Former cult members reveal disturbing rituals they endured

You Can't Ask That: Former cult members reveal disturbing rituals they endured

This episode of You Can't Ask That features eight former cult members who candidly share their experiences, shedding light on the psychological manipulation, abusive rituals, and difficult paths to freedom they navigated while living within various high-control groups.

Entry and Recruitment

Participants explain that they did not intentionally join "cults" but instead sought communities focused on self-improvement, spiritual growth, or personal development. Many were drawn in by charismatic leaders who promised solutions to life's problems, often leading them to isolate themselves from family and renounce their former lives.

Cult Dynamics and Abuse

Participants detail the disturbing reality of life inside these groups, where leaders held absolute power and utilized fear to maintain control:

Manipulation and Control: Leaders often demanded total obedience, forced members to cut ties with "heathen" family members, and mandated strict routines.

Rituals and Abuse: Members endured extreme conditions, including forced labor, sleep deprivation, and mandatory "cleansing" rituals like wall-walking. Others reported physical violence, such as beatings or water torture, and even coerced medical procedures, including forced sterilization.

Forced Smiling: A recurring theme was the pressure to maintain a happy, smiling facade to suppress internal doubts and recruit new members.

Sexual Abuse: Some members disclosed harrowing accounts of sexual abuse by cult leaders, describing a gradual process of boundary-breaking that they were conditioned to accept as part of their devotion.

Escaping and Transitioning

Leaving the cults was a dangerous and destabilizing process for many:

• The Escape: Some ran away in secrecy, while others were liberated only after the groups collapsed or police intervened.
• Reintegration: Fitting back into the "real world" proved daunting. Survivors had to learn basic social skills, handle financial independence, and overcome the trauma of losing their entire social and belief systems.
• Looking Back: While many feel they lost years of their lives, the survivors emphasize their resilience. They have rebuilt their lives, finding value in new relationships and the freedom to define their own identities.

https://youtu.be/PJDpghq1IJc?is=vLsmSdDRHeOtJq_0

Lisa Halverson: She Spent 15 Years in Scientology—Here's Why She Left Everything Behind

 

Lisa Halverson was involved in Scientology as both a public member and a staff member. Deeply committed to the organization, she never expected that her parents' determination to help her would ultimately change the course of her life. Concerned that Scientology was taking over Lisa's life, her parents arranged for her to meet with experienced exit counselors - Hana & Jerry Whitfield, who presented information that Scientology did not want her to see.

Yogaville Lawsuit Analysis with Legal Expert Marci Hamilton: What the Joint Statement Really Means

Yogaville Lawsuit Analysis with Legal Expert Marci Hamilton: What the Joint Statement Really Means

In this episode of Surviving Satchidananda, host Briana Patton examines the recently settled lawsuit filed by Shanti Norris and Susan Cohen against Yogaville and Integral Yoga. The plaintiffs alleged they were subjected to coercive control and sexual abuse by the late Swami Satchidananda while they were teenage devotees.

​Patton interviews legal expert Professor Marci Hamilton, who contextualizes the lawsuit within the broader history of clergy abuse. Hamilton explains how charismatic religious leaders use coercive control to manipulate victims, noting that powerful institutions frequently protect predators and attempt to hide behind the First Amendment to avoid legal accountability. She draws parallels between this case and other high-profile abuse scandals, emphasizing the urgent need to eliminate statutes of limitations for child sex abuse.

​The episode concludes by analyzing the lawsuit's recent confidential settlement and joint public statement. While Patton respects the survivors' choice to settle after four grueling years of litigation and counter-lawsuits, she harshly criticizes Yogaville's leadership. She condemns the statement’s minimizing language—which reframes grooming and abuse as "inappropriate sexual activities"—and calls out the organization's claim of ignorance as false, given decades of open secrets. Patton concludes that, despite the flawed settlement, the public record has been permanently changed.

​(Source: Yogaville Lawsuit Analysis with Legal Expert Marci Hamilton)

https://youtu.be/re58x9boFMI?si=mTCzN9MbCpOybdNL 

CultNEWS101 News: 7/2/2026

Culture & Media

Videos

Jon Atack, Family and Friends: If Scientology Ruled - Chapter Four: The Empress – Hubbard’s Holy Guardian Angel

Written by Jon Atack, author of the bestselling expose, Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky, this book is a frightening look into an alarming possible 

future – and a fascinating deep dive into the 

history that could lead us there.

