CultNEWS101 Articles: 7/18/2024 (Questions and Answers, Legal, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, Kenya, Gateway Church, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Satanic Temple)

Questions and Answers, Legal, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, Kenya, Gateway Church, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Satanic Temple

WIRED: Former Cult Member Answers Cult Questions From Twitter

"Dr. Janja Lalich, a sociologist who used to be in a cult, answers the internet's burning questions about cults. How did Charles Manson get a cult following? What's the best movie about cults? Why did everyone in the Heaven's Gate cult wear Nikes? How do people get brainwashed?"

Agence France-Presse in Mombasa: Kenyan cult leader goes on trial on terrorism charges over 400 deaths

"The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult has gone on trial on charges of terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in a macabre case that shocked the world.

The self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants.

Journalists were removed from the courtroom shortly after the start of the hearing to enable a protected witness to take the stand.

Mackenzie, who was arrested in April last year, is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death in order to "meet Jesus".

He and his co-accused all pleaded not guilty to the charges of terrorism at a hearing in January.

They also face charges of murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, and child torture and cruelty in separate cases.

The remains of more than 440 people have been unearthed so far in a remote wilderness inland from the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi, in a case that has been dubbed the "Shakahola forest massacre".

Autopsies have found that while starvation appeared to be the main cause of death, some of the victims – including children – were strangled, beaten or suffocated.

Previous court documents also said that some of the bodies had had their organs removed."

The Roys Report: Gateway Church Settled Lawsuit Claiming Multiple Pastors Covered Up Sexual Assault of a Minor

"Dallas megachurch Gateway Church recently settled a lawsuit that accused several church leaders of concealing the sexual assault of a girl who attended the church.

The suit was settled in April, just months before Gateway Church founder Robert Morris resigned over the bombshell allegations that he sexually abused Cindy Clemishire when she was 12 years old in 1982.

The initial lawsuit, filed in Tarrant County Texas in 2020, claims that five pastors and a youth leader were aware that a member of the church assaulted the girl in 2018, when she would have been less than 12 years old. She was not yet 18 when the suit was settled this spring.

However, the leaders concealed this from the victim's mother and failed to report it to local authorities, according to the lawsuit.

The church leaders "collectively and independently engaged in a concerted effort to conceal the sexual assault accusations" to "subvert the accusations and avoid criminal investigation," according to the lawsuit."

Bang Premiere: Dan Reynolds gave up Mormonism as he thinks religion was 'harmful'

"The Imagine Dragons rocker, 36, was raised in what he says was a "really conservative" Mormon household and served a two-year Mormon mission in Omaha, Nebraska – but it has been several years since he quit his worship and he's now spoken out to slam aspects of the church.

He told People: "There's obviously parts of the Mormon religion that I feel pretty strongly are harmful, especially to our gay youth.

"At times I feel pretty isolated from my family, but I also love them and am close to them and see them, and there's no animosity there.

"I'm on a different path. I have to love myself enough to follow my truth."

Dan founded the LOVELOUD Foundation in 2018 in support of the young LGBTQ+ community and added he has "always struggled" with religion.

He added he spent his 20s and early 30s "really angry" at religion, as he felt he'd been "duped" by the Mormon church.

Dan said: "I saw a lot of the harm that came from it for me personally, but it also seemed to work incredibly well for my family, and they're all healthy, happy individuals.

"As I've gotten older, I'm not angry about it anymore. If something works for someone, that's really wonderful and rare, and I don't want to mess with it."

Dan has chosen not to raise the four children he has with his ex-wife Aja Volkman – daughters Arrow, 11, Gia and Coco, 7, and son Valentine, four – in the church, as he does not want to play with how their minds work.

He said: "My greatest goal every day is to not manipulate my kids. I really don't want to try to tell them what their spiritual path should be."

The Guardian: Satanists to volunteer in Florida schools in protest at DeSantis religious bill

Satanic Temple objects to the governor's push for more religion in schools and says members could act as student chaplains.

" ... Members of the Satanic Temple say they are poised to act as volunteer chaplains under a state law that took effect this week opening campuses to "additional counseling and support to students" from outside organizations.

Although HB 931 leaves the implementation of chaplain programs to individual school districts, and only requires schools to list a volunteer's religion "if any", DeSantis has made clear its intent is to restore the tenets of Christianity to public education.

Without the bill, DeSantis said at its signing in April: "You're basically saying that God has no place [on campus]. That's wrong."

The satanists see the law, which comes amid a vigorous theocratic drive into education by the religious right nationally, as an equal opportunity: if Christian chaplains are permitted access to students, often at the most vulnerable and impressionable stages of their lives, then so are they.

There are, however, no plans to introduce studies of the dark arts or satanic rituals to any classroom. The Satanic Temple champions Satan not as a literal, omnipresent demon, but as a symbol of rebellion and resistance to authoritarianism. It says its strategy here is to highlight flagrant violations of the constitutionally protected separation of church and state."

Mamamia: At 11, Joe Dageforde escaped from a notorious cult. The reason why is horrifying.

"Joe Dageforde's Canadian father was living in Australia, busking on the streets, when he met Joe's mum.

