have deadly consequences. In 1999, a Scottish woman starved to death after her diary mentioned Jasmuheen's teachings, while Australian follower Lani Morris reportedly coughed up black liquid and passed away after going seven days without food and water. It was part of her 21-day initiation into breatharianism.

It's not hard to see why the restrictive diet has drawn comparisons to eating disorders—and it is not uncommon to hear of breatharian followers who use it to mask their pre-existing medical condition.

I ask Dr. Stacey Rosenfeld, a clinical psychologist who specializes in eating disorders, whether breatharianism qualifies as an eating disorder. "What typically defines an eating disorder is a fear of weight gain, an overvaluation on weight/shape, and a disturbance in body image," Rosenfeld replies. "Someone could be restricting food for other reasons—for example, a hunger strike for political reasons—but if the above criteria aren't met, we wouldn't classify it as anorexia, unless it seemed that the particular intake/plan was being used in the service of weight-related food restriction."

Dietitian Rick Miller, however, notes that while breatharianism doesn't qualify as an eating disorder, "the eating behaviour is clearly disordered."

This is all too familiar for Brynn Byrne, a 31-year-old yoga teacher from Texas who admits that "flirting" with breatharianism at 23 was a manifestation of her binge eating disorder. "Becoming a breatharian almost seemed like an easy solution. I fluctuated from feeling out of control with binge eating towards never wanting to touch, look at, taste, or smell food again," she said. "The idea of cutting out my main source of pain and internal conflict seemed very attractive to me."

Byrne says that she was aware being a breatharian would never work. At the time, however, it seemed "easy and less painful than the daily hell of trying to reign in my eating patterns." But the extreme demands of the diet proved too restrictive; the closest she came was adhering to a high reduced calorie intake for a few days.

While it may be easy to assume that simply eating after a stretch of starvation will be fine, Miller warns that breatharians can also be at risk of refeeding syndrome: "When people don't eat for a period of time and eat food, the depletion of certain electrolytes (such as magnesium, potassium and phosphate) in conjunction with a sudden increase in insulin levels from eating again can lead to cellular dysfunction, resulting in cardiac arrhythmia, convulsions, coma, and often needs immediate hospitalization. So not only is it dangerous to not eat, food should be reintroduced gradually and slowly."

For many, the pursuit of breatharianism continues to be a life-long ambition. But for Brynn, who has now overcome her eating disorder, the experience of eating is now sacred. As she puts it, there is nothing like the "simple and profound pleasure of enjoying food."

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/breatharians-believe-you-can-survive-on-air-alone

15 cults from across the world that have mind-blowing agendas

MARISHA KARWA
DNA India
January 31, 2016

It takes all kinds to make the world — even if that means a group that believes in living on only fresh air or committing suicide to save the planet. Marisha Karwa looks at some odd-ball groups that make our world (and heads) go around

1 Flying Spaghetti Monster
Let's start at the very beginning of the universe. In 2005, pretty well known Bobby Henderson wrote, in jest, a letter to protest a state decision in Kansas, US, allowing the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in science classes. Henderson contended that whenever a scientist carbon-dates an object, a supernatural creator that closely resembles spaghetti and meatballs is there "changing the results with His Noodly Appendage." This gave rise to the cult of the Flying Spaghetti Monster — considered to be the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism. The social movement, whose central belief is that an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe, promotes a light-hearted view of religion and opposes the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools.
"I don't have a problem with religion. What I have a problem with is religion posing as science. If there is a god and he's intelligent, then I would guess he has a sense of humour," he has said.

2 Raelism (UFO religion)
Before you start praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, spare a thought for the Raelians. Guided by a former French auto racing journalist, Claude Vorilhon, members of the Raelian movement believe that life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of extraterrestrials, which they call the Elohim. Members says that Elohim earlier intentionally misinformed us that they were angels, cherubim or gods. Raelism strives for world peace and cloning. Getting membership requires an official apostasy from other religions.