 

Newsxlive: Deepak Chopra Named In Newly Seen Epstein Emails | Will There Be Any Other American-Indians?

"New congressional records detailing Jeffrey Epstein’s communications reveal ongoing contact with Deepak Chopra long after Epstein’s 2008 conviction. The emails, ranging from lawsuit discussions to exchanges about public figures, have prompted widespread debate over ethical responsibility and the consequences for influencers who

Ongoing Focus

BBC: Religious group members deny charges over raids

Twenty-four members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, based in Crewe, appeared at South Cheshire Magistrates Court yesterday [6/15/26] charged with a range of offenses, including obstructing police officers, failing to comply with police directions, and assaulting an officer. The cases follow a police raid on three addresses linked to the group in April this year, which the police said was part of an investigation into reports of sexual abuse, forced marriage, and modern slavery. All defendants pleaded not guilty and were granted unconditional bail until trial next April.

Newsweek: I Married a Photograph. Then I Met My Husband For the First Time

In this personal essay for *Newsweek*, Kiyomi Hawley recounts her experience growing up within the Unification Church and the traumatic reality of participating in one of the organization’s infamous mass weddings. Raised in the church, Hawley accepted the requirement to marry a stranger arranged by the faith, eventually finding herself standing in Madison Square Garden at age 20, holding a photograph of a man she had never met because he could not attend the ceremony.

The reality of the union proved devastating. While traveling to South Korea to meet her "husband," Hawley felt neither physical attraction nor emotional connection. Despite her deep-seated fear that leaving the church would mean losing her family and her community, the pressure of the artificial marriage—which included her husband threatening suicide when she tried to end the union—led her into a cycle of depression and despair.

Ultimately, Hawley chose to prioritize her own well-being over the church's dictates. By breaking the "blessing" and leaving the organization, she faced the terrifying possibility of being cast out by her family, though they ultimately supported her pursuit of happiness. Years later, after leaving the church and focusing on her passion for music, Hawley found genuine love on her own.

Group Profile

New Thought

The New Thought movement is an American spiritual and philosophical movement that emerged in the mid-to-late 19th century. Rather than developing into a single church with centralized authority, it grew into a loose network of thinkers, authors, and religious groups sharing a core conviction: the mind has direct creative power over physical reality, health, and circumstances.

It serves as the missing link between 19th-century metaphysics and today's multi-billion-dollar self-help industry.

1. The Historical Origins of New Thought

The roots of New Thought lie in a reaction against the harsh, Calvinist theology of early America (which emphasized human depravity and an angry God) and a simultaneous fascination with early psychology and alternative medicine.

Phineas Quimby: The Father of the Movement

The foundational figure of New Thought was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802–1866), a New England clockmaker and mesmerist. Quimby noticed that when he "magnetized" patients, their physical symptoms often vanished based entirely on what they believed about their cure.

Quimby concluded that all disease is a mental construct—an error of the mind—and that the true teaching of Jesus was a science of mental healing. He called his philosophy "The Science of Health" or the "New Thought."

The Early Splinters and Foundations

Quimby never founded a church, but his patients and students took his ideas in radically different directions:

• Mary Baker Eddy: One of Quimby’s most famous patients, she used his ideas as a launchpad to found Christian Science in 1879. However, Eddy fiercely broke away from the mainstream New Thought trajectory by claiming absolute divine revelation, establishing a strict hierarchy, and entirely rejecting the physical world and medical science.

• The Mainstream New Thought Pioneers: Other students, such as Warren Felt Evans and Julius Dresser, advocated a more open, ecumenical approach. They blended Quimby's mental healing with Emersonian Transcendentalism (the belief in an immanent divine energy in nature) and Eastern philosophies such as Hinduism and Buddhism, which were just beginning to be translated into English.

By the late 1880s, independent ministries had begun to crystallize into formal denominations. The most prominent among these were Unity Church (founded by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore in 1889), Divine Science (1888), and later, Religious Science / Science of Mind (founded by Ernest Holmes in 1927).