He invited her to a barbecue, run by his church group called, The Children of God. At the time, they were feeling disenchanted with the world and were desperately seeking a sense of belonging. They found it within the church.

That barbecue set the tone for Joe's life, and the life of his siblings, all of whom were born as active members of the church."

" ... The family was constantly moving, but always within the confines of the church, a global operation that still exists to this day.

"We lived in a caravan for a couple of years, communes, even in a tent for a while."

By the time he was 12, Joe had lived in 52 different locations. Each location had one thing in common though. They were cut off from the outside world."

" ... While the church painted a picture of devotion to God and each other, the reality was a sinister world dominated by physical and sexual abuse.

Joe says physical abuse was constant, with beatings and other punishments able to be administered by any adult who lived within the home.

"You could be punished for things as slight as running down the stairs, laughing too loud, being foolish, playing too energetically, not doing what you were asked to do immediately or to the standard deemed fit.

"If something happened and one of the kids wouldn't fess up, we could all be lined up and hit with fly swats, wooden spoons, paddles, bamboo, belts, anything. Sometimes the welts and marks left from spankings had to be covered up with longer clothing, even in summer, when we went out busking and fundraising. We lived in fear and constantly tread on eggshells."

Then, there was the sexual abuse, perpetrated under the guise of 'showing love' as instructed by God. "

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US man faces hate crime over damage to Satanic Temple display in Iowa

Max Matza
January 31,  2024
BBC News

A man who has admitted to damaging a controversial Satanic Temple holiday display in the Iowa Capitol is now facing a serious hate crime charge.

Michael Cassidy, 35, an ex-Navy pilot who lost a race for the Mississippi legislature last year, was motivated by the victim's religion, prosecutors say.

On Tuesday, he was charged with third-degree criminal mischief in violation of individual rights - a hate crime.

Mr Cassidy has already raised $110,000 (£86,000) for his legal defence.

In a statement, the Polk County prosecutor's office said that Mr Cassidy "dismantled" the "Baphomet Altar" on 14 December and "destroyed the headpiece".

"In addition, evidence shows the defendant made statements to law enforcement and the public indicating he destroyed the property because of the victim's religion," prosecutors added.

Photos posted online show the display featured a depiction of a goat's head known as a Baphomet statue and a wreath adorned with a pentagram.

It had been allowed in Iowa's statehouse under rules that permit religious installations for two weeks during the holidays.

Its presence divided Republicans leaders in the state and it was criticised by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in December during his presidential run.

Mr Cassidy had previously told conservative website The Sentinel that he destroyed the shrine in order to "awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government".

"I saw this blasphemous statue and was outraged," Mr Cassidy said. "My conscience is held captive to the word of God, not to bureaucratic decree. And so I acted."

In a statement on Wednesday, the Satanic Temple thanked the Polk County prosecutors for "recognizing the Satanic Temples authentic religious standing, reinforcing our rightful place in a society that acknowledges diverse beliefs".

The group has previously said that the statue was damaged "beyond repair" and filed a claim for $3,000, according to the Sioux City Journal.

The newspaper reports that the group is also requesting an additional $3,300 (£2,365) in restitution for the removal of the statue.

Glinda Vyn Cooley, a Satanic Temple minister, said that members of the congregation wore bullet proof vests to retrieve the altar from the statehouse due to online threats.

Mr Cassidy had previously been charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, punishable by a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $2,560 fine.

The Satanic Temple, founded in 2013, is recognised as a religion by the US government, and has ministers and congregations in the US, Europe and Australia.

It concentrates its efforts on social action and describes itself as a "non-theistic religious organisation".

The mission statement on the group's website says it "has publicly confronted hate groups, fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in public schools, applied for equal representation when religious installations are placed on public property" and other activist work.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68162566

A closer look at the Satanic Temple, an oft-misunderstood, nontheistic religious group with a Colorado congregation

Contemporary satanism can be confusing. Neither The Satanic Temple nor the Church of Satan claim to worship the devil.

Debbie Kelley 
Colorado Springs Gazette
July 23, 2023

On a late Tuesday afternoon when the phrase “hot as Hades” comes to mind, a few people trickle into a downtown Colorado Springs bar.

They sit on stools, sip their drinks and cogitate on the lower level, where an oversized reverse image of a snarling dog baring fanged teeth is the backdrop.

Light conversation turns to the weather.

“It’s really hot out there,” I murmur.

“Even for satanists,” quips one of the table mates.

“Good one,” I reply.

“Thanks,” she says, flashing a devilish grin.

The public is welcome at weekly “office hours” — basically a social gathering — of The Satanic Temple Colorado South.

Although local members said they weren’t officially “trained” or authorized to speak with media, they made room to pull up a chair at the recent gathering but didn’t want to be identified.

The event attracts diverse regulars and guests, from Gen Z to boomers.

By day, one member is a button-down shirt and dress pants guy, another works remotely from home, in pajamas if she wants.

On Satanic Temple nights, they might show up with an occult-style pentagram necklace or in a “Menstruatin’ with Satan” T-shirt, referring to an organizational program that provides period products to charities, or a shirt with the image of Baphomet, a medieval pagan icon recognized by its large goat head.