3 Cargo cult
If it's hard for you to imagine UFOs and extraterrestrials, think of the tribals inhabiting remote islands in vast oceans. For these primitive groups, even 'cargo' is a manifestation of the God's will. The movement encompasses a range of practices, such as making replicas of desired goods, after coming in contact with colonising societies. According to Wikipedia, the earliest recorded cargo cult was the Tuka Movement that began in Fiji in 1885 after the British colonials made their presence there. Cargo cults exemplify the third law of Arthur C. Clarke: that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

4 Ho No Hana Sanpogyo
Also in the realm of magic and clairvoyance existed the now non-existent sect Ho No Hana Sanpogyo, founded by Hogen Fukunaga. He claimed that he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and the Buddha and could tell people's fortunes by reading the soles of their feet. Eventually though, Fukunaga was charged with fraud and came under debt for millions of yen.

5 Happy Science
Considering fortune telling is always riddled with risk, perhaps it's better to always be happy. And guess what, there's a religion for that too. 'Master' Ryuho Okawa founded the Happy Science religion and movement in Japan on 6 October, 1986. Happy Science claims that El Cantare is the true hidden name of the Heavenly Father in the Old Testament and that Jesus is the incarnation of the supreme spiritual being called El Cantare.

6 Poro
Poro is a male-only society in Liberia, Sierra Leone and a few other African nations that believe in the intervention of mysterious forces in human affairs. So, whatever happens in the physical world is a manifestation of what's happening in the spirit world. Boys are initiated into this society on reaching puberty, by being taken behind the bushes and undergoing some rituals that are kept secret.

7 Black Jesus
Stephen Tari gave up his studies to be a Lutheran minister, and travelled in the mountains of New Guinea. He started his own cult and called himself "Black Jesus." The cult had all kinds of rituals, made sacrificial offerings and even used 'Flower Girls'— especially chosen young girls who served as concubines for Tari and other cult leaders. At some point the Black Jesus cult grew so popular that it has 6,000 members. Although Tari was charged for rape and managed to escape from a prison, he was eventually hacked to death and buried in a pit by the villagers of Gal.

8 Bikerni
No doubt beliefs and religion are very important matters, but what about the pursuit of interests for the sake of pure, unadulterated joy? Bikerni is a group of all women bikers that started in Pune to "encourage women to go on adventures they would've never thought to go on before." Talk about women empowerment, ah!

9 Gadget Hackwrench
Forget Jedi, this character from Chip 'n Dale has a cult following in Russia. Her fans pray to large cut-out posters of her, pen and sing songs in her praise and think of this female mouse as a divine being. "She is strict, cute, optimistic and her level of technical knowledge is unachievable for a mortal being," is what her followers are known to have said.

10 4chan
And then the force turns to the worldwide web. While 4chan isn't quite a grouping or even an association of like-minded individuals, we felt it qualifies to be a cult of all-things-Internet. This seemingly-simple, image-based bulletin board has single-handedly spawned some of the best creations in the digital world. Think Lolcats, memes and (hold your breath) hacktivist group, Anonymous.

11 Heaven's Gate cult
Led by Marshall Applewhite, the followers thought that Earth was about to be "recycled" into a clean slate, and that they could escape doom by hitching a ride on comet Hale-Bopp in March 1997. Applewhite and 39 members, wearing armbands and Nike sneakers, poisoned themselves in shifts in a California mansion.

12 Church of Euthanasia
And while on the subject of death, here's a cult that actively promotes dying. Wikipedia says that the Church of Euthanasia was inspired by a dream, in which Rev. Chris Korda confronted an alien known as The Being who speaks for the inhabitants of Earth in other dimensions. The Being warned that our planet's ecosystem is failing, and that our leaders deny this. The Being asked why our leaders lie to us, and why so many of us believe these lies. Rev. Korda awoke from the dream moaning the Church's infamous slogan, 'Save the Planet — Kill Yourself'.' The Church's sole commandment: Thou shalt not procreate. And understandably, its four pillars are suicide, abortion, cannibalism and sodomy!

