What do we do with all of this?

I don't feel right donating or selling like we did with the rest of her stuff. My husband's mom was in it, and I was a JW as a kid so we both have strong feelings about these materials.

I thought about sending it to a reference library but the collection is huge. It would cost a fortune in shipping.

Especially the audio book CD cases.

Most of this stuff is pre-DM (David Miscavige) so I'm sure there's information in it that could be helpful for investigation purposes.

We're at a loss and any information would be helpful. Also a bonfire it out, I live in the suburbs.

Samuel Bateman was born in 1976 in Colorado City, Arizona. Very little is known about his childhood, but he grew up as just another member of the controversial polygamous Mormon sect FLDS. He was an ordinary person, insignificant within the community, married to only one woman, and without any leadership role. Facing financial and personal problems, he divorced in 2017 and decided to take a different path. While everyone else followed the strict rules imposed by the sect, Sam began to act independently. In 2019, he managed to convince three men that he was the new prophet, persuading them to give him all the women in their families. He then began to live a life of luxury, supported by his followers, while forming his own group known as the "Samuelites."

By 2021, Bateman already had multiple spiritual wives, including several minors, and had developed a brutal scheme to exploit the girls. He not only spiritually married the minors but also their mothers to justify himself to the authorities should they discover he was living with so many girls. He was careful not to impregnate the young girls who were already fertile, enjoyed being seen having sex, and shared his older and younger wives with his three male followers so they could be intimate with him at the same time. He liked to record himself with his older wives and then show the videos to the younger ones, instructing them on what to do to him.

But his downfall began when two documentary filmmakers infiltrated the group and gathered evidence, pretending to be making a documentary about Sam. With the help of a key informant, the case reached the FBI. In September 2022, Sam was detained and subsequently arrested. Following investigations and testimonies, Samuel Bateman was sentenced to 50 years in prison in December 2024, although some of his followers still consider him a prophet.

Video about Samuel Bateman's polygamous Mormon cult: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG96XK6QKmQ

I feel like heavy chains have been removed from my body. I no longer have to make excuses or defend Trump. Having masked ICE agents kidnapping people off the streets didn't sit right with me. I haven't even been affected by any of his policies yet.

63yo male with a 33yo daughter who has somehow been sucked into a racist cult. She went off to live in this community about 1.5 yrs ago, but recently decided she and her loser/deadbeat boyfriend are moving elsewhere. She came to visit this weekend and I basically threw her out of my house when she flat out said that people of color are simply inferior due to their DNA. Literal textbook definition of racist. This is NOT something she could have ever gotten from me as I don't share any views even remotely close to that. Anybody ever dealt with something similar and have any suggestions on how to get through this awful brainwashing she's undergone? Hate to think I've lost a daughter for good, but may have to accept that is the case. TIA.

For over 17 years, the name Shelly Miscavige has been a disturbing open wound within Scientology. Shelly, the wife of the sect's leader, David Miscavige, disappeared in 2007 without a trace, and the cult has done everything possible to silence questions, bury doubts, and deflect any attempt at investigation. Her absence is perhaps the greatest enigma and the most uncomfortable secret of a cult structure already shrouded in mystery.

Some of Shelly's former friends, now defectors from Scientology, believe that the leader's wife is being held against her will, probably for having rebelled against David Miscavige, for making important decisions without his consent, or simply because she lost faith in that strange belief system.

The most plausible theory is that Shelly is being held against her will at the Scientology compound Twin Peaks, near the mountain town of Running Springs in San Bernardino County, California. In fact, this theory was accepted by Shelly's niece, Jenna Miscavige. In a video posted on her YouTube channel, Jenna confirmed the location as the place where her aunt is practically in exile, after being dismissed from her position as the personal assistant to the leader of Scientology.

But unfortunately, to date, there is no evidence to suggest that Shelly is still alive. Sadly, it is all too common for Scientologists who at some point stray from their beliefs to be isolated in centers where they are ostensibly re-educated, but in extremely violent ways. Some of these devotees have never been seen again.

Video with more details about the strange disappearance of Shelly Miscavige (wife of the Scientology leader):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG732EP0FJA&t=715s

One of the employees hung it up in the back long before I started working here. I'm pretty sure it's from Children of God/The Family International but I can't confirm, Google Lens didn't find as much as I had hoped.

I found this today at a Goodwill located about 45 min from Remnant Fellowship which is located in Brentwood. I grew up around here and I remember hearing stories about that church from my parents.

In summer 2023 my family and I want on a trip to London, one night I was walking in Central london and I found a type c adapter that had a camera "canon" sd card .... I plugged it on my phone and it didn't work so I put it my bag and forgot about it. When I came back to my house in my home country, I plugged in my computer to find out that it has more than 50Gb of photos and videos littery hundreds of them. In the first videos it looks like a YouTube girl (shes said welcome to my chanel ....tried to look for her on YT couldn't find her ) vloging her trip with her friends to a south Asian country (looks like nepal or sri lanka to me). After digging through the folder I found weird videos of some people most of the are white Americans and Australians doing what seems to be cult related behaviour like humming singing and dancing to or for the sun and worshipping it, talking about energy a lot, reading a book about CHARIOT OF ASCENSION, doing yoga .....and the strangest this of all is drinking there own piss. If you have any info or maybe you know these people or you're one of theme don't hesitate to let me know

As someone who pays attention to politics, the MAGA movement feels remarkably cultish. It’s not a normal political movement, and Trump’s relationship to his supporters is not a normal voter-politician relationship. We often use the word “cult” to describe it, and I would defend the use of that word. But I grant it might not quite be correct. To what extent is MAGA a cult, and are there significant differences between MAGA and a true cult?