2. Core Philosophy: The Metaphysical Framework

While denominations differ, the historical New Thought movement is defined by a few unwavering philosophical tenets:

• Pantheism/Panentheism: God is not a king on a throne, but "Divine Mind," "Infinite Intelligence," or "Source"—an omnipresent energy flowing through everything.

• The Law of Attraction: Thoughts are literal things. They possess a magnetic frequency that attracts corresponding physical realities. Positive thoughts attract health and wealth; negative thoughts attract disease and poverty.

• The Metaphysical Jesus: Jesus is viewed as a human who figured out the "spiritual laws" of the universe. The "Christ" is not a person, but a state of divine consciousness that anyone can achieve.

3. Influence on Modern Self-Help and Secular Spirituality

It is difficult to overstate how deeply New Thought has saturated modern secular culture. When people use terms like "manifesting," "vibrational frequency," "mindset shift," or "daily affirmations," they are speaking fluent, 19th-century New Thought.

The movement crossed over from a religious philosophy into secular self-help through three major historical waves:

Wave 1: The "Success Literature" of the Early 20th Century

In the early 1900s, authors stripped away the explicitly Christian terminology of Unity and Divine Science to market these principles directly to people in business and those seeking financial wealth.

[Phineas Quimby's Mental Healing]

       ▼

[William Walker Atkinson (Thought Vibration, 1906)]

       ▼

[Wallace Wattles (The Science of Getting Rich, 1910)]

       ▼

[Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich, 1937)]

Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich became one of the best-selling books of all time, arguing that "thoughts are things" and outlining a formula to transmute desire into gold.

Wave 2: Mid-Century Norman Vincent Peale

In 1952, minister Norman Vincent Peale published The Power of Positive Thinking. Peale combined New Thought metaphysics with traditional Christian psychology. Despite heavy criticism from theologians and psychiatrists who called it simplistic and dangerous, the book spent 186 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It normalized the idea that optimism is a practical tool for worldly success.

Wave 3: The New Age Movement and "The Secret"

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, New Thought underwent a massive rebranding under the umbrella of New Age spirituality.

• Louise Hay: In 1984, she published You Can Heal Your Life, which directly mirrored Phineas Quimby’s 150-year-old premise: physical illnesses are caused by specific mental patterns and emotional blockages. Her company, Hay House, became the premier publisher of modern spiritual self-help.

• Rhonda Byrne: In 2006, the book and film The Secret became a global phenomenon. It marketed the "Law of Attraction" as a forgotten esoteric mystery, though it drew heavily on Wallace Wattles' 1910 New Thought text, sometimes word-for-word.

• Oprah Winfrey: By consistently platforming New Thought-aligned teachers like Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, and Eckhart Tolle, Oprah mainstreamed the language of intentional living and manifestation for tens of millions of viewers.

The Core Critique: A Double-Edged Sword

The primary legacy of the New Thought movement is the democratization of agency—it taught individuals that they were not passive victims of a capricious God or random fate, but active co-creators of their lives.

However, sociologists and philosophers note that its dark side has also deeply shaped modern Western culture. By telling people they have absolute control over their reality, New Thought implicitly suggests that structural poverty, systemic inequality, racism, or genetic illnesses are merely "failures of imagination" or "poor mindset alignment," fostering a hyper-individualistic culture that often struggles with systemic empathy.

AI Research Disclosure: To bring you the most relevant stories, parts of this newsletter utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools to search the web, source articles, and assist with content curation. This content is for informational purposes only; we recommend verifying critical facts independently.

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

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

CultNEWS101 News: 6/29/2026

Culture & Media

Videos

ICSA: Meet the Author! Interview With Alexandra Stein

In this interview, author and cult expert Alexandra Stein discusses her book, Terror, Love, & Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems. Drawing from 25 years of research and her own ten-year experience in a political cult, Stein explores the manipulative social structures that allow authoritarian leaders to control and radically manipulate their followers.

Stein utilizes John Bowlby’s evolutionary attachment theory to decode how cultic and totalitarian systems operate. She argues that human beings have a core survival need to attach to others for protection. Cult leaders exploit this by isolating individuals from external support and enveloping them in an environment characterized by a destabilizing alternation between fear and apparent safety. This creates a highly damaging trauma bond, known as "disorganized attachment," where followers become glued to an unhealthy authority figure despite it working directly against their own survival interests.