The ages, professions, cultures and backgrounds vary, but all subscribe to the tenets or want to learn more about The Satanic Temple, a nationwide nontheistic religious group registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt church.

A dozen to 16 people walk in and greet one another with a horn hand gesture, with the index and pinkie fingers thrust upward and the two inner fingers held down by the thumb.

Members and curious guests shoot the breeze, examine their beliefs, review upcoming activities and generally develop solidarity with like-minded people.

The weekly assembly is also the beginning of the membership process, which lasts six to eight months in the Colorado congregation.

Like any church, attendees form a community, one in which they say they can find acceptance and be themselves without fear of rejection or ridicule, whether that’s channeling pixies and rainbows, going Goth or spouting blasphemy about Christianity.

Members say they’re tired of what they see as mass acceptance to proselytize Christianity in society. To oppose that, they say, is to be a Satanist.

Satan, the fallen angel-turned-devil in biblical accounts, is appealing, not just in the basement of a Colorado Springs nightclub.

The Salem, Mass.-based Satanic Temple began in 2012; an unrelated organization, the Church of Satan, has been around for 57 years. The latter does not have in-person interaction, unless it’s clandestine, according to its website.

Over the decades, Satan has been revered, imitated, debated and repudiated in theological circles and woven into pop culture as a character or a concept.

Interest in mainstreaming Satan has been resurrected in the 21st century. The Ouija board is back. The first in a trilogy of sequel films to 1973’s “The Exorcist” is scheduled to be released Oct. 13. British singer Sam Smith dressed like a devil at this year’s Grammys. American rapper Little Nas X’s “Satan shoes,” with real drops of blood, made headlines two years ago.

“Satanic manic,” a local Satanic Temple follower calls the fervor.

Satanists say they don’t worship Satan

Contemporary satanism can be confusing. Neither The Satanic Temple nor the Church of Satan claim to worship the devil.

“We look to Satan as symbolic and nothing more,” said June Everett, an ordained minister of Satan in the Colorado congregation.

That’s also likely not what Smith was doing when he performed his song “Unholy” at February’s Grammys in red leather and horned headgear, said professor Jeffery Scholes, director of the Center for Religious Diversity and Public Life at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

“It was meant to be contrarian, provocative and not necessarily an expression in the belief of Satan,” he said.

The Satanic Temple promotes self-autonomy, individual rights and establishing one’s own morality, Scholes said.

“They’re against traditional religion, and they’re anti-authoritarian,” he said. “They challenge God’s authority using reason, not religion or the Bible.

“It’s secular humanism with a provocative title — which is what has helped them gain followers.”

Followers do not recognize any supernatural being, whether that’s Satan or God.

“We worship ourselves and our congregation and people that are real here on Earth,” Everett said.

That makes the name of the group misleading, Scholes said: “They want to get you in the door, so it’s not about the images that are conjured up when you think about Satanism, which is scary and sacrifice. They’re not about that.”

Satanic Temple rituals do not include animal sacrifice or anything illegal or harmful, Everett said. For example, the un-baptism ceremony renounces ties and promises to Christianity and induces healing from wounds inflicted by Christian churches, she said.

Black Masses, an irreverent take on the Catholic worship service, also are held, and activities around Halloween are based on underworld concepts.

Advocacy programs include the Satanic Abortion Ritual, which Everett said affirms that one’s body is subject to one’s will alone, which is one of the church’s seven tenets.

An inaugural Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic opened in February in New Mexico, providing telehealth appointments for chemical abortions in states that have restricted abortion.

After School Satan Clubs are another project. Colorado’s first and only club began this school year at Paonia K-8 in Delta County School District 50-J on the Western Slope, offering “free inquiry and rationalism.” Eight After School Satan Clubs operated nationwide last school year, Everett said.

She isn’t aware of plans to start such a club in the Colorado Springs area. Clubs arise at schools that have existing evangelical Christian clubs and where a Satanic Temple member is available to lead the countercultural model.

The Delta County school district has said it provides space for the group’s meetings, the same as with other student clubs. The district’s superintendent did not respond to requests for an interview.

An indication of ‘spiritual hunger’

The Satanic Temple is interesting because it promotes “being a better person to the people around you,” said Grace Garcia, a University of Colorado student in Colorado Springs who will graduate in December and wants to work as a death investigator.

She thinks The Satanic Temple is more effective at doing that than the Catholic church she previously attended.

“It gives off more ‘do no harm but take no (expletive)’ kind of vibes,” Garcia said. “They don’t believe in Satan; they use it as a prop to explain the views they have.”

The Satanic Temple says it doesn’t proselytize but does solicit members. A booth at this year’s Pride festival drew so much attention that “we had a line 20 to 40 people deep, to the point that we were blocking the whole sidewalk,” Everett said.

Garcia was among the crowd. She also likes the temple’s lack of “fear-mongering” that she said she noticed in Christian churches.

“Christianity very heavily relies on the fact that you are born a terrible person, and you need to work your entire life to somewhat fix that,” Garcia said. “The Satanic Temple explains it as you can be a bad person, but you can be better. They come from that point of view from a lighter perspective.”