13 Breatharian
Is that too much information? Perhaps you want to stop and breathe. And live on that — on fresh air that is (if you are lucky enough to be in Switzerland). Breatharianism is the belief that we humans don't need to eat for our nutrition, that is possible to live on fresh air alone. Before you roll your eyes, do note that quite a few people are already living the Breatharian life: People like Prahlad Jani and Hira Ratan Manek in India, the Nepalese monk Ram Bahadur Bomjon and Wiley Brooks, the founder of the Breatharian Institute of America, whose website is a must-read (http://breatharian.com/breatharians.html).

14 Santa Muerte
On the other hand, if you are sure that living on fresh air is going to lead to certain death, then just bow to Santa Muerte, whose following, many claim, is growing by the millions (ever since she appeared in a cameo in Breaking Bad). A personification of death, the skeletal, female folk saint is venerated primarily in Mexico (and as far as in Australia too), and is associated with healing, protection and safe delivery to the afterlife. Some of her most devoted followers are drug dealers and pick-pocketers!

15 Missionary Church of Kopimi
And the best for the last! Sweden has officially recognised this congregation of file-sharers as a religious community. But only after their application was rejected in three earlier attempts! The followers, Kopimists, are intellectual persons who believe that all information should be freely distributed. This philosophy opposes the monopolisation of knowledge in all forms of copyright, and encourages file sharing of media including music, movies, TV shows, and software.
Incidentally, the Missionary Church of Kopimism held its first wedding on April 28, 2012, in Belgrade, Serbia, between a Romanian woman and an Italian man. It was conducted by a Kopimistic Op, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, while a computer read vows and some of Kopimism's central beliefs aloud.
The church said, "Hopefully, they will copy and remix some DNA cells and create a new human being. That's the spirit of Kopimism. Feel the love and share that information. Copy all of its holiness."

http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-15-cults-from-across-the-world-that-have-mind-blowing-agendas-2172068

BREATHARIANISM CULT LEADER JASMUHEEN ADVOCATES LIVING WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER, BUT WHY?

Patrick Frye
Inquisitr
November 5, 2013


The Breatharianism cult is a mysterious “religion.” Some might question whether Breatharianism is real as a religion. But why does it’s leader Jasmuheen advocate living without food or water?

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Michelle Pfeiffer recently admitted she was a Breatharian in her early 20’s.

Leader of the cult of Breatharianism, Jasmuheen, claims to be an “Ambassador of Peace, International lecturer, author and leading researcher into pranic living”. But what about this no food and water bit? What is the justification for telling spiritual seekers to go without? According to Jasmuheen’s website, the reasons are laid out:

“A breatharian is said to be someone who never eats or drinks as they can exist on cosmic micro-food. These people exist but are rarely public unless it is their service to be so. However there are also now many people who can choose to be nourished directly from prana and no longer need to take physical food yet most of these people – like myself – still choose to drink for various reasons.”
Aside from the interesting claims the Breatharianism cult makes, what is the real story and why is anyone even paying attention to Jasmuheen? Unfortunately, this sort of thing could cause damage on many levels. For one, those with eating disorders may find this sort of promise intriguing, creating a dangerous enabling situation.

Jasmuheen’s blatant theft of Eastern spiritual principles is also a source of potential ire in many religious communities. A video explaining the principles of Breatharianism is all over the charts, with flashing images of several Judaic religions, before diving into the virtues of “inedia”, Latin for fasting and a Catholic purification practice. This apparently core concept is related to multiple religions traditions, ending the mish mash by claiming members can subsist on prana, a Hindu concept of life force, or alternatively sunlight, an Ayurvedic source of prana. “Inediates”, supposedly able to sustain themselves of sunlight, make up Breatharianism.

But this concept does actually have a precedence in other religions. A fasting lifestyle in Catholicism claims that certain saints were able to survive for extended periods of time without any food or water other than the Eucharist. But the goal was never to subsist entirely without.