Covering from this systemic control requires survivors to reconstruct a coherent, realistic narrative of their experience, strip away the cult's fiction, and rebuild trusting relationships. Stein notes a severe lack of public understanding, shared language, and trained therapists equipped to help survivors navigate these trauma-based experiences. Ultimately, she underscores that recruitment is accidental, as perpetrators hide their goals behind layers of deception. Stein emphasizes that targeted education on the mechanics of coercive environments is the most effective tool for empowering people to recognize and resist predatory relationships.

Cult Chat: Catching Up on the 2x2's / The Truth with Dr. Kyle Eggleton & Tristan Phipps

In this episode of Cult Chat, hosts Dr. Caroline Ansley, Liz Gregory, and Lindy Jacob catch up with advocates and former members Tristan Phipps and Dr. Kyle Eggleton to discuss recent developments within the high-control religious group known as the 2x2s (also called The Truth or The Church with no Name).

The discussion centers heavily on international pressure, including an FBI investigation into intercontinental abuse allegations, which has caused the opaque organization to tighten control and restrict information. The guests shed light on the group's "Living Witness" doctrine—the belief that salvation is achieved only by hearing God's word directly from celibate ministers (workers)—and trace its historical origins to Ireland. They explore the severe difficulty of tracking the group's financial networks, which involve multi-million-dollar cash donations passed to senior overseers through untraceable personal trust funds.

Ongoing Focus

News

Fox 4: Texas couple charged in $2.5M 'psychic' fraud, preying on grieving victims

The Brief: A Texas couple was arrested for allegedly running a $2.5 million "fortune-teller fraud" scheme that targeted emotionally vulnerable people.
The lead suspect used fake names to convince victims to send cash, credit cards, and gold coins to "cleanse" them of a financial curse.
The suspects face up to 20 years in prison per count if convicted, while the FBI continues to investigate to find additional victims.s

Group Profile

JAMA: "Maharishi Ayur-Veda: guru's marketing scheme promises the world eternal 'perfect health'"

This investigative article by Andrew A. Skolnick, originally published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1991, exposes a deceptive marketing campaign orchestrated by the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement and its brand, Maharishi Ayur-Veda. The movement heavily promoted claims that its products and techniques could grant eternal youth, "perfect health," and supernatural abilities like levitation.

The investigation was triggered after Deepak Chopra and two co-authors published a paper in JAMA portraying Maharishi Ayur-Veda as traditional, science-backed Indian medicine. However, the authors failed to disclose serious financial conflicts of interest. Chopra actually served as a primary officer and stockholder for Maharishi Ayur-Veda Products International (MAPI), the commercial entity profiting from the expensive herbal remedies, health mantras, and pulse diagnostics detailed in the article.

Skolnick uncovers a widespread pattern of misinformation used to manipulate the media and scientific institutions. The TM movement rented university space and sent false-flag letters to prestigious journals to create a veneer of scientific credibility. Prominent researchers were deceptively tied to their literature, including one neuroscience student whose institutional advisers explicitly banned him from claiming their facilities backed TM's herbs. Eminent physicist Heinz Pagels strongly denounced the movement's exploitation of quantum mechanics as a "wish-fulfilling fantasy" designed to deceive the public. Former high-ranking defectors admitted they were actively trained to lie—a tactic known as the "SIMS shuffle"—to exploit media gullibility and advance the guru's multi-billion-dollar empire.

AI Research Disclosure: To bring you the most relevant stories, parts of this newsletter utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools to search the web, source articles, and assist with content curation. This content is for informational purposes only; we recommend verifying critical facts independently.

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com helps families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexities of a loved one's involvement in a cult.

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

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

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

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

Family & Friends: My life in Scientology with Håkan Järvå

Jon Atack, Family & Friends: My life in Scientology with Håkan Järvå

This video features a conversation between author and expert on coercive control Jon Atack and Håkan Järvå, who is a former Scientologist turned psychologist. They discuss their shared backgrounds in Scientology, their subsequent departures, and their ongoing efforts to understand and help others navigate the psychological traps of high-demand groups and thought reform.

​Key Discussion Points

​Shared Experiences & Departure: Both men were in Scientology around the same time and left near 1983.