Colorado’s congregation, one of more than 50 nationwide, is split into four regions: North, South, Central and West. Statewide, the church has 40 official members, 200 recurring attendees and 4,800 newsletter subscribers, Everett said. National membership has topped 1 million, she said.

Everett attributes growing interest to last year’s United States Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade, public school board politicization and controversies such as book banning.

“Those things have been driving a lot of people our way,” she said. “We get a lot of people who were abused emotionally, physically or mentally by Christian churches. We welcome outcasts, the excommunicated, atheists, anyone.”

Humans naturally yearn for a spiritual component in life, said Adam Holz, editor of Focus on the Family’s Plugged In, a conservative Christian entertainment publication with a podcast and a blog.

“There’s a spiritual hunger out there because these things people are doing ultimately aren’t fulfilling,” he said. “God designed us to be in relationship with him, and if we believe we’re created for that experience of the divine, something transcendent, we look for that — even if we reject it.”

Christians typically hold the belief that even when interplay with the Evil One is more philosophical than theological, just invoking Satan can lead to a perilous relationship with the dark side, summoning spiritual warfare.

“Even if you don’t think you are worshipping a literal Satan, a Christian would say you could still be in relationship with him,” Holz said.

“We do believe there is a spiritual reality — Satan is being set up in opposition to God the father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

“Jesus said the devil came to kill, steal and destroy. There is a real spiritual danger.”

Garcia doesn’t buy that reasoning.

“It is highly believed in Christianity that Satan is a very bad dude, and if you do anything that brings him into your life, you’re asking for the pain and suffering to come after you,” she said. “I don’t believe that to be true.

“Personally, I don’t think there’s any harm in believing in these types of things. Harm can come from anywhere. If you’re a religion that states ‘protect yourself and others as well,’ I don’t believe there’s any harm in it.”

Instead of being shocked at the rise of Satan, Holz challenges Christians to see the movement as an opening to talk with people who find Lucifer attractive.

“It’s an opportunity to have a conversation about what do you believe, is there spiritual truth, are you trying to seek fulfillment spiritually,” he said.

“I’m certain there are people who’d say this is indicative of things going from bad to worse. To me, it’s indicative of a society rejecting God, and we’re hard-wired to find something spiritually. This is one expression.”

And, Holz notes, “Diablo means the splitter, the ax head splitting the wood.”

Contact the writer: 719-476-1656.

https://gazette.com/life/a-closer-look-at-the-satanic-temple-an-oft-misunderstood-nontheistic-religious-group-with-a/article_cc582e5c-2388-11ee-880a-4384f13d1fbe.html

How after-school clubs became a new battleground in the Satanic Temple's push to preserve separation of church and state

The Conversation
July 21, 2023


Author: Charles J. Russo, 
Joseph Panzer Chair in Education and Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton

Disclosure statement

Charles J. Russo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

As the start of the school year rapidly approaches, controversy can’t be far behind. But not all hot-button topics in education are about what goes on in class.

Over the past few years, conflict has trailed attempts to establish After School Satan Clubs sponsored by the Satanic Temple, which the U.S. government recognizes as a religious group.

Organizers have tried to form clubs in California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Organizers in Broome County, New York, also formed a summer Satan Club that meets at a local library.

Though there are estimates that only a handful of Satan Clubs are up and running, the groups raise significant questions about freedom of speech in K-12 public schools, particularly around religious issues – topics I teach and write about frequently as a faculty member specializing in education law.

More ‘science’ than ‘Satan"

Members of the Satanic Temple, which was founded in 2013, do not profess beliefs about supernatural beings. The group emphasizes “the seven tenets,” which celebrate ideas like rationality, compassion and bodily autonomy.

What often draws attention, though, are the temple’s political and legal activities. The group has a history of filing suits to try to gain the same rights afforded to Christian groups, in an attempt to highlight and critique religion’s role in American society.

Because organizers of Satan Clubs object to introducing religion into public education, they try to offer an alternative at schools hosting faith-based extracurricular groups. The Satanic Temple promotes clubs that focus on science, critical thinking, free inquiry and community projects, emphasizing that “no proselytization or religious instruction takes place” in meetings.

Litigation around Satan Clubs arose in 2023 when a school board in Pennsylvania refused to allow a club to meet in an elementary school. In May, a federal trial court ruled that the school board could not ban the club, since it allowed other types of clubs. By allowing groups to use school facilities, the court explained, officials had created a public forum. Therefore, excluding any group because of its views would constitute discrimination, violating organizers’ First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.

Equal access

The principle that all student-organized extracurricular groups have equal access to educational facilities was established in 1981 with Widmar v. Vincent, a dispute from a public university in Kansas City, Missouri. The Supreme Court determined that once campus officials had created a forum for the free exchange of ideas by student groups, they could not prevent a faith-based club from meeting solely due to the religious content of its speech.

That requirement was extended to secondary schools under the Equal Access Act, which Congress adopted in 1984. The act applies to public secondary schools where educators create “limited open fora,” meaning non-instructional time when clubs run by students, not school staff, are allowed to meet. Officials cannot deny clubs opportunities to gather due to “the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings.”

