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RECOVER FROM COERCIVE CONTROL
Cults in Australian Media
News about cults feature in the mass media regularly. To those not impacted by the destruction they cause, they offer a sense of curiously and entertainment. To those who have lost a love one or have themselves been a victim of coercive high demand groups, the stories are a chilling reminder of how common cults are.
Some people argue that destructive groups should not be "promoted" through media outlets, however, failure to do so can lead to ignorance of their existence.
The following collection is aimed at promoting awareness and can be considered in relation to Renée's Cult Ranking System, and the lists of Cults Operating in Australia and Other Groups Operating in Australia.
Articles & Documentaries
A collection of articles and documentaries about cults that have been reported in Australian Media
Why Guardian Australia is investigating Exclusive Brethren schools
In the early 1990s, the Exclusive Brethren – now called the Plymouth Brethren Christian church – set up its own private schooling system.
Now known as the OneSchool Global network, the Brethren schools have 120 campuses across 20 countries teaching almost 10,000 children. In Australia, the schools operate in six states with 31 separate campuses serving their followers.
The Australian schools have benefited from generous taxpayer support – more than $130m in taxpayer funds has flowed to them in the past five years, in line with the commonwealth funding arrangements for non-government schools.
Now known as the OneSchool Global network, the Brethren schools have 120 campuses across 20 countries teaching almost 10,000 children. In Australia, the schools operate in six states with 31 separate campuses serving their followers.
The Australian schools have benefited from generous taxpayer support – more than $130m in taxpayer funds has flowed to them in the past five years, in line with the commonwealth funding arrangements for non-government schools.
Exclusive Brethren sect plans fifth Perth Hills church amid staunch opposition
A multimillion-dollar development application that proposes a members-only supermarket, a place of worship and a childcare centre, has worried Perth Hills locals.
Mundaring Gospel Trust, a subsidiary of the Exclusive Brethren Church, now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, plans to develop a vacant block in the north-east suburb of Glen Forrest despite mounting opposition.
Mundaring Gospel Trust, a subsidiary of the Exclusive Brethren Church, now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, plans to develop a vacant block in the north-east suburb of Glen Forrest despite mounting opposition.
How secretive 'cult-like' Shincheonji Church of Jesus from South Korea recruits vulnerable students at unis and drags them away from family and friends
A secretive international church group that has been likened to a 'brainwashing' cult is stepping up its recruitment drive among Australian university students.
The Shincheonji Church of Jesus (SCJ), which started in South Korea 40 years ago, has been accused of taking vulnerable young people away from family and friends.
The Shincheonji Church of Jesus (SCJ), which started in South Korea 40 years ago, has been accused of taking vulnerable young people away from family and friends.
Ex-members, parents rejoice after ‘religious cult’ slapped with teaching ban at West Leederville office space
Ex-members and parents of devotees of the Shincheonji Church have hailed a council’s decision to ban its building from becoming a legal teaching base as a positive step towards shutting down the religious sect’s activities in Perth for good.
New search to find missing mum and daughter who were part of a doomsday cult
The uncle of missing cult members Chantelle McDougall and her daughter Leela who disappeared from a small rural town in 2007 is raising funds to launch a new investigation to find them.
Kiwi mum Ellen Craig sentenced for killing toddler at Australian cult in 1987
“I’m here today 35 years after the unthinkable,” the father of a murdered toddler told a courtroom.
“My daughter was taken in the most horrible and senseless manner imaginable at the hands of her own mother.”
Gerard Stanhope spent 30 years thinking his daughter Tillie Craig was still alive and was desperate to track her down after her mother took her to live at a cult in rural Sydney.
“My daughter was taken in the most horrible and senseless manner imaginable at the hands of her own mother.”
Gerard Stanhope spent 30 years thinking his daughter Tillie Craig was still alive and was desperate to track her down after her mother took her to live at a cult in rural Sydney.
Religious group accused of killing Elizabeth Struhs believed ‘God would heal’ her, Queensland court hears
Members of Toowoomba religious group the ‘Saints’ face judge-only trial on murder and manslaughter charges
A sovereign citizen group is using a fake court to justify child kidnapping and extortion
The logo on the official-looking letter was unfamiliar, but even before opening it, Scott Murrin knew who it came from.