Järvå recounts his time in the "Rehabilitation Project Force" (RPF), which he compares to Chinese-model brainwashing due to its physical and psychological nature.

​The Difficulty of Explaining Scientology: A significant portion of the conversation focuses on the challenge of describing Scientology to those outside the group without falling into the "language trap" of its specialized, loaded terminology.

Järvå discusses the struggle of writing his autobiography and trying to convey these concepts to his co-writer.

​Narcissism & "Weaponized Empaths": The two discuss the traits of high-ranking executives in such organizations. Atack introduces the concept of "weaponized empaths"—individuals who possess empathy but are convinced to commit harmful acts under the guise of the "greater good" for their group.

​Practical Help & Radicalization: Much of their talk centers on the practical, consultative work they now do, focusing on helping individuals, particularly youth, who are being drawn into extremist or radicalized groups.

They emphasize the need to move past theory and diagnostic labels to practical interventions, such as building healthy relationships and fostering critical thinking.

​Critique of Media & Information: They address the polarized state of modern media and the prevalence of misinformation. Atack underscores the importance of teaching critical thinking, identifying propaganda, and verifying the credentials and facts behind sources.

​The conversation serves as a reflection on their parallel lives and a shared commitment to exposing the mechanisms of psychological entrapment while providing tools for recovery and resistance against authoritarian control.

​https://youtu.be/MWUK5_NytZ4

WORLD RECEIVER

“WORLD RECEIVER” is an audiovisual piece from my experimental album of the same name. It merges layered vocals, psychedelic visuals, ritualistic symbolism, and futuristic world-building.

Musically, the project is deeply influenced by my Bulgarian heritage. These ancestral vocal techniques are reimagined through an experimental and contemporary lens, transforming ancient human resonance into something futuristic, spiritual, and transcultural.

Visually, the piece draws inspiration from Kukeri — traditional Bulgarian masked ritual figures associated with transformation, protection, and the crossing between worlds. Rather than recreating folklore literally, I reimagine these symbols, combined with other diverse elements from different cultural contexts and reinterpret them through glitch aesthetics, saturated colours, fragmented digital textures, and sci-fi-inspired imagery, creating a world that feels simultaneously ancient and post-human. 

The video is shot in the Global Capital of world peace, at Maharishi Mahesh Yoghi’s Peace Palace - a symbol of unity, harmony and transcendence of all borders. It explores the idea of humans as temporary vessels or holographic identities through which a larger universal consciousness manifests itself.

The track exists between stillness and overload.

Between the sacred and the synthetic.

Between human consciousness and the accelerating machinery of modern culture.

There is no traditional narrative here. The video unfolds as a fractured ritual: glitching dimensions, saturated colour, collapsing identities, digital ghosts, and moments of transcendence. It moves like a meditation interrupted by data streams — a search for the divine inside technological reality.

At the center is the “World Receiver”:

an avatar, antenna, vessel.

A being tuning into invisible channels and translating what it captures into reality itself — becoming a bridge between dimensions, frequencies, and states of consciousness.

The work explores fragmentation of the self in the age of hyper-speed culture, while simultaneously longing for timelessness, presence, and spiritual unity. It reflects on the idea that we may all exist as holographic projections of one consciousness — temporary avatars through which the universe experiences itself.

Ancient ritual filtered through digital decay.

A metamodern collision of sincerity, irony, technology, mysticism, and emotional vulnerability.

CREDITS

Written, performed, recorded, shot, directed, edited by Nora Mincheva (E0N)

Envisioned and blessed by the Cosmic Consciousness

LYRICS:

Stream from my consciousness

World receiver

They keep on…

I don't wanna leave

until the party’s over…

We thought that we could stay

we thought that we could play

we thought that we could be

thought that we could see….

*

If you enjoy my work, feel free to support by liking, commenting or sharing with someone who might be inspired by it. Thank you!

CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/15/2024

Ex-member Stories, Live Event, Video

Yahoo: Ex-Cult Members Shared The Moments They Realized Something Was Wrong, And I'm Truly Shocked By Some Of These Stories

"When I realized that the doors to the 13-story former hotel building we were all living in were locked, and you had to sign out to leave. No one (from children to adults) could leave without an explanation of where they were going and when they'd be back."