The Equal Access Act specifies that voluntary, student-initiated clubs cannot “materially or substantially interfere” with educational activities. Further, groups cannot be sponsored by school officials, and educators may only be present if they do not participate directly. Finally, the act forbids people who are not affiliated with the school, such as local residents or parents, from directing, conducting, controlling or regularly attending club activities.

The Supreme Court upheld and extended the Equal Access Act’s logic in two major cases. In 1990’s Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, for example, the justices reasoned that because allowing a religious club in a public school in Nebraska did not endorse religion, it had to be permitted. Afterward, federal courts in California, Indiana, Florida and Kentucky expanded the act’s reach to GSA Clubs, formerly known as Gay-Straight Alliances – clarifying that “viewpoint discrimination” was impermissible against other nonreligious clubs.

In the recent dispute from Pennsylvania, the Satan Club’s organizers relied on Good News Club v. Milford Central School, a 2001 case from New York. The dispute arose when a school board refused to permit the Good News Club – a non-school-sponsored, faith-based group that has several thousand branches in the U.S. – to meet after class with participants’ parental consent. Yet officials allowed the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H Club to meet and talk about similar topics from secular points of view in an elementary school, so the Supreme Court decided that its refusal constituted unlawful viewpoint discrimination. Given students’ ages, parents or other adults are allowed to be involved in elementary school activities.

Expose children to new ideas?

Following the Equal Access Act, some boards banned all non-curriculum-related clubs in attempts to avoid controversy. Perhaps the Pennsylvania board will go this route as well.

In an increasingly intellectually diverse world, though, children are bound to encounter ideas with which they disagree – and I would argue each encounter can sharpen their critical thinking. As a federal trial court judge in Missouri once observed, provocative speech “is most in need of the protections of the First Amendment. … The First Amendment was designed for this very purpose.”



https://theconversation.com/how-after-school-clubs-became-a-new-battleground-in-the-satanic-temples-push-to-preserve-separation-of-church-and-state-209579

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/11-12/2021

Group Psychological Abuse, Satanic Temple, Freedom of Religion, Legal, Conversion Therapy, LGBT, Scientology, Ireland, Legal, Aravindan Balakrishnan, UK

NCBI: The Negative Impact of Group Psychological Abuse on Life Satisfaction and Well-being

""In the context of the adverse effects of psychological abuse, this study examined satisfaction with life, psychological well-being, and social well-being in survivors of social groups that are high-demand, manipulative, totalitarian, or abusive toward their members. We specifically tested the mediating role between group psychological abuse and current well-being of psychological stress suffered after leaving the group. An online questionnaire was administered to 636 Spanish-speaking former members of different groups, 377 victims of group psychological abuse and 259 nonvictims. Participants reporting group psychological abuse showed significantly lower levels of life satisfaction, psychological well-being, and social well-being compared to nonvictims. Greater differences in well-being between victims and nonvictims were related to positive relationships with others (d = .85), self-acceptance (d = .51), social integration (d = .44), and social acceptance (d = .41). Victims' life satisfaction and well-being were positively correlated with the time that has passed since leaving the group, but nonsignificant effects were found regarding the type of the group (i.e., religious vs. nonreligious), the age at which they joined the group (i.e., born into or raised in the group vs. during adulthood), the length of group membership, and the method of leaving (i.e., personal reflection, counseled, or expelled). Moderate associations were found between group psychological abuse, psychological stress, and well-being measures, and results demonstrated that psychological stress mediated the impact of group psychological abuse on life satisfaction and well-being. Understanding the negative impact of group psychological abuse on well-being is important to promote survivors' optimal functioning during their integration process into the out-group society."

Salon: Why Satanists may be the last, best hope to save abortion rights in Texas

"The "nontheistic" organization joins the fray with a last-ditch legal maneuver to save abortion rights in Texas.

"As pro-choice and reproductive health groups are scrambling to make sense of Texas' new, near-total abortion ban that went into effect this week, it appears their efforts to skirt the law are getting an unexpected boost from one organization in particular: The Satanic Temple.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday night allowed the state to implement a ban on the procedures after six weeks, before most women know they are pregnant, with no carve-outs for rape or incest. Until it is blocked or overturned, the law effectively nullifies the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision — which established abortion as a constitutional right — in Texas.

Enter The Satanic Temple.

The "nontheistic" organization, which is headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, joined the legal fray this week by sending a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration demanding access to abortion pills for its members. The group has established an "abortion ritual," and is attempting to use the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (which was created to allow Native Americans access to peyote for religious rituals) to argue that its members should be allowed access to abortion drugs like Misoprostol and Mifepristone for religious purposes.

"I am sure Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—who famously spends a good deal of his time composing press releases about Religious Liberty issues in other states—will be proud to see that Texas's robust Religious Liberty laws, which he so vociferously champions, will prevent future Abortion Rituals from being interrupted by superfluous government restrictions meant only to shame and harass those seeking an abortion," Satanic Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves told the San Antonio Current. 

"The battle for abortion rights is largely a battle of competing religious viewpoints, and our viewpoint that the nonviable fetus is part of the impregnated host is fortunately protected under Religous Liberty laws," he added."