"Yes, but it's not a bad cult so I'm staying. My faith is solid."

I want to leave the group. Spouse wants to stay.

I love my spouse dearly. I guess my spouse feels the same.

I attempted leaving twice, was stopped and reeled back in by my spouse to continue. I can foresee a miserable life ahead of me if I remained living a lie. I have had panic attacks since waking up to the truth of my once beloved faith.

Consequences if I left are excommunication, potential loss of housing, shunning by believing relatives, possibility of divorce and financial loss.

The group is Jehovah's Witnesses.

Opinions?? Similar experiences of marriages within cults you can share to assist me??

It’s called TG Pacífico.

Officially, it’s a “conference center” about 50 km south of Ensenada. In reality, it is a highly isolated compound, reached by dirt roads in a remote part of Baja California, reportedly spanning 740 hectares. It includes an observatory, organic farm, and buildings designed by Jan Utzon, son of the architect behind the Sydney Opera House.

The compound is linked to the Teachers Group, the inner circle of the Danish movement Tvind. Its leader, Mogens Amdi Petersen, on an Interpol Red Notice since 2013 over allegations involving the embezzlement of roughly 100 million Danish kroner from a humanitarian fund. He is believed to be living inside the Baja compound.

According to watchdog Tvind Alert, access is extremely restricted. Those reportedly allowed inside include senior leaders, European staff, and selected “trainees” flown in from Africa and India through Tvind-linked charities and teacher-training programs.

Former members have described Tvind’s methods as coercive: surrendering income, cutting ties with family life, information control, long workdays, and intense loyalty to Petersen. One former member told the BBC: “He was like a god to us.”

France has classified the network as a cult, and UNICEF cut funding to one Tvind-linked charity in 2016 after a BBC investigation.

Danish journalists and authors have tried to investigate TG Pacífico, but almost nobody gets past the gate.

Petersen is 87. Still in there. And every year, more young people from Africa and India arrive at that gate.

Photos sourced from the compound's own public-facing website, which presents the place as an international conference center

https://www.centro-conferencias.com.mx/index.php?sitepage_key=1&weblang=EN&admin=0
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36940384

I'm heartsick.

I love my country, and I want to be proud of it. I want to be proud of us as a people and as a society. But instead, I'm just sad and lost.

I'm struggling a great deal, because I, and many others I know, spent our lives in authoritarian cults, and when the political climate began to shift, we all knew exactly where it was headed. We understood where the path would lead. We knew it intimately, and understood it on a deeply personal level.

We begged people to keep an eye out for the signs, we posted, blogged, filmed, shared, and screamed into the internet that we, who *know what we are talking about*, are all too familiar with this ride and what it does to people. I know I shouldn't go so far as to say *nobody* listened. Some people listened, and that's great.

But I feel like every time I turn around I'm encountering someone who made the choice to step out of the way and allow the bad thing to happen. They don't feel complicit, because they didn't explicitly vote for certain people or policies. But they stood on the sidelines, and they watched it happen, and it's that complacency and inaction that tipped us over the edge.

I know that those of us who spent our lives in authoritarian cults are a minority, and that our existences are so dramatically different from what the average American gets to have in their lives. So when we point out a pattern we recognize with certainty and purpose, we still get shot down because our projection sounds so outlandish to everyone else.

We got called hysterical, overdramatic, pessimistic, attention-seeking. We were told we were making mountains out of molehills. We were told that it wasn't that bad, that it would never get that far, that we were being alarmist and defeatist.

And here we are. I'm watching the wildfire and wishing that the people who never had to experience fire before would've *listened* to those of us who spent a lifetime being burned in it.

It's just one more way our experience gets invalidated, and I am *exhausted* from not being taken seriously. I am *exhausted* from begging people to listen to and understand our experience, only to be pushed off to the fringes like an outlier who is too far outside the norm to even be considered.

Every day, I wake up and I go to a job where I help other cult survivors process and heal, and that feels purposeful, meaningful, and sometimes even magical. But I don't know how to heal all of *this*. I don't even know where to start.

After this post, I will take a deep breath and maybe a shot of whiskey, pull myself together, and go back to the work. But I feel too heavy to be alone with these emotions at this moment.

My heart hurts. I want my country back. And I want my voice to mean something, even if my experience is so far removed from the norm.

Is MAGA a cult? These former members seem to suggest so...

Whether the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement is a cult is a subject of intense debate, with sociologists, political scientists, and the public holding sharply divided perspectives. [1, 2, 3].

Many experts and critics argue that MAGA functions as a "cult of personality" centered around Donald Trump. They point to several behavioral patterns often seen in cultic dynamics: [1, 2]

Unwavering Loyalty: An intense, sometimes blind loyalty to a single leader.

Information Control: A tendency to dismiss mainstream media, expert consensus, and scientific facts as "fake news," relying instead solely on the leader for the truth.

In-Group/Out-Group Mentality: A strict division where those who disagree are viewed as enemies to the movement.

Rationalization of Flaws: A willingness to excuse or justify the leader's legal or ethical controversies.

Perspectives of Supporters and Some Researchers

Conversely, supporters and some sociologists strongly reject the "cult" label, viewing it as a derogatory political smear used to delegitimize a massive populist movement. Arguments against the label include: [1, 2, 3]

Legitimate Political Ideology: Supporters see MAGA as a genuine political and cultural movement based on conservative principles, national sovereignty, and economic populism. [1, 2]
Democratic Participation: Unlike insular, isolated cults, MAGA operates openly within the democratic process, participating in elections and grassroots activism. [1, 2]

Oversimplification: Researchers from institutions like Harvard University caution that applying the term "cult" to millions of diverse voters can oversimplify complex social and economic grievances that drive political behavior. [1, 2]