NJ Stage: MPAC presents The Psychology of Cults – A Live Event

"Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) presents The Psychology of Cults – A Live Event on Friday, October 17, 2025, at 8:00pm. Hosted by renowned cult interventionist Ashlen Hilliard, this gripping live show takes audiences deep inside the world of cults—how they form, why people join, and what it takes to break free.

Ashlen Hilliard, MSc, PSS, is one of the few academically trained, harm-reduction-oriented cult-intervention specialists in the United States. The Psychology of Cults – A Live Event delves deep into how cults form, manipulate, and maintain control over their followers. From headline-making cases like NXIVM and Heaven's Gate to lesser-known but equally dangerous groups, audiences will gain rare insight into the psychology of coercion and survival in high-control environments.

Tickets range from $35 to $67 (including all fees) and are available for purchase online. Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) is located at 100 South Street in Morristown, New Jersey.

During intermission, audience members will submit questions for Hilliard to address in an unscripted Q&A that brings the audience directly into the conversation.

The Psychology of Cults – A Live Event is directed by TJ Dawe, who was also the director for Right Angle Entertainment's national touring productions The Psychology of Serial Killers, The Psychology of Murderers, and Cold Case Live."

First Coast Connect: "The Psychology of Cults"

Interview with Ashlen Hillard.

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

Colman Domingo Tells This Bone-Chilling Story About His Encounter With a Cult in Mexico

Colman Domingo opened up about a bizarre encounter with a “group of nice people,” but after researching, he noticed something was off.

Angela Wilson

The Root
August 20, 2025

In a recent interview, actor Colman Domingo discussed everything from Hollywood’s elite habits to the importance of community. But it was his recollection of a run-in he says he had while in Mexico that has folks shook.

Domingo sat down with Josh Scherer on an episode of “Mythical Kitchen” which came out Tuesday (August 19). While sharing a meal, the pair were discussing how some celebrities seem to live secluded lives, almost “cult-like,” after finding success in Hollywood. Scherer asked Domingo in jest, “You haven’t joined a cult yet now that you moved to Malibu?”

That’s when the “Euphoria” star admitted: “I almost joined a cult in Mexico City, but that’s another story.”

He went on to explain exactly what almost went down. “It was just a group of nice people, and then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. This is weird,’” he said. “I was like, ‘What’s up with you guys?’ This is my first encounter, but as I did research and found out more about them, I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a cult.’”

After Scherer joked that they still “should join” the cult, Domingo referenced the podcast itself, asking: “Is this a cult? It might be.”

Historically, Black people have been both victims and leaders of cults. Groups like the multiracial organization Peoples Temple (led by Jim Jones, a white man, with a 80% – 90% Black membership by the 1970s) and the Black Hebrew Israelite group Nation of Yahweh (founded in the late 1970s by Hulon Mitchell Jr., who called himself Yahweh ben Yahweh, was classified as a Black supremacist cult by the Southern Poverty Law Center), offered an escape from poverty and racism.

Some cults, especially those with Black leaders, gave members a sense of power and control over their lives in a world that often made them feel powerless. We’re glad Domingo didn’t join one so we can enjoy his talent on the silver screen, especially his highly-anticipated portrayal of Joe Jackson in Michael Jackson’s biopic in 2026.

https://www.theroot.com/colman-domingo-tells-this-bone-chilling-story-about-his-2000057204

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

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

Reporting by: Marianne Thamm & Jeannette Wang

Edited by: Malibongwe Tyilo

Filmed by: Bernard Kotze & Joel Seboa

Produced by: Emilie Gambade

Sub-edited by: Ian Wolstenholme

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

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

Cult Trip: Coming Too Close - Anke Richter

Cult Trip: Coming Too Close - Anke Richter

ICSA International Conference 2024
Barcelona, Spain

CultNEWS101 Articles: 7/29/2025 (Cult Trauma, Video, Margaret Singer, Swami Rama, White Only)

Cult Trauma, Video, Margaret Singer, Swami Rama, White Only

Coping with Post Cult Trauma (Margaret Singer)

Criminal: The Guru (Podcast)

"In the late 1960s, a yogi named Swami Rama came to the United States. His followers believed he could read their minds, visit them in their dreams, and manipulate reality. Shruti Swamy was one of them."