LGBTQ Nation: Conversion therapists will have to stop trying to turn kids straight after losing a federal lawsuit to therapy.

"Brian Tingley filed a federal lawsuit this past May that accused Washington state of violating his First Amendment free speech and free religious exercise rights by banning conversion therapy for minors.

Calling the conversion therapy ban "the Counseling Censorship Law," Tingley argued that even mental health professionals have a constitutionally protected free speech right, even if they are using a state-issued license to pass off personal beliefs as professional assessments. He also said that the law discriminates against him because he's Christian.

He insisted that the children he tries to change want to be changed and that they have a right to treatment, even if that treatment has been scientifically shown to be ineffective and harmful."

Business Post: Church of Scientology offshoot spent €2m on Meath drug rehab facility

Narconon Trust bought the property in Ballivor, Co Meath in 2016, but it's 56-bed drug rehabilitation service has yet to open due to a planning battle.

"Narconon, an offshoot of the Church of Scientology, has spent close to €2 million establishing its Meath "drug treatment" facility, newly-filed financial statements show.

Narconon Trust bought the property in Ballivor, Co Meath in 2016, but it's 56-bed drug rehabilitation service has yet to open due to a planning battle. The High Court ruled in its favour last year, but the matter has been appealed to the Supreme Court."

OpIndia: Aravindan Balakrishnan and his Maoist cult in London: The sordid tale of exploitation, abuse and brainwashing

"A woman who was held captive by her cult leader father for over three decades has recently opened about travails she endured during her period of captivity at the Communist Collective, a cult in south London founded by her father, Aravindan Balakrishnan, and how she escaped it.

For the first three decades of her life, Katy Morgan-Davies, now 38, was held as a slave under the total control of her father, Aravindan Balakrishnan, a self-styled leader called by his followers as 'Comrade Bala' or 'Comrade B'. Balakrishnan ruled over his daughter and six other women 'comrades' with the use of violence and by inducing psychological terror in his captives.

In 2013, at the age of 30, Davies managed to escape her father's Maoist cult, known by its followers as the Communist Collective, in Brixton, south London. Eight years later, she has shared her experience of her life under a cult leader for over three decades in a telltale interview with The Sunday Times."

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Satanic Temple suit against Boston moves forward

SEAN PHILIP COTTER

Boston Herald
July 22, 2021

The Satanic Temple’s lawsuit against Boston has more than a snowball’s chance in hell, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs allowed several of the complaints from the Salem Satanists to move forward — while sticking a fork in some other ones — as The Satanic Temple, or TST, takes issue with it not being allowed to give the opening prayer for a City Council meeting.

The devil’s advocates initially attempted to sue the hell out of the city in January, arguing that since the council allows various mainstream religions to speak, it’s against the First Amendment to pick and choose who gets to give invocations.

The city has countered that it’s not about discriminating one religion from another — it’s just enabling councilors inviting pastors, rabbis, priests or imams from Boston’s communities to address the body. And further, the city says, it’s just simply tough luck for the temple if no one invites them.

The devil, of course, remains in the details, as the judge allowed certain parts of the suit to continue even as she threw out others. Burroughs agreed with that line of thought from the city and spiked the Satanists’ arguments that the councilors’ ability to choose to invite specific religions and representatives is itself discriminatory and a violation of the 14th Amendment.

But the judge said the argument that this runs afoul of the Establishment Clause can continue on, as case law isn’t settled on what schemes to allow minority religious groups work constitutionally.

TST co-founder Lucien Greaves remained steamed, saying in a statement, “By tethering TST’s invitation to its political clout, the City has engaged in a bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group which is decidedly not a legitimate governmental interest.”

Greaves told the Herald in January that this “should not be contextualized as Satanists against Christians.”

“It’s clearly the definition of discriminatory when you allow functionaries of the state deciding what viewpoints are allowed in the public square,” he said. “What we’re asking for is exactly what religious liberty is and what it looks like.”

And there could be hell to pay — or at least the temple’s legal costs, which the suit seeks to have covered.

Greaves has said the temple is “non-theistic” — they don’t literally believe in and worship Satan — but that doesn’t mean they don’t take their religion seriously. He said they “hold this iconography as a fight against tyranny.”

https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/07/22/satanic-temple-suit-against-boston-moves-forward/

CultNEWS101 Articles: 2/9/2021 (The Satanic Temple, Religious Freedom, Legal, White Supremacists, New Mexico Cult Series)

The Satanic Temple, Religious Freedom, Legal, White Supremacists,  New Mexico Cult Series

Newsweek: Satanic Temple Challenges 18 States' Abortion Laws With Religious Exemption Claim

"The Satanic Temple, a national religious rights organization with chapters in 21 states, has recently erected two billboards in Texas and Florida encouraging followers to challenge state restrictions on abortions conducted during the first trimester by claiming that the restrictions violate their religious beliefs as Satanists. Over 18 states have such restrictions."

NPR: Fast-Growing Alternative To Facebook And Twitter Finds Post-Trump Surge 'Messy'

" ... People are splintering off into these more fringe platforms that essentially have no content moderation or threat-monitoring capability whatsoever," said Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst who tracks disinformation at the Alethea Group.