Beneath a motto that read "do no harm", the "warrant" demanded he surrender his two sons to "court sheriffs" and submit himself for arrest.
A failure to comply, it read, would result in life imprisonment with "hard labour".
The document was sent to Mr Murrin in March by a group calling itself Nmdaka Dalai Australis (NDA), a radical anti-government organisation that is aligned with the sovereign citizen movement.
Beneath a motto that read "do no harm", the "warrant" demanded he surrender his two sons to "court sheriffs" and submit himself for arrest.
A failure to comply, it read, would result in life imprisonment with "hard labour".
The document was sent to Mr Murrin in March by a group calling itself Nmdaka Dalai Australis (NDA), a radical anti-government organisation that is aligned with the sovereign citizen movement.
Aussie council rejects application from ‘doomsday cult’ to change its building use to an educational establishment
An Aussie council has rejected an application from a doomsday cult to teach out of the building it occupies in an inner city suburb.
Mark joined a men's fitness club. Now it's become an armed neo-Nazi cell
In an unassuming semi-industrial complex in an outer suburb of an Australian city, you might hear the blast of heavy metal music and the grunts of a small group of men as they work out and practice martial arts.
They are working professionals, small business owners, and fathers.
It could be a normal gym if it wasn’t for the runic symbols and code words tattooed on the arms of some of those training.
They are working professionals, small business owners, and fathers.
It could be a normal gym if it wasn’t for the runic symbols and code words tattooed on the arms of some of those training.
Stop smearing anti-racist skinheads, please
You do a disservice to the complex cult of the skinhead in your quick crossword (26 January). Despite the awareness and slight distancing effect implied by the question mark in the clue – “Racist or violent person?” – my heart sank. Am I alone? The compiler could at least have started with “Stereotypically…”
Of course, there is a very nasty history of racism and violence associated with the cult, in Britain and elsewhere, which needs to be remembered, understood and responded to when any such racism and violence resurface.
Of course, there is a very nasty history of racism and violence associated with the cult, in Britain and elsewhere, which needs to be remembered, understood and responded to when any such racism and violence resurface.
Welcome to the Weird World of Australia's 'Fake Sheikh', Mohammad Tawhidi
Mohammad Tawhidi waves regally from the back of a black car marked "VIP" as it makes its way through a city street lined with hundreds of screaming, flag-waving young South Koreans uniformly clad in white.
With his gold-trimmed white robes and pointed turban, the man who calls himself both an Imam and Sheikh cuts an elegant figure as a minder guides him out of the car, past more jubilant Koreans and television cameras, and into the surreal surrounds of an Olympic stadium filled to capacity, where tens of thousands of seated spectators holding coloured cards form a gargantuan human LCD screen.
With his gold-trimmed white robes and pointed turban, the man who calls himself both an Imam and Sheikh cuts an elegant figure as a minder guides him out of the car, past more jubilant Koreans and television cameras, and into the surreal surrounds of an Olympic stadium filled to capacity, where tens of thousands of seated spectators holding coloured cards form a gargantuan human LCD screen.
Novel charts couple’s slide from Bondi synagogue to a Blue Mountains cult
ANNE SUSSKIND talks to Lisa Emanuel, whose edgy first novel, The Covered Wife, has caused a stir with its warts-and-all portrait of Sydney’s flashy eastern suburbs
WRITE ABOUT WHAT you know, first time authors are always told. But Lisa Emanuel is very clear: Sarah, the protagonist in her debut novel The Covered Wife (Pantera Press) is not her and the story is not that of anyone she knows. Her husband is nothing like Daniel, the man Sarah marries, and Lisa comes from a large, warm family, not an only-child-single-parent one, and she definitely did not join a frightening cult – all to my relief as an interviewer, since the persona Emanuel has so adeptly constructed is so insecure and tortured.
WRITE ABOUT WHAT you know, first time authors are always told. But Lisa Emanuel is very clear: Sarah, the protagonist in her debut novel The Covered Wife (Pantera Press) is not her and the story is not that of anyone she knows. Her husband is nothing like Daniel, the man Sarah marries, and Lisa comes from a large, warm family, not an only-child-single-parent one, and she definitely did not join a frightening cult – all to my relief as an interviewer, since the persona Emanuel has so adeptly constructed is so insecure and tortured.
'My mum joined a dangerous 'cult', now we can't get her back'
Emma (not her real name) shares her family's experience.