LAD: Man is trying to establish a 'whites only' town in America in extremely disturbing developments

Their leader wants to foster what he calls 'traditional white American culture'

" ... [A] man in America is trying to establish a 'whites only' community, with thousands of people already donating to show their support.

In case you weren't aware, the US (and too much of the rest of the world) has a problem with racism and xenophobia. You only need to have watched the viral video from Jubilee, which saw one journalist face up against 20 far-right conservatives, with one man losing his job after outing himself as a fascist and quoting a renowned member of the Nazi party."

" ... Return to the Land is described as 'a private membership association (PMA) for individuals and families with traditional views and European ancestry' and has strict rules regarding ethnicity and eligibility.

A recent video from Sky News captured the life of women living in the community - or as many would see it, cult - and it reveals that 'trad wife' role that most have undertaken.

The trad wife aesthetic has gained popularity on TikTok in recent months, with Emmeline Pankhurst probably rolling in her grave at the thought of the women in the community who decide that their only worth is in the home, with $1000 bonuses also given to families when they welcome a new child."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

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

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

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

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

CultNEWS101 Articles: 7/23/2025 (Jehovah's Witnesses, Shunning, Video, Opus Dei, Podcast, Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, LDS)

Jehovah's Witnesses, Shunning, Video, Opus Dei, Podcast, Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, LDS

Stop The Shunning: I REFUSED to Raise My Kids as Jehovah's Witnesses ft. Alissa Watson

"Alissa Watson was one of Jehovah's Witnesses for 35 years. But, once she became a mother, her mounting doubts over her religious upbringing eventually motivated her to break the cycle and protect her children."

The Deep Dive Project: EXPOSING Opus Dei's fascist plan for theocratic domination

The Guru: They Infiltrated Cults; Now they Run One

"Who are the two men behind the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light? Their past reveals an explosive secret to their cult-building success. It began in the late 1990s in Mooresville, Indiana, a small town suburb of Indianapolis. Hashem and McGowen attended the local high school and bonded over filmmaking, comedy, and esoteric ideas. They soon became best friends. Hashem then went to Indiana University for comparative religions, and McGowen attended nearby Ivy Tech, studying sociology. The young men would share a strange destiny.

In 2003 Hashem wrote and directed a 50-minute comedy movie called "Apache Tears," and it played at the local Regal Cinemas. One of the stars was a 22 year-old Abbi Crutchfield, who would go on to be a well-known comedian and TV personality, appearing on Hulu and NBC, among others. She told a local reporter the film 'has a lot of twists and turns...and deals with dark matters in a light way.'"

What percentage of Mormon converts leave the faith

Research indicates that **about 50% or more of Mormon converts leave the faith within a year of their baptism**[7][8]. This high rate of attrition is acknowledged by both church leaders and independent studies, with the sharpest dropout occurring in the first months after conversion[3][8].

Longer-term retention rates remain low, with multiple sources confirming that only about **25–30% of converts remain active in the church over time**[3]. This means that **70–75% of converts eventually become inactive or leave**.

These figures reflect a significant challenge for the LDS Church in retaining new members, despite ongoing efforts to improve integration and support for converts[3][8].

Citations:

[1] Ex-Mormon - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-Mormon

[2] Percent of Mormons who leave the LDS Church later? - Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/11ncq31/percent_of_mormons_who_leave_the_lds_church_later/

[3] Why Some Dropped Out | Religious Studies Center https://rsc.byu.edu/mormons-piazza/why-some-dropped-out

[4] A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S. - Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2009/07/24/a-portrait-of-mormons-in-the-us/

[5] Are More People Leaving the LDS Church? - Leading Saints https://leadingsaints.org/are-more-people-leaving-the-church/

[6] Who Is Leaving the Church? - BYU Studies https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/who-is-leaving-the-church-demographic-predictors-of-exlatter-day-saint-status-in-the-pew-religious-landscape-survey/

[7] Number of LDS converts, missionaries increasing; conversion rate ... https://www.deseret.com/2015/4/19/20562924/number-of-lds-converts-missionaries-increasing-conversion-rate-declines/

[8] Trends in LDS Member Activity and Convert Retention - Cumorah.com https://www.cumorah.com/articles/lawOfTheHarvest/7

[9] converts leaving the church - Third Hour https://thirdhour.org/forums/topic/31170-converts-leaving-the-church/

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