Shortly after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, Facebook and Twitter kicked off Trump and cracked down on groups involved in organizing the insurrection. By now, many of those users — and those who sympathize with them — have found alternative platforms on which to spread their messages.

Some groups Facebook banned for spreading false claims about election fraud and organizing "Stop the Steal" rallies sent their members to MeWe, Gab and Parler, another alternative social app. Parler recently went down after Amazon refused to host it, saying it had too much violent content.

MeWe's Weinstein resists the comparison to Parler or Gab, which tout themselves as free-speech sites. For one thing, he says, MeWe is serious about putting limits on what people can say.

"I don't like sites where anything goes," Weinstein said. "I think they're disgusting. Good people right and left and middle can't handle 'anything goes.' We don't want to be around hate speech. We don't want to be around violence inciters."

Nor is MeWe meant to be a right-wing "echo chamber," the CEO said.

While MeWe does have rules, they are more lax than Facebook and Twitter. For example, both of the big platforms banned the baseless Qanon conspiracy theory because it has led to real-world violence, including at the Capitol. MeWe has not taken that blanket approach; it says it removes accounts and content that violate its rules against inciting violence, hate speech, harassment, bullying and illegal activity."

ProPublica: Global Right-Wing Extremism Networks Are Growing. The U.S. Is Just Now Catching Up.

"During the past two years, U.S. counterterrorism officials held meetings with their European counterparts to discuss an emerging threat: right-wing terror groups becoming increasingly global in their reach.

American neo-Nazis were traveling to train and fight with militias in the Ukraine. There were suspected links between U.S. extremists and the Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist group that was training foreigners in its St. Petersburg compounds. A gunman accused of killing 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 had denounced a "Hispanic invasion" and praised a white supremacist who killed 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and who had been inspired by violent American and Italian racists.

But the efforts to improve transatlantic cooperation against the threat ran into a recurring obstacle. During talks and communications, senior Trump administration officials steadfastly refused to use the term "right-wing terrorism," causing disputes and confusion with the Europeans, who routinely use the phrase, current and former European and U.S. officials told ProPublica. Instead, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security referred to "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism," while the State Department chose "racially or ethnically motivated terrorism."

"We did have problems with the Europeans," one national security official said. "They call it right-wing terrorism and they were angry that we didn't. There was a real aversion to using that term on the U.S. side. The aversion came from political appointees in the Trump administration. We very quickly realized that if people talked about right-wing terrorism, it was a nonstarter with them."

The U.S. response to the globalization of the far-right threat has been slow, scattered and politicized, U.S. and European counterterrorism veterans and experts say. Whistleblowers and other critics have accused DHS leaders of downplaying the threat of white supremacy and slashing a unit dedicated to fighting domestic extremism. DHS has denied those accusations.

In 2019, a top FBI official told Congress the agency devoted only about 20% of its counterterrorism resources to the domestic threat. Nonetheless, some FBI field offices focus primarily on domestic terrorism.

Former counterterrorism officials said the president's politics made their job harder. The disagreement over what to call the extremists was part of a larger concern about whether the administration was committed to fighting the threat.

"The rhetoric at the White House, anybody watching the rhetoric of the president, this was discouraging people in government from speaking out," said Jason Blazakis, who ran a State Department counterterrorism unit from 2008 to 2018. "The president and his minions were focused on other threats."

Other former officials disagreed. Federal agencies avoided the term "right-wing terrorism" because they didn't want to give extremists legitimacy by placing them on the political spectrum, or to fuel the United States' intense polarization, said Christopher K. Harnisch, the former deputy coordinator for countering violent extremism in the State Department's counterterrorism bureau. Some causes espoused by white supremacists, such as using violence to protect the environment, are not regarded as traditionally right-wing ideology, said Harnisch, who stepped down this week."

Valencia County News-Bulletin: New television series about New Mexico cult may film in Belen

" ... [M]embers of the production crew and location scouts for a television show in pre-production were roaming the city of Belen looking for some prime real estate to film a new television series.

Kim Graham, the owner of Belen-based production company What Are The Odds, brought Brenden Fehr, one of the show's executive producers to Belen to find locations that evoked just the right small-town vibe.

The show, "Behind The Yellow House," is based on the true story of a New Mexico cult, a group of witches, that still exists and practices to some extent to this day, Fehr said.

"The show tells the story of Maggie, this young girl who is the chosen one. She is raised by her grandmother, who is the leader of the cult," Fehr said.

The woman's story is filled with dark rituals and abuse, ranging from human sacrifice to incest, he said, but she manages to escape and thrive.

"There are a lot of dark things in this show, things she was thrust into, but she escaped," he said.

Fehr, who is best known for his role as Michael Guerin in the original "Roswell" TV series that ran from 1999 to 2002, will play a small role in the new show, that of Sheriff Brown.

"He's investigating this cult, so he's on the outside and really doesn't know what's going on," Fehr said. "It's a small town with a lot of secrets."

While the show is based on a true story of a cult in New Mexico, and the woman known as Maggie is collaborating with creators, Fehr was clear it wasn't about Belen.