My mum and dad split when I was very young.
We grew up with my mum and my stepdad. There were five children, so it was a big family.
When I was about nine years old, we moved to Australia.
Things were good here, but that was when my mum started getting into different sorts of beliefs.
It began with tame things like crystals and reiki and tarot cards.
I guess my mum was drawn to the idea that her life had a deeper spiritual meaning, and she was always trying to find the answers.
My mum and dad split when I was very young.
We grew up with my mum and my stepdad. There were five children, so it was a big family.
When I was about nine years old, we moved to Australia.
Things were good here, but that was when my mum started getting into different sorts of beliefs.
It began with tame things like crystals and reiki and tarot cards.
I guess my mum was drawn to the idea that her life had a deeper spiritual meaning, and she was always trying to find the answers.
QAnon: how the far-right cult took Australians down a ‘rabbit hole’ of extremism
Conspiracy theories have taken root in Australia, but it doesn’t impact just the converts. For every new believer, there are the friends and family who they’ve shut out.
7NEWS Spotlight investigates the ‘Kidney Cult’: Inside the church that encourages followers to donate their organs
It’s known as The Kidney Cult, with followers urged to donate their kidneys. For what purpose, nobody knows - but it doesn’t stop there.
My daughter has joined a cult. I have no idea how to get her out
Maria worries she's lost her daughter. Like thousands of other Australians, she's been recruited into a group that promises meaning and belonging, but in fact turns members' lives upside down.
Families beware: Cults are everywhere and they want your loved ones
The acting school “Ally” joined promised a safe space where she could flourish as an artist. Instead, she descended into a world of manipulation, isolation and a distorted sense of belonging. Sadly, Ally and I no longer speak or share the same reality.
Rules of the Australian cult Anglican Catholic Mission Community
A new investigation has revealed the shocking details of daily life in a cult that has communes across Australia, including rules they live by.
Aussie survivor tells: 4 warning signs of being in a cult
For most of us, the idea of being trapped in a controlling, manipulative cult seems so outrageous it doesn't even cross your mind. It happens in books, or in movies, or in articles like this that you read on the train while thinking ‘That’s never ever going to happen to me’.”
Inside one man's extraordinary exit from a Buddhist group accused of operating like a cult
Richard Siu jokes his fashion sense could be better, but for the first 25 years of his life, his outfits were covered by the robes of the Jin-Gang-Dhyana religious group.
It's a celebrated Buddhist organisation, but one Richard describes as operating like a cult. Its legacy goes well beyond his choice of clothing.
He did not receive a formal education as a child, grew up with little contact with the broader community and spent part of his young adult life in effective isolation in a home owned by the group's leader in Hobart.
It's a celebrated Buddhist organisation, but one Richard describes as operating like a cult. Its legacy goes well beyond his choice of clothing.
He did not receive a formal education as a child, grew up with little contact with the broader community and spent part of his young adult life in effective isolation in a home owned by the group's leader in Hobart.
7NEWS Spotlight: World-first look inside Providence, the ‘Cult Next Door’
The obvious question — why would a cult allow a TV crew in? They feel they have little left to lose.
NSW cult leader William Kamm to seek release after being charged with grooming girl from age six
The pair allegedly groomed a child for several years and she contacted police after becoming an adult, Det Supt Jayne Doherty said on Monday.
“She was advised by the religious leader and his partner that she had been selected to procreate with that religious leader and to build a new sect,” the detective said of the police allegations.
“She was advised by the religious leader and his partner that she had been selected to procreate with that religious leader and to build a new sect,” the detective said of the police allegations.
Australian Cults
The Grim, The Bad And The Ugly
Pt. One, The Family
Anne Hamilton Byrne, The Family’s late cult founder and leader, is infamous for the brutal torturing of at least 22 children on her property in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, which she referred to as ‘Uptop’. Over the course of 15 years from 1972 to 1987, many children were taken from their birth parents in adoption scams.
Australian Cults
The Grim, The Bad And The Ugly Pt. Two, Divine Truth
Self-proclaimed “Jesus”, Alan John Miller has been accused of destroying marriages, emotionally abusing his followers, and convincing them to pay for his lifestyle, including international flights, accommodation, his recording equipment, and a $400,000 house where he delivers his ‘seminars’.
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