In reality, the Breatharianism cult has produced no apparent good, and a good deal of harm. In 1999, Breatharian Verity was up for that year’s Darwin Award. Verity was attending a 21 day “cleansing” in the Scottish Highlands with cult leader Jasmuheen. She had no food or drink for seven days, followed by another 14 days with nothing but sips of water. The goal, of course, was to master the art of “pranic feeding,” surviving on inhaled carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. She died from hypothermia and dehydration, aggravated by lack of food. Verity had claimed to have mastered “pranic feeding” by feeding on “liquid air” since 1993, with the occasional herbal tea and chocolate biscuit, naturally.

Breatharianism’s Jasmuheen said that her death was not due to physical need, rather a failure to satisfy spiritual needs brought about by a battle with her own ego. Others might argue she earned that Darwin Award, unfortunately.

But it’s exactly this kind of thing that most would agree is dangerous. Three followers have died in direct relation to Jasmuheen’s “seminars” and another related directly to Breatharian teachings. Jasmuheen of course denies any wrongdoing, and places the blame on followers:

“If you haven’t found the light that will nourish you, you may have the intention to become a breatharian, but in fact you may be putting yourself through food deprivation. There is one known case where a person died when trying to become a breatharian.”

So what do you think, ready to live on some sunlight with the Breatharianism cult? Sunbathing is fun and all, but I think I’ll stick to solids myself…

http://www.inquisitr.com/1019725/breatharianism-cult-leader-jasmuheen-advocates-living-without-food-or-water-but-why/

Cult that shuns food shaken by reports leader is eating

LIDIA WASOWICZ

UPI

April 5, 1983

LARKSPUR, Calif. -- Wiley Brooks, 47, says the secret to his strength, health and youthfulness is that he hasn't eaten in 19 years.

Brooks, who co-founded the Breatharian Institute in Marin County six months ago, has been traveling around the country preaching his message that 'all food is poison' -- at $10 per lecture, $100 per daylong seminar and $500 for a five-day 'intensive.'

He has won about 400 followers. But his group recently has been severely shaken by charges that Brooks ordered chicken pot pie and biscuits in a Vancouver hotel.

Another person reported seeing him leaving a 7-Eleven store with a bag of groceries.

Co-founder of the Breatharians, Lavelle Lefler, charges her partner with 'sneaking junk food into his room after everyone is asleep.'

Miss Lefler and 12 of 15 officers have quit the organization.

'I have taught yoga for 15 years and I have been to India, where people survive without eating, so I know the breatharian concept is true,' Miss Lefler said. 'When I first met Wiley I believed in him so much I gave him my own phone and office to serve as headquarters for the institute.'

About a month and a half later, she said, 'I saw him eat an INElette. I was so shocked, I didn't react. He thought he was safe and started eating around me all the time.

'The truth is he sneaks into 7-Elevens and fast food places and eats just like the rest of us -- except worse because he has to rely on places that are open late into the night.'

Brooks, who maintains he has consumed no food or liquids in 19 years -- except for several glasses of orange juice -- waves the charges aside and muddies up the issue with an accusation of his own against Miss Lefler.

'We were romantically involved. We broke up. Now, she's out for revenge. What she says is a bunch of garbage,' Brooks said.

'I go into 7-Elevens all the time, but only to buy magazines. I go to restaurants and to health food stores because my friends eat. No one can prove I've taken any food.'

Brooks claims the body's cells replace themselves every seven years, and the body is self-sufficient, obtaining from the air all the vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats necessary for survival.

He shows off his black mop of hair and 6-foot-quarter-inch, 135-pound frame, noting he can lift heavier weights than when he was eating.

'When I was 28 years old, my hair was thinning and falling out. I was aging. When I fasted, I noticed renewed strength. When I went back to food, it was like a drug. Now, I'm strong, need very little sleep and am very healthy.'

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/04/05/Cult-that-shuns-food-shaken-by-reports-leader-is-eating/8778418366800/