"This happened in the late 1960s and we're looking for locations that still evoke that era," he said. "Projects with bigger budgets can just build a set. We need places that already have that look or can be achieved with a few changes."

While they were in town, the group visited H.T. Jaramillo School and the Belen Police Department as possible filming locations.

Fehr said they really liked Belen's "look."

"It's smaller, has more of a community feel, where everybody knows everybody else," he said. "Other places might have something similar but there are tall buildings and have an urban feel."

While the show will delve into the dark rituals and abuse that happened in the woods "behind the yellow house," Fehr said he wants it to serve as a source of help to people experiencing abuse and other situations.

At the end of every show, there will be information and resources about sex trafficking and child abuse, he said."

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 1/15/2021

IRS, Exorcism, Flat Earth, Satanic Temple  

The Conversation: What's a church? That can depend on the eye of the beholder or paperwork filed with the IRS

" ... While reasons for this growing trend vary, these groups may share one main goal: keeping their donor lists private to protect their donors from public criticism or backlash.

As a professor who studies how tax laws affect churches and other tax-exempt organizations, I believe these groups overestimate the benefits their donors will receive if the groups are treated as churches. Even so, I'm concerned that groups taking this step are reducing the flow of valuable information about these organizations to the public.

To see why I'm worried, here's some background about what's probably the best-known section of the U.S. tax code, section 501(c)(3). It provides two benefits to organizations that meet its requirements for tax exemption. First, these approximately 1.5 million groups – including everything from familiar nonprofits like the Red Cross to National Public Radio to the lesser-known First Church of Cannabis and the Satanic Temple – generally don't have to pay taxes on their income.

Second, some of their donors can deduct their donations from their taxable income through the charitable deduction, creating an incentive to support those groups. While groups must be organized as nonprofits to qualify for the federal tax exemption, not every nonprofit is exempt.

Eligibility requires pursuing a specific purpose, such as religion, education or charity."

KY3: Benton County, Mo. prosecutor charges parents of child investigators say was killed to remove a "demon"

"The parents of a 4-year-old Stover, Mo. girl face charges after investigators say their daughter was dunked in an icy pond and beaten to death to remove a "demon."

Deputies arrested Mary S. Mast, 29, and James A. Mast, 28 on Christmas Eve. Mary Mast faces charges of endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death and domestic assault. James Mast faces charges of endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, endangering the welfare of a child resulting in serious injury. A judge did not set bond for the couple. Deputies placed a second child in the home in protective custody.

Ethan Mast, 35, and Kourtney Aumen, 21, face a second-degree murder and other offenses. They both remain jailed. Despite having the same last names, Mary and James Mast are not related to Ethan Mast.

Deputies responded 1 a.m. on Sunday, December 20 to a rural home near the town of Cole Camp and found the 4-year-old wrapped in a blanket on a bedroom floor. Investigators said the girl was already dead and had "severe purple bruising" over her body, along with ruptured blisters. Sheriff Knox said the girl's parents also had been beaten along with a 2-year-old child. An infant son of the couple was apparently unharmed."

The Daily Beast: When a Flat Earther Refused to Concede and All Hell Broke Loose

" ... In 1909, a notorious flat Earth preacher led a ballot-box putsch to maintain his stranglehold over an Illinois town. With declarations of "war," two competing governments that claimed to be legitimate, and an armed siege between the two factions' police chiefs at the county jail, the forgotten saga of Zion, Illinois, is evidence that America's political situation could still be a whole lot stupider.

Wilburn Glenn Voliva was a flat Earther who lived on a strict diet of Brazil nuts and buttermilk. He also, for a time, enjoyed dictatorial control over an entire city.

Born in 1870, Voliva trained as a preacher and became a leading member of a faith-healing church headed by John Alexander Dowie. Dowie was a gifted grifter, amassing a large following and absurd wealth while performing sham "miracles" on the desperately ill (some of whom later sued him when their ailments remained). When authorities finally cracked down on Dowie for practicing medicine without a license, he founded the city of Zion, a new "utopia" governed by strict religious law.

Maybe the city was a utopia for Dowie, but not for many others. He spent lavishly on himself and drove the city into debt. Eventually, Voliva deposed him in a church coup, in part by accusing the elderly faith-healer (whose own health was failing) of trying to assemble himself a harem of young wives.

Now at the helm of Dowie's "Christian Catholic Apostolic Church," Voliva effectively ruled the city. Zion had a mayor and a government, but all of them answered to Voliva, who held the title of "general overseer." After wresting control from Dowie (who died soon thereafter, a broken and betrayed man), Voliva set about making Zion even less fun. Alcohol and dancing were banned, smokers were hauled into jail, and many newspapers were verboten.

When Voliva named his political party the "Theocratic Party," it was a simple statement of fact."

Newsweek: Satanic Temple Challenges 18 States' Abortion Laws With Religious Exemption Claim

"The Satanic Temple, a national religious rights organization with chapters in 21 states, has recently erected two billboards in Texas and Florida encouraging followers to challenge state restrictions on abortions conducted during the first trimester by claiming that the restrictions violate their religious beliefs as Satanists. Over 18 states have such restrictions."

  

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