• Followers of social media spirituality influencer accused of 2 murders in Alabama: 'I am a god'
    2022-09-29

    Several followers of a social media influencer who calls himself a "god" and leads an abstract spirituality group online have been accused of two separate murders in Alabama.

  • Unification Church's ex-member explains how it gains political influence
    2022-09-28

    Japanese politicians say they're cutting ties with the controversial former Unification Church after its influence came to light with the July murder of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

  • ‘Uncultured’: The Intergenerational Trauma of Girls Growing up in Cults
    2022-09-27

    Daniella Mestyanek Young’s powerfully immersive and exceptionally honest debut memoir Uncultured opens with a scene of Young standing in line to get spanked by Uncle Zephaniah.

  • Religious lies, conmen and coercive control: how cults corrupt our desire for love and connection
    2022-09-27

    In Do As I Say, Steel (creator of the podcast Let’s Talk About Sects) explores how cults usually exhibit some of the following attributes: they have unique in-group language, they require intense work schedules of members, their leaders will often deliver endless sermons, and they will restrict acce...

  • How cults affect mental health, social relations and politics
    2022-09-26

    2022 International Symposium on Cults, Heresies and Emerging Religions In Paris

  • “Cultivation” ripped apart family
    2022-09-26

    With her selfishness, indifference and ruthlessness, she ruined her formerly happy family, got her grief-stricken husband died of cancer, and left her mentally handicapped son to have no one to rely on, all of which were the exact opposite of her original intention to practice “Falun Gong” in order ...

  • Unification Church ex-members in Japan rail at politicians who embraced it
    2022-09-25

    Kwak Chung-hwan, who was Moon's deputy until the late 2000s, said the Unification Church had treated its followers in Japan like "an economic army" to raise donations and he said the organization should apologise for the excesses of its leadership in the country.

  • Members of polygamous Kingston Group allege child marriage, rape: suit
    2022-09-22

    Members of a powerful polygamous group in Utah claim they were forced into underage marriages with their relatives to keep their blood “pure,” were raped by their husbands and had to perform child labor, according to a bombshell lawsuit.

  • Brainwashed by the Unification Church: A former student follower tells his story
    2022-09-22

    During his four years of activities in the group, initially presented to him as “international exchange club,” Ishikawa had joined the Unification Church and deceived many people in door-to-door sales.

  • Melbourne woman speaks out about alleged ordeal on church-funded trip
    2022-09-20

    Melbourne woman Olivia was 27 when she went on a church-funded trip. What she says happens, in a place called ‘The Cave’ left her ‘in shock’.

  • Cult leader orders burning of mother
    2022-09-20

    An alleged leader of a religious cult ordered the burning of his mother in a "death ritual" in Baliwagan, a remote village in Balingasag, MisamisOriental on Sunday, August 28.

  • Vietnamese authorities call 'Jesus Church' in northern provinces an 'evil religi
    2022-09-16

    The Vietnamese police and government authorities are trying to crack down on a religious group that is growing in popularity in the country’s northern provinces.

  • Followers of University of Cosmic Intelligence cult accused of 2 murders in Alabama
    2022-09-16

    Rashad Jamal White, known among his followers as Rashad Jamal, is the leader of a group popularized online known as “The University of Cosmic Intelligence,” in which Jamal preaches about a spirituality exclusively for Black and Latino people, whom he says are natural earthly beings while White peopl...

  • The Japanese Cult Behind These Obscure Anime
    2022-09-15

    These obscure anime aren't all that special, but the story behind their production might raise some eyebrows.

  • Japan starts consultation service for Unification Church woes
    2022-09-15

    The government started Monday a telephone consultation service for people experiencing trouble with the Unification Church, a religious group that has stirred controversy since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed over alleged links to the group in July.

  • Senior LDP executive backs discussions on anti-cult law
    2022-09-14

    Toshiaki Endo (center), who chairs the General Council of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, addresses a meeting at the party's headquarters in Tokyo in August as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida looks on.